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West Palm Beach, Florida — President-elect Donald Trump threatened to reassert U.S. control over the Panama Canal on Sunday, accusing Panama of charging excessive rates to use the Central American passage and drawing a sharp rebuke from Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino. Speaking to a crowd of supporters in Arizona on Sunday, Trump also said he would not let the canal fall into the “wrong hands,” warning of potential Chinese influence on the passage. China does not control or administer the canal, but a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings has long managed two ports located on the Caribbean and Pacific entrances to the canal. The president-elect’s comments came hours after he leveled a similar threat against Panama in a post on Truth Social on Saturday night. “Has anyone ever heard of the Panama Canal?” Trump said on Sunday at AmericaFest, an annual event organized by Turning Point, an allied conservative group. “Because we’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we’re being ripped off everywhere else.” Trump’s comments were an exceedingly rare example of a U.S. leader saying he could push a sovereign country to hand over territory. It also underlines an expected shift in U.S. diplomacy under Trump, who has not historically shied away from threatening allies and using bellicose rhetoric when dealing with counterparts. “The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, highly unfair,” Trump said. “It was given to Panama and the people of Panama, but it has provisions. You get to treat us fairly, and they haven’t treated us fairly. If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, quickly and without question.” In a recorded message released by Panamanian President Mulino on Sunday afternoon, the nation’s leader said that Panama’s independence was non-negotiable and that China had no influence on the canal’s administration. He also defended the passage rates Panama charged, saying they were not set “on a whim.” “Every square meter of the Panama Canal and the surrounding area belongs to Panama and will continue belonging [to Panama],” Mulino said in the statement, which was released on X. Several other Panamanian politicians, including members of the opposition, also took to social media to criticize Trump’s statements. The United States largely built the canal and administered territory surrounding the passage for decades. … “Trump threatens to retake control of Panama Canal” →

Federal officials have joined with the state of Arizona to begin fulfilling a settlement agreement that was reached with the Hopi Tribe nearly three decades ago, marking what tribal officials described as a historic day. Government attorneys filed condemnation documents on Friday to transfer dozens of square kilometers of state land into trust for the Hopi. The tribe will compensate the state nearly $4 million for more than 80 square kilometers of land near Winslow. It could mark the first of more transfers of land into trust to help eliminate the checkerboard of ownership that characterizes much of the lands used by the tribe for ranching in northeastern Arizona. A long time coming Friday’s filing was born out of the 1996 passage of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute Settlement Act, which ratified an agreement between the Hopi and federal government that set conditions for taking land into trust for the tribe. The wrangling over land in northeastern Arizona has been bitter, pitting the Hopi and the Navajo Nation against one another for generations. The federal government failed in its attempt to have the tribes share land and after years of escalating conflict, Congress in 1974 divided the area and ordered tribal members to leave each other’s reservations. The resulting borders meant the Navajo Nation — the country’s largest reservation at close to 70,000 square kilometers — surrounded the nearly 6,500-square-kilometer Hopi reservation. Since the 1996 settlement, the Hopi Tribe has purchased private land and sought to take neighboring state lands into trust in hopes of consolidating property for the tribe’s benefit. A historic day There have been many roadblocks along the way, including in 2018 when the tribe sought the support of local governments in northern Arizona to back a proposed transfer for land south of the busy Interstate 40 corridor. Those efforts were stymied by the inclusion of national forest tracts in the Flagstaff area. Hopi Chairman Tim Nuvangyaoma said in a statement Friday that he was grateful for everyone who worked to make the condemnation filing a reality and that the timing for this historic moment was fitting. “Within Hopi, it is our time of the soyal’ang ceremony — the start of the New Year and the revitalization of life,” he said. Gov. Katie Hobbs, who first visited the Hopi reservation in 2023, acknowledged that the tribe has been fighting for its rights for decades and that politicians of … “Native American tribe closer to acquiring more land in Arizona after decades of delay” →

Washington — At least 3,104 Native American children died in boarding schools in the United States, taken from their families to be forcibly assimilated, The Washington Post reported on Sunday, with its estimate three times higher than that of the American government. In these establishments, some of which were religious and which existed from the beginning of the 19th century to the 1970s, many children suffered physical, psychological or sexual violence, according to a recent government report which estimated that at least 973 students died there. In late October, U.S. President Joe Biden apologized to Native American peoples, calling the atrocities “a sin that stains our souls.” According to The Washington Post, which conducted a year-long investigation, 3,104 students lost their lives in these schools between 1828 and 1970, in what the newspaper describes as “a dark chapter in American history that has long been ignored and largely covered up.” And the toll would actually be much higher according to historians, adds the newspaper. The Washington Post says it has “determined that more than 800 of these students were buried in or near cemeteries at the schools where they attended, underscoring that, as in many cases, the children’s bodies were never returned to their families or tribes.” According to documents seen by the daily, “The causes of death included infectious diseases, malnutrition and accidents.” Dozens of Native American students have died under suspicious circumstances, the article continues, “and in some cases, documents show indications of abuse or mistreatment that likely led to the children’s deaths.” The boarding schools “were not schools” but “prison camps, work camps,” Judi gaiashkibos, director of the Nebraska Commission on Native Americans and whose relatives were sent there, told the newspaper. The Joe Biden administration has implemented a series of measures to support Native American nations and improve relations with the federal state. In the United States, reservations now administered by Native Americans are predominantly poor, with high suicide and overdose rates. In neighboring Canada, where the same practice of residential schools for young indigenous people existed, the country has also opened its eyes in recent years to this dark page of history. …

Washington — President-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday that Stephen Miran, a Treasury Department adviser in his first administration, would be the chair of his Council of Economic Advisers. The council advises the president on economic policy and is composed of three members, including the chair. The council assists in the preparation of an annual report that gives an overview of the country’s economy, reviews federal policies and programs and makes economic policy recommendations. Earlier this year, Miran and economist Nouriel Roubini authored a hedge fund study that said the U.S. Treasury last year effectively provided economic stimulus by moderating long-dated bond sales. The study echoed suggestions by Republican lawmakers that the Treasury deliberately increased issuance of short-term Treasury bills to give the economy a “sugar high” ahead of the November elections. The Treasury denied any such strategy. Miran, a senior strategist at Hudson Bay Capital, has also argued that fears over trade tariffs that Trump has threatened to impose after he takes office next month are overblown. Trade and economic experts have said such duties would raise prices and would effectively be a new tax on consumers. Last month, Trump tapped Kevin Hassett, who was a key economic adviser in his first term, to chair his National Economic Council, which helps set domestic and international economic policy. Hudson Bay Capital took a position in Trump’s social media firm Trump Media & Technology in the first quarter of this year. …

Drivers and airline passengers without reindeer and sleighs better make a dash for it: it’s beginning to look like another record for holiday travel in the U.S. The auto club AAA predicts that more than 119 million people will travel at least 80 kilometers from home between Saturday and New Year’s Day, which would top the previous holiday-season high set in 2019. The two weekends on either side of Christmas look to be some of the most crowded times on the road and at airports. Trade group Airlines for America also foresees record travel, saying it expected U.S. airlines to carry 54 million passengers during a 19-day period that started Thursday and ends Jan. 6. The number would represent a 6% increase over last year. What will be the busiest travel days? Airlines expect to have their busiest days on Friday and Sunday, and on Dec. 26, Dec. 27 and Dec. 29. Flight traffic is expected to be light on both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. The slowest U.S. air-travel day this year — by a wide margin — was Thanksgiving Day. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 40 million passengers over the holidays and through Jan. 2. About 90% of Americans traveling far from home over the holidays will be in cars, according to AAA. “Airline travel is just really high right now, but most people do drive to their destinations, and that is true for every holiday,” AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said. Gasoline prices are similar to last year. The nationwide average Thursday was about $.99 a liter, down from $1 a year ago, according to AAA. Charging an electric vehicle averages just under 35 cents per per kilowatt hour, but varies by state. Transportation-data firm INRIX says travel times on the nation’s highways could be up to 30% longer than normal over the holidays, with Sunday expected to see the heaviest traffic. Boston, New York City, Seattle and Washington, D.C., are the metropolitan areas primed for the greatest delays, according to the company. Weather and other wildcards Because the holiday travel period lasts weeks, airports and airlines typically have smaller peak days than they do during the rush around Thanksgiving, but the grind of one hectic day followed by another takes a toll on flight crews. And any hiccups — a winter storm or a computer outage — can snowball into massive disruptions. That is … “It’s beginning to look like another record for holiday travel in US” →

NEW YORK — Teen drug use hasn’t rebounded from its drop during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the results from a large annual national survey released Tuesday. About two-thirds of 12th graders this year said they hadn’t used alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes or e-cigarettes in the previous 30 days. That’s the largest proportion abstaining since the annual survey started measuring abstinence in 2017. Among 10th graders, 80% said they hadn’t used any of those substances recently, another record. Among eighth graders, 90% didn’t use any of them, the same as was reported in the previous survey. The only significant increase occurred in nicotine pouches. About 6% of 12th graders saying they’d used them in the previous year, up from about 3% in 2023. Whether that has the makings of a new public health problem is unclear. The University of Michigan’s Richard Miech, who leads the survey, said: “It’s hard to know if we’re seeing the start of something, or not.” The federally funded Monitoring the Future survey has been operating since 1975. This year’s findings are based on responses from about 24,000 students in grades eight, 10 and 12 in schools across the country. The survey is “one of the best, if not the best” source of national data for substance use by teens, said Noah Kreski, a Columbia University researcher who has studied teen drug use. Early in the pandemic, students across the country were told not to go to schools and to avoid parties or other gatherings. They were at home, under parents’ supervision. Alcohol and drug use of all kinds dropped because experimentation tends to occur with friends, spurred by peer pressure, experts say. As lockdowns ended, “I think everyone expected at least a partial rebound,” Miech said. Even before the pandemic, there were longstanding declines in teen cigarette smoking, drinking and use of several types of drugs. Experts theorized that kids were staying home and communicating on smartphones rather than hanging out in groups, where they sometimes tried illicit substances. But marijuana use wasn’t falling before the pandemic. And vaping was on the upswing. It was only during the pandemic that those two saw enduring declines, too. Some experts wonder if the pandemic lockdowns had a deeper influence. Miech noted that a lot of teens who experiment with e-cigarettes or drugs start in the 9th grade, sometimes because older adolescents are doing it. But … “Survey: Most US teens are abstaining from drinking, smoking and marijuana” →

When Bernard Jones Jr. and his wife, Doris, built their dream home, they didn’t hold back. A grotto swimming pool with a waterfall for hot summer days. A home theater for cozy winter nights. A fruit orchard to harvest in fall. And a vast underground bunker in case disaster strikes. “The world’s not becoming a safer place,” he said. “We wanted to be prepared.” Under a nondescript metal hatch near the private basketball court, there’s a hidden staircase that leads down into rooms with beds for about 25 people, bathrooms and two kitchens, all backed by a self-sufficient energy source. With water, electricity, clean air and food, they felt ready for any disaster, even a nuclear blast, at their bucolic home in California’s Inland Empire. “If there was a nuclear strike, would you rather go into the living room or go into a bunker? If you had one, you’d go there too,” said Jones, who said he reluctantly sold the home two years ago. Global security leaders are warning nuclear threats are growing as weapons spending surged to $91.4 billion last year. At the same time, private bunker sales are on the rise globally, from small metal boxes to crawl inside to extravagant underground mansions. Critics warn these bunkers create a false perception that a nuclear war is survivable. They argue that people planning to live through an atomic blast aren’t focusing on the real and current dangers posed by nuclear threats, and the critical need to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, government disaster experts say bunkers aren’t necessary. A Federal Emergency Management Agency 100-page guide on responding to a nuclear detonation focuses on having the public get inside and stay inside, ideally in a basement and away from outside walls for at least a day. Those existing spaces can provide protection from radioactive fallout, says FEMA. But increasingly, buyers say bunkers offer a sense of security. The market for U.S. bomb and fallout shelters is forecast to grow from $137 million last year to $175 million by 2030, according to a market research report from BlueWeave Consulting. The report says major growth factors include “the rising threat of nuclear or terrorist attacks or civil unrest.” Building bunkers “People are uneasy and they want a safe place to put their family. And they have this attitude that it’s better to have it and not need it … “Nuclear bunker sales increase, despite expert warnings” →

WASHINGTON — Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday slammed what he called unfair fees for U.S. ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand control of the waterway be returned to Washington. He also hinted at China’s growing influence around the canal, a worrying trend for American interests as U.S. businesses depend on the channel to move goods between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. “Our Navy and Commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “This complete ‘rip-off’ of our Country will immediately stop.” The Panama Canal, which was completed by the United States in 1914, was returned to the Central American country under a 1977 deal signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control in 1999. “It was solely for Panama to manage, not China, or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands!” He continued that if Panama could not ensure “the secure, efficient and reliable operation” of the channel, “then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question.” Authorities in Panama did not immediately react to Trump’s post. Although he does not officially take office until next month, Trump has nevertheless been flexing his political influence in the waning days of President Joe Biden’s administration. The real estate mogul boasted on the campaign trail that as an entrepreneur, he was uniquely positioned to fight for U.S. business interests. An estimated 5% of global maritime traffic passes through the Panama Canal, which allows ships traveling between Asia and the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long, hazardous route around the southern tip of South America. The main users of the passage are the United States, China, Japan and South Korea. The Panama Canal Authority reported in October that the waterway had earned record revenues of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.  …

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Mark Burnett, the power producer who helped reintroduce Donald Trump to a national television audience with The Apprentice, is being tapped by the president-elect as special envoy to the United Kingdom in his upcoming administration. “With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role,” Trump announced Saturday. Burnett, who was born in London, helped produce hits like Survivor and The Voice, but is perhaps best known for teaming up with Trump for The Apprentice, which first aired on NBC in 2004. Trump had been well-known in real estate and pop culture circles for decades. But the show helped again make him a household name. Trump severed ties with NBC in 2015, the same year he launched his first White House run. The selection of Burnett continues Trump’s trend of filling out his incoming administration with people who have high-profile backgrounds in television or politics, or both, including his choice to be defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, a former co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend, and ex-television doctor and unsuccessful Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz. Trump’s first campaign in 2016 was rocked by allegations about his conduct on The Apprentice and other appearances during his association with NBC, notably in footage in which he said he could sexually assault women and get away with it because he was a “star.” Almost a decade after he left his reality TV role, Trump’s television career remains central to his biography and political rise. The show presented Trump Tower to tens of millions of people as a symbol of power and success before Trump launched his first campaign from the building’s lobby. “Mark is known for creating and producing some of the biggest shows in Television History,” Trump wrote in his statement on Burnett, listing many of his biggest hits including, “most notably, The Apprentice” and noting that Burnett “has won 13 Emmy Awards!” Special envoys are usually picked by presidents for the world’s traditional hotspots, including the Middle East, where Trump has said he’d like Steven Witkoff to fill the role. The United Kingdom, which has long enjoyed a “special relationship” with the U.S. that makes it one of Washington’s strongest global allies, is not typically a candidate for such posts. But Trump has announced a series of special envoy positions to several top … “Trump taps ‘Apprentice’ producer as special envoy to United Kingdom” →

OAKLAND, Calif. — Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, who shattered stolen base records and redefined baseball’s leadoff position, has died. He was 65. Henderson died on Friday. The Athletics said Saturday they were “shocked and heartbroken by his passing,” but did not specify a cause of death. Known as baseball’s “Man of Steal,” Henderson had a lengthy list of accolades and accomplishments over his 25-year career — an MVP, 10 All-Star selections, two World Series titles and a Gold Glove award. But it was stealing bases where Henderson made his name and dominated the sport like no other. He broke through with 100 steals in his first full season in the majors in 1980, topping Ty Cobb’s AL single-season record with the Oakland Athletics. He barely slowed, playing for nine franchises over the next two decades. He broke Lou Brock’s single-season record of 118 by stealing 130 bases in 1982 and led the league in steals for seven straight seasons and 12 overall. He broke Brock’s career record when he stole his 939th base on May 1, 1991, for Oakland. He famously pulled third base out of the ground and showed it off to the adoring crowd before giving a speech that he capped by saying: “Lou Brock was a great base stealer, but today I am the greatest of all time.” Henderson finished his career with 1,406 steals, a 468-steal edge over Brock. Henderson said in September he would have had many more steals in his career and in the record-breaking 1982 season if rules introduced in 2023 to limit pickoff throws and increase the size of bases had overlapped with his career. “If I was playing today, I would get 162, right now, without a doubt,” he said. Henderson’s accomplishment that record-breaking day in 1991 was slightly overshadowed that night when Nolan Ryan threw his record seventh career no-hitter. Henderson had been Ryan’s 5,000th career strikeout victim, which led him to say, “If you haven’t been struck out by Nolan Ryan, you’re nobody.” That was clearly not the case for Henderson. He is also the career leader in runs scored with 2,295 and in leadoff home runs with 81, ranks second to Barry Bonds with 2,190 walks and is fourth in games played (3,081) and plate appearances (13,346). He finished his career with 3,055 hits over 25 seasons spent with Oakland, the New York Yankees, Toronto, San Diego, Anaheim, … “Stolen base king Rickey Henderson dies at 65” →

CAIRO — The U.S. military said it conducted precision airstrikes on Saturday against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.  In a statement, the U.S. military’s Central Command said the strikes aimed to “disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden.”  The U.S. military also said it struck multiple Houthi one-way drones and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea.  Saturday’s strike followed a similar attack last week by U.S. aircraft against a command-and-control facility operated by the Houthis, which control much of Yemen.  On Thursday, Israel launched strikes against ports and energy infrastructure in Houthi-held parts of Yemen and threatened more attacks against the group, which has launched hundreds of missiles at Israel over the past year.  The Iran-backed group in Yemen has been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea for more than a year to try to enforce a naval blockade on Israel, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s year-long war in Gaza.  …

WASHINGTON — A nearly two-year investigation by Democratic senators of Supreme Court ethics details more luxury travel by Justice Clarence Thomas and urges Congress to establish a way to enforce a new code of conduct.  Any movement on the issue appears unlikely as Republicans prepare to take control of the Senate in January, underscoring the hurdles in imposing restrictions on a separate branch of government even as public confidence in the court has fallen to record lows.  The 93-page report released Saturday by the Democratic majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee found additional travel taken in 2021 by Thomas but not reported on his annual financial disclosure form: a private jet flight to New York’s Adirondacks in July and jet and yacht trip to New York City sponsored by billionaire Harlan Crow in October, one of more than two dozen times detailed in the report that Thomas took luxury travel and gifts from wealthy benefactors.  The court adopted its first code of ethics in 2023, but it leaves compliance to each of the nine justices.  “The highest court in the land can’t have the lowest ethical standards,” the committee chairman, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, said in a statement. He has long called for an enforceable code of ethics.  Republicans protested the subpoenas authorized for Crow and others as part of the investigation. No Republicans signed on to the final report, and no formal report from them was expected.  Attorney Mark Paoletta, a longtime friend of Thomas who has been tapped for the incoming Trump administration, said the report was aimed at conservatives whose rulings Democrats disagreed with.  “This entire investigation was never about ‘ethics’ but about trying to undermine the Supreme Court,” Paoletta said in a statement posted on X.  The court did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  Thomas has said he was not required to disclose the trips that he and his wife, Ginni, took with Crow because the big donor is a close friend of the family and disclosure of that type of travel was not previously required. The new ethics code does explicitly require it, and Thomas has since reported some earlier travel. Crow has maintained that he has never spoken with his friend about pending matters before the court.  The report traces back to Justice Antonin Scalia, saying he “established the practice” of accepting undisclosed gifts and hundreds of trips over his decades on … “Senate review of Supreme Court ethics finds more luxury trips” →

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday he has selected David Fink to serve as administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration.  “David will bring his 45+ years of transportation leadership and success, which will deliver the FRA into a new era of safety and technological innovation,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. …

Rhiannon Giddens is a Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning musical artist whose latest project tells the story of the U.S. transcontinental railroad — a story told through the eyes of its builders, including African American, Chinese, Japanese, Irish and Native American workers. It’s called “American Railroad,” and Nina Vishneva has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vladimir Badikov …

KARACHI, PAKISTAN — Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday dismissed as unfounded and “devoid of rationality” assertions by a senior U.S. official that its missile program could eventually pose a threat to the United States. Earlier this week, Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said Pakistan’s development of long-range ballistic missiles made it an “emerging threat.” Finer’s comments, which came a day after Washington announced a new round of sanctions related to the ballistic missile program, underscored the deterioration in once-close ties between Washington and Islamabad since the 2021 U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Addressing Finer’s remarks, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the perception of an alleged threat was “unfortunate.” “These allegations are unfounded, devoid of rationality and sense of history,” the ministry said in a statement. The ministry said that its strategic capabilities were solely for defending its sovereignty and maintaining regional stability, and that they should not be perceived as a threat to any other country. It also highlighted Pakistan’s long history of cooperation with the U.S., particularly in counterterrorism efforts, and reiterated its commitment to engaging constructively on all issues, including regional security and stability. Relations between the United States and Pakistan have seen significant ups and downs. The countries collaborated during the Cold War and in the fight against al-Qaida after 9/11. Ties have been strained, however, due to coups in the South Asian country by Pakistan’s military, support for the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule in Afghanistan, and over the nuclear weapons program. …