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carnival magic ocean view room Former Deputy National Security Adviser KT McFarland on rebels overthrowing the Assad regime in Syria and the role the U.S. should play in the conflict. Islamist leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who led a lightning offensive through Syria, has a long history of extremism despite a recent appeal to moderate policies. "Golani is a specially designated global terrorist," Bill Roggio, managing editor of Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital. "He was a member of al Qaeda... the U.S. keeps him on the list for a reason." Roggio’s comments come after Islamist rebels led by Golani’s organization, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led an offensive throughout Syria that resulted in the capture of the country’s capital, Demascus, and the overthrow of the regime of Bashar Assad, who fled the country Saturday as rebels closed in on the city. SYRIAN DICTATOR BASHAR ASSAD FLEES INTO EXILE AS ISLAMIST REBELS CONQUER COUNTRY Abu Mohammed al-Golani inspects the damage after an earthquake in the village of Besnaya in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province at the border with Turkey, on Feb. 7, 2023. (Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images) Golani was first drawn to jihadi thinking following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., according to a report from the Guardian. He left Syria and joined al Qaeda in Iraq , only to return to his home country in 2011 during a revolt against Assad’s regime, eventually joining the side of al Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2013. Golani would cut ties with al Qaeda in 2016 and lead a merger between HTS and other Islamist groups in northwest Syria in 2017, bringing him control of territory that had fallen out of government hands during the country’s long civil war. The U.S. Department of State designated Geolani as a specially designated global terrorist in May 2013, citing his leadership in multiple terrorist attacks throughout Syria that often targeted civilians. Fighters enter the Rashidin district on the outskirts of Aleppo on Nov. 29, 2024. (Bakr Alkasem/AFP via Getty Images) ISLAMIST REBELS IN SYRIA CATCH ASSAD, PUTIN, IRAN REGIMES OFF GUARD GIVING US NEW MIDEAST HEADACHE But the terrorist leader has attempted to strike a more moderate tone in recent years, a trend that continued as rebels began their sweeping offensive across Syria. "No one has the right to erase another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them," Golani said in regard to Syria’s religious minority groups in an interview with CNN Friday. But Roggio said there is little evidence that moderate tone would continue as rebels take charge of Syria, arguing Geloni plays a good political game. "He plays the moderate game very well, but he’s a global jihadist. He’s an expert at manipulating," Roggio said. Rebels in northwest Syria seized military vehicles belonging to the regime along the route toward Kweris Airport in the eastern countryside of Aleppo on Dec. 2, 2024. (Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via APRami Alsayed/NurPhoto via AP) CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP While Roggio acknowledged there is legitimate justification for Syrians to cheer for the fall of Assad, the worry now turns to what comes next for the long-suffering population. "It’s understandable that many Syrians are ecstatic over the fall of Assad’s regime, he was a monster," Roggio said. "But I think they’re going to find that what replaces him isn’t going to be much better." Michael Lee is a writer for Fox News. Prior to joining Fox News , Michael worked for the Washington Examiner , Bongino.com , and Unbiased America . He has covered politics for more than eight years.

T he two big worries about AI are that it is going to take over the world and it is going to do us all out of a job. I’m agnostic on the first but certain the second is misplaced, and I have new evidence to support my view: the Oura ring. This latest item of wearable tech was, I understand, de rigueur in the celebrity Christmas stocking. For those losers (including me) who hadn’t heard of it till yesterday, it’s a ring that monitors your vital signs when you’re asleep and tells you next morning whether you slept well. For only £299 plus a £5.99 monthly subscription you can have cutting-edge technology tell you what your brain already told you the moment you woke up.Syrians poured into streets in celebration on Sunday after a stunning rebel advance reached the capital, ending the Assad family’s 50 years of iron rule . Russian state news agencies were reporting that President Bashar Assad and his family had arrived in Moscow and were given asylum. Russia said Assad left the country after negotiations with rebel groups and that he had given instructions to transfer power peacefully. Joyful crowds gathered in central squares in Damascus, waving the Syrian revolutionary flag. Others ransacked the presidential palace and residence. Abu Mohammed al-Golani , a former al-Qaida commander who cut ties with the group years ago leads the biggest rebel faction in Syria and is poised to chart the country’s future. He made his first public appearance since fighters entered the Damascus suburbs Saturday, at the capital’s sprawling Umayyad Mosque, and called himself by his given name, Ahmad al-Sharaa. He said Assad’s fall was “a victory to the Islamic nation.” The rapidly developing events have shaken the region. Lebanon said it was closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for one that links Beirut with Damascus. Jordan closed a border crossing with Syria, too. Israel has issued warnings to villages in southern Syria and its forces seized a buffer zone in the Golan Heights. Here's the Latest: The Israeli military said on Sunday it was reinforcing a barrier along its border with Syria as part of its “enhanced preparedness” in the area following the fall of the Assad regime. Israel released images of the construction, which showed bulldozers digging what appeared to be a trench. The army said in a statement that the barrier was named “New East.” Satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press show that as early as September, Israel began building what could be a new road right along the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria . The United Nations confirmed that Israeli troops entered the demilitarized zone during the work. Over the weekend, the Israeli military sent additional troops to the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights to bolster Israel’s presence along the border with Syria. Russian state news agencies reported that ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad has arrived in Moscow with his family and been given asylum. The agencies, Tass and RIA, cited an unidentified Kremlin source. The Associated Press was not immediately able to verify the reports but had contacted the Kremlin for comment. CAIRO — The Arab League on Sunday condemned Israel for taking advantage of Syrian President Bashar Assad's downfall by moving into more Syrian territory. Hours after Assad’s overthrow, Israel announced it had seized a buffer zone in the Golan Heights that was established by a cease-fire agreement with Syria in 1974. In a statement, the Arab League said Israel illegally sought to occupy more territories. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the 50-year-old agreement regarding Syrian territory had collapsed and that Syrian troops had abandoned their positions, necessitating Israel taking over as a “temporary defensive position.” UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations secretary-general is marking the “fall of the dictatorial regime” in Syria and says the future of the country is “is a matter for the Syrians to determine.” A statement by Antonio Guterres also called for calm and the protection of the rights of all Syrians as well as of diplomatic and consular facilities in Syria. He said there is much work ahead to ensure an “orderly political transition to renewed institutions,” and he called on the international community to ensure that “any political transition is inclusive and comprehensive and that it meets the legitimate aspirations of the people of Syria, in all their diversity.” KYIV, Ukraine - Ukraine’s top diplomat on Sunday responded to Assad’s ouster by describing him as a “dictator” who relied on Russia to prop up his rule - a reference to the military campaign Moscow has waged in Syria since September 2015, teaming up with Iran to allow Assad’s government to fight armed opposition groups and reclaim control over most of the country. "Assad has fallen. This has always been and will be the case with all dictators who bet on Putin. He always betrays those who rely on him,” foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X. In a separate update on the social network, Sybiha said Kyiv was ready to take steps towards restoring relations with Syria, severed months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of the neighboring state. Kyiv broke off diplomatic ties after Damascus in June 2022 recognized Kremlin-occupied parts of eastern Ukraine as independent territories, in a move welcomed by Moscow and decried by the West as a clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty. JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has issued a warning to residents of five villages and towns in southern Syria to stay inside their homes for their safety. “The fighting in your area is forcing the IDF to act,” the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman said on X. The military didn’t respond to questions. Earlier, Israel said its troops had seized a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established in 1974, saying it was to protect Israeli residents after Syrian troops abandoned their positions. Defense Minister Israel Katz said on X that the IDF has been instructed to “seize the buffer zone and control points to ensure the protection of all Israeli communities in the Golan Heights – Jewish and Druze – so that they are not exposed to threats from the other side.” Israel captured the Golan in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it. The international community, except for the United States, views it as occupied. BEIRUT - The leader of the largest insurgent group in Syria visited the Syrian capital’s sprawling Umayyad Mosque and declared that the victory against President Bashar Assad “is a victory to the Islamic nation.” Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, made his first public appearance and remarks since fighters entered Damascus. He told hundreds of people at the historic mosque that Assad had made Syria “a farm for Iran’s greed.” He added that Assad made Syria a base for the illegal amphetamine Captagon that brought cash to Assad’s circles. Al-Sharaa, the leader of the jihadi Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, said Sunday that the victory was achieved because of “God and the blood of martyrs.” He said that he left Syria 20 years ago and since then his heart has longed for this movement. AMMAN, Jordan — The vast majority of the Jordanian people are welcoming the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the success of the Syrian revolution. “There is no doubt that I felt overwhelming joy at the fall of the Assad regime," said Badi Al-Rafaia, Engineer, union activist and member of the Islamic Action Front. "There is no doubt that we are happy with what happened in Syria, happy with the success of the revolution, happy with the Syrian people getting rid of an oppressor and criminal who treated the Syrian people and made the Syrian state a failed state.” Al-Rafaia said that Jordan is benefiting from what happened in Syria, and "we hope that Jordan will help the revolution succeed and not work against it.” Amman resident Muhab al-Majali said the fall of the Assad regime is “The end of every unjust and tyrannical rule, and more than that, it mortgaged the country and its people to the Iranians, who abandoned it in minutes... I believe that the future is beautiful and prosperous for the Syrians.” BERLIN — The International Committee of the Red Cross is calling for safe humanitarian access and protection of civilians in Syria after the fall of Bashir Assad’s government. “Our teams in Syria, including in Damascus, have been closely monitoring the fast-evolving security and humanitarian situation in coordination with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent,” the ICRC’s head of delegation in Syria, Stephan Sakalian, said in a written statement Sunday. The ICRC is “responding wherever possible, with further efforts underway, as hundreds of thousands of people need care and humanitarian assistance,” he said. Sakalian called “on all parties to urgently enable safe and unhindered access for medical and humanitarian workers to reach those in need, to protect civilians, and to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law.” BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government said in a statement Sunday that it “supports all international and regional efforts seeking to open a dialogue” for Syria “leading to the adoption of a pluralistic constitution that preserves the human and civil rights of Syrians, and supports cultural, ethnic and religious diversity.” The statement from government spokesperson Bassem al-Awadi, said that Iraq understands “the necessity of respecting the free will of all Syrians, and stresses that the security of Syria, the unity of its territories, and the preservation of its independence are of utmost importance, not only for Iraq but also for its connection to the security and stability of the region.” It cautioned against “interfering in Syria’s internal affairs, or supporting one party for the benefit of another.” Iraq, which has a close relationship with Iran - once a strong ally of former Syrian President Bashar Assad - has taken in some 2,000 Syrian army soldiers who fled the country amid the advance of armed opposition groups. CAIRO — The head of Yemen’s internationally recognized government welcomed the fall of the government of President Bashar Assad of Syria. “It’s a historic moment,” Rashad al-Alimi, who chairs the ruling presidential council, wrote on X platform of Assad’s downfall. “It’s time for the Iranian regime to stop meddling in Yemen, respect its sovereignty and identity.” Al-Alimi, who is backed by Saudi Arabia, was referring to Iran’s support of Houthi rebels who are at war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government for a decade. DAMASCUS — Families wandered through the high-ceilinged halls of the presidential palace in Damascus on Sunday, along with some armed men. Some paused to take family portraits or selfies on the few remaining couches against the backdrop of mosaiced walls, while others walked out with chairs and other items under their arms. On the massive parking lot out front, cars drove in circles honking ecstatically. In central Damascus’ Umayyad Square, drivers passing by also honked jubilantly, while young men piled onto a tank abandoned in the square. But for some the celebration was bittersweet. “I am very happy, but this happiness will not be completed until I can see my son out of the prison and know where is he is,” said Damascus resident Bassam Masr. “I have been searching for him for two hours - he has been detained for 13 years.” TEL AVIV, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israeli forces have seized a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria. He spoke from an overlook near the border between Syria and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, after Syrian rebels tore through the country and dramatically ended Assad’s rule on Sunday morning. Netanyahu said the 50-year-old agreement had collapsed and that Syrian troops had abandoned their positions, necessitating the Israeli takeover as a “temporary defensive position.” Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it. The international community, except for the United States, views it as occupied Syrian territory. Satellite images analyzed by the Associated Press show that as early as September, Israel began construction of what could possibly be a new road right along the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria . The United Nations confirmed that Israeli troops entered the demilitarized zone during the work. The United Nations maintains a peacekeeping force in the demilitarized zone called the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, or UNDOF, with around 1,100 peacekeepers from Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Nepal, and Uruguay. After the 1973 Mideast war, the U.N. Secretary Council voted to create UNDOF to patrol a roughly 400 square kilometer (155 square mile) demilitarized zone and maintain the peace there. DAMASCUS, Syria — An Associated Press journalist in Damascus reported airstrikes in the area of the Mezzeh military airport, southwest of the capital Sunday. The airport has previously been targeted in Israeli airstrikes, but it was not immediately clear who launched Sunday's strike. The Israeli military refused to comment on the airport strike. Israel often does not publicly claim responsibility for attacks in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported that Israeli warplanes also targeted warehouses belonging to the Syrian army’s Fourth Division and another former military site outside of Damascus Sunday. On Saturday and Sunday, the Israeli military sent additional troops to the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights to bolster Israel’s presence along the border between Israel and Syria. Agricultural areas along the border were declared closed military zones and some schools shifted to online classes in anticipation of unrest.

Maupay also had a dig at Everton when he departed on loan to Marseille in the summer and his latest taunt has further angered the Premier League club’s supporters. The 28-year-old said on X after Sean Dyche’s side had lost 2-0 to Nottingham Forest at Goodison Park on Sunday: “Whenever I’m having a bad day I just check the Everton score and smile.” Whenever I’m having a bad day I just check the Everton score and smile 🙂 — Neal Maupay (@nealmaupay_) December 29, 2024 Former boxer Tony Bellew was among the Toffees’ supporters who responded to Maupay, with the ex-world cruiserweight champion replying on X with: “P****!” Maupay endured a miserable spell at Everton, scoring just one league goal in 29 appearances after being signed by the Merseysiders for an undisclosed fee in 2022. He departed on a season-long loan to his former club Brentford for the 2023-24 season and left Goodison for a second time in August when Marseille signed him on loan with an obligation to make the deal permanent. After leaving Everton in the summer, Maupay outraged their fans by posting on social media a scene from the film Shawshank Redemption, famous for depicting the main character’s long fight for freedom.Thompson-Herro fight leads to ejections of multiple players and coaches in Heat's victory in Houston

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Everton striker Neal Maupay has sparked outrage among Toffees fans by taking a swipe at his parent club in a post on social media. Maupay also had a dig at Everton when he departed on loan to Marseille in the summer and his latest taunt has further angered the Premier League club’s supporters. The 28-year-old said on X after Sean Dyche’s side had lost 2-0 to Nottingham Forest at Goodison Park on Sunday: “Whenever I’m having a bad day I just check the Everton score and smile.” Whenever I’m having a bad day I just check the Everton score and smile 🙂 — Neal Maupay (@nealmaupay_) December 29, 2024 Former boxer Tony Bellew was among the Toffees’ supporters who responded to Maupay, with the ex-world cruiserweight champion replying on X with: “P****!” Maupay endured a miserable spell at Everton, scoring just one league goal in 29 appearances after being signed by the Merseysiders for an undisclosed fee in 2022. He departed on a season-long loan to his former club Brentford for the 2023-24 season and left Goodison for a second time in August when Marseille signed him on loan with an obligation to make the deal permanent. After leaving Everton in the summer, Maupay outraged their fans by posting on social media a scene from the film Shawshank Redemption, famous for depicting the main character’s long fight for freedom.Surface-to-air missile launcher, military medals stolen in break-inAmong the 30 bills elbowed through in the Parliamentary rush were 3 bills agreed by the Government and Opposition targeting refugees. Human rights lawyer Alison Battison says Australia is criminalising refugees. In the last Parliamentary session of 2024, the Labor Party pushed through over 30 pieces of legislation, including three bills targeting refugees, asylum seekers, stateless and non-citizen Indigenous people. This rushed suite of legislation was not drafted in response to any pressing concern of national importance. Instead, it’s overriding purpose was and is to secure votes, so Labor can claim they are even more strict on border control and community safety than the Coalition. The legislation, however, does not address these areas in any cohesive manner. Instead, it creates great uncertainty for thousands of people who are worried they will be ripped away from their families and homes, detained and removed to places they have never been and have no connection to. Just weeks before this suite of legislation was passed, I had self-funded travel to the UN in Geneva for meetings with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD). The WGAD is a specialist body within the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. The WGAD personally invited me to address them and civil society on developments in Australia regarding the arbitrary detention of refugees, asylum seekers, stateless and non-citizen Indigenous people in Australia’s immigration prisons. These are the very people the new suite of legislation targets. Being a legal expert in this area I have submitted scores of complaints to the WGAD over the years. Australia has a terrifying record of its treatment of these vulnerable people, in particular for the conditions of, and length of time refugees and others are subject to administrative detention. I have clients who were detained for over 10 years, with the longest being over 13 years. This is administrative detention at the whim of the Government, the administrative equivalent of being detained at the “Governor’s pleasure.” Despite a landmark judgment handed down in November 2023, which finally set down the Constitutionally permitted limits of administrative detention, I was at the UN to inform them that situation had not dramatically improved and was likely to deteriorate further. The passing of the suite of legislation (meant to address the fall out of the 2023 High Court decision) has unfortunately proven my point. I told the UN and civil society that instead of pro-actively identifying detainees caught by the High Court judgment who should have been released immediately, the Government had left it up to lawyers such as myself to find and identify such people in the detention network and then threaten legal action for unlawful imprisonment. More than 12 months later, I am still identifying multiple people every month who are unlawfully imprisoned, including very vulnerable young and queer people. Given their detention is a breach of our Constitution, this is a terrible indictment of the Australian Government’s commitment to our separation of powers. I had expected better of a Labor Government and had expected they would reduce the ease at which people could be administratively detained. I was wrong. I told civil society (to audible gasps) that Australia’s immigration prisons are not centres in which a person can come and go – they are prisons with high levels of security and monitoring, with razor wire, internal movement restrictions and handcuffing if anyone needs to leave, including for medical or legal appointments. Distressingly, the new suite of legislation includes measures to further limit the contact people have with the outside world, by allowing guards (who are presumedly not trained in forensic analysis) to confiscate, check and ban phones from people they believe are committing crimes. I told the UN that when people are released, they are fitted with electronic monitoring ankle devices and are subject to nighttime curfews. If they breach their visa conditions, they are liable for 12 months minimum prison time. These people, where they have criminal convictions, have already served their terms of imprisonment and are subject to the same monitoring as any other person in Australia. Their treatment is the very definition of criminalising immigration. They are tagged like cattle for administrative, not criminal, purposes. The same suite of legislation also makes it lawful for the Australian Government to pay other countries to take these people, and if the person doesn’t assist with their removal to a place they have never been, they are liable for another round of administrative detention. This means that Australia, a wealthy Western country has legislated to use taxpayer funds to pay poorer nations to take the people our Government deems too unworthy to be in our country – including mothers of young children with no criminal records. Given Australia’s history as the place the British Empire sent its convicts, the people it didn’t want, this move is the height of hypocrisy. Some of my ancestors are Luddites and were sent to Australia for their political crimes. They were unwanted and inconvenient in their homeland. History is repeating itself. The legislation to send refugees to other nations is built on the “Pacific Solution”, in which Australia sent thousands for regional processing to Nauru and Manus Island, PNG. The irony of this is that remote processing in remote prisons has not stopped irregular migration – it does not address the push factors that cause people to leave their homes. It doesn’t work. And there is no evidence that the new legislation will work either. Instead, Australia is merely feeding the billion-dollar industry of publicly funded private contracts – it is Australia’s own industrial prison complex. I am fielding scores of calls from petrified people who worry they and their families will be pulled apart by the new legislation. People with Australian citizen partners and young children. People with no criminal record. There appears to be no human right the Government won’t trample on in its race to prove its potentially vote winning cruelty has no bounds. The WGAD is coming to Australia in 2025. The Government has already delayed its visit due to the forthcoming election. When they eventually arrive, I can’t imagine I will be providing the UN with an update that is anything but a rendition of the steps taken to win votes by victimising some of the most vulnerable in the Australian community.

Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen returns to a tournament after a dispute over jeans is resolved NEW YORK (AP) — Top ranked chess player Magnus Carlsen is headed back to the World Blitz Championship on Monday. That's after its governing body agreed to loosen a dress code that got him fined and denied a late-round game in another tournament for refusing to change out of jeans. The International Chess Federation president said in a statement Sunday that he’d let World Blitz Championship tournament officials consider allowing “appropriate jeans” with a jacket, as well as other "minor deviations” from the dress code. Carlsen quit the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships on Friday. He said Sunday he would play — and wear jeans — in the World Blitz Championship. 'Sonic 3' and 'Mufasa' battle for No. 1 at the holiday box office Two family films are dominating the holiday box office, with “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” winning the three-day weekend over “Mufasa” by a blue hair. According to studio estimates Sunday, the Sonic movie earned $38 million, while “Mufasa” brought in $37.1 million from theaters in the U.S. and Canada. The R-rated horror “Nosferatu” placed third with an unexpectedly strong $21.2 million. Thanksgiving release holdovers “Wicked” and “Moana 2” rounded out the top five. Christmas Day had several big film openings, including the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” the Nicole Kidman erotic drama “Babygirl” and the boxing drama “The Fire Inside.” Charles Shyer, ‘Father of the Bride’ and ‘Baby Boom’ filmmaker, dies at 83 An Oscar-nominated writer and filmmaker known for classic comedies like “Private Benjamin,” “Baby Boom” and “Father of the Bride," Charles Shyer has died. He was 83. On Sunday his daughter Hallie Meyers-Shyer told The Associated Press that he died Friday in Los Angeles. No cause was disclosed. Born in Los Angeles in 1941 to a filmmaker father, Shyer's big breakthrough came with co-writing “Private Benjamin” for which he and Nancy Meyers received an Oscar nomination. He and Nancy Meyers were frequent collaborators through their nearly 20-year marriage, including on the remake of “The Parent Trap," starring Lindsay Lohan. LeBron James at 40: A milestone birthday arrives Monday for the NBA's all-time scoring leader When LeBron James broke another NBA record earlier this month, the one for most regular-season minutes played in a career, his Los Angeles Lakers teammates handled the moment in typical locker room fashion. They made fun of him. Dubbed The Kid from Akron, with a limitless future, James is now the 40-year-old from Los Angeles with wisps of gray in his beard, his milestone birthday coming Monday, one that will make him the first player in NBA history to play in his teens, 20s, 30s and 40s. He has stood and excelled in the spotlight his entire career. Belgium will ban sales of disposable e-cigarettes in a first for the EU BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium will ban the sale of disposable electronic cigarettes as of Jan. 1 on health and environmental grounds in a groundbreaking move for European Union nations. Health minister Frank Vandenbroucke tells The Associated Press that the inexpensive e-cigarettes have turned into a health threat since they are an easy way for teenagers to be drawn into smoking and get hooked on nicotine. Australia outlawed the sale of “vapes” outside pharmacies earlier this year in some of the world’s toughest restrictions on electronic cigarettes. Now Belgium is leading the EU drive. Belgium's minister wants tougher tobacco measures in the 27-nation bloc. Charles Dolan, HBO and Cablevision founder, dies at 98 Charles F. Dolan, who founded some of the most prominent U.S. media companies including Home Box Office Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp., has died at age 98. Newsday reports that a statement issued Saturday by his family says Dolan died of natural causes. Dolan’s legacy in cable broadcasting includes founding HBO in 1972, Cablevision in 1973 and the American Movie Classics television station in 1984. He also launched News 12 in New York City, the first U.S. 24-hour cable channel for local news. Dolan also held controlling stakes in companies that owned Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers. Snoop's game: Snoop Dogg thrills the crowd in the bowl that bears his name TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Miami of Ohio beat Colorado State in the Arizona Bowl, but Snoop Dogg was the main attraction. The Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop was much a spectacle as a football game. Snoop Dogg seemed to be everywhere all at once, from a pregame tailgate to the postgame trophy presentation. Snoop Dog donned a headset on Colorado State's sideline, spent some time in the broadcast and even led both marching bands as conductor during their halftime performance. Snoop Dogg saved the best for last, rolling out in a light green, lowrider Chevy Impala with gold rims and accents, the shiny Arizona Bowl trophy in his hand as fans screamed his name. Mavs star Luka Doncic is latest pro athlete whose home was burglarized, business manager says DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks is the latest professional athlete whose home has been burglarized. The star guard’s business manager tells multiple media outlets there was a break-in at Doncic’s home Friday night. Lara Beth Seager says nobody was home, and Doncic filed a police report. The Dallas Morning News reports that jewelry valued at about $30,000 was stolen. Doncic is the sixth known pro athlete in the U.S. whose home was burglarized since October. Star NFL quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes of Kansas City and Joe Burrow of Cincinnati are among them. The NFL and NBA have issued security alerts to players over the break-ins. Victor Wembanyama plays 1-on-1 chess with fans in New York Victor Wembanyama went to a park in New York City and played 1-on-1 with fans on Saturday. He even lost a couple of games. Not in basketball, though. Wemby was playing chess. Before the San Antonio Spurs left New York for a flight to Minnesota, Wembanyama put out the call on social media: “Who wants to meet me at the SW corner of Washington Square park to play chess? Im there,” Wembanyama wrote. It was 9:36 a.m. And people began showing up almost immediately. Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen quits a tournament in a dispute over jeans NEW YORK (AP) — The International Chess Federation says top ranked player Magnus Carlsen has left the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships after refusing to change out of the jeans he wore to the competition. The federation said Friday that its regulations include a dress code that bars participants from wearing jeans at the event. The Norwegian chess grandmaster says he accepted a $200 fine but refused to change his pants out of principle before leaving the competition in New York. The federation said the dress code is designed to ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants.

National Consumer Helpline records 10-fold jump in number of calls handled after tech revamp