• President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to retake control of the Panama Canal.
• Trump blasted the "exorbitant" fees charged to US vessels using the canal.
• Panama's president responded on X, saying that "every square meter" of the canal belongs to Panama.

President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to retake control of the Panama Canal as he hit out at what he called the "exorbitant" fees charged to US ships traversing the passage.

Panama charges tariffs for vessels traveling through the iconic waterway, with fees varying by size and purpose.

"The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the US," Trump said in a post on Truth Social, adding: "This complete 'rip-off' of our Country will immediately stop."

The US transferred control of the canal to the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) in 1999 in accordance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties.

"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, and without question," Trump continued in a separate post. "To the Officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly!"

Panama President José Raúl Mulino responded in a video statement on X, stating that "every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zones" belongs to Panama.

The president held up a red book titled "Torrijos Carter Treaty" as he referenced the 1977 agreement that would lead to the dissolution of the Panama Canal Zone and hand over the canal to Panamanians on December 31, 1999.

The roughly 80-kilometer (around 50 miles) canal was officially opened in 1914, offering a new link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

According to the PCA's website, between 13,000 and 14,000 ships use the waterway each year, "connecting 1,920 ports across 170 countries." The United States is the largest user of the canal.

In 2023, a shipping company paid almost $4 million on top of regular fees to get through the Panama Canal following a logjam, Bloomberg reported.

Japan's Eneos Group paid $3.98 million in an auction to jump the queue after a drought caused congestion, the report said.

• Colleen Hoover has thrown her support behind Blake Lively after Lively filed a lawsuit against her costar Justin Baldoni.
• The "It Ends With Us" author said Lively had been "nothing but honest" since they first met.
• Lively sued Baldoni for sexual harassment. Baldoni's attorney said the claims were "categorically false."

Colleen Hoover, the bestselling author of "It Ends with Us," has thrown her support behind Blake Lively after Lively sued her costar, Justin Baldoni, for sexual harassment, retaliation, and coordinating attempts to damage her reputation.

In an Instagram Stories post, Hoover linked out to a New York Times report on the situation and wrote: "@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met."

"Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt," she added, possibly referencing Lively's character Lily Bloom's profession as a florist.

In the complaint, obtained by Business Insider, Lively said she had attended a meeting with Baldoni — who also directed the movie adaptation of Hoover's novel — and producer Jamey Heath during filming to address the "hostile work environment that had nearly derailed production of the Film."

The meeting is said to have resulted in all parties agreeing to a number of stipulations, including "no more showing nude videos or images of women, including the producer's wife," to Lively or her employees.

It also required "no more mention of Mr. Baldoni or Mr. Heath's previous 'pornography addiction' or BL's lack of pornography consumption to BL or to other crew members," the complaint said.

The suit goes on to accuse Baldoni and his team of running a smear campaign against Lively.

Lively faced backlash during the film's promotional tour, with many social media users criticizing her lighthearted marketing approach. Baldoni, on the other hand, received praise for highlighting the serious topics raised in the movie.

Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer Studios, said in a statement that the claims made in the complaint were "categorically false" and "intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media."

"It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation, which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions," the statement said.

Reports in Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter said Baldoni has been dropped by his agency, WME, following Lively's complaint.

Business Insider has contacted Freedman and Wayfarer Studios for comment.

• The US plans to remove a $10 million bounty on HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
• It follows a meeting between US diplomats and the Syrian rebel leader earlier this week.
• Jolani has worked to portray himself as a more moderate leader to the West.

The US is set to remove a $10 million bounty on Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the opposition group that spearheaded an offensive against Bashar Assad's Syrian government forces.

Barbara Leaf, the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, made the announcement in an online briefing on Friday while discussing a diplomatic trip to Damascus where US representatives met with Jolani.

Leaf said the US delegation "welcomed positive messages" from the leader — who now goes by his birthname Ahmed al-Sharaa — and that he assured them that terrorist groups would not be allowed to pose a threat in Syria.

"And so based on our discussion, I told him we would not be pursuing the Rewards for Justice reward offer that has been in effect for some years," she said.

Pressed for more information on why the US had decided to lift the bounty, Leaf said it was a "policy decision" that "aligned with the fact that we are beginning a discussion with HTS," adding that it would be "a little incoherent then to have a bounty on the guy's head" while sitting down for discussions on regional interests.

HTS, which is listed as a terrorist organization by both the US and the United Nations, traces its origins to Al Qaeda.

Jolani cut his ties with Al Qaeda in 2016 to form a new group, which became HTS the following year.

He has worked for years to portray himself as a more moderate leader to the West and has called the group's terrorist designation a "political label that carries no truth or credibility."

While stressing that the US would "judge by deeds" rather than words, Leaf said Jolani appeared "pragmatic" and noted that he had previously issued "moderate statements" on issues such as women's rights and the protection of equal rights for all communities.

The US delegation, which included Roger Carstens, the special envoy for hostage affairs, also used the Damascus trip to explore leads on the whereabouts of Austin Tice, an American journalist who disappeared in Syria in 2012.

Carstens said that they had had "a lot of information coming in" but that it remained unclear whether Tice was alive. "The bottom line is the information that we have right now doesn't confirm either in one way or the other."

• Netflix's small-town drama "Virgin River" returned with its sixth season on December 19.
• The last season ended with a bombshell baby reveal and an unexpected return from the dead.
• Here's a reminder of where all the main characters ended up ahead of the new episodes.

"Virgin River" returned Thursday with its sixth season, delivering another dramatic chapter in Mel and Jack's romance.

The last time audiences saw the couple, played by Martin Henderson and Alexandra Breckenridge, they were planning their wedding while also dealing with the devastating loss of a pregnancy.

The fate of several other characters was also hanging in the balance.

Here's a refresher on where everyone ended up.

Mel lost her baby but was determined to still become a mom by any means possible.

Mel was pregnant and newly engaged at the beginning of "Virgin River" season five. However, tragedy struck midseason.

She lost the baby after a camping trip with Jack, right before a large wildfire spread across the fictional Californian town.

She was devastated by the loss but by the end of the season, she had resolved to have a family with Jack by any means and began to consider adoption.

In the additional Christmas episodes, Mel discovered her biological father was a man named Everett Reid (John Allen Nelson).

Jack got into business with some bad eggs.

Jack faced a huge setback with his glamping business after Melissa (Barbara Pollard) was arrested. Unbeknownst to Jack, she had taken over as the head of the Virgin River-area drug operation.

Jack's new business was shut down as part of the investigation into Melissa's illegal activities.

Elsewhere, Jack and Mel took a huge leap forward in their relationship. The couple decided to purchase Lily's (Lynda Boyd) farmland, which just so happened to be the spot of their first kiss.

At the end of the season, the two were planning to build a new home for themselves and their longed-for family.

Charmaine gave birth to her twins and fessed up to Jack that he was not the father.

In season five, Jack's ex, Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley), revealed she lied about him being the father of her unborn twins.

As it turns out, the twins' father is Calvin (David Cubitt) — Virgin River's most notorious villain, who was presumed dead.

It was previously implied that Calvin, the leader of a local drug ring, had died in a boat explosion apparently orchestrated by Melissa.

However, as audiences learned in the season five finale, he was alive.

After returning to Virgin River, he told Charmaine he wanted a relationship with his kids.

Doc agreed to take part in a clinical trial to help with his health.

Vernon 'Doc' Mullins (Tim Matheson), who has the eye disease macular degeneration, lost his vision while treating patients following the wildlife.

Realizing the severity of his condition, he decided to enroll in a clinical trial that could help him restore his eyesight.

Elsewhere, Doc received heartwarming news when Mel asked if he would walk her down the aisle at her wedding.

Hope fought to keep her position as mayor.

Hope (Annette O'Toole) spent much of season five recovering from the traumatic brain injury she had sustained.

She also found herself defending herself from some overly concerned town residents working to remove her as mayor.

By the finale, she had been sworn back in.

In other news, Doc asked Hope to renew their wedding vows.

Lizzy discovered she was pregnant.

Lizzie (Sarah Dugdale) and Denny (Kai Bradbury) got back together in season five after briefly breaking up in season four.

She began working as Hope's health aide — and eventual mayoral assistant — and made the decision to remain in Virgin River instead of moving away.

Her decision was partly influenced by her romance with Denny and their experience of surviving the wildfires together.

At the end of the season, she told Denny that she believed she was pregnant.

Denny wanted to leave Virgin River to go to med school.

Doc's grandson began settling into life in Virgin River in season five.

His romance with Lizzie got back on track after she decided to stay in the town.

But in an unexpected twist, Denny told Lizzie in the season five finale that he had changed his mind about staying.

At the town carnival, he dropped the bombshell news that he wanted to leave Virgin River to go to med school after all.

But Lizzie had some big news of her own: she was pregnant.

Preacher had a new love interest but was worried about his future.

Preacher began dating Kaia (Kandyse McClure), a firefighter, in season five.

It came after his former flame, Paige (Lexa Doig), decided to skip town with her son Christopher (Chase Petriw) after the traumatic experience the two had with Vince (Steve Bacic).

As audiences will remember, Christopher was kidnapped by Vince because he believed that Paige and Preacher had conspired to kill his twin brother Wes (also played by Bacic) and hide his body.

As a reminder, Paige did accidentally kill her abusive ex by pushing him down the stairs back in season two, then fled while Preacher took care of the body.

Preacher was assured by town detective Mike (Marco Grazzini) in the season five premiere that the police weren't taking Vince's claims seriously.

However, the ordeal came back to bite him when Wes's body was discovered in the woods in the Christmas episodes.

Brie and Brady broke up and started dating other people.

Brady (Benjamin Hollingsworth) had managed to break free from the local drug ring and was enjoying a simpler life in season five.

He began seeing a single mother named Lark (Elise Gatien) who has a young daughter.

However, it turned out that Lark had some ulterior motives. As audiences saw, she had been asked to pursue Brady by her ex, Jimmy (Ian Tracey), and the two were planning on using him in some way.

Meanwhile, Brie (Zibby Allen) began seeing Mike.

Cameron and Muriel took their romance public.

The town's newest arrival, a doctor called Cameron (Mark Ghanime), enjoyed a blossoming, if not unexpected, romance with Muriel (Teryl Rothery).

They initially kept things under wraps, concerned they would raise eyebrows, but after speaking to Doc, they took their romance public by kissing in front of the other residents at the Labor Day carnival.

• The series finale of "Yellowstone" has aired, concluding Paramount Network's epic western drama.
• From lingering mysteries to lost characters, the show didn't tie up every loose end.
• Warning: This article contains spoilers for seasons one to five of "Yellowstone."

The credits have rolled on the last-ever episode of "Yellowstone," concluding Taylor Sheridan's epic neo-western drama, which, at one point, was the most-watched scripted series in America.

Naturally, the long-awaited finale drew in a huge audience. According to VideoAmp data released by Paramount, the episode, which aired on Sunday, December 15, brought in 11.4 million same-day viewers on Paramount Network and CMT, making it the biggest episode in the series' history.

The supersized episode, which ran for 86 minutes, saw Kevin Costner's character, John Dutton, finally laid to rest after he died in the midseason premiere.

After that, the Dutton land was returned to the Native American community that once owned it, leaving the ranch's residents and workers to follow their own paths.

While the episode tied up many loose ends, it did leave some dangling plot threads and unanswered questions.

From lingering mysteries to lost characters, keep reading to see the six questions we still have about "Yellowstone."

Why did Rip never find out about the pain that Jamie caused Beth?

Beth's (Kelly Reilly) resentment towards her adopted brother Jamie (Wes Bentley) has been a cornerstones of the series since the very beginning.

As audiences discovered in a season three flashback, she had a good reason. When she became pregnant as a teenager, Jamie knowingly ordered a doctor to give her a hysterectomy rather than an abortion, leaving her infertile.

Beth's been haunted by this experience her entire adult life, not least because the baby's father was Rip's (Cole Hauser).

But, by the series finale, Rip is still in the dark about the pain Jamie caused Beth. He seemingly doesn't even know that he got Beth pregnant all those years ago.

What game was Sarah Atwood playing with the Duttons?

When Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) was introduced in the second episode of season five, she filled the villain-shaped hole left by the death of Jamie's biological father, Garrett Randall (Will Patton).

Working on behalf of Market Equities, she pushed forward with the real estate company's relentless battle to acquire the Dutton land by whatever means necessary.

This included manipulating Jamie into a sexual relationship before convincing him to call for John's impeachment. She took things further by organizing a hit on the Dutton patriarch.

But Sarah got her comeuppance not long after as she was gunned down by the same assassins in an attempt to cover their tracks.

Her demise, while celebrated by audiences, however, leaves lots of questions unanswered, including what her ultimate goal was.

By the end, it was hinted that she had shifted loyalties from Market Equities to Jamie himself. Plus, as Beth found out while digging into Sarah's background, she was using a fake name.

Without a real identity and motivations, Sarah ended up being a poorly drawn antagonist with not much depth who wasn't deserving of such a big storyline.

What happened to Angela Blue Thunder and her attempts to oust Rainwater as chairman of the reservation?

Angela Blue Thunder (Q'orianka Kilcher) was introduced in season three as an adversary to Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham), the chairman of the Broken Rock Reservation.

At the beginning of season five, audiences saw her embark on a plan to supplant Rainwater with younger rival Martin (Martin Sensmeier).

However, Angela and this storyline were nowhere to be seen in the second half of season five.

With this storyline left unfinished, it leads to questions of whether Rainwater will stay in charge of looking after the Yellowstone land following his promise to Kayce (Luke Grimes) to treat it with respect and leave it practically unchanged.

Why did Kayce consider inheriting the ranch as such a burden?

In the finale, Kayce said the words "I'm free" when tearfully embracing his wife Monica (Kelsey Asbille) after signing over the ranch to the Broken Rock tribe.

It was an emotional moment, but the reasons Kayce considered the Yellowstone ranch such a huge burden were never fully explained or explored.

Audiences will recall that at one point, John disclosed that he never wanted his grandson Tate (Brecken Merrill) to be born and opposed Kayce's marriage to Monica.

But besides this, audiences never really got a grasp on the tensions and resentments at the core of Kayce and his father's relationship.

Given that in the finale, Kayce bought himself a small herd of cattle to tend to, we understand that it was never the lifestyle that the youngest Dutton son was opposed to, but doing it on the farmland that his father owned.

Where did Lloyd go?

Lloyd Pierce (Forrie J. Smith) was the oldest and longest-serving cowboy on the ranch.

The character also had a significant amount of screentime, appearing in every episode of the show but two, according to IMDb.

But in the finale, Lloyd's character wasn't given proper closure. As the cowboys on the ranch disbanded and headed their separate ways, Lloyd was left as the only one without somewhere to go.

While Rip offered him a job on his new ranch, Lloyd declined, stating that he would rather not be a cowboy at all if he couldn't keep working at the Yellowstone ranch.

His decision made sense as so much of Lloyd's life and identity were tied up in the ranch (he was among the men branded for life with the Yellowstone 'Y'). Still, it would've been satisfying to find out what he planned to do next if not cowboying.

What was the purpose of showing so much of the 6666 ranch and Taylor Sheridan's own ranch?

A crucial plot point in season five was that several key "Yellowstone" characters found themselves sent on a secondment to the 6666 ranch – which is a real ranch bought in 2020 by series cocreator Taylor Sheridan.

Elsewhere, Sheridan showed up as the character Travis Wheatley, a horsetrader who essentially saved the Yellowstone ranch from financial ruin by selling off their horses for them.

In fact, almost all of the penultimate episode was dedicated to Beth's trip to Bosque Ranch, which, again, Sheridan owns in real life. In the show, Travis is the proprietor of the ranch.

There seemed to be no concrete reason why these ranches got so much screentime in the last batch of episodes, besides showcasing Sheridan's own ranching empire.

There is a possibility that the scenes and characters introduced in them may show up in a new spinoff series.

Alongside a rumored new series following Beth and Rip, there is the franchise extension "6666" also in the works — but that appears to have been shelved for now.

The series was first announced in early 2021 and originally set to debut in 2023.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2023, Sheridan spoke about the delays in getting "6666" (pronounced "four-sixes") off the ground and said he had told the studio "to be patient."

What became of the wolves storyline?

It was a blink-or-you'll-miss-it moment in the midseason finale but on top of the news that Jamie had called for an impeachment tribunal, John was given the additional headache of an investigation being launched into whether or not the endangered wolves from the nearby national park were killed on his land.

Like Angela Blue Thunder, this was another storyline that was introduced and then seemingly abandoned when the show returned from it's lengthy midseason hiatus.

Given that John had invited his girlfriend, outspoken animal rights activist Summer Higgins (Piper Perabo), to live with him, it felt at the time that this story arc was going to loom large in the second half of the season.

In the end, it didn't. Audiences didn't hear anything more about the wolves storyline or the coverup operation that John and Rip carried out to hide their bodies again.

• Trump's return to power comes as Ukraine struggles to stop Russia's advance.
• Trump says he'll move quickly to end the war, but Russia may be disinclined to negotiate now.
• Here are four scenarios for how the war could play out.

With the Russia-Ukraine war nearing its fourth year, attention is turning to President-elect Donald Trump and how his return to power may affect the conflict.

Trump looms as a distressing question mark for Ukraine, which has leaned into personal diplomacy to make its case in the weeks since his election. As a candidate, Trump called the war "a loser" and vowed to end it in 24 hours without saying how he would do so.

The US has provided the bulk of international security assistance to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, committing more than $60 billion so far. Drastic cuts or zeroing of this could enable Russia to achieve the decisive breakthrough it has so far been denied.

As both Kyiv and Moscow scramble to place their respective sides in the best possible position ahead of any changes Trump's administration may bring, Business Insider has taken a look at four ways the war could play out.

A cease-fire deal and frozen lines

The possibility of a temporary halt to the fighting has received renewed attention with Trump's reelection.

Trump, who has pledged to bring the war to a swift end when he returns to office, took to Truth Social on December 8 to call for an immediate cease-fire and the start of negotiations.

"Zelenskyy and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness," he said, adding: "It can turn into something much bigger, and far worse. I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act."

In November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has long rejected the idea of ceding land to end the war, suggested such a deal could be achieved if unoccupied parts of Ukraine came "under the NATO umbrella."

"If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we should take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control," Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine could then "get back the other part of its territory diplomatically."

John Lough, an associate fellow at Chatham House's Russia and Eurasia Programme, told Business Insider that Ukraine was seemingly moving away from its "maximal position" of getting back all its occupied territory but that it would want "credible security guarantees from the West."

However, with Western nations reluctant to provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin with binding commitments to Ukraine, the most likely outcome was the war being "frozen" roughly where it is now, he continued, adding that a "settlement is just too ambitious at this stage."

Many analysts say any peace deal is likely to be fragile. Russia seized Crimea in 2014 by force before launching a broader invasion in 2022. Putin, furthermore, has repeatedly called Ukraine's independence fictional, and many observers worry a pause of a few years will allow Russia to train more troops and stockpile more weapons ahead of another offensive.

Mark Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told BI that any peace deal brokered by Trump would likely involve some form of territorial concession.

"It's hard to imagine that it would be stable," Cancian said. "It's easy to imagine another war in a couple of years."

Long-term war

Another possibility is that Russia refuses to compromise and the fighting continues. War experts with the Institute for the Study of War think tank, for example, have repeatedly argued that Russian leaders believe they are winning on the battlefield and are not likely to seriously pursue negotiations while that continues.

In such a scenario, Ukraine would require significant levels of continued Western aid, which could be a hard sell for Kyiv. Both Trump and the vice president-elect, JD Vance, have been openly skeptical of US support for Ukraine under the Biden administration.

It would also put further strain on Ukraine's manpower as well as its economy, which is already facing "intensifying" headwinds, as the International Monetary Fund said in a September update.

While Russia, too, is facing its own economic issues — the Russian central bank raised its key interest rate to 21% in October in an effort to combat high inflation — some analysts have said Moscow could go for years before it has to confront its overspending.

"For Ukraine, the long war is nothing short of disastrous," James Nixey, the director of Chatham House's Russia and Eurasia Programme, wrote in February. "The country cannot recruit anything like the numbers Russia can press into service. It also places greater value on human life than its opponent, meaning it inevitably suffers more from a protracted war of attrition."

However, a long war is likely to strain Russia's military resources. Moscow is losing armored vehicles at what may be an unsustainable pace, and it may need another round of mobilization to continue replacing its troop losses.

Russian victory

Putin wanted a swift military victory when his forces launched the full-scale invasion.

Almost three years later, that goal has been well and truly quashed, but Moscow could still claim victory — which would likely mean occupying more of Ukraine and toppling Zelenskyy in favor of a deferential head-of-state.

For Kyiv, a worst-case scenario would see its forces' frontlines collapse due to a lack of resources or a shift in international support, Cancian said.

In such an instance, Ukraine would likely be forced into ceding large chunks of territory, with "everything east of" the Dnipro potentially coming under Russian control through either annexation or effective oversight, he added.

Russian forces have been advancing in eastern Ukraine in recent months, straining Ukrainian defenses and compounding Kyiv's much-reported manpower shortage.

While Russia itself continues to suffer high casualties, it has been able to draw on vastly superior numbers while also adding extra recruits from North Korea to support its offensives.

Moscow has also appeared intent on avoiding distractions and keeping its focus on events in Ukraine, putting up little support to help its ally Bashar Assad as his regime collapsed in Syria — despite Russia's important military bases in the country.

In addition, Kyiv is now facing serious uncertainty in the form of Trump's imminent return, with some fearing he could cut aid to the country.

In a recent interview with Time Magazine, the president-elect said he wanted to "reach an agreement" rather than abandon Ukraine, but he added that he strongly disagreed with Biden's decision in November to allow the use of US-supplied long-range weapons to strike Russia, which Kyiv had long coveted.

"I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia," Trump said. "Why are we doing that? We're just escalating this war and making it worse."

Ukrainian victory and Russian retreat

Ukrainians had harbored hope of winning the war after some notable early successes, such as the liberation of Kharkiv in 2022, Ukrainian journalist Svitlana Morenets said.

And while Putin's grip on power seems strong, the conflict has exposed some of the largest fissures since he came to power, such as the armed rebellion by Wagner mercenaries and protests over mobilization.

Russia's government is "authoritarian and it has control over the media, but it's still sensitive to public opinion," Cancian said, adding that it had likely avoided another round of mobilization as it did not want to "stir up domestic opposition," despite needing the manpower.

Washington has also pointed to North Korea's involvement in the war as a sign of the Kremlin's "desperation" and "weakness."

But with Trump's goal of achieving a quick end to the fighting, Russia's continued gains in the east, and Kyiv facing dwindling resources and drooping morale, an outright Ukrainian victory seems off the cards for now.

Seth Jones, the president of the Defense and Security Department at CSIS, previously told BI that as long as Putin is in charge, it would be highly improbable that Russia's forces would retreat entirely. A Russian defeat, however, may threaten Putin's hold on power.

• Beth and Rip's relationship was a cornerstone of Paramount Network's "Yellowstone."
• The couple, played by Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser, are rumored to be reuniting for a spinoff show.
• Here's a complete timeline of the pair's passionate relationship from the pilot to the finale.

Since the very beginning, Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler's relationship has been considered the beating heart of Paramount Network's "Yellowstone."

The series, co-created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, wrapped up its fifth and final season on Sunday evening with a supersized episode that saw the ranch at the center of the show returned to the Native American community who once owned the land.

In the end, Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser) decided to buy a new, smaller ranch for themselves where they could live together peacefully.

However, it's suspected that it's not the last audiences will see of the pair. Speaking in November, Hauser told The Hollywood Reporter that he felt there was more to explore with Beth and Rip.

"You can go on forever about these two. There's no walls when it comes to them, no limits," he said. "And as long as Taylor wants to write something special, I know Kelly and I would be interested to do it."

Days before the finale aired, Deadline broke the news that Reilly and Hauser would reprise their roles to star in a" Yellowstone" spinoff series, according to sources close to production. The as-of-yet unnamed show, will likely star other actors reprising their roles from the main series, Deadline said.

Network representatives did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

As we anticipate more news on the spinoff, BI looks back on Beth and Rip's unforgettable, passionate, tumultuous, and decades-spanning love story as it played out on "Yellowstone."

When audiences first met Beth and Rip, they were a hookup with a long history.

In the show's pilot, which aired in 2018, audiences were introduced to Beth, the only daughter of Montana cattle rancher-turned-governor John Dutton (Kevin Costner), and Rip Wheeler, the ranch's most loyal employee who worked his way up to foreman after first joining as an orphaned teenager.

When the two ran into each other at the ranch's main cabin, it was hinted that they had more than a little history, and it didn't take them long to slide back into old habits.

After a particularly passionate hook-up, it was clear that the two wanted different things: Rip invited Beth to join him at a music festival, to which she responded: "You ruin it every time."

Relive the moment: Season one, episode one.

The pair had a very unconventional "first date."

Beth appeared to have thought some more about Rip's offer to do more than just sleep together, and the next time she saw him, she suggested a date more suited to her personality.

"You wanna go get drunk and watch some wolves kill an elk in a park?" he asked her.

And so that's exactly what they did. While they both acknowledged that it was far from their first date given their history, which audiences learn went back to their teenage years, it marked the beginning of the rekindling of their relationship.

Relive the moment: Season one, episode two.

By the end of season one, their relationship had gone off the rails.

In the season one finale, Beth sabotaged her relationship with Rip by turning a flirtation with ranch newcomer Walker (Ryan Bingham) into a full-blown affair.

While Beth and Rip had never properly defined their relationship, Beth's decision to sleep with Walker left Rip feeling betrayed.

In Beth's eyes, however, she had good reason to stray: Rip had left her ego bruised by assuming that she was sleeping with her male assistant, Jason (David Cleveland Brown). He also refused to pass on some information her father had privately shared with him regarding the future of the ranch.

Beth didn't have feelings for Walker, but was simply using him as a distraction as she dealt with the anger and pain from her argument with Rip.

Relive the moment: Season one, episode nine.

Midway through season two, Beth and Rip reconciled.

Beth and Walker's no-strings-attached fling carried on into season two, and it wasn't until halfway through the season that Beth pulled herself out of her self-destructive pattern and apologized to Rip.

But it was already water under the bridge for Rip, who told her he wasn't angry and she needn't ever say sorry to him for anything.

They shared smiles, acknowledging that they were back on track before Rip returned to his duties on the ranch.

Relive the moment: Season two, episode five.

In a flashback, audiences saw Beth and Rip's first kiss as teenagers.

Teenage Beth (Kylie Rogers) and teenage Rip (Kyle Red Silverstein) were shown initially clashing on the ranch. Beth called Rip, who had recently been welcomed into the ranch by John, her "daddy's new pet," infuriating the orphaned teen.

However, the two couldn't deny their attraction to one another. Beth asked Rip to kiss her. When he replied that he didn't know how, she revealed that she didn't either, and so the two shared their first kiss together.

Relive the moment: Season two, episode five.

Rip saved Beth from a brutal attack and uttered those three important words.

Beth's decision to invite Rip to join her on the rooftop of the Dutton house for a late-night drink together led to a poignant moment between the two.

After Beth joked that Rip has been wearing the same jeans and jacket for years, Rip got vulnerable and revealed that he's spent thousands of dollars on headstones for his mom and brother, who were murdered by his abusive father.

Touched at his gesture, the two stared lovingly into each other's eyes, but before Rip could tell Beth that he loved her, she stopped him.

"Don't say it," Beth requested. "Tell me when it saves me."

That ended up coming sooner than anticipated. Later in the same episode, Beth was brutally attacked by men working on behalf of Malcolm Beck (Neal McDonough). Having managed to call Rip before things turned ugly, Rip managed to save her and kill her assailants.

As he comforted her, Rip uttered those three important words.

Relive the moment: Season two, episode seven.

A season three flashback revealed that Rip got Beth pregnant when they were teenagers.

After learning that she had gotten pregnant with Rip's baby, Beth asked her older brother Jamie (Dalton Baker) to get her help.

Worried that going to a hospital in the city would draw attention given that she has the Dutton name, Jamie drove Beth to a clinic where he agreed to let a doctor give her a hysterectomy, leaving her infertile for the rest of her life.

Afterward, Beth met with Rip, who asked if her pregnancy test had come back positive. Lying to him, she said it had been negative, hiding from him the abortion — and unbeknownst to her, sterilization — that she had just gone through.

Relive the moment: Season three, episode five.

Beth asked Rip to marry her on the porch of their cabin.

Early on in season three, Beth hinted that she would like to one day be Rip's wife.

After speaking to her father, who told her Rip would never propose because he wouldn't be able to bring himself to ask John for his blessing out of respect for the Dutton patriarch, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

She posed the question to Rip on the porch of their cabin with a simple black ring, joking that she knew he wasn't a "diamonds and gold kind of girl."

She's his, Beth said, on one condition: "The only thing I ask is that you outlive me so that I never have to live another day without you."

Rip had a condition of his own, too: They needed to get married on the ranch. A courthouse wedding was out of the question, because there was no record of his existence on file.

Relive the moment: Season three, episode seven.

Beth took in an orphaned teenager who became their de facto son.

While recovering in the hospital from yet another assassination attempt, Beth ran into a kid named Carter (Finn Little) who is all alone in the world. Naturally, the boy reminded Beth of a young Rip, so she decided to invite him to the ranch to find work and give him a roof over his head.

While Rip was initially reluctant to take Carter under his wing, he eventually came around to the idea and the two began treating Carter like the child they never had.

Relive the moment: Season four, episode two.

Beth and Rip married on the ranch in an impromptu ceremony.

In the season four finale, Beth decided to throw together a last-minute wedding outside the Dutton cabin.

It came after she almost bolted, leaving the Yellowstone ranch, her family, and Rip all behind, after feeling immense guilt over the secrets she had kept from Rip over the years.

When Rip convinced her to stay put and keep the promises she had made to him, she decided it was as good a time as ever to make that promise more permanent.

Wearing a white leopard-print coat and a gold dress, Beth and Rip married — with the help of a priest Beth had managed to rope in to officiate. The ceremony took place in front of their nearest and dearest, including Carter.

Relive the moment: Season four, episode 10.

A flashback revealed that Rip's loyalty to the ranch was intertwined with his loyalty to Beth.

Season five filled in some more gaps about Rip's early days at the ranch. One flashback showed how Rip got his chest branded with the Yellowstone Y — the indication that you're committed to the ranch forever — after getting into a fight with an older cowboy who had said some less-than-chivalrous things about Beth.

After Beth and Rip began their romance as teenagers, Beth decided to make Rip jealous by going on a date with an older cowboy named Rowdy (Kai Caster). When Rip and Rowdy were paired up on a job together, conversation turned to the boss's daughter. A fight ensued after Rowdy said some insulting things about her.

After Rowdy pulled a knife on the teen, Rip hit him around the head with a rock, accidentally killing him.

When he admitted what happened to John (played in flashbacks by Josh Lucas), he was introduced to the concept of the Train Station — the "trash can for everyone who's ever attacked us" that lies in a "jurisdictional dead zone," as John puts it — and asked to never speak of it again. Being privy to the Dutton family's secret meant that Rip was asked to swear loyalty to the ranch, something that he had no hesitation in doing.

Relive the moment: Season five, episode seven.

Beth and Rip bought their own ranch together in the series finale.

Beth and Rip left the Yellowstone ranch for new pastures after the Dutton ranch was given back to the Broken Rock Tribe.

When audiences last saw Beth and Rip at the end of the finale, they were settled into their new home and ranch, miles away from the Yellowstone ranch, along with their adopted son Carter (Finn Little).

Relive the moment: Season five, episode 14.

• Warning: Spoilers ahead for the series finale of Paramount Network's "Yellowstone."
• The finale of the neo-western drama aired on Sunday.
• Here's where the most prominent characters found themselves at the end of the series.

"Yellowstone" aired its finale this week, putting an end to the cowboy drama that has captured audiences' attention for more than half a decade.

There were twists, turns, and in classic "Yellowstone" style, someone was taken to the "Train Station."

Here's where all the major characters wound up in the series finale of "Yellowstone."

John Dutton was killed off-screen at the start of the midseason premiere.

The fate of the Dutton patriarch (Kevin Costner) was revealed minutes into the season five midseason premiere of "Yellowstone."

John's death occurred off-screen in the bathroom of his governor's house in the Montana capital of Helena.

While it initially appeared that he died by suicide, it emerged that his son Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) and Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), a lawyer who was in a sexual relationship with Jamie, orchestrated a hit.

Beth Dutton avenged her father's death.

Across five seasons, Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) earned a reputation as someone who doesn't suffer fools gladly.

She knew as soon as her father died that Jamie was involved in the murder plot, directly or indirectly, and so made it her mission to avenge John's death.

In the series finale, she killed Jamie before Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) dumped him at the "Train Station."

Rip Wheeler moved to a new, smaller ranch with Beth.

Rip was initially facing the prospect of being separated from Beth for a year after being asked to take care of cattle down in Texas. But after John died, he promptly returned to the Dutton ranch to be there for his wife.

He stayed there until he and Beth decided to pack up and leave for new pastures. The couple bought a new, smaller ranch in rural Montana and moved there with their adopted son, Carter (Finn Little).

Kayce gave up the ranch and chose freedom instead.

As the last surviving legitimate son of John Dutton — his older brother Lee (Dave Annable) was killed in season one — Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) had been the frontrunner to inherit the sprawling ranch from his father.

In the finale, he gave up the burden of the ranch and instead chose freedom.

A cowboy at heart, however, he bought some cattle to rear on a small parcel of land he decided to keep for his family.

Monica was touched by her husband returning the land to the Native American community.

Monica Dutton (Kelsey Asbille) is the granddaughter of the Broken Rock tribe elder Felix Long (Rudy Ramos) and has been married to Kayce since the beginning of the show.

Though their marriage had its ups and downs across the seasons, the finale proved that the most important thing to both of them was family.

The last time audiences saw Monica, she, Kayce, and their son Tate (Brecken Merrill) were pitching in to guide their new herd of cattle home.

Jamie was killed for the role he played in John's murder.

Jamie, who was adopted by the Dutton family as an infant but learned who his biological parents were in season three, spent most of the series swinging wildly between trying to earn John's respect and trying to destroy him.

In the end, Jamie turned against John. Though he wasn't directly involved in John's death, Jamie gave Sarah enough encouragement to go ahead with the murder plot.

While Jamie came to regret this, he paid the ultimate price for his mistake.

Colby, one of the ranch hands, was accidentally killed by a horse.

John's wasn't the only death to shake the Dutton ranch. Colby (Denim Richards), a long-serving horse wrangler, was also killed while defending Carter (Finn Little), an inexperienced cowboy, from an out-of-control stallion in the final run of episodes.

Teeter was heartbroken by Colby's death.

Colby and Teeter (Jen Landon) were one of the show's most unlikely romantic pairings. The short-lived romance between the two ranch hands ended in tragedy when Colby was killed while Teeter was in Texas.

Beth took Teeter under her wing following Colby's death, but Teeter ultimately decided there were too many painful memories in Montana.

She requested a job at Travis' (Taylor Sheridan) ranch down in Texas and made the move.

Ryan gave up ranching so he could pursue his romance with Abby.

Ryan (Ian Bohen), a stalwart of the show, decided he'd had enough of putting his life on hold.

After the ranch was sold, instead of getting another cowboy job, he sought out his ex-girlfriend Abby (Lainey Wilson) at one of her country shows.

The two reconciled and Ryan joked that he'd take a job as one of her road crew so he could stay close to her.

Thomas Rainwater, once one of the Dutton family's biggest adversaries, struck a deal with Kayce to buy the land.

The chairman of the Broken Rock Reservation, Chief Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham), had been fighting with the Duttons over the land surrounding the ranch since season one.

While Rainwater didn't appear much in season five, he returned in a big way in the series finale.

Kayce decided to sell the ranch to the reservation for the same price — $1.25 an acre — that his ancestors bought it for almost 150 years prior.

Sarah Atwood, who masterminded John's hit, was taken out by assassins.

Sarah Atwood got her comeuppance not long after the hit on John was carried out.

After Beth convinced her brother that their father wouldn't have killed himself, no matter the circumstances, Kayce paid a visit to the coroner's office and convinced them to reexamine his father's body and change his cause of death to "undetermined."

While the circumstances around Sarah's death weren't fully spelled out, it appeared that she was gunned down by the same assassins in an attempt to cover their tracks.

• Paramount Network's "Yellowstone" concluded on Sunday after five seasons.
• The series ended with the Dutton ranch being sold off to the Broken Rock Reservation.
• Beth and Rip moved onto pastures new with a smaller ranch in rural Montana.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for the series finale of "Yellowstone."

After five seasons and over a year of headline-dominating behind-the-scenes drama, "Yellowstone," Paramount Network's modern-day horse opera, has been put out to pasture.

The series — which up until its most recent batch of episodes starred Kevin Costner as a rancher contemplating which of his adult children would be the right fit to inherit his sprawling ranch — has become the most-watched scripted series in America since it hit screens in 2018.

In November, stars of the series spoke to Business Insider about the show's "mind-boggling" popularity, which only increased in the last few weeks as the show neared its conclusion.

"I think that there's something very human about it where it's looking forward and backward with the same glance," Kelsey Asbille, said. "I think that's maybe the secret sauce."

Her costar Luke Grimes credited the fact that, in his opinion "Yellowstone" had something that has distinguished it from the other Westerns — Taylor Sheridan, whom he called "the best writer for this genre that has ever existed."

The final episode, which aired on Sunday, clocked in at over 90 minutes and gave audiences the closure they'd been waiting for: John's murder was avenged, and the fate of the ranch was finally revealed.

Here's a recap of how "Yellowstone" concluded.

John's body was laid to rest on the ranch.

The final episode saw John's body released from the coroner's office, meaning that the family could finally hold a funeral for him. Viewers may recall that his body ended up having a second post-mortem examination, which revealed there had been foul play in his death.

Rip (Cole Hauser) and the men from the bunkhouse dug a hole for his coffin in the Dutton graveyard, and Beth (Kelly Reilly) gathered the family — minus Jamie — to give John a small, intimate funeral.

Beth was overcome by emotion at seeing the coffin, but when asked by the preacher if she wanted to say her goodbyes, she returned to her steely self and said: "I will avenge you."

Beth made good on her promise to avenge her father's murder.

Beth took off from the funeral and headed straight to her adopted brother Jamie's (Wes Bentley) house in Helena.

Having just delivered a speech distancing himself from his involvement in his father's death, he returned home to find Beth hiding in his house.

A brutal and bloody fight between them ensued and, had Rip not got there just in time, Jamie might have choked Beth to death. Although Rip was ready to let loose on Jamie, Beth asked him to stop so that she could be the one to kill him. She then fatally stabbed Jamie in the chest and held his gaze, keeping another promise she once made: that she would be the last thing he would ever see.

Afterward, Rip drove Jamie to the 'Train Station' — in other words, he dumped his body off the side of a cliff. Meanwhile, Beth stayed at the house and called the police, pinning everything on Jamie — her father's murder, Sarah Atwood's hit, and her own close call with death.

Kayce struck a deal with the Broken Rock Reservation to keep the ranch from being sold to developers.

Having gotten his sister's approval in the previous episode, Kayce went ahead with his plan to sell the ranch to the Broken Rock Reservation for the same cheap price — $1.25 an acre — that his ancestors bought it for almost 150 years prior.

"Congratulations, you just made the worst land deal since my people sold Manhattan," Chief Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) told him.

However, Rainwater said there was one distinction: the Yellowstone ranch land will never change in a way that will make it unrecognizable in another 150 years. The tribe will live on the land but never sell it to developers.

As Beth had whispered to John's coffin earlier in the episode, this was perhaps the only way for the ranch to be saved.

"You made me promise not to sell an inch, and I hope you understand that this is me keeping it. There may not be cows on it, but there won't be condos, either. We won," she said.

The ranch's cowboys dispersed.

With no ranch, the crew of cowboys living in the bunkhouse decided their futures. Teeter (Jennifer Landon) landed a job at Travis's (Taylor Sheridan) ranch alongside her old friend Jimmy (Jefferson White).

Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith), the oldest ranch hand, decided that if he couldn't be a cowboy at the Yellowstone ranch, he'd rather not be a cowboy at all and so retired.

Ryan (Ian Bohen) left the ranch and immediately sought out Abby (Lainey Wilson), the country singer he was previously dating, hoping she would take him back.

Beth and Rip left the Yellowstone ranch for pastures new.

When audiences saw Beth and Rip at the end of the episode, they were settled into their new home and ranch, miles away from the Yellowstone ranch, along with their adopted son Carter (Finn Little).

As Beth had promised, the place was really out in the sticks, miles away from a town, let alone an airport. The closest bar, she told Rip, even turned away tourists if they happened to pass through.

"Sounds like my kind of place," Rip told his wife.

Elsewhere, Kayce, Monica (Kelsey Asbille), and their son Tate (Brecken Merrill) had kept a small patch of land for themselves and begun farming their own cattle. Although Rip had offered Kayce the Yellowstone Dutton ranch sign to take with him to his new farm, Kayce declined, stating that he was thinking of starting his own brand.

• Florence Pugh has said it's "exhausting" to be a young woman in the acting industry.
• Pugh told The Times of London that female movie stars face being called divas if they don't follow stereotypes.
• "There are fine lines women have to stay within," she said.

Florence Pugh has opened up about what it's like to be a young woman in Hollywood, describing the experience as "exhausting."

In an interview with The Times of London published on Sunday, the 28-year-old British star reflected on her decadelong career as an actor and issues in the industry.

"There are fine lines women have to stay within, otherwise they are called a diva, demanding, problematic. And I don't want to fit into stereotypes made by others," Pugh said. "It is really exhausting for a young woman to just be in this industry, and actually other industries."

Pugh rose to fame after making her movie debut in "The Falling" in 2014. She followed that up with roles in "Midsommar," "Black Widow," "Oppenheimer," "Dune: Part Two," and "Little Women" — the latter of which earned her an Oscar nomination.

Pugh told The Times that throughout her career, she had loved challenging ideas she didn't like, such as how women in the public eye are expected to look.

"I remember watching this industry and feeling that I wasn't represented. I remember godawful headlines about how Keira Knightley isn't thin anymore, or watching women getting torn apart despite being talented and beautiful," she said. "The only thing people want to talk about is some useless crap about how they look. And so I didn't care to abide by those rules."

Pugh has frequently spoken out over comments to do with her body or look.

In 2019, the actor called out a publication for "singling out my 'chunky' thighs" in a review of one of her movies.

The "We Live in Time" star also told The Telegraph in 2022 that she was told to lose weight and change her "look" when she was cast in a failed television pilot at the start of her career.

Pugh also spoke out over comments she received after wearing a transparent pink gown to a Valentino Haute Couture show in 2022.

In the interview with The Times, Pugh said: "I wanted to challenge how women were perceived, how we are supposed to look."

"Actually I wasn't trying to challenge. I just wanted to be there, to make space for a version of a person that isn't all the things they used to have to be," Pugh said. "I'm proud I've stuck by myself and look the way I look — I'm really interested in people who are still angry with me for not losing more weight, or who just hate my nose ring."

"I am not going to be able to just change the way that things are — but I can certainly help young women coming into this industry by making conversations happen where they weren't before," she added.

The actor recently revealed that she had been previously diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis and that it had prompted her to freeze her eggs.

• FIFA, soccer's world governing body, is facing backlash over a map it showed of Ukraine.
• The map appeared to show Ukraine without Crimea as part of it.
• A spokesperson for Ukraine's Foreign Ministry demanded a public apology from FIFA.

FIFA, soccer's world governing body, is facing backlash after showing a map that appeared to omit Crimea from Ukrainian territory.

The map, which was shown during a 2026 World Cup qualifying draw earlier this week, was designed to show countries that cannot be drawn to play against each other for geopolitical reasons, such as Ukraine and Belarus.

However, the graphic appeared to highlight Ukraine but without Crimea as part of it.

In response, Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote on X: "Are you OK, @FIFAcom?"

"By redrawing international borders in yesterday's broadcast, you not only acted against international law, but also supported Russian propaganda, war crimes, and the crime of aggression against Ukraine," he continued, adding that Ukraine expected "a public apology."

He said they had also "fixed" the map for FIFA and shared another version of it with Crimea highlighted.

In a statement to Business Insider, FIFA said it was "aware of an issue, which affected one of the graphics displayed during the draw and addressed the situation with the federation."

"The segment has been removed," it added.

The Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) said it had written to FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström and UEFA Secretary General Theodore Theodoridis about the matter.

"We are writing to express our deep concern regarding the infographic map of Europe shown during the TV broadcast of the European Qualifiers draw," the letter reads.

"We emphasize that the version of the map presented by FIFA during the global broadcast to a multi-million audience is unacceptable," it continues. "It appears as an inconsistent stance by FIFA and UEFA on this crucial issue, especially in light of the ongoing destructive invasion initiated by Russia against Ukraine in the 21st century, in the heart of Europe."

Business Insider contacted the UAF for comment.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has long vowed to end Russia's occupation of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

The peninsula — the home of Russia's Black Sea Fleet — holds great strategic importance for the Kremlin, and it has been a major target for Kyiv since Putin launched his full-scale invasion in 2022.

The 2026 World Cup is set to take place across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Ukraine is in qualifying group D, where it is set to face off against Iceland, Azerbaijan, and the winners of the France vs. Croatia Nations League quarter-final.

FIFA this week confirmed that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup.

• "Saturday Night Live" has tackled the social media reaction to the arrest of Luigi Mangione.
• Mangione was charged with killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.
• The sketch featured a character saying he's gotten "the horniest DMs" due to looking like Mangione.

"Saturday Night Live" kicked off its latest episode with a cold open that took on the internet's reaction to Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, who was charged with second-degree murder in connection with Thompson's death, has emerged as a heartthrob in certain corners of the internet.

In a sketch parodying the show "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace," the "SNL" cast tackled the social media response to Mangione, with Sarah Sherman playing Grace.

Recapping Mangione's arrest at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania earlier this month, Sherman said: "Of course, everyone online celebrated the hard work of law enforcement in apprehending this dangerous criminal."

"Just kidding! Y'all psychos made him a sex symbol," she added, before describing Mangione as looking like "Dave Franco with Eugene Levy's eyebrows."

"I mean, really, what is going on in this country? Y'all, this man is not a sex icon. This man is — and I cannot say this any clearer — a murderer," she said.

Sherman later interviewed a character played by longtime cast member Kenan Thompson, asking him if he could believe people were attracted to this "sexy slayer."

"I mean, women love bad boys," Thompson replied.

"Back in the day, you could impress your old lady with a little poem, now you got to write a manifesto," he continued, seemingly referencing the handwritten note Mangione had in his possession when he was arrested.

The sketch then introduced a man who had been "affected closely by this story," played by cast member Emil Wakim.

Speaking as a guy who "happens to look like Luigi Mangione," Wakim said: "Yeah, this whole thing's kind of been a roller coaster for me."

"On one hand, I keep getting tackled by bounty hunters, but on the other hand, I've gotten some of the horniest DMs in my life," he added.

Thanks to his digital footprint, much of Mangione's life has been laid out in public since his identification and arrest.

"Saturday Night Live" illustrated their sketch by including a shirtless photo of Mangione that has gone viral since it was uncovered by internet sleuths.

Since his arrest, a Mangione look-alike contest has been held in New York City, Spotify playlists have been dedicated to him, and fanfiction featuring him has also been written.

As Business Insider previously reported, Mangione-themed merchandise has also been popping up online.

• A man from Northern Ireland looks set to spend Christmas in the UAE following his arrest.
• Authorities in Abu Dhabi arrested Craig Ballentine after he posted a negative Google review about his former UAE employer.
• Ballentine's family said the situation is "a living nightmare."

A man from Northern Ireland who was arrested after posting a negative review about his former employer in Dubai looks set to spend Christmas in the United Arab Emirates.

Craig Ballentine was arrested in Abu Dhabi's airport in October over a negative Google review he posted about his former workplace — a dog grooming salon in Dubai, according to Radha Stirling, an advocate who helps foreigners navigate legal trouble in the UAE.

Ballentine spent about six months working at the salon in 2023. He said he needed time off due to illness and presented his employer with medical certificates as proof of his condition.

But the employer reported him as "absconded" with UAE authorities after he missed work, and he was hit with a travel ban.

After getting the ban lifted, Ballentine returned to Northern Ireland, where he wrote a Google review detailing the issues with his former employer.

He was arrested after returning to the UAE for a holiday and now faces charges of slander.

Ballentine, who said he had paid a fine and was given a one-month social media ban, had hoped to get his travel ban lifted and return to Northern Ireland ahead of Christmas.

But he told the BBC that while on the way to a police station to get the ban lifted, he was told authorities wanted to appeal his case and had set a court date for February.

"While I was in the middle of the transit going there, I got the email that the court was not happy and they wanted to appeal again," he said. "I called friends and family and couldn't stop crying, because you're holding on to those emotions, you're just trying to focus on 'let's get out of here.'"

A GoFundMe set up by Ballentine's family has raised nearly $2,500 to help with his legal fees.

"What started out as a holiday to catch up with friends for Craig has turned out to be a living nightmare," the family says on the page.

"At present legal fees are crippling and any money raised will go to help clearing these costs," they added.

Ballentine has also appealed to politicians to support his case with the help of Radha Stirling, a representative from the campaign group "Detained in Dubai."

"The amount of support Craig has is quite incredible," Stirling said. "Charging someone for an online review is something everyone can imagine happening to them. We've received an influx of worried tourists contacting us to check their police status in Dubai and it's certainly a good idea."

Stirling has helped several tourists held up in the country on exaggerated charges and forced to pay costly fees as a resolution. She previously told Business Insider that it's relatively easy to file a complaint that can prevent someone from leaving the country.

"There's been a lot of cases in the past where people have been accused of road rage or flipping the middle finger and that kind of thing, even when they haven't," Stirling previously told BI. "Then someone goes down to the police station, and whatever they say is automatically believed. They don't need evidence."

In one case Stirling worked on, a female college student lightly nudged an airport security officer during a security screening search. They accused her of assault, and she was unable to leave the nation for months.

In another case, a woman was detained after she was accused of screaming, which her accusers said violated a vague law criminalizing "offensive behavior" like rudeness or swearing. She paid $1,000 to have the travel ban that prevented her from leaving lifted, though her accusers initially demanded $10,000.

"It's actually culturally widespread, and the police haven't done anything to clamp down on that sort of extortion," Stirling previously told BI.

• A series of NATO air policing missions around Estonia has seen F-35 and Rafale jets called into action.
• French Rafale jets intercepted a Russian IL-18 aircraft off Estonia's coast on Friday.
• Dutch F-35s intercepted three Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea last week.

A series of recent NATO air policing missions around Estonia has seen Dutch and French fighter jets called into action to intercept Russian aircraft.

Two French Rafale jets intercepted a Russian Ilyushin Il-18 airliner off the coast of Estonia on Friday, the General Staff of the French Armed Forces said in a post on X.

NATO Air Command said the mission was the Rafale's first scramble since it began an air policing mission based out of Šiauliai, Lithuania.

It comes after Dutch F-35 fighter jets intercepted a number of Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea last week.

The Dutch defense ministry said two F-35s stationed in Estonia were scrambled after three Russian planes — an Antonov An-72, a Su-24, and an Ilyushin Il-20 — were identified in the region.

Dutch F-35s have been keeping a watch over NATO airspace on the alliance's eastern flank since the start of December, the ministry said.

It's not the first time such an incident has occurred in recent months.

Norwegian F-35s were called into action in November in response to Russian aircraft "not adhering to international norms" off the coast of Norway, NATO's Air Command said at the time.

Italy's air force also intercepted a Russian Coot-A plane flying over the Baltic Sea on the same day.

The Rafale

The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-jet fighter aircraft that can operate from both an aircraft carrier and a land base.

It entered service with the French Navy in 2004 and with the French Air Force in 2006.

It is used to carry out a variety of missions, including air policing, deep strikes, and reconnaissance, according to the manufacturer.

The F-35

The F-35, which is billed as the "most advanced fighter jet in the world" by manufacturer Lockheed Martin, has faced criticism from Elon Musk.

The Tesla CEO said on X in late November that the jet's design "was broken at the requirements level, because it was required to be too many things to too many people."

"This made it an expensive & complex jack of all trades, master of none. Success was never in the set of possible outcomes," Musk wrote, adding: "And manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones anyway. Will just get pilots killed."

Some reports have suggested that Musk may be eyeing the F-35 program, and possibly other fighter jets, for potential spending cuts through his role in the Department of Government Efficiency.

Although he would likely face an uphill battle to do so, as Business Insider previously reported.

• Warning: Major spoilers ahead for season seven, episode 11 of the Starz drama "Outlander."
• Actor David Berry spoke to BI about shooting an intimate scene with Caitríona Balfe.
• The actor said he would always wonder if they could have done it differently.

Season seven, episode 11 of "Outlander" saw the Starz drama take on one of the most-anticipated — and controversial — storylines from the book series written by Diana Gabaldon.

After learning in the previous episode that the ship Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) was traveling on had sunk, Claire Fraser (Caitríona Balfe) and Lord John Grey (David Berry) were left grief-stricken.

When audiences saw them next, the pair hastily married to stop the English army from arresting Claire for espionage.

While their marriage was meant to be entirely platonic — given John's sexuality and Claire's unending love for Jamie — the two unexpectedly ended up consummating their marriage while in a haze of despair, drunkenness, and delirium while both imagining that the other is their beloved Jamie.

Speaking to Business Insider, Berry reflected on the experience of shooting his first sex scene for "Outlander" and the challenges that came with it.

"This was a very big moment for me as an actor because it's the first time that I was called upon to do sort of an 'Outlander' intimate scene," Berry said, adding that it "was a moment I was afraid of but also looking forward to."

Berry's trepidation at taking on the scene is understandable. While not the most shocking scene in "Outlander" — the show has long been serving up challenging scenes — it is one particularly unpopular with fans given its implications for Jamie and Claire's romance.

But Berry said that despite his concerns, he went into the storyline with enthusiasm.

"I think as someone who's been on the show for eight years and has sometimes felt like I've been on the bench, this was a great opportunity for me to step up my game," Berry said.

"There was a lot of excitement, on my behalf, to portray something so challenging and weird and just kind of solve that mystery of how and why these characters do what they do," he continued, adding: "It's a dangerous moment for the show because it really tests the credulity of the audience to believe that these characters would do such a thing."

"You still have to ground it in some element of truth," he added.

The actor said it was no easy feat to nail the scene in a way that would communicate his and Balfe's characters' shared trauma, corporeal urges, and the humanity behind their decision.

The pair prepared for the sequence with Vanessa Coffey, who has worked as an intimacy coordinator on the show since season six.

But preparation began long before even getting to set.

"Cait and I spent some time just doing some drama school kind of nerdy stuff, just improvising through the scene to find that stuff that isn't spoken about," Berry recalled.

"Of course, everyone had different ideas about how it should be depicted, and having Vanessa there to arbitrate all that was was really great," he continued. "She had a really tough job because it was not like any other love scene that's been depicted on the show."

Due to its unique, unconventional nature, Berry said he would always look back on the scene and wonder if they could have done it differently.

"It's one of those moments in which I'll always look back and think, 'Could we have done more?' Because there are so many different ways to do it," he said, adding that he thought they "gave it a good crack."

"I was willing to push it as far as needed to go," he continued. "There were ideas about how far we should push it, of course, and questions like 'Do audiences really want to see what John and Claire get on heavy?' and I still don't know the answer."

• South Korea's parliament has voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, according to local media.
• It comes after Yoon's attempt to impose martial law in South Korea in early December.
• Yoon survived a first impeachment vote last week.

South Korea's National Assembly has voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his decision to impose a short-lived martial law on December 3, according to the country's Yonhap news agency.

South Korea's parliament reportedly passed the motion by 204 votes to 85, with three lawmakers abstaining and eight votes nullified.

Yoon's decision to implement martial law earlier this month led to widespread protests in Seoul and calls for his resignation.

He later apologized and survived a first impeachment vote last weekend, which members of his People Power Party boycotted.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

• Bashar Assad's government in Syria collapsed on Sunday, ending his 24 years in power.
• Rebel forces led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham swept through Syria, seizing Damascus.
• Here's what we know about HTS.

Bashar Assad's 24-year rule came to an end on Sunday as rebels swept into Damascus, the Syrian capital.

Shortly after insurgents declared the city "free," Russia's foreign ministry announced Assad had resigned his position and left the country. Russian state news later reported that Assad had arrived in Moscow, where he was granted asylum.

The collapse of Assad's government came after a coalition of opposition forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a surprise offensive, seizing control of major cities like Aleppo, Hama, and Homs in a matter of days.

Syrians around the world celebrated the end of Assad's rule, which was marked by brutal suppression. His violent crackdown on peaceful anti-government protests in 2011, part of the Arab Spring uprisings, sparked a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions, straining neighboring countries like Turkey and Lebanon.

World leaders conveyed cautious optimism after news of Assad's ouster, but uncertainty remains around what kind of government and leader will replace him.

One major player will almost certainly be HTS, which is led by Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, a Syrian who fought against US occupation in Iraq alongside a branch of Al Qaeda.

Jolani later returned to Syria, his homeland, where he fought with Jabhat Al-Nusra — an Al Qaeda offshoot formed in 2012 — and other rebel groups against Assad's forces.

Jolani severed his ties with Al Qaeda in 2016 and formed a new group, which eventually became HTS in 2017. Since then, Jolani has portrayed himself as a more moderate leader to gain international legitimacy. Both the United States and the United Nations still list HTS as a terrorist organization.

In one 2021 interview with PBS Frontline, Jolani called the group's terrorist designation a "political label that carries no truth or credibility."

"Through our 10-year journey in this revolution, we haven't posed any threat to Western or European society: no security threat, no economic threat, nothing. That's why this designation is politicized," he said.

In recent years, HTS has controlled Syria's northwestern Idlib Province, where analysts say it worked to consolidate power and transform its image while pursuing its ultimate goal of toppling Assad.

In Idlib, Jolani established the so-called Syrian Salvation Government, which has acted as a showcase for what his leadership could bring to a wider area.

Speaking about the Salvation Government in the PBS interview, Jolani said that while the situation in Idlib was not ideal, there was "a self-asserting model that was capable of running the affairs of a whole country under an Islamic rule."

While some have remained doubtful that the group has fully cut its links with Al Qaeda, it has put forth a message of inclusiveness and unity in recent days, calling for a peaceful transition of power and reassuring religious and ethnic minorities in Syria.

"In the future Syria … diversity is our strength, not a weakness," the group said in a statement to the Kurdish minority in Aleppo.

Aron Lund, a fellow at Century International and a Middle East analyst at the Swedish Defense Research Agency, told Sky News that while Jolani and his group had changed, they remained "pretty hardline."

"It's PR, but the fact they are engaging in this effort at all shows they are no longer as rigid as they once were," he said, referencing video footage showing Jolani forbidding fighters from entering homes and telling them to protect citizens. "Old-school Al Qaeda or the Islamic State would never have done that."

HTS is only one part of an ideologically diverse opposition, and it remains to be seen if the coalition can peacefully share power and extend unified control over the whole country.

"If not, intra-Syrian territorial fragmentation, and the potential emergence of regional warlords and fiefdoms, will quickly grow," Jonathan Panikoff, the director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council's Middle East Program, told Business Insider.

• A pair of ruby slippers has become the most expensive piece of entertainment memorabilia sold at auction.
• The shoes, which featured in "The Wizard of Oz," fetched $28 million at auction.
• The pair — one of several worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 film — were once stolen from a museum.

A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz" sold at an auction on Saturday for $28 million — the highest- price ever paid for a piece of entertainment memorabilia.

Heritage Auctions, the auction house that sold the shoes, which are one of four surviving pairs from the 1939 movie, said in a press release that live bidding opened at $1.55 million, with pre-auction estimates for the slippers starting from $3 million.

"They surpassed that within seconds," the auction house said.

Including the Dallas-based auction house's fee, the unknown buyer is set to pay $32.5 million in total.

The iconic slippers, dubbed the "the Holy Grail of Hollywood memorabilia" by the auction house, already had a storied past.

As Rhys Thomas, author of "The Ruby Slippers of Oz," put it, they have seen "more twists and turns than the Yellow Brick Road."

They disappeared for more than a decade after being stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005 while on loan.

The FBI recovered the shoes in 2018 during a sting operation.

The man behind the heist, Terry Jon Martin, 77, pleaded guilty to the theft last year.

An attorney for Martin said that his client had believed that the rubies on the shoes were real, but he got rid of them after being told they were glass.

Martin, who was suffering from poor health, was given no prison time at a hearing in early 2024, the Associated Press reported.

The shoes were returned to their owner, Michael Shaw, earlier this year. He gave them to Heritage Auctions for Saturday's auction.

The sale of the shoes comes amid renewed interest in the musical following the release of "Wicked," which tells the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West.

The movie, which stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, has taken the box office by storm, grossing more than $295 million domestically and over $390 million worldwide.

• Syrian dictator Bashar Assad has resigned and fled his country.
• Rebel forces said they seized control of the capital, Damascus.
• The collapse of Assad's government could have major global implications.

Syrians around the world celebrated as rebels, after more than a decadelong fight, finally toppled the country's longtime leader, Bashar Assad, on Sunday.

The Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday that Assad had resigned from his position as Syrian president and left the country. Russian state news reported that Assad had arrived in Moscow, where he's been granted asylum.

Syrian anti-government forces announced early on Sunday morning that they had advanced into Damascus, Syria's capital.

In a post on social media, rebel commander Hassan Abdul-Ghani said: "We declare Damascus free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad."

"Today 8-12-2024 Syria is officially free," he added in a later post.

Hassan Akkad, who fled Syria in 2015 and is now based in the UK, posted to X, "Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free."

World leaders react

President-elect Donald Trump said on Truth Social on Sunday that Assad had "fled his country" after losing Russia's support.

"Assad is gone," Trump wrote. "His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer."

In a press briefing on Sunday, President Joe Biden called the fall of Assad's government "a fundamental act of justice" and "a moment of opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country."

Biden said the US would support Syria's neighbors Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Israel "should any threat arise from Syria during this transition." Biden said the United States would also "maintain our mission against ISIS" inside the country, referring to the terrorist group operating in the region.

The US military conducted at least a dozen airstrikes inside Syria on Sunday, "targeting ISIS camps and ISIS operatives," Biden said.

The United States will also support Syria through the United Nations to create a new government through a process determined by the Syrian people, Biden said.

"The United States will do whatever we can to support them, including through humanitarian relief, to help restore Syria after more than a decade of war and generational brutality by the Assad family," Biden said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a Sunday statement, echoed the president's sentiment, saying the US "will support international efforts to hold the Assad regime and its backers accountable for atrocities and abuses perpetrated against the Syrian people, including the use of chemical weapons and the unjust detention of civilians such as Austin Tice."

The Syrian people, Blinken added, "finally have reason for hope."

Kaja Kallas, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, called Assad's resignation "a positive and long-awaited development."

"It also shows the weakness of Assad's backers, Russia and Iran," Kallas said in a statement. "Our priority is to ensure security in the region. I will work with all the constructive partners in Syria and in the region."

Geir Pedersen, the UN's Special Envoy for Syria, said in a statement, "Today marks a watershed moment in Syria's history."

How rebels took control of Aleppo

In late November, the coalition of rebel groups launched a surprise offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which traces its origins to the Al Qaeda terrorist network. It has more recently promoted more moderate views.

The rebels quickly took control of Aleppo, one of Syria's largest cities, Hama, and the strategic city of Homs, which sits at an important crossroads linking Damascus to the coast.

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of HTS, is a Syrian who fought against US occupation in Iraq with Al Qaeda. He is believed to have cut ties with the terrorist organization in 2016 but is still designated a terrorist by the US, which has placed a $10 million bounty on his head.

Al-Jolani has sought to portray himself as a more moderate leader and promoted messages of religious and ethnic inclusivity as HTS pushed toward Damascus. Still, HTS has a reputation as a hardline Islamist faction.

"This victory, my brothers, is a victory for the entire Islamic nation," Al-Jolani said in a speech to his followers this weekend, per a translation by CNN. "This new triumph, my brothers, marks a new chapter in the history of the region."

What Assad's ousting means for Russia and Iran

The collapse of Assad's government could have significant global implications, especially for Russia and Iran, which have been two of Assad's strongest allies.

Moscow operates two major military facilities in Syria — the Hmeimim airbase and the Tartus naval base — which have given its forces crucial access to the Mediterranean Sea and a base to launch operations into Africa.

Losing access to these bases would scupper many of Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans in the region, Zineb Riboua, a research fellow and program manager at the Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, wrote on X: "Without a strong Russian military base in Syria, all of Putin's plans collapse."

While Russia intervened to prop up Assad in 2015, its priorities have since shifted to the war in Ukraine, and it had appeared reluctant to divert any significant resources to help Assad this time around.

On Sunday, Russia's foreign ministry said there was no security threat to its military bases in Syria but that they were on high alert.

For Iran, Syria has been part of an important land corridor stretching from Tehran to Baghdad, Damascus, and Beirut, helping it support key regional proxies such as the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

"For Iran, Syria is absolutely essential in order to maintain its proxy network," Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told Business Insider.

But Tehran, too, has been distracted by its conflict with Israel, while Hezbollah has been left in disarray after Israel killed its longtime leader and wounded thousands of its fighters with exploding pagers and walkie-talkies.

In a separate post on TruthSocial on Saturday, Trump called on the United States to stay out of the situation in Syria, writing: "Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!"

This story is being updated as the situation unfolds.

• The Russian embassy in Syria has advised Russian citizens to leave the country.
• It cited the "difficult military and political situation in Syria," a Russian ally.
• The warning came as anti-government rebels advanced on the strategic city of Homs.

The Russian embassy in Syria has advised its citizens to leave the country "in the light of the difficult military and political situation."

In a post on Telegram, the embassy said Russian nationals should leave on commercial flights through operating airports, adding that the embassy continues to operate "as usual."

The announcement comes amid Russian airstrikes targeting rebel forces who launched a surprise offensive against Syrian President Bashar Assad's government forces late last month.

The rebels, led by Islamist militants from the opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, have already taken control of the key cities of Aleppo and Hama, and are continuing their advance toward the city of Homs, which sits at an important crossroads linking the capital Damascus — the seat of Assad's power — to the coast.

Should Homs fall, there would be no major cities between the rebels and Damascus.

For Russia, the mounting pressure on Assad's government has significant implications.

Moscow operates two major military bases in Syria, the Hmeimim airbase and the Tartus naval base.

The bases have been crucial for Russia's regional interests, providing its forces with important access to the Mediterranean Sea and a "launching pad to move into Africa," Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told Business Insider.

Zineb Riboua, a research fellow and program manager at the Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, wrote on X that losing Syria would be a big blow for Putin, scuppering many of his plans across the region and damaging his reputation with African governments.

"Without a strong Russian military base in Syria, all of Putin's plans collapse," Riboua said.

Moscow intervened to prop up Assad in 2015, but analysts say the ongoing war in Ukraine means it's unlikely to have the resources to provide significant support this time around.

Assad will instead likely have to rely on help from Syria's longtime ally Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah.

Iran also helped support Assad against rebel forces in 2015, and Iran-backed militiamen are reported to have begun entering Syria from Iraq to back the embattled president once again.

But this time, it may be difficult for Tehran to pull together sufficient forces, Aron Lund, a Middle East analyst at the Swedish Defence Research Agency, told BI.

"Hezbollah, which was Tehran's primary instrument in Syria over the past decade, is now stuck in Lebanon, tending to its wounds and trying to get back on its feet after being mauled by Israel over the course of a two-month war," Lund said.

He added: "I'm not sure Iran can muster the numbers in time to turn this situation around."