• Elon Musk said Reform UK's Nigel Farage "doesn't have what it takes" to be the party's leader.
• It comes after Farage disagreed with Musk's support for jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
• Musk's comments came just hours after Farage called the Tesla CEO a "friend" in an interview.

Elon Musk appears to have turned on Reform UK's Nigel Farage, the leader of the country's right-wing party.

"The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn't have what it takes," Musk wrote on X on Sunday.

Musk has recently supported Reform UK as an alternative to the ruling Labour Party, primarily for its anti-immigration stance. Farage has welcomed that support and the two appeared to be forging a strong relationship. Farage recently visited Musk in the United States. And Musk was rumored to be lining up donations for Reform UK.

But things took a turn after Musk called for the release of Tommy Robinson, a jailed far-right anti-immigration activist. Speaking at a Reform UK event earlier this week, Farage said Robinson was "not what we need," The Telegraph reported.

"There are people in Britain who think that Robinson is a political prisoner. That's the narrative that he's pushed out. That's how he earns his living but it isn't quite true," he said.

On Sunday, Farage responded to Musk, calling the billionaire a "remarkable individual" but saying that he disagreed with his view on Robinson.

"Well, this is a surprise! Elon is a remarkable individual but on this I am afraid I disagree," he wrote. "My view remains that Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform and I never sell out my principles."

Robinson is a controversial far-right figure in the UK who was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October for contempt of court. Musk has repeatedly called for Robinson's release.

Robinson is something of a third rail in the UK. Farage, who does not shy away from controversy, accused the activist during far-right, anti-immigration riots in the UK over the summer of trying to "stir up hatred."

"As for the Tommy Robinsons and those that genuinely do stir up hatred, well, I've never had anything to do with them," Farage said in a video he posted at the time.

Hours before Musk's latest comments, the Reform UK leader described the tech mogul as a "friend" in an interview on the BBC.

Farage said the fact that Musk "supports me politically and supports Reform doesn't mean I have to agree with every single statement he makes on X."

Business Insider has contacted Reform UK for comment.

• Ukrainian forces appear to have launched a new offensive in Russia's Kursk region.
• Russia's Ministry of Defense said Ukraine had launched a "counterattack" at around 9 a.m. local time.
• A Ukrainian official said Russia was "getting what it deserves."

Ukrainian forces appear to have launched a new offensive in the Russian border region of Kursk.

Russia's Ministry of Defense said in a post on Telegram that Ukraine had launched a "counterattack" at around 9 a.m. local time.

"In order to halt the advance of Russian troops in the Kursk direction, the enemy launched a counterattack by an assault group consisting of two tanks, a demolition vehicle, and twelve armored combat vehicles," it said.

In a short post on Telegram, Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, said: "Kursk, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves."

The scale of the reported offensive is unclear. Ukraine launched an initial incursion into Kursk in August.

Rybar, a Russian war blog with more than 1.3 million subscribers, said that the latest operation could serve as a diversion. The US government has offered up to $10 million for information on Rybar, saying it had attempted "to bolster Russia's military capabilities and advance pro-Russian and anti-Western narratives."

"The intensification of the situation in the Kursk region may be a diversionary maneuver for a simultaneous offensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in other areas," read a post on Rybar's account.

"The Ukrainian command has been hatching plans for several months to break through the defense of the Russian Armed Forces in the Zaporizhzhia region and is probing for weak spots," it added.

It comes at a potentially pivotal moment for Kyiv as it gears up for the return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House.

Both Russia and Ukraine are racing to place their respective sides in the best possible position ahead of Trump's return.

Trump has pledged to bring the war in Ukraine to a swift end but has not detailed how he intends to do so.

Analysts say one possibility is a negotiated cease-fire deal with frozen front lines.

In a post on Truth Social in December, Trump called for an immediate cease-fire and the start of negotiations.

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

• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a surprise visit to Mar-a-Lago on Saturday.
• Meloni received a rapturous welcome to Trump's Florida resort, per videos circulating on social media.
• The pair reportedly discussed tariffs and the arrest of an Italian journalist in Iran.

Italy's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a surprise visit to President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday, just days before she's scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden.

Photos shared by the Italian government show Trump greeting Meloni and the pair posing at the entrance to the president-elect's Florida base.

While no official details of the meeting have been shared, Meloni and Trump are said to have discussed tariffs and the arrest in Iran of Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter.

The visit is also reported to have included a dinner and a screening of a new film called "The Eastman Dilemma: Lawfare or Justice."

"This is very exciting, I'm here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy," Trump reportedly told the crowd at Mar-a-Lago. "She's really taken Europe by storm, and everyone else, and we're just having dinner tonight."

It comes as Meloni — who received a rapturous welcome to the Palm Beach estate, according to videos circulating on social media — is set to welcome Biden to Rome for an official visit from January 9 to 12.

Meloni has been calling on EU members to carve out a positive relationship with Trump ahead of his return to office.

In a speech to the Italian parliament in December, Meloni said it was "essential to maintain a pragmatic, constructive and open approach with the new Trump administration, exploiting areas of potential and fruitful EU-U.S. cooperation and trying to prevent commercial disputes that would certainly not be good for anyone," per Politico.

She has also forged a growing bond with Elon Musk, who is set to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency under Trump's incoming administration.

Following Trump's election win in November, Meloni took to X to announce that her "friend" Musk had been in touch.

"I am convinced that his commitment and vision will be an important resource for the United States and Italy, in a spirit of collaboration aimed at addressing future challenges," she wrote.

In June 2023, Meloni hosted Musk at the Italian prime minister's official residence, the Palazzo Chigi.

Meloni and the Tesla CEO reportedly discussed AI, birth rates, innovation, and European market rules.

The prime minister called the meeting "fruitful" and a "moment of great cordiality" in a post on X.

In December 2023, Musk was also the guest of honor at Meloni's "Atreju" political festival in Rome.

The topic of birth rates was on the agenda again, as Musk urged Italians and other developed nations to have more children.

For his part, Musk has called Meloni a "precious genius" who was "even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside."

Since his election, Trump has also welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Argentinian President Javier Milei, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Mar-a-Lago.

Business Insider has contacted Meloni's office for comment.

• Emirates is calling out social media platforms for not acting quicker to remove a video showing a fake plane crash.
• A video depicting a fake Emirates jet crash in Abu Dhabi has been circulating.
• "We urge all audiences to always check and refer to official sources," Emirates said.

Emirates has called out social media platforms for not acting quicker to remove a video showing a fake plane crash.

The video, which appears to be computer-generated, shows a fake Emirates plane crash in Abu Dhabi.

In a statement posted on X, Emirates said: "We are aware of a video circulating on social media depicting an Emirates plane crash. Emirates confirms it is fabricated content and untrue."

The airline said it was in contact with "various social media platforms" in an effort to get the video taken down or "make clear that it is digitally created footage to avoid false and alarming information from circulating."

"Unfortunately the platforms' responses to such content review requests are not quick enough, therefore necessitating this statement," it continued.

Emirates also urged people to check and refer to official sources.

The video was still available to view on some platforms at the time of writing.

Business Insider has contacted Emirates for comment.

It comes as the airline announced its first Airbus A350 aircraft had officially entered commercial service, operating a flight from Dubai to Edinburgh.

Adnan Kazim, the airline's deputy president and chief commercial officer, said the flight marked a "pivotal" moment for the company and that it underscored "the strategic importance of the UK within our global network."

The aircraft is the first of 65 A350s Emirates has ordered from Airbus.

• Ann Telnaes, a longtime Washington Post cartoonist, has announced she is quitting her position.
• She said the move came after a cartoon featuring the Post's owner, Jeff Bezos, was rejected.
• The Post's opinion editor said he disagreed "with her interpretation of events."

Ann Telnaes, an editorial cartoonist who has worked for The Washington Post since 2008, announced she was quitting her position after one of her cartoons was rejected.

The cartoon in question depicted Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and other billionaires kneeling in front of a statue of President-elect Donald Trump.

In a Substack post, Telnaes wrote that the idea behind the cartoon was to criticize billionaire tech and media chief executives she said "have been doing their best to curry favor" with Trump.

Alongside Bezos, the cartoon shows Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, and Walt Disney mascot Mickey Mouse.

"I've never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now," Telnaes wrote, adding that the paper's decision to kill the cartoon was "a game changer…and dangerous for a free press."

"As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable," she continued. "For the first time, my editor prevented me from doing that critical job. So I have decided to leave the Post."

The Post's opinions editor, David Shipley, said in a statement that while he respected Telnaes and her work for the publication, he "must disagree with her interpretation of events."

"Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force," he said. "My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column — this one a satire — for publication. The only bias was against repetition."

Jeff Stein, a White House economics reporter at the Post, reshared the cartoon and a link to Telnaes' Substack post on X.

Telnaes, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 2001, has long been an advocate for free speech and editorial cartoons as a tool for civic debate.

She serves on the advisory board for the Geneva-based Freedom Cartoonists Foundation and was formerly a board member of Cartoonists Rights.

Telnaes concluded her Substack post by quoting the Post's slogan: "Democracy Dies in Darkness."

Jeff Bezos has owned The Washington Post since 2013, when his holding company, Nash Holdings, bought the newspaper for $250 million.

Business Insider has contacted Telnaes and Shipley for comment.

• Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said his country could cut support for Ukrainian refugees.
• It comes after Kyiv shut off a Russian natural gas pipeline supplying central Europe.
• Fico said Slovakia would lose 500 million euros in transit fees as a result of Ukraine's decision.

Slovakia could substantially cut its support for Ukrainian refugees in response to Kyiv's recent decision to shut off a Russian pipeline supplying natural gas to central Europe.

In a video posted on Facebook, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico threatened to stop electricity exports to Ukraine and "significantly reduce" financial support for Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia following Kyiv's move.

The United Nations Refugee Agency said there were just over 130,000 Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia as of December 8.

It comes after Kyiv on Wednesday said it would not renew a five-year deal allowing the transit of westbound Russian gas through Ukraine.

In his statement, Fico — who held surprise talks on energy and gas with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in December — labeled the situation "extremely serious" and "worthy of a sovereign response" by Slovakia.

"The only alternative for sovereign Slovakia is the restoration of transit or the introduction of compensatory mechanisms that will compensate for the shortfalls in public finances of almost 500 million euros," he said.

While Ukraine has justified its decision on national security grounds, Fico has argued that the move would create a "drastic impact" on EU nations while leaving Russia relatively unscathed.

EU members have been moving away from Russian gas in recent years.

Russian gas accounted for over 40% of the EU's gas imports in 2021, but that figure fell to about 8% in 2023, according to the bloc.

Some regions of Europe have still relied heavily on Moscow's supplies, however.

Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova, has faced heating cuts and has been forced to halt almost all industrial production after Ukraine halted the transit of Russian gas.

Transnistria's first deputy prime minister, Sergei Obolonik, said it was "too early" to say how the situation would play out but that the region risked "irreversible" changes if the problem wasn't resolved quickly, per Reuters.

"The problem is so extensive that if it is not resolved for a long time, we will already have irreversible changes - that is, enterprises will lose their ability to start up," he said.

• The driver suspected of exploding a Tesla Cybertruck left a note saying that his act "was a wake up call."
• Authorities identified the driver as Matthew Livelsberger, 37, of Colorado Springs.
• Livelsberger had been an active-duty Army service member for nearly two decades, the US Army told BI.

The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck loaded with explosives behind Wednesday's Las Vegas blast was an active-duty US Army soldier who, a coroner said, committed suicide.

In a press release on Thursday, the Clark County coroner identified the driver as Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old man from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The coroner's report said the cause of death was the result of an intraoral gunshot wound by suicide.

Livelsberger was a master sergeant who served as a special-operations soldier, a US Army spokesperson said in a statement provided to Business Insider.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) Sheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters on Thursday that the driver appeared to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound before the material in his truck exploded.

McMahill said authorities found a military ID and credit cards with Livelsberger's name on them inside the Cybertruck. They have also confirmed that he rented the Tesla vehicle in Denver on December 28, driving through parts of New Mexico and Arizona before reaching Las Vegas.

Spencer Evans, Special Agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI Field Office, said the bureau has no information about any other suspects. There is no current evidence connecting Livelsberger to any terrorist organization around the world.

There is also no evidence that the Las Vegas explosion is connected with a deadly attack in New Orleans, McMahill said.

Authorities on Thursday said both Livelsberger and Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who is suspected of driving a rented truck into a crowd of people in Louisana, both served in the military and spent time together at what was then known as Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Bragg, now known as Fort Liberty, is one of the nation's largest military bases. There is no evidence that Livelsberger and Jabbar were in the same unit.

The LVMPD said in a press release on Friday that two phones were also discovered inside the Cybertruck. After detectives gained access to one of the phones, they are said to have found two "letters" that "include grievances regarding political, social, cultural, personal, and other issues."

In one of the letters, authorities said Livelsberger wrote: "This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake up call."

He added that the US was "terminally ill and headed toward collapse" and that he had acted in order to "cleanse" his mind of the "brothers I've lost" and to relieve himself of "the burden of the lives I took."

"There may be a lot more information that we recover that explains either more or shows a change in mindset at different times," LVMPD Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said at a press conference on Friday.

A military background

Livelsberger served in active duty from January 2006 to March 2011, the Army spokesperson said. After a stint in the National Guard and service in the Army Reserve, Livelsberger returned to active duty in December 2012.

"US Army Special Operations Command can confirm Livelsberger was assigned to the command and on approved leave at the time of his death," the Army spokesperson said. "USASOC is in full cooperation with federal and state law enforcement agencies, but as a matter of policy, will not comment on ongoing investigations."

Livelsberger served in the Army for more than 19 years. A military official told BI he was an operations sergeant assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group in Germany but was recently on leave at home in Colorado.

The official added that Livelsberger had a clean record, "by all accounts was great," and that this would have been "out of character" for him.

The FBI said it was searching a home in Colorado Springs in connected with the incident.

"FBI Denver personnel and specialized teams will be on-site for several hours," the bureau said in a statement to BI. "This activity is related to the explosion in Las Vegas on Wednesday; due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, no further information will be provided out of Denver."

The Cybertruck had been filled with firework-style mortars and canisters of camping fuel, authorities said Wednesday. The driver was the only person killed. Seven other people were injured.

The vehicle explosion occurred hours after an attacker drove a rented pickup truck through crowds on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. That attack left 15 people dead, including the attacker, and injured dozens more.

Both vehicles were rented using the Turo app. Authorities in Louisana on Thursday also said the New Orleans attack appeared to be unrelated to the Cybertruck explosion.

On X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk praised the Cybertruck for limiting the destruction from the blast. McMahill said Musk has dispatched a team of Tesla officials to assist with the Las Vegas investigation.

Update: The first paragraph of this article has been updated to reflect that the driver of the vehicle containing explosives involved in the Las Vegas blast committed suicide, a coroner said.

Additional reporting by Ryan Pickrell and Kevin Tan.

• A plane carrying 181 people crashed at an airport in South Korea on Sunday, killing 179.
• Photos and videos show the aircraft overrunning a runway before being engulfed in flames.
• It will likely take months or years to uncover why the plane crashed.

A commercial aircraft crashed at a South Korean airport on Sunday, killing 179 people.

Flight 7C2216, operated by the Korean budget airline Jeju Air, was carrying 181 passengers and crew when it tried to land at Muan International Airport at 9:03 a.m. local time but overran the runway.

A video broadcast by MBC News, a South Korean news network, showed the plane speeding down the runway, with smoke coming from its belly, before it crashed into what appeared to be a barrier and burst into flames.

The flight was traveling from Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.

The aircraft was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 that Ryanair, a budget Irish airline, operated before it was delivered to Jeju Air in 2017, according to the Planespotters.net flight tracking website. It was not a Max variant, which has been embroiled in quality and production problems.

Video footage shows the aircraft landed without its landing gear deployed.

Airline News editor and aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas told Business Insider that a bird strike could have caused a mechanical issue on the plane.

"It's possible that the bird strike prevented the standard landing gear operation," he said. "It's possible, however, the pilots could crank the landing gear down manually."

"But if they had multiple failures related to the engines, then they probably didn't have time to do it, and therefore they simply made a belly-up landing on the runway because they had no options," Thomas added.

Jeju Air CEO Kim Yi-bae told reporters on December 31 that the aircraft's pre-flight inspection found "no issues" and "nothing abnormal was noted with the landing gear," the BBC reported.

South Korea's transport ministry said on Sunday that it plans to conduct a safety inspection of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft in the country, per Yonhap News.

The Boeing 737-800 is a popular aircraft that is used widely around the world.

Cirium data sent to BI found about 4,400 737-800s are used by nearly 200 airlines, representing 15% of the 28,000 passenger planes in service globally.

In a statement to BI, Boeing gave its condolences to families who lost loved ones and said it was in contact with and "ready to support" Jeju Air.

Spokespeople for Jeju Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement posted online, Jeju Air said it was "bowing" its head in apology and would investigate the crash.

A total of 179 people died, including 85 women, 84 men, and 10 others whose gender was not immediately identifiable. Two of the plane's six crew members survived and were conscious, according to local health officials. They were rescued from the tail section of the jet.

On Sunday, South Korea's land ministry said that it had identified 141 out of the 170 bodies, Yonhap News reported.

This is the first fatal crash involving a Jeju plane since the airline was founded in 2005. The last major aviation accident involving a South Korean airline was in 1997 when a Korean Air jet crashed in Guam, killing 228 people.

Reports of birds striking the aircraft

In a televised briefing, Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, said that workers were investigating what caused the crash, including whether birds struck the aircraft.

"It appears that the aircraft wasn't configured for a normal landing — the landing gear wasn't down, and it looks like the wing flaps weren't extended either," Keith Tonkin, the managing director of Aviation Projects, an aviation consulting company in Australia, told BI.

The plane was almost completely destroyed, with the tail assembly the most intact part of the wreckage. After landing, the plane hit a wall, which Thomas said was within international standards, but the plane landed fast and far down the runway.

"The airport complied with international standards," he said. "The landing was anything but international standard."

Officials said that air traffic controllers warned about bird strike risks minutes before the incident, and a surviving crew member mentioned a bird strike after being rescued, The Guardian reported.

Thomas told BI that the pilots reported "mayday" shortly after air traffic controllers issued a bird strike warning. The pilots were then given permission to land on the opposite side of the runway.

Thomas said flight tracking was lost at about 900 feet, suggesting a possible electrical failure.

"I think that could well be one of the pivotal factors in this investigation as to why did it fail," he said. "What does that tell us about what was going on in the cockpit?"

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that Muan International Airport has the highest rate of bird strike incidents among 14 airports nationwide.

Black boxes recovered, but one damaged

The Independent reported that transport ministry officials said they recovered the aircraft's two black boxes: the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.

These provide investigators with information that helps string together the events before and during a crash.

However, Yonhap reported that officials said one of the black boxes, the flight data recorder, was partially damaged. The cockpit voice recorder — which will have information on what the crew said leading up to the crash — remained intact.

CNN reported South Korean investigators have extracted some data from the cockpit voice recorder — the full process will take two days — but the damaged black box will have to be sent to the US for the NTSB to analyze.

Air crash investigations can often take months or years to complete, meaning the cause of the crash likely won't be known for a long time. The damaged black box could further delay the investigation.

The investigation will be led by South Korea, where the crash occurred and Jeju was registered. The National Transportation Safety Board in the United States, where the Boeing jet was manufactured, along with Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, will also be involved, the agency said in a post on X.

Crashes typically have more than one cause — known as the "Swiss Cheese Model" in aviation, a string of smaller errors often leads to an accident, not just one.

"The biggest risk is speculation because it obscures the actual causes of a near-miss, incident, or accident," Simon Bennett, an aviation safety expert at the University of Leicester in the UK, told BI.

"I appreciate that the relatives of the dead and injured will want answers. Understandably, they will want closure," he said. "However, rushing the investigation would do a huge disservice to the aviation community and airlines' customers."

The crash occurred amid a political crisis in South Korea and two days into the tenure of acting President Choi Sang-mok.

Choi took over from the country's previous acting president, Han Duck-soo, who was impeached two weeks after succeeding President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was himself impeached after trying to impose martial law.

• Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed because of shots fired from Russian territory.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin previously apologized to Azerbaijan for the fatal crash.
• Putin did not take responsibility, however.

Azerbaijan's president said that shooting from Russian territory caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people.

His comments come after Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the incident without taking responsibility.

Ilham Aliyev said on Azerbaijani television Sunday that he didn't believe the incident was intentional but that the aircraft was hit "from the outside."

He said, per Sky News, that the fuselage was "riddled with holes," indicating that the theory the plane hit a flock of birds before crashing was incorrect.

Aliyev added that "some circles in Russia" supported this theory, while Russian officials also suggested a gas cylinder exploded on board the plane.

"In other words, this clearly showed that the Russian side wanted to cover up the issue, which, of course, is unbecoming of anyone," he said.

Aliyev went on to criticize Russia for not responding to the crash immediately, "except for some absurd theories."

According to Azerbaijani reports, the downing of the plane was connected to Russia's interception of Ukrainian drones near its border.

On Saturday, the Kremlin said Putin apologized for the crash during a phone call with Aliyev. Putin stopped short of claiming responsibility.

The Kremlin's press office said that Putin had "offered his apologies that the tragic incident had occurred in Russia's airspace and once again conveyed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the plane crash victims and wished those injured the quickest recovery," per Russia's Tass news agency.

38 people died and 29 survived the Azerbaijan Airlines crash on Wednesday

Azerbaijan Airlines flight Flight 8243 crash-landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Kazakh authorities said 38 people died, including the pilots, while 29 others survived.

The aircraft was traveling to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, from Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, before it diverted to Kazakhstan.

Putin said that Ukrainian drones and Russian air defenses were operating around Grozny as the plane attempted to land, Tass reported.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday that the US had "seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems."

When questioned by media whether the US had seen intelligence that pointed to the involvement of an air defense system, Kirby said the short answer was "yes" but said he would "leave it at that."

Experts and reports have also pointed to Russia likely being behind the crash. Alleged evidence includes the erratic route the plane took as well as photo and video evidence of the aircraft that shows holes in its fuselage and tail while it was still in the air.

Rashan Nabiyev, Azerbaijan's minister of digital development and transportation, told the country's media that "preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact," the AP reported.

"The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe," he added.

The Kremlin had initially refused to comment on the allegations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday: "Currently an investigation is in progress. Any air incident should be investigated by specialized aviation authorities."

"It would be wrong to build any hypotheses before the panel of inquiry presents its conclusions," he added.

• A winning ticket for the $1.22 billion Mega Millions jackpot was sold in California.
• The ticket was sold at Sunshine Food and Gas in Cottonwood, CA, the California State Lottery said.
• The jackpot was the fifth-largest in Mega Millions history.

One lucky Mega Millions player won an estimated $1.22 billion on Friday night, one of the largest jackpots in US history.

The winning ticket was sold at Sunshine Food and Gas in Cottonwood, northern California, the California State lottery said.

The winning numbers were 3, 7, 37, 49, and 55, and the gold Mega Ball number was 6. The winner's identity is unclear as of yet.

The winner will have the option of taking a roughly $549.7 million cash lump sum or the full jackpot paid out over 30 years.

It was the fifth-largest prize in Mega Millions history and the seventh Mega Millions jackpot to cross the $1 billion threshold.

"Congratulations to our $1.22 billion jackpot winner from California," Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a press release. "What an amazing present this holiday season! At an incredibly special time of year, this is both an incredibly special moment for our winner, and for all the great organizations and causes that benefit from lottery ticket sales around the country."

The jackpot was claimed after a 31-drawing run that began on September 10, when the last jackpot was won.

The largest-ever US lottery jackpot was won in November 2022, when a man in California won the $2.04 billion Powerball. He was later named as Edwin castro.

Last year, another ticket sold in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball prize. The California Lottery said that a man called Theodorus Struyck had come forward as the representative of a group that would split the winnings.

The Mega Millions jackpot has now reset to $20 million ahead of the New Year's Eve draw.

The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are about one in 302,575,350, according to the official website.

• The personal finance website WalletHub has ranked the best places to celebrate New Year's Eve this year.
• The site compared 100 of the biggest US cities on entertainment, food, costs, safety, and accessibility.
• Check out the top five cities to count down to 2025 here.

For those looking to ring in the New Year in style, you may be wondering where to find the best festive bang for your buck.

The personal finance website WalletHub has ranked the best places to celebrate New Year's Eve this year, using 26 metrics to evaluate three key areas for prospective partiers — entertainment and food, costs, and safety and accessibility.

The study looked at factors such as the legality of fireworks, nightlife options, alcohol and taxi prices, and neighborhood security.

Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale (100 representing the best conditions for budding NYE revelers). WalletHub then gave each city an overall score by determining their weighted averages across all metrics.

Here are WalletHub's top five cities to count down to 2025.

5. Chicago

Entertainment and food rank: 8

Costs rank: 76

Safety and accessibility rank: 52

Total score: 64.50

4. Las Vegas

Entertainment and food rank: 4

Costs rank: 80

Safety and accessibility rank: 48

Total score: 67.45

3. San Diego

Entertainment and food rank: 11

Costs rank: 56

Safety and accessibility rank: 27

Total score: 67.58

2. Orlando

Entertainment and food rank: 1

Costs rank: 53

Safety and accessibility rank: 89

Total score: 68.03

1. New York City

Entertainment and food rank: 6

Costs rank: 95

Safety and accessibility rank: 18

Total score: 68.67

• A North Korean soldier was captured by Ukraine, per South Korean intelligence.
• The soldier later died from his injuries, the National Intelligence Service said.
• It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was trying to hide North Korean losses.

A North Korean soldier captured by Ukrainian forces has died from his injuries, South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on Friday, per Yonhap news agency.

The NIS had earlier confirmed reports that an injured North Korean soldier had been taken prisoner by Ukraine.

"Through real-time information sharing with a friendly nation's intelligence organization, (we) confirmed the capture of a wounded North Korean soldier and plans to thoroughly examine the subsequent development," the NIS said in a statement.

The incident marked the first reported case of a North Korean combatant being taken alive during the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The soldier was reportedly seized on December 26 in Russia's Kursk region, into which Ukraine launched an offensive in August.

It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Russia was trying to "conceal losses" of North Korean troops fighting against Ukraine.

"After first combats with our warriors, Russians are trying… to literally burn the faces of North Korean soldiers killed in battle," Zelenskyy wrote on X, sharing a video seemingly showing the alleged act.

"There is not a single reason for North Koreans to fight and die for Putin. And even after they do, Russia has only humiliation for them," he continued. "This madness must be stopped—stoped by a reliable and durable peace, as well as Russia's accountability for this cynical war."

Pyongyang reportedly began sending troops to Russia in October, with up to 11,000 thought to have arrived in Kursk so far.

North Korea's elite "Storm" Corps have reportedly been at the forefront of the fighting in the region.

The NIS said more than 100 "Storm" troops had been killed and 1,000 more injured in their first battles for Russia.

The agency reportedly told lawmakers earlier this month that the elite troops — thought to be Pyongyang's best-trained and most heavily indoctrinated — are ill-prepared for drone attacks and the local terrain.

Zelenskyy said in December that preliminary estimates suggested over 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in Russia's Kursk region.

• 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."

• Elon Musk has sparked backlash in Germany after calling for the chancellor to resign and backing the AfD.
• The German health minister said Musk "should not interfere in our politics."
• It comes as right-wing leaders in Europe seize on an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.

Elon Musk has stirred controversy in Germany after calling Chancellor Olaf Scholz an "incompetent fool" and backing the country's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

In a post on X, Musk first reshared a video by right-wing influencer Naomi Seibt in which she criticizes Friedrich Merz, one of the leading candidates to become Germany's next chancellor.

"Only the AfD can save Germany," Musk, who is the richest person in the world, wrote alongside the post.

Musk then weighed in on news of an attack on Friday on a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg that killed at least five people.

Musk reshared a post purportedly showing an image of the suspect that said the attack was a "DIRECT RESULT of mass unchecked immigration."

"Scholz should resign immediately. Incompetent fool," Musk added in a separate post.

Leading right-wing figures across Europe have seized on the incident to promote anti-immigrant rhetoric and call for tighter border controls.

Musk's comments, which come just two months before Germany is set to hold a snap federal election, have sparked backlash in the country.

Scholz appeared to respond indirectly at a press conference in Berlin, saying, "We have freedom of speech here. That also applies to multimillionaires. Freedom of speech also means that you're able to say things that aren't right and do not contain good political advice," per the Guardian.

Karl Lauterbach, the German health minister, said on X that Musk "should not interfere in our politics, adding that "his platform profits from hate and incitement and radicalizes people."

The AfD party was established in 2013 as an anti-euro party, but it has since focused more on immigration and has been seen as increasingly far-right.

Musk, however, has previously questioned how far-right the party's policies are.

In a post on X in June, he wrote:"Why is there such a negative reaction from some about AfD?"

"They keep saying "far right", but the policies of AfD that I've read about don't sound extremist. Maybe I'm missing something," he added.

The Tesla CEO has shown growing support for right-wing leaders, including Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Nigel Farage, leader of the UK's Reform Party.

Earlier this week, Farage boasted that Musk was "right behind" him and hinted that the tech mogul might financially back his party.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.