South Korea’s political crisis took a dramatic turn on Friday when investigators attempting to arrest the impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, were involved in a tense standoff with his security forces.

The confrontation unfolded on a freezing winter’s day in Seoul, as an estimated 1,200 Yoon supporters gathered outside his official residence while police and other officials inside attempted to execute an arrest warrant – the first for a sitting South Korean president.

Local media reports said officials from the Corruption Investigation Office – which is leading a joint team of police and prosecutors – entered the compound to find themselves blocked by troops under the control of the presidential security service.

The Yonhap news agency said the team comprised 30 people from the anti-corruption office and 120 police, 70 of whom were initially waiting outside the residence compound.

Having managed to find a way past the troops, officials were confronted by other security service staff, raising doubts over whether Yoon, who was impeached in mid-December over his short-lived declaration of martial law, would be arrested on Friday.

The warrant was issued on Tuesday after Yoon again ignored a court order to submit himself for questioning over allegations that his martial law edict had amounted to an insurrection.

More than three hours after anti-corruption officials had entered the compound, it was still far from clear how the gravest political crisis South Korea has faced in decades would play out.

Investigators released a statement saying they had “started executing” the arrest warrant, but Yoon’s lawyers later said they would take immediate legal action to block it, describing it as “illegal and invalid”.

The head of Yoon’s security service, Park Chong-jun, said authorities were not permitted to search the residence, according to Yonhap.

If he is detained, Yoon, who was impeached by parliament last month, would become the first sitting president to be arrested. The anti-corruption agency would then have 48 hours to investigate him and either request a warrant for his formal arrest or release him. He would be held at the Seoul Detention Center, Yonhap added.

Yoon’s defence minister, police chief and several top military commanders have already been arrested over their roles in the martial law declaration.

While the country’s constitutional court decides whether to uphold the impeachment vote – a move that would trigger an election for a new president – Yoon is facing allegations of insurrection over his martial law edict.

He declared martial law on 3 December in an attempt to root out what he described as “anti-state, pro-North Korean” forces – a reference to opposition MPs in the national assembly. He did not provide any evidence for those claims, however.

He was forced to lift the order six hours later after lawmakers forced their way past troops into the parliament building to vote it down.

The criminal allegations against Yoon, an ultra conservative whose two and a half years in office have been marred by scandal and policy gridlock, are serious.

Insurrection is one of the few crimes from which South Korean presidents do not have immunity, and comes with penalties that can include life imprisonment or even the death penalty.

Fears that protesters would physically block the investigators were not realised, but the raid is taking place amid a huge security presence. The broadcaster YTN reported that 2,800 police had been mobilised in the area, along with 135 police buses that have been positioned to create a barrier.

One pro-Yoon protestor was heard saying to fellow demonstrators that they had to block the investigators “with our lives”. Others chanted: “President Yoon Suk Yeol will be protected by the people,” and called for the head of the corruption office to be arrested.

Pyeong In-su, 74, said the police had to be stopped by “patriotic citizens” – a term Yoon has used to describe people standing guard near his residence.

Holding a US-South Korea flag with the words “Let’s go together” written on it in English and Korean, Pyeong said he hoped Donald Trump would come to Yoon’s aid after he becomes president later this month.

“I hope after Trump’s inauguration he can use his influence to help our country get back on the right track,” he said.

Yoon, who has been holed up inside his residence since his impeachment, had previously told supporters in a letter he would “fight until the end”.

“I am watching on YouTube live all the hard work you are doing,” he wrote late on Wednesday.

“I will fight until the end to protect this country together with you,” he said in the letter, a photo capture of which was sent to the media by Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer advising Yoon.

Yoon has refused to back down from his uncorroborated claims that some members of the national assembly were pro-North Koreans determined to bring down the South Korean state, describing his martial law declaration as a legitimate “act of governance”. He has also aired unsupported allegations of election tampering.

A second constitutional court hearing in the impeachment case, which is separate from the criminal investigation, was scheduled for later on Friday.

South Korea’s political crisis took a dramatic turn on Friday when investigators attempting to arrest the impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, were involved in a tense standoff with his security forces.

The confrontation unfolded on a freezing winter’s day in Seoul, as an estimated 1,200 Yoon supporters gathered outside his official residence while police and other officials inside attempted to execute an arrest warrant – the first for a sitting South Korean president.

Local media reports said officials from the Corruption Investigation Office – which is leading a joint team of police and prosecutors – entered the compound to find themselves blocked by troops under the control of the presidential security service.

The Yonhap news agency said the team comprised 30 people from the anti-corruption office and 120 police, 70 of whom were initially waiting outside the residence compound.

Having managed to find a way past the troops, officials were confronted by other security service staff, raising doubts over whether Yoon, who was impeached in mid-December over his short-lived declaration of martial law, would be arrested on Friday.

The warrant was issued on Tuesday after Yoon again ignored a court order to submit himself for questioning over allegations that his martial law edict had amounted to an insurrection.

More than three hours after anti-corruption officials had entered the compound, it was still far from clear how the gravest political crisis South Korea has faced in decades would play out.

Investigators released a statement saying they had “started executing” the arrest warrant, but Yoon’s lawyers later said they would take immediate legal action to block it, describing it as “illegal and invalid”.

The head of Yoon’s security service, Park Chong-jun, said authorities were not permitted to search the residence, according to Yonhap.

If he is detained, Yoon, who was impeached by parliament last month, would become the first sitting president to be arrested. The anti-corruption agency would then have 48 hours to investigate him and either request a warrant for his formal arrest or release him. He would be held at the Seoul Detention Center, Yonhap added.

Yoon’s defence minister, police chief and several top military commanders have already been arrested over their roles in the martial law declaration.

While the country’s constitutional court decides whether to uphold the impeachment vote – a move that would trigger an election for a new president – Yoon is facing allegations of insurrection over his martial law edict.

He declared martial law on 3 December in an attempt to root out what he described as “anti-state, pro-North Korean” forces – a reference to opposition MPs in the national assembly. He did not provide any evidence for those claims, however.

He was forced to lift the order six hours later after lawmakers forced their way past troops into the parliament building to vote it down.

The criminal allegations against Yoon, an ultra conservative whose two and a half years in office have been marred by scandal and policy gridlock, are serious.

Insurrection is one of the few crimes from which South Korean presidents do not have immunity, and comes with penalties that can include life imprisonment or even the death penalty.

Fears that protesters would physically block the investigators were not realised, but the raid is taking place amid a huge security presence. The broadcaster YTN reported that 2,800 police had been mobilised in the area, along with 135 police buses that have been positioned to create a barrier.

One pro-Yoon protestor was heard saying to fellow demonstrators that they had to block the investigators “with our lives”. Others chanted: “President Yoon Suk Yeol will be protected by the people,” and called for the head of the corruption office to be arrested.

Pyeong In-su, 74, said the police had to be stopped by “patriotic citizens” – a term Yoon has used to describe people standing guard near his residence.

Holding a US-South Korea flag with the words “Let’s go together” written on it in English and Korean, Pyeong said he hoped Donald Trump would come to Yoon’s aid after he becomes president later this month.

“I hope after Trump’s inauguration he can use his influence to help our country get back on the right track,” he said.

Yoon, who has been holed up inside his residence since his impeachment, had previously told supporters in a letter he would “fight until the end”.

“I am watching on YouTube live all the hard work you are doing,” he wrote late on Wednesday.

“I will fight until the end to protect this country together with you,” he said in the letter, a photo capture of which was sent to the media by Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer advising Yoon.

Yoon has refused to back down from his uncorroborated claims that some members of the national assembly were pro-North Koreans determined to bring down the South Korean state, describing his martial law declaration as a legitimate “act of governance”. He has also aired unsupported allegations of election tampering.

A second constitutional court hearing in the impeachment case, which is separate from the criminal investigation, was scheduled for later on Friday.

Venezuelan authorities have announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the capture of exiled opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who insists he beat President Nicolás Maduro at the polls.

Police published on social media a photo of the previously little-known ex-diplomat with the word “wanted” under the image.

He fled to Spain in September after Maduro claimed victory in the 28 July election and cracked down hard on dissent.

González, 75, vowed to return to his troubled, economically distressed country to be sworn in as president on 10 January instead of Maduro, who is due to take the oath of office that day.

Judicial officials told AFP that the wanted poster with González’s face would be displayed at airports and police checkpoints around the country.

Spain granted González asylum on 20 December after Venezuela announced charges of conspiracy and racketeering against him.

Venezuela declared Maduro the winner of a third six-year term in the July vote but the opposition cried foul, saying it has detailed polling station numbers that show González won handily.

The government has resisted intense pressure at home and abroad to release vote results that prove its claim of victory. Street protests erupted after the election and devolved into clashes with police, with 28 people dead, 200 injured and more than 2,400 arrested.

Three detainees died in prison, and nearly 1,400 of those originally arrested have been released.

Maduro was handpicked by the late socialist icon Hugo Chávez to succeed him upon his death in 2013.

Maduro has overseen the oil-rich country’s decline into economic ruin and been accused of acting like a harsh leftwing dictator as he cracks down on dissent and clings to power.

Only a handful of countries, including Venezuelan ally Russia, have recognized Maduro as the winner of the July election.

The United States and the European parliament have recognized González as “president-elect”.

Nearly a year before he allegedly killed 14 people and injured dozens more by driving a pickup truck flying an Islamic State (IS) flag through a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar expressed his beliefs that music, intoxicants, sex and other pleasures were evils deserving of destruction.

An account on the SoundCloud platform under the name of Jabbar posted three recordings totaling about 20 minutes each containing those and other expressions of extremist religious views.

SoundCloud did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The voice on the recordings match that of Jabbar’s as heard on a video promoting a real-estate business he was confirmed to have run before authorities say he aimed a deadly terrorist attack at one of the world’s most famous festive drags, killing or injuring a mix of local area residents and foreign visitors. He was shot dead by police at the end of Wednesday’s attack on Bourbon Street, bringing the total number dead to 15, the local coroner said Thursday.

Muslim scholars have widely rejected the extremist positions IS or those who sympathize with the terrorist group have with respect to the religion, saying Islam teaches mercy and peace as well as the importance of justice.

Alluding to reports that Jabbar had previously faced accusations of engaging in some of the behavior he condemns in the recordings, including drunk-driving and spousal abuse, a statement from the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Thursday said: “His crime is the latest example of why cruel, merciless, bottom-feeding extremist groups have been rejected by the overwhelming majority of the Muslim world – from Islamic scholars, to mosques, to organizations and to individual Muslims.”

“We strongly denounce this crime, [and] we stand in solidarity with the people of New Orleans,” said the organization, calling on people who could help investigators capture any potential accomplices of Jabbar to come forward.

Nonetheless, the recordings appear to answer one early question about Jabbar: how long he had been radicalized without being detected. The audio establishes that Jabbar was openly detailing extremist religious views by about February 2024, though relatively few observers had taken note, with the recordings collectively garnering fewer than 300 listens as of Thursday. The account had two followers while following various Muslim-related accounts on the platform.

The longest recording centers on Jabbar’s interpreting scripture to mean that “poetry, like rapping” could gradually lure people “into the things that God has made forbidden to us: the intoxicants like marijuana, alcohol, sedatives, opioids, stimulants and others”.

“Then there’s the way that music entices us to illicit sex, vulgarity, violence, betrayal, arrogance, burglary, cheating, ingratitude to our spouses or others in general,” he continued. Suggesting music was “Satan’s voice,” he added: “It drives us to waste our wealth, sever the ties to kinship – and even idolatry by calling us to worship … the artist themselves.”

The 42-year-old who most recently lived in Houston would go on to blame one rap song in particular for a spate of three murders that occurred in his neighborhood shortly after its release in the early 2000s. He also said he believed scripture commanded people to “forbid evil”.

“In fact, Allah commands Satan to incite mankind with his voice and assault them with his soldiers and become a partner,” Jabbar, a US-born citizen and army veteran who served in Afghanistan, remarked. “Forbidding … evil is a mandate on all of mankind.”

Jabbar on another recording asserts that “Allah … says, ‘Save those who believe and do righteous deeds … These will have the good tidings of paradise with all its gifts and pleasures, without there ever being a break in them.”

Jabbar’s rhetoric would later escalate dramatically. Joe Biden said the FBI told him and his White House aides that agents found, “mere hours before the attack”, that Jabbar had “posted videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by IS, expressing a desire to kill”.

CNN reported speaking with two officials who had been briefed on the videos. On them, Jabbar referred to a divorce and plans to gather his family under the guise of a celebration before killing them.

But Jabbar reportedly said he later had dreams about why he should join IS before ultimately changing his plans and becoming part of the terrorist group, said CNN. The network added that it had not independently reviewed the videos but understood they were taken while Jabbar drove at night.

Punchbowl News on Thursday reported that Jabbar published five videos on Facebook on the morning before the attack in New Orleans, according to a briefing given to certain House and Senate members. Citing a source who was briefed, Punchbowl’s congressional reporter Mica Soellner wrote on X: “In the first , he explained his subscription to ISIS ideology and the second he ‘provided his will’.”

Jabbar had complained in court filings that one of his two divorces was making it difficult for him to pay his house note. Among other legal problems were a drunk-driving conviction and a restraining order obtained by an ex-wife who alleged he was abusive, which was first reported by TMZ.

On Wednesday, after renting a pickup and mounting an IS flag in the back, Jabbar steered around a police blockade at the foot of Bourbon Street and slammed into New Year’s revelers celebrating in a city synonymous with jazz and rap music and raucous celebrations such as Mardi Gras. He also fired a rifle at the crowd in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter and at police – while clad in body armor and a helmet. He wounded two officers who confronted him before being shot dead by police.

Authorities said Jabbar killed 14 victims while injuring about 35 more. Many of the victims were either from the New Orleans area or nearby Mississippi. But there were also residents of other states and citizens of other countries, including Mexico and Israel, according to information released so far by various officials.

At a Thursday news briefing, an FBI official said investigators suspected Jabbar was solely responsible for the previous day’s killings. Authorities spent Wednesday searching for possible accomplices after finding a number of improvised explosive devices left near the site of the attack. Two were wired for remote detonation, with a corresponding remote control found in Jabbar’s truck.

A short-term rental home where Jabbar stayed had later also been found intentionally lit on fire about two miles away from the attack.

Local and state leaders generally conveyed a need to demonstrate resilience – along with compassion for victims and their families in the wake of the attack – as they embarked on plans for a return to normalcy on Thursday.

“Remember there is no making sense of evil,” New Orleans city council member Oliver Thomas said in a statement. “Our focus needs to be on prayers and support for everyone involved.”

The FBI said on Thursday that it now believed the suspect acted alone in an “act of terrorism” in the truck attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day that killed 14 and injured dozens more when a man drove a rented pickup into a crowd celebrating on busy Bourbon Street.

The chief suspect, the 42-year-old US citizen Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was killed as he shot at police and officers returned fire, bringing the total deaths from the incident to 15, with more than 35 injured.

The FBI also announced that it had found no definitive link between the New Orleans attack and the explosion that occurred later on Wednesday of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a hotel owned by Donald Trump in Las Vegas, which resulted in the death of the driver.

Over the past 24 hours there had been contradictory reports on whether the suspect in New Orleans had associates in the planning or execution of the attack, while the authorities also had said they were looking into possible connections between the New Orleans and the Las Vegas incidents, before updating the public on Thursday on both fronts.

Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counter-terrorism division, said that the evidence had now shown Shamsud-Din Jabbar was solely responsible for the New Orleans attack and had professed his allegiance to Islamic State.

“This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act … He was 100% inspired by Isis,” Raia said, adding: “We know that he specifically picked out Bourbon Street. Not sure why.”

The FBI also revealed that Jabbar posted five videos on his Facebook account in the hours before the attack in which he proclaimed his support for the Islamist militant group, while also previewing the violence that he would soon unleash in the city’s famed French Quarter.

The videos included one in which he said he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned that news headlines would not focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers”, Raia said. He also left a last will and testament, the FBI said.

Earlier, senior FBI figures and the attorney general of Louisiana had said they believed “known associates” and “multiple people” were probably involved.

The attack took place just after 3am local time on Wednesday morning in the French Quarter of New Orleans, which was crowded with people celebrating the new year.

Jabbar, from Houston, Texas, drove a rented white pickup truck between the 100 and 400 blocks of Bourbon Street, crashing into revelers and mowing many down, then shooting from the truck, hitting two police officers before he was killed.

Jabbar, who served in the US army for 13 years, was wearing body armor and a helmet, according to a law-enforcement bulletin, and was displaying an Islamic State flag mounted on a pipe in the bed of the vehicle. The FBI is investigating the attack as an “act of terrorism”.

Abdur-Rahim Jabbar, Jabbar’s younger brother, told the Associated Press on Thursday that it “doesn’t feel real” that his brother could have done this. “I never would have thought it’d be him,” he said. “It’s completely unlike him.”

He said that his brother had been isolated in the last few years, but that he had also been in touch with him and he did not see any signs of radicalization.

“It’s completely contradictory to who he was and how his family and his friends know him,” he said.

Investigators found guns and what appeared to be improvised explosive devices in the vehicle.

Louisiana’s attorney general, Liz Murrill, said the explosive devices associated with the attack appear to have been manufactured at an Airbnb in New Orleans that she said was rented out “for that purpose”.

In addition, Murrill said, a house fire occurred on Wednesday morning “that was connected to this event, where we believe the IEDs were being made”.

A New Orleans emergency management source said firefighters who put out that intentionally set blaze spotted a gasoline can, a drill, and some type of adhesive material. That discovery prompted them to call police, who determined the materials in the home were meant to make bombs connected to the attack on Bourbon Street.

On Thursday morning, the New Orleans police superintendent, Anne Kirkpatrick, said on NBC’s Today that authorities were investigating “people of interest” related to the attack.

“We have people of interest, they are not people who are suspects at this time,” Kirkpatrick said, adding: “The FBI is tracking down everybody.”

The vehicles involved in the attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas were rented using the car-sharing app Turo, and the suspects in both incidents, who were both killed, had been or were in the military, leading to questions being asked, including by Joe Biden, about whether the events were connected. That link was scotched by authorities later on Thursday.

A spokesperson for Turo said the company was cooperating with police. The company also said that “we do not believe that either renter … had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat”.

As New Orleans reeled from the attack, investigators continued to search for answers and potential accomplices.

The Sugar Bowl, a college football playoff, took place in New Orleans on Thursday. The game, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, had been postponed due to the attack.

Kirkpatrick said the event would have Super Bowl-level security, with collaboration from local, federal and military partners.

“We are going to have absolutely hundreds of officers and staff lining our streets, lining Bourbon Street, lining the French Quarter,” Kirkpatrick said. “We are staffing up at the same level if not more so than we were prepared for Super Bowl.”

It was the deadliest Islamic State-inspired assault on American soil in years, laying bare what federal officials have warned is a resurgent international terrorist threat. That threat is emerging as the FBI and other agencies brace for dramatic leadership upheaval after Donald Trump takes office.

Seven years ago, New Orleans officials began installing adjustable barriers at intersections in the French Quarter to temporarily prevent vehicles from entering the tourist area where the narrow streets are typically teeming with pedestrians every night.

But the steel bollards were in the process of being replaced and were not engaged on New Year’s Eve, which witnesses said could have prevented the truck speeding down the street in the way it did.

Ramon Antonio Vargas contributed reporting

Joe Biden and Donald Trump have given drastically contrasting reactions to the deadly New Year’s Day explosions in New Orleans and Las Vegas that killed at least 14 people.

The US president cautioned against “jumping to conclusions” and expressed empathy for victims and the city of New Orleans, while his incoming successor sought to blame Democrats, “open borders” and institutions that he has vowed to purge, including the FBI, once he returns to office.

Speaking from the White House on Wednesday evening, Biden cited FBI reports that identified the suspected perpetrator of the attack in New Orleans’s busy Bourbon Street, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, as “an American citizen, born in Texas” who appeared to have been inspired by the Islamic State.

“He served in the United States army on active duty for many years,” Biden said in a four-minute address.

The president also said he had been told by the FBI that Jabbar had posted videos on social media hours before the attack, which killed 15 people. The videos “indicat[ed] that he’s inspired by Isis, expressing a desire to kill”.

“The Isis flag was found in his vehicle, which he rented to conduct this attack,” he said. “Possible explosives were found in the vehicle as well, and more explosives were found nearby.”

Biden said intelligence and law enforcement agents were working to establish if the suspect acted alone or had co-conspirators, adding that the investigation was “fluid”.

The president said investigators were exploring possible links between the New Orleans attack and a later episode outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas – owned by the president-elect – in which one person was killed after a Tesla electric vehicle, built by the company owned by Elon Musk, Trump’s richest supporter, exploded.

“Thus far, there’s nothing to report on that score,” Biden said, adding that “no one should jump to conclusions”.

His measured tone differed markedly from that of the president-elect, who in an early morning social media post, labelled the country over which he is about to preside after his inauguration in 18 days’ time a “disaster” and a “laughing stock”.

He appeared to blame the New Orleans attack on the negligence of law enforcement agencies that he said had been too busy conducting criminal investigations into him that he has long derided as a political witch-hunt.

He also repeated an assertion – first made on Wednesday in its immediate aftermath – that the attack proved the need for an immigration crackdown, despite the fact that the suspect was born in the US.

“Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World!,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership.”

He used the events to renew his rhetorical assaults on the FBI, the Department of Justice (DoJ) and other agencies, calling on the CIA to get involved even though its mission is to deal with foreign rather than domestic intelligence.

“The DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job,” Trump wrote. “They are incompetent and corrupt, having spent all of their waking hours unlawfully attacking their political opponent, ME, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside violent SCUM that has infiltrated all aspects of our government, and our Nation itself.

“The USA is breaking down – A violent erosion of Safety, National Security, and Democracy is taking place all across our Nation. Only strength and powerful leadership will stop it.”

In his initial reaction on Wednesday, Trump had falsely implied that the attack had been carried out by an immigrant, depicting it – even before the suspect’s identity had been disclosed – as vindication for his political message against open borders.

An apparently grieving killer whale who swam more than 1,000 miles pushing the body of her dead newborn has lost another calf and is again carrying the body, a development researchers say is a “devastating” loss for the ailing population.

The Washington state-based Center for Whale Research said the orca, known as Tahlequah, or J35, was spotted in the Puget Sound area with her deceased calf.

Tahlequah is a member of the critically endangered southern resident killer whale population, an ecotype experts fear is on track for extirpation from the Pacific coast.

The whale previously made headlines in 2018 when she pushed the body of her calf around the Salish Sea for 17 days in an apparent act of grieving. She has now lost two of her documented calves, both of which were female. Her first calf was born 14 years ago and is still alive. Her third was born in 2020 and is also healthy.

Researchers were initially optimistic about Tahlequah’s newest calf, known as J61, but soon suspected the newborn was suffering health problems. “Early life is always dangerous for new calves, with a very high mortality rate in the first year. J35 is an experienced mother, and we hope that she is able to keep J61 alive through these difficult early days,” the centre wrote on 23 December.

The sudden death has left the team “deeply saddened”.

“The death of any calf in the [endangered southern resident population] is a tremendous loss, but the death of J61 is particularly devastating, not just because she was a female, who could have one day potentially led her own matriline but also given the history of her mother J35 who has now lost two out of four documented calves – both of which were female,” the centre wrote.

The discovery of a new calf, J62, however, resulted in “a day of extreme highs and lows”.

Experts say the state of the critically endangered southern resident killer whales reflects an ecosystem in crisis, although there remains debate about the best way to blunt a looming population collapse.

In recent months, conservation groups have called on Canada’s environment minister to issue an emergency order, a rarely used but powerful legal tool used protect a species on the verge of extirpation.

The powers have only been used twice before: once to save the greater sage-grouse in Alberta, and later on for the protection of the western chorus frog in Quebec.

A recent assessment from various arms of the federal government found the population had dropped to 73 – a figure confirmed by the Centre for Whale Research. There are believed to be only 23 breeding females.

An apparently grieving killer whale who swam more than 1,000 miles pushing the body of her dead newborn has lost another calf and is again carrying the body, a development researchers say is a “devastating” loss for the ailing population.

The Washington state-based Center for Whale Research said the orca, known as Tahlequah, or J35, was spotted in the Puget Sound area with her deceased calf.

Tahlequah is a member of the critically endangered southern resident killer whale population, an ecotype experts fear is on track for extirpation from the Pacific coast.

The whale previously made headlines in 2018 when she pushed the body of her calf around the Salish Sea for 17 days in an apparent act of grieving. She has now lost two of her documented calves, both of which were female. Her first calf was born 14 years ago and is still alive. Her third was born in 2020 and is also healthy.

Researchers were initially optimistic about Tahlequah’s newest calf, known as J61, but soon suspected the newborn was suffering health problems. “Early life is always dangerous for new calves, with a very high mortality rate in the first year. J35 is an experienced mother, and we hope that she is able to keep J61 alive through these difficult early days,” the centre wrote on 23 December.

The sudden death has left the team “deeply saddened”.

“The death of any calf in the [endangered southern resident population] is a tremendous loss, but the death of J61 is particularly devastating, not just because she was a female, who could have one day potentially led her own matriline but also given the history of her mother J35 who has now lost two out of four documented calves – both of which were female,” the centre wrote.

The discovery of a new calf, J62, however, resulted in “a day of extreme highs and lows”.

Experts say the state of the critically endangered southern resident killer whales reflects an ecosystem in crisis, although there remains debate about the best way to blunt a looming population collapse.

In recent months, conservation groups have called on Canada’s environment minister to issue an emergency order, a rarely used but powerful legal tool used protect a species on the verge of extirpation.

The powers have only been used twice before: once to save the greater sage-grouse in Alberta, and later on for the protection of the western chorus frog in Quebec.

A recent assessment from various arms of the federal government found the population had dropped to 73 – a figure confirmed by the Centre for Whale Research. There are believed to be only 23 breeding females.

Japan’s tourism board has urged holidaymakers to swap Tokyo and Kyoto for towns in Tohoku and Kanazawa as Australian tourists flood Japan’s cities in record numbers.

About 807,800 Australians visited Japan between January and November last year, nearly 200,000 more than the previous record in 2019, according to provisional estimates from the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO).

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The top-three destinations of Australian tourists were Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, the travel booking company Flight Centre found. Australians were among the longest-staying visitors to Japan, JNTO said.

But Japan has struggled with the post-pandemic return of swarming crowds, with Naoki Kitazawa, the executive director of JNTO’s branch in Sydney, urging tourists to move out of the major cities and travel into rural towns.

“We strongly encourage Australians to consider lesser-known destinations,” he said.

“Travelling responsibly is more important than ever, especially in popular destinations where the impact of tourism can put pressure on local communities.”

The boom is set to continue with Australian bookings for Japan in the first three months of 2025 up by a fifth compared to 2024, according to Flight Centre.

One of those travellers, architecture student Josh Khochaiche, will leave Sydney on Saturday to study and sightsee in the major cities for three-and-a-half weeks, though he is sensitive to locals’ calls for better behaviour from tourists.

“We love [Japan] as much as I’m sure the people themselves love it, so we want to try and be as respectful about it as possible,” he said

A fan of Japanese carpentry, pop culture and food, Khochaiche jumped at the chance to visit, not least because of a strong exchange rate between the Australian dollar and the Japanese yen.

“If you’re going out [to eat], it’s $15 to $20, and in comparison to Australia, that’s exquisite,” he said.

One Australian dollar on Thursday was worth 97 yen, near the level it has hovered at since mid-2023, despite the dollar losing value against the US dollar and other currencies in recent months.

That strong exchange rate has seen demand grow so high that in December, Australian travel agency Japan Holidays had to temporarily stop taking new inquiries, the company’s general manager, Judy Luxton, said.

‘Really tap into the culture of Japan’

But as the overcrowding worsens, Luxton has increasingly encouraged customers to escape the cities and look at smaller areas.

“The numbers are hideous and it’s not serene when you have that many people, so a lot of our tours now are giving them all the [great Japanese] experiences but trying to avoid the peak tourist spots,” she said.

Taking warnings of overtourism to heart, Khochaiche will spend some time in Naoshima, an island known for its art and architecture, and has already begun planning a return trip with his girlfriend for 2027.

“We would go to calmer rural villages, try the food, just immerse ourselves, [see] the temples that are a bit off the beaten track,” he said. “There’s just so many things to do.”

That approach has long been favoured by Stuart McIntosh, a resident of Beechworth, Victoria, who has visited Japan regularly since 2012 but spent only a handful of nights in Tokyo.

“We’ve almost been involved in a crowd crush … jam-packed, people fainting, and having to duck into shops and doorways to sort of make your way through,” he said.

McIntosh and his family have instead holidayed in the northern prefectures of Tohoku and Hokkaido, where they have explored the towns and gone skiing for less than A$40 a day each.

“All the temples are there, all the cherry blossoms are there, all the retail shops are there, the sushi, the onsen, it’s all there – but just with a fraction of the crowds,” McIntosh said.

“That’s where you can often really tap into the culture of Japan, the friendliness of the people.”

JNTO’s Kitazawa is hoping Australians will keep that lesson in mind as they travel, discovering new corners of the country while helping prevent over-tourism.

“Tokyo, Kyoto, and the Golden Route offer incredible experiences, but there’s so much more to discover beyond the obvious and what’s trending,” he said.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed hope that US president-elect Donald Trump’s “unpredictability” can help end the war with Russia. Trump, who takes office on 20 January, has said he will end the nearly three-year conflict in “24 hours” once in power, a claim that has drawn scepticism from Kyiv, which fears it will be forced to give up land for peace. “He’s very strong and unpredictable, and I would really like to see President Trump’s unpredictability apply to Russia. I believe he really wants to end the war,” Zelensky said in an interview aired on Thursday with Ukrainian TV.

• The Ukrainian leader has sought to build bridges with Trump and his team since November’s election amid fears the Republican could slow vital US military aid or halt it entirely. Zelenskyy said that Trump could be “decisive” in the war. “He is capable of stopping Putin or, to put it more fairly, help us stop Putin,” he said, “He is able to do this.” Zelenskyy has said that achieving a just peace for Ukraine would mean receiving solid security guarantees from its allies, joining the EU and receiving an invitation to join the Nato alliance, a notion rejected by Moscow.

• The Ukrainian military said that it had carried out a high-precision strike on Thursday on a Russian command post in Maryino, in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces hold chunks of territory after a major incursion. Ukrainian forces remain in the Kursk region five months after sending troops across the border, though the Russian military says much of the lost territory has been recaptured. “These strikes disrupt the ability of the Russian Federation to conduct terrorism against innocent Ukrainian civilians,” the Ukrainian military said in a statement via the Telegram messaging app. The Russian military said air defence units had downed four Ukrainian missiles in the region, and the regional governor said the strikes had damaged a high-rise apartment building and other buildings in an adjacent village.

• Ukraine has opened a criminal probe into desertion and “abuse of power” after hundreds of soldiers were reported to have fled an army unit partly trained by France, investigators said Thursday. The 155th Mechanised Brigade, dubbed “Anne of Kyiv”, was one of several military groupings formed last year as Ukraine sought to boost preparations for possible new Russian offensives. The unit was to be made up of 4,500 soldiers, with France training roughly half of them and providing equipment. But its development has been beset with problems including what one lawmaker described as poor management.

• Gas supplies in Europe were stable with the exception of Moldova, the EU said on Thursday, a day after Russian gas transit via Ukraine stopped. Deliveries of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine pipelines stopped on Wednesday, after Kyiv refused to renew a decades-long arrangement that earned billions of dollars for both countries. Although Russian gas accounted for less than 10 percent of the European Union’s gas imports in 2023 – down from more than 40 percent before Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 – some of the bloc’s eastern members are still heavily reliant on Russian imports. “The situation is stable with all member States using a mix of regular winter storage and imports from third countries, which provide stable supplies to their consumers”, said Poland, which has just assumed the EU’s rotating presidency.

• The cut-off of Russian gas supplies to Moldova’s breakaway Transniestria region, however, has forced the closure of all industrial companies except food producers. The mainly Russian-speaking territory of about 450,000 people, which split from Moldova in the 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed, has suffered a painful and immediate hit from Wednesday’s cut-off of Russian gas supplies to central and eastern Europe via Ukraine. “All industrial enterprises are idle, with the exception of those engaged in food production – that is, directly ensuring food security for Transdniestria,” Sergei Obolonik, first deputy prime minister of the region, told a local news channel. “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.”

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed hope that US president-elect Donald Trump’s “unpredictability” can help end the war with Russia. Trump, who takes office on 20 January, has said he will end the nearly three-year conflict in “24 hours” once in power, a claim that has drawn scepticism from Kyiv, which fears it will be forced to give up land for peace. “He’s very strong and unpredictable, and I would really like to see President Trump’s unpredictability apply to Russia. I believe he really wants to end the war,” Zelensky said in an interview aired on Thursday with Ukrainian TV.

• The Ukrainian leader has sought to build bridges with Trump and his team since November’s election amid fears the Republican could slow vital US military aid or halt it entirely. Zelenskyy said that Trump could be “decisive” in the war. “He is capable of stopping Putin or, to put it more fairly, help us stop Putin,” he said, “He is able to do this.” Zelenskyy has said that achieving a just peace for Ukraine would mean receiving solid security guarantees from its allies, joining the EU and receiving an invitation to join the Nato alliance, a notion rejected by Moscow.

• The Ukrainian military said that it had carried out a high-precision strike on Thursday on a Russian command post in Maryino, in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces hold chunks of territory after a major incursion. Ukrainian forces remain in the Kursk region five months after sending troops across the border, though the Russian military says much of the lost territory has been recaptured. “These strikes disrupt the ability of the Russian Federation to conduct terrorism against innocent Ukrainian civilians,” the Ukrainian military said in a statement via the Telegram messaging app. The Russian military said air defence units had downed four Ukrainian missiles in the region, and the regional governor said the strikes had damaged a high-rise apartment building and other buildings in an adjacent village.

• Ukraine has opened a criminal probe into desertion and “abuse of power” after hundreds of soldiers were reported to have fled an army unit partly trained by France, investigators said Thursday. The 155th Mechanised Brigade, dubbed “Anne of Kyiv”, was one of several military groupings formed last year as Ukraine sought to boost preparations for possible new Russian offensives. The unit was to be made up of 4,500 soldiers, with France training roughly half of them and providing equipment. But its development has been beset with problems including what one lawmaker described as poor management.

• Gas supplies in Europe were stable with the exception of Moldova, the EU said on Thursday, a day after Russian gas transit via Ukraine stopped. Deliveries of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine pipelines stopped on Wednesday, after Kyiv refused to renew a decades-long arrangement that earned billions of dollars for both countries. Although Russian gas accounted for less than 10 percent of the European Union’s gas imports in 2023 – down from more than 40 percent before Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 – some of the bloc’s eastern members are still heavily reliant on Russian imports. “The situation is stable with all member States using a mix of regular winter storage and imports from third countries, which provide stable supplies to their consumers”, said Poland, which has just assumed the EU’s rotating presidency.

• The cut-off of Russian gas supplies to Moldova’s breakaway Transniestria region, however, has forced the closure of all industrial companies except food producers. The mainly Russian-speaking territory of about 450,000 people, which split from Moldova in the 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed, has suffered a painful and immediate hit from Wednesday’s cut-off of Russian gas supplies to central and eastern Europe via Ukraine. “All industrial enterprises are idle, with the exception of those engaged in food production – that is, directly ensuring food security for Transdniestria,” Sergei Obolonik, first deputy prime minister of the region, told a local news channel. “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.”

Nick Clegg, Britain’s former deputy prime minister and Meta’s current president of global affairs, is leaving the company after six years.

“It truly has been an adventure of a lifetime!” Clegg said in a post on Facebook. “I am proud of the work I have been able to do leading and supporting teams across the company to ensure innovation can go hand in hand with increased transparency and accountability, and with new forms of governance.”

Clegg joined the Facebook parent company in 2018 as the social media platform’s vice‑president for global affairs and communications. At the time the company faced intense scrutiny over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and its role in the 2016 US presidential election. He was promoted to the chief policy role in 2022 after he helped to establish the Facebook Oversight Board – an independent board that makes decisions on the social network’s moderation policies.

“My time at the company coincided with a significant resetting of the relationship between ‘big tech’ and the societal pressures manifested in new laws, institutions and norms affecting the sector,” Clegg wrote. “I hope I have played some role in seeking to bridge the very different worlds of tech and politics – worlds that will continue to interact in unpredictable ways across the globe.”

Clegg will be replaced by his deputy, Joel Kaplan, who, Clegg wrote, “is quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time”. Kaplan previously served as the deputy chief of staff for policy under former president George W Bush. He is known to be the most prominent conservative voice at the company who rose to the top ranks at a time when Facebook faced claims of liberal bias.

During his time in the role, Kaplan pushed to partner with the fact-checking division of rightwing news site the Daily Caller in response to concerns from Republicans over the company’s partnership with mainstream news organizations. Most recently, Kaplan was pictured at the New York stock exchange alongside vice-president-elect JD Vance during the Time person of the year ceremony.

The policy team shakeup comes just weeks before the 20 January inauguration of Donald Trump. As Trump has come in and out of power, tech firms including Meta have vacillated between enforcing their moderation rules against Trump, including banning his accounts, and reversing those decisions. Days after Trump was elected, Meta donated $1m to Trump’s inauguration fund and the company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg dined with him at Mar-a-Lago. This comes after Trump threatened to punish Zuckerberg if his platform at all influenced the election.

In response to Clegg’s post on Facebook, Zuckerberg thanked the executive and said he was excited for Kaplan to step into the role “given his deep experience and insight leading our policy work for many years”.

“You’ve made an important impact advancing Meta’s voice and values around the world, as well as our vision for AI and the metaverse,” Zuckerberg wrote in response to Clegg’s post. “You’ve also built a strong team to carry this work forward.”

A record 46,843 people reached the Canary Islands illegally in 2024 via the increasingly deadly Atlantic route, the second consecutive year of unprecedented arrival numbers, according to official data.

Last year Spain received 63,970 irregular migrants, the vast majority in the Canaries, up from 56,852 in 2023, the interior ministry said on Thursday.

Spain has moved to the forefront of the EU’s migration crisis as tighter controls in the Mediterranean push more people to attempt the perilous trip from west Africa to the Canary Islands.

The EU border agency, Frontex, has said irregular crossings into the bloc from January to November 2024 fell 40% overall but rose by 19% on the Atlantic route. Mali, Senegal and Morocco accounted for the most common nationalities.

Thursday’s figures confirmed data published in December that showed the record for annual migrant arrivals by boat in the Canary Islands had been broken for the second year running in November.

Last year’s arrivals surpassed the 39,910 migrants who reached the islands by sea in 2023, far beyond the previous record from 2006. The 2024 figure for the whole of Spain was below the record of 64,298 arrivals set in 2018.

A report last week by NGO Caminando Fronteras said at least 10,457 migrants died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain by sea from 1 January to 5 December 2024.

Caminando Fronteras said the death toll was a 50% increase on 2023 and the highest since its tallies began in 2007. It attributed the rise to the use of ramshackle boats, dangerous waters and a lack of resources for rescuers.

Joe Biden and his family were given tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from foreign leaders in 2023, according to an annual accounting published by the state department on Thursday, with the first lady, Jill Biden, receiving the single most expensive present: a $20,000 diamond from India’s leader.

The 7.5-carat diamond from the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, was easily the most costly gift presented to any member of the first family in 2023, although she also received a brooch valued at $14,063 from the Ukrainian ambassador to the US and a bracelet, brooch and photograph album worth $4,510 from the president and first lady of Egypt.

The US president himself received a number of valuable presents, including a commemorative photo album valued at $7,100 from South Korea’s recently impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, a $3,495 statue of Mongolian warriors from the Mongolian prime minister, a $3,300 silver bowl from the sultan of Brunei, a $3,160 sterling silver tray from the president of Israel and a collage worth $2,400 from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Federal law requires executive branch officials to declare gifts they receive from foreign leaders and counterparts that have an estimated value of more than $480.

Many of the gifts that meet that threshold are relatively modest, and the more expensive ones are typically – but not always – transferred to the National Archives or put on official displays.

The $20,000 diamond was retained for official use in the White House East Wing, according to a state department document, while the other gifts to the president and first lady were sent to the archives. Recipients also have the option to buy the gifts from the US government at their market value, although that is rare, particularly with high-end items.

According to the state department’s office of protocol, which compiles the list that will be published in Friday’s edition of the Federal Register, several employees of the CIA reported receiving lavish gifts of watches, perfume and jewelry, nearly all of which were destroyed. Of the gifts destroyed, they were worth more than $132,000 combined.

The CIA director, William Burns, received a $18,000 astrograph, which is a telescope and astrological camera, from an foreign source whose identity is classified. That is being transferred to the General Services Administration. But Burns reported receiving and destroying an $11,000 Omega watch, while numerous others did the same with luxury timepieces.