Ratcliffe cites alleged Guard shooter’s ties to CIA, other US agencies in Afghanistan

EXCLUSIVE: The Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard members blocks from the White House worked with various United States government entities, including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in Afghanistan, Fox News Digital has learned.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, entered the United States on the heels of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 under the Biden administration. Lakanwal arrived in the U.S. a month later under “Operation Allies Welcome.”

TWO NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS SHOT NEAR WHITE HOUSE, AFGHAN NATIONAL SUSPECT IN CUSTODY: ‘ACT OF EVIL’

Intelligence sources told Fox News Digital that Lakanwal had a prior relationship with various entities in the U.S. government, including the CIA, due to his work as a member of a partner force in Kandahar.

“In the wake of the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox News Digital.

“The individual—and so many others—should have never been allowed to come here,” Ratcliffe continued. “Our citizens and service members deserve far better than to endure the ongoing fallout from the Biden administration’s catastrophic failures.” 

Ratcliffe added: “God bless our brave troops.”

Fox News Digital has learned that the FBI is taking the lead on the investigation.

2 NATIONAL GUARDSMEN CRITICALLY WOUNDED IN ‘TARGETED SHOOTING’ BLOCKS FROM WHITE HOUSE

Multiple high level intelligence sources told Fox News Digital that the shooting is being investigated as a possible act of international terrorism.

FBI officials confirmed the two West Virginia National Guardsmen remain in critical condition.

In an online address to the nation late Wednesday, President Donald Trump called the shooting a “savage attack” and described how one of the Guardsmen “was shot at point-blank range in a monstrous ambush-style attack just steps away from the White House.”

Trump added that the “heinous assault” was an “act of evil and act of hatred and an act of terror. It was a crime against our entire nation. It was a crime against humanity.”

“The hearts of all Americans tonight are with those two members of the West Virginia National Guard and their families,” he added. “The love of our entire country is pouring out for them, and we are lifting them up in our prayers as we are filled with anguish and grief for those who were shot, we’re also filled with righteous anger and ferocious resolve. As President of the United States, I am determined to ensure that the animal who perpetrated this atrocity pays the steepest possible price.”

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“This is a targeted shooting,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser explained during a news conference Wednesday afternoon following the shooting. “One individual appeared to target these guardsmen. That individual has been taken into custody.”

Top US officials break silence on alleged cover-up of non-human intelligence

The decades-long mystery surrounding strange, unknown objects spotted throughout the skies has long remained under classification and shielded from the American public. 

However, the shroud of secrecy is being removed in a new documentary, “The Age of Disclosure.” 

“For a very long time, the public, Congress and even the president have been kept out of the loop on this subject,” director Dan Farah told Fox News’ Bret Baier. “In the last few years, senior members of Congress, senior members of the administration — thanks to whistleblowers — have found out what’s been going on, and they are now in pursuit of the truth for themselves and for the American people.”

Filmed over the course of three years, the documentary includes interviews with 34 senior members of the U.S. government, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to pull back the curtain on an alleged “80-year global cover-up” of non-human intelligence potentially existing on other planets.

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“Every single person I interviewed made it very clear that it was no longer a question of whether this was a real situation,” Farah said. “It’s a very real situation.”

Farah added that the interviewees featured in the film each had “direct knowledge of this issue,” while insisting each individual has “extreme credibility.” 

In the film’s trailer, Rubio can be heard revealing details about unknown objects spotted over sensitive military areas.

UFO TRACKER MAPS EERIE CLUSTERS OF UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS LURKING BENEATH US SHORELINES: ‘WE’RE BEING LIED TO’ 

“We’ve had repeated instances of something operating in the airspace over restricted nuclear facilities, and it’s not ours,” Rubio said. 

The film comes at a time when public discourse regarding the existence of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena – or UAPs – have reached the highest levels of government, with discussions surrounding the classification of information often making its way to the floor of Congress. 

Farah’s film says the U.S. government is involved in a “high-stakes, secret Cold War race with adversarial nations like China and Russia” to investigate objects that have not originated from humans.

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“What really stood out to me about ‘Age of Disclosure’ is the large number of military and intelligence officials who are going on the record saying that not only do aliens or UFOs exist, but that we have a very active program of retrieving this technology and attempting to reverse-engineer it,” Kent Heckenlively, author of “Catastrophic Disclosure,” told Fox News Digital. 

The information is corroborated by high-level officials featured within the documentary, with Jay Stratton, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official and director of the government’s UAP Task Force, revealing just how high the stakes are in this otherworldly race. 

“The first country that cracks the code on this technology will be the leader for years to come,” Stratton said in the film’s trailer.

EXPLOSIVE NEW DOCUMENTARY PROBES ’80-YEAR GLOBAL COVERUP’ OF UFO SECRETS

For a topic that has notoriously been shielded from the public’s eye, Heckenlively applauded the film’s effort to hold the government accountable when it comes to transparency about UAP discoveries. 

“I think that any rational person who watches this movie has to come to one of two conclusions,” Heckenlively said. “Either this is a complete and total psychological operation by the government on the current population, or there has been a tremendous psychological operation against the public in the past. At some point in history, the government has been lying to us. The question is, is that just in the past, or is that now?”

Farah echoed the same sentiment, telling Baier that members of Congress and the Trump administration are working to break through decades of government officials refusing to release information to the public.

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“Now we have leaders in Congress and in the administration that are trying to get to the bottom of it, and there are people in this film who are respected in their fields who say they have seen these craft and have seen the recovered non-human bodies,” Farah said.

Farah did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

In light of the new revelations staring down the American public, Heckenlively remains hopeful that the information will be received not with panic, but with curiosity. 

“I think that the human race would do a lot of growing up if we found out we lived in a very crowded neighborhood,” he said. “We would be curious, we’d want to fit in. I think we would up our game if we knew that there were species out there that didn’t have some of the negatives associated with the human race.”

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“My suspicion is that if these aliens do exist, they’ve gone through a lot of the same growing pains that we have, and they may not want to share that. So there may be some advantage to keeping themselves mysterious to our greater world. I’m somewhat suspect of why these aliens have not revealed themselves, but I’m open to the possibility that there may be a good explanation.” 

“The Age of Disclosure” is playing in select theaters in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, and is also available worldwide to purchase or rent on Amazon Prime Video.

JONATHAN TURLEY: Willis’ case crumbles as replacement prosecutor finds fatal flaws

In her sometimes bizarre and often combative testimony, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis explained, “I just think men and women think differently.” At least when it comes to Pete Skandalakis, she is demonstrably correct. Serving as Willis’s replacement after her removal from the Trump case for personal misconduct in hiring her former lover as lead prosecutor, Skandalakis found the case against Trump and his associates worthy of dismissal. In so doing, he suggested (as did many of us) that the entire foundation for the case was flawed from the outset.

Some of us have been loud critics of the racketeering case brought by Willis from the outset, calling it legally and factually absurd. The loosely constructed theory placed Trump at the center of an enterprise with 18 other individuals who had little to do with each other as a group, let alone in a conspiracy.

The case was always an example of raw, open lawfare, but Willis was widely heralded by politicians and pundits for her efforts. Even when she was found to have hired her former lover, Nathan Wade, and botched the prosecution, she was lionized by the left.

The grand jury report was a mess. The case began as a virtual circus with a grand jury report that was a mess and a self-proclaimed witch as foreperson. Emily Kohrs proceeded to give spellbinding, giggling interviews touting the merits of the case.

NY APPEALS COURT THROWS OUT $500M PENALTY AGAINST TRUMP IN LETITIA JAMES CIVIL CASE 

Skandalakis shredded the case against Trump and the other defendants, noting that it was premised on biased assumptions about individuals’ motivations. For example, he criticized Willis for charging former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others over their statements to the Georgia Legislature. He observed that such charges “would have a chilling effect on witnesses,” and raised “serious constitutional questions” concerning free speech.

Likewise, he expressly criticized the charging of former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows over a call Trump had with Georgia election officials asking them to “find 11,780 votes.”  As many of us have written, Skandalakis noted that “reasonable minds could differ as to how to interpret the call.” That call was the focus of much of the media and political support for the prosecution. 

Much of the media responded to the news with a shrug and moved on after years of fawning over Willis and running misleading stories on the legal merits. Pundits who appeared nightly to support the prosecution as manifestly well-founded were nowhere to be found.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS CONTINUE FANI WILLIS INVESTIGATION, REQUESTING DOCUMENTS FROM DA EMPLOYEES 

Former prosecutor Joyce Vance said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the prosecution “looks like a slam dunk.” Others, like former acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal, praised Willis’s efforts. Laurence Tribe, who supported a litany of ridiculous charges against Trump, including attempted murder, heralded the prosecution as based on incontrovertible evidence.

The media that ignored any opposing views have moved on with the same experts to the new narrative of the death of democracy.

With the long-overdue collapse of the Georgia case, three of the four criminal prosecutions are now dead. Trump was convicted in his New York hush money case but was sentenced to no jail time. That case is still in the courts, and could also be overturned entirely.

BRAGG CASE ‘EFFECTIVELY OVER’ IN ‘MAJOR VICTORY,’ TRUMP OFFICIALS SAY

Willis spent millions on this effort, wasted her office’s personnel, and cost the courts copious time and effort. Yet, even with the disclosures of her misconduct and the poor handling of the case, she was reelected. She knew the mob and the media. It did not matter if she lost or spent a fortune. The pursuit of Trump remains a self-authenticating credential on the left.

Of course, there remains the status of Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro and Scott Hall, all of whom decided to cut deals to lesser charges. The deals allowed them to avoid additional costs and time without losing their licenses or incurring jail time. Such deals are not necessarily overturned by later decisions to drop a case. Indeed, they generally come with an agreement to waive appeals. 

In her testimony, Willis was often unglued and unprofessional. Yet that, too, was largely ignored by a fawning media. She waved around papers, yelling, “Lies! Lies! Lies!” as the left complimented her for her defiance. At one point, she insisted that opposing counsel’s “interests are contrary to democracy, your honor, not to mine.”

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The conclusion of this case only reaffirms that it was her interests alone that drove this prosecution from supporting her former lover with a huge salary to advance her political career. The people of Fulton County paid that bill and then reelected her. 

Even Emily Kohrs got her 15 minutes of fame, seemingly bewitched by the process, which she described as “really cool. . . . I got 60 seconds of eye contact with everyone who came in the room. You can tell a lot about people in that 60 seconds.” She expressed how “insanely excited” she was for the chance to play a role in the indictments. At the end of the case, only the insanity remained.

DHS orders 353,000 Haitians to ‘prepare to depart’ as protection program axed

The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian migrants living in the United States.

The agency posted a federal register notice stating that the 353,000 Haitian migrants who currently hold TPS will see their status expire in February. TPS protects eligible migrants from deportation and lets them work legally in the United States while conditions in their home country remain unsafe.

“After consulting with interagency partners, Secretary [Kristi] Noem concluded that Haiti no longer meets the statutory requirements for TPS,” DHS said in a news release. “This decision was based on a review conducted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, input from relevant U.S. government agencies, and an analysis indicating that allowing Haitian nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is inconsistent with U.S. national interests.”

DHS told Haitian migrants under TPS to prepare to depart if they have no other lawful basis for remaining in the United States.

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The agency advised them to use the U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP Home mobile application to report their departure from the United States.

“This secure and convenient self-deportation process includes a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus, and potential future opportunities for legal immigration to the United States,” DHS said.

Haiti was first granted TPS in 2010 after an earthquake and has been repeatedly extended or redesignated by successive administrations.

VIOLENT CRIMINAL GANGS HAVE ‘NEAR-TOTAL CONTROL’ OF WORLD NATION’S CAPITAL, UN SAYS

Former President Joe Biden’s administration extended TPS for Haitians in 2024, citing “simultaneous economic, security, political, and health crises” in the country fueled by gangs and a lack of a functioning government. That extension lasts through Feb. 3, 2026.

Haiti has been in turmoil for years, with natural disasters and political violence rocking the Caribbean nation.

Governance effectively collapsed in 2021 with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, leaving power vacuums. Kidnappings, gang rule and a lack of law enforcement have surged.

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The number of people displaced by violence and instability in Haiti has reached an unprecedented level, with more than 1.4 million people forced from their homes this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.

UNICEF, according to the DHS notice, estimated in October that more than 6 million people — over half the population, including 3.3 million children — need humanitarian assistance.

Some Haitians have attempted to flee to the U.S. despite the Trump administration’s hardline approach to immigration. For instance, in February, the Coast Guard intercepted 132 Haitians on a boat south of the Florida Keys. The Coast Guard boarded the 30-foot vessel and processed the migrants before they were repatriated to Haiti, officials said.

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Protesters block traffic outside one of nation’s busiest airports during Thanksgiving rush

Holiday travelers heading to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) faced severe disruptions as hundreds of protesters blocked the road outside during one of the busiest travel periods of the year, according to reports.

The demonstrations brought traffic outside the main airport building to a standstill, forcing people to abandon their cars and walk to the airport to catch their flights on time, according to FOX 11.

On Tuesday, the protesters marched onto Century Boulevard, blocking a major entrance to the airport and shutting down traffic around LAX’s main pickup and drop-off zones.

DATA SHOWS FLIGHT DELAYS AND CANCELLATIONS RISING EVEN AS SHUTDOWN WINDS DOWN

Police in riot gear arrived and cleared the intersection shortly after 6:15 p.m., gradually allowing traffic to resume.

Fox News reported another protest broke out in Terminal 7 Wednesday morning involving workers from USWW, the nation’s largest security officers union.

At the center of the protest outside the airport is an escalating labor dispute with Flying Food Group, one of LAX’s largest airline catering contractors.

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Unite Here Local 11 and employees of Flying Food Group are demanding a new contract with higher wages while raising safety and labor concerns.

“Honestly, people don’t care about the people who make food and put it on their plates,” Susan Minato, co-president of Unite Here Local 11 told FOX 11.

“We wanted to make a statement.” 

AIRLINES CANCEL FLIGHTS AS AIRPORTS EXPERIENCE ‘MAJOR DISRUPTIONS’ OVER PROTESTS, STRIKES

Minato acknowledged the disruption but defended the timing, arguing that demonstrations during peak travel periods are necessary to draw attention.

“It is a busy time of the year, no question,” she said. “But that’s also how you get some attention.”

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Earlier this year, the union successfully pushed for a city ordinance raising the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers to $30 by 2028.

While protests through Wednesday were not expected to block vehicle access, the New York Post reported that police were still preparing for disruptions amid the main holiday travel rush.

Pro athletes caught in ‘gambling mobsters’ scheme as scandals rock major leagues

Odds are that most Thanksgiving dinners will include a heaping helping of Packers-Lions. A side of Chiefs-Cowboys. A run back out to the fridge for a plate of stuffing alongside the nightcap game of Bengals-Ravens. A veritable football smorgasbord paired with mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and a slab of pumpkin pie.

But the real side dish to go with the games may be your wagers. Drop the dark meat. Put your money where your mouth is.

More and more Americans are placing wagers on practically anything related to sports. You can take the over-under on individual games or see if the Lions cover the point spread. But many fans are now lured by very specific bets. You can wager money on how many passing attempts Lamar Jackson has or how many penalties the Lions will commit. Maybe bet how many times they’ll show Taylor Swift on the screen during the Chiefs contest. The American Gaming Association says sportsbooks scored a staggering $13.71 billion in revenue last year. Heightened gambling interest is what worries lawmakers.

Astonishing betting scandals recently rocked the NBA and Major League Baseball.

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Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups pleaded not guilty earlier this week to charges of taking part in an illegal poker scheme with possible ties to organized crime.

Terry Rozier of the Miami Heat is due for arraignment on Dec. 8. Prosecutors accuse Rozier of yanking himself out of a game two years ago because of a foot injury. But bettors placed hundreds of thousands of dollars in wagers on how many points Rozier might score, as well as rebounds and assists. The feds allege that Rozier benched himself to help a gambling ring that bet on the paucity of his performance that night.

And the feds busted Cleveland Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase for allegedly conspiring with bettors to throw specific pitches at specific times during the games. It’s believed this resulted in bettors pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So there’s the gaming of the games.

That’s why lawmakers question whether fans can trust what they see on the field or the court.

“People have to have faith in the product, and they have to have the belief that the players are playing, and the coaches are on the up and up and the refs are on the up and up,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo.

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“You may not be able to throw a strike 10% of the time. But even a lousy pitcher as I am could throw a ball 100% of the time,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “These cheating scandals threaten to undermine the integrity of sports.”

That’s why Cruz and the top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Maria Cantwell, of Washington state, wrote to Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. They want answers on suspicious wagers and whether there are any other instances of alleged rigging. Cruz and Cantwell fired off a letter to the NBA as well.

“We need these organizations to make sure that there’s rules and regulations in place that are followed,” said Cantwell. “What you should do to make sure that people are complying.”

“If you’re watching a game and you think, ‘Is this the glorious uncertainty of sport, or is this some theater designed by gambling mobsters and their addicted athletes?’ then the joy of sport is dead, ladies and gentlemen,” said University of New Haven professor Declan Hill after a meeting with lawmakers.

The latest line is on the emerging phenomenon of prop bets. People don’t wager on overall outcomes of games or who might win the division or conference, but instead place their money on individual events during the game.

“We are a long way from the Black Sox scandal,” said John Affleck, Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society at Penn State.

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That’s where eight members of the Chicago White Sox allegedly took money to throw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds – although the evidence of what the White Sox players may have done is mixed at best.

“We’re now in a place where the first corner kick or the number of points you score in the first half can be manipulated if you have a willing athlete,” said Affleck.

Sports leagues have all cozied up to commercial gambling operations over the past few years. Many established partnerships. Some lawmakers believe betting scandals were inevitable once the leagues and the gaming industry parlayed their fortunes together.

“These growing scandals simply highlight the need for national standards that stop the sports betting industry from exploiting vulnerable gamblers and the potential corruption among the players themselves,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “The sports betting industry has grown huge without any kind of safeguards against the use of algorithms and micro bets to target individuals, whether they are gamblers or players in sports.”

Congress hasn’t passed a gambling law since 2006.

Lawmakers say the leagues should tread carefully with gambling. Fans could lose interest if they think the sports are rigged.

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“All these scandals,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. “People are going to get tired of it and move on. I mean, my God, football, basketball, baseball should all be worried now that watching people play video games is a spectator sport.”

And we reside in a period when people routinely take to social media to claim that the leagues only want certain teams to succeed or that the refs or umpires are biased against their club.

“I think of the proclivity of conspiracy theories in our modern world. It just sort of fits that as soon as you get a bad call as a fan, you go ‘Fix!,’” said Affleck. “That’s what the leagues have to be worried about — a sense that everybody’s on the take.”

There are also worries about how gaming apps are designed to lure people.

“It’s impossible to ignore the similarities between sportsbooks today and the big tobacco efforts of decades earlier,” said Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y. “Instead of ads with doctors recommending cigarettes, it’s celebrities teaching viewers how to bet.”

Tonko said one in five Americans bet on sports at least once a month and 7 million people have a gambling problem. He added that one in five of those addicted to gambling will attempt suicide.

“In short, we are dealing with a massive and growing public health crisis involving a known addictive product,” said Tonko.

Affleck believes gaming apps have “a particular appeal to younger bettors, which raises some alarm bells about early addiction.”

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So Congress is investigating, but it’s unclear if anything will come of the inquiry into the recent pro-betting scandals.

“I think there’s a risk of Congress overstepping,” said Eric Schmitt, arguing that regulation of gaming should be left to the states.

So will much come of the congressional probe? Will we see gaming legislation from lawmakers?

Considering the current dysfunction of Congress, don’t bet on it.

Cancer-free grandma marks special holiday with young man she invited by accident

Sometimes the best connections happen by chance — and for one Arizona pair, that bit of luck has turned into yet another Thanksgiving that they’re spending together. This year, it will be their 10th. 

Back in 2016, Wanda Dench meant to invite her grandson to her Thanksgiving celebration. Instead, she accidentally texted Jamal Hinton of Phoenix.

The two realized the mistake once she sent a photo confirmation of herself, with Hinton responding, “[You’re] not my grandma,” and adding a laughing emoji.

AVERAGE COST OF THANKSGIVING DINNER LOWER THAN LAST YEAR 

Hinton attached a selfie to confirm she had the wrong number, but Dench asked if he could stop by for dinner anyway. 

The story went viral on social media, and even now, their annual tradition continues to capture the hearts of Americans across the nation.

Dench and Hinton talked to Fox News Digital about how their accidental Thanksgiving invite blossomed into a decade-long friendship — and how they’re celebrating their 10th holiday together.

“I remember like it was yesterday because it was exciting and fun, and totally unexpected [in terms of] the end results when all the media kind of circled us,” said Dench. “Meeting Jamal was the best thing ever, and I am saying that from my heart. That’s true.”

Their unlikely friendship has remained a source of strength.

Hinton, for his part, said meeting Dench changed his life. “I remember it like it was yesterday, my senior year [of high school]. I was already like the popular kid, [and] I became like the super popular kid.” 

THANKSGIVING BECOMES BRITISH OBSESSION AS YOUNGER GENERATIONS EMBRACE AMERICAN HOLIDAY

He added, “But for me, the story’s been a blessing since day one.”

Even with Hinton’s move out of Arizona and then back, and now to Florida — plus the loss of Dench’s husband and a breast cancer diagnosis — their unlikely friendship has remained a source of strength.

This year will be extra special, as Dench said she is now officially cancer-free.

“When I was diagnosed, I was a little surprised because [breast cancer] doesn’t run in our family or anything, and at my age, I thought — I don’t know — I was past it, but obviously not,” said Dench.

She said at first, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go public with her diagnosis. Yet friends and family encouraged her to use her platform to spread awareness, she said.

“I wanted to get the message out there to all women, but especially women in my age group, because I think when we get to my age, we think we’re past all the mammograms and everything, but we’re not,” said Dench. “We still have a life to live.”

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Dench said Hinton encouraged her to share her diagnosis last October.

“Jamal goes, ‘This is a good month to do this because it’s breast cancer awareness month.’ And that was in October of last year.”

She added, joking, “I didn’t even know it was breast cancer awareness month, and I felt like I should have known that before him.”

Dench said she always thought it was the cutest thing, and that she’s been blessed by the outpouring of support she has received.

“I’m grateful that I got that message out there,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of responses. Women are thanking me for mentioning that, and they’re telling their mother or their grandmother,” she said.

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Said Hinton, “I love the fact that she said that we have a story, and that it’s a really good feel-good story. And it comes around every single year.”

This year, Hinton will be “hosting” Thanksgiving. The meal will be catered through a partnership with Green Giant to celebrate the company’s 100th anniversary.

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“There isn’t one thing I don’t like on the menu,” said Dench.

Tech giant could soon dethrone world’s top smartphone maker for the first time in years

Apple’s smartphone shipments in 2025 are expected to top Samsung’s for the first time in over a decade and become the world’s leading seller of smartphones, according to a new report.

An analysis by Counterpoint Research found that global smartphone shipments will rise by 3.3% year over year in 2025, with much of the gain driven by Apple.

Shipments of iPhones are expected to climb 10% year over year in 2025, in part because of growing demand for the iPhone 17 series in key regions.

Counterpoint projected that Apple’s shipments will reach 19.4% in 2025, which would make Apple the world’s leading smartphone manufacturer for the first time since 2011.

NEW APPLE IPHONE 17 GOES ON SALE WORLDWIDE

Samsung’s shipments are expected to increase 4.6% year over year and reach a global share of 18.7%, slipping out of first place for the first time in over a decade.

“Beyond the highly positive market reception for the iPhone 17 series, the key driver behind the upgraded shipment outlook lies in the replacement cycle reaching its inflection point,” said senior analyst Yang Wang.

“Consumers who purchased smartphones during the COVID-19 boom are now entering their upgrade phase. Furthermore, 358 million second-hand iPhones were sold between 2023 and Q2 2025. These users are also likely to upgrade to a new iPhone in the coming years.” 

APPLE, MICROSOFT HIT $4T MILESTONE

That base of consumer demand is expected to help Apple retain its newly regained lead among smartphone manufacturers through 2029, according to the analysis.

Samsung’s strategic move to the A series is expected to reinforce momentum in emerging markets through its stronger specifications and competitive pricing, while, in mature markets, Samsung’s move to premium offerings is expected to help it defend market share, Counterpoint projected.

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Chinese smartphone manufacturers are expected to rely further on overseas markets to fuel growth, while also moving into higher-priced segments with premium features to boost profitability. 

Counterpoint said that diversification should allow the Chinese manufacturers to strengthen their revenue, while their rankings in terms of shipments are expected to hold steady through 2029.

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When’s the best time to eat Thanksgiving dinner? The pros have a clear answer

Millions of Americans will be sitting down at their dinner tables and celebrating Thanksgiving — likely between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Even though the grand meal is called “Thanksgiving dinner,” the dining time often falls between lunch and dinner.

Are there practical reasons for this early dinnertime, or is it just traditional?

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A culinary expert and two health experts weighed in — and all of them affirmed that mid-afternoon is the ideal eating time.

Danielle Vauthy, a professional chef at Hungryroot, told Fox News Digital that, when crafting an elaborate Thanksgiving meal, “timing is everything.”

“Think of it like a restaurant. There’s usually someone coordinating when each dish goes out, so everything hits the table at the perfect temperature,” the Washington-based chef said. 

“For Thanksgiving, early afternoon tends to work best, because most people start cooking in the morning.”

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Turkey, the star of every Thanksgiving dinner, needs ample time to cook and rest, Vauthy noted.

“The turkey usually takes up the oven most of the day, and it needs to rest before carving,” she said.

“That rest time is perfect for crisping toppings, warming casseroles or reheating pre-cooked sides, so everything comes together beautifully.”

Home chefs should plan ahead, preparing cold and room-temperature dishes ahead of time while taking hot food out of the oven as close to dinnertime as possible, said Vauthy.

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“If you want everything to be at its best, think about what can sit at room temperature, like salads, and what really needs to be served hot or crisp, like crispy turkey skin, crisp toppings or warm mashed potatoes,” she said.

“This gives the body plenty of time to digest and break down the carbohydrates, fats and protein before sleeping.”

“Work backwards from there when planning your timing.”

There are health-related reasons for the habit, too. Dawn Menning, a registered dietitian from California, told Fox News Digital that eating Thanksgiving dinner earlier in the day allows more time for digestion.

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It also “gives you the ability to fit in time for activity, like taking a walk, which can help with blood sugar balance,” Menning said.

“When you eat a big Thanksgiving meal, which typically is high in fat and added sugar, your stomach has to expand to allow room for the additional volume of food, which can lead to stomach discomfort, gas, bloating or heartburn,” she added.

“Listen to your hunger cues. Eat slowly and take breaks. Before you go back for seconds, pause and see if you are really hungry.”

Dr. Omer Awan, a physician at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, told Fox News Digital that the ideal hour to eat Thanksgiving dinner leans toward 4 p.m., but some people might push it to 5 p.m.

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“This is because Thanksgiving dinner is usually a heavy meal and many Americans drink alcohol,” Awan said.

“This gives the body plenty of time to digest and break down the carbohydrates, fats and protein before sleeping.”

He also noted that eating earlier helps to control blood sugar levels, since many people’s insulin sensitivity drops by the late evening.

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“Ultimately, this can help prevent reflux, heartburn and poor sleep,” the doctor added.