Morgan Burtwistle, known as Angry Ginge, has become the first social media star to win I’m a Celebrity, taking over half the votes as his former teachers at Salford City Academy speak out
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Angry Ginge was crowned king of the jungle last week(Image: James Gourley/ITV/Shutterstock)
Viewers were hardly taken aback when Angry Ginge was declared the king of the jungle in Sunday night’s finale of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here.
After making it to the final three alongside former EastEnders actress Shona McGarty and Celebs Go Dating star Tom Read Wilson, his chances of winning the ITV show had been consistently high since the series began.
Among those who fully anticipated the 24 year old’s triumph were staff at Salford City Academy, where Ginge, whose real name is Morgan Burtwistle, attended high school. Having spent part of his early education at Christ Church CE Primary in Eccles and then Northern Primary School in Bacup, when his family resided there for four years, he completed his secondary education in Eccles, Salford, while growing up on the Brookhouse Estate.
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His mum Michelle previously shared insights into her son’s school life, where his favourite subjects were drama and history. She disclosed that it wasn’t always smooth sailing – ‘he once got into trouble for selling Lucozade at school to make money’, but he ‘always did his homework on time’ and rose to become a prefect, school ambassador, pupil council member and, in his final year, head boy.
Now, the academy’s associate principal Katie Eaton, who taught Morgan during his tenure at the school, and executive principal Melanie Haselden, have lauded Ginge for his achievement.
They expressed: “Many congratulations to our former student and head boy, Morgan, on this fantastic achievement. All of us at SCA who knew Morgan during his time at school have been rooting for him over the past several weeks and are so proud of the way he has conducted himself and the determination, resilience and kindness he has shown. We hope he gets the opportunity to celebrate his well-deserved success.”, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Offering further insight into Morgan’s school days, Katie shared: “At school, Morgan was a shining star in his GCSE drama class, a supportive friend to everyone, and a true role model as head boy. His success reflects the leadership and character he demonstrated every day in our community, and we couldn’t be prouder of this incredible achievement.”
Angry Ginge made history in the ITV final by becoming the first ever social media star to clinch the coveted title, securing over half of the votes. His friends and fellow streamers, the Bov Boys, have also been closely following Ginge’s jungle exploits. As we previously reported, Jakey (Jake Davies), from Rochdale, predicted his mate would go all the way.
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“I definitely think he’s got a great chance of winning,” he stated. “Ginge absolutely has what it takes to be crowned King of the Jungle.”
When asked if Ginge would remain a Bov Boy if he won, Jake quipped: “It depends how much he brags about it. If he’s still going on about it six months later, we might have to kick him out, but we’ll see.”
United States President Donald Trump has renewed his threats against his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, warning that the South American leader could be the next target for his anti-drug campaign.
On Wednesday, at a White House roundtable with business leaders, one reporter asked Trump if he had spoken to Petro. That touched off a fiery response from the Republican leader.
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“I haven’t really thought too much about him. He’s been fairly hostile to the United States,” Trump began, before going on the offensive.
“He’s going to have himself some big problems if he doesn’t wise up,” Trump continued.
“Colombia is producing a lot of drugs. They have cocaine factories. They make cocaine, as you know, and they sell it right into the United States. So he better wise up, or he’ll be next. He’ll be next. I hope he’s listening. He’s going to be next because we don’t like people when they kill people.”
The remarks came shortly after Trump addressed a US military operation to seize an oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, in an effort to punish Venezuela and Iran for alleged sanction violations.
Trump has long had a rocky relationship with Petro, the first left-wing leader in modern Colombian history.
But the Republican president’s aggressive comments towards Petro have strained relations with Colombia, which partnered with the US for decades as part of the global “war on drugs”.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has had a long-running feud with Donald Trump [Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters]
A partner in the ‘war on drugs’
Until Trump’s return to the presidency in January, Colombia had been one of the largest recipients of US aid in South America.
The country not only contends with cocaine production within its borders but also a six-decade-long internal conflict, which pits government forces against left-wing rebels, right-wing paramilitaries and criminal networks.
Colombia is the world’s largest producer of coca, the raw material for cocaine and other products. Nearly 253,000 hectares, or 625,176 acres, are devoted to its cultivation, according to United Nations estimates.
Critics argue that coca eradication efforts largely disadvantage rural farmers without offering an alternative means to earn a livelihood.
Instead, Petro’s government has focused on attacking the criminal networks that convert the leaf into drugs.
But Trump and his allies have accused Petro of failing to take more aggressive action to stop cocaine production in Colombia.
The US president has repeatedly hinted he could take military action against Colombia over the issue.
On October 23, for instance, he called Petro a “thug” and said Colombia was “ not going to get away with it much longer”.
More recently, at a December 2 cabinet meeting, the US president spoke directly about the possibility of an attack.
“ I hear Colombia, the country of Colombia, is making cocaine,” Trump told his cabinet. “Anybody that’s doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack.”
But Petro has defended his record, highlighting the campaigns his government has undertaken to destroy drug-producing facilities. He claims that as many as 18,400 narcotics laboratories have been dismantled during his time in office.
After December’s cabinet meeting, Petro swiftly responded to Trump’s military threats. In a post on the social media platform X, the Colombian president reminded Trump that his country has been integral in the “war on drugs”.
“If any country has helped stop thousands of tons of cocaine from being consumed by Americans, it is Colombia,” Petro wrote.
He also warned Trump not to “awaken the jaguar” by launching an attack on an ally.
“Attacking our sovereignty is declaring war,” Petro said. “Do not damage two centuries of diplomatic relations.”
Instead, he invited Trump to participate in the fight against cocaine trafficking firsthand: “Come to Colombia, Mr Trump. I invite you, so you can participate in the destruction of the nine laboratories we dismantle every day.”
In September, however, the Trump administration issued a notice that accused Colombia of having “failed demonstrably” to “adhere to [its] obligations under international counternarcotics agreements”.
The next month, the US made the historic decision to decertify Colombia’s anti-narcotic efforts. It was the first time since 1997 that the US had taken such a measure.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro holds a news conference about efforts to combat coca production in Bogota, Colombia, on October 23 [Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters]
A wide-ranging beef
Petro and Trump, however, have clashed over issues beyond the fight against drug trafficking.
Just days into Trump’s second term, on January 26, the two leaders exchanged a volley of social media threats over a newly unveiled mass deportation effort in the US.
Petro objected to the harsh treatment of immigrants being expelled from the US, often without due process and in handcuffs.
“The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals,” Petro wrote on social media. He warned he would not accept deportation flights from the US.
Trump responded by threatening to slap Colombia with 25-percent tariffs, an amount that would eventually rise to 50 percent. Petro ultimately backed down.
But the two leaders have continued to exchange blows. Trump, for example, has been highly critical of Petro’s “Total Peace” plan, a blueprint for negotiating with the rebel groups enmeshed in Colombia’s internal conflict.
The US president has also taken action to punish Petro personally. In September, Petro visited New York City to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he spoke against Trump and participated in a pro-Palestinian rally.
Within hours, the Trump administration had yanked Petro’s visa, citing “his reckless and incendiary actions”.
The next month, it also sanctioned Petro, freezing any assets he may have in the US.
The Colombian president, meanwhile, has emerged as one of the most vocal detractors of Trump’s bombing campaign in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Since September 2, the Trump administration has attacked at least 22 vessels, killing an estimated 87 people.
Trump has maintained that the victims are drug traffickers, though neither he nor his officials have offered public evidence to justify their claims. Colombians have been among the victims.
One boat strike on October 17 allegedly targeted members of Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN), a rebel group. Another attack, on October 16, left two survivors, one of whom was Colombian.
The family of one Colombian citizen, Alejandro Carranza, also filed a complaint this month with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), claiming the fisherman was killed in a strike on September 15.
Here’s where things stand on Thursday, December 11:
Fighting
Ukrainian sea drones hit and disabled a tanker involved in trading Russian oil as it sailed through Ukraine’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea to the Russian port of Novorossiysk, a Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) official said.
The Dashan tanker was sailing at maximum speed with its transponders off when powerful explosions hit its stern, inflicting critical damage on the vessel, the SBU official said. No information was available on possible casualties from the attack.
The attack marks the third sea drone strike in two weeks on vessels that are part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” – unregulated ships which Kyiv says are helping Moscow export large quantities of oil and fund its war in Ukraine despite Western sanctions.
Three people were killed and two wounded by Ukrainian shelling of a hospital in the Russia-controlled part of the Kherson region in Ukraine, a Russia-installed governor claimed on Telegram. All those killed and injured were reportedly employees of the medical facility.
Ukrainian forces are fending off an unusually large Russian mechanised attack inside the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk, Kyiv’s military said, including “armoured vehicles, cars, and motorcycles”.
Russian drones have hit the gas transport system in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, a senior Ukrainian official said, in an area which contains several pipelines carrying US liquefied natural gas to Ukraine from Greece.
Russian air defences shot down two drones en route to Moscow, the city’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
Peace deal
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine had agreed on key points of a post-war reconstruction plan and an “economic document” in talks with United States President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.
“The principles of the economic document are completely clear, and we are fully aligned with the American side,” Zelenskyy said. “An important common principle is that for reconstruction to be of high quality and economic growth after this war to be tangible, real security must be at the core. When there is security, everything else is there too,” he said.
Zelenskyy also said work was proceeding on the “fundamental document” of a US-backed 20-point plan aimed at ending the war. He said two other associated documents dealt with security guarantees and economic issues.
The leaders of Britain, France and Germany held a call with President Trump to discuss Washington’s latest peace efforts to end the war in Ukraine, in what they said was “a critical moment” in the process.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump and the European leaders discussed how to move forward on “a subject that concerns all of us”.
There will be another meeting on Thursday of the leaders of the so-called “coalition of the willing” group of nations backing Ukraine, said the French presidency, adding that this meeting would be held via videoconference.
Military aid
The US House of Representatives has passed a massive defence policy bill authorising a record $901bn in annual military spending, including $400m in military assistance to Ukraine in each of the next two years and other measures reinforcing the US commitment to Europe’s defence.
Politics and diplomacy
Trump again expressed concern that Ukraine had not had an election in a long time, putting additional pressure on Zelenskyy to hold one.
Zelenskyy said he had discussed with Ukraine’s parliament legal and other issues linked to the possibility of holding an election during wartime, and urged other countries, including the US, not to apply pressure on the issue.
Wartime elections are forbidden by law in Ukraine, but Zelenskyy, whose term expired last year, is facing renewed pressure from Trump to hold a vote.
Regional security
Following a report from the head of Kyiv’s foreign intelligence service that Russia and China were taking steps to intensify cooperation, Zelenskyy said there was a “growing trend of the de-sovereignisation of parts of Russian territory in China’s favour”, primarily through Moscow’s sale of its “scarce resources” to Beijing.
“We … note that China is taking steps to intensify cooperation with Russia, including in the military-industrial sector,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
A report from the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, Oleh Ivashchenko. There were many details regarding the foreign policy situation surrounding Ukraine and the economic situation in Russia – specifically, the dependence of its companies and state system on… pic.twitter.com/xV5fvx6RvR
Sanctions
The US has extended a deadline for negotiations on buying the global assets of Russian oil company Lukoil by a little over a month to January 17. Trump imposed sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft, Russia’s two biggest energy companies, on October 22 as part of an effort to pressure Moscow over its war in Ukraine, and Lukoil put its assets up for sale shortly after.
Russian prosecutors asked a Moscow court to seize the assets of US private equity fund NCH Capital in Russia, the Kommersant newspaper said, citing court documents. Prosecutors accused the fund’s owners of financing Ukraine’s military forces.
European Union ambassadors have greenlit the bloc’s plan to phase out Russian gas imports by late 2027, three EU officials told the Reuters news agency, clearing one of the final legal hurdles before the ban can pass into law.
Aaron Ramsdale threw his arms out in anger. Malick Thiaw slammed the turf. A stunned Dan Burn and Jacob Murphy had their hands on their head.
History was repeating itself for Newcastle United as the BayArena erupted following an 88th-minute equaliser for Bayer Leverkusen’s Alex Grimaldo.
After showing remarkable spirit to come from behind, and take the lead against the German side, Newcastle were again denied a precious victory.
They had conceded yet another late goal.
“You have to stand up and be counted and we didn’t do it well enough,” Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe said following the 2-2 draw in the Champions League.
“That’s a team thing – the whole group realising the importance of defending our goal.”
Newcastle have now conceded nine goals in the final 10 minutes of games in all competitions this season.
Only Nottingham Forest have let in more among Premier League clubs.
‘We gave ourselves a mountain to climb’
Newcastle aspire to be a top team, of course.
And there was no danger of the visitors having one eye on Sunday’s Wear-Tyne derby.
Such was the importance of this game, and the respect he had for Leverkusen, Howe named arguably his strongest available side as Lewis Hall, Joelinton, Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes all came into the team.
Yet they quickly found themselves going behind in familiar circumstances after failing to get the first contact on Aleix Garcia’s corner kick.
Leverkusen captain Robert Andrich easily shrugged off Tonali at the back post to head the ball off the back off Bruno Guimaraes and into the net.
“We’re not doing it well enough,” Gordon said. “Again it comes back to mentality. We need to be stronger, we need to be better.
“Ultimately, it’s consistency. We need to be a consistent team in every phase of the game.”
Newcastle have spent time working on set-plays of late, but a usually assured side have looked shaky from corners in the last week or so, in particular.
Tottenham Hotspur captain Cristian Romero scored a dramatic late equaliser from a corner last Tuesday before Jacob Ramsey handled the ball inside the box from a similar situation just four days later when Newcastle were 2-0 up against 10-man Burnley.
Zian Flemming scored the resulting penalty that set up a nervy finish, and Newcastle were mightily relieved not to concede another stoppage-time equaliser when Burnley substitute Josh Laurent narrowly headed wide in the last act of the game.
However, this time, Newcastle still had plenty of time to recover after Leverkusen took an early lead.
But that did not make it any less palatable for Howe.
‘Need to do whatever it takes to win’
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Yet Newcastle found a way to climb it.
Following some strong words at half-time, the visitors rallied after the break and won a penalty courtesy of Nick Woltemade aggressively pressing Leverkusen goalkeeper Mark Flekken.
And after equalising from the spot, Gordon then went on to set up substitute Lewis Miley’s header to put Newcastle in front.
However, another familiar issue reared its head.
Despite taking the lead in the 74th minute, Newcastle were unable to see out the game.
This side have dropped more points from winning positions – 11 – than any other team in the Premier League.
They have failed to win four of their past five away games in all competitions despite taking the lead in all of them at some stage.
Newcastle may have hit the upright through substitute Jacob Murphy after going in front, but Howe’s side began to drop deep against Leverkusen late on, consciously or not.
And Grimaldo’s clever dummy took Newcastle’s midfield out of the game before Leverkusen’s talisman levelled.
It was a familiar story for Howe.
“I don’t think it’s ever a case of sitting back and absorbing pressure,” the Newcastle head coach said.
“That’s not number one in our aim, but you need to do whatever it takes to win. Sometimes that is par for the course, that’s what you have to do.”
Newcastle remain on course for at least a play-off spot and are only a couple of points off the automatic qualification places for the last 16.
But Howe’s team cannot afford to let history repeat itself when they host a PSV side who are starting to hit form, on 21 January, before a trip to the Parc des Princes to take on holders Paris St-Germain a week later.
Visitors who are eligible to enter the United States without a visa may soon be required to provide the Department of Homeland Security with significantly more personal information, including details about their social media activity, email accounts and family background.
According to a notice published on Wednesday in the Federal Register, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is proposing to collect up to five years of social media data from travellers from certain visa-waiver countries.
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The proposed requirement would apply to travellers using the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) under the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens of 42 countries – including the United Kingdom, Germany, Qatar, Greece, Malta, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Israel and South Korea – to travel to the US for tourism or business for up to 90 days.
Currently, the ESTA automatically screens applicants and grants travel approval without requiring an in-person interview at a US embassy or consulate, unlike standard visa applications.
At present, ESTA applicants are required to provide a more limited set of information, such as their parents’ names, current email address, and details of any past criminal record.
A question asking travellers to disclose their social media information was first added to the ESTA application in 2016, though it has remained optional.
New rules also target metadata, email history
The new notice also states that the CBP plans to request additional personal information from visitors, including telephone numbers used over the past five years and email addresses used over the last 10 years.
Authorities also said they plan to add what they describe as “high-value data fields” to the ESTA application “when feasible”. These would include metadata from electronically submitted photographs, extensive personal details about applicants’ family members, such as their places of birth and telephone numbers used over the past five years, as well as biometric information, including fingerprints, DNA and iris data.
The announcement did not say what the administration was looking for in the social media accounts of visitors or why it was asking for more information.
But the CBP said it was complying with an executive order that US President Donald Trump signed in January that called for more screening of people coming to the US to prevent the entry of possible national security threats.
Travellers from countries that are not part of the Visa Waiver Program system are already required to submit their social media information, a policy that dates back to the first Trump administration. The policy remained during US President Joe Biden’s administration.
The United States House of Representatives has voted forward a bill that would end the restrictive Caesar Act sanctions on Syria, originally imposed during the rule of former leader Bashar al-Assad.
The bid to repeal the sanctions was passed on Wednesday as part of a larger defence spending package, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.
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“With this NDAA, as many know, we are repealing sanctions on Syria that were placed there because of Bashar al-Assad and the torture of his people,” Representative Brian Mast of Florida said. “We’re giving Syria a chance to chart a post-Assad future.”
Mast had previously been opposed to dropping the sanctions. In his statement on the House floor on Wednesday, he warned that, under the bill, the White House could “reimpose sanctions if the president views it necessary”.
The bill now heads to the Senate and is expected to be voted on before the end of the year.
If passed, the NDAA would repeal the 2019 Caesar Act, which sanctioned the Syrian government for war crimes during the country’s 13-year-long civil war.
It would also require the White House to issue frequent reports confirming that Syria’s new government is combating Islamist fighters and upholding the rights of religious and ethnic minorities.
Human rights advocates have welcomed the easing of heavy sanctions that the US and other Western countries imposed on Syria during the war.
They argue that lifting those economic restrictions will aid Syria’s path towards economic recovery after years of devastation.
The Caesar Act was signed into law during President Donald Trump’s first term.
But in December 2024, shortly before Trump returned to office for a second term, rebel forces toppled al-Assad’s government, sending the former leader fleeing to Russia.
Trump has since removed many sanctions on Syria and met with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the push that ousted al-Assad.
But some sanctions can only be removed by Congress, a step that Trump has encouraged lawmakers to take.
This month, Syrians celebrated the one-year anniversary of al-Assad’s overthrow with fireworks, prayer and public displays of pride. But the country continues to face challenges as it recovers from the destruction and damage wrought by the war.
Syrian officials have urged the repeal of remaining sanctions, saying that it is necessary to give the country a fighting chance at economic stability and improvement.
Syrian central bank Governor Abdulkader Husrieh called US sanctions relief a “miracle” in an interview with the news service Reuters last week.
