After two members of the US National Guard were shot and critically wounded in Washington, US President Donald Trump has demanded that all Afghans who enlisted in the country were reviewed. Additionally, all applications relating to Afghanistan have been halted by US immigration authorities.
Published On 27 Nov 2025
The pontiff’s first speeches abroad and visits tense cultural sites will be closely watched as he prepares a crowded three-day itinerary in Turkiye starting on Thursday and then travels to Lebanon.
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Foreign travel has grown to be a significant component of the modern papacy, with popes attracting attention from around the world by leading events with crowds of up to 100,000, giving speeches on foreign policy, and running international diplomacy.
Leo, 70, will travel to Turkey’s capital, Ankara, where he will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and address political leaders, on Thursday at around 06:40 GMT. He was scheduled to leave with his entourage from Rome’s Fiumicino airport.
The landmark early church council in Turkiye, where the Nicene Creed is still revered by the majority of Christians around the world, is where the first pontiff from the United States will travel.
The world’s cardinals elected Leo in a conclave in May to succeed Pope Francis. Before his election, Leo, a relative stranger on the global stage, spent decades as a missionary in Peru before acclimating to the Vatican in 2023.
Francis had planned to travel to Turkiye and Lebanon, but his health was preventing him from doing so.
Leo will then make a brief stop in Istanbul on Thursday evening, which was previously known as Constantinople, the Roman Empire’s capital.
The #PapaLeoneXIV is a continuation of the #Turchia #Türkiye, the first apostolico-first viaggio.
The Italian city of Fiumicino is known for its romanesque architecture, and italy Airlines giungered an image for the film. twitter.com/yHd6oMWLkx
Pope Leo will make his first apostolic trip to Turkiye, according to translation. He is seen arriving at the Fiumicino airport in Rome, where he will board an Italian Airways flight to Ankara.
Leo is the only pope to visit Turkiye after Paul VI in 1967, John Paul II in 1979, Benedict XVI in 2006, and Francis in 2014. In Istanbul, the city’s largest Catholic church at St. Anthony Padua Parish, preparations are in progress.
Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the 260 million Orthodox Christians in the world, resides in Istanbul.
Orthodox and Catholic Christians split in the East-West Schism in 1054, but they have generally made efforts to reunite in recent years.
Leo and Bartholomew will travel to Iznik, a city 140 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Istanbul, on Friday, where the Nicene Creed, which outlines what are still held by the majority of Christians today, was created. There, it was once called Nicaea, which was 140 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Istanbul.
Leo is expected to speak English in his speeches in Turkiye in a change from what is customary for popes to speak Italian on official occasions.
Leo will travel to Lebanon, a religiously diverse country, on Sunday after being devastated by an economic and political crisis since 2019 and the target of numerous Israeli bombings in near-daily violations of an agreement reached a year ago to end the war.
Since the breakaway of the truce, Israel has killed more than 330 Lebanese.
In an airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday, Israel carried out the murder of Haytham Ali Tabatabai, the Lebanese government’s chief of staff.
This is a great week to play your Free Hit chip, with three of the league’s worst defences – Leeds, Burnley and Wolves – on the road against in-form attacks.
Manchester City host struggling Leeds, who have lost their past three games and conceded 15 on the road this season, so Erling Haaland is straight back in as captain.
It’s not a case of if he will score, but how many he will bag.
The team of the week are selected based on current FPL prices to fit within a £100m budget, as if you were playing a Free Hit.
A bit of a stinker. Leaving Haaland out did not backfire, but making Mohamed Salah captain did with a measly four-pointer.
Jordan Pickford, Everton, goalkeeper, £5.5m – Newcastle (h)
Everton’s back four and keeper were so impressive against Manchester United on Monday night, and they have a good chance to continue that form against a Newcastle side that have been fairly toothless on the road.
Eddie Howe’s team have three goals, no wins and only three points from six games away from home, while Everton have let in only five at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Pickford is getting a clean sheet every three games this season. This is a good chance for another one.
Nico O’Reilly, Manchester City, £5m – Leeds (h)
City’s game at home to Leeds is the one to target this week, and O’Reilly is the defender with the most upside.
There is always a worry that Pep roulette takes hold and Rayan Ait-Nouri gets a start at left-back, but O’Reilly has started all but one Premier League game since week four.
In the past six gameweeks, he is the third-highest-scoring defender behind Daniel Munoz and Gabriel, with 37 points.
O’Reilly’s nine shots in that time is a league high for defenders, while he has a goal, two assists and three big chances created.
Matty Cash, Aston Villa, £4.6m – Wolves (h)
Will Wolves ever get any better? Until they show signs of life they are the team to target in FPL.
Cash is another defender who has had a decent past six weeks, with 27 points in six games, including a goal against Manchester City.
He has the right-back slot locked down and, with an expected assists (xA) of 1.0 this season but nothing to show for it, he is definitely due a return.
Micky van de Ven, Spurs, £4.8m – Fulham (h)
Take away the 3-0 win over Wolves – because everyone scores against them – and Fulham have two goals in their past four games.
They are also one of the poorest away teams so far, with one point from six games and only four goals.
That gives me confidence that a wounded Spurs team can bounce back from their derby humiliation by Arsenal with a clean sheet.
Eberechi Eze, Arsenal, £7.7m – Chelsea (a)
Why not ride the hot hand of London derby hero Eze?
His hat-trick against Spurs was not out of the blue and he makes this team of the week before because of his underlying statistics.
With 31 shots in 11 starts, Eze leads the way among Arsenal players. He had six in the derby alone.
The only note of caution is that he is yet to have a ‘big chance’ this season. While he has 21 shots in the box, they tend to be from near the edge of the area. His goals against Spurs were all from about 15-16 yards out.
But when you are that good shooting from range, is it really an issue?
Morgan Gibbs-White, Nottingham Forest, £7.3m – Brighton (h)
Speaking of hot streaks, Gibbs-White has three goals in three games for Sean Dyche’s revitalised Forest.
He scored a 10-pointer in this team of the week in his most recent home game against Leeds, so he comes back in.
Forest have a nice fixture run coming up too, with Wolves away next.
Morgan Rogers, Aston Villa, £6.9m – Wolves (h)
It would be negligent not to target Wolves this week – they have lost five in a row and conceded 27 goals in 12 games.
If you are feeling brave then Donyell Malen is Villa’s most explosive midfield option, with the highest expected goals (xG) of 2.08 this season, four big chances (three more than any other midfielder) and three goals.
But his gametime is not guaranteed and Rogers showed with last week’s double at Leeds what a key part of Villa’s attack he is. His goal and assist threat make him an easy choice this week.
Phil Foden, Manchester City, £8m – Leeds (h)
Since his two goals against Manchester United in week four, Foden has only one assist, but that does not tell the full story of some fine performances.
For a start, he has created 20 chances. He has had more shots in that period than any City player except Haaland – 14 – and has an xG of 1.29.
This game against struggling Leeds is surely the moment Foden turns underlying data into returns.
Dango Ouattara, Brentford, £6m – Burnley (h)
Burnley have the leakiest defence in the league away from home and are a team to attack this week.
It is a toss-up between Outarra and Kevin Schade for a midfield spot. Per start, they have almost an identical xG of 0.27 and 0.28.
What swings it Outtara’s way is his 0.88 big chances per 90 minutes compared to Schade’s 0.33.
Erling Haaland (captain), Manchester City, £14.9m – Leeds (h)
It felt fine to back against Haaland in the past two weeks, with tough games against Liverpool and Newcastle.
Not so this week. Easy captain choice.
Igor Thiago, Brentford, £6.5m, Brentford, £6.5m – Burnley (h)
Seven goals in seven games for Thiago make him hard to ignore. Only Haaland has a better record.
And a home game against a Burnley side that have let in three goals per game on the road is almost too good to be true.
One word of caution for the long run – Thiago’s non-penalty expected goals (npXG) is only 3.3 yet he has scored nine goals this season.
Caoimhin Kelleher, Brentford, keeper, £4.5m – Burnley (h)
Danny Welbeck, Brighton, striker, £6.6m – Nottingham Forest (a)
Nordi Mukiele, Sunderland, defender, £4.2m – Bournemouth (h)
Chris Richards, Crystal Palace, defender, £4.6m – Manchester United (h)
In the past seven days, there have been many Premier League red cards, the Ashes, and England’s retirement.
Published On 27 Nov 2025
According to state-run media, a train struck railroad maintenance workers in southwest China killing eleven people and injuring two others.
The train struck the workers early on Thursday morning while traveling along a curved section of track at Luoyangzhen station in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, according to the Xinhua news agency.
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The railway authorities immediately activated the emergency response plan following the accident, according to Xinhua, and coordinated rescue efforts and medical care for the injured with the local government.
The organization claims that a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing.
According to the state news outlet, medical care for the injured is “proceeding in an orderly manner” while Luoyangzhen station’s rail operations are back to normal following the accident.
China, which has one of the largest rail networks in the world, has recently had a number of fatal train accidents, despite the fact that fatal accidents have decreased significantly over the past few decades.
A train reportedly derailed in Guizhou province in 2022 after hitting debris from a landslide, killing a conductor and injuring eight others, according to state media.
According to state media, a train derailment in Chenzhou in the central province of Hunan in 2020 resulted in the deaths of one person and the injuries of 127 others.
In 2011, a high-speed train collided with a stationary locomotive in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, killing 40 people and injuring nearly 200 others, the country’s most recent train disaster.
In 2008, 66 people died when two passenger trains collided near Zibo in eastern China’s Shandong province.
After being shot close to the White House, two West Virginia National Guard members received serious injuries. The attack was referred to as a “targeted shooting” by officials.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, described the shooting as an “act of evil, an act of hatred, and an act of terror.”
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In a busy tourist destination, the shooting took place just one day before Thanksgiving.
What’s known about the shooting, the alleged attacker, and what’s coming next?
A lone suspect allegedly opened fire on a member of the National Guard at around 2:15 pm local time (19:15 GMT).
The suspect, who was also shot during the altercation, is still in police custody and is receiving treatment there.
According to Jeffery Carroll, executive assistant chief, “It appears to be a lone gunman who raised a firearm and ambushed these members of the National Guard.”
The suspect approached three National Guard members before opening fire, according to a CNN report. Before appearing to attempt another shot, he shot one guard before striking the next one, standing over the first victim. The third guardsman then opened fire.
Trump was in Florida at the time of the incident.
925 people from the DC National Guard and more than 1,200 from other states have been stationed in the US capital, making up roughly 2,200 National Guard members.
The National Guard is a reserve division of the US military that can assist missions abroad and be called up when there are emergencies at home, such as civil unrest or natural disasters.
It has about 431,000 members, making it the second-largest military force in the nation, made up of the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard.
Each US state and territory has its own National Guard units, as does Washington, D.C. These departments answer both the federal government and state leaders. This is different from the traditional US military, where active duty personnel are commanded by the president at all times.
West Virginia’s National Guard was the only one of two soldiers who were hurt on Wednesday, according to Governor Patrick Morrisey.
A federal judge ruled that Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Washington, DC was likely unlawful, and a temporary stop was placed last week. The Trump administration fought to have that decision overturned following the shooting.
Farragut Square, a tourist-heavy area close to the White House and a busy transit center, was where the shooting took place.
Farragut Square in downtown Washington, DC, was designed by Pierre L’Enfant in 1791.
The area features two stops on the Washington metro system, fast-casual restaurants, a coffee shop, and wreath-covered holiday holiday lampposts.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, is the suspect, according to the investigation.
Lakanwal was reportedly brought back to the US from Afghanistan in September 2021 as part of Operation Allies Welcome, a program that Joe Biden launched to reset Afghans after the Taliban regained control of the country following US withdrawal.
According to Trump, “I can report tonight that the Department of Homeland Security is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who came into our country from Afghanistan – a hellhole on Earth,” according to a video message.
One of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, under the Biden Administration, is an Afghan national who shot our brave National Guardsmen.
I won’t say the name of this evil person. …
Afghans who had fled their nation after the Taliban took control of the US program Operation Allies Welcome were helped by US forces in 2021. Many of these Afghans feared being targeted because they had previously worked as interpreters, drivers, or support personnel for the US. Additionally, women’s rights activists and journalists were in danger.
Tens of thousands of Afghans were transported there as part of the program to undergo medical examinations, vaccinations, and immigration processing. Before being relocated to different communities across the nation, they also passed security checks.
The initiative, which lasted for roughly a year, was supported by the Congressional Research Service, which claimed about 76, 000 Afghans entered the US. Some Republicans who criticized the program later criticized the vetting procedure as being insufficient.
Trump announced plans to increase deportation efforts after the attack, and said his administration would re-examine Afghans who had arrived after the Taliban took control. He said, “We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan.”
According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, all Afghan immigration requests are being processed “pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”
Separately, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Washington, DC, would be home to an additional 500 National Guard members from a state that has yet to be named to increase security and reassure the general public.
Indefinitely, processing of all immigration requests involving Afghan nationals is stopped until security and vetting procedures are reviewed.
Our main priority is always the safety and security of our country and the American people.
Trump stated in his statement that he was “determined to ensure that the animal who committed this atrocity pays the highest possible price.”
He declared, “We are not going to tolerate these kinds of assaults on law and order by people who shouldn’t even be in our country.”
President Trump makes remarks about the horrific massacre of Great National Guard Warriors https://t.co/xDxRzJENU0
The organization, which supports Afghans who seek to immigrate, has endorsed the president of #AfghanEvac, which claims the attacker should be held accountable and put on trial. He did, however, warn against using the incident to “demonize the Afghan community.”
Our response to the horrifying shooting of today.
The brave guardsmen who were attacked today receive our condolences.
We will not allow one evil asshole’s deed to be the justification for harming another entire group of people. pic. twitter.com/LcMODaYEXD
Former President Joe Biden claimed the shooting left him and his wife, Jill, “heartbroken.”
“We must all stand together against violent behavior of any kind. On X, Biden wrote, “We are praying for the service members and their families.
The shooting of two National Guard members outside the White House has both affected both Jill and I. Any kind of violence is unacceptable, and we must all unite against it. We are praying for the families of the service members.
Former US President Barack Obama blasted the attack in a statement on social media that read, “Violence has no place in America.”
In America, there is no place for violence. As the servicemembers were shot in Washington, DC today, Michelle and I are praying for their families as they navigate the most agonizing holiday season.
The National Guard’s general, General Steven Nordhaus, stated that he was visiting Guantanamo Bay to spend Thanksgiving with US troops at the military base while he was in Washington, DC.
The two West Virginia National Guard heroes who were shot while protecting our nation’s capital were being treated for their recovery, according to SEA Raines and the entire National Guard family. pic. twitter.com/iOj465v1Aa