From Reuters

Milan (Reuters) — Italian police said on Saturday they had arrested 384 people and seized 1.4 tonnes (1.54 tons) of drugs in a large-scale operation against drug trafficking.

In addition to the arrests, officers had put under investigation 655 individuals, including 39 minors, and confiscated 35 kilograms of cocaine and more than 40 firearms, police said in a statement.

The operation, concluded on Friday in several provinces, led to the temporary closure of five cannabis shops in three cities after 312 inspections.

During the checks, the police said they had seized 296 kilograms of cannabis products, which initial tests had shown to be illegal drugs.

Italy in June approved a security decree banning so-called “legal” cannabis and outlawing the trade of “cannabis light,” or hemp, which unlike marijuana has no psychoactive effects.

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By Leah Asmelash, CNN

(CNN) — Twenty-five games into the 2024-25 season, the Indiana Pacers, returning Eastern Conference Finalists, had a 10–15 record and a slew of injuries. Star Tyrese Haliburton took the brunt of the blame — in one January article, published the day the Pacers finally crept over .500, The Ringer questioned his ability to become a franchise player, saying he “fluctuates between rapturous and invisible.”

Six months later, he and his teammates were legends. By the end of the regular season, the Pacers had won 50 games, their best record since 2013, playing a quick and collaborative style that flowed through Haliburton. Their team chemistry made them impossible not to love. Their secret sauce? “The power of friendship,” players said.

In the playoffs, the team reached new heights of drama and ruthlessness: dropping 8 unanswered points on the Cleveland Cavaliers to steal a game in the final 47 seconds, capped by Haliburton’s last-second three-pointer; erasing a 9-point New York Knicks lead in similar fashion, with Haliburton burying the tying shot at the buzzer — after which he hit the Madison Square Garden crowd with a copy of Pacers legend Reggie Miller’s celebratory choke sign, against the Knicks in 1994.

The string of heroics somehow carried the team all the way to the limit of the NBA Finals, where they pushed the Oklahoma City Thunder — one of the most dominant teams ever — to a winner-take-all Game 7. Then, in the first quarter, Haliburton fell to the court just beyond the three, banging his fist and sobbing. His Achilles tendon was torn, and with it, the Pacers’ fairytale hopes were over.

Haliburton is now in the midst of rehab, preparing to come back for the 2026-27 season. In the meantime, he’s hopeful, recovering and working on what matters most: becoming a better texter.

What was the most memorable moment from this year?

Getting Engaged and making it to the NBA Finals!

Which of your dreams came true?

Playing Basketball on the biggest stage.

What do you already regret?

Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

What vices are you giving up or carrying with you into next year?

I always mean to reach out to people and then forget or I always think I answered a text and didn’t so going into this year whenever I think of someone I’ll try and reach out in the moment.

Who do you think made the biggest splash this year (if not yourself)?

John Cena! The last real champion.

How did you survive the hard parts?

I feel like God doesn’t give us anything we can’t handle. Leaning on the man above and my loved ones, always helps me get through anything.

What’s the biggest existential threat to human life?

AI.

What’s the secret to having the best sideline fits?

Finding outfits you like/inspiration, and incorporating small parts of that into your own fashion. Just be you!

What are you most excited for in 2026?

My wedding and my first game back in an NBA Uniform!

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By Terry Ward

(CNN) — When Brooke Black and her Danish husband first lived together in the United States, she doesn’t recall their different dining habits ever really being a thing.

It wasn’t until the 44-year-old mother of two moved to Denmark in 2020 that she became acutely aware that she didn’t use eating utensils like her husband — or pretty much any of the Europeans around her.

Growing up in Illinois, Black says her mother only set their family dinner table with forks, unless there was something being served, such as steak, that warranted a knife to cut it.

“I have not used a knife my whole life,” says Black, who shares cultural commentary about her daily life in Denmark on her Instagram account. While she jokes that she “stands by that a fork can also be a knife,” she never learned to eat in the “zigzagging” manner of many Americans who will cut meat with the knife in their dominant hand before switching the fork back into that one to eat.

But in Denmark at family gatherings, with her fork held in her right hand from the get-go — tines up — and her knife largely untouched beside the plate, Black soon realized she stuck out.

“I get made fun of constantly by my husband’s family. At the dinner table at my mother-in-law’s house, they’re all just like, ‘What are you doing?’ because they do all eat with the fork in their left hand, tines upside down, and the knife in their right,” she says.

Black says she has adapted, in public at least, to what’s widely called the Continental style of dining, digging into Danish foods like the dainty open-faced sandwiches called Smørrebrød with her fork in her left hand, turned down to eat, and the knife in her right to cut.

But even when dining like a Dane, she still often feels like the odd woman out.

“They all have their quiet, sensible ways of doing things. And I’m just a loud lady stabbing things,” she says.

The nuances of how silverware gets wielded on either side of the pond can be dizzying. While there are some obvious differences, the subtleties can be harder to master — and how those differences came to be is murky.

Continental and ‘labor-intensive’ American style

Tables may be set similarly across the Western world, but it’s clear that the two dominant styles of using silverware (or cutlery) — American and Continental — have some variations to navigate.

Jacqueline Whitmore , a business etiquette expert and founder of The Protocol School of Palm Beach, Florida, offers her summary of the differences between the two main styles of dining with a fork and a knife.

“In the Continental style, you use both the knife and fork at the same time, bringing the fork to your mouth with the tines upside down, never putting the knife down while you’re eating,” she says. The knife remains in the dominant hand, poised to cut when necessary or push food that can’t be speared atop the fork’s overturned tines.

What’s considered American style takes a cut-and-switch approach. The knife is held in the dominant hand to cut, with the fork in the non-dominant hand pinning food in place, tines down. The knife is then placed into resting position on the plate so that the fork can be switched to the dominant hand, tines facing upward to eat.

“The American style is kind of like a zigzag style. You cut your meat, you put the knife down on the side of the plate, and you switch the fork from one hand to the next. So it’s a little more labor-intensive,” Whitmore says.

To make matters more confusing, British dining has its own style that differs, however subtly, from Continental, according to British etiquette coach and expert William Hanson, author of the book “Ju

By Lily Hautau, CNN

(CNN) — While everyone else’s stockings are hung with care, Mom’s is often the last to be filled — if it’s filled at all. Why? For many families, moms are the magic makers of the holidays, but so often their needs can be overlooked.

“The pressure to create ‘magical’ holiday experiences often falls squarely on mothers,” said Dr. Catherine Birndorf, cofounder, CEO and medical director of the Motherhood Center in New York City, a mental health care and support network for new and expecting mothers.

Appreciation isn’t a luxury, Birndorf noted. “It’s psychological necessity . It binds us together. Recognizing everyone’s contributions, big and small, creates connection.”

Showing your appreciation by stuffing your wife’s or mother’s stocking doesn’t have to break the bank.

One of Paige Connell’s most memorable stocking stuffers was receiving a pair of plain but cool socks from her husband that she had wanted. It was the effort behind the gift that made it meaningful. “That is what I think so many of us are looking for,” said Connell, a married mother of four children from Boston.

Modeling appreciation for the next generation

Liz Kihn, a stay-at-home mom from Pennsylvania, has seen videos of mothers waking up on Christmas morning to find their stockings empty while the rest of the family laughs it off.

“That is my nightmare,” Kihn said. “I personally don’t want to feel that way, but I don’t want my daughter to ever think it’s OK to treat anybody that way, let alone her own family.”

This year she’s made it clear to her husband that she wants her stocking filled. And as her daughter gets older, Kihn said she feels it’s important to model that everyone deserves to feel valued.

But you can’t expect people to know what your needs are unless you speak up. Whether it’s filling a stocking, scheduling doctor’s appointments or helping with grocery shopping, Kihn points out that these are things many moms think about constantly.

“Dads can’t help us if they don’t know,” she said. “You just need to be bold and speak up for yourself and what you want.”

Tips for finding the right gift

Finding gifts for stockings can be as simple as picking up new toiletries or her favorite treat.

Dr. Galena Rhoades, research professor and director of the Institute for Relationship Science at the University of Denver, highlights the value of “finding small things that are important or funny or meaningful or kind.”

Even everyday items can be special if they’re chosen thoughtfully: “If you’re getting them toothpaste, for example, which is a silly one, what toothpaste do they use?” Connell added.

If you’re out of ideas, don’t be afraid to ask. “It’s an opportunity to communicate needs and desires and respond to them,” Rhoades said, noting that open communication can help ensure that gifts are useful and appreciated.

Building new traditions together

This stocking stuffing responsibility doesn’t have to fall solely on spouses or partners. Including children in the process can make the gifts even more meaningful for the whole family.

“Empathy can be nurtured, and holidays, when done with intention, are one of the richest opportunities to enhance and teach it,” Birndorf said.

Even young children can benefit from “a role and a sense of agency to be able to do something that’s kind for someone else in their family,” Rhoades said.

For Connell, who posts videos about partners sharing a family’s mental load equally, one of the most exciting days of her childhood occurred while shopping for gifts for her siblings. They were each given $5 at a local card shop to spend.

After the shopping trip, she and her siblings would go home and wrap the gifts and give

By Ashley Strickland, CNN

(CNN) — The Ursid meteor shower, which marks the final celestial event of the year, will peak between Sunday night and early Monday morning.

Sky-gazers can expect to see five to 10 meteors per hour between midnight and 5 a.m. ET Monday, or between 9 p.m. PT Sunday and 2 a.m. PT Monday, said Robert Lunsford, fireball report coordinator for the American Meteor Society.

The meteor shower will peak around the time of the winter solstice, or the official beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, when it is the farthest from the sun.

The winter solstice marks the longest night of the year and coincides with a thin and faint crescent moon, creating perfectly dark skies for optimal meteor viewing.

The shower will only be visible to those in the Northern Hemisphere because the radiant, or the point from which meteors appear to come, never rises high enough in the sky to by visible for those in the Southern Hemisphere.

Enhanced meteor activity

The Ursids originate from the bowl of the Little Dipper, also known as the Ursa Minor constellation, near the bright orange star called Kochab, Lunsford said.

The meteor shower occurs as Earth encounters the stream of particles left behind by comet 8P/Tuttle, which sheds material as it orbits the sun, according to EarthSky.

This year’s shower activity could be enhanced by previous streams of debris from the comet, Lunsford said.

Each time comet 8P/Tuttle passes through the inner solar system during its orbit, the celestial object leaves behind a new trail of debris, he added. The trails are similar, but they aren’t exactly the same, meaning that Earth can pass through one trail and miss others.

“This year it is predicted that the Earth will pass through a particular trail which may give us a brief enhancement of activity,” Lunsford said via email.

How to see the Ursids

The shower is oft neglected because it delivers fewer meteors per hour when compared with the spectacular Geminids, which peaked a week ago, and it occurs close to the holidays when nights are often frigid and cloudy.

But it’s worth bundling up and finding a location away from city lights to observe the shower, Lunsford said.

“It is highly suggested that one try to view from the darkest location possible,” he added. “Folks viewing from closer to cities can only see less than 5 per hour.”

Face the northern half of the sky but avoid the temptation to look straight up, instead focusing about halfway upward, he advised.

Because the meteor rates per hour are lower for the Ursids than the Geminids, Lunsford recommends viewing for at least an hour for a chance to spot meteors streaking across the sky.

Celestial events kick off the new year

The new year will begin with a double celestial event.

January’s full moon, called the wolf moon, will peak on January 3 — which also coincides with the first meteor shower of the year, the Quadrantids.

While that shower is known for producing bright, slow-moving fireballs in the night sky, the brightness of the full moon is expected to dim the display of meteors.

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