By Mary Kay Mallonee, CNN

(CNN) — Maryland Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer is expected to announce Thursday that he is retiring after serving more than four decades in Congress.

Hoyer, 86, told The Washington Post in a lengthy interview that he made the decision to leave the House with his family over the holidays.

The third-longest-serving member of the House, Hoyer told the Post, “I did not want to be one of those members who clearly stayed, outstayed his or her ability to do the job.”

Hoyer, the former House majority leader, will formally announce his retirement in a speech on the House floor Thursday, the paper reported.

CNN has reached out to Hoyer’s office for additional comment.

While other members of Congress have left office tired and frustrated with the political games on Capitol Hill, Hoyer told the Post he still loves the institution.

Hoyer told the paper that his constituents ask him when Congress will operate in a more functional way.

“As long as the people of America elect angry, confrontational people, don’t be surprised that democracy works and you get an angry, confrontational Congress,” he told the Post.

The lawmaker bemoaned the state of American politics, telling the Post it’s been deteriorating for decades. Hoyer put much of the blame on President Donald Trump, pointing to Trump’s pardoning of those convicted in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“His greatest strength, he has no shame, does not,” Hoyer told the paper. “And his people don’t care whatever he does, pardoning 1,600 people who committed treason. Just astounding, and then he gets away with it.”

Hoyer spent more than a decade in the Maryland state Senate before taking his political ambition to the US House. Elected to Congress in 1981 through a special election, Hoyer’s tenure included turns as House Democratic whip, deputy majority whip and chair of the Democratic Caucus.

In those roles, Hoyer showed a knack for shepherding landmark legislation through divided coalitions, including the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990.

When Hoyer stepped back from his leadership role in 2023, along with Nancy Pelosi and Jim Clyburn, who stepped down as House speaker and majority whip, respectively, it represented a generational change for the Democratic Party in the chamber.

“I think all of us have been around for some time and pretty much have a feel for the timing of decisions. And I think all three of us felt that this was the time,” Hoyer told CNN’s Dana Bash at the time.

In his interview with the Post, Hoyer praised the 85-year-old Pelosi, who announced late last year that she would not seek reelection after nearly 40 years in Washington. He called her “tough as nails” and said she was the best of the 10 speakers he served under during his time in Congress.

“Sure, I would have loved to have been speaker. Who wouldn’t love to be speaker? But they’re not deep regrets,” he told the paper.

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Análisis por Stephen Collinson, CNN

Bastaron apenas unos segundos y una muerte violenta e innecesaria para arrastrar a una calle residencial nevada de Minneapolis a la nueva era de brutalidad política de Estados Unidos.

Pronto, todo Estados Unidos compartió el horror cuando el video tomado por un transeúnte de un agente de ICE que disparó a quemarropa a Renee Nicole Good, una estadounidense de 37 años, apareció en millones de pantallas de dispositivos móviles.

La escena granulada —de casas antiguas, el hielo bajo los pies y agentes del Gobierno vestidos de verde acercándose a un coche civil— parecía un poco irreal. Evocaba más imágenes de noticias antiguas de un estado soviético represivo que la tierra de la libertad.

Pero la muerte se convirtió rápidamente en el último incidente explosivo del segundo mandato de Donald Trump, que está arrastrando la política a un amargo punto de quiebre.

El alcalde demócrata de Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, visiblemente indignado por un asesinato apenas un día después de una ofensiva federal que envió 2.000 agentes federales a su ciudad, le dijo a ICE que “se fuera a la mierda”.

Pero Trump y la secretaria de Seguridad Nacional, Kristi Noem, se movilizaron para definir su propia narrativa engañosa. “Fue un acto de terrorismo interno”, declaró Noem. Un funcionario público más convencional podría haber prometido investigaciones, ofrecido consuelo y llamado a la calma.

Trump fue más provocador. Publicó en redes sociales que una mujer que aparece gritando en un video era una “agitadora profesional” y que Good “atropelló violenta, deliberada y brutalmente al agente de ICE, quien parece haberle disparado en defensa propia”. Ninguno de los videos disponibles es tan inequívoco.

La madre de Good tuvo que intentar recuperar su humanidad. Donna Ganger declaró al Minneapolis Star Tribune que su hija “no formaba parte de nada parecido” y que era compasiva, comprensiva y cariñosa.

Este fue el último y repugnante ejemplo de violencia política que está minando la moral de Estados Unidos y marca un capítulo brutal en la historia moderna.

Sigue a dos intentos de asesinato contra Trump en 2024; a los de una querida legisladora demócrata de Minnesota, Melissa Hortman, y su esposo el año pasado; el presunto homicidio de un ejecutivo de seguros de salud en una calle de Nueva York en 2024; y la abominable muerte a tiros del héroe de MAGA, Charlie Kirk, en septiembre.

La lección de los horrores del pasado es que la política puede frustrar el cierre nacional.

Normalmente, se esperaría que una investigación indagara sobre la mentalidad y las decisiones del agente que mató a Good. Y podría examinar si la fuerza empleada fue excesiva o si las normas actuales de enfrentamiento con sospechosos fomentan la escalada.

Pero Trump y Noem podrían haber prejuzgado ya cualquier investigación federal.

En una conferencia de prensa posterior en Minneapolis, Noem no modificó su evaluación inicial. Pero dijo: “Cualquier pérdida de vida es una tragedia, y creo que todos coincidimos en que, en esta situación, era evitable”.

El vicepresidente J. D. Vance publicó en X q

By Lex Harvey, CNN

(CNN) — United States forces boarded and seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean Wednesday following a weeks-long chase on the high seas which has escalated tensions with Moscow and piled further pressure on its ally Venezuela.

The aging, rusting tanker, originally called the Bella 1, was sanctioned by the US in 2024 for operating within a “shadow fleet” of tankers transporting illicit Iranian oil.

Last month the US Coast Guard attempted to seize the vessel while it was heading to Venezuela to pick up oil, then operating under the flag of Guyana. But the ship’s crew refused to be boarded and made an abrupt turn into the Atlantic.

The Bella 1’s crew later painted a Russian flag on its side, and it appeared in a Russian shipping register under a new name, the Marinera.

US officials later said Moscow had dispatched a submarine to escort the vessel as it sailed toward Europe, threatening a possible confrontation between Washington and the Kremlin.

Here’s what we know.

Where and how was the Bella 1 seized?

The US repositioned military assets to the UK ahead of seizing the tanker, CNN has reported.

V-22 Osprey aircraft were active in the UK over the past several days, with flight data appearing to show them running training missions in the UK out of Fairford air base. And two AC-130 gunships were seen arriving at Mildenhall base in the UK on Sunday.

The Bella 1 was seized Wednesday roughly 190 miles off the southern coast of Iceland in the northern Atlantic Ocean, according to ship-tracking website MarineTraffic. The site shows the tanker taking a sharp turn south around the time that it was reported seized.

Russia’s Transport Ministry confirmed that it lost contact with the tanker after US forces boarded the ship at 7 a.m. ET.

US Navy SEALs were among the forces that boarded the tanker after they were transported to the ship by the US Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, also known as the “night stalkers,” according to two people briefed on the operation.

The UK defense ministry also said it helped with the seizure “following a US request for assistance.”

The US did not release footage of the seizure. Grainy video released by Russian state media RT appears to show a ship shadowing the movements of the Bella 1 in the days before the seizure.

In the video shot from aboard the Bella 1, an unmarked vessel can be seen hovering in the distance, partially obscured by fog. The RT report said the boat was a US Coast Guard ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the crew of the US Coast Guard Munro had pursued the ship for weeks “across the high seas and through treacherous storms.” However, it’s unclear if the ship in the RT footage is the Munro.

Ahead of the vessel’s seizure, the Russian military had started to move around naval assets and a submarine to protect the ship, according to a US official. But it’s unclear how close those vessels were to the tanker when it was seized, the source said.

How has Russia responded?

Russia condemned the Bella 1’s seizure, with its transport ministry arguing “no state has the right to use force against vessels that are properly registe

By Laura Sharman, CNN

(CNN) — “Will you marry me?” William Maneja asked, locking eyes with the stranger in a white dress.

It was his fourth proposal in less than 60 minutes.

Instead of rings, the pair pulled out their Tamagotchis and wed their virtual pets – in pixelated matrimony.

Maneja, 29, and his partner were among 200 enthusiasts at the Cecil Community Centre in Toronto in August, vowing to remain united “through dead batteries and scratched screens” in what the group said could be the world’s largest tamagotchi wedding.

“There was an air of giddiness in the room, with many guests in wedding attire and some flying from as far away as Los Angeles and Texas,” Toronto Tamagotchi Club founder Twoey Gray, 30, said of the event, which resulted in 162 unions in a single hour.

Launched by Japanese toy company Bandai in 1996, Tamagotchis – effectively portable digital pets – quickly became a global craze that took the world by storm.

Within two-and-a-half years, more than 40 million units were shipped worldwide. In late July, the figure surpassed 100 million, putting the tiny handheld device in the orbit of Japan’s star gaming consoles Nintendo Switch and Sony’s PlayStation.

In 2026, Tamagotchi will celebrate its 30th anniversary with various events, including an exhibition that will open at Tokyo’s Roppongi Museum this month and tour other cities in Japan. Uniqlo has also collaborated with Bandai on newly released merchandise.

Designed to be loved

The idea of a virtual companion came to creator Akihiro Yokoi as he watched a TV commercial of a boy longing to take his pet turtle on a trip. But the eventual design would far exceed previous iterations of digital pets including Neko, a virtual cat released in 1989 that was confined to chasing mouse cursors on the screen.

With Bandai onboard, the pocket pet was launched as an egg-shaped, three-button toy on a keychain. Initially pitched as a toy for boys, the design pivoted after market research revealed greater potential for the product among high school girls.

An instant sellout, Tamagotchis became a 1990s pop culture icon alongside Furby, Tommy Hilfiger and the Spice Girls. It’s still remembered by millennials on Facebook as the “digital best friend” before smartphones, kept alive through feeding, cleaning and play. Failure to tend to them led to disastrous outcomes. “Only ’90s kids remember the heartbreak of your Tamagotchi dying,” one fan wrote.

Tamagotchis were “one of the first to show us that design can cultivate emotional bonds with machines,” explains Paola Antonelli, a senior curator and director of research and development at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

According to Antonelli, who featured the device in a 2011 MoMA exhibition, its “DNA” has influenced every interactive device that “tiptoes between utility and companionship” from Siri to smart health trackers that “talk back, remind us, scold us, reward us.”

“The Tamagotchi was capricious and demanding – hungry and hangry, sleepy, poopy. It forced its users to engage in cycles of care and neglect, obligation and reward,” she added.

“Its brilliance was that the emotional weight came not from graphics or narrative, but from behavior. This is why people still remember it decades later.”

This was the case for Maneja, from the Tamagotchi mass wedding in Toronto, who said rediscovering his childhood collection guided him through his lowest point following the death of his grandmother during the pandemic.

“They became a very important tool that kept me grounded during a very dark period of my life” he said. “Taking care of my Tamagotchi helped me to take care of myself.”

Tamagotchi stood out as a handful of pixels on a tiny screen amid the more sophisticated 3D animations of its era, such a

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