CELEBRITY NEWSMAKERS

Australian prime minister Albanese becomes the first ever to marry in office

ROD McGUIRK
Sat, November 29, 2025 

AP


Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, left, and Jodie Haydon smile after getting married in Canberra, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.(Mike Bowers/Pool Photo via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, center left, and Jodie Haydon, center right, are showered with confetti after getting married in Canberra, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.(Mike Bowers/Pool Photo via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese married his partner Jodie Haydon in a secretive and intimate ceremony on Saturday at his official residence in the national capital, Canberra.

Albanese is the first prime minister to marry while in office in the 124-year history of the Australian federal government.

The couple were married by a civil celebrant before around 60 guests, including several cabinet ministers, in an afternoon ceremony on the grounds of The Lodge. There was no media reporting of the event until after it had occurred.

“We are absolutely delighted to share our love and commitment to spending our future lives together, in front of our family and closest friends,” the couple said in a statement.

The pair wrote their own vows and their dog Toto was the ring bearer. Haydon’s 5-year-old niece Ella was the flower girl, the statement said.

Albanese, 62, who is divorced with an adult son, proposed to Haydon, 46, at The Lodge on Valentine’s Day last year. They initially planned a larger-scale wedding before the last election was scheduled to be held in May this year. Albanese had told a Sydney radio program he was considering inviting former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he considered a personal friend.

But the ruling center-left Labor Party strategists feared a lavish wedding during a cost of living crisis could hurt the government’s chances of being re-elected for a second three-year term.

A decision was made to delay the wedding until after the election. Albanese had said the wedding would take place in 2025, but did not reveal a date.

The wedding came two days after Parliament ended for the year on Thursday.

Haydon, who works in finance, met Albanese at a business dinner in Melbourne in 2020.

——

Cory Booker marries Alexis Lewis in private ceremonies in NJ, Washington

Deena Yellin, 

NorthJersey.com
Sun, November 30, 2025

Sen. Cory Booker is officially off the market.

The 56-year-old senior senator from New Jersey tied the knot last week with two private ceremonies.

Booker and Alexis Lewis married in a courthouse ceremony on Nov. 24 officiated by Judge Julien Xavier Neals of the United State District Court of the District of New Jersey. The couple served pastries from Calandra's Bakery, as well as a vegan chocolate chip cookie dough cake from Papa Ganache Project in Matawan, New Jersey, Booker's office confirmed.

On Saturday, the couple held a private interfaith wedding ceremony in Washington. The wedding, first reported by The New York Times, was attended by family only and officiated by Booker's pastor of 30 years, Rev. Dr. David Jefferson of Newark's Metropolitan Baptist Church, as well as his longtime friend, Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz of Temple B'nai Jeshurun in Short Hills.

Sen. Cory Booker and Alexis Lewis were married in two private ceremonies in late November 2025.

"We said 'I do' in two places that shaped us — Cory's beloved Newark and Alexis's hometown of Washington, D.C. — first at the courthouse, then with our families. Hearts full and so grateful," Booker posted to Facebook on Sunday, Nov. 30.

Lewis, 38, is Jewish, while Booker is Christian.

The couple were married under a chuppah, a Jewish wedding tradition, and beneath photos of the couple's grandparents and deceased ancestors. The band played Mariah Carey's "Emotions" as they broke the glass.

"Our wedding has mirrored our relationship — magical, meaningful, and strengthened by the extraordinary support of our friends and family," said Booker, who serves as chairman of the Senate Democratic Strategic Communications Committee. "Alexis and I feel truly blessed to begin this new chapter surrounded by so much love."
Lewis is a real estate investment professional

The pair were introduced by a mutual friend in May of 2024 known for his matchmaking prowess.

Lewis, a real estate investment professional and native of Washington, was then living in Los Angeles. During a visit to her family in Washington, the friend urged the pair to meet for a blind date.

Their meeting lasted over five hours. Booker asked her to see him again the next night but she turned him down — she had a work meeting in Newark and had to fly out the next day.

But the former Newark mayor, who is known for his impassioned speeches, convinced her to change her flight so that they could see each other again. "The second date was even more magical," the couple reported.

They enjoyed dinner at Mompou in Newark, saw the Broadway show "Suffs" in New York City and ended the night with a romantic stroll through Newark. During the walk, Booker shared the places that had shaped his life, and they had their first kiss outside the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark.

They moved in together in April and fostered a shepherd mix named Cooke. They hope to foster more dogs.

“Early in our relationship, I had a bittersweet moment of grief realizing my father wouldnever get to meet the woman I’m marrying," said Booker.

"But Alexis is exactly the kind of woman my dad would have wanted for me," he said. "I often joke with her that she and my father have so much in common and that he must be smiling — and laughing — in heaven."
Proposal on a Hawaii trip

During a trip to Hawaii on Aug. 24, Booker surprised Alexis by proposing. Although he had convinced her he wasn't going to propose because of work, he created an elaborate moment using Native Hawaiian musicians and a hula dancer.

They performed one of her longtime favorite songs — Mariah Carey's "Dreamlover." Booker got down on a knee and popped the question.

In a social media post after his engagement, Booker called Lewis "one of the greatest unearned blessings of my life," and said that she "has transformed me, helping me to ground and center my inner life."

Before meeting Lewis, Booker had been named one of the Top 40 Bachelors by Town & Country Magazine and had been in a high-profile relationship with actress Rosario Dawson that lasted two years and ended in 2022.

Booker, a Democrat, made history earlier in March with a marathon speech on the Senate floor in which he railed against the Trump administration for more than 25 hours. It was the longest recorded speech ever in the U.S. Senate.

Booker grew up in the leafy New Jersey suburb of Harrington Park and was a standout football player at Old Tappan High School. He won an athletic scholarship to Stanford University and then attended Oxford University in England on a Rhodes scholarship.

Afterward, he attended Yale Law School before moving to Newark. After serving as mayor, he was first elected to the Senate in 2013.

X and other social media on Sunday was filled with well-wishers, including Sen. Andy Kim, who tweeted, "So happy for Cory and Alexis! Whenever I see them together, their love fills the room with joy. Congratulations on the journey of a beautiful life together."

Lewis said her relationship with Booker developed "quickly, intentionally and somehow with ease."

"After so many years on my own, I'm not entirely sure I believed I would get married," she said. "But now, we've found each other at this stage of our lives, after epic personal journeys, and that deserves celebration.

"Joy shared is joy multiplied, and that's how our entire relationship has felt," she said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ's Sen. Cory Booker marries Alexis Lewis in private ceremony

Calls for accountability over lethal Hong Kong fire silenced


By AFP
November 30, 2025


Student Miles Kwan urged Hong Kong commuters to demand accountability after a deadly fire killed 128 people this week - Copyright AFP Dale DE LA REY

Not long before he was reportedly detained, Miles Kwan approached commuters outside a Hong Kong train station, urging them to demand accountability for the deadly inferno that tore through nearby apartment blocks.

“We all feel unhappy that (Hong Kong) has come to this and we want things to improve,” the 24-year-old student told AFP on Friday, while handing out flyers that called for an independent probe into the blaze, which killed at least 128 people this week.

“We need to be frank about how today’s Hong Kong is riddled with holes, inside and out.”

Kwan and other organisers’ demands turned into an online petition that gained more than 10,000 signatures in less than a day.

But local media reported on Saturday night that Kwan was arrested on suspicion of sedition by national security police and the text of the online petition had been deleted, showing how under Beijing’s watchful eye, dissenting voices in Hong Kong can vanish as quickly as they appear.

Police declined to confirm the arrest, saying only that they “will take actions according to actual circumstances and in accordance with the law”.

AFP’s attempts to reach Kwan by phone on Sunday morning went unanswered.

Hong Kong was once home to spirited political activism, but that has faded since Beijing imposed a strict national security law in 2020 following huge pro-democracy protests in the Chinese finance hub.

Kwan was reportedly detained not long after Beijing’s national security arm in Hong Kong publicly condemned “anti-China forces” for exploiting the disaster and “inciting social division and stirring hatred against authorities.”

Asked on Friday if he feared being arrested, Kwan told AFP he was only “proposing very basic demands”.

“If these ideas are deemed seditious or ‘crossing the line’, then I feel I can’t predict the consequences of anything anymore, and I can only do what I truly believe.”

– Grenfell comparisons –

Kwan and a handful of activists gave out flyers at the train station near the charred residential estate on Friday, demanding government accountability, an independent probe into possible corruption, proper resettlement for residents and a review of construction oversight.

The demands reflected a belief that the fire was “not an accident” but a man-made disaster, he said.

Authorities have arrested 11 people in connection to the blaze that tore through the high-rise blocks of Wang Fuk Court, the world’s deadliest residential building fire since 1980.

Hong Kong has previously used judge-led commissions of inquiry (COI) to undertake complex fact-finding exercises in a public forum — a practice left over from British colonial rule.

By contrast, city officials have so far announced only an inter-departmental task force to investigate the blaze.

When Britain was grappling with public fury over the devastating Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, which killed 72 people, the government announced a public inquiry.

Lawyer Imran Khan, who represented the bereaved and survivors in the inquiry, told AFP “the lessons from Grenfell apply around the world” as all governments need to ensure high-rise residential buildings are safe.

Khan said a public inquiry with court-like powers was a better option for the situation in Hong Kong because “an internal investigation will not get to the truth and there will be no faith in it by the bereaved, survivors and residents”.

Based on his experience with Grenfell residents, he said, “without justice they cannot grieve”.

At the Hong Kong station on Friday, many commuters took the flyers demanding action, though few stopped to chat with Kwan or his companions.

Near the site of the blaze a short walk away, a long queue snaked through a park as mourners brought flowers and handwritten notes of remembrance.

One unsigned note left on the ground read, “This is not just an accident, it is the evil fruit of an unjust system, which landed on you. It’s not right.”

Hong Kong mourns as rescuers comb ruined buildings for bodies following deadly blaze.

 Here’s what we know

Catherine Nicholls, Chris Lau, Jadyn Beverley Sham and Lex Harvey, 

CNN

Sun, November 30, 2025 



A huge fire burns through a high rise building in Hong Kong.- Clipped From Video

A deadly inferno tore through a massive housing complex in Hong Kong earlier this week, killing at least 146 people with many still missing, in the city’s worst disaster in decades.

About 40 people are still thought to be missing. Authorities previously put the missing toll at 150, but revised this number down after some of the missing were found among the dead and hospitalized.

Questions are swirling on how such a fire in a skyscraper-filled city with a usually strong public safety record and construction standards could become so deadly, leaping from building to building.

Many of the more than 4,000 people who lived in the public housing estate in the city’s Tai Po neighborhood were aged 65 and over.

The exact cause of the fire is not yet known, but a criminal investigation has been launched.

Thick smoke and flames rise as a major fire engulfs several apartment blocks at the Wang Fuk Court residential estate in Hong Kong's Tai Po district on November 26, 2025. - AFP/Getty Images

The complex was under renovation and encased in bamboo scaffolding and safety netting – a construction technique that’s ubiquitous in Hong Kong and parts of mainland China. Authorities are also investigating whether flammable material, including polystyrene boards blocking windows of multiple apartments, may have contributed to the inferno.

The tragedy has prompted a fresh warning from Beijing about dissent in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous region of China, with city authorities urged to crack down on anyone trying to “stir chaos,” and officials referencing pro-democracy protests that broke out in 2019.


Here’s what we know:

How did the blaze start?

Firefighters first received a call about the fire shortly before 3 p.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) on Wednesday, according to the Hong Kong Fire Department.

The blaze started at Wang Cheong House, a 32-story residential building and one of eight tower blocks that make up the Wang Fuk Court complex, which was undergoing renovations, according to deputy director of the Hong Kong Fire Services Derek Armstrong Chan.

By the time fire crews were on the scene at the first building, the scaffolding and netting was on fire. Firefighters began tackling that blaze, but it quickly spread from building to building, turning a single tower block fire into multiple simultaneous multi-story infernos.

At least seven of the eight tower blocks within the complex were affected by the blaze, forcing those who were able to escape the flames into temporary accommodation.

But it quickly emerged many residents remained trapped inside their apartments, with firefighters unable to reach them amid searing temperatures inside the buildings as well as falling debris.

Firefighters knew where many people were trapped, Chan said, but the extreme heat prevented rescuers reaching them.

A man was rescued alive from the 16th story of one of the towers in the Wang Fuk Court complex on Thursday, public broadcaster RTHK reported, citing Hong Kong’s fire department.

Evacuations, polystyrene boards

A key question for authorities remains why the other tower blocks were not evacuated more quickly once the fire began to spread from the first building.


Early Thursday morning local time, a police spokesperson said Hong Kong Police arrested three men – two company directors and a consultant – accusing them of “gross negligence.” All three were granted bail on Friday, police said.

The city’s anti-corruption body made 11 arrests on Friday as part of ongoing investigations into possible corruption regarding the renovation of the apartment complex.

Fire at the Wong Fuk Court housing estate in Tai Po, Hong Kong, on November 27, 2025. - Bertha Wang/CNN

Police found the construction company name on inflammable polystyrene boards that firefighters found blocking some windows at the apartment complex. Officials added that they suspect other construction materials found at the apartments – including protective nets, canvas, and plastic covers – failed to meet safety standards.

“These polystyrene boards are extremely inflammable and the fire spread very rapidly,” Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung said.


“Their presence was unusual so we have referred the incident to the police for further enquiries.”

Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security Chris Tang said later the mesh nets did comply with safety standards.

What do we know about the victims?

At least 146 people have so far been confirmed dead, including a 37-year-old firefighter who sustained injuries while trying to tackle the flames, Hong Kong officials said, warning the toll could still rise.

At least seven Indonesians and one Philippine national were among those who died. Their consulates said all eight worked as foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong, which is home to 368,000 of these mostly women employees, contracted from low-income Asian countries.

Officials said the firefighter, who they identified as Ho Wai-ho, was rushed to hospital for treatment but succumbed to his injuries.

Rescue workers arrive on the scene during a fire at residential buildings in Wang Fuk Court, in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong, on November 26. - Bertha Wang/CNN

A shopping mall being used by residents of the Wang Fuk Court as a shelter following a destructive fire at the housing estate is Tai Po, Hong Kong, on November 27, 2025. - Bertha Wang/CNN

More than 100 people were injured in the blaze, including at least 11 firefighters, the city’s fire department said Thursday.

Authorities said on Saturday 150 people were thought to be missing, but head of Hong Kong police’s Casualty Enquiry Unit Tsang Shuk-yin at a press conference Sunday revised this figure down to around 40 after some of the missing were found among the dead or hospitalized. She also said some of the missing persons reports were invalid.

Authorities have completed searches at four of the seven apartment buildings which caught fire, head of Hong Kong police’s Disaster Victims Identification Unit Cheng Ka-chun said at Sunday’s news conference. “During the search, bodies were found in the building corridors, flats, staircases, and even on rooftops,” he said.

Speaking alongside Cheng and Tsang, the police’s New Territories North Regional Commander Lam Man-han said it could take between three to four weeks to complete rescue efforts.

Hong Kong Police release photos showing the inside of burnt out apartments in Wang Fuk Court complex on Sunday - Hong Kong Police

Teams search through charged remains of people's belongings inside one of the burnt out apartment buildings - Hong Kong Police

Hundreds of residents are now likely homeless in a city where there is already acute shortage of housing and public housing. Many displaced residents and survivors spent a third night in temporary shelters on Friday while those affected are being given emergency funds and other support.

A 65-year-old resident of the estate who gave his surname as Ho stood behind police tape on Thursday morning and watched the smoldering tower blocks as he contemplated his next steps.

A resident of Block 1, in the easternmost corner of the complex, Ho said he fled immediately when a fire alarm sounded and counted himself lucky for the relatively light damage his building faced.

“I don’t doubt many elderly, cats and dogs are still in there,” he told CNN.

Is this common in Hong Kong?

This is likely the deadliest fire in Hong Kong since World War II. Previously, the 1996 Garley building fire, which killed 41 people, was widely described as the worst peacetime fire in Hong Kong history.

Victims are evacuated from the scene of a devastating fire which broke out at a karaoke bar in Hong Kong in January 1997. - Apple Daily/AFP/Getty Images

Disasters like this are extremely rare in Hong Kong. One of the densest cities in the world, it has a strong track record when it comes to building safety, thanks to its high-quality construction and strict enforcement of building regulations.

Also, bamboo scaffolding is ubiquitous in the city, used not only in the construction of new buildings, but also in the renovation of thousands of historic tenements every year.

But the technique has been facing mounting scrutiny for its safety and durability. While bamboo is celebrated for its flexibility, it is also combustible and prone to deterioration over time.

Hong Kong’s Development Bureau recently announced that 50% of new public building projects erected from March onwards would need to use metal scaffolding to “better protect workers” and align with modern construction standards in “advanced cities.”

That statement drew backlash from residents, many of whom noted that bamboo scaffolding is a cultural heritage that needs to be maintained.
Pressure on Chinese and Hong Kong officials

Such a deadly blaze is likely to pile pressure on both Hong Kong and Chinese officials.

Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous part of China and run by its own local government that answers to leaders in Beijing. But China has also ramped up control over the city in recent years, especially after huge and sometimes violent democracy protests swept the city in 2019. Dissent has been quashed and protests, once a daily feature of life in Hong Kong, have been snuffed out.

On Saturday, Beijing’s national security office in the city warned against a resurgence of dissent, calling for the city’s government to punish those wishing to use the fire as a pretext to “oppose China and stir chaos in Hong Kong.” A pro-Beijing newspaper reported that a high-ranking Hong Kong police superintendent in charge of national security also visited the site of the fire.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping expressed his condolences to the victims of the disaster, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Xi urged “all-out efforts” from representatives of China’s Central Committee and the Hong Kong Liaison Office to do “everything possible” to assist efforts in minimizing casualties and losses from the fire, according to CCTV.


This article has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Chris Lau, Jadyn Beverley Sham and Lex Harvey reported from Hong Kong, Catherine Nicholls reported from London. CNN’s Jerome Taylor, Ivana Kottasová, Karina Tsui, Jessie Yeung, Eve Brennan, Billy Stockwell and Kevin Wang contributed to this reporting.

Thousands in Philippines protest corruption and demand return of stolen funds from flood projects

JIM GOMEZ
November 30, 2025 
AP


Protesters shout slogans during anti-corruption protest in Manila, Philippines on Sunday Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Protesters take part in an anti-corruption protest in front of the effigies of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Vice President Sara Duterte, in Manila, Philippines on Sunday Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Protesters shout slogans during an anti-corruption protest in Manila, Philippines on Sunday Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A protester wearing a crocodile mask, takes part in an anti-corruption protest in Manila, Philippines on Sunday Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)


Protesters sing the national anthem with the effigy of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., seen at rear, during anti-corruption protest in Manila, Philippines on Sunday Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)


MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators including from the Roman Catholic church clergy protested in the Philippines on Sunday, calling for the swift prosecution of top legislators and officials implicated in a corruption scandal that has buffeted the Asian democracy.

Left-wing groups led a separate protest in Manila’s main park with a blunt demand for all implicated government officials to immediately resign and face prosecution.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been scrambling to quell public outrage over the massive corruption blamed for substandard, defective or non-existent flood control projects across an archipelago long prone to deadly flooding and extreme weather in tropical Asia.

More than 17,000 police officers were deployed in metropolitan Manila to secure the separate protests. The Malacanang presidential palace complex in Manila was in a security lockdown with key access roads and bridges blocked by anti-riot police forces, trucks and barbed wire railings.

In a deeply divided democracy where two presidents have been separately overthrown in the last 39 years partly over allegations of plunder, there have been isolated calls for the military to withdraw support from the Marcos administration.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines has steadfastly rejected such calls and welcomed on Sunday a statement signed by at least 88 mostly retired generals, including three military chiefs of staff, who said they “strongly condemn and reject any call for the Armed Forces of the Philippines to engage in unconstitutional acts or military adventurism.”

“The unified voice of our retired and active leaders reaffirms that the Armed Forces of the Philippines remains a pillar of stability and a steadfast guardian of democracy,” the military said in a statement.

Roman Catholic churches across the country helped lead Sunday’s anti-corruption protests in their districts, with the main daylong rally being held at a pro-democracy “people power” monument along EDSA highway in the capital region. Police said about 5,000 demonstrators mostly wearing white joined before noon.

They demanded that members of Congress, officials and construction company owners behind thousands of anomalous flood control projects in recent years be imprisoned and ordered to return the government funds they stole. A protester wore a shirt with a blunt message: “No mercy for the greedy.”

“If money is stolen, that’s a crime, but if dignity and lives are taken away, these are sins against fellow human beings, against the country but, most importantly, against God,” said the Rev. Flavie Villanueva, a Catholic priest, who has helped many families of impoverished drug suspects killed under former President Rodrigo Duterte's crackdowns.

“Jail all the corrupt and jail all the killers," Villanueva told the crowd of protesters.

Since Marcos first raised alarm over the flood control anomalies in his state of the nation address before Congress in July, at least seven public works officers have been jailed for illegal use of public funds and other graft charges in one flood control project anomaly alone. Executives of Sunwest Corp., a construction firm involved in the project, were being sought.

On Friday, Henry Alcantara, a former government engineer who has acknowledged under oath in Senate inquiry hearings his involvement in the anomalies, returned 110 million pesos ($1.9 million) in kickbacks that justice officials said he stole and promised to return more in a few weeks.

About 12 billion pesos ($206 million) worth of assets of suspects in flood control anomalies have been frozen by authorities, Marcos said.

Marcos has pledged that many of at least 37 powerful senators, members of Congress and wealthy construction executives implicated in the corruption scandal would be in jail by Christmas.


Protesters in Sunday’s rallies said many more officials, including implicated senators and House of Representatives members, should be jailed sooner and ordered to return the funds they stole and used to finance fleets of private jets and luxury cars, mansions and extravagant lifestyles.

___

Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila contributed to this report.

New study reveals extent and nature of online sexual victimization of Canadian teens

CBC
Sat, November 29, 2025 


Monique St. Germain said predators often start a conversation on a public platform and then quickly move it to a private chat. (Photo illustration/CBC - image credit)

A new study from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection is providing insight into the online dangers that Canadian teenagers are facing.

Researchers surveyed 1,279 teens ages 13 to 17 who said they had experienced online sexual victimization.

"This is very important data for us to pay attention to because these are the kids who maybe have not come forward before and told anybody about what has happened to them," said Monique St. Germain, the general counsel for the centre.

Speaking to CBC Radio's Information Morning Nova Scotia, St. Germain said four out of five teens surveyed said they had experienced unwanted sexual talk online.

St. Germain said this is often a grooming tactic.

Monique St. Germain is with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. (Canadian Centre for Child Protection)

She said predators will try to manipulate teens into sending images of themselves or put them in a position where they could be threatened.

The study also found that half of the teens surveyed had been sent unwanted nude photographs.

St. Germain said it was very common for these interactions to start on public social media apps and then move into private messaging, which makes it harder for the child to get help and for anyone to witness what is happening.

The most common platforms for this abuse are Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, she said.

The research comes against the backdrop of a recent incident in Nova Scotia where a mother discovered her 14-year-old daughter had bypassed security on her school-issued Chromebook and been targeted by online predators.

The woman, whom CBC News is not naming to protect her daughter's identity, said her daughter was accessing inappropriate chats on Roblox and through her school email.

Speaking to CBC News, the province's education minister, Brendan Maguire, acknowledged that children are able to circumvent online safety measures.

“I know even my own boy last year was able to get around it to play video games within the classroom,” Maguire said.

Brendan Maguire, minister of education and early childhood development, taking questions from reporters following a cabinet meeting on Thursday. (Patrick Callaghan/CBC)

St. Germain noted that online groups like 764, whose members coerce children into harming themselves and others, including engaging in sexual activity on camera, are another serious threat.

She said the study's findings show that Canada needs to do more and that relying on criminal law after a child has been hurt is not enough.

She believes the government must create new laws to hold technology companies accountable for what's taking place on their platforms.

'We've got serious harm to children happening in multiple domains and we know this and the time for self-regulation is over."

Brown grass cost a famed golf course a big tournament and highlighted Hawaii water

 problems

JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Sat, November 29, 2025

AP

FILE - Justin Thomas hits from the seventh tee during the first round of the Tournament of Champions golf tournament at Kapalua Plantation Course on Kapalua, Hawaii, Jan. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - Jon Rahm, of Spain, hits from the 13th fairway during the final round of the Tournament of Champions golf event, Jan. 9, 2022, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FILE - A Kapalua Ridge Villas sign is viewed on Oct. 3, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

HONOLULU (AP) — High up on the slopes of the west Maui mountains, the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort provides golfers with expansive ocean views. The course is so renowned that The Sentry, a $20 million signature event for the PGA Tour, had been held there nearly every year for more than a quarter-century.

“You have to see it to believe it," said Ann Miller, a former longtime Honolulu newspaper golf writer. “You're looking at other islands, you're looking at whales. ... Every view is beautiful.”

Its world-class status also depends on keeping the course green.

But with water woes in west Maui — facing drought and still reeling from a deadly 2023 wildfire that ravaged the historic town of Lahaina — keeping the course green enough for The Sentry became difficult.

Ultimately, as the Plantation's fairways and greens grew brown, the PGA Tour canceled the season opener, a blow that cost what officials estimate to be $50 million economic impact on the area.

A two-month closure and some rain helped get the course in suitable condition to reopen 17 holes earlier this month to everyday golfers who pay upwards of $469 to play a round. The 18th hole is set to reopen Monday, but the debate is far from over about the source of the water used to keep the course green and what its future looks like amid climate change.

Questions about Hawaii's golf future

There’s concern that other high-profile tournaments will also bow out, taking with them economic benefits, such as money for charities, Miller said.

“It could literally change the face of it,” she said, “and it could change the popularity, obviously, too.”

The company that owns the courses, along with Kapalua homeowners and Hua Momona Farms, filed a lawsuit in August alleging Maui Land & Pineapple, which operates the century-old system of ditches that provides irrigation water to Kapalua and its residents, has not kept up repairs, affecting the amount of water getting down from the mountain.

MLP has countersued and the two sides have exchanged accusations since then.

As the water-delivery dispute plays out in court, Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental legal group, is calling attention to a separate issue involving the use of drinking water for golf course irrigation, particularly irksome to residents contending with water restrictions amid drought, including Native Hawaiians who consider water a sacred resource.

“Potable ground drinking water needs to be used for potable use,” Lauren Palakiko, a west Maui taro farmer, told the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management at a recent meeting. “I can’t stress enough that it should never be pumped, injuring our aquifer for the sake of golf grass or vacant mansion swimming pools.”

‘This is water that we can drink’

Kapalua's Plantation and Bay courses, owned by TY Management Corp., have historically been irrigated with surface water delivered under an agreement with Maui Land & Pineapple, but since at least the summer have been using millions of gallons of potable groundwater, according to Earthjustice attorneys who point to correspondence from commission Chairperson Dawn Chang to MLP and Hawaii Water Service they say confirms it.

Chang said her letter didn't authorize anything, but merely acknowledged an “oral representation" that using groundwater is an an “existing use” at times when there’s not enough surface water. She is asking for supporting documentation from MLP and Hawaii Water Service to confirm that interpretation.

In emails to The Associated Press, MLP said it did not believe groundwater could be used for golf course irrigation and Hawaii Water Service said it didn’t communicate to the commission that using groundwater to irrigate the courses was an existing use.

MLP's two wells that service the course provide potable water.

“This is water that we can drink. It’s an even more precious resource within the sacred resource of wai,” Dru Hara, an Earthjustice attorney said, using the Hawaiian word for water.

Recycled water solutions

TY, owned by Japanese billionaire and apparel brand Uniqlo’s founder Tadashi Yanai, doesn't have control over what kind of water is in the reservoir they draw upon for irrigation, TY General Manager Kenji Yui said in a statement. They're also researching ways to bring recycled water to Kapalua for irrigation.

Kamanamaikalani Beamer, a former commissioner, said he's troubled by Earthjustice's allegations that proper procedures weren't followed.

The wrangling over water for golf shows that courses in Hawaii need to change their relationship with water, Beamer said: “I think there needs to be a time very soon that all golf courses are utilizing at a minimum recycled water.”

Donald Trump’s golf bill for the American taxpayer is on eye-popping pace

HuffPost said that current total sits at $70.8 million.

Brian Linder

Sun, November 30, 2025 

Donald Trump loves to golf and that does not come cheap for the American people.

In fact, according to a recent analysis by HuffPost, the president has spent nearly $71 million of taxpayer money hitting the links this year. And, per the report, that puts him on pace to shell out a whopping $300 million on golf during his second term in office.

To put that in perspective, Trump spent an estimated $151.5 million golfing during his first term, so he is on pace to double that figure.

“I really wish I could tell you that it would make anyone in America change their mind about him, but the corruption is so backed in, so endemic, and so ludicrous that it feels like the collective reaction will be a shrug,” Republican consultant Rick Wilson said per HuffPost. “It’s one more example of Trump defining the presidency down. Way, way down.”

According to HuffPost, Trump golfed at his Palm Beach County course, just four miles from Mar-a-Lago, last week. The outlet reported that each golfing trip costs $3.4 million in travel and security expenses. Trump has made 16 trips to Mar-a-Lago, where he typically goes before golfing at courses in West Palm Beach and Jupiter, and nine to his course in Bedminster, New Jersey. The outlet said each of those trips cost about $1.1 million. HuffPost said Trump’s trip to Aberdeen, Scotland for the opening of a new course cost nearly $10 million.

HuffPost said that current total sits at $70.8 million.

The outlet’s estimate comes in at a far lower total than the website DidTrumpGolfToday.com which tracks the president’s golf trips and estimates that he has spent $107,800,000.

HuffPost came to its estimate by using figures from a 2019 Government Accountability Office report that examined Trump’s first four trips to Mar-a-Lago during his first administration. You can see the report, here. It calculated that each of those trips cost $3,383,250, and that was based on 2017 dollars meaning that the actual cost today is likely higher than the estimate.

The costs involved with him golfing in Florida include flying in on Air Force One. Also, per the site, the military flies the vehicles for his motorcade in on C-17s each time he makes the trip. Also, because Mar-a-Lago, where Trump stays while he plays at his courses, is on the water, police boats with machine guns and a Coast Guard vessel have to be called in to patrol. The site said additional costs included law enforcement and bomb sniffing dogs.

Ford workers told their CEO ‘none of the young people want to work here.’ So Jim Farley took a page out of the founder’s playbook

Sasha Rogelberg
Fri, November 28, 2025


How serious is the skilled trades worker shortage?

What were the outcomes of Ford's 2023 strike?

What inspired Ford's recent employment policy changes?

Why are young Ford workers taking Amazon shifts?

Ford CEO Jim Farley learned from older employees that some young workers at the carmaker were taking shifts at Amazon to make ends meet, he said at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Farley said he drew on founder Henry Ford’s decision to raise factory wages to $5 a day in 1914 to make temporary workers into full-time employees. Young people have previously eschewed manufacturing jobs due to low wages.

Some economists credit carmaker Henry Ford for jump-starting the American middle class in the 20th century when, in January 1914, he hiked factory wages to $5, more than double the average wage for an eight-hour work day.

More than 100 years later, facing the reality of many employees “barely getting by,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said he took a page out of the founder’s playbook.

The carmaker’s chief executive recognized the need to make a change in his workplace when he spoke to veteran employees during union contract negotiations and learned young Ford employees were working multiple jobs and getting inadequate sleep due to low wages, Farley said in an interview with journalist and biographer Walter Isaacson at the Aspen Ideas Festival earlier this year.

“The older workers who’d been at the company said, ‘None of the young people want to work here. Jim, you pay $17 an hour, and they are so stressed,’” Farley said.

Farley learned some workers also held jobs at Amazon, where they worked for eight hours before clocking in to a seven-hour shift at Ford, sleeping for only three or four hours. At a Ford Pro Accelerate event in September, the CEO said entry-level factory workers told him they were working up to three jobs.

As a result, the company made temporary workers into full-time employees, making them eligible for higher wages, profit-sharing checks, and better health care coverage. The transition was outlined in 2019 contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW), with temporary workers able to become full-time after two years of continuous employment at Ford.

“It wasn’t easy to do,” Farley said. “It was expensive. But I think that’s the kind of changes we need to make in our country.”

Ford’s own decision to double factory wages in 1914 was not altruistic, but rather a strategy to attract a stable workforce, as well as provide a stimulus for his own workers to be able to afford Ford products.

“He said, ‘I’m doing this because I want my factory worker to buy my cars. If they make enough money, they’ll buy my own product,’” Farley said. “It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, in a way.”
Trouble attracting Gen Z trade workers

Farley, a proponent of growing U.S. manufacturing productivity to support the essential economy, has advocated for young workers to have strong trade experiences. Earlier this month, he sounded the alarm on the shortage of manual labor jobs, saying in an episode of the Office Hours: Business Edition podcast that Ford had 5,000 open mechanic positions that have remain unfilled, despite an up-to $120,000 salary for the role.

“Our governments have to get really serious about investing in trade schools and skilled trades,” he said at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “You go to Germany, every one of our factory workers has an apprentice starting in junior high school. Every one of those jobs has a person behind it for eight years that is trained.”

Despite the U.S. seeing 3.8 million new manufacturing jobs by 2033, according to Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, the younger generation of workers has largely turned away from the career path. As as some ditch college degrees, Gen Z enrollment in trade schools is on the rise, but the newest generation entering the workforce is largely eschewing factory jobs, citing low wages, according to a 2023 Soter Analytics study. U.S. manufacturing jobs in the U.S. have an average $25-per-hour wage—about $51,890 per year—falling short of the average American salary of $66,600.

American carmakers like Ford may be trying to make it appealing for young workers to embark on manufacturing careers, but they are still not immune to workers’ grievances over wages. In 2023, thousands of UAW members, including 16,600 Ford employees, went on strike before reaching a contract deal in October of that year, which, beyond increasing wages, also further decreased the period of time necessary for a temp worker to become full-time.

Farley called the strike “completely unnecessary” from management’s perspective and maintained the onus of improving trade workers’ wages isn’t just on Ford.

“We’re not just going to hope it gets better,” he said. “We have the resources, and we have the know-how, after 120 years, to solve these problems, but we need more help from others.”

A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on June 30, 2025.

More on Gen Z work trends:

Gen Z college graduates are entering the toughest job market in years—here’s how they can stand out

‘The kids aren’t alright,’ warns top economist, as unemployed, pessimistic Gen Z living with parents blow a $12 billion hole in consumption


With entry-level hiring shrinking, Gen Z turns to double majoring for protection from AI

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Guy Who Makes His Living Selling Jeeps And Rams Says We Can't Get Rid Of ICE Cars

Matthew DeBord
Fri, November 28, 2025
 Jalopnik.


Stellantis Chairman John Elkann seen at an F1 race in 2024 - Kym Illman/Getty Images

The slowdown in EV sales has created some real headaches for automakers, but in Europe the difficulties are especially acute. And now Stellantis Chairman John Elkann is insisting that the industry needs more time to get its act together when it comes to the region's carbon-reduction goals.

"There is another way to cut emissions in Europe in a constructive and agreed way, restoring the growth we have lost and meeting people's needs," Elkann said during an event on Nov. 25 to mark the start of production of the new hybrid version of the Fiat 500 battery-electric car. The auto industry's proposals include allowing plug-in hybrids, extended-range EVs and alternative fuels to be sold beyond 2035 when a planned zero emissions mandate will ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars across the EU.

Elkann also dispensed some ominous warnings about what could happen if the EU doesn't go along with his recommendations, insisting that staying the course could lead to "irreversible decline." Yikes!

Europe problems and Stellantis problems

Fiat 500 vehicles seen at a factory in Italy - Stefano Guidi/Getty Images

As Reuters pointed out, current projections for 2024 vehicle registrations in Europe are running about three million below where they were in 2019. The overall market is sluggish, and yet it's supposed to be in a process of transformation, moving away from combustion technologies and toward electrification. The arrival of cheap EVs from China is complicating the situation.

Stellantis itself is also in a state of corporate struggle. Former CEO Carlos Tavares departed last year, and his replacement, Antonio Filosa, is still finding his footing. This has placed Elkann in the awkward position of assuming a higher profile than perhaps he thinks is ideal. He has to fix the family car business, which was formed through mergers of Fiat and Chrysler, then a combination of the resulting FCA conglomerate with the PSA Group. In this role, he now has to also serve as a sort of industrial statesman, dealing with the EU and the governments of Italy and France, as well as contending with the U.S., where Stellantis relies on big pickups and SUVs to drive sales and profits.
Elkann isn't alone

BMW workers assemble a vehicle at a factory in Germany - Leonhard Simon/Getty Images

EVs were supposed to help Europe move away from diesels, in the aftermath of Volkswagen's dieselgate scandal. The EU has tariffed Chinese EV imports to protect the continent's carmakers, but China has engaged a multifaceted strategy, exporting combustion vehicles to markets such as Italy and Spain, where the Middle Kingdom thinks it can take market share against weaker competition. In this context, Stellantis risks being unable to challenge the Chinese on ICE vehicles if the European automaking giant doesn't continue to invest in combustion platforms because it has to drop them to meet EV mandates. Elkann is of course far from alone: every European carmaker is up against the same dilemma. The transition was always going to be precarious, and that's why European regulators thought the 2035 deadline would give automakers enough time to prepare for a massive shift away from burning petrol.

But projections for EV sales turned out to be overly optimistic, and now the European auto industry is dealing with the fact that it was never structured for such an aggressive timeline. The implications are alarming, especially on the economic side. As Wired reported earlier this year, the industry "employs 13.8 million people across Europe and represents around 7 percent of the continent's GDP." Everything is now pushing up against a December review of emissions goals, so it's hardly surprising the Elkann has taken the opportunity to use some strong language to beg for breathing room.

 Peru to declare a state of emergency as migrants leaving Chile trigger backlash

NAYARA BATSCHKE and DAVID PEREDA ZAVALETA
Fri, November 28, 2025 

AP

Migrants, mostly from Venezuela, wait to cross into Peru at the Chacalluta border crossing point in Arica, Chile, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ibar Silva)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Migrants, mostly from Venezuela, wait to cross into Peru at the Chacalluta border crossing point in Arica, Chile, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ibar Silva)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Migrants, mostly from Venezuela, wait to cross into Peru at the Chacalluta border crossing point in Arica, Chile, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ibar Silva)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A police officer directs traffic at the Chacalluta border crossing point in Arica, Chile, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, as migrants mostly from Venezuela wait to cross into Peru. (AP Photo/Ibar Silva)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)


Migrants, mostly from venezuela, wait to cross into Peru at the Chacalluta border crossing point in Arica, Chile, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ibar Silva)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — President José Jerí of Peru said his government on Friday would declare a state of emergency along the country's southern border and deploy more armed forces to the area as a large number of Venezuelan migrants venture north from Chile, where anti-immigrant sentiment has surged during a fraught presidential campaign.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing crises in their home countries or seeking better opportunities abroad long have traversed the continent and the Peruvian border to build new lives in Chile, one of Latin America’s most stable and prosperous nations.

But scores of people without legal status in Chile — mostly Venezuelans who abandoned their country's economic ruin and authoritarian rule in recent years — are now also headed in the other direction as Chile prepares to harden its stance against immigration.

The favorite to win Chile's presidential runoff on Dec. 14, ultraconservative lawyer José Antonio Kast, has built his campaign around popular fears over immigration from Venezuela and a rise in organized crime. He filmed a campaign video at Chile's porous desert border with Peru last week, warning immigrants without formal status to get out of the country while they still can.

“You have 111 days to leave Chile voluntarily,” Kast said in the ad, referring to the number of days until a new administration takes over from current left-wing President Gabriel Boric. “If not, we will stop you, we will detain you, we will expel you. You will leave with only the clothes on your back.”

Soon Peruvian media was awash with images of migrant families rushing north from Chile into Peru, their belongings stuffed in backpacks and garbage bags.

Within days, Jerí traveled to the same area to inspect border controls and sent armed forces to boost security operations.

Residents in Chile’s northern border towns reported growing chaos as crowds of people who left Chile but lacked permission to enter Peru were stranded in limbo. On Friday, Jerí convened his Cabinet to declare a state of emergency in the region.

There is no clear figure for how many people have decided to leave Chile against the backdrop of Kast’s threats of mass deportations and what immigration lawyers describe as increased xenophobia in the South American country, home to 18.5 million people.

On Friday, Kast released a new video repeating his warning to immigrants and urging Boric to intervene. Peruvian Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela dismissed his comments, saying that a presidential candidate “cannot speak on behalf of the Chilean government.”

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When asked how Kast's campaign impacted the outflow of migrants, Chilean Minister of Security Luis Cordero responded that “rhetoric sometimes has consequences.”

“People cannot be used as a means to create controversy for the elections,” he said. “Our main purpose is to prevent a humanitarian crisis.”

___

Pereda Zavaleta reported from Lima, Peru

Experts doubt the Pentagon can punish Kelly over the 'illegal orders' video

BEN FINLEY and GARY FIELDS
Sat, November 29, 2025



FILE - Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/John McDonnell, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon’s investigation of Sen. Mark Kelly over a video that urges American troops to defy “illegal orders” has raised a slew of questions, and some criticism, from legal experts.

Some say the Pentagon is misreading military law to go after Kelly as a retired Navy fighter pilot. Others say the Arizona Democrat cannot be prosecuted as a member of Congress. A group of former military prosecutors insists he did nothing wrong.

The Pentagon announced the investigation last week after President Donald Trump’s social media post accusing Kelly — and the five other Democratic lawmakers in the video — of sedition “punishable by DEATH.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Kelly was facing investigation because he is the only one in that group who formally retired from the military and is still under the Pentagon’s jurisdiction.

Kelly dismissed the inquiry as the work of “bullies” and said it would not deter him and other members of Congress “from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable.”

‘It’s not totally unheard of’

Stephen Vladeck, a Georgetown University law professor, said there has been a “significant uptick” in courts-martial of retired service members in the past decade. While courts have debated the constitutionality, the practice is currently allowed. He said there have been roughly a dozen such prosecutions across the service branches.

There are roughly 2 million people who formally retired from the military and receive retirement pay, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. Service members are generally entitled to retirement pay after completing 20 years of active duty.

Todd Huntley, a retired Navy captain and judge advocate general, or JAG, said it is rare to prosecute retirees for something that happened after they retired.

“It’s not totally unheard of,” said Huntley, who now directs Georgetown’s national security law program. “I actually prosecuted a enlisted guy who had been retired for 16 years. He was essentially assaulting his adopted daughter. Basically no one else had jurisdiction so we prosecuted him.”

A ‘ridiculous conclusion’

Colby Vokey, a prominent civilian military lawyer and former military prosecutor, said Hegseth appears to be misreading the Uniform Code of Military Justice to justify the Kelly investigation.

Vokey said Hegseth has personal jurisdiction over Kelly because Kelly is entitled to retirement pay. But Vokey said Hegseth lacks subject matter jurisdiction because Kelly made his statements as a senator.

Vokey said case law has evolved to where the military can prosecute an active-duty service member for a crime committed off base, such as robbing a convenience store. But applying military law to a retired service member and “assuming that means every offense ever is kind of a ridiculous conclusion.”

“Let’s say you have a 100-year-old World War II veteran who is retired with pay and he steals a candy bar,” Vokey said. “Hegseth could bring him back and court-martial him. And that in effect is what is happening with Kelly.”

Patrick McLain, a retired Marine Corps judge and former federal prosecutor, said the cases he has seen of retirees being called back “are more like extreme examples of fraud or some of these child pornography cases.”

“I’ve not seen anything like the kind of the wackadoodle thing they’re trying to do to Sen. Kelly for essentially exercising his First Amendment right to free speech, which they don’t like,” McLain said.

‘He did it as a civilian’

Charles Dunlap, a Duke University law professor and retired Air Force lawyer, said in an email that military law can restrict speech for service members that is protected for civilians under the First Amendment.

But even if the video was found to have violated military law, a key issue may be whether the law can be applied to someone who is retired, Dunlap said.

A group of former military lawyers, the Former JAGs Working Group, said in a statement that Kelly did not violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

“The video simply described the law as it pertains to lawful versus unlawful orders,” the group said. “It did not suborn mutiny or otherwise encourage military members to disregard or disobey lawful orders issued to them.”

Troops, especially uniformed commanders, have specific obligations to reject orders that are unlawful. Broad legal precedence also holds that just following orders — colloquially known as the “Nuremberg defense,” as it was used unsuccessfully by senior Nazi officials to justify their actions under Adolf Hitler — does not absolve troops.

Kelly and the other lawmakers did not mention specific circumstances in the video. Some Democratic lawmakers have questioned the legality of the Trump administration’s attempts to send National Guard troops into U.S. cities. Kelly has pointedly questioned the use of the military to attack alleged drug boats off South America’s coast, saying he was worried about the military officers involved with the mission and whether they were following orders that may have been illegal.

Michael O’Hanlon, director of research in the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution, said any case brought against Kelly likely would be thrown out or end in an acquittal.

O’Hanlon said it might not have been politically smart to “wave a red flag in front of the bull” but he does not see the legal grounds for a court martial.

“Saying that you shouldn’t break the law cannot be a crime,” O’Hanlon said. “But in addition, he did not do it as a military officer. He did it as a civilian.”

Separation of powers

Kelly’s status as a senator could block the Pentagon’s investigation because of constitutional protections for the separation of powers in the U.S government.

The Constitution explicitly shields members of Congress from White House overreach, said Anthony Michael Kreis, a constitutional law professor at Georgia State University.

“Having a United States senator subject to discipline at the behest of the secretary of defense and the president — that violates a core principle of legislative independence,” Kreis said in a telephone interview.

Kreis said such protections were a reaction to the British monarchy, which arbitrarily punished members of Parliament.

”Any way you cut it, the Constitution is fundamentally structurally designed to prevent this kind of abuse,” Kreis said.

Sen. Mark Kelly says Trump and Hegseth are 'not serious people' amid military video investigation

Alexandra Marquez
Sun, November 30, 2025

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said Sunday that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are “not serious people” in response to their comments about a video Kelly and several fellow Democrats made earlier this month urging military and intelligence personnel to “refuse illegal orders.”

“This president thinks he can bully and intimidate people, and he is not going to, he’s not going to stop me from speaking out and holding him accountable for the things that he does that are wrong and unlawful,” Kelly told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

Officials at the Defense Department earlier this month said they were launching an investigation into Kelly after President Donald Trump accused him and several other lawmakers of “seditious behavior,” a charge that the president said could be “punishable by death.”

The president later walked back his comments, telling conservative radio host Brian Kilmeade that he was not threatening the lawmakers with death.

The accusations from Trump came after several Democratic lawmakers — all of whom are military veterans or former intelligence officials — released a video urging current military and intelligence personnel to “refuse illegal orders,” adding, “no one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”

The FBI has also sought to schedule interviews with six Democratic lawmakers who appeared in the video, which includes Kelly, Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, and Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania.

In the video, the lawmakers didn’t specify what illegal orders they might be referring to, and on Sunday, Kelly said that the video was “looking forward,” not referencing any potential illegal orders that may have already been given during this administration.

Still, Kelly cited comments Trump made on the debate stage during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, where the then-candidate said he would be able to get the military to comply with his orders, even if they were illegal under international law.

“If I say do it, they’re gonna do it,” Trump said at the time. “That’s what leadership is all about.”

“They’re not gonna refuse me. Believe me,” he added.

Kelly also referenced a comment Trump made earlier this year saying that the military should use “dangerous” U.S. cities as “training grounds.”

“We’re concerned because of this president, with this secretary of defense, we could have a significant problem. So this was a simple message, ‘Follow the law,’ and it was looking forward,” Kelly said Sunday.

Hegseth called the original video from the Democratic lawmakers “despicable, reckless, and false” in a post on X earlier this month.

Kelly called Hegseth “the least qualified secretary of defense in the history of our country by far.”

In a separate interview on CNN Sunday, Kelly said he had not yet been notified by the Navy about an investigation into his conduct based on the video.

"I was notified about this through a tweet, the same tweet that you saw, and that demonstrates how unserious this administration is," Kelly told CNN. "They care more about the publicity about this than the process or the law. I haven’t been notified by the Navy."

The Department of Defense didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

On "Meet the Press" Sunday, the Arizona senator referenced his own service in the Navy, where he said he sank ships.

“Never once did I question whether those orders were legal or illegal. People can tell the difference — should be able to tell the difference between something that is unlawful and something that is lawful,” he said. “And if I was ever given an unlawful order, I would refuse.”

Asked about reporting in The Washington Post over the weekend that Hegseth ordered a Navy SEAL team to “kill everybody” on a boat suspected of carrying drugs to the U.S. in September — the first strike in a monthslong campaign against alleged drug-ferrying boats — Kelly said, “I hope that the reporting is not accurate,” and called for an investigation.

“We’re going to put these folks under oath, and we’re going to find out what happened. And then there needs to be accountability,” Kelly said, pointing to the fact that the House and Senate armed services committees have launched inquiries looking into the Washington Post’s reporting.