Ce jeudi 6 septembre, le prince George fera sa rentrée des classes, entouré du prince William et de Kate Middleton. Sauf qu’aucune photo officielle ne devrait être publiée.

Les férus de la royauté britannique risquent d’être déçus. Kensington Palace ne devrait dévoiler aucune photo officielle de prince George pour la rentrée des classes. L’aîné de Kate Middleton et du prince William s’apprête à retrouver les bancs de l’école. Après des vacances entre l’île Moustique, Anmer Hall et Balmoral où il s’est essayé à la chasse, ce jeudi 6 septembre, il devra à nouveau enfiler son uniforme. Direction la Thomas Battersea School, établissement particulièrement réputé de Londres, où il retrouvera tous ses petits camarades – qui lui ont trouvé un petit surnom. Mais ce retour à l’école devrait se faire dans un maximum de discrétion. Ainsi, aucun journaliste n’a été accrédité pour suivre cet événement royal, comme le rapporte le magazine Hello.

“Le temps que le prince George passe à l’école est privé. Bien que le duc et la duchesse de Cambridge aient partagé une photographie de son premier jour à l’école primaire l’année dernière, ils ne le feront pas chaque année“, assure Emily Nash, la correspondante de Hello spécialisée dans la famille royale d’Angleterre. En effet, l’an dernier, le prince George avait fait sensation dans son uniforme, main dans la main avec son père.

Le jeune garçon de 5 ans aura une année chargée. Outre l’intensif programme d’Elizabeth II pour faire de lui un roi, il devra suivre ses nombreux cours à l’école. S’il est habitué aux leçons de français, d’informatique, d’art, de musique et de ballet, désormais il apprendra également l’histoire, la géographie ou encore les mathématiques. Mais surtout pour ce jour de rentrée scolaire, il pourra compter sur la présence de sa mère, Kate Middleton. La toute bronzée et amincie duchesse accompagnera son fils à l’école, contrairement à l’an dernier où elle souffrait de sa grossesse.

Ce devrait donc être également le cas pour la princesse Charlotte. L’adorable fillette de 3 ans va faire sa deuxième rentrée à l’école maternelle, loin de son grand frère. Celle qui devra apprendre à lire et écrire avait également eu le droit à sa photo officielle – prise par Kate Middleton elle-même – de premier jour à l’école. Elle avait ainsi fait fondre le cœur des internautes dans son petit manteau rouge.

Crédits photos : Bestimage

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PALM BEACH, Fla. — 

President Trump lashed out Tuesday as his Senate impeachment trial remains at an impasse, with Republican and Democratic leaders at odds over its format and whether witnesses should be called.

Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., after a teleconference call with troops stationed across the globe, Trump singled out Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is indefinitely holding up sending the articles of impeachment the House passed last week to the Republican-controlled Senate.

“She hates the Republican Party. She hates all of the people that voted for me and the Republican Party,” Trump charged on Christmas Eve. “She’s doing a tremendous disservice to the country.”

Trump has long seen a Senate trial, where he is almost certain to be acquitted, as an opportunity for vindication after he became the third president in the nation’s history to be impeached by the House.

“We have the majority, and now they want McConnell to do wonderful things for them,” Trump complained of Democrats, adding that he will leave it to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to do whatever he thinks best.

“He’s very smart guy, a very good guy, a very fair guy. But they treated us very unfairly. And now they want fairness in the Senate,” he said.

Pelosi has said she is waiting until she receives more clarity from McConnell about what a trial will look like. He has said he has not ruled out calling witnesses but has also indicated that he is in no hurry to seek new testimony either. Meanwhile, the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, has countered that any trial without witnesses would be “Kafkaesque” and a “sham.”

“Let’s put it like this: If there are no documents and no witnesses, it will be very hard to come to an agreement,” Schumer told the Associated Press on Monday.

Schumer is demanding witnesses who refused to appear during House committee hearings, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton.

McConnell, who has all but promised a swift acquittal of the president, has resisted making any guarantees and has cautioned Trump against seeking the testimony of witnesses for fear of prolonging the trial. Instead, McConnell appears to have secured Republican support for his plans to impose a framework drawn from the 1999 impeachment trial of President Clinton.

“We haven’t ruled out witnesses,” McConnell said Monday in an interview with “Fox and Friends.” “We’ve said let’s handle this case just like we did with President Clinton. Fair is fair.”

That trial featured a 100-0 vote on arrangements that established two weeks of presentations and argument before a partisan tally in which Republicans, who held the majority, called a limited number of witnesses. But Democrats now would need Republican votes to secure witness testimony — and Republicans believe they have the votes to eventually block those requests.

In a letter Monday to all senators, Schumer argued that the circumstances in the Trump trial are different from those of Clinton’s, who was impeached after a lengthy independent counsel investigation in which witnesses had already testified numerous times under oath. Schumer rejected the Clinton model, saying waiting until after the presentations to decide on witnesses would “foreclose the possibility of obtaining such evidence because it will be too late.”

Schumer also demanded that the Senate, besides receiving testimony, also compel the Trump administration to turn over documents and emails relevant to the case, including on the decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine. He told the AP that Democrats aren’t trying to delay but are simply asking for information directly relevant to the charges in the impeachment articles.

He said that if McConnell won’t agree, “we can go to the floor and demand votes, and we will.”

Pelosi has delayed sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate in hopes of giving Schumer more leverage in talks with McConnell. But the White House believes Pelosi won’t be able to hold out much longer, and the impasse between the Senate leaders leaves open the possibility of a protracted delay until the articles are delivered.

Trump has called the holdup “unfair” and asserted, wrongly, that Democrats were violating the Constitution, as the delay threatened to prolong the pain of impeachment and cast uncertainty on the timing of the vote Trump is set to claim as vindication.

“Pelosi gives us the most unfair trial in the history of the U.S. Congress, and now she is crying for fairness in the Senate, and breaking all rules while doing so,” Trump tweeted Monday from his private club Palm Beach, Fla., where he is on a more than two-week holiday vacation. “She lost Congress once, she will do it again!”

White House officials have also taken to highlighting Democrats’ arguments that removing Trump was an “urgent” matter before the House impeachment vote, as they seek to put pressure on Pelosi to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate.

At one point, Trump had demanded the testimony of witnesses of his own, like Democrats Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and the intelligence community whistleblower whose complaint sparked the impeachment probe. But he has since relented after concerted lobbying by McConnell and other Senate Republicans who pushed him to accept the swift acquittal from the Senate and not risk injecting uncertainty into the process by calling witnesses.

The Constitution requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict in an impeachment trial — and Republicans have expressed confidence that they have more than enough votes to keep Trump in office.

A separate but related fight flared Monday in the courts, where the House Judiciary Committee held open the possibility of adding to the articles of impeachment against Trump depending on whatever testimony it can obtain from former White House counsel Don McGahn. The committee also said that testimony from McGahn could be useful in any Senate impeachment trial.

A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments on Jan. 3 on whether to force McGahn to comply with the subpoena.

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PALM BEACH, Fla. — 

President Trump said Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be planning to give him “a nice present” such as a “beautiful vase” for Christmas rather than a missile launch.

The president was asked what he will do if North Korea does conduct a long-range missile test.

The North has threatened to take unspecified action if sanctions are not eased by the end of the year, and speculation has centered on the possibility of a new missile test, possibly of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.

The North has said that its “Christmas gift” to the United States will depend on Washington’s actions.

Trump, who is in Florida for the holidays, had just finished thanking service members from each branch of the military via satellite when he was asked about North Korea. He opted for a wait-and-see approach.

“Maybe it’s a present where he sends me a beautiful vase as opposed to a missile test,” Trump said. “I may get a nice present from him. You don’t know. You never know.”

Nuclear talks between the U.S. and North Korea have been stalled since a February summit between Trump and Kim fell apart.

A new satellite image of a factory where North Korea makes military equipment used to launch long-range missiles shows the construction of a new structure.

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ANCHORAGE — 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she was disturbed to hear Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell say there would be “total coordination” between the White House and the Senate over the upcoming presidential impeachment trial.

“And in fairness, when I heard that I was disturbed,” Murkowski told KTUU Tuesday before saying there should be distance between the White House and the Senate in how the trial is conducted.

“To me it means that we have to take that step back from being hand in glove with the defense, and so I heard what leader McConnell had said, I happened to think that that has further confused the process.”

In a recent interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, described his planning with the White House.

“We’ll be working through this process, hopefully in a fairly short period of time in total coordination with the White House counsel’s office and the people who are representing the president as well as the Senate,” McConnell said.

Murkowski was critical of the impeachment process conducted in the House of Representatives, describing it as rushed.

Murkowski says the Senate is now being asked to cure deficiencies in evidence to be presented at the trial, particularly when it comes to whether key witnesses should be brought forward to testify, including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security advisor John Bolton.

“How we will deal with witnesses remains to be seen,” Murkowski said before saying the House should have gone to the courts if witnesses refused to appear before Congress.

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Murkowski also spoke of her desire for a “full and fair process,” potentially using the impeachment hearings of President Clinton as a template.

Murkowski remained undecided about how she would vote when the trial takes place. “For me to prejudge and say there’s nothing there or on the other hand, he should be impeached yesterday, that’s wrong, in my view, that’s wrong.”

Draymond Green scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half, Damion Lee had 22 points and a career-high 15 rebounds and the Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets 116-104 on Wednesday.

D’Angelo Russell added 20 points, and Glenn Robinson III had 18 to help the Warriors win their third straight and end the Rockets’ four-game winning streak. Injury-ravaged Golden State improved to 7-24.

Russell Westbrook had 30 points and 12 rebounds for Houston. James Harden had 24 points and 11 assists, and Danuel House Jr. had 18 points. Westbrook had his ninth consecutive game of at least 20 points, the longest by any Rockets player other than Harden since Tracy McGrady did it in 10 straight games in 2007.

Ky Bowman hit a driving layup at the buzzer to give the Warriors an 92-87 edge heading into the final quarter.

After falling behind by eight points midway through the first quarter, the Rockets outscored Golden State 48-17 over the next 13 minutes to open a 53-40 advantage. Russell hit a short jumper in the final minute of the second and the Warriors drew to 68-64 by halftime.

Boston 118, at Toronto 102: Jaylen Brown scored 30 points, Kemba Walker had 22 and the Boston Celtics beat the 118-102 in Toronto on Wednesday in the first Christmas Day NBA game played in Canada.

Enes Kanter had 12 points and 11 rebounds as the Celtics snapped an eight-game losing streak north of the border and became the first Atlantic Division opponent to win in Toronto in more than four years.

Boston’s Gordon Hayward returned to the starting lineup after missing the past three games because of a sore left foot. He scored 14 points in 26 minutes.

Highlights from the Celtics’ victory over the Raptors on Wednesday.

Fred VanVleet scored 27 points in the Raptors’ second straight loss, and Chris Boucher had a career-high 24.

Toronto had gone an NBA-record 34 games between home losses to division foes. The Raptors’ last home loss to an Atlantic team was a 111-109 defeat to the New York Knicks on Nov. 10, 2015.

Kyle Lowry scored 14 points and Serge Ibaka had 12 for Toronto. The Raptors shot eight for 23 from three-point range.

The Raptors jumped out to a 10-0 lead as the Celtics missed their first five shots of the game, leading to a Boston timeout with 10:03 left in the opening quarter. After the stoppage, the Celtics outscored Toronto 28-9 to lead 28-19 after one.

Brown made all five of his field goal attempts in the third, including three from long range, and scored 16 points. Boston led 88-69 through three quarters.

at Philadelphia 121, Milwaukee 109: Joel Embiid outplayed Giannis Antetokounmpo in Philadelphia’s first home Christmas game in 31 years, collecting 31 points and 11 rebounds to help the three-point happy 76ers beat the Bucks.

Tobia Harris sank five three-pointers, Josh Richardson and Furkan Korkmaz each had four and even Embiid hit three as part of Philly’s season-high 21 3s (on 44 attempts) against a Bucks team that had the best record in the NBA.

Harris and Al Horford made threes over the final 90 seconds to push back a late Bucks’ run, and the Sixers improved to 16-2 at home.

There was a charged atmosphere for the anticipated matchup featuring Embiid and Ben Simmons taking on Khris Middleton and Antetokounmpo. Fans dressed as elves, wore ugly sweaters and held signs that said all they wanted for Christmas was a 76ers win.

They got it, with Embiid using the national showcase to play like an MVP in a dominant first half that helped the Sixers take the biggest halftime lead (21 points) against the Bucks under coach Mike Budenholzer.

Embiid scored 23 points and was disruptive defensively, holding Antetokounmpo to four-for-14 shooting in the half. The Sixers made 11 three-pointers in the half and made the NBA-best Bucks (27-5) look like anything but Eastern Conference contenders.

Embiid stood firm under the basket, arms extended sky high on one Antetokounmpo drive in transition. Embiid absorbed the contact and the “Greek Freak” lost control of the ball, one of six Milwaukee turnovers at the break.

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UCLA could drop every game the rest of this season and its coaches wouldn’t lose any more hair.

No matter how many shots the young Bruins miss or turnovers they commit or layups they allow, there will be no pulling of long or short locks among a coaching staff that arrived in Westwood with a clean slate and a clean pate.

There will also be no mourning what’s been lost among Mick Cronin and his assistants.

“I feel bad for the men that have to style and gel their hair,” said associate head coach Darren Savino, who has proudly sported a bald head for almost 15 years.

Cronin chose to go bald about two years ago, unhappy with thinning hair that grew in dark on the sides and blondish on top. Assistant Rod Palmer bid farewell to hairy situations a few years before that. Fellow assistant Michael Lewis noticed about a decade ago that his hair was going, going and made sure that it was gone.

“I decided to beat it,” Lewis said. “I was at Butler and I was just like, it’s going to happen, so I’m going to get out in front of it and own it.”

At first, Palmer thought that going smooth up top was just a Cincinnati thing. Before coming to UCLA, Cronin and Savino had been part of a Bearcats staff that also included bald assistants Larry Davis and Antwon Jackson. When Lewis completed the Bruins’ staff, Palmer figured that being bald might have put him and his new colleague head and shoulders above the other candidates.

“That’s what I thought,” Palmer said with a chuckle. “I thought it was a prerequisite.”

One player even adopted the look this summer when freshman forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. sent Cronin a picture of himself with a shaved head. Cronin momentarily thought Jaquez was being in solidarity with the coaching staff until learning that he was just participating in a hazing ritual with other rookies on the Mexican national team.

Jaquez eventually regrew his hair when he returned to campus, which was an opportunity lost.

“That probably could have helped making my first impression,” Jaquez said, “coming out with a bald head just like all the other coaches.”

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For years and years, even after he went bald, Cronin spent part of each day running his hands through long, curly hair. It belonged to his daughter, Sammi, who bonded with her divorced father every time he washed, combed and conditioned her hair.

It took a while for Cronin to perfect his routine after receiving tips from his former wife, friends … and Google. He learned that product was paramount but sometimes had trouble aggressively combing through knots, not wanting to hurt his little girl.

“My back used to get so sore because she’s in the bathtub and you’ve got to wash it,” Cronin said. “Then, because of the curly hair, you’ve got to do the conditioner, leave it in for a couple of minutes and get it all through and then wash that out. So it’s a lot.”

Sammi, now 13, has taken command of her own haircare, leaving her father to focus on his membership in the hairless club for men. It can be an effortless endeavor, with no upkeep involved besides trips to the barbershop. Cronin’s assistants even skip that step, shaving their own heads every few days without much fuss.

“Whatever I put on my face,” Lewis said, “I put on my head.”

The coaches will be the first to tell you that bald can be sexy. Cronin noted that bald actor Jason Statham was dating a Victoria’s Secret model and Lewis rattled off a lengthy list of pluses for life minus hair.

“Bald men, we’re more confident, attractive, dominant and successful than guys with hair,” Lewis said, reading from a Men’s Health magazine story on his phone before looking up to add his own thoughts. “I actually wish I had done it a lot earlier. The maintenance, the haircare costs, all that stuff. Just own it.”

Lewis has been self-assured going back to his days as an Indiana point guard, when he had a thick mane of brown hair. He once returned verbal fire at Bobby Knight when the Hoosiers coach got in his face about a blown defensive assignment during a game against Michigan. A replay of the sequence has generated more than 180,000 views on YouTube.

Two decades later, Lewis and Palmer work primarily with UCLA’s guards while Savino handles the big men. It’s a homecoming for Palmer, a guard for the Bruins for two seasons in the 1980s. He probably never imagined his head would be a trending topic on campus upon his return.

“We were talking about that,” senior guard Prince Ali said of a recent conversation with former teammate Jaylen Hands, who now plays with the Long Island Nets of the NBA’s G League. “Like, wow, why are all your coaches bald?”

Senior forward Alex Olesinski initially confused Savino and Lewis during early practices before learning their voices, the coaches’ heads not providing much of a clue.

“If somebody said something and I wasn’t looking,” Olesinski said, “I wouldn’t know.”

Who wore it best has become a running debate among coaches and players alike.

Said Ali: “Savino rocks the smooth bald head.”

Said Savino: “Of course me. It’s not even close. You can’t put me in the same category with those guys. That’s a joke, of course.”

A fifth bald figure stepped onto the practice court in the preseason when Shaquille O’Neal walked through the doors inside the Mo Ostin Center. The Lakers legend advised his son Shareef, the Bruins’ freshman forward, to have fun with his hair while he could because one day he might no longer have that opportunity.

Freshman guard Tyger Campbell, whose flowing dreadlocks flop with every step he takes on the court, has engaged in some fun back-and-forth banter with coaches who invariably tell him that he needs to cut his hair. Campbell retorts that at least he has some, though nature will have the final say on for how long.

“I mean, you just look at men in general,” Lewis said, “their time is coming.”

Fabian White Jr. and Caleb Mills scored 19 points each to help Houston rally to a 75-71 win over No. 21 Washington in the title game of the Diamond Head Classic on Wednesday.

The Cougars (10-3) trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half, but outscored the Huskies (10-3) 44-35 after halftime to win their fourth straight. White shot seven of 13 from the field and made all five of his free throws to finish with a career-high in points scored and earn the tournament’s most outstanding player honors. Mills made three of his team’s eight three-pointers.

Houston shot 17 of 18 (94.4%) as a team from the free-throw line, making their final six.

Washington took a 35-21 lead with 6:01 left until halftime on Isaiah Stewart’s free throw, but Houston closed out the first half with a 10-1 run to get within 36-31 at the break. Stewart finished with 25 points while Nahziah Carter added 15.

Quade Green had 11 points and seven assists and Jaden McDaniels added 10 points in the loss. Washington committed 15 turnovers to seven for Houston. There were five ties and 10 lead changes.

In other games at the Diamond Head Classic:

— Michael Devoe scored 18 points and Moses Wright added 16 to help Georgia Tech rally past Hawaii 70-53 for third place. The Yellow Jackets (6-6) shot 50% and erased a nine-point, second-half deficit to hand the Rainbow Warriors (8-5) their second straight loss. Hawaii was outscored 41-21 in the second half, when it shot just 22.2% from the field. It was 16-of-44 shooting (36.4%) for the game.

— Derrick Alston had a game-high 23 points along with nine rebounds and six assists to lead Boise State (8-5) to a 72-67 victory over UTEP (9-4) in the fifth-place game.

— Ishmael El-Amin scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half and Luke Bumbalough added 14 points as Ball State topped Portland 61-46 for seventh place.

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For much of December, the Clippers’ ability to withstand opponents’ charges had come into question. They’d blown leads, lost games and grown frustrated by a troubling trend.

It was why, after the Lakers rattled off a 17-2 run in the final 3 minutes 13 seconds before halftime Wednesday to lead the Clippers by 12, coach Doc Rivers entered his Staples Center locker room asking for answers.

“Doc asked everybody on the team, ‘What do you see?’” center Montrezl Harrell said. “Guys gave their answers and the last answer that was given by one of our teammates was, ‘They’re just playing harder.’”

Responded Rivers: “That’s the easiest adjustment we can make all year if that’s true.”

The halftime explanation led to third-quarter execution and postgame exhalation.

The Clippers outscored the Lakers by 12 in the quarter, making five of their eight three-pointers while the Lakers shot one for 10 while also not settling for long-range shots. By driving downhill toward the basket, they shot 13 free throws to the Lakers’ five. The inside-outside attack was critical during the final 3:22 of the quarter, when the Clippers outscored the Lakers 13-6 while Lakers star LeBron James rested on the bench.

“We just held our poise,” guard Patrick Beverley said. “We understand we’re playing a phenomenal team in the Lakers, No. 1, No. 2 team in the NBA. We know we’re playing a good team. They’re not just going to roll over and let us win, especially at home. We kept our composure, we came out in the second half with a lot of energy.”

Kawhi Leonard was clutch in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of his 35 points, and Beverley’s five fourth-quarter rebounds, plus his strip of the ball from James in the final seconds, sealed the comeback. But none of the fourth-quarter heroics would have been possible had the Clippers not begun the second half in the opposite fashion that they ended the first.

“That was the wake-up call for us,” center Ivica Zubac said.

The recovery led the teams to enter the fourth quarter on equal footing and the Clippers eventually withstood continued Lakers charges before winning 111-106 to improve to 2-0 against their Staples Center co-tenant this season.

“We were just saying we’ve got to stop worrying about the game,” Leonard said. “We’re not gonna blow teams out, it’s not gonna be easy. Every night is gonna be a battle and stop worrying about the score. Just play every possession. Play hard. If we’re losing, don’t look up, just keep doing what we have to do to win. I think we did that in the second half.”

When, in recent weeks, the Clippers had been unable to end opponents’ runs, circumstances had often been blamed — the effects of a short-handed roster, or playing on a second consecutive night. But that made Wednesday’s end to the first half all the more puzzling. The Clippers hadn’t played since Sunday and every player was available.

“We wasn’t playing hard, we was basically coasting through the game the first part,” Harrell said. “They was taking it to us and to end the first half we were doing more complaining than playing.”

Rivers started forward Patrick Patterson in the first quarter, believing his three-point threat would draw Lakers center Anthony Davis away from the basket and space the floor, but “I didn’t think that was very effective honestly,” Rivers said.

To begin the third quarter he kept the starting lineup the same with the exception of swapping Maurice Harkless, typically the starting forward, for Patterson. The move was “big,” Rivers said, whose team outscored the Lakers by six points with Harkless on the floor in the quarter.

“We didn’t flinch,” Rivers said. “We just kind of hung in there and it almost felt like we were biding our time and trying to make a run. That’s something you have to have when things aren’t going great for you — you just have to hang in there and I thought we did that tonight.”

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TIJUANA — 

Hoping to bring smiles to the faces of migrant children stuck at the border, volunteers handed out holiday presents Tuesday morning and tried to ease their growing discomfort when no asylum seekers were permitted to cross during the holiday.

Opening presents wrapped in bright Christmas wrapping paper brought a few moments of joy to the children, but those smiles slowly faded with disappointment when Mexican migration officials did not appear at the usual 8 a.m. roll call to allow some asylum seekers into the United States.

The group of volunteers also distributed sandwiches they bring daily to those waiting in line for their turn to make an initial asylum claim, under a U.S. immigration policy known as “metering.”

Tarina Yasmoothr, a legal fellow with Veterans for Peace, decided to bring presents for migrant kids on Christmas Eve because she wanted them to feel a little bit of the excitement and love that most children get to experience during the holiday season, she said.

“It’s very little, but part of the Christmas experience is opening presents and especially for children,” said Yasmoothr. “For parents, it’s watching their children open presents.”

Sofia Nhanelii, a 4-year-old from Oaxaca, Mexico, grinned as she slowly and shyly opened some wrapped books and a coloring book. Her mother said she was very grateful for the little bit of holiday tradition that the volunteers provided.

Then, she began to cry as she explained fleeing violent threats and home intruders in southern Mexico.

Another mom, Yessica, who declined to give her last name, said celebrating the season in any small way was very important for her three children.

“They gave us a little smile by bringing us this gift,” said the 23-year-old woman from Michoacan, Mexico. “I didn’t think the kids would open any presents this year.”

Yessica’s daughter Denise, 3, ripped open her gift with bravado and immediately began playing with it, along with her siblings.

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“It’s very sad to be here. We’ve been waiting months and we don’t know if they’re going to call us in the morning or in the afternoon,” said Yessica.

She said every day that her number is not called brings major challenges in that she has to figure out where to stay another night and secure transportation to get back to the line the next day to check the list.

The list, or “la lista,” is how volunteers manage the federal government’s metering program, which limits the number of asylum seekers who can ask for help at ports of entry each day.

U.S. border officials tell Mexican migration officers how many numbers to call out, based on how much room they have in processing centers and holding cells in the port of entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Numbers are called out each morning at El Chaparral on the other side of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. People from around the world gather there each morning to hear if it’s their turn to cross.

Many have already waited months in Tijuana. Human rights activists and immigration attorneys say the policy forces a growing backlog of asylum seekers into difficult, and sometimes dangerous, situations along the border. The practice is being challenged in federal court.

The calling of the numbers usually begins around 8 a.m. and is usually over very quickly, by about 8:30 a.m.

After nearly two hours of waiting Tuesday, people slowly began to realize Mexican migration officials would not be calling out any numbers a day before Christmas. No explanation was given to the approximately 50 people waiting at the border by either Mexican or U.S. immigration officials.

Juan Roys, a mechanical engineer, said he fled Venezuela because he made enemies in his government by joining a political party.

With just two numbers ahead of his number, he waited hours Tuesday morning for Mexican officials to either start calling numbers or announce that no one would be crossing for the day.

“Someone arrives, waiting for their number and [the Mexican officials] don’t say anything. Some time passes without them calling any numbers and then more time passes, and it’s very strange. I think they need to put everything in order because there are children here. It’s very disorganized,” said Roys.

CBP did not respond to questions about whether they alerted Mexican officials that no one would be crossing Tuesday or whether they were at capacity or just not processing people because of the holiday.

CBP has previously said their agency processes those who are waiting in line as capacity allows. The agency did not respond to questions from the San Diego Union-Tribune about whether or not people are allowed to ask for asylum on holidays.

“When our ports of entry reach capacity, we have to manage the queues, and individuals presenting without documents may need to wait in Mexico as CBP officers work to process those already within our facilities,” a previous statement said.

Yasmoothr said she began PBJTJ (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in Tijuana) in her hotel room a few months ago when she noticed “very many people waiting at the border without any food and some have been here since 4 in the morning, so it was a very simple thing for me to do.”

She stressed she wished she could do more, but realized the sandwiches she hands out are sometimes the only meal people waiting at the border receive all day.

The coloring books, crayons, books and other small toys the group handed out to children waiting were given con amor, with love, said Yasmoothr and two other volunteers.

“It’s a very small gesture and a part of me feels that this is happening because of U.S. foreign intervention policies that are driving families northward to seek asylum,” said Yasmoothr. “So, as an American, I feel that it is my duty to atone for our government’s conduct abroad and our brutality abroad.”

Yasmoothr graduated from law school in May and is working as a legal fellow advocating for deported veterans. Her grassroots organization PBJTJ now has a website and a Facebook page.

Another volunteer, Andrés Quevedo, who was born in the United States but spent time growing up in El Salvador, said he identifies with and feels badly for anyone far away from their family at Christmastime.

“I’m far away from my home, as well,” said Quevedo. “I see my countrymen suffering in everything just to cross and then on the other side, when they arrive, they have a difficult life. I just want peace and tranquility and opportunity for my fellow man.”

A new storm barreled into Southern California on Thursday morning, bringing snow that closed the 5 Freeway in the Grapevine and rain that flooded streets.

The storm also prompted a tornado warning for parts of the Santa Barbara County coast, which was hit by powerful winds as well as rain. The warning expired at 10:30 p.m., and there were no reports of damage. But the area saw about two inches of rain.

A tornado warning was issued at 12:05 a.m. Thursday for Orange County after a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located near Laguna Beach and Newport Beach, moving north at 35 mph. The tornado warning was canceled about 10 minutes later after the storm weakened.

In addition to the 5, the northbound 14 Freeway at Soledad Canyon Road and Highway 33 in Ventura County were also closed by snow. The 14 Freeway reopened at about 3:45 a.m.

The California Highway Patrol said there were multiple stuck vehicles on Interstate 5 at the Grapevine amid heavy snowfall around 10:30 p.m. “Priority will be to assist vehicles already on the pass to the other side, followed by clearing the roadway,” the agency tweeted.

At about 1:30 a.m., the CHP issued a SigAlert shutting down all southbound lanes of the 710 Freeway at Slauson Avenue due to flooding. The lanes reopened about two hours later.

Los Angeles Fire Department crews rescued a man from 3 to 6 feet of water in the Sepulveda Basin in Van Nuys, authorities said.

The 52-year-old man was located at about 2:15 a.m. and brought to safety and evaluated for potential hypothermia, according to spokeswoman Margaret Stewart.

An LAFD helicopter was searching the area to be sure no other people needed rescue, she said.

The National Weather Service is predicting 1 to 2 inches of rain along the coast and in the valleys, and up to 3 inches in the San Gabriel Mountains over the next several hours.

Certain mountain areas could get as much as 2 feet of snow, leaving the Mountain High and Mt. Baldy ski resorts primed for great conditions. This heavy dumping could lead to whiteout conditions because of blowing snow, the National Weather Service said. Similarly, the Antelope Valley could receive up to 8 inches of snow.

“There’s going to be gusty east to southeast winds between 20 and 30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. That means there will be snow, blowing wind, fog and low visibility,” said Tom Fisher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The weather service issued a winter storm watch for the mountains of San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Friday, warning of heavy snow that could affect the Cajon Pass, Ortega Highway and the Interstate 8 pass in San Diego County. The weather service also warned of possible delays on the Grapevine, and highways 14 and 33 because of the snow.

Wednesday’s storm comes on the heels of a system that brought heavy rain — up to 3 inches in some areas in Southern California — on Sunday and Monday. That storm led to record-breaking rainfall in Long Beach, where 1.28 inches was dumped Monday. The previous record of 1.07 inches for the day was set in 2016, according to the weather service.

The downpour also made living conditions for migrants staying at a shelter close to the U.S.-Mexico border even more difficult Monday as flooding and foul sewage backups soiled the Movimiento Juventud 2000 shelter.

“The stench burns your nostrils and makes you want to puke,” said Antonio Jaramillo, a Mexican migrant who is in Tijuana after being deported from the United States. “I’m pretty sure this happens every time it rains with the black water.”

The latest round of rain could exacerbate problems at the shelter, which has roughly 100 migrants staying in tents erected in a large indoor space.

The rain in Southern California is expected to taper off Thursday, making way for clear skies through the weekend. But don’t stash the umbrellas yet, as forecasters say more rain looks to be on the way early next week.

San Diego Union-Tribune writer Wendy Fry contributed to this report, as did Times staff writer Rong-Gong Lin II. City News Service contributed to this report.

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