Stefon Diggs attends the 2025 CFDA Awards at The American Museum of Natural History on November 03, 2025 in New York City. The Hapa Blonde/GC Images
(FOXBOROUGH, Mass.) — New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs is facing strangulation and assault charges, according to court records.
The complaint was made by a woman who worked as a private chef for the NFL player, according to court documents. During a Dec. 2 dispute over money that she claimed Diggs owed her, he allegedly “smacked her across the face” and “tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck,” the complaint says.
“She said that as she tried to pry his arm away, he tightened his grip. At that point, the male threw her onto the bed,” the documents said.
Diggs’ attorney, David Meier, said the NFL player “categorically denies these allegations … because they did not occur.”
“They are unsubstantiated, uncorroborated, and were never investigated — because they did not occur,” Meier said in a statement. “The timing and motivation for making the allegations is crystal clear: they are the direct result of an employee-employer financial dispute that was not resolved to the employee’s satisfaction.”
The Patriots are standing behind Diggs, saying in a statement, “Stefon has informed the organization that he categorically denies the allegations.”
“We support Stefon,” the team said. “We will continue to gather information and will cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities and the NFL as necessary.”
The NFL added in statement that it’s “aware of the matter and have been in contact with the club.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Silver prices on Monday suffered their largest single-day drop in almost five years, before rebounding nearly 8% in midday trading on Tuesday. Some other precious metals, including gold, rode a similar rollercoaster.
The turbulent stretch comes near the end of a banner year for gold and silver, which rose far faster than even the robust stock market. Gold has climbed 66% in 2025, while silver has soared a staggering 160%. The S&P 500, by comparison, has jumped 17% over that span.
Bumpiness in recent days owes in part to the meteoric rise over prior months, some analysts told ABC News, saying investors likely cashed in on those gains by selling off their holdings.
The downturn in prices at the outset of this week followed an adjustment by exchange operator CME Group, which increased the amount futures traders must pony up in order to participate in the topsy-turvy markets for precious metals.
The uptick in the amount of such payments — known as margins — likely deterred some investors and pushed prices lower, analysts added. Prices boomeranged higher on Tuesday, suggesting some investors viewed the dip as a buying opportunity.
“These were some of the worst one-day losses in the history of trading in both gold and silver going back 50 years,” Jim Wyckoff, senior market analyst at Kitco Metals, told ABC News.
“Extreme price volatility in commodity markets is a signal of the final stages of a mature bull market run,” Wyckoff added.
Over the course of the year, heightened geopolitical and economic uncertainty boosted demand for gold and silver, which typically display a degree of independence from movements in stock prices. Volatility in bond markets and a devaluation of the U.S. dollar, meanwhile, unsettled alternative assets typically viewed as safe-haven investments.
The flight to gold in moments of market turbulence draws on decades of evidence, according to an analysis co-authored in 2025 by Campbell Harvey, a professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business who studies commodity prices. The price of gold moved higher during eight of the last 11 major stock market selloffs stretching back to the late 1980s, researchers found.
“Gold is a safe-haven asset because people believe it’s a safe-haven asset,” Paolo Pasquariello, professor of finance at the University of Michigan, told ABC News. “It’s a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.”
However, gold and silver prices carry volatility of their own, especially when buyers enter the market at a high point, risking losses instead of providing a security blanket, analysts said.
The rollercoaster this week could foretell volatility for gold and silver prices in 2026, Pasquariello said, pointing especially to a murky path forward for interest rates.
The Fed cut interest rates three consecutive times over the latter part of this year. Its benchmark rate now stands between 3.5% and 3.75%. That figure marks a significant drop from a recent peak attained in 2023, but borrowing costs remain well above a 0% rate established at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Policymakers at the central bank appear divided over where interest rates should go next. Three of the 12 voting members on the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC — a policymaking body at the Fed — dissented from the most recent quarter-point rate cut, the highest number of dissenters since 2019.
President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called for lower interest rates, is set to appoint a Fed chair next year. The leadership perch offers a large public platform, but it carries a single vote, like any other member of the FOMC.
Lower interest rates establish financial conditions favorable for gold and silver, since meager interest rates reduce the comparative benefit of interest-bearing investments such as savings accounts. A rate reduction also slashes the cost of borrowing for traders who speculate in precious metals, potentially juicing investment further.
“It looks like there is a significant split at the Federal Reserve about whether to cut interest rates or not,” Pasquariello said. “Markets like gold and silver – which in my mind have sensitivity to this rate uncertainty – will experience volatility the most.”
“People buy gold and silver for a safe haven,” Pasquariello added. “I don’t see that happening in 2026.”
The God of Thunder stars in the new teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday.
Marvel released the second teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday on Tuesday, and it stars Chris Hemsworth back as the Asgardian god Thor.
The trailer finds Thor kneeling in the wilderness as he prays to be able to return home to his daughter.
“Father, all my life I have answered every call. To honor, duty, to war. But now fate has given me something I never sought. A child. A life untouched by the storm,” Thor says in the teaser. “Lend me the strength of the All-Fathers so that I may fight once more. Defeat one more enemy and return home to her. Not as a warrior, but as warmth. To teach her not battle, but stillness. The kind I never knew. Please, Father, heed my words.”
As Thor prays, we see a clip of him inside a home, where his daughter, Love, rests inside of her bed. He goes to her and comforts her at her bedside.
Love is played by Hemsworth’s real-life daughter, India Hemsworth. She first took on the role in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder.
The teaser ends with a black screen and text that reads, “Thor will return in Avengers: Doomsday.”
This is the second teaser for the film. It follows a previous trailer that showed off the return of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, a character who hasn’t appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
Avengers: Doomsday will arrive in theaters on Dec. 18, 2026.
Cynthia Erivo at The Academy Awards on March 2, 2025. (Disney/Frank Micelotta)
Idris Elba and Cynthia Erivo are among the stars on King Charles III‘s New Year’s Honours List 2026. The honors system recognizes figures from across British society for their public achievements, and commitment to serving and helping the U.K.
Idris has been awarded a knighthood for his services to young people, while Cynthia has been made an MBE for services to music and drama.
Idris has worked with the youth via his Elba Hope Foundation, which supports education, among other things. He previously launched the Don’t Stop Your Future anti knife advocacy campaign and teamed with the King’s Trust (formerly known as the Prince’s Trust) to provide youth with hands-on training, mentoring and direct pathways into in music, creative media and more.
As for Cynthia, her services in music and drama include acting and/or singing in Broadway’s The Color Purple, Wicked and its sequel, Harriet and Genius: Aretha. She’s also shared her expertise with other artists via a master class at the American Theatre Wing.
David Harbour as Jim Hopper and Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in the finale of ‘Stranger Things’ season 5. (Netflix)
It’s time to say goodbye to Stranger Things.
Netflix released the trailer for last episode of the fifth and final season of its hit sci-fi series on Tuesday.
It finds Jim Hopper (David Harbour) monologing to his adopted daughter, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), as she prepares to fight Vecna once and for all alongside the entire Hawkins gang.
“I need you to fight one last time,” Hopper tells Eleven in the trailer. “Life has been so unfair to you. Your childhood was taken from you. You’ve been attacked, manipulated, by terrible people, but you never let it break you. Fight for the days on the other side of this. Fight for a world beyond Hawkins. Let’s end this, kid.”
As Hopper delivers the monologue, pivotal scenes from all of the five seasons of Stranger Things play in a montage before we see the crew begin the final battle with Vecna.
“The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time,” according to the show’s synopsis.
The first volume of the three-part drop of Stranger Things season 5 was released on Nov. 26. Volume 2 dropped on Dec. 25, while the two-hour series finale premieres on Dec. 31.
Netflix is also screening the Stranger Things series finale in a limited theatrical release. The screenings take place in over 500 cinemas across the U.S. and Canada starting on Dec. 31 at 5 p.m. PT, timed exactly to the episode’s global premiere on Netflix. They’ll run through Jan. 1.
Stefon Diggs attends the 2025 CFDA Awards at The American Museum of Natural History on November 03, 2025 in New York City. The Hapa Blonde/GC Images
(FOXBOROUGH, Mass.) — New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs is facing strangulation and assault charges, according to court records.
The charges stem from an alleged incident on Dec. 2, records show, one day after the Patriots beat the New York Giants 33-15.
Details of the alleged incident have not been released.
The Patriots are standing behind Diggs, saying in a statement, “Stefon has informed the organization that he categorically denies the allegations.”
“We support Stefon,” the team said. “We will continue to gather information and will cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities and the NFL as necessary.”
The NFL said in statement, “We are aware of the matter and have been in contact with the club.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Signage outside the Center for Disease Control (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. Megan Varner/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(ATLANTA) — Flu activity is rising sharply across the United States, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC estimates there have been at least 7.5 million million illnesses, 81,000 hospitalizations and 3,100 deaths from flu so far this season. Fivemore pediatric deaths were reported this week, bringing the total to eightthis season.
At least 20 states are now seeing “very high” respiratory illness activity including Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Meanwhile, nine states are seeing “high” activity including Alabama, California, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Texas and Virginia.
Experts expect flu-like illnesses to continue to climb in the coming weeks after holiday gatherings and colder weather.
New York health officials recently announced that the state saw the highest number of flu cases ever recorded in a single week.
The mutations seen in the new variant result in a mismatch with this season’s flu vaccine composition, the CDC says. Experts still believe that the flu vaccine will help reduce the risk of severe illness, including hospitalization and death.
Doctors are urging everyone who is eligible for a flu shot to get one this season, emphasizing it’s not too late.
Last season, 288 children died from the flu and nearly all were unvaccinated, according to a CDC study. This was the same number of kids who died from the virus during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and the highest number of deaths ever recorded since tracking pediatric deaths became mandatory in 2004.
Public health experts say other ways to slow the spread of respiratory illnesses include good hand washing, staying home if you’re sick or avoiding people who are sick, covering a cough or sneeze with a tissue that is thrown immediately in the trash and cleaning or disinfecting objects or surfaces that are frequently touched.
Prince William County police seal the street in front of the home of suspected Jan. 6, 2021, pipe bomber on Dec. 4, 2025, in Woodbridge, Virginia. (Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for the Virginia man charged with planting pipe bombs outside of the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol are urging a judge to release him pending trial, arguing the government has presented no evidence that shows he poses a danger to the general public.
In a late-night filing on Monday, suspect Brian Cole Jr.’s attorneys said the “government-induced excitement” around Cole’s arrest earlier this month is both premature and potentially in violation of local court rules.
The filing came ahead of Cole’s scheduled court appearance on Tuesday afternoon for a detention hearing.
Cole, of Virginia, was arrested by federal authorities earlier this month following a massive probe that had stymied investigators for almost five years. He appeared in court on Dec. 5, where a judge detailed the two charges he currently faces. The charges carry a maximum sentence of up to 30 years if he is convicted.
Cole, who has not entered a plea, allegedly told investigators in a lengthy confession that he wasn’t targeting the joint session of Congress that was convening to certify former President Joe Biden’s election win, according to previous court filing from the Department of Justice.
After Cole saw himself on the news in videos released by the FBI seeking tips on his identity, he said in the interview that he discarded all of his bomb-making materials at a nearby dump and said he never told anyone about his actions in the nearly five years since Jan. 6, according to the filing. The filing also notes that over the past years he appeared to wipe data from his personal cellphone “nearly one thousand times.”
Prosecutors included the alleged details of Cole’s confession in a filing urging a judge to keep him detained pending trial, arguing his alleged actions and choice of the DNC and RNC as targets “demonstrates the extreme and deeply dangerous nature of his conduct.”
In their Monday filing, Cole’s attorneys specifically pointed to statements made by D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro in an exclusive interview with ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas following their client’s arrest in which they argue she improperly commented on the merits of the government’s case.
They further claim that the government’s inclusion of Cole’s alleged confession to planting the bombs in their detention memo Sunday may have also violated his rights.
While Cole’s attorneys didn’t specifically deny any of the allegations put forward by the government about Cole’s conduct, they used their filing Monday to dispute that prosecutors have made any clear showing he presents a danger to the public.
According to the filing, Cole has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as well as obsessive compulsive disorder and has no criminal history.
His attorneys said he would submit to house arrest and wearing an ankle monitor if required, though they argue the government hasn’t proven he poses any risk of fleeing prosecution.
The new storm will bring widespread rain and mountain snow starting New Year’s Eve and continuing through the end of the week.
An excessive rainfall risk level of 2 out of 4 is in place in the Los Angeles and Santa Barbara areas on Wednesday and Thursday.
Through Friday, 2 to 4 inches of rain is possible at higher elevations, and 1 to 2 inches at lower elevations like downtown Los Angeles.
In the Northeast, another cold front is moving through on Wednesday and Thursday, which brings the slight chance for a few snow flurries to mix in with confetti as the ball drops in Times Square. But no measurable snow accumulation is expected and the flurries will be gone by sunrise on Thursday.
The only part of the Northeast to get intense snow is the Great Lakes, where lake effect snow will continue through the week. A winter storm warning is in place in Orchard Park, New York, home of the Buffalo Bills, where residents could see up to 3 feet of snow by the end of New Year’s Day.
The rest of the country will be dry, with above average temperatures through the Plains and much of the South on New Year’s Day.
