While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Nov 30, 2025
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US President Donald Trump stirred anger and confusion in Venezuela after saying the country's airspace should be entirely closed.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Trump says Venezuela airspace to be closed
US President Donald Trump said on Nov 29 the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “closed in its entirety,” but gave no further details, stirring anxiety and confusion in Caracas as Washington ramps up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post.
US officials contacted by Reuters were surprised by Mr Trump’s announcement and unaware of any ongoing US military operations to enforce a closure of Venezuelan airspace.
The Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment and the White House did not provide any further explanation.
Crowd braves rain to attend Pope’s Istanbul mass
PHOTO: AFP
Thousands of worshippers battled the rain to join Pope Leo XIV as he celebrated mass in Istanbul on Nov 29, the last full day of his visit to Turkey.
Earlier, the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics visited Istanbul’s Blue Mosque, huddled with local church leaders and met Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I at his palace on the banks of the Golden Horn estuary.
After two days of blue skies and sunshine, the heavens opened, but the downpour did little to dampen the enthusiasm of those in attendance, some of whom had travelled for hours to see Leo on his first overseas trip as pope.
Ukraine hit ‘shadow fleet’ Russian tankers in Black Sea
Ukraine hit two tankers used by Russia to export oil while skirting Western sanctions with marine drones in the Black Sea, an official from the SBU security service said on Nov 29.
The joint operation to hit the so-called “shadow fleet” vessels was run by the SBU and Ukraine’s navy, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The Turkish authorities have said that blasts rocked two shadow fleet tankers near Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait on Nov 28 causing fires on the vessels, and rescue operations were launched for those on board.
Piastri beats Norris to Qatar pole, Verstappen third
Oscar Piastri beat McLaren teammate and championship leader Lando Norris to pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix on Nov 29 as Formula One’s title-chasing trio filled the top three grid places for a potentially decisive race.
Norris can be crowned champion on Nov 30, but a win for Piastri would take the battle down to a final showdown in Abu Dhabi next weekend.
While McLaren enjoyed the front row lockout, Red Bull’s four-times world champion Max Verstappen will be breathing down their necks from third place and hoping to keep his hopes alive with a third Qatar win in a row.
Oscar-winning playwright Tom Stoppard dies aged 88
PHOTO: REUTERS
British playwright Tom Stoppard, who won an Oscar for the screenplay of the 1998 film Shakespeare In Love, has died at the age of 88, United Agents announced on Nov 29.
Stoppard, who first made his name with Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead – an absurdist tragicomedy about two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet – developed a distinctive style combining serious ideas with comedy.
King Charles III and rock royalty Mick Jagger led the tributes on social media.
