Fernando, a hitman for a Swedish narcotics gang, checks his phone as it pings with his latest orders: collect the guns, go to the target’s front door and fire until he runs out of bullets. “Yeah, I understand brother,” he replies casually. He collects two pistols, a Kalashnikov rifle and an accomplice, before hurrying to their target in a suburb of Stockholm. But this is no ordinary gang hit. Fernando is 14, a teenage assassin who was playing the video game Fifa in his youth club when the orders arrived by text. He is one among dozens of , recruited by gang middle-men on social media who pay as much as 150,000 kroner (£13,000) per job. The number of murder cases involving child suspects in Sweden, which has the highest per capita rate of gun violence in the EU, has exploded over the past year. The figures rose from 31 counts in the first eight months of 2023 to 102 in the same period of this year, according to Sweden’s prosecution authority. Swedish prosecutors and police say the use of children – many of them from an impoverished or foreign background – to commit murders on that scale is unprecedented. One recent case involved a boy of just 11 years old. Children are the ideal catspaw for Sweden’s gangs: those aged under 15 are too young to be prosecuted, a quirk of Swedish law that critics say is in urgent need of reform. In text messages seen by The Sunday Telegraph, Fernando’s “handler”, a member of Sweden’s Foxtrot gang, sent him tips on how to get into the target’s apartment block and avoid getting caught. “If the [entrance] is locked, take a stone and break it,” the handler, with the alias “Louise Gucci”, tells Fernando. “Then you do your thing. After, when you come back to the hood, you put the Kalashnikov in the same place. Then go home and shower and wash your clothes.” The Telegraph has seen mobile phone footage, filmed by Fernando himself to prove he did the job, in which he creeps down an apartment block stairwell with his young accomplice and approaches their victim’s front door. Fernando holds the camera up as his accomplice raises the Kalashnikov and cocks the weapon. He fires through the door at least 15, continuing to pull the trigger as the pair retreat back down the stairwell. Then, they vanish into the night. Social media has played a major role in the crime surge, with gang handlers posting contracts on online message boards as if they were pick-up missions in a video game. “The group chats have adventurous and exciting names, like and ‘who wants to shoot someone in Stockholm’,” Lisa dos Santos, a Swedish prosecutor, told The Telegraph. “It’s not like before, when they used encrypted phones on a closed network. Now you can take a gang job on Snapchat.” More recently the gangs have sought out girls and children with mental disabilities, as they are less likely to arouse suspicion when they close in on their target. Ms de Santos recalled one case where a 16-year-old boy fatally shot a father-of-two at his home in Västberga and then went upstairs to kill his wife and children. The boy told the mother to turn around and shot her in the back. The bullet passed through her body and continued through a Winnie the Pooh toy held by her two-year-old child, who was also wounded. “It’s so brutal that you can hardly believe it,” Ms de Santos said. “The father was shot lying on the couch, the mother was shot in the back. She was a doctor, so she tried to save herself and the child, and they both survived. I would say that’s the worst thing I’ve ever had in my career.” The next day, the same teenager carried out another contract killing of a 60-year-old grandmother and a 20-year-old woman in Tullinge. The victims simply happened to be relatives of a rival gang member. After he was caught, a Swedish court handed the boy a record jail sentence of 12 years. However, such convictions are rare, as the gangs focus on recruiting under-15s who cannot be prosecuted. The current wave of gang violence, from December 2022 onwards, is being fuelled by a power struggle between Foxtrot, one of Sweden’s largest organised crime networks, and the rival Dalen faction. Both deal heavily in narcotics and are responsible for hundreds of shootings and bombings across Sweden. Smaller gangs have also joined the fray, with as many as alone. Two men at the heads of Foxtrot and Dalen have fled abroad, where they run their operations via middle-men. Rawa Majid, the leader of Foxtrot under the alias “Kurdish Fox”, is believed to be hiding in Turkey or Iran. The whereabouts of Mikael Tenezos, the leader of Dalen using the alias “The Greek”, is less clear, though in June one of his associates was arrested in northern Greece. Swedish police chiefs say they have been deeply disturbed by the young age of the contract killers and the lack of emotion they display when taken into custody. “The investigators tell me that some of them are very calm, they don’t cry, they say nothing or ‘no comment’. They are totally lacking in empathy,” said Carin Götblad, a police chief in Stockholm at the National Operations Department. “Some people say, ‘they don’t understand what they have done’. They may not fully understand the consequences of what they have done, but if you are 14 years old and you shoot a person in the head – you will understand that this man is dead,” she said. Many of the children come from a migrant background, such as those who arrived in Sweden during the 2015 refugee crisis. Some have , and that is “one piece” of the puzzle, she said. She stressed that child contract killers represented a tiny proportion of young people in Sweden. “Some progress” is also being made in co-operating with the countries where gang leaders are hiding to bring them to justice, she added. Evin Cetin, an author of a book on youth gangs and a former Swedish lawyer, has argued that these children more resemble “child soldiers” than mere criminals, due to the ways that they are groomed by gang members. The drugs trade, along with urban poverty and a deep sense of alienation in some , is fuelling the problem, she said. “[Swedish authorities] opened up the borders and welcomed a lot of refugees but didn’t open up the society,” Cetin said. “They were put in areas where 99 per cent of the people living there had a foreign background. “You have these areas where people have no money, no opportunities, and no chance to get a job ... they see themselves as being at the bottom of society.” She said that many of the children now working as contract killers were gradually drawn into the world of organised crime, starting with petty and then becoming addicted themselves. Some would fund their addiction by taking on contracts, while others risked being blackmailed by handlers who threatened to go after their families if they refused to co-operate. “They are child soldiers,” she said, drawing comparisons to Isis and the Lord’s Resistance Army in parts of Africa. “They are getting used by older people who manipulate them. They are doing it with drugs, they are isolating them from society. It’s really easy to control children – and it is scary how fast they can actually do it.” During her own research, Cetin encountered young men with a deeply nihilistic view of their life prospects. One asked her: “I don’t care about my own life so why should I care about others’ lives or the society’s life?” The Swedish government, propped up by the populist, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party, has sought to impose tougher sentences for child gangsters. The for court witnesses and “safe zones” where police can search youths without suspicion of a crime. Critics say those measures are a sticking plaster for much deeper issues: gang grooming on social media, a lack of integration in Swedish society and a failure to address the international nature of the gangs. Some teachers are taking matters into their own hands, working around the clock to monitor their pupils for warning signs that they are falling under the sway of gangs. In a northwestern suburb of Stockholm, Nina Frödin is deputy principal of a Fryshuset (Frozen House) school which specialises in helping youths in gang-controlled areas. The Fryshuset association used to help reform neo-Nazi teenagers, but its focus has shifted to children at risk of being groomed by gangs like Foxtrot, which operate in the suburbs. Ms Frödin’s school is based in Kista, where around 80 per cent of the population comes from a migrant background. The school itself is bright and cheery, with students nattering next to the lockers and politely greeting visitors. In the principal’s office, a motorcycle is propped against the wall – he is a motorsports fan, and the students are helping him to refurbish it. “What we try to do here, and have been successful in doing, according to the police, is to have a warm atmosphere. We give them hugs, we talk to them, and try to reason with them. Some of us give out our private phone numbers, which is not normal, but we have to make a difference,” Ms Frödin said. The students are also given paid jobs so that they have no need to seek quick cash from gangs, such as mending broken furniture. Fryshuset tries to foster a sense of pride among the students for themselves and their communities, to combat the feeling that wider Swedish society views them as “other”. “With the first generation [of refugees and migrants to Sweden], they may not learn the language, and do cleaning jobs, things like that, and their children may see that Dad is working around the clock but doesn’t get anything for it,” Ms Frödin said. As for young girls, they “feel stared at in Sweden for wearing the hijab and told that they are being oppressed. If they go into the city they are told to leave the shops”. Feysal Ahmed, a student mentor at the school, said virtually every young person in the neighbourhood has been directly affected by gang violence. “When I was their age, maybe one per cent would raise their hand if asked that question. Now everyone raises their hand. That really got to me.” Not all of Sweden’s teenage contract killers escape the clutches of the law. Those aged over 15 are sentenced to detainment in young offenders’ institutes run by the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS). One of those youth homes, Klarälvsgården, is nestled deep within the vast, river-laden countryside of western Sweden. Once a jail for Swedish draft-dodgers, it now houses child gang members. The home is surrounded by tall, chain-link fences topped with barbed wire. Staff said they recently had to reinstall tougher fences as children would try to cut through them and escape. Most of the doors can only be opened by staff members, and there is an on-site courtroom where youngsters attend criminal trials by video link. While it also has classrooms, a football pitch and a basketball court, it is in effect a high-security prison. Klarälvsgården is the “end of the line” for these young men, says Stefan Fjällklang, a SiS psychologist. It is the last chance to get through to them before they are lost to the gangs forever. Around a year and a half ago, there were around 70 youths detained across the entire SiS network. Now the youth homes hold more than 180 children, more than double their maximum capacity. “There has been an avalanche of these kids coming into SiS and we were not really prepared for it, but that is the reality,” Mr Fjällklang said. “Three, four years ago, if the kids had a weapons possession charge, that would raise our eyebrows. The severity of the criminal behaviour, the callousness of those involved, is worse than it used to be. And the age is going down.” Staff said they had limited documentation to work with and often had to start from scratch when a child entered SiS care. Some have undiagnosed mental illnesses or disabilities, such as ADHD, and struggle with basic communication. For many of his charges coming from single-parent households, he might be the first positive male role model they have ever encountered. Despite welcomed reforms allowing the confiscation of mobile phones to stop gangs from contacting detainees, staff say they need more support from the government as they are overwhelmed by gang-related cases. “As a society we need to understand that this is a complicated issue and there is no quick fix ... these boys are sometimes deeply involved with criminal networks and cannot get out even if they wanted to,” said Andreas Gustafsson, unit leader at the SiS youth home in Hässleholm, near Malmo. “SiS is under a lot of pressure to provide more space for the long line of young boys who need secure placements. SiS cannot fulfill this task since it is an impossible task. The government on the other hand lacks a long-term strategic plan,” he added. Gunnar Strömmer, the Swedish justice minister, declined an interview with The Telegraph and his office did not respond to a request for comment. The Telegraph later spoke to a young man, a former SiS detainee, who wanted to turn his life around. He said he was placed into state care as a teenager for leading a narcotics gang where at least 50 members each brought in 150,000 kroner (£13,000) per fortnight. “I started by stealing car tyres. Then I thought, if I am going to do something, make it something big,” he said. “I don’t like being told what to do.” Asked about the rise of child contract killers in the gang world, he reacted with disgust: “That’s terrible. We didn’t use kids.” He now plans to study economics and start his own business. As for Fernando, the Fifa fan who filmed his friend firing a Kalashnikov through a door, there is another grim twist to his tale. Fernando is not his real name. In text messages discussing his contracts, he used the alias “Fernando Soucre”, apparently borrowed from a character in the TV drama Prison Break. No one was killed or injured in the shooting spree. But in a sign of the extraordinary callousness of these gangs, the target turned out not to be a gang member, but his ex-girlfriend. Fernando’s accomplice was caught and sent to a young offenders’ institute, while his handler, alias Louise Gucci, was jailed for 18 years. But as Fernando himself was just 14 at the time, too young to be prosecuted or sent to an SiS home, he never faced justice. His current whereabouts are unknown.How does Heat Exchanger help a car get build up speed

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael eye independent TDs as option to secure Dail majorityENGLEWOOD, Colo. — John Elway says any remorse over bypassing Josh Allen in the 2018 NFL draft is quickly dissipating with rookie Bo Nix's rapid rise, suggesting the Denver Broncos have finally found their next franchise quarterback. Elway said Nix, the sixth passer selected in April's draft, is an ideal fit in Denver with coach Sean Payton navigating his transition to the pros and Vance Joseph's defense serving as a pressure release valve for the former Oregon QB. "We've seen the progression of Bo in continuing to get better and better each week and Sean giving him more each week and trusting him more and more to where last week we saw his best game of the year," Elway said in a nod to Nix's first game with 300 yards and four touchdown throws in a rout of Atlanta. For that performance, Nix earned his second straight NFL Rookie of the Week honor along with the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award. "I think the sky's the limit," Elway said, "and that's just going to continue to get better and better." In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Elway also touted former coach Mike Shanahan's Hall of Fame credentials, spoke about the future of University of Colorado star and Heisman favorite Travis Hunter and discussed his ongoing bout with a chronic hand condition. Elway spent the last half of his decade as the Broncos' GM in a futile search for a worthy successor to Peyton Manning, a pursuit that continued as he transitioned into a two-year consultant role that ended after the 2022 season. "You have all these young quarterbacks and you look at the ones that make it and the ones that don't and it's so important to have the right system and a coach that really knows how to tutelage quarterbacks, and Sean's really good at that," Elway said. "I think the combination of Bo's maturity, having started 61 games in college, his athletic ability and his knowledge of the game has been such a tremendous help for him,'" Elway added. "But also Vance Joseph's done a heck of a job on the defensive side to where all that pressure's not being put on Bo and the offense to score all the time." Payton and his staff have methodically expanded Nix's repertoire and incorporated his speed into their blueprints. Elway lauded them for "what they're doing offensively and how they're breaking Bo into the NFL because it's a huge jump and I think patience is something that goes a long way in the NFL when it comes down to quarterbacks." Elway said he hopes to sit down with Nix at some point when things slow down for the rookie. Nix, whose six wins are one more than Elway had as a rookie, said he looks forward to meeting the man who won two Super Bowls during his Hall of Fame playing career and another from the front office. "He's a legend not only here for this organization, but for the entire NFL," Nix said, adding, "most guys, they would love to have a chat with John Elway, just pick his brain. It's just awesome that I'm even in that situation." Orange Crush linebacker Randy Gradishar joined Elway in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, something Elway called "way, way overdue." Elway suggested it's also long past time for the Hall to honor Shanahan, who won back-to-back Super Bowls in Denver with Elway at QB and whose footprint you see every weekend in the NFL because of his expansive coaching tree. Elway called University of Colorado stars Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders "both great athletes." He said he really hopes Sanders gets drafted by a team that will bring him along like the Broncos have done with Nix, and he sees Hunter being able to play both ways in the pros — but not full time. Elway said he thinks Hunter will be primarily a corner in the NFL but with significant contributions on offense: "He's great at both. He's got great instincts, and that's what you need at corner." It's been five years since Elway announced he was dealing with Dupuytren's contracture, a chronic condition that typically appears after age 40 and causes one or more fingers to permanently bend toward the palm. Elway's ring fingers on both hands were originally affected and he said now the middle finger on his right hand is starting to pull forward. So, he'll get another injection of a drug called Xiaflex, which is the only FDA-approved non-surgical treatment, one that he's endorsing in an awareness campaign for the chronic condition that affects 17 million Americans. The condition can make it difficult to do everyday tasks such as shaking hands or picking up a coffee mug. Elway said what bothered him most was "I couldn't pick up a football and I could not imagine not being able to put my hand around a football." Get local news delivered to your inbox!

World shares mixed, dollar advances amid improved U.S. manufacturing, French political dramaBig Ten slate features Indiana-Ohio State showdown and Penn State-Minnesota matchup Things to watch this week in the Big Ten Conference: No. 5 Indiana (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten, No. 5 CFP ) at No. 2 Ohio State (9-1, 6-1, No. 2 CFP), Saturday, noon ET (Fox) This marks the 98th matchup between these two teams, but it's only the fourth time both teams have been ranked. Although Indiana is unbeaten, its soft schedule means the Hoosiers aren't assured of making the 12-team field if they lose this game. The only team with a winning record that Indiana has beaten is Washington (6-5). Ohio State needs a win to have a realistic shot at a rematch with top-ranked Oregon in the Big Ten championship game. Ohio State has beaten Indiana 28 straight times since the Hoosiers posted back-to-back victories in 1987-88. No. 4 Penn State (9-1, 6-1, No. 4 CFP) at Minnesota (6-4, 4-3), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. (CBS) This is likely Penn State's biggest obstacle on its way to a potential playoff berth. The Nittany Lions' lone remaining regular-season game is a Nov. 30 home matchup with Maryland (4-6, 1-6). Minnesota has had an extra week to prepare this game since its 26-19 loss at Rutgers on Nov. 9, which snapped a four-game winning streak. Penn State and Minnesota have split their last four meetings, with the home team winning each time. Penn State DE Abdul Carter has multiple tackles for loss in each of his last three games. He ranks second among all Bowl Subdivision players in tackles for loss (17 1⁄2). Southern California RB Woody Marks rushed for a career-high 146 yards in a 28-20 win over Nebraska. Marks has six 100-yard rushing performances this season. Rutgers RB Kyle Monangai is the first Scarlet Knight to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons since Ray Rice did it three straight years from 2005-07. Monangai has run for 1,028 yards this season and rushed for 1,262 yards last year. Oregon OLB Matayo Uiagalelei recorded a sack and had a game-clinching interception as the top-ranked Ducks won 16-13 at Wisconsin last week. He has 8 1⁄2 sacks this season to rank second in the Big Ten. Four of the top seven Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks in passer rating are from the Big Ten. Indiana's Kurtis Rourke is second, Ohio State's Will Howard is third, Penn State's Drew Allar is fifth and Oregon's Dillon Gabriel is seventh. ... Illinois QB Luke Altmyer has thrown 18 touchdown passes with only three interceptions. The only Power Four quarterback with a better touchdown/interception ratio while throwing at least 10 touchdown passes is Clemson's Cade Klubnik, who has 26 touchdowns and four interceptions. ... Rutgers' three Big Ten wins matches its largest total since joining the league in 2014. Rutgers also had three conference wins in 2014, 2017, 2020 and 2023. A victory Saturday over No. 24 Illinois would give Rutgers three straight Big Ten wins for the first time. ... Washington's 31-19 win over UCLA was its 20th straight home victory, representing its second-longest such streak in school history. The Huskies won 45 straight home games from 1908-17. ... Wisconsin heads to Nebraska this week having won its last 10 matchups with the Cornhuskers. Penn State justifiably is favored on the road against Minnesota, but Bet MGM's 12 1⁄2-point spread seems way too big. Expect this game to have a single-digit margin. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 for PS5 is down in price for Cyber Monday to the lowest we've ever seen it, as Best Buy has taken nearly $30 off the market price - down to just $39.99 (was $69.99) . This is one of those deals that you'll want to be quick on the money for; not just when it comes to available stock (though anything with Spider-Man in the title is always at risk for that), but because Cyber Monday itself is only hours away from ending at time of writing. Best Buy doesn't specify an endpoint for this deal, but it doesn't seem likely that it'll be around for long. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is the most recent of the PS5 Spider-Man adaptations, and the first in the series to let players switch between both the Peter Parker and Miles Morales versions of the character. In our Marvel's Spider-Man 2 review we gave it the full five stars, and that it was "as good as superhero gaming gets. It's the quintessential costume caper, larger than life in more ways than one, and whose blockbuster boss battles and mob-fighting forays have set new standards in not just superhero games, but AAA action-adventure games in general moving forward." Should you buy Marvel's Spider-Man 2? The PS5 Spider-Man games are definite crowd-pleasers across the board, built from big budgets and ambitions that cheerfully throw in everything but the kitchen sink. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 takes this philosophy to its furthest point yet, arguably for better and worse. It's full to bursting with ideas - some of which are fantastic, like the ability to create weblines, and some that could probably have remained on the cutting room floor... like the three separate occasions in which you go on gentle bicycle rides. Still, if you enjoyed the last two Spider-Man games, or indeed those on the PS2 back in the day, or even the Batman Arkham games to some extent, you'll find a lot of reasons to enjoy this particular entry in the series, especially as a way to satiate yourself on Insomniac hero antics until Wolverine eventually comes out. For more gaming deals and discounts, check out our guide to Cyber Monday PS5 deals to see all the offers flooding through in real time!

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has retired, the struggling chipmaker said Monday in a surprise announcement. Two company executives, David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, will act as interim co-CEOs while the company searches for a replacement for Gelsinger, who also stepped down from the company's board. The departure of Gelsinger, whose career spanned more than 40 years, underscores the turmoil at Intel. The company was once a dominant force in the semiconductor industry but has been eclipsed by rival Nvidia, which has cornered the market for chips that run artificial intelligence systems. Gelsinger started at Intel in 1979 and was its first chief technology officer. He returned to the company as chief executive in 2021. Gelsinger said his exit was “bittersweet as this company has been my life for the bulk of my working career,” he said in a statement. “I can look back with pride at all that we have accomplished together. It has been a challenging year for all of us as we have made tough but necessary decisions to position Intel for the current market dynamics.” Zinsner is executive vice president and chief financial officer at Intel. Holthaus was appointed to the newly created position of CEO of Intel Products, which includes the client computing, data center and AI groups. Frank Yeary, independent chair of Intel's board, will become interim executive chair. “Pat spent his formative years at Intel, then returned at a critical time for the company in 2021,” Yeary said in a statement. "As a leader, Pat helped launch and revitalize process manufacturing by investing in state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing, while working tirelessly to drive innovation throughout the company.” Gelsinger's departure comes as Intel’s financial woes have been piling up. The company posted a $16.6 billion loss and halted its dividend in the most recent quarter, and its shares have fallen by about 60% since he took over as CEO. Gelsinger announced plans in August to slash 15% of its huge workforce — or about 15,000 jobs — as part of cost-cutting efforts to to save $10 billion in 2025. Nvidia’s ascendance, meanwhile, was cemented earlier this month when it replaced Intel on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Unlike some of rivals, Intel manufactures chips in addition to designing them. Under Gelsinger, the company has been working to build up its foundry business making semiconductors in the U.S. designed by other firms, in a bid to compete with rivals such as market leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. or TSMC. Intel has benefited from tens of billions of dollars that the administration has pledged to support construction of U.S. chip foundries and reduce reliance on Asian suppliers, which Washington sees as a security weakness. After taking over as CEO, Gelsinger unveiled plans to build a $20 billion chipmaking facility in central Ohio , and poured billions more into expanding in Europe , where leaders were also worried about dependence on Asia. The Biden administration had said it would give Intel up to $8.5 billion in federal funding for semiconductor plants around the country, but last week it trimmed that amount , according to three people familiar with the grant who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Shares of the Santa Clara, California, company, were up less than 1% in afternoon trading after being up more than 5% earlier in the day. AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan contributed to this report from London.Brixmor Property stock soars to all-time high of $30.2

By Cassandra Garrison, David Shepardson and Ben Klayman MEXICO CITY/DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's plan to slap a 25% tax on all imports from Mexico and Canada could strike the bottom lines of U.S. automakers, especially General Motors, and raise prices of SUVs and pickup trucks for U.S. consumers. GM leads the automakers that export cars from Mexico to North America. The top 10 car manufacturers with Mexican plants collectively built 1.4 million vehicles over the first six months of this year, with 90% heading across the border to U.S. buyers, according to the Mexican auto trade association. Other Detroit manufacturers will likely also feel the pain: Ford and Stellantis are the top U.S. producers in Mexico after GM, whose shares fell on Tuesday, the day after Trump's tariff announcement. GM is expected to import more than 750,000 vehicles from Canada or Mexico this year, with most manufactured south of the border, according to business analytics firm GlobalData. They include some of GM’s most popular vehicles, including nearly 370,000 Chevy Silverado or GMC Sierra full-sized pickups and nearly 390,000 midsized SUVs. GM's Mexican plants also build two of its critical new electric vehicles, battery-powered versions of its Equinox and Blazer SUVs. Those GM models and others are already in the crosshairs of another expected Trump policy: ending a $7,500 EV subsidy, a move first reported by Reuters. GM, Stellantis and Ford declined to comment on Trump's proposed tariffs. Kenneth Smith Ramos, Mexico's former chief negotiator for the USMCA trade pact, said the move could hurt the United States as much as its North American trading partners. "The U.S. would be shooting itself in the foot," he said. The impact on Mexico's auto industry would also be "very negative." GM employs 125,000 people in North America; a decline in sales of its Mexico-made cars could hurt its profit for the entire region, potentially putting pressure on payrolls on both sides of the border. The tariff hikes would also serve as a reminder of the supply chains, which closely bind the three members of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Mexico and Canada account for more than 50% of all auto parts exported to the United States - sending nearly $100 billion in parts. Imposing the tariffs would increase the costs of all vehicles assembled in the United States. TARIFFS, DRUGS AND IMMIGRATION The vast impact of Trump’s threatened tariffs on Mexico and Canada raises questions about what the incoming administration is trying to accomplish economically and the potential collateral damage to U.S. companies and consumers. Trump billed the action as a punishment for the unrelated problems of immigration and the trafficking of the drug fentanyl, posting on social media that the tariffs would remain in place until Mexico and Canada halt what he called an “invasion” of “Illegal Aliens." The reference to drugs and migration have led some analysts to predict the tariffs are more of a negotiating tactic than a genuine policy proposal. "Given the (social media) post makes an explicit reference to the flow of people and drugs across the southern and northern borders, it suggests this specific tariff threat is more of a negotiating tool than a revenue raiser," said Thomas Ryan, North America economist at Capital Economics. "It leaves the door open to Canada and Mexico coming up with a credible plan over the next two months to try and avoid those tariffs," he added. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called for a dialogue with Trump and warned the proposed tariff's lacked "sense" and would worsen inflation and kill jobs in both countries. She also raised the specter of retaliation, although given its vast flow of exports to the U.S., Mexico's economy remains more vulnerable to tariff threats. Trump’s import taxes could also theoretically stop Chinese automakers from using Mexico as a way around steep U.S. tariffs on Chinese EVs, but those imports are already effectively blocked by other U.S. trade barriers. Shares of GM were down 8.2% late on Tuesday afternoon, while Stellantis fell 5.5% and Ford shares were down 2.6%. HIT TO CONSUMERS Free trade with the U.S., first in the form of NAFTA and then as USMCA, transformed Mexico's nascent automotive industry into the country's most important manufacturing sector and the poster child of its export prowess. But 30 years after NAFTA's establishment, Trump has put that all on the line. In the hyper-competitive world of car and truck production, a 25% tariff could kneecap a Mexican industry that has spent years tightly integrating itself with the U.S., the destination of nearly 80% of all Mexican-made vehicles. Higher tariffs would also hit U.S. consumers. While the company that imports goods into the U.S. directly pays the tariff, that cost is inevitably passed on to the consumer via higher prices. "That's how tariffs work. Even though the (Trump) administration might want to spin it that Mexico is paying ... ultimately the consumer will bear this," said Sudeep Suman, a managing partner with consultancy AlixPartners. That could hit many pickup trucks popular in rural parts of the U.S. that overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Notably, the Toyota Tacoma, Ford Maverick, Stellantis' Ram, and GM's Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are all made in Mexico. GM might be able to absorb some costs from its highly profitable pickup trucks but other manufacturers selling lower-cost vehicles like the Nissan Sentra could find it difficult to continue building profitable models, said Sam Fiorani, industry analyst at AutoForecast Solutions. “Somebody is going to have to eat that cost and that is going to the manufacturer or customer,” Fiorani said. “All vehicles sold in the United States would be more expensive or considerably less profitable.” Tariffs could also hit the cost of vehicle production in the U.S. because so many parts now come from Mexico. The Latin American nation represents 43% of all U.S. auto-part imports, larger than any other country. Francisco Gonzales, head of Mexico's National Industry of Autoparts, said regional cooperation across North America brings down costs for customers. Automakers "cannot be producing everything in a single country," he said, "because it makes it uncompetitive." (Reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City, Ben Klayman in Detroit and David Shepardson in Washington; Writing by Brian Thevenot and Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Christian Plumb and Matthew Lewis)Lea Miller-Tooley hopped off a call to welcome the Baylor women’s basketball team to the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, where 80-degree temperatures made it easy for the Bears to settle in on Paradise Island a week before Thanksgiving. About 5,000 miles west of the Caribbean nation, similar climes awaited Maui Invitational men's teams in Hawaii. They’ve often been greeted with leis, the traditional Hawaiian welcome of friendship. College basketball teams and fans look forward to this time of the year. The holiday week tournaments feature buzzworthy matchups and all-day TV coverage, sure, but there is a familiarity about them as they help ward off the November chill. For four decades, these sandy-beach getaways filled with basketball have become a beloved mainstay of the sport itself. “When you see (ESPN’s) ‘Feast Week’ of college basketball on TV, when you see the Battle 4 Atlantis on TV, you know college basketball is back,” said Miller-Tooley, the founder and organizer of the Battle 4 Atlantis men's and women's tournaments. “Because it’s a saturated time of the year with the NFL, college football and the NBA. But when you see these gorgeous events in these beautiful places, you realize, ‘Wow, hoops are back, let’s get excited.’” The Great Alaska Shootout was the trend-setting multiple-team event (MTE) nearly five decades ago. The brainchild of late Alaska-Anchorage coach Bob Rachal sought to raise his program’s profile by bringing in national-power programs, which could take advantage of NCAA rules allowing them to exceed the maximum allotment of regular-season games if they played the three-game tournament outside the contiguous 48 states. The first edition, named the Sea Wolf Classic, saw N.C. State beat Louisville 72-66 for the title on Nov. 26, 1978. The Maui Invitational followed in November 1984, borne from the buzz of NAIA program Chaminade’s shocking upset of top-ranked Virginia and 7-foot-4 star Ralph Sampson in Hawaii two years earlier. Events kept coming, with warm-weather locales getting in on the action. The Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Cancun Challenge in Mexico. The Cayman Islands Classic. The Jamaica Classic. The Myrtle Beach Invitational joining the Charleston Classic in South Carolina. Numerous tournaments in Florida. Some events have faded away like the Puerto Rico Tipoff and the Great Alaska Shootout, the latter in 2017 amid event competition and schools opting for warm-weather locales. Notre Dame takes on Chaminade during the first half of a 2017 game in Lahaina, Hawaii. Miller-Tooley’s push to build an MTE for Atlantis began as a December 2010 doubleheader with Georgia Tech beating Richmond and Virginia Tech beating Mississippi State in a prove-it moment for a tournament’s viability. It also required changing NCAA legislation to permit MTEs in the Bahamas. Approval came in March 2011; the first eight-team Atlantis men’s tournament followed in November. That tournament quickly earned marquee status with big-name fields, with Atlantis champions Villanova (2017) and Virginia (2018) later winning that season’s NCAA title. Games run in a ballroom-turned-arena at the resort, where players also check out massive swimming pools, water slides and inner-tube rapids surrounded by palm trees and the Atlantic Ocean. “It’s just the value of getting your passport stamped, that will never get old,” Miller-Tooley said. “Watching some of these kids, this may be their first and last time – and staff and families – that they ever travel outside the United States. ... You can see through these kids’ eyes that it’s really an unbelievable experience.” ACC Network analyst Luke Hancock knows that firsthand. His Louisville team finished second at Atlantis in 2012 and won that year’s later-vacated NCAA title, with Hancock as the Final Four's most outstanding player. “I remember (then-coach Rick Pitino) saying something to the effect of: ‘Some of you guys might never get this opportunity again. We’re staying in this unbelievable place, you’re doing it with people you love,’” Hancock said. “It was a business trip for us there at Thanksgiving, but he definitely had a tone of ‘We’ve got to enjoy this as well.’” Maui offers similar vibes, though 2024 could be a little different as Lahaina recovers from deadly 2023 wildfires that forced the event's relocation last year. North Carolina assistant coach Sean May played for the Tar Heels’ Maui winner in 2004 and was part of UNC’s staff for the 2016 champion, with both teams later winning the NCAA title. May said “you just feel the peacefulness” of the area — even while focusing on games — and savors memories of the team taking a boat out on the Pacific Ocean after title runs under now-retired Hall of Famer Roy Williams. “Teams like us, Dukes, UConns – you want to go to places that are very well-run,” May said. “Maui, Lea Miller with her group at the Battle 4 Atlantis, that’s what drives teams to come back because you know you’re going to get standard A-quality of not only the preparation but the tournament with the way it’s run. Everything is top-notch. And I think that brings guys back year after year.” That’s why Colorado coach Tad Boyle is so excited for the Buffaloes’ first Maui appearance since 2009. “We’ve been trying to get in the tournament since I got here,” said Boyle, now in his 15th season. And of course, that warm-weather setting sure doesn’t hurt. “If you talk about the Marquettes of the world, St. John’s, Providence – they don’t want that cold weather,” said NBA and college TV analyst Terrence Oglesby, who played for Clemson in the 2007 San Juan Invitational in Puerto Rico. “They’re going to have to deal with that all January and February. You might as well get a taste of what the sun feels like.” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo argues a call during the first half of a Nov. 16 game against Bowling Green in East Lansing, Michigan. Mi zzo is making his fourth trip to Maui. The men’s Baha Mar Championship in Nassau, Bahamas, got things rolling last week with No. 11 Tennessee routing No. 13 Baylor for the title. The week ahead could boast matchups befitting the Final Four, with teams having two weeks of action since any opening-night hiccups. “It’s a special kickoff to the college basketball season,” Oglesby said. “It’s just without the rust.” On the women’s side, Atlantis began its fourth eight-team women’s tournament Saturday with No. 16 North Carolina and No. 18 Baylor, while the nearby Baha Mar resort follows with two four-team women’s brackets that include No. 2 UConn, No. 7 LSU, No. 17 Mississippi and No. 20 N.C. State. Then come the men’s headliners. The Maui Invitational turns 40 as it opens Monday back in Lahaina. It features second-ranked and two-time reigning national champion UConn, No. 4 Auburn, No. 5 Iowa State and No. 10 North Carolina. The Battle 4 Atlantis opens its 13th men’s tournament Wednesday, topped by No. 3 Gonzaga, No. 16 Indiana and No. 17 Arizona. Michigan State Hall of Famer Tom Izzo is making his fourth trip to Maui, where he debuted as Jud Heathcote’s successor at the 1995 tournament. Izzo's Spartans have twice competed at Atlantis, last in 2021. “They’re important because they give you something in November or December that is exciting,” Izzo said. Any drawbacks? “It’s a 10-hour flight,” he said of Hawaii. Mike Tyson, left, slaps Jake Paul during a weigh-in ahead of their heavyweight bout, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Irving, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) In this image taken with a slow shutter speed, Spain's tennis player Rafael Nadal serves during a training session at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall, in Malaga, southern Spain, on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) A fan takes a picture of the moon prior to a qualifying soccer match for the FIFA World Cup 2026 between Uruguay and Colombia in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. 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Huh) India's Tilak Varma jumps in the air as he celebrates after scoring a century during the third T20 International cricket match between South Africa and India, at Centurion Park in Centurion, South Africa, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski warms up before facing the Seattle Kraken in an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Kansas State players run onto the field before an NCAA college football game against Arizona State Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Manhattan, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) A fan rapped in an Uruguay flag arrives to the stands for a qualifying soccer match against Colombia for the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico) People practice folding a giant United States flag before an NFL football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) Brazil's Marquinhos attempts to stop the sprinklers that were turned on during a FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying soccer match against Venezuela at Monumental stadium in Maturin, Venezuela, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) Georgia's Georges Mikautadze celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the UEFA Nations League, group B1 soccer match between Georgia and Ukraine at the AdjaraBet Arena in Batumi, Georgia, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Tamuna Kulumbegashvili) Dallas Stars center Mavrik Bourque, right, attempts to score while Minnesota Wild right wing Ryan Hartman (38) and Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) keep the puck out of the net during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt) Mike Tyson, left, fights Jake Paul during their heavyweight boxing match, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Italy goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario misses the third goal during the Nations League soccer match between Italy and France, at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) Cincinnati Bengals tight end Mike Gesicki (88) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders during the second half of an NFL football game in Cincinnati, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) President-elect Donald Trump attends UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Fans argue in stands during the UEFA Nations League soccer match between France and Israel at the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Thursday Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova hits a return against Danielle Collins, of the United States, during a tennis match at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Malaga, southern Spain. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) St. John's guard RJ Luis Jr. (12) falls after driving to the basket during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against New Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith) England's Anthony Gordon celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the UEFA Nations League soccer match between England and the Republic of Ireland at Wembley stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Katie Taylor, left, lands a right to Amanda Serrano during their undisputed super lightweight title bout, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver DJ Turner, right, tackles Miami Dolphins wide receiver Malik Washington, left, on a punt return during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) UConn's Paige Bueckers (5) battles North Carolina's Laila Hull, right, for a loose ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Greensboro, N.C., Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown) Get local news delivered to your inbox!Become A Gun-Toting Raccoon--No, Not That One--With Call Of Duty's New DLC

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