Travelers heading home after the Thanksgiving holiday set a record on Sunday, as airport officers screened more than 3 million people. The Transportation Security Administration said Monday that it handled 3.09 million travelers, breaking the previous record by about 74,000. That mark was set on July 7, also a Sunday after a holiday. Hundreds of thousands of travelers were delayed or had their flights canceled. Airlines canceled about 120 U.S. flights — not an unusually high number — and more than 6,800 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware. The largest numbers of delays were at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

Many of us have felt it, and now it’s official: “brain rot” is the Oxford dictionaries’ word of the year. Oxford University Press said Monday that the evocative phrase “gained new prominence in 2024,” with its frequency of use increasing 230% from the year before. Oxford defines brain rot as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.” The word of the year is intended to be “a word or expression that reflects a defining theme from the past 12 months.” “Brain rot” was chosen by a combination of public vote and language analysis by Oxford lexicographers.

Nearly a month after a devastating election loss that exposed cracks in the very foundation of their party, Democrats remain deeply divided over the extent of their political problem — or even if they have one. A number of Democratic leaders are downplaying the strength of Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris as the inevitable result of an inflation-fueled anti-incumbent backlash that shaped elections worldwide. But others are convinced that the Democratic Party is facing an acute crisis that requires an urgent overhaul of its brand, message and economic policies. Trump swept every battleground state on Nov. 5, becoming the first Republican candidate to win the national popular vote since George W. Bush in 2004. Yet nearly half the country voted against him.

President-elect Donald Trump issued a stern ultimatum on Monday regarding hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In a social media post, Trump demanded the immediate release of these hostages, warning that failure to do so before his inauguration on January 20, 2025, would result in severe consequences. “Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East – But it’s all talk, and no action!” Trump wrote.

The Shin Bet and the Courts Administration on Monday recommended that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s testimony in his trial next week be moved from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Netanyahu was scheduled to take the stand next week in his corruption trial at a courthouse in Jerusalem but “following highly classified information” about security issues, the case will likely be moved to a fortified underground room at the Tel Aviv District Court.

Australian police seized a record 2.3 tons of cocaine and arrested 13 people in raids after the suspects’ boat broke down off the coast of Queensland, authorities said Monday. The drugs had a sale value of 760 million Australian dollars ($494 million) and equaled as many as 11.7 million street deals if they had reached the country of 28 million people, federal police said in a statement. Investigators told reporters in Brisbane that the drugs were transported from an unidentified South American country. The arrests on Saturday and Sunday followed a monthlong investigation after a tipoff that the Comancheros motorcycle gang was planning a multi-ton smuggling operation, Australian Federal Police Commander Stephen Jay said.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman Imagine working hard to build your dream business – an arcade filled with the games you lov, that offers hourly or daily rates instead of quarters – only to have it brutally ransacked during Thanksgiving weekend. This is exactly what happened to Will Luna, the owner of Extraordinaire Arcade in San Bernardino, California. In a shocking turn of events, thieves executed a clever but devastating plan. While Luna was closing up for the holiday, unbeknownst to him, a woman had been hiding in the building’s attic. Once everyone left, she crept down and unlocked the door, disabled the security system, let in some 18 fellow thieves and unleashed a wave of destruction that would last two devastating days.

A California lawmaker said he will introduce a bill Monday that would give admission priority to the descendants of slaves at the University of California and California State University, the state’s two large public university systems. Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Democrat who represents parts of Los Angeles, told The Associated Press he will introduce the bill as lawmakers meet in the Capitol to swear in new members for a new legislative session. They also will convene a special session to consider ways to protect the state’s progressive policies ahead of another Trump administration. The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is expected to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority.