Quote:A former top FBI official has raised doubts about whether Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mom, Nancy, is really still alive and being held by kidnappers.

“I’m very skeptical of this,” former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show” on Sunday.

“Is this really a kidnapping? Does somebody really have her, and is she really alive?” he said of the fiends claiming to have her.

The former FBI bigwig voiced his suspicions after Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings took to social media to plead with their mother’s apparent abductor to return her — as they agreed to pay up to the abductors demanding $6 million ransom.

“If this was a kidnapping, it would be a very simple matter to authenticate and provide proof of life,” Swecker said, noting that no evidence had been “credibly authenticated at this point.”

“You have to allow for the possibility that this was something more or something other than a kidnapping.”

Swecker also pointed to the ransom demands being reported, which skyrocketed from $1 million to a reported $6 million in a matter of days.

“Remember now, it was 1 million not too long ago. All of a sudden, it’s 6 million,” Swecker told the outlet.

“I really think there’s a third party here that’s just playing with them, opportunists who think they can exploit this situation.”

At least two purported ransom messages have surfaced since the “Today” show anchor’s ailing mom vanished from her Tucson home.

The first purported ransom note, which was sent to multiple media outlets a week ago, laid out two deadlines — one on Thursday, which passed, and a second on Monday, FBI officials said.

 He's got a point here. Why paying them any amount of  cash? Especially if you don't know if she's still alive. At this point, even the police could end up finding her body buried somewhere.

By the way, I thought the kidnappers had said they'd only send a single letter and that was it. Yet, they continue sending them to TMZ or her family. This doesn't let me think they'd ever keep their word about returning her alive if they ever comply with their demands.

Quote:TUCSON — An armed thug in a ski mask was seen tampering with Nancy Guthrie’s home security system on the morning she vanished, according to terrifying footage released by the FBI Tuesday — the first major break since the elderly grandmother vanished over a week ago.

The chilling black and white footage and stills were pulled from a Nest camera mounted by the front door of 84-year-old Nancy’s Tucson home — and showed the pistol-packing man staring straight into the lens while apparently breaking into the home.

He tried to cover the camera with a gloved fist, and then pulled a handful of flowers from Nancy’s garden in an attempt to blot out the lens.

The suspect seemed to have a flashlight in his mouth — and lumbered around Nancy’s patio in sneakers, a fleece and a backpack.

And all the while, a handgun was clearly seen holstered in the front of his pants.

The footage marks the first time law enforcement has released any clut about a possible suspect since the mother of “Today” show star Savannah Guthrie vanished 10 days ago.

The pics are also the first indication that police are zeroing in on any suspects at all after a grueling, fruitless investigation.

“Law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote while releasing the images on X.

The images were obtained Tuesday morning with the help of Arizona law enforcement, FBI specialists and “private sector partners,” Patel said.

Nancy had numerous Nest cameras around her property, but had not paid her subscription, so feeds from the night she disappeared were never saved to an account — prompting law enforcement to fear they might be lost forever.

But FBI and Google specialists were able to pull them from “residual data located in backend systems,” Patel explained — resulting in the startling first images released.

Quote:The maze of unlit streets and lack of traffic cameras in Nancy Guthrie’s remote Arizona neighborhood would have made it easier for her abductor to take her away in a car and avoid surveillance, a former FBI agent has claimed.

Authorities on Tuesday released footage showing a suspect approaching the door of the 84-year-old’s Tucson, Arizona, home, but no vehicle has yet been identified as belonging to the alleged kidnapper.

Nancy’s remote, pitch-black Catalina Foothills neighborhood is not doing investigators any favors, according to retired FBI agent James Gagliano, who said that it would have been easy for the suspect to navigate backstreets and avoid cameras.

“I want you to think about Manhattan. This is exactly the opposite to that. This is almost like a Jackson Pollock painting,” Gagliano told Fox & Friends on Wednesday. “The way that the routes go in and out, the ingress could have been one way, and the egress could have been a different way.”

“There are multiple exits here. Some of them are covered by those dome traffic lights that keep an eye on traffic, determine whether or not the signals are working on time, and keep in line the traffic patterns. Some of them aren’t,” he continued.

“So is it possible if the suspect left via vehicle, he would not have been picked up by a license plate reader or one of these cameras? The answer is yes.”

Gagliano said it is unlikely that Nancy’s kidnapper came and left on foot.

While the abductor making off with an elderly woman without a vehicle seems far-fetched, Gagliano pointed out that there are few fences between properties, which would make an escape via the secluded backyards possible.

“They don’t have fences out here; the properties butt up against each other, there’s no cyclone fencing or anything restricting access between the properties,” he said.

Gagliano was speaking after authorities detained an individual for questioning on Tuesday evening following a traffic stop in Rio Rico, Arizona, just south of Tucson.

The man, a FedEx delivery driver named Carlos Palazuelos, added that his house in Rio Rico was also searched as part of the investigation before he was released without charge.

As of Wednesday, no other individuals have been detained in connection with the disappearance of Nancy, who was last seen after being dropped off at her Catalina Foothills home on the evening of Jan. 31.

Savannah put out another message on social media Tuesday, saying she and her family still believe her mother is alive.

“We believe she is still out there. Bring her home,” she said.

Quote:A new letter in the bewildering Nancy Guthrie case has been sent to TMZ, reportedly including a demand for one bitcoin in exchange for information about the elderly woman’s kidnapper.

TMZ reported that the $67,000 payment would be in exchange for the “name of the individual involved.”

The letter, the third alleged note sent out since Nancy was last seen on Jan. 31, contained details of a working bitcoin address, TMZ host Harvey Levin said during Wednesday’s appearance on Fox News’ “America Newsroom.”

“If they want the name of the individual involved, then I want 1 Bitcoin to the following wallet. Time is more than relevant,” the note stated, according to TMZ.

“They said they want one Bitcoin sent to a Bitcoin address that we have confirmed is active. It’s a real Bitcoin address, and as they put it, time is more than relevant,” Levin said. “So we have no idea whether this is real or not. But they are making a demand.”

The bitcoin address is different from the one featured in the original ransom note, which was sent to two Tucson-area TV news stations along with TMZ last week.

TMZ said they have forwarded the note to the FBI.

One bitcoin is currently worth around $67,000, more than the $50,000 reward being offered by law enforcement for information leading to the alleged kidnappers of NBC star Savannah Guthrie’s mom.

It comes after a flurry of updates on Tuesday saw the release of the first images and videos of the suspect in Nancy’s disappearance, retrieved from a Nest doorbell camera at her Tucson, Arizona, home.

Quote:TUCSON, Arizona — FBI agents have recovered a black glove from a roadside near Nancy Guthrie’s house — potentially a major clue in the search for the masked thug who is suspected of abducting the 84-year-old woman, The Post can reveal.

Detectives found the clothing item, which resembles the pair worn by the armed perpetrator caught on video, about one and a half miles from the home of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother.

Video and photos show at least one member of the FBI Evidence Response team pulling the glove from the low, desert shrubbery in Guthrie’s secluded desert suburb at the edge of Tucson.

Authorities have not identified any suspects behind the presumed kidnapping, in which Guthrie seems to have been forced from her home, leaving a trail of blood behind.

However, on Tuesday the FBI released footage of a man with black gloves, a ski mask, and a holstered gun destroying the security camera on her door.
The footage was the first major breakthrough authorities have revealed after the arduous, 10-day investigation.

The same day, authorities detained a person of interest for questioning near the Mexican border, however the person was released early this morning without charges.

The FBI discovered the glove as part of an “extensive search” of the neighborhood in which agents were out in force combing the roadsides.

“We appreciate the assistance and support we have received from the Tucson community,” the FBI said in a statement reminding the public of the $50,000 reward for information leading to Nancy Guthrie’s recovery.

Investigators would not comment when asked about potential piece of evidence.

The person of interest arrested Tuesday was Carlos Palazuelos, a delivery driver from the border town of Rio Rico who was slapped in cuffs after being pulled over south of Tucson.

Palazuelos, now free, insisted he had nothing to do with Guthrie’s abduction, hadn’t even heard of the woman, and demanded an apology from authorities, according to WDBJ.

Quote:NPR “Morning Edition” co-host Steve Inskeep said during an episode of the podcast on Wednesday that the suspect on video at Nancy Guthrie’s house was wearing clothing similar to that of a federal immigration agent.

The FBI released previously inaccessible doorbell camera images and videos on Tuesday.

The footage shows a masked individual wearing gloves and a backpack tampering with the front door camera at Guthrie’s Tucson, Arizona, home around the time she vanished on Feb. 1.

“So, let me think about this: we have this man. He walks up to the porch, he’s armed, and his face is covered, a little like a federal immigration agent — although it’s more covered even than that,” Inskeep said while speaking to Mary O’Toole, a former FBI agent and profiler, about the footage.

“He’s wearing gloves, his head’s down, other times head up, something in the mouth, looks like a flashlight in the mouth, walks up to the security camera. That’s what I see.”

A man was detained in connection with Guthrie’s disappearance early Wednesday but was released later without charges.

Carlos Palazuelos told Fox News that he was the person detained for questioning during a traffic stop but said he had nothing to do with the case.

He said he makes deliveries in the Tucson area and that investigators asked him about his recent whereabouts.

He said authorities showed his in-laws a picture of someone wearing a mask and “they supposedly looked like my eyes.”

Inskeep asked O’Toole for her perspective on the video released by the FBI as well.

“I see things a little the same, but also from a different perspective,” she said.

“I look at, overall, the behavior that he demonstrates while he’s on the porch. He’s not racing around, he’s not jumping up and down, he’s not looking over his shoulder.”

“He actually seems to be casual,” O’Toole continued.

“He appears to be somewhat comfortable on a porch to a home where he does not belong. He seems to be used to almost having been there before. I see someone that’s walking around in very odd attire, at least from the waist up. He’s wrapped up very tight, almost squeezed into his outfit.”

O’Toole said that made her question why he chose to dress like that and speculated it could indicate he had done something similar before.

“I look at that behavior, and then based on working other kidnapping cases, especially ones where the offender kidnapped the person from their home, often times — not always, but often times — the kidnapper had been inside other people’s homes before doing whatever they do, just looking around or taking things, or they’ve actually been inside the victim’s home before or on the victim’s porch before. So that’s why they have a comfort level with being there; it’s not the first time,” she said.

O’Toole said the man in the video had heavy-duty gloves on, and the gloves went into the jacket.

She also said the man’s face was covered and he appeared “illuminated” in some way.

“So, why do you dress like that for an event you’ve never experienced before?” she said.

“Or the reverse is perhaps more likely: you have gone into an event like this before, so you know how to dress. And very likely, the reason for dressing like that is to minimize leaving behind any forensic evidence.”

The FBI announced Wednesday that numerous agents are conducting an “extensive search along multiple roadways in the Catalina Foothills area” of Tucson related to the Nancy Guthrie investigation.

Quote:A Texas man will not face charges after gunning down his daughter after they got in a heated argument about President Trump.

Lucy Harrison, who was visiting from the UK, died of her wounds after the 23-year-old was shot in the chest Jan. 10, 2025 at her father’s home in Prosper, located around 35 miles north of Dallas.

Her dad, Kris Harrison, who moved to the US when his daughter was a child, admitted during an inquest that he was an alcoholic who had relapsed and drank three glasses of wine on the day of the shooting, BBC reported.

Lucy’s death was initially being investigated by local cops as a possible manslaughter case but no criminal charges were ultimately brought against the father after a Collin County grand jury decided against indicting him.

She was traveling to the US with her boyfriend, Sam Littler, who later told a court the dad and daughter had a “big argument” about Trump a few days before he was set to be inaugurated for his second term.

Kris and Lucy frequently butted heads about her father’s conservative leanings, particularly that he purchased a Glock 9mm handgun a few years earlier, Littler said.

The argument started when Lucy pressed her father about an unspecified hypothetical scenario regarding a woman who had been sexually assaulted.

“How would you feel if I was the girl in that situation and I’d been sexually assaulted?” she asked her father.

According to Littler, Kris shot back that it wouldn’t upset him that much because he had two other daughters who were living with him.

It was not immediately clear how Trump factored into the back-and-forth, but his callous response made Lucy “quite upset” and she stormed upstairs.

I definitely think that jury was composed by a bunch of idiots. The suspect killed his own daughter, that's a crime, and in this case they call it manslaughter. It was not a mere accident, he intentionally shot her down. His alcoholism issue only makes it worse than that. Honestly, I suspect their true motivation was that it all happened because of Trump.  

Quote:WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi ripped House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) as a “washed-up, loser lawyer” before clashing with lawmakers of both parties during a Wednesday hearing.

President Trump’s top law enforcement official testified before the panel following the release of millions of files related to the prosecution of deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — with several victims in attendance.

Judiciary Democrats and one Republican accused Bondi of ignoring those victims and having her Department of Justice harmfully release documents identifying some of them — while redacting identities of members of Epstein’s rich and powerful circle.

“You’re not showing a lot of interest in the victims,” Raskin challenged her. “Whether it’s Epstein’s human trafficking ring or the homicidal government violence against citizens in Minneapolis, as attorney general you’re siding with the perpetrators and you’re ignoring the victims.”

In heated exchanges with Raskin, the AG accused Democrats of only caring about the issue because Trump is in the White House.

Raskin demanded in one of those back-and-forths that Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) restore time to retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), as Bondi ignored his question about possible indictments of Epstein co-conspirators.

“You can let her filibuster all day long, but not on our watch — not on our time, no way,” Raskin said. “And I told you about that, Attorney General, before you started.”

“You don’t tell me anything,” Bondi erupted, before mocking Raskin as a “washed-up, loser lawyer — not even a lawyer.”

Bondi then rounded on Nadler, telling him: “You said the president conspired, sought foreign interference in the 2016 election. Robert Mueller found no evidence, none, of foreign interference in 2016. Have you apologized to President Trump?

“None of them asked [former Attorney General] Merrick Garland, over the last four years, one word about Jeffrey Epstein. How ironic is that? You know why? Because Donald Trump.”

Most Democrats’ questions — as well as those of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — focused on the so-called “Epstein files,” claiming that the DOJ was covering for those potentially implicated in crimes.

“You all should be apologizing. You sit here and you attack the president, and I am not going to have it. I’m not going to put up with it,” she continued.

Quote:The cast of “Dawson’s Creek” reacted to James Van Der Beek’s death at 48 following a yearslong battle with colorectal cancer.

Van Der Beek portrayed the titular Dawson Leery for all six seasons of the iconic WB teen drama from 1998 to 2003.

Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson, both 47, starred as Dawson’s best friends, Joey Potter and Pacey Witter, respectively. Michelle Williams appeared in the series as Dawson’s next-door neighbor, Jen Lindley.

Mary-Margaret Humes, who played Van Der Beek’s mother on “Dawson’s Creek,” shared an Instagram tribute in honor of her late co-star on Wednesday.

“Rarely am I at a loss for words … today would be the exception. James, my gracious warrior, you fought a hard battle against all odds with such quiet strength and dignity,” she wrote alongside two photos of them together.

“I will always love and admire you for that. Our last conversations … merely a few days ago … are forever sitting softly in my heart for safe keeping. To our extended Dawson’s Creek family of friends, please be respectful of our silences at the moment as Beautiful Kimberly and family have asked for peaceful privacy for now.”

Kerr Smith, who portrayed Jack McPhee in Seasons 2 through 6, wrote on Instagram, “I’m so grateful for being able to call James a brother. I’ll miss him deeply. Rest easy.”

Busy Philipps, who joined “Dawson’s Creek” as Audrey Liddell at the beginning of Season 5 in 2001, also took to social media to remember her late co-star in the wake of his passing.

Besides “Dawson’s Creek,” the pair had reunited once more for the Season 2 premiere of “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23,” which aired in 2012.

“My heart is deeply hurting for all of us today … every person who knew James and loved him,” Philipps, 46, wrote on Instagram. “But I am profoundly heartbroken for his incredible wife Kimberly and their six magical children.”

“James Van Der Beek was one in a billion and he will be forever missed and I don’t know what else to say. I am just so so sad,” she wrote alongside three snaps of her and Van Der Beek. “He was my friend and I loved him and I’m so grateful for our friendship all these years.”

Van Der Beek’s wife of 15 years, Kimberly, announced the beloved actor’s death in a joint Instagram statement on Wednesday.

She wrote that Van Der Beek, with whom she has six children, “passed peacefully” on Wednesday morning and “met his final days with courage, faith and grace.”

Quote:The transgender high school dropout who gunned down his mother and stepbrother before killing six others at a British Columbia, Canada school was seen for the first time in resurfaced photos posted by his family – including one eerie snap showing the smiling teen holding a rifle.

Jesse Van Rootselaar, the 18-year-old ex-student who went on a gun-wielding rampage at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, was spotted straight-faced in several pictures posted by his grandmother on Facebook for his 14th birthday.

“Happy 14th birthday to our grandson Jesse !! Love you always !! XOXO,” the post from August 2021 read.

Another chilling picture howed Van Rootselaar showing off a rifle and bearing a wide grin while sitting on the couch with another young child.

Van Rootselaar launched the horrifying attack at a private residence in the remote community before continuing the carnage at the high school, where authorities said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said Van Rootselaar was “born a biological male … who approximately six years ago began to transition to female, and identified as female.”

Van Rootselaar was known to authorities, as police had visited the family home several times over the years, over concerns about his mental health, according to McDonald.

Firearms had also been seized from the home, but the lawful owner — who McDonald did not name — successfully petitioned to have them returned.

A long gun and a modified handgun were recovered at the school, though it is unclear if those weapons were the ones that had previously been confiscated.

An initial alert issued about an active shooter at the school on Tuesday afternoon described the shooter as a “female in a dress.”

Quote:A 12-year-old girl has been identified as one of the six young victims killed in Tuesday’s mass shooting at a British Columbia secondary school.

Kylie May Smith was among those gunned down when transgender ex-student Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, opened fire at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday afternoon, according to a GoFundMe created for her family.

“Yesterday our family received the gut-wrenching news that our beautiful Kylie May was confirmed to be one of the victims in the Tumbler Ridge school shooting,” her aunt, Shanon Dycke, wrote in a statement on the fundraising page.

“She was just 12 years old. We are completely devastated and have no words as we try to process the magnitude of the situation,” Dycke wrote.

Nine people in total were killed during the shooting, including Van Rootselar, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The shooter, who identified as a transgender woman and began transitioning from a male to female roughly six years ago, first gunned down his mother, 39-year-old Jennifer Strang, and stepbrother, 11, at a private residence.

Rootselaar then continued the rampage at the school, killing one teacher and five students, including three 12-year-old girls and two boys aged 12 and 13.

One victim was found in the stairwell, and the rest were believed to have been found dead in the school’s library, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said during a press conference on Wednesday.

Dycke described Smith as a “beautiful, kind, innocent soul” and urged people to donate funds to support her mother, Desirae, her brother, Ethan, and other family members, and to create a memorial for the slain tween.

“As word travels around the world, our family’s world has crumbled with the loss of my beautiful niece, Kylie May Smith. She was at Tumbler Ridge school yesterday, and didn’t make it out,” Dycke wrote in a separate post on Facebook.

Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, located in a remote part of northeastern British Columbia, enrolls students in grades 7 through 12.

The shooting ranks as one of the deadliest in Canada’s history.

Quote:Ukraine’s foreign minister said only President Trump has the power to get Kyiv and Moscow’s leaders together for a final peace talk to end the war — as Russia fired its latest mass drone strike on Sunday.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called on Trump to accelerate the current peace efforts to end the war, as Ukraine worries America could become too preoccupied as its mid-term elections approach.

“Only Trump can stop the war,” Sybiha told Reuters, saying only a few key issues remained in the peace negotiations.

Among the issues at hand are Russia’s maximalist demands for Ukraine to completely cede its Donetsk fortress region and the Zaporizhzhia energy facility, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

Sybiha described the conditions among “the most sensitive and most difficult” terms of the peace talks, which the foreign minister said had to be hammered out by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Putin, however, has repeatedly declined to meet with Zelensky, who revealed that Trump had given Ukraine and Russia until June to end the war — which is about to enter its fifth year.

In order to meet the deadline, Sybiha said the US and Ukraine must build on the latest peace talks in Abu Dhabi that resulted in prisoner of war exchanges resuming with Russia.

“My assessment is we have momentum, that’s true,” Sybiha said. “We need consolidation or mobilization of these peace efforts, and we’re ready to speed up.”

The optimistic outlook comes as Russia fired 101 drones into Ukraine overnight, with at least 32 of the explosive UAVs hitting across 13 locations, according to Kyiv’s air force.

The attack was part of Moscow’s continued campaign against Ukraine’s energy grid, with the strikes hitting an industrial facility in Poltava and Odessa, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Services.

Quote:In “Fortress Kharkiv,” on the front lines of Ukraine’s fight against Russia, much of public life has gone underground.

After four years of constant bombardment by Russia, the city has opened eight schools in subterranean subway stations.

Plays and other shows are also taking place underground — where residents can gather and have some semblance of normalcy without the fear of Moscow’s deadly drones and missiles.

“We are the only city in the world with so-called metro schools. Those are underground schools. We have modified seven underground metro stations to allow our kids to study beneath the ground,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov told The Post.

Each underground school accommodates 1,200 students.
The Post previously reported on how kids in the city have been forced to study online or in shelters underground.

Terekhov said he and every citizen of Kharkiv are yearning for peace — but he warned that it will require 100 years of security guarantees from the US and allies to keep the peace.

“Guarantees of security [are needed], not for 2027 or 2 years beyond, but for a century, at least,” Terekhov said.

“Real guarantees of security yield peace dividends,” he added, while praising the efforts of Presidents Trump and Zelensky to end the war.

Speaking from Ukraine’s second-largest city, just hours after an attack on a market, Terekhov expressed his gratitude for American support for his country, and described how Kharkivites have adapted to the reality of the war four years after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion began.

“Kharkiv is the fortress, and Kharkiv for those four years of the war has been the barometer of Ukrainian resilience,” Terekhov told The Post.

“We have been under perpetual shelling for the last four years and constant attacks. Just prior to our talk. One more drone, which is called in Russian, Molniya, which is translated into English as Lightning, has hit the markets,” he said.

Quote:Ukraine is opening up exports of its domestically produced arms to Europe, President Volodymyr Zelensky said — as Kyiv looks to capitalize on its wartime technology boom.

The arms race in Ukraine has created many weapons firms that are producing more arms than Kyiv can buy, leading Zelensky to announce Sunday that 10 “export centers” will open across Europe this year to raise much-needed funds for his country.

The Ukrainian president noted that Ukraine’s advanced drones, which have proven successful against Russia’s military, will also be up for sale as European nations begin to increase their defense spending.

“Today, Europe’s security is built on technology and drones,” Zelensky said, touting Kyiv’s advanced UAV development.

Ihor Fedirko, CEO of the Ukrainian Council of Defense Industry, said international buyers have been clamoring for not just Kyiv’s drones, but also its anti-drone technology.

UAVs have proven to be the dominant force in combat in the Ukraine war, with both Moscow and Kyiv using the drones to conduct mass, long-distance attacks.

Many experts have warned that the war is a snapshot of what modern wars will look like, with many nations taking an interest in combat drones and drone jamming systems.

Fedirko said the strongest buzz has been around Ukraine’s seaborne drones, UAVs used to drop small bombs on targets, interceptor drones, and drones that use fiber-optic cables that allow them to fly without fear of jamming.

President Trump had expressed a great interest in Ukraine’s drones as part of last year’s drone “mega deal” negotiations, which would see the US buy up Kyiv’s UAVs in exchange for the sale of the American arms Ukraine desperately needs.

Even though Ukraine’s 2025 budget had allocated $18 billion for domestically produced drones, it is still not enough to buy up all the UAVs being produced in the country.

Some of Ukraine’s drone developers had previously expressed frustration with the rules restricting expenditures and putting a cap on profits, but opening up exports would allow the firms to expand and continue improving their arms.

Ukrainian drone production is set to start in Germany in mid-February, Zelensky said, with the UAVs already being built in the UK under a joint initiative.

Quote:A Russian drone strike destroyed a Ukrainian brick home overnight, killing a dad and his three small children — and leaving his pregnant wife with traumatic brain injury, officials said.

The blast from the Russian-made Shahed suicide drone killed 34-year-old Hryhorii Shykula, his 2-year-old twin boys and 1-year-old daughter in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region overnight, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.

Shykula’s wife Olha, who is 35 weeks pregnant, was pulled out of the burning rubble by rescue workers, officials said.

She suffered serious injuries from the blast, including brain trauma, burns and hearing loss, the prosecutor’s office added.

“We lost what is most precious — our future,” Bohodukhiv mayor Volodymyr Bielyi wrote on Facebook.

“There are no words to console the family; there is no prayer that could heal the heart of a mother who has lost her children,” he added.

“We will endure. We will remember. We will never forgive this horror on our land.”

Bielyi said the wounded mother was treated at a local hospital, with the mayor announcing three days of mourning over the tragedy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed the attack as yet further evidence that Moscow cannot be trusted to secure a peace deal while it blatantly attacks civilians.

Each such Russian strike undermines trust in everything being done through diplomacy to end this war, and again and again proves that only strong pressure on Russia and clear security guarantees for Ukraine are the real key to stopping the killings,” Zelensky said on social media.

Quote:The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has threatened to disqualify Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych for protesting against the Russian invasion of his homeland.

The skeleton athlete has refused to take off his “helmet of remembrance”, as he calls it, which depicts images of Ukrainian men and woman killed in the war, despite the committee’s public and private warnings that he is in violation of the written rules around political messaging.

The IOC took another step Wednesday, warning Heraskevych to surrender ahead of the first skeleton heats Thursday.

The 27-year-old, who was the Ukrainian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, has not yet made a move to comply with the committee’s rules, and he used his helmet again during practice Tuesday night.

“We will contact the athlete today, we will reiterate the many, many opportunities that he has to express his grief,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams responded Wednesday. “As we discussed before, he can do so on social media, in the press conferences, in the mixed zone. So we will try to talk to him about that, try to convince him. We want him to compete. We really, really want him to have his moment. That’s very, very important. The athlete guidelines is online, they were agreed by 4,500 athletes and the input of many athlete commissions. This is what the athletes want. They want that specific moment on the field of play to be free from any distraction.

“He can, and we would encourage him, to express his grief. We feel his grief. We would expressly want him to do that but you know in the end let me be clear. It’s not the message, it’s the palace that counts.”

The rule in question is addressed in article 50.2 of the Olympic charter, which states “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”

When asked about the option of disqualification, Adams said he doesn’t believe that is “helpful” to look at hypotheticals because “we are actually trying to get to a place where we can get him to take part.”

In this case the IOC sounds very hypocritical to me. If they don't care about expressing the athlete's grief on social media and pressers, then why did they get fixated on his helmet?  As long as it doesn't make a call to kill people or hate any people group, there's no reason to chase him down like they're doing it now.

Quote:Panama’s move to void two longstanding port concessions flanking the Panama Canal was a blow to Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison and a win for U.S. efforts to check Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere.

Yet as CK Hutchison seeks to sell its majority shares in dozens of other port projects worldwide, China's COSCO—the world's fourth-largest shipping company—hopes to fill the void. If the state-owned shipping giant succeeds, security risks for the U.S. could climb at other ports in Latin American and the Caribbean, according to recent analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
...
What To Know

The January 29 ruling by Panama's Supreme Court annulled the lease contracts for the Balboa and Cristóbal terminals held by CK Hutchison subsidiary Panama Ports Company (PPC) and lowered the risk potential of those two ports, but five others would pose greater concern if leased to COSCO and therefore be more exposed to direct Chinese government influence.

These include terminals run by other CK Hutchison subsidiaries at ports in Mexico, including Manzanillo on the Pacific coast—the country’s gateway to Asia—and Veracruz, a major Gulf-side port with strategic Atlantic access.

A fifth, the Freeport container terminal in the Bahamas, is a major transshipment hub just 65 miles from Florida.

"The [court] decision is perhaps most significant as a further application of the administration's 'Trump Corollary' to the Monroe Doctrine," Henry Ziemer, an associate fellow with CSIS's Americas Program, told Newsweek.

"However, there is a risk that a 'win' for the United States in Panama will obscure China's broader influence in Latin America's port ecosystem," Ziemer said.

CSIS has identified 37 port projects throughout Latin American and the Caribbean with links to Chinese companies, from Jamaica's Kingston port to the COSCO-developed megaport of Chancay in Peru. With China reportedly seeking to acquire at least some of the CK Hutchison-controlled ports, the Panama case “is more of an opening bid, not a decisive blow to China’s influence in Latin America,” Ziemer said.

The $22.8 billion deal CK Hutchison announced last year, would have seen its majority stakes in 41 projects sold to a U.S. consortium led by BlackRock, was met with scathing criticism from Chinese state media, which likened it to handing a “knife to the opponent.” Without Beijing’s approval, the deal remains in limbo.

CK Hutchison has said it would pursue “extensive damages” through arbitration after the Panama ruling.

Quote:Nobel peace laureate Narges Mohammadi has been beaten nearly to death while imprisoned in Iran, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Wednesday.

The committee said it had received “credible reports” of “life-threatening mistreatment” of Mohammadi, an activist arrested by Tehran in December, CNN reported.

Mohammadi has been allegedly beaten with wooden sticks and batons, dragged by her hair until sections of her scalp tore, and “repeatedly kicked in the genitals and pelvic region, leaving her unable to sit or move without severe pain,” the committee said.

The savage beatings occurred during her arrest in December after she attended a ceremony honoring Khosrow Alikordi, an Iranian lawyer and human rights advocate.

During the arrest, witnesses say they saw Iran’s security forces beat the activist as they loaded her onto a transport vehicle, where the violence allegedly continued.

Mohammadi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023, has spent much of the last two decades as an inmate in Iran’s infamous Evin prison.

While her original prison sentence was suspended last year to allow her to recover from a surgery following multiple heart attacks, she was sentenced on Saturday to another seven years in prison on allegations of “gathering and collusion” and spreading propaganda, according to her lawyer.

Mohammadi had begun a hunger strike in early February to protest her “unlawful detention, dire prison conditions, and the denial of contact with her family and lawyers,” according to her foundation.

Mohammadi had been allowed to go to the hospital last week, but she has since been transferred back to a detention center in Mashhad before her treatment was complete, her lawyer told CNN.

Like Tehran’s Evin prison, the detention centers in Mashhad have been at the center of allegations of human rights abuses, particularly against political prisoners and anti-regime activists.