News of the World
06-22-2025, 02:46 AM
Today's Main Event: US Dropped Bombs on Fordow, Iran
MIDDLE EAST WAR
Quote:Iranian dissidents are speaking out over Whoopi Goldberg’s “offensive” claim that life for black Americans is equivalent to living under Iran’s brutal autocracy.
“Whoopi Goldberg’s comparison between being black in America and living under Iran’s authoritarian regime is deeply misguided and dismisses the brutal realities faced by millions of Iranians,” Dr. Sheila Nazarian told Fox News Digital.
Goldberg sparked backlash during a heated argument with her “The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin on Wednesday. Griffin elaborated on the many human rights violations perpetrated by the ayatollah’s regime in Iran, including executions of gay people and imprisonment of women who go outside with their hair uncovered.
“Let’s not do that, because if we start with that, we have been known in this country to tie gay folks to the car. Listen, I’m sorry, they used to just keep hanging black people,” Goldberg insisted as Griffin pushed back and said the situations weren’t comparable.
“In the year 2025 in the United States, is nothing like if I step foot wearing this outfit into Iran right now,” Griffin said.
“It is the same,” Goldberg responded.
When Griffin tried to explain that life in modern-day America was night and day vs. the theocratic regime in Iran, Goldberg countered, “Not if you’re black.”
Nazarian, a renowned plastic surgeon whose family fled Iran in 1985 when she was 6 after her father was put on a government list to be killed, told Fox News Digital that Goldberg’s comparison was not only inaccurate but deeply offensive.
Quote:Thousands of cheering supporters lined the streets of Tenafly, New Jersey, to welcome hometown hero Edan Alexander, who at last returned safely to his family after enduring nearly 600 days of hell as a hostage of Hamas.
Alexander, wearing dark sunglasses and smiling from ear to ear, told The Post he was feeling “great” and said it was good to be back as the SUV he rode in rolled down the tree-lined main drag.
Chants of “Edan! Edan! Edan! filled the air as he drove by and gave high-fives to well-wishers.
People in the jubilant crowd held banners and signs reading “Welcome home Edan,” and wrapped themselves in Israeli flags. Some jumped up and down and sang “Am Yisrael Chai” — a Hebrew phrase translating to “the people of Israel live.”
The 21-year-old Israel Defense Forces staff sergeant was one of 251 Israelis taken captive by the terror group during the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks, and the last living American hostage to be released.
“We didn’t know if he was alive for a long time and that was very hard to think about,” Gaia Hamani, 25, of nearby Alpine, whose brother went to preschool and high school with Alexander, told The Post.
“He left everything. He left the comfort of his home in New Jersey. He didn’t have to go to the army. He volunteered to do that. It takes a lot of courage and strength to do that.”
After learning of his disappearance, Hamani said she and her mother put photos of Alexander in their wallets as a constant memento.
“We prayed for him all the time. I always think of him in relation to my brother — to think what he went through, I can’t imagine,” she said.
Alexander was severely tortured and often locked in a cage during his captivity, and frequently shackled at the hands and feet, deep within the terrorists’ underground tunnel network, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Alexander’s freedom was achieved last month through Israel’s military pressure in Gaza, as well as political pressure by President Trump.
Hamani said she burst into tears when she was driving to the homecoming celebration and saw kids waving Israeli flags.
Quote:Israel’s defense minister on Friday warned Hezbollah to stay out of its fight against Iran, saying that the terror group’s leader “hasn’t learned from his predecessors.”
“I suggest that the Lebanese proxy be careful, and understand that Israel has lost patience with the terrorists who threaten it,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said after Hezbollah leadership condemned Israel’s airstrikes on Iran, according to the Times of Israel.
“The Hezbollah leader hasn’t learned from his predecessors and is threatening to act against Israel,” he said about the Iranian proxy groups’ former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israeli airstrikes in September.
Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, who succeeded Nasrallah in October, said Thursday that the terror group would “act as we see fit” reading the conflict between Israel and Iran.
The group declared it was standing in full solidarity with Iran and that threats against Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would lead to “disastrous consequences.”
“Threats to assassinate [Khamenei] are foolish and reckless, and will have disastrous consequences… Merely uttering them is an offense to hundreds of millions of believers and those connected to Islam, and it is utterly reprehensible. Today, we are more determined and united around him,” Hezbollah declared.
Israel began to conduct airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites and its missile capabilities on June 13 after fears that their longtime enemy, which has repeatedly called for the destruction of the Jewish state, was close to creating a nuclear weapon.
Iran retaliated with a barrage of missiles and drone strikes on Israel — fully igniting the deadly conflict between the two Middle Eastern nations.
Quote:An Israeli childcare center was obliterated by a ballistic missile and dozens of Iranian military targets were bombed Friday — as Israel and Iran continued to pummel each other with strikes a week into their war.
Disturbing surveillance video showed an Iranian “cluster rocket” wiping out the daycare facility in Beersheba in southern Israel early on Friday, officials said.
“The building sustained significant damage. Miraculously, no children or staff were present — the attack occurred just after closing time on Friday,” the Colel Chabad Daycare Center acknowledged after the strike.
Hours later, sirens started sounding across other parts of the Jewish state as missile impacts were reported in Tel Aviv, the Negev and Haifa, Israel’s military said.
In the port city of Haifa, one hospital said it received 19 wounded people from the site of an Iranian missile blast. Two people had serious-to-moderate injuries and the rest were lightly hurt, the hospital said.
Israel’s paramedic service, Magen David Adom — or MDA, said a 16-year-old boy was in serious condition after suffering shrapnel wounds to his upper body and a 54-year-old man was in moderate condition after a shrapnel injury to his legs. The service didn’t specify which strikes the two had been wounded in.
Still, about 20 missiles were fired in the latest Iranian strikes, an Israeli military official said.
Quote:Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday endorsed Israel’s airstrikes on Iran, saying it was doing essential work for Germany and others.
“This is the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us,” Merz told the ZDF broadcaster during an interview on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Alberta, Canada.
The phrasing came in response to a question from an interviewer who had used the term.
“We are also affected by this regime. This mullah regime has brought death and destruction to the world,” Merz added.
Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, lauded Merz’s remarks.
“Chancellor Friedrich Merz clearly described the realities in the Middle East with his choice of words,” Prosor told German news agency DPA. He added that Iran’s nuclear ambitions may be directed at Israel, “but they threaten the security of the entire world.
“The missiles currently hitting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem also threaten Berlin, Paris and London,” Prosor said. “The supply chain of terror must be interrupted.”
Prosor noted that Iranian arms shipments and Houthi attacks on international shipping had decreased recently, showing that pressure is working. “This is a litmus test for whether Europeans are willing to stand up for their values and interests independently.”
In the interview, Merz said he had “the greatest respect for the fact that the Israeli army had the courage to do this, that the Israeli leadership had the courage to do this.”
Quote:President Trump tore into the US intelligence community on Friday for having been “wrong” about how close Iran was to acquiring a nuclear weapon months ago, telling reporters that he now believes Tehran has a “tremendous amount” of enriched uranium that could build a bomb in just a few weeks.
Trump made the assessment after breaking from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s testimony before Congress in March that Iran was not building nuclear weapons.
“What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a weapon? Your intelligence community said they have no evidence that they are at this point,” the reporter asked Trump on the tarmac outside of Bedminster, New Jersey.
“Then my intelligence community is wrong,” the president said, asking who said that.
“She’s wrong,” he said of Gabbard.
The spy chief had also noted in her testimony that Iran’s uranium stockiples were at unprecedented levels for a non-nuclear state.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that “Iran has all that it needs to keep a nuclear weapon” and “all they need is a decision from the Supreme leader to do that.”
Trump was more lenient in his approximation Friday, saying it was either a “matter of weeks” or a “matter of months” before Tehran had all the components.
The president announced Thursday that he would be making his final decision on whether to strike Iran using the US military “within the next two weeks” if Tehran doesn’t “come to their senses” about the need to eliminate its nuclear program.
“We’re going to see what that period of time is, but I’m giving them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum,” Trump added Friday.
He appeared to rule out using US ground forces to invade Iran.
Quote:Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar slammed as “shameful” a request by nine E.U. member states on Thursday that Brussels take action against goods and services originating from Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria.
“It is regrettable that even when Israel fighting an existential threat which is in Europe vital interest—there are those who can’t resist their anti-Israeli obsession,” Sa’ar tweeted. “Shameful!”
Sa’ar was responding to Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot, who led the initiative together with his counterparts in Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
Prévot said they asked the European Commission to investigate “how trade in goods and services linked to illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory can be brought into line with international law.”
The move came in response to the July 2024 non-binding advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which Prévot claimed “clearly states that third countries must refrain from any trade or investment that helps sustain an illegal situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
“We have not seen a proposal to initiate discussions on how to effectively discontinue trade of goods and services with the illegal settlements,” the nine ministers reportedly wrote in a missive to the E.U.’s foreign affairs chief, Kaja Kallas, that was seen by Reuters.
“We need the European Commission to develop proposals for concrete measures to ensure compliance by the Union with the obligations identified by the Court,” they wrote, according to the press agency.
The request comes ahead of a meeting in Brussels on June 23, where E.U. foreign ministers are expected to discuss Israel’s compliance with the human rights provisions of the bloc’s trade deal with Jerusalem.
The probe was proposed by Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, who wrote to Kallas in May requesting a review of the Hamas war.
Among those who did not back a review was Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský, who suggested the E.U. meet with Jerusalem to raise concerns.
Kallas has said that E.U. sanctions against Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria were ready, but that the measures have been blocked by one of its member states.
That country is Hungary, according to Reuters.
Quote:Iran and Israel exchanged fresh attacks early on Saturday, a day after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear program while under threat and Europe tried to keep peace talks alive.
Iran’s Fars news agency said Israel had targeted the Isfahan nuclear facility, one of the nation’s biggest, but there was no leakage of hazardous materials. Iranian media also said Israel had attacked a building in the city of Qom, with initial reports of a 16-year-old killed and two people injured.
The Israeli military said it had launched a wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran.
Shortly after 2:30 a.m. in Israel, the Israeli military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Interceptions were visible in the sky over Tel Aviv, with explosions echoing across the metropolitan area as Israel’s air defense systems responded.
Sirens also sounded in southern Israel, said Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency service. An Israeli military official said Iran had fired five ballistic missiles and that there were no immediate indications of any missile impacts.
There were no initial reports of casualties in Israel.
The emergency service released images showing a fire on the roof of a multi-story residential building in central Israel. Local media reported that the fire was caused by debris from an intercepted missile.
Quote:Iran is questioning its “trust” in the US to engage in nuclear talks as Tehran has refused to restart negotiations until Israel halts its attacks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi accused the Trump administration of using nuclear negotiations as a cover for Israel’s airstrikes on the country’s nuclear program, claiming the attacks came just two days before a new round of talks between US and Iranian officials were set to start.
“So they had perhaps this plan in their mind, and they just needed negotiations perhaps to cover it up,” Araqchi said Friday in an interview with NBC News.
“We don’t know how we can trust them anymore. What they did was, in fact, a betrayal of diplomacy.”
He vowed that negotiations would cease as long as Israel’s “aggression continues,” flatly rejecting Trump’s demands to scrap its uranium enrichment and balking at his “two week” deadline to reach a deal.
“I told him several times zero enrichment is impossible,” Araqui said of his meetings with special envoy Steve Witkoff, who he accused of contributing to a “lack of confidence” between the two nations.
He later called Tehran’s nuclear program a scientific “achievement” and a source of “pride and dignity,” insisting that even if it were bombed and destroyed, Iran would rebuild it using the knowledge and technology it has amassed over the years.
But Araqchi said US officials could resolve the issue with a single phone call to Tel Aviv to halt the attacks.
Well, Trump had granted them 60 days to reach a deal, and Israel attacked them on day 61.
What did you expect from the Israelis? Plus that very same week, the White House learned about Iran moving suspicious materials from one location to another. 
Quote:Russia said the use of a tactical nuclear weapon by the U.S. in Iran would be "catastrophic" after a report that it had not been ruled out as an option for President Donald Trump, who is considering joining Israel's strikes.
The question is whether a bunker-buster bomb would be sufficient to destroy Iran's Fordow uranium enrichment facility, which is built deep into a mountain and vital to any ambitions to build a nuclear bomb, or if it would take a tactical nuclear weapon to finish the job.
"There is a lot of speculation now," said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, state news agency Tass reported. "Such a development of events would be catastrophic, but there is so much speculation that it is actually impossible to comment on it."
The Guardian had reported that tactical nuclear weapons were considered more capable of destroying Fordow given its depth, citing unnamed defense officials, but that Trump was not presented with or considering them as an option.
Later, Fox News reported that all military options were still on the table for the U.S., citing an unnamed top official, but that the military is very confident bunker-buster bombs could destroy Fordow.
There has been no official comment from the U.S. about whether the use of a tactical nuclear weapon is being considered.
When approached by Newsweek, the Pentagon declined to comment and pointed to a recent statement made by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who said on June 16 that he had directed "the deployment of additional capabilities" to the Middle East.
Quote:Three commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in separate strikes overnight into Saturday — including the “founder of the Iranian regime’s plan to destroy Israel,” officials in Tel Aviv said.
Saeed Izadi was assassinated when the Jewish state rained missiles down on an apartment in Iran’s Qom province, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
Izadi led the Palestine Corps of the overseas arm, known as the Quds Force, which was a “key coordinator” between Iran and Hamas — and helped arm the terrorist group ahead of its Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.
His main objective was to keep Hamas in control of Gaza, but he also directed forces who were operating from Lebanon, according to Katz.
“As part of his role, Izadi was responsible for increasing the financial funding from Iran to Hamas for terrorist activities against Israel,” Katz said in an X post.
The IDF also said it had “eliminated” Benham Shahriyari during a strike on his vehicle overnight in western Iran.
Shahriyari was “responsible for all weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to its proxies across the Middle East in order to directly advance the Iranian regime’s plan to destroy Israel,” Katz said.
Shariyari led the Quds Force’s Weapons Transfer Unit and supplied missiles and rockets launched at Israel to Hezbollah, Hamas and Yemen’s Houthis, according to the Israeli military.
“His elimination represents a severe blow to the ability of the terrorist organizations surrounding Israel to regroup and strengthen after being heavily damaged by the IDF during the war,” Katz said.
Israel launches second attack on Iranian nuclear site in 8 days as US deploys B-2 bombers to Pacific
Quote:Israel struck one of Iran’s biggest nuclear facilities Saturday as part of an overnight campaign that dropped hundreds of missiles across the Islamic Republic — just as the US deployed six nuke plant neutralizing B-2 stealth bomber jets to be on standby for a strike, insiders told The Post.
The Air Force sent the bombers — the only aircraft that can deploy 15-ton bunker-busting bombs to take out Iran’s nuclear capabilities — from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to a military base in Guam and possibly Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, which could suggest President Trump is planning to use them sooner rather than later.
“They are finishing setting the theater to give Trump the ability to strike,” a source close to the Department of Defense told The Post, adding that other bombers will likely be sent to Diego Garcia in the Pacific.
Another White House insider added: “Moving assets into place gives the President full spectrum optionality. It shows he’s serious and increases his negotiating leverage, and it allows him to move quickly if he makes the decision to strike.”
The warplanes, which were flanked by supply planes, were using the call sign MYTEE21, which is typically associated with stealth bomber missions, according to The Times.
The B-2 bombers were spotted off the California coast around 5 a.m. eastern time — meaning it’s possible that the US could strike Iran as early as Sunday— though the anticipated stopovers in Guam and Diego Garcia, and Trump’s efforts at last-minute diplomacy, could prolong the possible timeframe.
The bombers each carry two 15-ton bunker buster bombs — the Israelis possess neither B-2s nor bunker busters — which have the capability to carry out an attack on Fordow, Iran’s only facilitiy, which sits buried 300 feet inside a mountain, where international inspectors have found uranium purified to near weapson grade.
The insiders said the bombers will likely be moved to Diego Garcia, a strategic military location in the Indian Ocean that the UK maintains sovereignty over.
Should the Trump administration decide to launch an attack from the Indian Ocean island, the US would need British permission.
“It shows that he means business and if Iranian leaders choose not to surrender unconditionally and destroy verifiably what remains of their nuclear facilities, President Trump now has the means to destroy them himself at a moment’s notice,” a third insider, a former Trump administration national security official, said.
“The clock is ticking on the future of the Iranian regime, and this deployment underscores that reality more than anything to date.”
There are already at least six US B-2 bombers at Diego Garcia, which the Pentagon deployed back in April in what analysts said was a warning to Iran amid growing tensions.
In a tense phone call on Thursday, Israeli officials told the Trump administration that they didn’t want to wait two weeks for the US to decide whether or not it would join the conflict, sources told Reuters. Israel believes it has a limited window of opportunity to strike and signaled that it could act alone.
Iran has continued to progress its nuclear weapon programming despite repeated warnings by the US and Israel, with Netanyahu warning that Iran intended to use the nukes for the “annihilation” of the Jewish state.
Entering the ninth day of conflict between the warring countries, the attack on the Isfahan nuclear site was intended to “deepen” the damage the Jewish state had already inflicted on the facility after a bombing back on June 13 strike, the Israeli Defense Forces said.
“We had already struck the site in the operation’s opening blow—and last night, we struck it again in a wide-scale strike to reinforce our achievements,” an IDF spokesperson said in an X post.
Quote:Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has chosen a secret list of three potential successors if he succumbs to the same fate as his growing list of valued lieutenants — another handful of whom were killed in overnight Israeli strikes Saturday.
Khamenei, 86, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader since 1989, believes that either Israel or the US will try to kill him and crafted the list while holed up in a bunker, ordering his nation’s Assembly of Experts — the clerical body responsible for appointing the supreme leader — to choose from his handpicked pool should his enemies be successful, officials told The New York Times.
“If you need any more evidence that the ayatollah is shaking in his boots, look no further than him identifying his three stooges,” a source close to the White House told The Post.
Khamenei’s 55-year-old son, Mojtaba, also a cleric and close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, was once rumored to be a front-runner, but was not included on the ayatollah’s succession list, as Israel continues to dominate the skies over Tehran.
Although the list has not been published, a clear front-runner is the head of Iran’s judicial system Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, 68, due to his “willingness to be pretty ruthless in times of crisis,” Gabriel Noronha, an expert on Iranian politics, told The Post.
Assembly of Experts member Mohsen Qomi, 65, would be a strong “runner up,” said Noronha, fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. Qomi is a close confidant to Khamanei and a senior adviser on foreign affairs and communications.
Other possible successors include Assembly of Experts members Mohsen Araki, Alireza Arafi and Hashem Hosseini Bushehri. Arafi also serves on the 12-man Guardian Council, but Araki might have an edge due to his long tenure in the clerical assembly.
Noronha argued in a series of X posts that it’s possible that Khamenei left his son off the list to avoid being “seen as monarchic.”
Quote:Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard lashed out at the news media after President Donald Trump said Friday that she was "wrong" in her assessment of Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons.
The Context
Gabbard in March testified on Capitol Hill that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and that the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had not authorized the nuclear weapons program.
Her testimony has resurfaced in recent days, as Trump considers whether to join Israel in its offensive against Iran by authorizing a U.S. strike on Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility located deep underground in Fordo. Israel cannot destroy the site without the U.S.'s help, as it would require 30,000-pound bunker-busting munitions that only the U.S. can provide.
Israel has claimed for years that Iran is on the cusp of developing a nuclear weapon and Trump has also said he believes Iran was "close" to having one before Israel launched its strikes against Iran last week.
What To Know
"What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon? Your intelligence community had said they have no evidence that they are at this point," a reporter asked Trump on Friday as he arrived in New Jersey.
"Well, then, my intelligence community is wrong," Trump said. "Who in the intelligence community said that?"
A reporter pointed out that it was Gabbard, to which the president replied: "She's wrong." He made a similar statement aboard Air Force One on Monday.
The DNI posted a clip of her testimony to X (formerly Twitter) after Trump's comments on Friday and accused the media of distorting her remarks.
"The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division," Gabbard wrote. "America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree."
Quote:The head of the United Nations' atomic energy watchdog laid out in detail the dire consequences of a strike on working nuclear reactors in Iran, as Israel continues to pound facilities it says are linked to Tehran's ambitions to build a nuclear bomb.
Iran denies it seeks to develop a nuclear weapon and says its program is for civilian energy. But Iran has enriched uranium to a level that far exceeds any civilian energy needs, and is a short step away from that needed for nuclear weapons.
Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Friday that the biggest concern is the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran. Israel has not yet struck the plant.
"This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences of an attack would be the most serious," Grossi said, noting that it is an operating plant and "as such it hosts thousands of kilograms of nuclear material."
"Countries of the region have reached out directly to me over the past few hours to express their concerns and I want to make it absolutely and completely clear," Grossi said.
Why It Matters
Grossi's remarks come amid heightened concern around the targeting of Iran's nuclear facilities and the potential escalation of the conflict with Israel, with the United States weighing its involvement and Russia warning of potential fallout if facilities are badly damaged.
What To Know
Speaking via video link on Friday, Grossi said that there were real risks posed by an attack on the Bushehr nuclear plant, warning that "a direct hit could result in a very high release of radioactivity to the environment."
"Similarly, a hit that disabled the only two lines supplying electrical power to the plant could cause its reactor's core to melt, which could result in a high release of radioactivity to the environment," he said.
Well, when they claim that Iran's neighbors are asking the agency to intervene, they failed to admit that Russia is one of those voices opposing the attack against Bushehr.
Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a warning Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump weighs getting involved in the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel.
Why It Matters
Putin's comments came as Israel and Iran entered the eighth day of conflict, which Israel sparked last week by launching a series of airstrikes that incapacitated Iran's military and intelligence chain-of-command, destroyed nuclear infrastructure and killed key Iranian nuclear scientists.
The Associated Press reported that Israel's strikes have killed more than 600 Iranians, and more than 2,000 have been injured. Israel has also sustained losses, with officials saying that more than 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds more were injured by Iran's strikes, one of which hit a major Israeli hospital on Thursday.
What To Know
Trump is currently considering the possibility of launching a U.S. strike against Iran's main nuclear enrichment site, located deep underground in Fordo. Destroying the site requires U.S.-made bunker-busting munitions, which the Israelis do not possess. Trump has also demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender," a call that the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sharply rejected earlier this week.
Meanwhile Russia, a key strategic partner of Iran, has stepped in and tried to play a mediating role in the conflict in recent days. Putin on Friday voiced concern about rapidly escalating tensions between Iran and Israel.
Answering questions at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Russian leader said, "[we] are strongly worried about what's going on around the Iranian nuclear facilities and possible consequences."
Putin added that the Kremlin has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for assurances of the safety of Russian personnel who are working on constructing two nuclear reactors in Iran's port of Bushehr. Putin said he had also raised the issue with Trump.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu has agreed with that, and President Trump has promised to support our legitimate demands," Putin said at the forum.
Throughout his remarks, Putin stressed that Russia has worked to maintain good relationships with both Iran and Israel, but added that Moscow also backs Iran's right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Quote:President Donald Trump announced Saturday evening that the United States had conducted successful airstrikes against three key Iranian nuclear facilities.
In a Truth Social message posted just before the 8 p.m. hour on the East Coast, Trump said the attacks on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites were complete and "all planes are safely on their way home." The strikes mark the first direct U.S. military involvement in the escalating Israel-Iran conflict that began nine days ago.
"A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow," Trump wrote. "There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Trump followed up with a post announcing he would address the nation at 10 p.m. ET.
The surprise bombing campaign — Trump had given Iran a deadline of two weeks to make a deal as recently as Thursday — effectively brings the U.S. into a new war in the Middle East, with the decision coming directly from a commander-in-chief who ran his successful campaign with an explicitly anti-war message.
The early responses from the right illustrated the divide among Republicans, and Trump supporters more broadly, about getting involved in the conflict in Iran.
"This is not constitutional," said Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a libertarian Republican often at odds with the new Trump administration.
Senator John Fetterman, the Democrat from Pennsylvania who is among strongest supporters of Israel in the caucus, called it "the correct move." On the other side of the aisle, Senator Lindsey Graham echoed that: "This was the right call. The regime deserved it."
Online, MAGA supporters and influencers were far less assured. Steve Bannon, among the more vocal opponents to U.S. military action in Iran, said on his War Room podcast: "You're kicking over a hornet's nest — this is as bad a place in the world as ever."
"The U.S. has become a combatant in the Persian War," Bannon said.
Tucker Carlson, who has become something of a resistance leader within MAGA for his furious opposition to the U.S. joining the war, had yet to react on social media.
The move to send American troops into Iranian airspace — to drop what are presumed to be the "bunker-buster" bombs known as Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) — represents an extraordinary ramping up of tensions between Iran and the West, and nothing less than a reordering of American foreign policy.
Under three presidents, including Donald Trump in his first term, the U.S. has been reluctant to get directly involved in regional conflicts following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While Trump fired a few dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syria in the first year of his first term, and famously ordered the strike that killed Iranian military chief Qasem Soleimani in 2020, the potential for the U.S. joining a regime-change war in a country of 90 million people is another matter. The U.S. public is broadly against going to war with the Iranians, with 60 percent unsupportive of direct intervention, according to a YouGov poll last week.
Meanwhile, Israel has been encouraging a more direct American role in its bombing campaign. The early reaction from Israel suggested the country was largely with Trump's decision.
Quote:President Trump has launched the United States into the spiraling Israel-Iran war, ordering strikes on the latter Middle Eastern country in an attempt to crush its nuclear program.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump announced on Truth Social.
The president’s move to get the US involved in Israel’s military operations — ongoing since it launched large-scale airstrikes Friday that killed 20 of Iran’s senior military leaders — comes after he told reporters Wednesday, “I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
Iran had warned a US strike would trigger an “all-out war.”
UKRAINE WAR
Quote:Ukraine's parliament on Wednesday passed legislation allowing its citizens to hold multiple citizenships.
The legislation comes as the country grapples with a severe demographic crisis, exacerbated by the ongoing war with Russia, which has forced millions of Ukrainians to flee abroad.
Why It Matters
The reform would allow the millions of Ukrainians around the world who have been displaced by Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of the country in 2022 to hold on to their Ukrainian passports should they seek other citizenship.
What To Know
Ukraine's population has been shrinking since the collapse of the Soviet Union, when it stood at around 50 million. By 2021, the figure had dropped to approximately 40 million. Today, the government estimates the population has fallen further to about 32 million, with a diaspora of roughly 25 million, according to Reuters.
Now in its its fourth year, the war has driven more than 5 million Ukrainians to Europe and claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Ukraine's Ministry of National Unity said in a statement that multiple citizenship was "a strategic step to preserve the unity of the Ukrainian nation in the face of war, global mobility, and a large diaspora."
It was developed "as a response to demographic and security challenges, as well as the need to restore and maintain ties with millions of Ukrainians abroad," added the statement.
Oleksiy Chernyshov, Ukraine's minister for unity, said he hoped the legislation would restore the country's ties with members of the global Ukrainian diaspora. His ministry said 90 percent of Ukrainians abroad were in countries where multiple citizenship is allowed.
Quote:Russia sent to Ukraine some of its dead troops in a prisoner and body exchange to hide Moscow's true battlefield losses, according to Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Ukrainian president said that Vladimir Putin was using the return of war dead to obscure the scale of military losses from the Russian public.
"Putin is afraid to admit how many people have died," Zelensky told the media briefing, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.
Why It Matters
Ukraine's General Staff said on Saturday Russian forces have sustained over 1,010,000 casualties—killed and wounded—since the start of the full-scale invasion.
While both sides keep tight-lipped about losses, Zelensky is accusing Moscow of hiding the scale of losses from the Russian public for fear of undermining any future mobilization.
What To Know
Zelensky's comments follow a prisoner and body exchange agreement in Istanbul on June 2 which was the most extensive of the full-scale war.
Ukraine recovered 6,057 bodies of its fallen soldiers while Russia took back only 78, according to Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky. Zelensky has said the vast majority of Russian soldiers killed on the battlefield remain in Russian hands.
But at least 20 of the bodies Russia returned as Ukrainian were actually Russian soldiers, some of whom had Russian passports according to Zelensky as part of a policy by Moscow to "break the reality in which we live."
The Ukrainian president also cited the case of an Israeli citizen who had died fighting on Russia's side whom Moscow had passed off as a Ukrainian soldier.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko had said on Thursday the remains of Alexander Viktorovich Bugaev, from Russia's 39th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade, had been returned to Ukraine disguised as a Ukrainian casualty.
Quote:Russia's economy, buoyed for months by wartime spending, may now be teetering toward recession, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Reshetnikov said on Thursday, according to Russian media reports.
Speaking at the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Reshetnikov said: "The numbers indicate cooling, but all our numbers are [like] a rearview mirror."
"Judging by the way businesses currently feel and the indicators, we are already, it seems to me, on the brink of going into a recession, he added, according to business news outlet RBC.
Why It Matters
The warning marks a significant shift as Russia faces the consequences of prolonged war-related spending, global sanctions and continued international isolation. For American policymakers and businesses, economic instability in Russia carries potential implications for global markets, energy prices, and ongoing geopolitical tensions, especially as sanctions and Russia's military operations in Ukraine continue to reshape the international economic landscape.
What To Know
Since sanctions were imposed following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia's economy had outperformed early predictions. High levels of defense spending supported growth and kept unemployment rates low even as inflation worsened. Wages rose with inflation, benefiting many workers in the short term.
Large signing bonuses for military recruits and death benefits for soldiers killed in Ukraine put additional money into poorer regions of Russia. However, economists have warned that the prolonged focus on military sectors, inflation, and a lack of foreign investment are increasing long-term risks and stagnation in other economic sectors.
At Thursday's event in Russia's second-largest city, intended to showcase the country's economic achievements and court foreign investors, Reshetnikov addressed Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, saying he wanted to give "the economy some love," according to Reuters.
Quote:Ukraine risks renewed armed conflict in the future if it does not recognize the results of referenda ballots Moscow held in 2022 in four Ukrainian regions that Russia claims to have annexed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Sky News Arabia.
The Russian president said Kyiv should recognize the referenda denounced as shams that Moscow said cemented its claim in the oblasts of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk. Putin, meanwhile, illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.
Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian foreign ministry for comment.
Why It Matters
In September 2022, Russia held a referenda on whether the regions Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts should be annexed by Russia after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February.
Russia does not fully occupy the four regions and the ballots were condemned internationally as shams. Putin then signed a treaty on the accession to Russia of the regions.
Ukraine is still fighting for these territories, but Putin's latest comments reiterate Moscow's red lines in any negotiations which because they are unacceptable to Kyiv, signal that a diplomatic solution to the war Moscow started remains distant.
What To Know
In an interview with Sky News Arabia, Putin warned Ukraine must recognize the 2022 referendum or face "opportunities for the resumption of armed conflict."
He also said that Russia was allegedly close to reaching an agreement with Ukraine during talks in Istanbul in 2022 and he wanted the Ukrainian leadership "to be guided by national interests and not by the interests of third parties."
Putin said long-term stability in the region required Ukraine to be neutral and refuse to join alliances and renouncing nuclear weapons.
He also accused the West of using Ukraine as a "tool" against Russia and that the country "deserves a better fate than being a tool in the hands of external parties acting against Russia."
His comments follow an address at this year's St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in which he said, "Ukraine is part of Russia," and that he considered Russians and Ukrainians to be "one people."
In response to Putin's comment "where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours," Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday "wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, he brings along only death, destruction, and devastation."
Quote:He bit more than the bullet.
A Russian soldier on the frontlines in Ukraine murdered his comrade and ate the corpse to survive the grim wartime conditions — only to end up dying anyway, Kyiv’s military intelligence reported.
A call between two Russian soldiers who shared the jaw-dropping story of the cannibalistic ‘Brelok’, who killed his countryman ‘Foma’, was allegedly intercepted by Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, according to the Kyiv Post.
“F–king hell… Brelok f–king ate him, f–k me… nobody went anywhere. Brelok took him out and then ate him for f–king two weeks,” the first caller said.
“No f–king way… Holy sh-t… F—k my bald skull. Was Brelok really found as a 200?” the other person replied, using Soviet era slang for a soldier found killed in action.
“Yeah, they say he was a 200. He ate his comrade. So yeah… something to think about. I was shocked myself,” the caller concluded.
The ghoulish cannibal was found dead, according to the report.
Russia has recruited hardened criminals — including murderers and convicted cannibals — to bolster its ranks during the country’s three-year invasion of Ukraine.
Denis Gorin, a cannibal from Sakhalin, who killed four people and was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2012, ate part of the body of one of his victims, Politico reported, citing Radio Liberty.
Quote:Sweden scrambled military aircraft in response to Russian fighter jets spotted over the southern parts of the Baltic Sea.
Swedish Armed forces spokesperson Mikael Ågren said two JAS Gripen planes were deployed over Skåne and Malmö in response to the Russian aircraft which did not violate the airspace of NATO's newest member.
The incident follows a series of Russian aircraft spotted flying in the region during NATO military exercises over the last two weeks and a warning by German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of further operations by Moscow to destabilize the region.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry and the Swedish Armed Forces for comment.
Why It Matters
With Sweden's accession to the alliance, the Baltic Sea is dubbed a NATO Lake where members of the bloc surrounding the waters have reported a spike in Russian military activity. Sweden's deployment of aircraft is the latest sign of tensions in the Baltic region.
What To Know
Ågren said that Sweden's military deployed two JAS Gripen planes over Skåne and Malmö at 6:15 p.m. on Friday.
He said the operation was not part of a scheduled exercise and during a regular patrol by Swedish forces near the borders, Russian Sukhoi Su-30 planes were detected in international airspace.
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet said it had received calls from readers who had seen three Swedish fighter planes over the Stockholm region.
Ågren said that there had been increased activity in the region and sightings of military aircraft over the Baltic Sea have become more frequent in recent weeks.
But he said people should not be concerned is they hear Swedish planes in the sky because "it's the sound of freedom you hear."
The incident comes as NATO's Baltops-25 exercises were coming to an end in the Baltic region which involved over 40 ships, 25 aircraft and approximately 9,000 personnel.
During this period, there was a spike in Russian military flights operating close to NATO airspace and U.K. Royal Air Force Typhoon jets based in Poland were scrambled six times in as many days in response.
Meanwhile, video posted on social media showed a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jet releasing flares over a U.S. Navy ship in international waters in the region.
Why would the Russian fighter blind the US Navy ship temporarily?
Quote:At least one person was killed in Ukraine Friday night as Russia continued its unrelenting attacks, despite both parties reportedly inching closer to a new round of peace talks.
A barrage of more than 20 Russian drones rained down on residential areas in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa and the northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight, according to officials. One civilian was killed and almost two dozen were injured, including two girls — 12 and 17-years-old — and three emergency workers.
The strikes sparked fires that caused the partial collapse of a four-story apartment building and tore through the upper floors of a 23-story high-rise, leading to the evacuation of about 600 residents.
The Kremlin’s attack also included 86 Iranian Shahed and decoy drones blasted across the country into Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on Telegram.
“Russia continues its tactics of targeted terror against our people,” Zelensky said in the post.
He called on Western countries to keep the pressure on Russia, including through sanctions.
“The sooner the sick people in the Kremlin lose the ability to finance the war, the more lives we can save in Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
In the 24 hours leading up to the nighttime attack, Russia bombarded its neighbor with hundreds more drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, according to Ukraine’s air force.
The attacks followed an assault on Kyiv Tuesday that killed 28 and injured 142 others — marking the deadliest onslaught on the capital city this year.
Meanwhile, the warring countries completed another round of prisoner exchanges on Friday, the second trade of POWs and soldiers’ remains in two days, though neither side specified how many people were involved in the swap.
ASIA
Quote:The Philippines has released footage showing its coast guard responding Wednesday to reports of "illegal swarming" by dozens of ships belonging to China's so-called Maritime Militia.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Philippine Coast Guard via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Alongside its powerful coast guard, analysts describe the Maritime Militia as another tool for China to assert its territorial claims, with the ships frequently deploying in the dozens and occupying contested waters for weeks at a time. Beijing claims the ships, dubbed "Little Blue Men" for their distinctive hulls, are crewed by patriotic fishermen.
Beijing claims sovereignty over more than 80 percent of the strategic South China Sea, through which an estimated $3 trillion in trade passes each year. These claims put China at odds with several neighbors, including the United States' treaty ally, the Philippines, which has been pushing back against Chinese expansion within its exclusive economic zone.
What To Know
The Philippine coast guard dispatched two vessels and one aircraft "in response to reports of illegal swarming by Chinese Maritime Militia in Rozul Reef," wrote the agency's spokesperson, Jay Tarriela, in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
Rozul Reef is the Philippines' name for Iroquois Reef, a feature located about 150 miles off the Philippines' Palawan province and well within the country's 200-nautical-mile (230-mile) exclusive economic zone.
The coast guard confirmed over 50 ships "both scattered and clustered together" around the reef, according to Tarriela.
The Philippine ships hailed the Chinese vessels, ordering them "to clarify their intentions, cease their swarming behaviors, and navigate in accordance with the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the 2016 Arbitral Award," he added.
Quote:The devastating property crisis that broke out in China after the collapse of giants like Evergrande is far from being resolved, experts say, as new home prices in the country continue falling and new construction projects get cut down.
The sector has gone "from a free fall" in the years following Evergrande's default in 2021 "to a gradual fall" today, Zhaopeng Xing, senior China strategist at ANZ, told Newsweek.
What Is Happening In China's Property Market?
China's property market has propelled the country's explosive economic growth over the past few decades, single-handedly lifting hundreds of millions of Chinese people out of poverty and into the middle class.
But since the collapse of giant developers like Evergrande and Country Garden, the sector has been sinking, threatening to drag the Chinese economy down with it.
Despite efforts from the government to revive the struggling property sector, which was once the country's economic powerhouse, recent data show that it is still unable to walk on its own feet and demand is failing to pick up.
New home prices fell 0.22 percent in 70 Chinese cities in May, the largest decline in seven months, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics. Existing home prices fell by an even bigger 0.5 percent, marking the steepest decline in eight months. In the same month, residential sales by value dropped 6.1 percent year-on-year, while real-estate investment plunged 12 percent from a year earlier.
Kent Deng, professor of economic history at the London School of Economics (LSE), told Newsweek that there has been "no real recovery so far" in the Chinese market.
"It is a story of housing oversupply," he said. "China has had 600 million permanent buildings, roughly two people a building. It will take 30-50 years to absorb them," he added. This same oversupply is leading prices to fall and new construction projects to be cut down.
How China's Surprise ICBM Test Alarmed US Pacific Ally [New Zealand]
Quote:China has been accused of "misleading" New Zealand—a United States security ally in the South Pacific—regarding its test of an unarmed but nuclear-capable long-range missile in 2024.
In a statement to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied that Beijing had mischaracterized the test, claiming it was part of the military's routine annual training and was conducted in compliance with "international law and international norms."
Newsweek has reached out to both the Chinese Defense Ministry and the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand for further comment via email. The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.
Why It Matters
Last September, China—one of nine nuclear-armed states—publicized its first test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in over four decades. The missile's dummy warhead landed in international waters in the South Pacific, about 7,400 miles from its launch site.
It was reported that Washington and its South Pacific allies, Australia and New Zealand, received pre-launch notifications from Beijing, which the Pentagon later confirmed.
Both Russia and the U.S. regularly conduct unarmed tests of their nuclear missiles. The rare Chinese missile test over the Pacific comes against the backdrop of the rapid modernization and expansion of China's nuclear arsenal, which currently includes at least 600 warheads.
What To Know
Citing classified government documents, AFP reported on Wednesday that New Zealand's senior diplomats were concerned China had characterized the test as routine—a view the South Pacific country did not share—adding that "we do not want to see this test repeated."
In addition to criticizing China's "mischaracterization," New Zealand diplomats questioned Beijing's rationale for choosing the South Pacific as the missile's splashdown site, as well as the timing of the test, which they described as a "significant and concerning" development.
The test also marked the first time a nuclear-capable missile has been terminated within the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone—established in 1986 under the Treaty of Rarotonga. However, the treaty specifically prevents only the testing of "nuclear explosive devices."
Kiribati—located within the nuclear-free zone and an ally of China—expressed discontent over the test. The island nation, which did not receive prior notification from Beijing, stated at the time that international waters in the region "are not isolated pockets of oceans."
Quote:The United States has transferred a third coast guard ship to Vietnam, as the former foes expand their defense partnership amid China's growing threats in nearby disputed waters.
Newsweek has contacted the Chinese defense and foreign ministries for comment by email.
Why It Matters
In 1995, the U.S. and Vietnam—former adversaries during the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975—normalized diplomatic relations. Following Washington's lifting of an arms sales ban in 2016, Hanoi acquired military equipment from its new partner, including training aircraft.
The bilateral defense cooperation comes against the backdrop of tensions in the South China Sea, where overlapping sovereignty claims by countries such as Vietnam and China, as well as the strong presence of the Chinese coast guard, continue to heighten friction in the region.
What To Know
The U.S. Mission to Vietnam announced on Wednesday that the former U.S. Coast Guard ship USCGC Mellon has been transferred to Vietnam as the high-endurance cutter CSB 8022. The ship arrived in Ninh Hoa, south-central Vietnam, the same day following a trans-Pacific voyage that began in Seattle, with stopovers in Hawaii and Guam.
The Vietnam Coast Guard received CSB 8020—formerly USCGC Morgenthau—in 2017 and CSB 8021—formerly USCGC John Midgett—in 2020. All three ships were transferred under a defense cooperation memorandum of understanding, according to the U.S. Mission.
"Through this cooperation, the United States and Vietnam is enhancing the development of maritime law enforcement, search and rescue, and humanitarian and disaster relief abilities, and supporting capacity to protect sovereignty," the U.S. Mission said in a statement.
The former U.S. Coast Guard vessels were built as Hamilton-class cutters designed for extended maritime operations, each weighing over 2,700 tons and having a range of 10,000 miles—the approximate straight-line distance between New York and Melbourne, Australia.
Quote:The Chinese military has concluded its unprecedented dual aircraft carrier deployment in the broader western Pacific, as one of the warships was spotted leaving the region, Japan has said.
Newsweek has contacted the Chinese defense and foreign ministries for comment by email.
Why It Matters
The Chinese navy is the world's largest by hull count, enabling the East Asian power to steadily expand its military reach and presence within and beyond the western Pacific, challenging U.S. naval dominance as well as the security of America's allies and partners.
Both of China's aircraft carriers in active service—CNS Liaoning and CNS Shandong—have been operating simultaneously in waters east of the First Island Chain, a U.S. maritime defensive line formed by Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines, for the first time since June 7.
This rare Chinese naval operation, closely monitored by Japan—a U.S. treaty ally—comes as the U.S. redeploys one of its two aircraft carriers, USS Nimitz, to the Middle East from the western Pacific, in response to rising tensions stemming from the Iran-Israel conflict.
What To Know
The Japanese Defense Ministry issued another update on the Chinese dual aircraft carrier deployment on Friday, revealing that the Liaoning and its naval task group returned to the East China Sea from the Philippine Sea after transiting the Miyako Strait that same day.
Meanwhile, the Shandong-led naval task group continued operating in waters east of the northern Philippines from Tuesday to Thursday. It remains unclear whether this Chinese flotilla will return to the western side of the First Island Chain by transiting the Luzon Strait.
Both waterways—located along the First Island Chain—are key gateways for China's naval operations in the broader western Pacific. The Miyako Strait lies in Japan's southwestern waters, while the Luzon Strait separates Taiwan to the north and the Philippines to the south.
Quote:As Israel and Iran exchanged missile fire on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Central Asian countries to deepen cooperation under China's "Belt and Road" infrastructure initiative. This marks the latest step in what analysts call Beijing's diplomatic offensive and was highlighted in a recent podcast by the China-Global South Project (CGSP).
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese embassy via email with a request for comment.
Why It Matters
China's global influence continues to expand, particularly in the developing world—often at the expense of the United States.
This trend has accelerated during President Donald Trump's second administration, which has withdrawn from a range of traditional U.S. leadership initiatives and soft power programs, including the World Health Organization, USAID and PEPFAR.
What To Know
At a summit in Astana, Kazakhstan on Tuesday, Xi announced a dozen cooperation agreements spanning green mining, trade, connectivity, personnel exchanges, and customs, according to Chinese state media. The previous week, China secured $11.4 billion in deals during the fourth China-Africa trade expo, hosted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Changsha, Hunan Province.
The two powers are "going in very divergent directions," said Eric Olander, editor-in-chief of CGSP.
The CGSP podcast discussion turned to China's vocal support for Iran, after Xi spoke out Tuesday to rebuke Israel for sparking the ongoing conflict with its surprise attack last week.
Quote:India does not want war with Pakistan, but its neighbor is a legitimate target if it does not close "terrorist camps" and should avoid "nuclear blackmail", said Shashi Tharoor, chairman of the Indian Parliament's Committee on External Affairs.
The nations clashed over four days in May as India struck targets it alleged were terrorist infrastructure after the killing of the 26 civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan denied any role in the Islamist attack on tourists and retaliated for the Indian strikes before the nuclear-armed neighbors agreed a ceasefire.
"We're not interested in war. We're focused on our own growth and development, on the well-being and prosperity of our people," Tharoor told Newsweek in Washington, D.C.
A member of parliament from the opposition Indian National Congress, Tharoor showed a unified front with the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on "Operation Sindoor." In Washington, his delegation met with Vice President JD Vance.
Tharoor said the Indian operation had been designed to send a message to Pakistan and to avoid civilian casualties while striking infrastructure of groups designated as terrorists by the U.S. and United Nations. Some elements of Pakistan's military are "deeply complicit" in terrorism targeting India and its denials are not believable, he said. "We want to send them a signal. Don't just think you can walk across the border and kill our people and get away with it because we're so nice. Sorry. We'll stop being nice."
"Probably the terror buildings and infrastructure we've demolished will be built again in six to nine months, and then what happens? That's the real question. Will Pakistan understand that as long as these things are on their territory, their territory becomes a legitimate target for reprisals anytime a terrorist attack happens?"
The office of Pakistan's prime minister did not respond to a Newsweek request for comment. Pakistan has said over 50 people were killed in the Indian strikes, 40 of them civilians. India said around 30 of its people were killed, mostly by Pakistani shelling. More than 20 were civilians.
Quote:Air India has revealed that one of the two engines on the doomed Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner flight that crashed seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport was new, and the other wasn’t due for a service until the end of the year.
“The right engine was a new engine put in March 2025,” the airline’s chairman N Chandrasekaran told the local Indian news channel, Times Now.
“The left engine was last serviced in 2023 and (was) due for its next maintenance check in December 2025”.
Investigations are underway into how the flight bound for London’s Gatwick Airport crashed into a medical students’ hostel last Thursday, killing at least 270 people.
“There are a lot of speculations and a lot of theories,” Chandrasekaran said, “But the fact that I know so far is this particular aircraft, this specific tail, AI171, has a clean history.
“I am told by all the experts that the black box and recorders will definitely tell the story. So, we just have to wait for that.”
The plane’s two black boxes have been recovered allowing for analysis of the cockpit voice recorder, which captures audio including voices, alarms and background noises from the cockpit, and the flight data recorder, which logs flight parameters like engine performance and the plane’s speed and altitude.
Chandrasekaran said that it may be a month before preliminary results of the investigation are available.
Quote:North Korea fired more than 10 rounds of rockets into the Yellow Sea Thursday, just one day after South Korea held joint air drills with the US and Japan — in the latest sign of mounting tensions between the neighboring countries.
The missiles were shot from Pyongyang’s upgraded 240-millimeter multiple rocket launcher — believed to be capable of targeting South Korean population centers including the Seoul metropolitan area — which the hermit country unveiled last year.
“The projectiles, believed to be multiple launch rockets, flew tens of kilometers before falling into the Yellow Sea,”a South Korean military official told local media, adding South Korean and US intelligence are closely analyzing details.
On Wednesday, South Korea, the US and Japan held their first trilateral military air exercise of the Lee Jae Myung administration — the new leader elected earlier this month.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased in recent months, following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s alignment with Russian President Vladimir Putin — supplying weapons and as many as 15,000 troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.
South Korean officials are concerned that Pyongyang could receive economic aid in return and advanced military technology to further develop its weapons programs.
Kim has also continued to accelerate the development of his nuclear and missile program.
The reclusive leader has been visiting military industrial factories across the country, calling on them to ramp up production of shells in order to meet the demands of war in the 21st century.
North Korea also successfully built two 5,000-ton naval destroyers this year, with Kim calling the new battleship “convincing proof of the rapid transformation of our Navy.”
Quote:Japan broke a record for tourism in 2024, with people from all over the world visiting the island nation.
But the country has even bigger tourist goals for the years ahead.
Hokuto Asano, first secretary at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital in an interview that with the influx of tourists, the country is working to meet demand.
“Overtourism is a new challenge for the Japanese community,” said Asano. “So we need to pursue how to create a win-win relationship [between] Japanese local people and foreign tourists.”
News outlets have reported on a “two-tier” pricing system at restaurants, theme parks and other attractions, with tourists charged more for services and experiences than Japanese citizens are charged.
“The price of the restaurant, sushi restaurant in Japan, even hotel — the price is also increasing,” Asano said. “So Japanese people sometimes say [that] Japanese people cannot enjoy the domestic tourism.”
He added, “But there should be a difference in the taste or preference between Japan and Japanese people and international tourists. There should be a difference in the price and also product or service toward the international tourists.”
USA
Quote:Accused Minnesota political assassin Vance Boetler wrote a deranged letter addressed to the FBI in which he wildly claimed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz instructed him to kill Sen. Amy Klobuchar, according to a report.
Boetler, 57, alleged in the rambling, conspiratorial letter that the former Democrat vice presidential candidate directed him to murder Klobuchar (D-MN) as part of a supposed plot for Walz to take her spot in the Senate, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported, citing people familiar with the writings.
The letter, which is one and a half pages long, is mostly incoherent and gives insight into the muddled mind of the Minnesota madman, those sources told the outlet.
Neither Walz nor Klobuchar responded directly to the information contained in the letter but each issued statements on the shootings following the report.
“Governor Walz is grateful to law enforcement who apprehended the shooter, and he’s grateful to the prosecutors who will ensure justice is swiftly served,” Walz spokesman Teddy Tschann told the Star Tribune.
Klobuchar said in a statement, “Boetler is a very dangerous man and I am deeply grateful that law enforcement got him behind bars before he killed other people.”
Boetler is accused of killing Minnesota House rep Melissa Hortman and her husband and shooting state senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette in an early morning targeted attack on June 14 during which the alleged killer donned a creepy latex mask and wore a police officer’s uniform.
At the home of Hortman, investigators got into a shootout with Boetler who fled — leaving behind a “manifesto” that listed the names of 70 politicians to kill – including Gov. Walz who once appointed the 57-year-old to a state-wide board.
Boetler was captured in a wooded area in Sibley County on Sunday following the largest manhunt the Land of 10,000 Lakes has ever seen — with SWAT teams swarming after getting a tip from a local resident who spotted the fugitive on a trail cam, the Star Tribune reported.
The maniac faces federal murder and stalking charges in addition to state charges and, if convicted, could face the death penalty.
Quote:Federal workers frequently violated work-from-home policies under the Biden administration, a government watchdog revealed in a report released Friday.
The “rampant telework abuse” was the result of “compliance failures and weak internal oversight” at former President Joe Biden’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM), according to the agency’s inspector general, which sampled the badging data, timesheets and remote-work agreements of dozens of federal employees.
“Under the previous administration, OPMʼs telework and remote work policies were mismanaged and oversight was virtually nonexistent,” OPM Acting Director Chuck Ezell said in a statement.
“That era of telework abuse is over,” Ezell declared. “At President Trumpʼs direction, OPM has restored in-person operations to ensure federal employees are working for the taxpayers.”
The report found 58.1% of employees sampled failed to meet minimum requirements for in-office work under Biden.
Nearly one-third (29.7%) had lapsed telework agreements, 21% had discrepancies in their paperwork and 15% did not have any approved agreements on file, OPM’s inspector general discovered.
The scope of the evaluation did not include determining the precise reasons for the noncompliance, but the OPM IG listed several possibilities, including “intentional fraud or abuse.”
“Weak or missing management controls” and “negligence or carelessness” by employees and supervisors were also listed among the possible reasons for the violations.
Quote:She might be the She-Wolf of Wall Street.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) raked in between $7.8 and $42.5 million in 2024 — meaning her estimated net worth with venture capitalist hubby Paul Pelosi could now top out at $413 million, new financial disclosures showed.
The staggering sum is an eye-popping jump from 2023, when financial disclosures showed the couple’s net worth topping out at a possible $370 million.
Pelosi’s exact net worth is not known because lawmakers are only required to disclose ranges.
Market research firm Quiver Quantitative, which estimates a single figure based on daily stock values it tracks, placed the pair’s 2024 worth at $257 million — up $26 million from a year earlier.
But the value of their various other ventures — which include but are not limited to a Napa Valley winery, ownership in a political data and consulting firm and a stake in a Bay area Italian restaurant — mean Pelosi’s worth could be far higher in the estimated range.
A large chunk of the couple’s fortune has come from a sizable stock portfolio and timely trades, all done in Paul Pelosi’s name.
The former House Speaker, who’s so infamous for trading Missouri Rep. Josh Hawley named a bill after her, and her husband dumped 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock worth an estimated $2.2 million in July — one of their largest sales in three years — a few short months before the FTC announced an antitrust investigation into the tech giant.
They also sold 2,000 shares — worth an estimated $525,000 — of Visa stock, less than three months before the credit card company was hit with a DOJ monopoly lawsuit.
Quote:Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion acquisition of US Steel closed on Wednesday, the companies said, confirming an unusual degree of power for President Trump after the Japanese company’s 18-month struggle to close the purchase.
Under the deal terms, Nippon bought 100% of US Steel shares at $55 per share, as it first laid out in its December 2023 offer for the well-known and struggling steelmaker.
The companies also disclosed details of a national security agreement inked with the Trump administration, which gives Trump the authority to name a board member as well as a non-economic golden share.
The measures represent an unusual level of control conceded by the companies to the government to save the deal, after a rocky path to approval spurred by high-level political opposition.
The inclusion of the golden share in particular to win approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which scrutinizes foreign investment for national security risks, could drive overseas investors away from US companies, national security lawyers have said.
“The optics of a golden share – they suggest that it’s a little bit harder to divorce pure national security analysis from political decision making,” said Josh Gruenspecht, a national security lawyer at Wilson Sonsini.
Quote:Federal regulators have issued a rare, urgent warning over the risk of Boeing 737 MAX engines malfunctioning and letting smoke into an airplane cabin or cockpit.
Damage to the engine’s oil system can cause smoke from hot oil to enter the airplane ventilation system and fill the cabin or cockpit – presenting an extreme danger of incapacitating the pilots, the National Transportation Safety Board wrote in a report released Wednesday.
The recommendations were inspired by two incidents on Southwest Airlines flights, when CFM International LEAP-1B engines malfunctioned after bird strikes and poured smoke into the cabins.
In December 2023, a Boeing 737-8 filled with “acrid white smoke” shortly after takeoff from New Orleans, La. It was so thick that the captain struggled to see the instrument panel in the cockpit, the NTSB said.
An engine on another flight in March 2023 was similarly damaged by a bird strike, allowing fog to funnel into the passenger cabin shortly after departing Havana, Cuba.
Both flights required emergency landings, and there were no injuries, the safety agency said.
The NTSB is recommending modifications to the engines, which are used on Boeing 737 MAX planes and Airbus A32 jets.
In an urgent notice, it is asking the Federal Aviation Administration to evaluate whether LEAP-1A and LEAP-1C engines have the potential for the same issue.
The NTSB also expressed concern that flight crews are unaware of the potential smoke hazard and won’t know how to take action. The agency said it had urged the FAA to require operators like Boeing to alert crews of the smoke risk.
Quote:The human remains found in a ritzy Rhode Island beach town near pop icon Taylor Swift's mansion have been identified as police close the investigation.
The remains washed ashore on May 14 in the wealthy coastal enclave of Watch Hill, part of the town of Westerly, Rhode Island, just down the beach from a sprawling mansion owned by Swift.
The South Kingstown Police Department positively identified the remains of Eric Wein, 31, of Massachusetts, who was reported missing on April 18.
Police said Wein's vehicle was located in South Kingstown on April 10, days before he was officially reported missing.
Officials said no foul play was suspected and the investigation was concluded.
"We extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Wein’s family and loved ones during this difficult time," police said in a news release.
The discovery in Westerly comes three weeks after an unidentified male was found in the Seekonk River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Westerly and Pawtucket are about 48 miles apart.
Back in May, the beach town's top cop eased fears for residents, telling Fox News Digital that "there is no connection between human remains found and online fears of a serial killer in New England."
"As far as I'm concerned, as far as right now, this has nothing to do with any serial killer [or] any New England murderer," Westerly Police Chief Paul Gingerella previously told Fox News Digital.
Quote:Dozens of protesters gathered on the steps of the federal courthouse in downtown San Antonio on June 11, waving Mexican flags and signs with slogans like "Keep our city neat — no ICE." In front of them stood a tattoo-covered man wearing an obscene t-shirt and holding his own cardboard sign, on which he'd handwritten "Come to my show @ LOL on June 15."
Heads turned. Confusion turned to anger. The next day, Justin Governale said he saw photos of himself on local social media pages, labeled a "known agitator" by protesters who urged others to "share his face."
"I was like, 'Yeah, keep sharing my face. Let's go,'" Governale joked to Fox News Digital. "Free promotion."
Governale, a former Marine scout sniper, garnered a surge of online attention after crashing demonstrations against ICE and President Donald Trump last week in San Antonio to advertise his comedy show. Many felt he wasn't taking the issue of mass deportations and workplace raids seriously enough.
"Families are being separated and broken apart, meanwhile this guy is using it to publicize himself, sad," one Instagram user wrote in the comments under Governale's video.
"So many people on the left… were arguing with me," Governale said, and making assumptions about him — and his opinions — that weren't necessarily true.
His mother came to the U.S. as a migrant worker from Mexico, he said, picking cherries in Wisconsin. She didn't gain citizenship until Governale was 11 years old.
"When she became an American citizen, she was so freaking proud," he said. "I'm very fortunate to be here."
His mother's experience, coupled with his travels throughout Central America, where he met migrants embarking on dangerous journeys trying to get to the United States, let him see both sides of the issue.
Quote:Rhode Island’s Democratic-controlled state House on Friday approved legislation that would ban the sale and manufacturing of many semiautomatic rifles commonly referred to as assault weapons.
The proposal now heads to the desk of Democratic Gov. Dan McKee, who said in a post on the social platform X on Friday evening that he plans to sign the bill into law.
If that happens, Rhode Island will join 10 states that have some sort of prohibition on high-powered firearms that were once banned nationwide and are now largely the weapon of choice among those responsible for most of the country’s devastating mass shootings.
Gun control advocates have been pushing for an assault weapons ban in Rhode Island for more than a decade.
However, despite being a Democratic stronghold, lawmakers throughout the country’s smallest state have long quibbled over the necessity and legality of such proposals.
The bill only applies to the sale and manufacturing of assault weapons and not possession.
Only Washington state has a similar law.
Residents looking to purchase an assault weapon from nearby New Hampshire or elsewhere will also be blocked.
Federal law prohibits people from traveling to a different state to purchase a gun and returning it to a state where that particular of weapon is banned.
Nine states and the District of Columbia have bans on the possession of assault weapons, covering major cities like New York and Los Angeles. Hawaii bans assault pistols.
Quote:A Georgia couple whose baby was decapacitated during childbirth was awarded a $2.25 million verdict after their pathologist posted graphic autopsy videos on social media without their consent.
Dr. Jackson Gates and his Atlanta-based business will have to fork over the large sum to Jessica Ross and Traveon Taylor Sr. after a Fulton County jury found him liable of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and fraud on Wednesday.
“This young couple trusted him with the remains of their precious baby,” attorney’s for the grieving parents said, noting that the doctor “poured salt into the couple’s already deep wounds.”
“Gates, in turn, repaid this trust by posting horrific images of their child for the world to see.”
The heartbroken couple hired the twisted doctor to perform an autopsy on their deceased newborn two days after their obstetrician allegedly applied excessive force to the baby’s neck when its shoulders became stuck in Ross’s pelvic area, causing it to detach during the traumatic July 2023 delivery.
The baby’s head was delivered vaginally, but the rest of the body was removed via C-section. The death was later ruled a homicide.
Gates posted numerous videos and photos to his Instagram later that month, showing the grisly postmortem examination of their infants “decapitated, severed head,” the couple said in their lawsuit.
The deranged pathologist initially removed the footage after receiving a letter from the couple’s attorney — but later reposted them, according to the lawsuit.
Quote:Socialist NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani once pushed to abolish the city’s admissions test for Gotham’s elite public high schools because he thought it was racist, The Post has learned.
The Queens assemblyman – who is second only to ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in most polls heading into Tuesday’s Democratic mayoral primary – hasn’t said much about the topic on the campaign beyond telling Chalkbeat last week he’d support an independent study of the Specialized High Schools Admission Test for signal out gender and racial bias.
However, when asked by the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club in February 2022 to describe legislation and policy changes he supports to address “the ongoing effect of slavery, racism, colonialism and discrimination” Mamdani – a former specialized test tutor – singled out spiking the SHSAT.
“As a graduate of Bronx Science, I have personally witnessed just how segregated New York City public schools are, especially our specialized high school,” he said at the time.
“I support measures to integrate our public schools and fully fund our education system, including the abolition of the SHSAT.”
The SHSAT under state law is the sole criteria for entry into the city’s eight elite public high schools, including Bronx High School of Science, Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Tech.
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said the ex-gov has been and “continues to be in favor to keep the exam is.”
Former far-left Mayor Bill de Blasio tried twice to change the law while Cuomo ran the state, failing both times.
Quote:United States and POW/MIA flags were hoisted and hung upside down at three separate sites in southern Brooklyn Friday, infuriating locals who blamed the disrespect on anti-American, far-left policies being pushed by New York pols.
The city Parks Department confirmed it sent crews Friday to fix the improperly-flying flags at John J. Carty Park and the Fort Hamilton Triangle in Bay Ridge, and Bath Beach Park in Bensonhurst. Carty Park is – next door to the Fort Hamilton Army base.
Hanging the American flag upside down is considered a distress signal under the U.S. flag code, but it’s also widely used as a stunt to show disrespect for the U.S. and its government.
“I’m honestly shocked this happened in Bay Ridge,'” said Michael Ragusa, a southern Brooklyn GOP operative and city correction officer.
“Just a few years ago, it was one of the last solid Republican neighborhoods left in Brooklyn. Now, it’s clear that the same un-American behavior spreading across the country is taking root right here — and New York City politicians are helping fuel it.”
Ragusa ripped Democratic Councilman Justin Brannan, who represents Bay Ridge, for joking on X that state Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar was behind the flag fiasco.
“It shows he’s not serious — about his job, his constituents, or this country,” Ragusa said.
The Parks Department said it alerted regional parks managers in Brooklyn to be on the lookout for similar incidents, but declined to say whether it had leads on who disrespected Old Glory.
AUSTRALIA
Quote:An Australian college student died of a caffeine overdose after waiting several hours for the ambulance to arrive.
Christina Lackmann, 32, was a biomedical science student who was found dead in her home in Melbourne in April 2021, according to 9News.
Lackman had called emergency services at around 8 p.m. local time, saying she felt dizzy, numb and couldn’t get up from the floor.
Believing it to be vertigo, the operator labeled the case “non-urgent” — and the ambulance didn’t arrive until after 2 a.m., nearly seven hours since she had first made the frantic call.
After climbing through a neighbor’s balcony, paramedics discovered her body in her bathroom — alone aside from her distressed dog.
It appeared she had been deceased for some time.
A toxicology report indicated she had dangerously high levels of caffeine in her blood at the time of her death, and email exchanges showed she had received 90 200mg caffeine tablets that day.
“I am satisfied that Christina’s death was the consequence of the ingestion of caffeine tablets,” coroner Catherine Fitzgerald said.
“However, I am not satisfied to the requisite standard that Christina intended to take her own life, although this remains a distinct possibility.”
The coroner said that it was impossible to determine her likelihood for survival if the ambulance had arrived earlier, noting, however that overdoses are “largely preventable when treating clinicians know what they are treating.”
While relatively rare, caffeine overdoses can be swift and brutal.
Last March, a 28-year-old “workout queen” died from a caffeine overdose, which her heartbroken mother blamed on energy drinks.
In 2018, 21-year-old Australian musician Lachlan Foote died of caffeine toxicity after adding a teaspoon of caffeine powder to a protein shake.
Experts say most healthy adults can safely consume up to 400 mg of caffeine a day, which translates to four cups of coffee, 10 cans of soda or two energy drinks.
While it can vary based on individual factors, 5 to 10 grams of caffeine is considered a lethal dose for most people.
Quote:One person has died following an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Sydney’s central business district (CBD) prompting authorities to issue a health alert.
New South Wales (NSW) Health said 12 people who spent time in the city and surrounding suburbs between March and April had contracted the deadly disease.
“Sadly, one of the people who contracted the disease passed away in hospital last week,” a NSW Health spokesman said on Wednesday.
Authorities tested more than 165 cooling towers in the city and detected legionella bacteria in one.
The cooling tower is being decontaminated and further tests are being conducted to determine if it was the source of the outbreak.
Anyone who was in the Sydney CBD and surrounding suburbs between March and April is urged to be aware of symptoms including fever, chills, coughing and shortness of breath.
Symptoms can develop up to 10 days after exposure and anyone who experiences symptoms should see their doctor.
South Eastern Sydney Local Heath District Public Health Unit Director Vicky Sheppeard said 11 people with the disease had been hospitalised and one person received care out of hospital.
“Legionnaires’ disease is caused by infection with legionella bacteria,” Dr. Sheppeard said.
“Outbreaks sometimes occur when bacteria from environmental sources such as cooling towers atop large buildings become contaminated. It is not spread from person to person.
Quote:Australia’s medicines watchdog has confirmed it will investigate a report claiming several sunscreens did not offer the sun protection they advertised.
Consumer group CHOICE delivered the report last week, claiming it had tested 20 popular SPF50 and SPF50+ sunscreens and found 16 of them fell short of the protection they advertised.
SPF stands for “sun protection factor” and is the measure of how well the sunscreen protects a user from the sun’s UV rays.
An SPF 50 sunscreen is meant to block about 98 percent of the rays, meaning it will take 50 times longer to get burnt than with unprotected skin.
The consumer group tested the products with experts in an accredited sunscreen lab, with four products returning SPF results in the 40s, four in the 30s, and seven in the 20s.
The popular brands tested include Banana Boat, Cancer Council and Bondi Sands sunscreens.
In one example, the Banana Boat Baby Zinc Sunscreen Lotion SPF 50+ tested at 28, while the Coles SPF 50+ Sunscreen Ultra Tube tested at 43.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has responded to the report and said it would investigate CHOICE’s findings and take “regulatory action as required”.
“Sunscreens with a primary purpose of UV protection are considered to be therapeutic goods and are regulated by us to ensure their safety, quality and efficacy,” the watchdog stated.
“It is a requirement under therapeutic legislation that statements on sunscreen labels are truthful and not misleading.
“It is also a legislative requirement that a sponsor of a therapeutic sunscreen product holds evidence that supports the SPF claim they make at the time they include the medicine in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods.
“We will be investigating the CHOICE findings and will take regulatory action as required.
“We cannot comment on individual matters including whether products may be subject to investigation or compliance and enforcement activity, or the status of any such investigation and activity.”
One skincare company that says it takes the testing of its products seriously has been criticized by users following the release of the CHOICE results.
Quote:Security camera footage shows the ridiculous moment a group of would-be arsonists accidentally set their getaway vehicle on fire.
South Australia Police have released the footage from a residence in Port Pirie, 124 miles north of Adelaide, showing a car pulling up alongside a fenced-off building at night.
A man hops out of the vehicle, which remains idle, and begins to douse the area in liquid.
“As seen in the footage, three male suspects had attended an address in Young Street and doused the front of the residence with accelerant,” SA Police said in a statement.
The man can be seen emptying some form of container onto the residence in the suburb of Solomontown, with liquid spilling onto the footpath.
Before he returns to the car, he grabs another container and repeats the process.
Footage shows the inside of the vehicle become engulfed in flames as it begins to roll forward, before three perpetrators can be seen spilling out of the vehicle on both sides.
SA Police said the men then “ran off, abandoning the car in the street”.
“It is extremely likely they have suffered significant burns or injuries in the fire and police urge them to seek medical attention,” Police said.
“Anyone with information about the identity or location of anyone involved in this incident is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers immediately.”
When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered the vehicle on fire and another fire burning at the front of a nearby home.
Both fires were extinguished with a fire extinguisher.
Police said the occupants of the house were not injured, although the outside of the house had been charred by flames.
Quote:Nine people were taken to hospital and 200 evacuated following a chemical incident at a public pool in Melbourne’s north.
Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) were called to the Broadmeadows Leisure Centre about 6:15 p.m. on Friday night after people reported the smell of gas inside the center.
Firefighters found multiple people affected by the chemicals upon arrival.
A FRV spokesperson confirmed to NewsWire that nine people were taken to hospital for treatment following the incident.
About 200 people were evacuated from the leisure center while FRV hazmat specialists ventilated the premises.
A positive reading for sodium hydrogen sulphate was found by the hazmat specialists.
The center was confirmed to be safe to re-enter two hours later by FRV.
A Hume City Council spokeswoman said the incident was sparked by the occurrence of a chemical reaction during routine pool maintenance on Friday evening.
The spokeswoman said the nine people taken to hospital had been in contact with the council, and “we understand they are all doing well”.
“Following a thorough assessment by WorkSafe immediately after the incident, it was confirmed the facility was safe to reopen Saturday morning,” the spokeswoman said.
An internal review has been launched to confirm the incident’s cause, and to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“We thank our staff and emergency services for their swift and professional response and thank the community for their understanding and support,” the spokeswoman said.
Sodium hydrogen sulphate, also known as sodium bisulfate, can be used to adjust pH levels in water.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
![[Image: SP1-Scripter.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Scripter.png)
![[Image: SP1-Writer.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Writer.png)
![[Image: SP1-Poet.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Poet.png)
![[Image: SP1-PixelArtist.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-PixelArtist.png)
![[Image: SP1-Reporter.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/GmxWbHyL/SP1-Reporter.png)
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
