News of the World
11-11-2025, 07:15 AM
USA
Quote:WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a revised stopgap funding bill to move toward ending the shutdown on Monday, sending the legislation back to the House for consideration as lawmakers in the lower chamber return to the nation’s capital.
All Republican senators — except for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — and eight Democratic or Dem-aligned senators approved the stopgap measure, which would fund the government until Jan. 30, 2026, helping it clear the 60-vote filibuster in the Senate.
The measure also included funding until Sept. 30, 2026, for the 42 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) as well as veterans’ medical care and benefits, military construction and spending for legislative branch activities.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Monday urged reps to reconvene immediately, with a vote expected 36 hours after the so-called “clean” continuing resolution passed the Senate.
It left the lower chamber after being approved by a narrow majority on Sept. 19.
But 40 Democrats — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) — opposed it after having initially forced the shutdown on Oct. 1 with five of their colleagues who later defected to vote with the GOP.
Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) voted with Republicans to end the shutdown — despite having maintained it for 40 days.
One of the few concessions the Senate Democrats got in return after the longest shutdown in US history was a promise to vote on an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, something Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) had offered weeks ago.
President Trump also pledged Monday to “abide by” a provision requiring him to re-hire federal workers fired during the shutdown.
Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Va.) and Angus King (I-Maine) had voted for the funding bill no fewer than 14 times before the other five Democrats helped them break the filibuster on Sunday.
King admitted bluntly in an interview that “standing up to Trump didn’t work.”
On Monday night, the Senate convened to debate other amendments to the legislation — including the full-year appropriations bills and an amendment brought by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to reverse a ban of “intoxicating” hemp products.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) also sought an amendment extending the Obamacare subsidies, which had been expanded under former President Joe Biden, for one year. The credits are set to expire at the end of 2025.
Johnson has made no promise that they will get a vote in the House even if they pass in the Senate.
Should the House pass the bill, as it is, SNAP and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) will also have contingency reserves reimbursed for spending amid the shutdown — and both furloughed and non-furloughed federal workers will get backpay.
Quote:WASHINGTON — Democrats and progressives exploded with outrage after the Senate took a giant step toward reopening the government Sunday night, with many calling for Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s ouster.
Schumer (D-NY), who voted against the bipartisan package to end the longest government shutdown in US history, was slammed for failing to prevent five Democratic defections that allowed the measure to advance, despite Republicans making no concessions on keeping Obamacare subsidies due to expire at the end of this year.
“Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) chided on X. “If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?”
“Tonight is another example of why we need new leadership,” jeered Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who launched his primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) last month, on X. “If @ChuckSchumer were an effective leader, he would have united his caucus to vote ‘No’ tonight and hold the line on healthcare.
“Maybe now @EdMarkey will finally join me in pledging not to vote for Schumer [as conference leader after the 2026 elections]?”
Democratic candidates trying to unseat Senate Republicans next year also made their displeasure clear.
“Chuck Schumer is not built for this moment,” wrote Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, who hopes to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), on X.
“Chuck Schumer has failed us,” agreed Iowa state Sen. Zach Wahls, running for the open seat held by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).
The quintet — Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Jacky Rosen of Nevada — voted to end debate on a deal whose main terms had been offered by Republicans weeks ago.
Shaheen’s own daughter, Stefany, who is running for the Democratic nomination in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, announced on social media that she would reject the deal her mother helped broker.
“I cannot support this deal when Speaker Johnson refuses to even allow a vote to extend health care tax credits,” Stefany Shaheen declared on X. “We need to both end this shutdown and extend the ACA tax credits. Otherwise, no deal. It’s essential to ensure people have access to health care and it’s past time to put paychecks back into people’s pockets and food back on families’ tables.”
Quote:Some Republicans expressed frustration Monday that measures to withhold lawmaker pay when there is a lapse in federal funding were not included as part of a deal to end the 41-day government shutdown.
The record-long shutdown forced thousands of government workers — including military personnel, federal law enforcement officers and air traffic controllers — to work without pay, while lawmakers continued to receive their six-figure salaries.
“Democrats just caused the longest shutdown in our nation’s history and proved they’re willing to deprive millions of hardworking Americans of their paychecks — members of our military, federal law enforcement, FAA, Capitol Police — all while cashing their own paychecks,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told The Post.
“And Dems have already said they’re willing to do it again,” he added.
As Democratic senators repeatedly rejected GOP efforts to reopen the government, Scott urged his colleagues to immediately pass his No Budget, No Pay Act, which would prevent members of Congress from being paid in a fiscal year until both chambers approve a budget resolution and pass all regular appropriations bills for that fiscal year.
The bill has been referred to committee.
“It’s pure hypocrisy,” Scott seethed of lawmakers cashing paychecks amid the shutdown. “Our military and federal employees shouldn’t be punished because Congress can’t do its job!”
“It’s time to pass my No Budget, No Pay Act that says if we can’t fund the government, members shouldn’t get paid. Period.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) also pushed legislation to pause paychecks for lawmakers during the shutdown, which was blocked last week by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
“My only disappointment in the deal that we have, I strongly wanted a provision added that senators cannot be paid during the shutdown,” Kennedy said during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show.”
“It’s called shared sacrifice. It’s called leadership,” the Louisiana Republican continued. “We were getting paid, but our staff wasn’t.”
Members of Congress receive an annual salary of $174,000 a year, which is a bit higher for members of leadership.
Their paychecks are guaranteed by the Constitution, which requires that “Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”
The 27th Amendment also blocks Congress from passing laws that affect lawmaker pay in the same congressional term.
Kennedy’s No Shutdown Paychecks to Politicians Act would force lawmakers to go without pay for every day that the government is shut down, and his Withhold Member Pay During Shutdowns Act gets around the constitutional question by withholding paychecks in escrow until after the November 2026 elections.
“I didn’t take my salary,” Kennedy noted, “but our staff wasn’t getting paid, and air traffic controllers and our military … I thought it was the height of hypocrisy.”
“My leadership blocked me from bringing that bill, but I’m not going to stop. I’m going to keep coming,” he pledged.
And before we even knew about the Senate's bill being sent to the House...
Quote:A federal appeals court late on Sunday allowed a judge’s order to stand that directs US President Donald Trump’s administration to fully fund this month’s food aid benefits for 42 million low-income Americans during the ongoing US government shutdown.
The Boston-based 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals declined to halt Thursday’s decision by a Rhode Island judge requiring the US Department of Agriculture to spend $4 billion set aside for other purposes to ensure Americans receive full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.
The ruling by the 1st Circuit will have no immediate impact because on Friday US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson put a temporary hold on the lower court order by US District Judge John McConnell.
Her temporary hold remains in place for 48 hours after the 1st Circuit decision.
Jackson’s order, along with earlier court rulings and announcements by the administration and various states at the center of the litigation, has left the status of the country’s anti-hunger food aid program uncertain during the shutdown.
On Saturday, USDA directed states to “undo” any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, before Jackson’s order or risk financial penalties.
The administration had argued to the 1st Circuit that judges have no power to appropriate or spend federal money, and McConnell could not force the USDA to find money beyond a contingency fund in the “metaphorical couch cushions” to pay for full SNAP benefits.
It blamed Congress for the crisis and said it was up to lawmakers to solve it by ending the shutdown.
The Senate on Sunday moved forward on a measure aimed at reopening the federal government, which on Monday reached its 41st day.
Quote:Rudy Giuliani offered some brutal “advice” for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani Monday — telling his successor he should never take office as leader of the Big Apple.
“My advice to him is to step down and do something else,” Giuliani told The Post of the proud democratic socialist who he branded a “communist — right out of Karl Marx.”
Giuliani, a Republican former two-term mayor of the city, blasted Mamdani as ill-equipped for the job and claimed he was a “supporter of Muslim extremism” after the Democratic Party nominee rubbed elbows with controversial Imam Suraj Wahhaj, a radical who had once urged a gun-free “jihad” on the city.
“The imam he was with is a strong supporter of terrorism,” Giuliani said, referring to a picture taken during the campaign of Mamdani — who will be the city’s first Muslim mayor — smiling widely with Wahhaj.
“I’m not worried that he’s a Muslim. I’m worried that he supports Muslim extremism,” Giuliani said.
Giuliani, who was once considered “America’s mayor” for leading the city during and after the Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attacks, later went on to be a Trump attorney.
He was pardoned by the Trump administration for his part in the alleged effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election that saw Democrat Joe Biden defeat Trump. Trump returned to office after the 2024 election.
“You think the federal government will give this guy a security clearance?” Giuliani said. “Zohran Mamdani is a serious security threat to the United States of America. He’s a communist and a sympathizer for Muslim terrorism.”
He blasted Mamdani’s critical views of Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “antisemitic.”
“Israel seems like an obsession with him,” Giuliani claimed, noting Mamdani’s support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel.
“The BDS movement wants to wipe out the State of Israel. Mamdani is one of the best known antisemites in the country,” Giuliani railed.
Giuliani said his other advice to his incoming successor was to “love America.”
The mayor-elect had no immediate comment on Giuliani’s stunning condemnation.
Quote:The wheels are coming off the socialist bus.
Gov. Kathy Hochul slammed the brakes on supporting Zohran Mamdani’s $700 million call for free city buses — casting doubt that one of the far-left mayor-elect’s signature campaign promises has a smooth road ahead.
Hochul, speaking during a press conference at the SOMOS political retreat in Puerto Rico on Saturday, argued she has already put vast sums of money into the perpetually cash-strapped MTA for major projects.
“We’re spending a lot of money, so I cannot set forth a plan right now that takes money out of a system that relies on the fares of the buses and the subways,” she said.
“But can we find a path to make it more affordable for people who need help? Of course we can.”
Mamdani avoided a straight answer over apparently being at odds with Hochul on buses.
“I continue to be excited at the work of making the slowest buses in America fast and free,” he said Monday, during an unrelated press conference. “And I appreciate the governor’s continued partnership in delivering on that agenda of affordability.”
The cautious bus route outlined by Hochul is the latest split the moderate Democratic governor has had with Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, since she endorsed him in September.
Hochul happily rode Mamdani’s coattails as he whipped up excitement among New Yorkers for his focus on affordability, but she has balked at much of his actual agenda — notably, taxing the rich to pay for $10 billion in freebies such as no-cost child care and buses without fares.
The governor’s guarded approach could spell problems for Mamdani, as his grand plans largely require support from both Hochul and lawmakers in Albany.
The two top Dems in the state Legislature — House Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins — have been significantly more open to helping Mamdani deliver his core campaign promises.
Mamdani’s supporters have taken notice of Hochul’s hesitancy and twice recently chanted “Tax the rich” at her, clearly irking the governor.
“The more you push me, the more I’m not going to do what you want,” Hochul told a SOMOS crowd.
But Hochul didn’t fully reject Mamdani’s socialist dreams.
As she urged caution on buses, the governor repeated that she wants to work with Mamdani on delivering free child care — although she hinted that delivering it could take years and billions of dollars.
“We’ll be on a path to get there, because I’m committed to this as ‘mom governor’ — I get it,” she said.
“But also to do it statewide, right now, it’s about $15 billion — the entire amount of my reserves.”
Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump praised Syria President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Monday after the first-ever White House visit for a Damascus head of state — days after the US and United Nations removed sanctions on the onetime al Qaeda terrorist who formerly had a $10 million bounty on his head.
The Syrian leader described his nearly two-hour-long meeting with Trump as “amazing,” during an appearance on Fox News’ “Special Report,” and revealed the commander in chief gifted him a Make America Great Again hat.
“After the fall of the former regime, Syria has entered into a new era, and this will build on a new strategy with the United States,” Al-Sharaa said.
Al-Sharaa, 43, strolled Pennsylvania Avenue to greet dozens of supporters following the roughly 90-minute Oval Office meeting, which was closed to the press. The group held signs calling for Congress to permanently end sanctions that the Trump administration temporarily waived earlier this year.
“He’s a very strong leader. He comes from a very tough place, and he’s a tough guy. I liked him. I get along with him,” Trump told reporters.
“We’ll do everything we can to make Syria successful, because that’s part of the Middle East. We have peace now in the Middle East.”
Trump acknowledged that al-Sharaa has a “rough past,” but said, “We’ve all had rough pasts.”
“I think, frankly, if you didn’t have a rough past, you wouldn’t have a chance,” he added.
The Syrian interim government released photos showing al-Sharaa seated in the Oval Office next to Vice President JD Vance, who served in the Iraq War while the guest of honor was planting roadside bombs there on behalf of al Qaeda.
“This is a matter of the past,” Al-Sharaa said of his previous affiliation with al Qaeda, during his appearance on Fox News.
“We did not discuss this actively,” he added. “We talked about the present and the future.
“We talked about the investment opportunities in the future in Syria, so that Syria is no longer looked at as a security threat. It is now looked at as a geopolitical ally.”
The conversation focused on “a number of regional and international issues of common interest,” the Syrian release said.
The visit was the latest step in al-Sharaa’s dramatic image revamp from turban-wearing jihadist to US-backed head of state since his rebels defeated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a surprise offensive last December.
Al-Sharaa was escorted through the streets of Washington by a large law enforcement motorcade and entered the West Wing through a side door after meetings with Republicans in Congress.
Rudy Giuliani ‘surprised’ by Trump pardon, claims Post was targeted for Hunter Biden laptop coverage
Quote:Rudy Giuliani said he was “surprised” to receive a pardon from President Trump in the alleged plot to overturn the 2020 election results — and said The Post was vindicated for its exclusive reporting on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop.
“President Trump ended a long nightmare for innocent people,” the former New York City mayor and Trump lawyer told The Post Monday, a day after Trump’s Department of Justice granted pardons to 77 people tied to the alleged plot, including Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro.
“The president has made the justice system fair again,” he added. “This pardon decision shows there were two justice systems.”
Giuliani claimed he hadn’t talked to the president about a potential pardon in recent years.
“I was surprised. No one can say President Trump can’t keep a secret,” he quipped.
The Republican once called America’s mayor said the prosecutions were “the worst distortions of the American justice system in our history.”
“This period will also go down as the darkest chapter in our court system,” Giuliani said. “A lot of these electors who were indicted were regular people.”
In his decision, US Pardon Attorney Edward Martin Jr. said the New York Post was also victimized by orchestrated partisan censorship involving the FBI under President Joe Biden.
“This covert operation caused the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story on Twitter and Facebook, as well as the de-platforming of the New York Post on Twitter for two weeks in late October 2020, directly orchestrated by FBI officials,” Martin said.
Giuliani said, “It sets up a lawsuit for the New York Post. It was a violation of the New York Post’s constitutional rights.
“I was vindicated. The New York Post was vindicated,” he said.
The Post’s bombshell reporting on the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned “laptop from hell” contained evidence of influence-peddling, drug use and other lurid activity. The laptop was first reported on in 2020 ahead of Trump’s unsuccessful re-election bid against Democrat Joe Biden.
The contents were initially dismissed by critics and some media members as part of a Russian disinformation campaign and stories on the laptop’s contents got The Post temporarily suspended from social media.
The contents of the laptop showed Hunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm less than a year before the elder Biden pressured government officials in Ukraine into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company, according to emails obtained from the laptop.
Quote:The former Navy SEAL who fatally shot terror chief Osama bin Laden is suing two podcasters for $25 million for repeatedly claiming he lied about assassinating the al-Qaeda leader, according to new court papers.
Robert O’Neill, a highly decorated ex-member of the ultra-elite military unit, claims Antihero Broadcast podcasters Tyler Hoover and Brent Tucker began their unfair on-air crusade against him in 2023 and have since continued to falsely claim he lied about his heroic 2011 act, according to the Westchester County Supreme Court lawsuit filed Monday — the eve of Veteran’s Day.
Hoover, 37, and Tucker, 45, both Florida residents and military veterans themselves, first launched their smear campaign against O’Neill to get clicks and bring attention to their YouTube channel, the suit alleged.
“Besides the Rob O’Neill who didn’t kill bin Laden,” Tucker said at one point during the pair’s Aug. 9, 2023, episode on Antihero, which currently has 120,000 subscribers.
“No, he didn’t kill bin Laden! It is the worst-kept secret in all of special ops,’’ Tucker claimed. “I am not going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I was on the mission.’ I’d be as big a liar as Rob O’Neill.”
Tucker claimed he is friends with some of the other men who were on the mission and that while they are too professional to contradict O’Neill’s account, they also haven’t said, “ ‘Oh, yeah, he’s a great guy. He killed Osama bin Laden.’
“They won’t do it,” Tucker said.
O’Neill, 49, was on SEAL Team Six for its famous May 2, 2011, Operation Neptune’s Spear and was personally responsible for landing the shots that killed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist plotter, the suit said.
That fact was corroborated by the mission’s leader, retired Admr. William H. McRaven, the lawsuit said.
“The story that I’ve been truthful with the entire time is that I had one [other] guy [on the mission] in front of me,” O’Neill told The Post in an exclusive interview.
“He went one direction at the top of the stairs to confront what he thought was a suicide bomber. I turned the other way, and Osama bin Laden was standing there, and so I shot him three times.
“I killed Osama bin Laden.”
“What [Tucker and Hoover] are saying is not true at all,” O’Neill said.
But in an episode April 22, 2024, Hoover said O’Neill was backpedaling on his claims of how it played out and whether his bullets were the ones that finished bin Laden.
“He is going from saying that he was the one that killed Osama bin Laden with da two rounds and a round to the body or something like that … was very specific with his rounds. … Now he is going on an outlet saying his team killed and that he shot bin Laden,’’ Hoover said.
Tucker responded, referring to O’Neill, “ ‘You were just the last guy to put a round in bin Laden.’ And that’s where his original story and now his new story drastically differ[s].”
On Oct. 23, 2025, on Tucker’s new podcast “Tier1,” Tucker claimed that the fact he hadn’t not been sued yet by O’Neill was further proof that Tucker had been right all along about O’Neill’s alleged lies, the suit said.
Quote:One of the accused Jersey boy jihadi yuppies nabbed last week in a bombshell home-grown terrorism case is already angling to get a plea deal from the feds, new court papers show.
Tomas Jimenez-Guzel, 19, of tony liberal Montclair, NJ — which is also home to Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill — was arrested Wednesday for allegedly swearing allegiance to ISIS, plotting to move to the Middle East to build up a group of violent jihadists and threatening violence against Jewish people and other non-Muslims.
Newark federal Magistrate Judge André Espinosa has ordered the next court date in the privileged suspect’s case to be pushed off until Jan. 14, 2026 — partly so that he and prosecutors can try to hash out a desired plea deal, according to a ruling.
Jimenez-Guzel comes from a prominent Montclair family: His mother, Meral Guzel, was once a UN diplomat who headed a women’s business agency, and she also previously worked in banking and finance jobs, according to her LinkedIn account.
“Both the United States and the defendant desire additional time to negotiate a plea agreement, which would render grand jury proceedings and a trial in this matter unnecessary,” Espinosa wrote in court papers.
The extra time will also allow Jimenez-Guzel’s lawyer to wade through all of the evidence the feds have turned over, since “the charges in this case result from a lengthy investigation,” the judge added.
In two criminal complaints totaling nearly 60 pages, the government detailed disturbing group chats and conversations the young alleged jihadis engaged in with other suspected wannabe ISIS terrorists from around the country and world — including some chats that involved their aspirations to behead infidels and carry out a “Boston bombing-like attack.”
The Boston Marathon terror blast in 2013 killed three people and injured more than 260 others.
Jimenez-Guzel’s fellow accused ISIS sympathizer, Milo Sedarat, 19, also lives in Montclair and comes from a standout family.
Sedarat’s father, Roger Sedarat, is a noted Iranian American poet and a professor at Queens College in New York City.
Sedarat proudly proclaimed himself the biggest antisemite in America, raged about the fact his mother had Jewish friends and said he wanted to mow down protesters in a pro-Israel march in Montclair with a car, according to the criminal complaint.
Sedarat, Jimenez-Guzel and another defendant, Saed Ali Mirreh, 19, of Washington state, chatted in online groups with people around the world — including from Finland, Sweden and the UK — about migrating to Syria, building a group of ISIS-inspired terrorists and carrying out violence against non-believers.
Quote:MOUNT VERNON — A Skagit County Superior Court judge denied a request from Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley to exempt Flock camera footage from the Public Records Act.
Judge Elizabeth Neidzwski said Thursday that Public Records Act exemptions don’t apply to the footage an individual requested from the cities and that the footage is considered public record.
Cities across Snohomish County were awaiting Thursday’s decision to gain clarity on how the state’s Public Records Act could apply to Flock camera footage. Some were waiting on the decision to determine whether or not to install Flock cameras at all.
In July, the cities of Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley filed a motion for a declaratory judgment after receiving public records requests for Flock camera footage. The cities argued Flock footage should either not be considered public record or be exempt from the Public Records Act for privacy reasons. Judge Elizabeth Neidzwski denied the motion Thursday.
In April, the defendant, Jose Rodriguez, requested all Flock camera footage in Stanwood from 5-6 p.m. on March 30. In May, Rodriguez made a similar request to Sedro-Woolley for all footage within a half-hour window. In both instances, Rodriguez requested footage that departments had not previously searched for the purposes of investigating a crime.
Flock cameras are a type of automated license plate reader. After Flock cameras capture the back of a vehicle, artificial intelligence analyzes the footage and creates terms for police to search. For example, an officer could search for a vehicle’s make, model, color, or even distinct bumper stickers or body damage, even if they don’t have a specific license plate number. Every time a vehicle passes a camera, the image and associated data are stored in the cloud for a default of 30 days, according to Flock. Any time within those 30 days, an officer can make a search and retrieve the data.
The Public Records Act exempts some records that contain specific intelligence information. Neidzwski said that because the records Rodriguez requested do not pertain to a specific case, the intelligence exemption of the public records act does not apply.
“I do think that the information at stake does have serious privacy implications, but that’s not the analysis for the intelligence information exemption,” she said. “You also have to make a finding that this is specific intelligence information that is compiled by investigative or law enforcement agencies, and the information that’s being compiled here does not relate to a specific case or investigation. The public already knows that these cameras exist and are operated. Many of them are in sight. The information does not disclose particular methods or procedures for gathering or evaluating intelligence information.”
The Public Records Act states that public records include information “prepared, owned, used, or retained” by an agency. Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley argued that Flock footage is only public record once a public agency extracts and downloads the data.
“Requiring public agencies to generate a new search in the Flock cloud system for the sole purpose of accessing and downloading data requested under the PRA, data which the agency had not previously accessed, would require the agency to create new public records not in existence at the time of the request,” Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley’s complaint read.
Timothy Hall, who represented Rodriguez in the case, argued that the footage is public record because it serves a governmental purpose.
“I don’t think there’s any real question that these are public records,” he said. “Government agencies do not need to possess documents in order for the Public Records Act to apply to them, and the Washington State Supreme Court has ruled on that issue. … So the fact that they can’t access their own records doesn’t in any way affect the Public Records Act or an individual’s ability to get records.”
Even if the footage is public record, the cities argued it should still be exempt from requests for privacy reasons. The Public Records Act exempts certain intelligence information that could jeopardize the effectiveness of law enforcement or a person’s right to privacy if released. State law does not explicitly exempt automated license plate reader data from public records, but it does have explicit exemptions for red-light camera data.
Quote:First lady Melania Trump wasn’t fully onboard with her husband’s decision to demolish the East Wing of the White House to make way for a new ballroom but is warming up to the renovations, President Trump revealed Monday.
“She loved her little, tiny office,” the president told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, when asked about a Wall Street Journal report that Melania had privately raised concerns about tearing down the East Wing.
Trump, 79, did not deny the report but suggested his wife quickly warmed up to the massive construction project, which began late last month.
“She’s very smart,” he said of Melania, during his appearance on “The Ingraham Angle,” claiming that “in about one day she — if you were to ask her now, she’d say, ‘It’s great.’”
The East Wing housed the first lady’s offices and the White House’s social offices, including the graphics and calligraphy departments.
Administration officials cited in the Wall Street Journal’s report last month indicated that Melania had told associates that the demolition was not her project.
The president is erecting a massive, 90,000-square-foot ballroom in the space once occupied by the East Wing, which was originally built in 1902 and renovated extensively since.
“The East Wing,” Trump told Ingraham, “that building was renovated 20 times, including adding a floor to the top, which was terrible.”
“It was made out of common brick, little, tiny windows. It looked like hell.”
Trump said he “didn’t want to sacrifice a great ballroom for an OK ballroom by leaving [the East Wing] right smack in the middle.”
When the president first unveiled plans to build the ballroom, he suggested the structure would be nestled near the existing East Wing and not replace it entirely.
Trump claims the project is entirely financed by donations and will cost up to $300 million.
Quote:DULLES, Va. (AP) — A vehicle transporting passengers at a Washington, D.C.-area airport hit a dock at the building Monday afternoon, sending 18 people to the hospital, according to officials.
A mobile lounge, which transports passengers between the terminal and aircraft, struck the dock at an angle at about 4:30 p.m. at Washington Dulles International Airport as it was pulling up to the building, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said in a statement. The dock is where the vehicle stops to let people into the concourse.
The passengers who were hurt have non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to the hospital by the fire department, according to the authority.
“The airport is open and operating as normal,” according to the authority’s statement.
There are 19 mobile lounges at Dulles and they can carry up to 102 passengers, according to the airport’s website. They are about 54 feet (16.5 meters) long and 16 feet (4.9 meters) wide.
Quote:Witnesses have described the chilling moment they heard a “huge bang” as a Disney superfan jumped to her death at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel after flying to Florida without her family.
Summer Equitz, 31, died at the Contemporary Resort after leaping from a 12th-floor balcony in front of stunned guests and staff on Oct. 14.
A married couple who were staying at the hotel have described the horrifying moment Equitz landed just 30 feet from where they were standing on the fourth-floor observation deck.
“[They] were standing on the balcony outside by the chairs looking out at the view when they heard a loud noise and turned to see a female laying on the ground … an estimated 10 yards away,” according to an incident report from an Orange County sheriff’s deputy obtained by The Post.
One of the witnesses “moved closer to see if she was breathing, which she did not appear to be,” the report stated.
Another witness described seeing “a person out of the corner of her eye and heard a huge bang.”
A member of staff at the hotel had been on the 15th-floor observation deck with a co-worker when Equitz jumped to her death from three floors below.
“When he got to the 12th floor, [he] discovered a blue tote bag resting against the steel rail guard,” the report states.
Quote:An illegal immigrant from Mexico was arrested after he allegedly opened fire at Border Patrol agents during a weekend raid in Chicago — which also saw protesters lobbing bricks at the feds.
The man, who was not identified, allegedly drove up alongside agents during an immigration raid in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood and fired a few rounds before speeding off in a Jeep.
At the same time, a swarm of protesters was trying to physically block authorities, with some chucking bricks and a bucket of paint at their vehicles.
No injuries were reported as cops pivoted to track down the gunman.
The Department of Homeland Security announced that it had taken the “criminal illegal alien from Mexico” into custody on Monday, and revealed he had prior convictions for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon or vehicle, felony possession of a weapon and illegal entry, on X.
“This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of violence and obstruction. Over the past two months, we’ve seen an increase in assaults and obstruction targeting federal law enforcement during operations. These confrontations highlight the dangers our agents face daily and the escalating aggression toward law enforcement,” DHS wrote.
The agency added that the man was “marked as a violator of the Laken Riley Act, pending charges relating to assaulting officers.”
The Laken Riley Act was ratified in January 2025 and specifically permits DHS to take “certain non-U.S. nationals” into custody if they have prior arrests or convictions for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting, according to the bill.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem doubled down and pinned blame on Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who previously likened Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s operations in Chicago to World War II-era raids in Nazi Germany.
“[Gov. JB Pritzker] is protecting violent criminal illegal aliens who want American law enforcement officers dead. This is a battle between law and order, good and evil—and we will prevail,” Noem wrote on X.
In late October, DHS announced that ICE officers face an 8,000% increase in death threats, but Noem asserted that the intimidation would “not stop us or slow us down.”
The updated statistics were announced shortly after the Chicago-based gang Latin Kings was accused of placing a $10,000 bounty on Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino’s head. A ranking member of the gang was later arrested in connection with the threat.
Quote:Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has waded into the fight to allow cameras in court for Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old Utah man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk.
Grassley, who has long supported the idea of allowing cameras into federal courtrooms, where they're currently banned, referred to Kirk's slaying as one of the "pivotal moments in history" and argued that such cases should play out before the public eye.
"I want to compliment Erika Kirk, wife of assassinated conservative leader Charlie Kirk. She has made an emotional appeal to have cameras in the courtroom at the trial of her husband’s [alleged] murderer," he said on the Senate floor Tuesday. "I commend her for this brave plea, because it fits in with a stand I’ve been taking for the last couple of decades."
Most states, including Utah, allow cameras in their courtrooms, or at least give judges discretion, he said. But federally, there are no cameras. Robinson is facing state-level charges.
In an October motion seeking permission to have him appear in civilian clothes and without shackles, Robinson's lawyers argued that federal courts have upheld that restrictions on cameras in the courtroom do not violate the media's First Amendment rights.
Utah Judge Tony Graf granted his motion to wear regular clothes, denied his motion to appear without shackles and held off a decision on the camera issue after telling both sides to come up with new briefs.
Separately, he has allowed Robinson to attend his last two public hearings remotely, without being on camera.
Robinson is due back in court on Jan. 16, 2026. Graf has so far allowed both news cameras in the courtroom and a court-operated public livestream, but lawyers on the case have indicated they would support limits or an outright ban on news cameras.
Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, told Fox News' Jesse Watters this week she supports keeping the cameras in place.
"There were cameras all over my husband when he was murdered," she said. "There have been cameras all over my friends and family mourning. There have been cameras all over me, analyzing my every move, analyzing my every smile, my every tear. We deserve to have cameras in there."
Criminal defendants have a right to a fair trial, but not to privacy or to try and minimize public interest in the case, said Royal Oakes, a Los Angeles-based media attorney who successfully argued to have news cameras in court for OJ Simpson's 1990s murder trial.
"A more traditional argument for courtroom transparency is the right of the public to see its justice system at work," he told Fox News Digital. "But Erika Kirk is right to call for broadcasting of court proceedings because, whether the accused is found guilty or not, citizens are entitled to observe hearings and a trial, and make up their own minds about the allegations."
To solve the federal issue, Grassley has sponsored two bipartisan bills – the Sunshine in the Courtroom Act, which would give all federal judges the authority to allow cameras in their courtrooms, and the Cameras in the Courtroom Act, which would have the U.S. Supreme Court televise all open sessions unless a majority of justices believe doing so would violate due process.
Quote:Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker said there was a “grain of truth” to President Donald Trump’s argument that Harvard University was a “liberal mess.”
“President Trump has described Harvard as a liberal mess, that it has been hiring almost all woke, radical left idiots and birdbrains,” CBS’ Bill Whitaker asked Pinker during “60 Minutes.” “The language is a bit harsh, but does he have a point here?”
“Not there, no. I do not agree with that. I think there is a grain of a truth,” Pinker said. “I think there should be more voices on the right at Harvard.”
The Trump administration has taken aim at elite universities over antisemitism. Trump slashed more than $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard earlier this year due to its failure to comply with the recommendations of a federal antisemitism task force. A judge in Boston blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to slash funding in September.
Pinker added that he didn’t think Trump should be the one determining whose voices are acceptable.
Whitaker asked Pinker where he believed Harvard had gone wrong.
“I think there have been too many incidents in which someone has expressed a controversial opinion and has been shamed or canceled,” Pinker said.
Harvard University did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
He specifically pointed to former Harvard professor Carole Hooven, who previously taught the “Hormones and Behavior” human evolutionary biology course at the university.
Hooven said school administrators didn’t support her after comments she made during a Fox News interview about biological sex.
The former professor told Fox News in 2021, “The ideology seems to be that biology really isn’t as important as how somebody feels about themselves or feels their sex to be.”
“The facts are that there are, in fact, two sexes — there are male and female — and those sexes are designated by the kind of gametes we produce,” she said.
EUROPE
Quote:President Trump threatened the British Broadcasting Corporation with a $1 billion lawsuit in Florida Monday if it did not retract a news program that featured doctored footage of Trump’s remarks ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
In a letter from Trump’s outside counsel obtained by The Post, the BBC was given until 5 p.m. ET Friday to “retract the false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements made about President Trump” in its “Panorama” program that aired Oct. 28, 2024, titled “Trump: A Second Chance?”
“If the BBC does not comply … President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars) in damages,” wrote attorney Alejandro Brito.
“The BBC is on notice.”
“The BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally and deceitfully editing its documentary in order to try and interfere in the Presidential Election,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team said. “President Trump will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in lies, deception, and fake news.”
BBC Director General Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness resigned after a whistleblower told The Telegraph newspaper last week that the program spliced together two clips of Trump to suggest he had instructed his supporters to storm the Capitol in his now-infamous speech at the Ellipse.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol … and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell,” Trump was shown saying.
In fact, those two portions of the speech took place more than 50 minutes apart.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them,” the then-45th president said, adding much later: “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
The broadcast also edited out Trump telling his supporters: “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
“Due to their salacious nature, the fabricated statements that were aired by the BBC have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums, which have reached tens of millions of people worldwide,” Brito wrote. “Consequently, the BBC has caused President Trump to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm.”
On Monday, BBC Chair Samir Shah conceded in a statement to a UK parliamentary committee that “we accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action.
“The BBC would like to apologise [sic] for that error of judgement,” added Shah, who said the goal had been to “convey the message of the speech made by President Trump so that Panorama’s audience could better understand how it had been received by President Trump’s supporters and what was happening on the ground at that time.”
Shah went on to say that the edit “was considered and discussed as part of a wider review of the BBC’s US Election coverage … rather than handled as a specific programme [sic] complaint, given it had not attracted significant audience feedback and had been transmitted before the US election, so the point wasn’t pursued further at that time … With hindsight, it would have been better to take more formal action.”
“The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught “doctoring” my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th,” Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday as he returned to Washington from a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort. “Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists.’
“These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election,” the president went on. “On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!”
LATIN AMERICA
Quote:The chainsaw of liberty awaits you.
Argentinian President Javier Milei said he will “warmly” welcome New Yorkers fleeing the “communist” regime of Big Apple Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
The libertarian prez — who famously wielded a chainsaw to illustrate how he would slash government control and spending — warned that the Big Apple could suffer under the far-left philosophy that plunged his country into decades of economic ruin.
“I dedicate these words to New Yorkers, who have taken the opposite path that of Argentina, and will now be living under a communist party,” Milei declared at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) circle retreat and gala at Mar-a-Lago late last week, per a translation.
“They should know that if the going gets tough, they will always be warmly welcome in our land if they seek to prosper.”
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has fashioned himself as a Democratic Socialist, rather than a hammer-and-sickle-waving communist. But a resurfaced clip from him at a 2021 Young Democratic Socialists of America conference showed him touting “the end goal of seizing the means of production.”
In that 2021 speech, he acknowledged that the goal was unpopular at that moment, but contended that it should be pursued anyway, calling upon leaders to be “unapologetic about our socialism.”
Mamdani, who won the Big Apple’s mayoral race last Tuesday, has vowed to freeze rent costs, massively raise taxes on the wealthy and businesses, make citywide busing free, set up government-run grocery stores, provide free child-care services and more.
Technically, he would need the approval from the state legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to raise taxes and fund most of those initiatives.
Milei, who did the “YMCA” dance during his address at the CPAC gala, is fresh off the heels of his La Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances) party, massively overperforming expectations in the midterm elections last month.
Markets had been rattled by polling showing his party down in the polls amid a series of scandals that plagued the bombastic libertarian, leading to a selloff of Argentinian assets, including the Peso.
President Trump’s team then threw him a lifeline, offering a $20 billion currency swap earlier this month — with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicating the amount could expand to $40 billion by leaning on private sector assistance.
Ultimately, the peso began to rebound after La Libertad Avanza’s stunning suite of victories, which will give Milei more breathing room at his works to implement the next phase of his agenda.
Quote:A tornado ripped through Southern Brazil on Friday, killing at least five people and injuring 432 others.
According to the Paraná State Government, four deaths occurred in Rio Bonito do Iguaçu and one happened in Guarapuava.
The tornado collapsed structures, leaving people trapped, the government said.
Search and rescue of the collapsed buildings was still ongoing Saturday.
The government said the Military Fire Department of Paraná and health services provided medical attention for the 432 injured people.
Nine people were seriously injured.
Local and federal Brazilian government officials visited the areas affected on Saturday morning.
The tornado that hit the community was originally classified as an EF-2, according to the state government, but after assessment of damage, could be reclassified as an EF-3.
Wind gusts ranged between 111 and 155 mph.
“Since the beginning of November, several cities in Paraná have faced heavy rains, storms, gales and hail, which led the State Government to take emergency measures to release resources, assist victims and rebuild affected areas,” the government said.
The government said as of Friday, 14 cities were in a state of emergency.
Quote:Peru’s lawmakers swore in Congress chief Jose Jeri as the country’s new president less than an hour after unanimously voting to remove President Dina Boluarte, as anger mounted over rising crime and accusations of corruption.
One of the world’s least popular leaders was ousted shortly after midnight on Friday, just hours after various political blocs first presented motions for Boluarte’s removal on grounds of moral incapacity.
The vote took place after several members of popular cumbia music group Agua Marina were injured in a shooting during a concert held on Wednesday in a venue belonging to the Peruvian military.
JERI CALLS FOR WAR ON CRIME
Motions for Boluarte’s removal cited the economic impacts of rising crime, as well as allegations of corruption and a scandal known locally as Rolexgate over the provenance of her collection of luxury watches.
Jeri, who becomes Peru’s seventh president since 2016, signaled he would take a tough approach on insecurity.
“The main enemy is out there on the streets: criminal gangs,” he told Congress, wearing a sash of the national flag. “We must declare war on crime.”
The 38-year-old member of the conservative Somos Peru party, who became Congress president in July, joins the ranks of some of the world’s youngest heads of state.
Crowds had gathered outside Congress and Ecuador’s embassy, where there had been speculation that Boluarte could seek asylum.
Some people were in a celebratory mood waving flags, dancing and playing instruments.
Shortly after Congress voted to remove her, Boluarte made an address at the presidential palace where she acknowledged that the same Congress that had sworn her in late 2022 had now voted for her removal, “with the implications this has for the stability of democracy in our country.”
“At every moment, I called for unity,” she said.
LOSING SUPPORT
Lawmakers from across the political spectrum had late on Thursday summoned Boluarte to defend herself before Congress that same night.
She never arrived, and lawmakers had sufficient votes to proceed with a rapid impeachment process.
Boluarte, 63, was deeply disliked, with approval ratings between 2% and 4%, following accusations she has illicitly profited from her office and is responsible for lethal crackdowns on protests in favor of her predecessor.
ASIA
Quote:A Chinese consul general in Japan threatened to decapitate the nation’s new prime minister over her comments in defense of Taiwan, prompting outrage in Tokyo and underscoring the rising tension between the two regional powers.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took office last month, told a parliamentary committee Friday that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan would likely create a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan — one that could compel Tokyo to deploy its Self-Defense Forces in response. The democratically governed island sits just 60 miles from Japanese territory.
Xue Jian, the Chinese consul general in Osaka, fired back in a since-deleted X post on Sunday: "That filthy neck that barged in on its own — I’ve got no choice but to cut it off without a moment’s hesitation. Are you prepared for that?"
Japan’s government condemned the statement, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara calling it "extremely inappropriate" and confirming that Tokyo had lodged a formal protest with Beijing. Kihara said Xue had made "multiple" inflammatory remarks in the past and urged China to take disciplinary action.
China instead appeared to defend the diplomat. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters Monday that Xue’s words came in response to Takaichi’s "wrongful and dangerous" comments, which he said misrepresented China’s position on Taiwan. Lin accused Japan of "refusing to face up to its historical responsibilities" and warned Tokyo not to interfere in "internal Chinese affairs."
Takaichi later told reporters her comments were "hypothetical" and said she would refrain from making similar remarks in the future.
The episode threatens to strain already fraught relations between Asia’s two largest economies. Takaichi, a nationalist known for her hawkish views on China and close ties with Washington, has sought to deepen defense cooperation with the Trump administration. She has pledged to push Japan’s long-stagnant defense spending above 1% of GDP and to play a more assertive role in maintaining stability across the Taiwan Strait.
U.S. defense officials have long argued that Japan’s participation would be critical in any potential conflict over Taiwan, which Beijing sees as its own.
Japan's chief cabinet secretary Minoru Kihara said that while the intent of the post was "not entirely clear" Xue’s remarks were "extremely inappropriate." He said Xue had made multiple inappropriate statements and Japan has asked Beijing to take action.
Hypothetical!?
She won't dare to utter that word once again if Taiwanese or Japanese territory ever gets invaded by Chinese invaders in a (distant) future.
Quote:Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Newsweek that the deployment of the United States Typhon missile system in the country does not target any specific nation, after Russia said it reserved the right to take "necessary measures" to ensure its security.
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Forces Japan for comment via email. The Russian defense and foreign ministries did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Why It Matters
The Typhon Mid-Range Capability system is a U.S. Army ground-based missile system capable of conducting land-attack missions with 1,000-mile-range Tomahawk cruise missiles. It was deployed to Japan in September for the Resolute Dragon 25 bilateral drill, putting Russia's Far East region within its range, according to a Newsweek map.
The missile deployment followed the U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019, which banned land-based cruise missiles with a range of 310 to 3,417 miles, citing Russia's deployment of a prohibited weapon. The withdrawal allowed the U.S. to pursue similar systems capable of countering Russia.
What To Know
Russia's Foreign Ministry lodged a strong protest with Japan's embassy on October 31 over security concerns regarding the country's Far Eastern borders, where both nations claim ownership of four islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Hokkaido.
Moscow claimed that the Typhon system, which can launch shorter- and intermediate-range missiles, had not been withdrawn from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, a key U.S. military base in Japan, following the conclusion of Exercise Resolute Dragon 25.
"It was noted in this connection that the Russian Federation reserved the right to take the necessary compensatory measures for ensuring the due level of its security," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a press release. No further explanation was provided.
In response, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement to Newsweek on Thursday that the bilateral war game aimed to improve the "mobile deployment capabilities" of similar U.S. missiles and is not targeting any specific country or region.
Japan's Defense Ministry previously told Newsweek that the U.S. military "is currently preparing for the retrograde" of the Typhon missile system, adding that the deployment was temporary for the exercise and is not intended to be permanently based in Japan.
Dmitry Stefanovich, a research fellow at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Newsweek that Russia could deploy its INF-range weapons, including the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile and the Kalibr cruise missile, as countermeasures.
Russia could also strengthen air and missile defenses in the Far East, but all measures would likely wait until the end of the war in Ukraine, according to Stefanovich.
In the protest, Russia also said a joint exercise of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, held in late October across the country—including Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island—took place in the "geographical vicinity" of the Russian Federation.
Moscow described the Japanese war game as "provocative military activity," creating a potential threat to Russia's Far Eastern borders. Tokyo told Newsweek that the drill aimed to enhance the "integrated operational capabilities" of the Self-Defense Forces.
UKRAINE WAR
Quote:Russia is assessing how to carry out possible nuclear tests, the Kremlin said on Sunday, after President Vladimir Putin ordered the country's experts to draw up proposals for what could be the first nuclear tests by Moscow in decades.
The Context
President Donald Trump announced last month the U.S. would "immediately" start nuclear weapons testing on "an equal basis" with unnamed countries. His remarks were opaque, leaving doubt over whether the Republican referred to tests of delivery systems or warheads. Government officials reportedly discussed restarting nuclear tests during his previous administration after accusing Russia and China of carrying out "low yield" tests, which both countries denied.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright earlier this month said the U.S. was not planning on carrying out nuclear explosions.
The U.S., Russia and China—the three countries with the largest atomic arsenals—have not conducted full nuclear tests since the 1990s, although drills to make sure weapons still function correctly have continued in the decades since. North Korea is the only known exception, and the last test the Kremlin carried out was during the now-collapsed Soviet Union.
Russia has reacted with confusion to Trump's announcement and said it is waiting for clarification from the U.S. Moscow and the Washington combined control roughly 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons.
What To Know
"We really need clarification of what exactly was meant," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told state media on Sunday. But Putin ordered experts to create plans for how the country could resume its own nuclear testing, he said.
Putin told his security council last week experts must do "everything possible" to formulate proposals for new nuclear testing preparations. Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov told his president it was "advisable to begin preparations for full-scale nuclear tests immediately.”
Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said on Saturday the public would be "informed about the results" of proposals on how to restart nuclear testing.
The 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty prohibited all explosions. The U.S. signed the treaty but has not ratified it, while Russia withdrew its ratification in 2023. But both sides would have to pull their signature if they no longer intend to observe the treaty.
Experts say resuming full nuclear testing would benefit China most of all, as its modern-day nuclear arsenal is vastly different to its 20th-century weapons. William Alberque, a former head of NATO's nuclear non-proliferation center currently with the Pacific Forum nonprofit, previously told Newsweek the U.S. could be ready to perform some form of test within about six to 10 months, but would likely need three years to prepare for a series of tests.
Russia said it had carried out tests of its Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and its nuclear-capable Poseidon torpedo last month, but that these trials did not count as full nuclear tests. It would be "an extremely superficial and incorrect judgment," Peskov said on Sunday.
Quote:Russia’s latest drone and missile attack struck stations powering two major nuclear plants in Ukraine, putting Europe in danger of a “catastrophic incident,” Kyiv warned on Sunday.
Moscow’s overnight assault, which killed 12 people in Ukraine, also struck the substations that supply power to the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plant, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a statement.
“These were not accidental but well-planned strikes. Russia is deliberately endangering nuclear safety in Europe,” Sybiha alleged.
“We also urge all states that value nuclear safety, particularly China and India, to demand Russia stop reckless attacks on nuclear energy that risk a catastrophic incident,” he added.
Sybiha also called on the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog group, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to hold an urgent meeting following the attack on the two nuclear plants.
Kyiv has repeatedly accused Russia of targeting the country’s nuclear power plants in a ploy to decimate Ukraine’s energy grid ahead of the harsh winter months.
Along with targeting the power plants in the latest attack — which saw more than 450 drones and 45 missiles fired — energy facilities in the Kyiv, Poltava and Kharkiv regions were damaged, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
The damages have left thousands of people in the regions without power and water.
Emergency crews were deployed to stabilize the power grid, but Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk has warned that power cuts were needed to address the power outages.
Despite the work, blackouts are persisting in both Poltava and Kharkiv, according to local news reports.
“The last strike was not even a month ago and the enemy has now struck all our generating capacity at the same time. The stations are on fire!” the state-owned Tsentrenergo energy company said in a statement.
Tsentrenergo, which generates nearly a tenth of Ukraine’s power, has been forced to halt operations at its plants in Kharkiv and Kyiv, with its power output currently at zero, the company warned.
Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin displayed a “swollen and sore” hand that appeared covered in bulging veins during a recent press conference, igniting new speculations over his health.
Putin, whose right hand has been a source of health rumors over the years, was spotted clenching his hand tightly in discomfort during an event in which the 73-year-old addressed a crowd of loyalists on a basketball court.
The images sparked fresh speculations that the Russian dictator has been fighting a serious illness, with online sleuths claiming Putin had everything from Parkinson’s to cancer.
“There’s something wrong with Putin’s hands,” Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry, told East2West.
“Apart from the fact that they’re covered in blood up to the elbows, his veins are bulging too,” he added while taking a shot at Putin’s relentless invasion of Ukraine.
Many other Ukrainians were quick to hop on the speculation, with media personality Dmytro Gordon telling the outlet that Putin’s hands appeared “swollen and sore, with veins bulging prominently on one hand.”
Putin’s hands became the subject of discussion during the first year of the Ukraine war, where a black spot appeared on the Russian leader’s hands during a military visit, while other photos claimed to show signs of numerous IV marks on his hands.
Putin has also been seen grabbing hold of tables while speaking, with his hands otherwise twitching, which many claim is further proof of Parkinson’s.
The Kremlin has never confirmed any of the health rumors that are circulating about Putin.
The Russian leader isn’t alone in facing online scrutiny over images of his hand. Earlier this year, President Trump became the focus of online health sleuths after he was pictured with similar dark bruises.
Russia pours 150K troops into latest drive to overrun Ukraine in Donetsk: ‘Really a tense situation’
Quote:Pokrovsk, a city formerly home to around 60,000 in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, is ground zero for Russia’s latest offensive in Moscow’s nearly three-year-old invasion of its neighbor.
Despite the Kremlin’s forces using every trick to try to break through Ukrainian defenses, Kyiv is grimly holding on to the logistically important town, armed forces of Ukraine commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi exclusively told The Post Sunday.
“The situation on the front line is really a tense one, where the enemy is carrying out a strategic offensive operation,’” he said. “They’ve collected most of the forces, creating domination in an attempt to breach our defense line … to capture the area.”
Despite Russian state TV and social media propagandists insisting that Pokrovsk has fallen and Ukrainians are trapped, Syrskyi says the opposite is the case following a September counterattack that cost the invaders “about 13,000” casualties and allowed Ukrainian forces to clear more than 165 square miles.
“They continue to show this area on their maps as if it’s under their control,” he said. “This perception — that the enemy has got practically everything and they’re about to finish it — is not true.”
Undeterred, Moscow has sent roughly 150,000 troops — out of the roughly 700,000 on Ukrainian territory — in the direction of Pokrovsk, with powerful mechanized groups and four marine brigades committed to the push.
Russia’s goal is to encircle Pokrovsk and neighboring towns from north, south and east, choking off supply lines and squeezing out any remaining civilians in its latest gambit to capture all of Donetsk, the commander explained.
As the Kremlin burns through funds to pay top dollar to enlisted men and mercenaries, some analysts have questioned how long Moscow can continue sending soldiers to die without resorting to conscription, which would be deeply unpopular and hurt Russian President Vladimir Putin politically.
“Our task is to see that their level of mobilizing people would be equal or less than the number of losses they sustain,” Syrskyi said. “They’ve been doing these active assault actions for two months without any material success.”
The Ukrainians have spent months building fortifications around residential townships to blunt the effectiveness of heavy machinery like tanks.
“There’s a difference between having to defend yourself in the open field or an urban structure,” Syrskyi said. “Our urban areas are able to hold off huge masses of enemy troops.”
Russian regulars aren’t all Kyiv’s forces have to contend with, as sabotage teams attempt to strike rear positions and communications and Kremlin information operatives work overtime to sow doubt at home and abroad.
Actually, this is a nearly 4-year-old war being fought in Ukrainian soil.
Quote:Russia attacked the BBC over the scandal involving its editing of video clips that were filmed 54 minutes apart showing President Donald Trump's speech on January 6, 2021 so it misleadingly appeared he had encouraged his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol.
“They are beyond reproach," Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told her country's state-run Tass news agency, originally in Russian.
Zakharova also accused the BBC, Britain's public broadcaster, of "falsification" in its reporting of the 2022 Bucha massacre by Russian troops in Ukraine.
A BBC spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement: “Our independent and impartial reporting of Russia and the war in Ukraine continues to serve audiences who come to the BBC for trusted news and analysis.”
The scandal is the latest vindication of Trump in his campaign against the media, which he and his allies accuse of persistent bias against him, and has seen the president file multiple lawsuits against major networks and broadcasters.
It also adds fuel to Russia's attempts to undermine public trust in the media, just as Western allies accuse the Kremlin of peddling damaging disinformation in their societies.
Russia Draws Bucha Massacre Comparison
Two senior leaders at the BBC—its Director General Tim Davie and CEO of BBC News Deborah Turness—resigned amid the backlash over its handling of the documentary concerned.
The BBC's Panorama documentary program, aired in October 2024, spliced together two sections of Trump's speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell."
Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
"The falsification in Bucha was likewise ‘edited,’ or rather, informationally fabricated, precisely by the BBC," Zakharova claimed, accusing the institution of having "invented incredible stories" and "inflated absurd disinformation" in other coverage of Russia.
The BBC published satellite imagery in April 2022 taken a month before that showed corpses lying in the street's in the Ukrainian city of Bucha while it was under the control of Russian forces. The BBC found that some of the bodies had their hands tied behind their backs, which suggests executions rather than incidental battlefield deaths.
Ukrainian authorities, including local officials in Bucha, said that hundreds of civilians were killed during the Russian occupation of the city. Ukraine said many of those killed were shot, some with their hands tied, and that the killings amount to war crimes.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the images and footage of deaths in Bucha were a “staged provocation” by Ukraine and its Western backers. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the situation in Bucha as a “fake attack” orchestrated by the West.
Russia claims its forces left Bucha before the bodies appeared on the streets, and thus argues its forces cannot be responsible.
BBC Trump Editing Scandal
Pressure on the BBC's top executives had been growing since the British Daily Telegraph newspaper published parts of a dossier compiled by Michael Prescott, who had been hired to advise the BBC on standards and guidelines. The BBC has strict rules of impartiality in its editorial guidelines that it must uphold.
As well as the Trump edit, it criticized the BBC’s coverage of transgender issues and raised concerns of anti-Israel bias in the BBC’s Arabic service.
The Panorama episode showed an edited clip from the January 2021 speech in which Trump claimed the 2020 presidential election had been rigged. Trump is shown saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
According to video and a transcript from Trump’s comments that day, he said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.
“Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated.
“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Trump used the “fight like hell” phrase toward the end of his speech, but without referencing the Capitol.
“We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” Trump said.
Quote:Actress Angelina Jolie visited families living on the front lines in Ukraine, where she witnessed firsthand the daily danger Ukrainians face in a region hauntingly dubbed a “human safari zone” — where Russian drones hunt civilians.
The Oscar winner made her second trip to Ukraine during Russia’s invasion last week, stopping by the besieged city of Kherson, where Moscow’s drone pilots regularly target civilians, including infants and seniors.
“The threat of drones was a constant, heavy presence,” Jolie, 50, said in an Instagram post on Sunday.
“You hear a low hum in the sky. There was a moment when we had to pause and wait while a drone flew overhead,” she added.
“I was in protective gear, and for me, it was just a couple of days. The families here live with this every single day.”
Jolie toured the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions with the UK-based Legacy of War Foundation, where she met with civilians as they tried to adapt to living in reinforced basements and safe houses under the threat of Russian drones.
Russia has been regularly attacking Kherson’s civilian population since the summer of 2024, with Ukrainian and human rights groups accusing Moscow of effectively transforming the area into a “human safari zone.”
Nearly 150 civilians were killed in the initial summer assault and hundreds more were injured, according to the United Nations, with the attacks continuing daily.
The Post has previously reported on one attack that killed a 1-year-old boy while he was playing outside and another strike that killed an 84-year-old as she herded goats.
Jolie said she wanted to visit the people in Kherson to highlight the civilian toll of Russia’s invasion and make sure the residents there know that the world is not just silently watching.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
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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
