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Quote:The Trump administration formally halted immigration applications from 19 countries deemed to be a high risk for producing terrorists and other national security threats — hours after a source told The Post that list could grow to 30 nations or more.
In a four-page memo issued late Tuesday, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) directed a hold on green card and citizenship applications from those nations, as well as requests for benefits, “pending a comprehensive review.”
The 19 countries affected by the order were previously singled out by President Trump for travel restrictions in a June 4 proclamation and include Afghanistan, Burma, Burundi, Chad, Cuba, the Republic of the Congo, Equitorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Yemen.
USCIS also announced a hold on “all pending asylum applications, regardless of the alien’s country of nationality.”
“USCIS has determined that a comprehensive re-review, potential interview, and re-interview of all aliens from high-risk countries of concern who entered the United States on or after January 20, 2021 is necessary,” read the memo, later adding: “USCIS has considered that this direction may result in delay to the adjudication of some pending applications and has weighed that consequence against the urgent need for the agency to ensure that applicants are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.
“Ultimately, USCIS has determined that the burden of processing delays that will fall on some applicants is necessary and appropriate in this instance, when weighed against the agency’s obligation to protect and preserve national security.”
The memo cited last week’s broad-daylight shooting of two West Virginia National Guard troops in Washington, DC, by an Afghan national, a former member of a CIA-backed military unit that fought the Taliban.
The suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, entered the US legally in 2021 under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome program, which evacuated and resettled refugees after the botched US withdrawal from Afghanistan that August.
Lakanwal had been granted asylum in April, which made him eligible for a green card after 12 months.
The State Department also paused visa issuance for individuals traveling on Afghan passports in response to the Thanksgiving eve attack, which killed Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically injured Andrew Wolfe, 24, not far from the White House.
“Recently, the United States has seen what a lack of screening, vetting, and prioritizing expedient adjudications can do to the American people,” the USCIS memo read.
“USCIS remains committed to ensuring that all aliens from high-risk countries of concern that entered the United States do not present threats to national security or public safety.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had announced on X that she had proposed expanding the number of countries on the restricted list during a meeting with Trump.
“Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom — not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to AMERICANS,” Noem wrote. “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.”
At a Tuesday cabinet meeting, Trump lashed out at immigrants from Somalia in response to an ongoing benefit fraud case out of Minnesota involving dozens of members of the East African diaspora.
“Somalians ripped off [Minnesota] for billions of dollars,” the president said, adding: “They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country.”
Trump issued the initial June proclamation following an antisemitic firebomb attack in Colorado, which was allegedly carried out by an Egyptian national in the US on an expired tourist visa.
That order fully restricted travel to the US from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
Partial restrictions were imposed on entering the US by citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone,
Quote:Republican Matt Van Epps held off Democrat Aftyn Behn in Tuesday’s hotly contested special election for Tennessee’s 7th District House seat, giving the GOP a much-needed electoral victory to close out a bumpy 2025.
With 99% of the expected vote in, Van Epps — a former Army helicopter pilot endorsed by President Trump — led Behn by 8.9 percentage points, well below the 22-point margin by which Trump carried the district in last year’s presidential election.
Behn, a 36-year-old state representative, had raised Democrats’ hopes for a stunning upset in the conservative stronghold after late polling showed her within striking distance of Van Epps and forced a last-minute surge of campaigning from the president and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
“Congratulations to Matt Van Epps on his BIG Congressional WIN in the Great State of Tennessee,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The Radical Left Democrats threw everything at him, including Millions of Dollars.
“Another great night for the Republican Party!!! President DJT.”
“Politicians who run from the president or abandon the common-sense policies that the American people gave us a resounding mandate on do so at their own peril,” Van Epps said at his victory party. “No matter what the DC insiders or liberal media say, this is President Trump’s party. I’m proud to be a part of it and can’t wait to get to work.”
Behn defeated Van Epps by a margin of more than three-to-one in deep-blue Davidson County — where Nashville is located — but the Republican more than made up the difference in the rest of the district, which includes staunchly GOP counties across central Tennessee.
At her own campaign party, Behn — who was dogged by resurfaced comments from a 2020 podcast in which she said “I hate country music” — took the stage in a Western-style rhinestone suit while singing Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.”
Quote:Hundreds of state workers at the Minnesota Department of Human Services publicly excoriated Gov. Tim Walz for allowing a “massive fraud” scandal to unfold under his watch and retaliating against their whistleblowers.
Over $1 billion in taxpayers’ money was fleeced by dozens of scammers in Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, the largest known COVID-19 fraud case in the country.
“Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota. We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud but no, we got the opposite response,” the Minnesota DHS employees’ X account, which represents over 480 staffers, chided Saturday.
“Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his best to discredit fraud reports. Instead of partnership, we got the full weight of retaliation,” the account charged.
“It’s scary, isolating and left us wondering who we can turn to.”
Just last week, the Justice Department prosecuted the 78th defendant in what prosecutors have dubbed the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme. At least 59 people have been convicted so far.
During the past five years, fraudsters targeted Minnesota’s generous social safety net by setting up companies that billed the state for social services that prosecutors alleged were never actually provided.
Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit founded in 2016 that purported to help feed school children, had partnered with dozens of local businesses under the pretense of providing food aid.
The nonprofit, which dissolved in 2022, and its partners billed the state, claiming to have helped feed tens of thousands of needy children. In reality, most of that money was squandered on foreign real estate projects, luxury cars, and more.
Other organizations besides Feeding Our Future committed fraud with Minnesota’s social safety net as well.
The fraud largely revolved around dozens of people in the Somali diaspora. Minnesota is home to about 80,000 Somali Americans.
“As staff, we firsthand witnessed and observed fraud happening yet we were shutdown, reassigned and told to keep quiet,” the Minnesota DHS employees’ X account alleged.
Quote:The House Oversight Committee has opened a probe into Gov. Tim Walz's handling of a massive relief program in Minnesota that federal prosecutors say devolved into the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country.
"Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was warned about massive fraud in a pandemic food-aid program for children, yet he failed to act," Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.
"Instead, whistleblowers who raised concerns faced retaliation," Comer added. "Because of Governor Walz’s negligence, criminals — including Somali terrorists — stole nearly $1 billion from the program while children suffered. The House Oversight Committee will conduct a thorough investigation into Governor Walz’s failure to safeguard taxpayer dollars."
Comer's decision comes as the Treasury Department announced that it too is investigating the scandal and looking into whether Minnesota tax dollars were diverted to the terrorist organization al-Shabaab.
The Justice Department said approximately $300 million in taxpayer funds intended to feed low-income children during the pandemic was diverted through a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future in a sprawling case that has now grown to at least 78 defendants. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota said it was the largest pandemic-relief fraud scheme charged to date in the U.S.
Some of the organizations tied to the fraud were run by Somali Minnesotans, federal prosecutors say.
Minnesota education officials say Feeding Our Future and its partner organizations submitted more than $500 million in claims — and Comer has alleged the total losses may have approached $1 billion.
Walz has come under fire after nearly 500 employees of the Minnesota Department of Human Services accused his administration of failing to act on early warnings of widespread fraud and retaliating against internal whistleblowers.
As chairman of the GOP-led committee, Comer is empowered to subpoena records and witnesses and to refer potential wrongdoing to the Department of Justice.
A report by the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal, citing unnamed federal counterterrorism sources, alleged that some of the stolen funds were transferred overseas to Somalia and may have ended up with al-Shabaab — though none of the federal indictments include terrorism charges and the Justice Department has not confirmed any such link.
Employees of the Minnesota Department of Human Services wrote on X on Saturday that Walz is "100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota."
Quote:Attorney General Pam Bondi pushed back Tuesday after being sued by a former immigration judge who claims she was wrongfully fired — the first legal challenge to the Trump administration’s sweeping removal of more than 100 immigration judges this year.
The lawsuit, filed Monday by former Ohio immigration Judge Tania Nemer, accuses the Justice Department of discrimination based on sex, nationality and political affiliation. Its filing comes as the administration accelerates its effort to reshape the immigration courts amid record legal clashes over its border crackdown.
Speaking at a White House Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump, Bondi dismissed the discrimination allegations and highlighted the department’s recent push against violent crime and drug trafficking in the face of numerous lawsuits.
"Most recently, yesterday, I was sued by an immigration judge who we fired," Bondi said. "One of the reasons she said she was a woman."
"Last I checked, I was a woman as well," she quipped.
Nemer's lawsuit accuses the Justice Department of illegally violating her protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as well as her First Amendment rights to engage in political activity.
She is not the only immigration judge to be removed from her position under the Trump administration. Since January, at least 100 immigration judges have been fired or "pushed out" from their roles, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, a union that represents many of the judges.
Eight immigration judges were fired in New York City on Monday, The New York Times reported this week, prompting fresh concerns about the reduction in staff and ability to handle the caseload.
"I think what's happening in the immigration court system is very troubling," Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute and director of the office at NYU's law school, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
"People have always had doubts about the independence of the [immigration] court system," Chishti said.
But the events of the last few months "have eroded trust completely in the Executive Office for Immigration Review," he added, saying the mass removals could have a chilling effect on judges who might apply to fill the vacant spots, and who might feel pressured to rule in a certain way.
Quote:Lt. Col. William “Skate” Parks, an Air Force F-16 commander who deliberately flew into one of the most heavily defended air-defense zones in the Middle East and dodged enemy missiles for 15 minutes while dangerously low on fuel, has been awarded the Silver Star, one of the nation’s highest honors for valor in combat.
Parks received the medal during a Pentagon ceremony Nov. 26. According to an official Air Force release, his actions during a high-risk mission in early 2025 not only crippled enemy ballistic missile production facilities, but saved the lives of his wingman and likely prevented the loss of two American aircraft.
At the time, Parks was the commander of the 480th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and served as mission commander for a 21-aircraft strike package March 27.
Parks simultaneously led a four-ship of F-16 Fighting Falcons tasked with Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses, or SEAD, the mission responsible for drawing enemy fire and clearing a path for the rest of the force.
“Parks intentionally placed himself in threat range of a complex air defense zone protecting the enemy’s capital,” the Air Force said. His decision, the citation states, was key to “crippling enemy ballistic missile production facilities.”
It also placed his formation squarely in the crosshairs. Enemy forces fired a “barrage of precisely targeted” missiles and anti-aircraft fire at the F-16s, triggering a 15-minute sequence of violent high-G maneuvers and countermeasures.
“For 15 minutes, with enemy missiles detonating mere feet from his aircraft, Parks led his flight through a series of high-G maneuvers and countermeasure employment,” the citation states.
The danger didn’t end once the barrage stopped. Parks was still deep in enemy territory and below minimum fuel levels, according to the Air Force. He quickly coordinated an emergency rendezvous with two separate tankers to keep the jets airborne long enough to reach safety, a move the service said likely prevented the loss of two aircraft.
Quote:President Donald Trump threw himself in the middle of Honduras’ razor-thin presidential race on Monday, warning that there would be “hell to pay” if election officials altered the results.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump, without offering evidence, accused Honduras of “trying to change the results.”
“If they do, there will be hell to pay! The people of Honduras voted in overwhelming numbers on November 30th,” Trump said.
The president’s remarks came hours after Ana Paola Hall, president of the National Electoral Council, wrote on X that the preliminary rapid reporting system that began providing results Sunday night had reached its conclusion with votes 57% tallied.
Their count showed a close race between two conservative candidates, Nasry Asfura of the National Party and Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, with Asfura holding a narrow lead of only a few hundred votes.
Rixi Moncada, the democratic socialist LIBRE candidate, trailed roughly 20 percentage points behind.
“It is imperative that the Commission finish counting the Votes,” Trump wrote. “Hundreds of thousands of Hondurans must have their Votes counted. Democracy must prevail!”
Officials have said the count would continue but did not specify when updated totals would be released, and parts of the council’s online system appeared to have been taken down.
Just before the freeze, Trump had endorsed Asfura, calling him the “only Honduran candidate his administration would work with and saying he would fight “narco-communists” alongside the US.
Both leading candidates have pointed to the close tally as evidence that they are ahead – though both men have stopped short of declaring victory.
Trump’s announcement that he would pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who is now serving a 45-year US sentence – also loomed large over the race, underscoring how US politics can intrude in the country’s politics.
Quote:Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was released from prison in the United States on Monday, where he was serving a 45-year prison sentence for drug trafficking and firearms charges, a Federal Bureau of Prisons registry showed.
Hernandez’s wife, Ana Garcia, said in a social media post that Hernandez was released after he was granted a pardon by President Trump.
“After nearly four years of pain, waiting, and difficult trials, my husband Juan Orlando Hernandez RETURNED to being a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump,” Garcia said.
The release came days after a presidential election in Honduras, in which Trump has backed presidential candidate Nasry Asfura of the conservative National Party, who is facing off with liberal Salvador Nasralla.
The latest vote count showed both candidates practically tied holding just under 40% of the vote.
Asfura’s party forged a close partnership with Washington under Hernandez, who governed from 2014 to 2022 and was arrested shortly after leaving office.
Hernandez was sentenced in June last year and called his conviction wrongful.
Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump will convene his national security team in the Oval Office on Monday in part to discuss possible next steps for the US’ pressure campaign on Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro — as the White House says the commander-in-chief has not ruled on US boots on the ground.
“I will confirm that the president will be meeting with his national security team on this subject, and on many matters,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in response to a question whether they team would discuss a “final decision” regarding US action on Venezuela.
“He meets with his national security team quite often,” she added, declining to further detail what they plan to discuss. “He’s the commander-in-chief; it’s part of his responsibility to ensure that peace is ongoing throughout the world.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller are expected to attend, CNN reported.
It comes as the Pentagon has stacked 11 warships — including an aircraft carrier — and 15,000 troops in the waters near Venezuela.
A Marine Expeditionary Unit capable of an amphibious land invasion has also been deployed.
“The military’s job is to defend the homeland,” Secretary of the Navy John Phelan told Fox News on Saturday night. “That’s exactly what we’re doing, and we’re using our best assets to defend the homeland.”
So far, the US has kept its war on Maduro’s narcoterrorist regime confined to the sea, picking off drug boats in the region in a series of strikes that has killed at least 83 Venezuelans trafficking illegal narcotics such as cocaine.
President Trump has previously said he has not ruled out striking Venezuela on land, and has already directed the CIA to conduct its own operations inside the country.
“There’s many options at the president’s disposal that are on the table, and I’ll let him speak to those,” Leavitt said Monday, responding to a question whether Trump was still considering sending US troops to the Latin American country.
Quote:The White House said the Pentagon authorized a second lethal military strike against an alleged Venezuelan drug boat — and insisted the double attack in September was legal.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth authorized Adm. Frank Bradley to order the follow-up strike on the suspected drug-trafficking boat after two people survived the first attack.
“President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narcoterrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war,” Leavitt told reporters on Monday. “With respect to the strikes in question on Sept. 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Adm. Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.”
Bradley, head of the US Special Operations Command, “worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated,” she added.
The comments come after the Washington Post reported Friday that a Joint Special Operations Command commander ordered a second airstrike on a speedboat carrying 11 suspected Tren de Aragua narco-terrorists Sept. 2, after the first strike left two people clinging to the wreckage. The double strike happened because of a verbal directive from Hegseth: “The order was to kill everybody,” the paper reported.
A second strike to finish off the pair in lieu of aid and arrests could be considered a war crime under international law — but the Trump administration is standing by claims that the second strike was warranted for “self-defense.”
“The strike conducted on Sept. 2 was conducted in self-defense to protect Americans and vital United States interests,” Leavitt said in a prepared statement. “The strike was conducted in international waters and in accordance with the law of armed conflict.”
Leavitt later added “one more point to remind the American public why these lethal strikes are taking place” — noting that Trump has designated Nicolás Maduro’s narcoterrorists such as Tren de Aragua as foreign terror organizations, giving the US military the legal authority to blast the drug boats out of the water.
“The president has a right to take them out if they are threatening the United States of America and if they are bringing illegal narcotics that are killing our citizens at a record rate, which is what they are doing,” she said.
Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump yet again threatened Tuesday to order strikes on land-based Venezuelan drug traffickers — and added that Colombian operators also are at risk.
Trump has threatened to order land strikes for months in an expansion of his military campaign bombing alleged drug boats in international waters.
Asked by a journalist about potential land strikes, Trump said he would order action “if we think they’re building mills for whether it’s fentanyl or cocaine.”
The president quickly pivoted from talking about Venezuela to Colombia, whose left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, has clashed with Trump.
“I hear Colombia, the country of Colombia, is making cocaine. They have cocaine manufacturing plants, and then they sell us the cocaine,” he said.
“Anybody that’s doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack. No, not just Venezuela.”
Trump said on Oct. 23 that he was preparing to inform Congress of his plan to pursue land attacks inside Venezuela, but has held back as he attempts to negotiate the resignation and exile of longtime strongman Nicolás Maduro.
An administration official told The Post that Trump may order strikes inside Venezuela’s territorial waters before hitting land targets.
Since Sept. 2, the US military has attacked at least 22 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in international waters off the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia, killing at least 83 people.
LATIN AMERICA
Quote:Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s inexperienced army is prepared to wage a prolonged guerrilla war and spread anarchy throughout the country if the US attempts a ground invasion to depose him, according to a new report.
As the US continues to build up its threats against Maduro’s regime, the Venezuelan dictator appears to be fully aware that his nation’s military is dwarfed by the might of the American army.
Rather than face an invading force head on, Venezuela plans to mount a guerrilla-style resistance and sow chaos to make it impossible for the US to quickly boot Maduro and replace him with a new leader, according to sources and documents obtained by Reuters.
The preparations come as the US has more than 10 US warships — including the country’s largest carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford — in the Caribbean amid escalating tensions between Trump and Maduro.
A Marine Expeditionary Unit capable of an amphibious land invasion has also been deployed as part of Trump’s plan to stem the flow of drugs into the US from the socialist country.
Venezuela’s army is small, inexperienced, and ill-equipped
While the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela (FANB) boasts about 123,000 active personnel, the army’s primary combat experience has been confronting unarmed civilians during street protests.
Venezuela’s armed force is also regularly mired by lack of training, low wages, desertions, and deteriorating equipment, six sources familiar with Caracas’ military told Reuters.
Should Maduro activate the supposed 8-million strong civilian militia training in Venezuela, analysts expect only thousands of people loyal to his ruling party to show up for war.
The FANB’s aging army equipment is a big problem for the nation as it relies heavily on Soviet-era weapons and military tech that were acquired by Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez.
While Caracas has some 20 Sukhoi fighter jets that were acquired in the 2000s, they would do little against American B-2 jets.
Quote:Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was spotted dancing at a rally in Caracas — as he and President Trump agreed to resume deportation flights despite rising tensions between the two nations.
The defiant dictator joined crowds celebrating newly elected Venezuelan leaders on Monday as he danced to a song with the lyrics, “no war, yes peace,” which samples one of his speeches.
During the celebration, Maduro vowed to stand by the Venezuelan people in the face of American aggression.
“Just as I swore before the body of our commander [Hugo] Chávez, before saying farewell to him, absolute loyalty at the cost of my own life and peace, I now swear to you absolute loyalty beyond this life, through this beautiful and heroic story we are living,” Maduro declared.
“Be certain that I will never fail you — never, ever, never,” he added.
Maduro was joined at the celebration with his wife, Cilia Flores, who wore a red cap featuring the slogan, “Doubt is Betrayal.”
Maduro’s reaffirmation comes following reports of a short phone call he had with Trump last month, where the Venezuelan president said he was willing to abandon his country if he and his family were given full legal amnesty.
Trump rejected most of Maduro’s requests during the call, which lasted less than 15 minutes, with the deadline to leave expiring on Friday.
Since then, Trump has ramped up his threats on Maduro’s regime, suggesting a ground invasion is on the table as the US builds up its amphibious forces in the Caribbean.
Trump also declared that Venezuela’s airspace be considered closed over the weekend. While Trump has no authority to shut down the country’s airspace, the move saw air traffic dwindle over Venezuela.
The order also raised questions about the twice-a-week deportation flights from the US that have taken place this year following an agreement between Maduro and Trump.
Quote:Colombia rebuffed President Donald Trump late on Tuesday after he said military action in the South American country was possible under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
"Any threat of external aggression that violates the dignity, integrity of the territory and sovereignty of the Colombian people is rejected," the Colombian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Earlier the same day, Trump had told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House that any country producing and selling drugs into the U.S. could be "subject to attack"—specifically mentioning Colombia.
His remarks came amid mounting tensions between the United States and Venezuela, with the Trump administration contemplating military strikes there.
Why It Matters
Colombia and Venezuela have condemned U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean Sea and in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, in waters the Trump administration said were being used as drug trafficking routes. They have accused Washington of undermining regional sovereignty, with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro preparing for a potential U.S. attack that could target his regime.
Lawmakers have launched a review following reports that said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had verbally ordered a second strike on an alleged drug smuggling vessel to kill survivors back in September, an act critics say could amount to a war crime.
What To Know
President Gustavo Petro said on X in response to Trump's warning: "Come to Colombia, Mr. Trump, I invite you, so that you can participate in the destruction of the 9 laboratories we do daily to prevent cocaine from reaching the US."
Trump previously called the Colombian president an "illegal drug leader," threatening to end financial aid to the country. The Trump administration on October 23 imposed sweeping sanctions on Petro, his family and a top Cabinet member, accusing them of aiding the global drug trade.
Colombia is one of the world’s largest producers of cocaine, but the country has cooperated with the U.S. on counter-narcotics efforts. However, The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime reported in October 2024 that Colombia’s coca cultivation rose 10 percent from the previous year, reaching its largest area in over two decades. In September, for the first time in nearly 30 years, Colombia was listed as a country failing to cooperate in U.S. anti-drug efforts.
Bogota has pushed back on the U.S.' framing of the boat strikes it says targets "narco-terrorists," and which the White House justified as lawful. Petro ceased intelligence cooperation with the U.S. in November and condemned attacks on suspected drug running boats in which Colombian nationals were killed.
The family of Colombian national Alejandro Carranza Medina, who was killed in a U.S. strike off Colombia’s coast on September 15, has filed a formal complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, accusing the Trump administration of carrying out an extrajudicial killing, according to Politico.
The Washington, D.C.-based organization expressed concerns over U.S. boat strikes which killed more than 80 people since September, warning that the use of military force against alleged criminal groups and beyond national borders creates a serious risk of unlawful killings, weak accountability, due-process violations, and diminished civilian oversight.
Quote:An alleged Sinaloa cartel leader who was wanted by US authorities on suspicion of operating the “world’s largest known fentanyl production network” was killed by the Mexican military on Sunday.
Pedro Inzunza Coronel, better known under the alias “El Pichón,” allegedly attacked members of the Mexican Navy during a drug raid in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, Omar Garcia Harfuch, Mexico’s security secretary, wrote on X.
Harfuch wrote that Coronel “lost his life” during the raid, though the exact manner of his death is unclear.
In May, the US Department of Justice charged Coronel and his father, Pedro Inzunza Noriega, with narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering committed while the pair ran the Beltran Leyva Organization, a faction with the Sinaloa cartel that has since been shut down.
The father-son duo were accused of shipping tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl into the US. The Mexican government additionally seized more than 1.65 tons of fentanyl from the faction’s holdings.
It is, to date, the single largest seizure of fentanyl in the world, according to the DOJ.
The indictment was a “first in the nation to charge” that the DOJ said was only made possible through President Trump’s executive order that designated the Sinaloa cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The DOJ released images of the fentanyl and cocaine shipments that had been seized and connected to the pair.
Quote:A Nazi doctor known for barbaric prisoner experiments and handpicking gas chamber victims led a carefree post-war life in Argentina – despite authorities knowing his true identity, declassified documents revealed..
Coldblooded SS Commander Josef Mengele aka “The Angel of Death” gleefully oversaw the horrific torture of Jews and other prisoners at Auschwitz concentration camp under the guise of medical research before he fled Germany for Argentina in 1949.
He escaped justice under an assumed name just as the Nuremburg trials exposed his crimes.
Bombshell intelligence files, recently declassified by Argentinian President Javier Milei, detail how Argentinian authorities tracked Mengele’s life across South America but never apprehended him, Fox News Digital’s Solly Boussidan reported.
At times, the press tipped Mengele off, or top-down decisions were simply made too late.
The then Argentinian government was known for harboring Nazis, and allowing an underground community to prosper, according to Reuters. Surveillance reports, immigration records, and intelligence briefs paint a picture of fractured law enforcement efforts, which the twisted Nazi doctor was able to evade.
Mengele entered Argentina to begin in 1949 with an Italian passport under the name Helmut Gregor. There, he began a new life.
By the mid 1950s, documents prove Argentinian authorities knew the ‘Angel of Death’ was among them, according to an-depth analysis of the Spanish language records by Fox.
Newspaper clippings in the file include a chilling undated interview with one of Mengele’s victims, José Furmanski.
“He gathered twins of all ages in the camp and subjected them to experiments that always ended in death. Between the children, the elderly, and women… what horrors,” Furmanski said in the interview.
In 1956, Mengele requested his original birth certificate from the West German Embassy in Buenos Aires and had shockingly begun using his real name, requesting identification cards be reprinted.
A memo written by officials a year later says Mengele “explained” why he originally entered Argentina under a fake name.
“He (Mengele) demonstrated being nervous, having stated that during the war he acted as a physician in the German S.S., in Czechoslovakia, where the Red Cross labeled him a ‘war criminal,’” read the memo.
Argentine agencies knew Mengele lived in Carapachy, a town on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, and that he had married his brother’s widow at the time, the documents showed. Authorities were even aware his father had visited, perhaps to invest in the twisted doctor’s new medical business, documents showed.
UKRAINE WAR
Quote:PARIS — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday at the Elysée presidential palace in Paris, part of a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at brokering the terms for a potential ceasefire in the nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine.
Zelensky’s visit to Paris followed a meeting between Ukrainian and US officials in Florida on Sunday, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as productive. The two sides have worked to make revisions to a proposed US-authored plan that was developed in negotiations between Washington and Moscow but criticized as being too weighted toward Russian demands.
Those criticisms were perhaps most vehement from Ukraine’s European allies who, while welcoming US peace efforts, pushed back on key tenets of the plan. Ahead of his meeting with Zelensky on Monday, Macron’s office said the two leaders would discuss conditions for a “fair and lasting peace.”
President Trump has since downplayed the 28-point peace framework, which would have imposed limits on the size of Ukraine’s military, blocked the country from joining NATO and required Ukraine to give up territory, as a “concept” to be “fine-tuned.”
Last week, Macron — a key ally for Ukraine who has firmly backed Kyiv and sought to counterbalance elements of the US peace plan that are seen to favor Russia — urged Western allies to bring “rock-solid” guarantees to Ukraine in case a ceasefire or a peace deal was to be reached. He has endorsed deploying a “reassurance force” on land, at sea and in the air to help ensure the country’s security.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet with US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday afternoon. Witkoff’s role in the peace efforts came under scrutiny last week following a report that he coached Putin’s foreign affairs adviser on how Russia’s leader should pitch Trump on the Ukraine peace plan. Both Moscow and Washington downplayed the significance of the revelations.
Russia condemns Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure
Peskov on Monday condemned Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure over the weekend, including an attack on an oil terminal owned by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, CPC, and another that targeted two tankers in Turkish waters.
A major oil terminal near the port of Novorossiysk halted operations Saturday after a strike by unmanned boats damaged one of its three mooring points, according to a statement from CPC, which owns the terminal. This came a day after Ukrainian naval drones struck two oil tankers in the Black Sea that were reported to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” that evade sanctions.
Quote:A former British soldier has been arrested for allegedly helping Russia assassinate Ukrainian politicians in exchange for money, intelligence officials said.
Ross David Cutmore was detained by Ukraine’s state security service in October after he was accused of importing and doling out weapons that were used in the slayings of three prominent Ukrainians, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Cutmore, who had experience from serving in the British Army and a stint in the Middle East, went to Ukraine last year to help train Ukrainian army personnel as a military instructor.
Months after he arrived, he allegedly quit the job and started acting as a spy for the Kremlin.
He later provided the weapons used to murder politician, Andriy Parubiy, as well as activists, Demian Hanul and Iryna Farion, officials alleged.
He is also accused of repeatedly passing on information about Ukraine’s military to Moscow.
Cutmore faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted.
Quote:Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued Tuesday that “progress” had been made towards ending the nearly four-year-long war in Ukraine – and suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin is the main obstacle that remains.
“What we’re trying to see is if it’s possible to end the war in a way that protects Ukraine’s future that both sides could agree to,” Rubio told Fox News host Sean Hannity, after the Kremlin rejected the Trump administration’s latest plan to end the bloodshed.
“I think we’ve made some progress, but we’re not there yet,” the secretary of state continued.
When asked how confident he was in the prospect of peace, Rubio deflected and put the onus on Putin.
“It’s hard to tell about confidence level on it, because ultimately the decisions have to be made, in the case of Russia, by Putin alone,” the top US diplomat said. “Not his advisors, Putin.
“Only Putin can end this war on the Russian side.”
President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with the Russian strongman in Moscow for more than five hours Tuesday and presented him with the 19-point peace plan US negotiators hammered out with Ukrainian officials last week.
The marathon meeting ended with no agreement.
“While a compromise [peace plan for Ukraine] has not yet been found, some American proposals [for a peace settlement] appear more or less acceptable, but they need to be discussed,” Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian media.
“Some of the formulations we were offered are unacceptable,” Ushakov added. “Therefore, the work will continue.”
Rubio described the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine as “the most illogical war,” arguing “no one’s really winning that war” – as the Russian side is losing some 7,000 soldiers a week in a battle for “about 30 to 50 kilometers of space in the 20% of the Donetsk region that remains.”
Quote:President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held a marathon round of Ukraine peace talks Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin — though they ended with a statement from the Kremlin that parts of the proposal remain “unacceptable.”
The meeting began in Moscow around 7:30 p.m. local time, and lasted more than five hours — ending with no agreement.
“While a compromise [peace plan for Ukraine] has not yet been found, some American proposals [for a peace settlement] appear more or less acceptable, but they need to be discussed,” Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian media.
“Some of the formulations we were offered are unacceptable. Therefore, the work will continue.”
Just ahead of the talks, Putin delivered a chilling warning to Europe on Tuesday, accusing EU leaders of sabotaging peace talks with the US.
“We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” Putin said.
The Moscow strongman has criticized the input as direct interference from Europe, stating that “European demands are not acceptable to Russia.”
Witkoff, 68, has been to the Kremlin for similar peace talks numerous times, but Tuesday it was the first time he was joined by Trump’s son-in-law — who helped the envoy cement the Gaza peace deal.
The pair also brought an American translator with them for the discussion, which took place two days after talks between American and Ukrainian delegations in South Florida.
Putin, 73, was accompanied at the evening talks by foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, who accompanied Witkoff and Kushner on a stroll through central Moscow after a pre-meeting dinner.
“Productive,” Dmitriev wrote in a post to X around 1 a.m. local time including photos taken of himself and the US negotiators before the talks began.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was notably missing from the meeting as he met elsewhere in the Kremlin with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for a round of high-level “strategic security and military cooperation” talks, according to Russian and Chinese media.
So is Putin now admitting he wants to wage war against Europe?
Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Kyiv’s European allies Tuesday of sabotaging U.S.-led efforts to end the nearly 4-year-old war in Ukraine.
“They don’t have a peace agenda, they’re on the side of the war,” Putin said after speaking to an investment forum and before he met in the Kremlin with a U.S. delegation led by envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Putin’s accusations appeared to be his latest attempt to sow dissension between Trump and European countries and set the stage for exempting Moscow from blame for any lack of progress.
“They don’t have a peace agenda, they’re on the side of the war,” Putin said of the Europeans in comments to reporters.
He accused Europe of amending peace proposals with “demands that are absolutely unacceptable to Russia,” thus “blocking the entire peace process,” only to blame Russia for it.
“That’s their goal,” Putin said.
He reiterated his long-held position that Russia has no plans to attack Europe — a concern regularly voiced by some European countries.
“But if Europe suddenly wants to wage a war with us and starts it, we are ready right away. There can be no doubt about that,” Putin said.
Russia started the war in 2022 with its full-scale invasion of a sovereign European country, and European governments have since spent many many billions of dollars to support Ukraine financially and militarily, to wean themselves from energy dependence on Russia and to strengthen their own militaries to try to deter Moscow from seizing more territory by force.
They worry that if Russia gets what it wants in Ukraine, it will have free rein to threaten or disrupt other European countries, which already have faced incursions from Russian drones and fighter jets, and an alleged widespread Russian sabotage campaign.
Trump’s peace plan relies on Europe to provide the bulk of the financing and security guarantees for a post-war Ukraine, even though no Europeans appear to have been consulted on the original plan. That’s why European governments have pushed to ensure that peace efforts address European concerns, too.
Coinciding with Witkoff’s trip to Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to Ireland, continuing his visits to European countries that have helped sustain his country’s fight against Russia’s invasion.
High-stakes negotiations
In what could be a high-stakes day of negotiations, Zelenskyy said he was expecting swift reports later in the day from the U.S. envoys in Moscow on whether talks could move forward, after Trump’s initial 28-point plan was whittled down to 20 in Sunday’s talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Florida.
“They want to report right after that meeting to us, specifically. The future and the next steps depend on these signals. Such steps will change throughout today, even hour by hour, I believe,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference in Dublin with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.
“If the signals show fair play with our partners, we then might meet very soon, meet with the American delegation,” he said.
“There is a lot of dialogue, but we need results. Our people are dying every day,” Zelenskyy said. “I am ready … to meet with President Trump. It all depends on today’s talks.”
Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin sees “no point in making any serious compromises” about ending the war in Ukraine — as Moscow launched a massive drone attack on Wednesday just hours after rejecting a US peace deal.
The arrogant dictator wasn’t prepared to make concessions and is said to still be “absolutely confident on the battlefield” even as the high-stake negotiations played out, Russian state media outlets reported.
It comes as five hours of talks between Putin and President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner ended in a stalemate early Wednesday — with the Kremlin saying “compromises have not yet been found.”
Top Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, however, attempted to strike a more optimistic tone, claiming it had accepted some US proposals but defiantly rejected a slew of others.
“A direct exchange of views took place yesterday for the first time,” he told reporters.
“Some things were accepted, some things were marked as unacceptable – this is a normal working process of finding a compromise.”
He vowed, too, that Russia was ready to meet US negotiators as many times as it took to reach an agreement.
Meanwhile, Russian drones hit the town of Ternivka in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring three more.
Overall, Russia fired 111 strike and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said.
Quote:Emmanuel Macron arrived in China on Wednesday for a three-day state visit focusing on trade and diplomatic talks as the French president seeks to enlist Beijing in pressuring Russia toward a ceasefire with Ukraine.
Macron will advocate for an agenda of cooperation in economic and trade matters aimed at achieving a balance that ensures “sustainable, solid growth that benefits everyone,” his office said.
France is aiming to attract more investment from Chinese companies and facilitate market access for French exports.
During the visit, officials from both nations are expected to sign several agreements in the energy, food industry, and aviation sectors.
Macron is committed to defend “fair and reciprocal market access,” his office said.
He and his wife Brigitte wore open overcoats against the winter chill as they stepped off a plane after nightfall at an airport in Beijing and walked down a red-carpeted jetway. They were greeted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who spoke with Macron before the French leader and his wife departed in a limousine.
They are expected to visit the 18th-century Qianlong Garden complex in the Forbidden City, the former palace of China’s emperors, on Wednesday evening. The garden, which dates from the Qing dynasty, recently reopened to the public after a major renovation.
France will host the Group of Seven summit in 2026 involving the world’s most advanced economies, while China will chair the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which includes the United States, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Russia.
The 27-nation bloc runs a massive trade deficit with China — over $348 billion last year. China alone represents 46% of France’s total trade deficit.
France and the European Union have described China as a partner, competitor and systemic rival.
Recent years have been marked by multiple trade disputes across a range of industries after the EU undertook a probe into Chinese electric vehicles subsidies. China responded with investigations into imports of European brandy, pork and dairy products.
In July, Macron welcomed exemptions for most cognac producers as a positive step. France is China’s first supplier of wine and spirits.
EUROPE
Quote:A British teen has gone missing during a solo hike near Dracula’s Castle — with his final call to emergency services saying that he was suffering from hypothermia and exhaustion.
George Smyth, 18, was last heard from on Nov. 23 while hiking through the dense forests of Romania’s Bucegi Mountains and heading toward the village of Bran, home to Bran Castle, widely associated with the Dracula legend, the Times reported.
While trekking alone, the University of Bristol student made a distress call to mountain rescue, frantically telling operators that he was exhausted, hypothermic, and unsure of his location.
Despite days of searching, rescuers were unable to locate him, only discovering his rucksack with supplies in the area where he’d phoned for help.
The teen’s mother, Jo Smyth, described her son as “a sporty and strong young man,” who is known to travel a lot with his family and friends, but said this trip was different.
“He left his university in the United Kingdom on Sunday, without telling us, to go hiking alone,” she told the Times.
“His phone last had signal in a remote mountain area. He made a distressing call to 112 [Romania’s emergency line] on Sunday evening,” the worried mother said.
“I flew to Romania immediately, and we are trying to support the search teams as best we can.”
Rescue teams believe the teen started his hike from the resort town of Poiana Brasov and ended up roughly 10 to 15 miles away in the Tiganesti Valley when he called for help — the same area where his belongings were discovered.
Poiana Brasov and Bran are connected by extensive forest trails that ascend sharply into alpine areas, which can become particularly hazardous when temperatures drop.
ASIA
Philippine Navy stops Chinese fishermen suspected of using cyanide in catastrophic, illegal practice
Quote:Illegal Chinese fishermen suspected of using cyanide in a highly destructive fishing method have been intercepted by Philippine Marines in dramatic scenes, marking the latest clash between the two countries in the increasingly contested waters claimed by the two countries.
Footage released by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) showed Marines aboard two small boats approaching a Chinese vessel, suspected of illegal fishing, in the dark at Second Thomas Shoal on October 24.
The incident took place near BRP Sierra Madre, a World War II-era Philippine Navy landing ship intentionally grounded in 1999 to hold the area against other claimants.
Navy personnel can be heard shouting “stop the boat!”, “Get out now!”, grappling with occupants of the small vessel as it attempts to speed away.
Several of the Chinese fishermen are seen wearing wetsuits.
The Marines eventually surrounded the boat and seized a number of items, including bottles allegedly containing cyanide.
Cyanide fishing, while illegal in most of South-East Asia where the practice originated, is still used by some fishermen to catch live fish for trade, but causes significant damage to reefs and marine ecosystems.
The AFP said in a press release after the latest clash between Manila and Beijing that its troops “upheld environmental protection” at the disputed reef.
“In adherence to established protocols, AFP personnel promptly escorted the unauthorised fishing boats out of the area and confiscated bottles containing suspected cyanide chemicals reportedly used for destructive fishing,” the statement said.
“The Armed Forces of the Philippines reiterates that its continuous presence and patrols in the West Philippine Sea are lawful and primarily focused on ensuring the safety of personnel, upholding territorial integrity, and advancing the protection and preservation of the marine environment within the country’s maritime domain.”
After seizing the items, the Marines pulled the Chinese vessel away from Philippine waters using grappling hooks and lines.
Philippine Navy spokesperson Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad told local media that “on a normal day, [the Chinese fishermen] could have been arrested”, but cited capacity concerns, per USNI News.
The Philippine Navy’s Maritime Command Operations Platform (MCOP) confirmed that several Chinese maritime militia vessels (CMMVs) and a China Coast Guard (CCG) ship were also detected in the area at the time, Palawan News reported.
Quote:Hong Kong authorities said on Monday they had arrested 13 people for suspected manslaughter in a probe into the city’s deadliest fire in decades, pointing to substandard renovation materials for fuelling a blaze that has claimed at least 151 lives.
Police continued to sweep the seven burnt-out towers engulfed in Wednesday’s disaster at the Wang Fuk Court estate, finding bodies of residents in stairwells and on rooftops, trapped as they tried to flee the flames.
More than 40 people are still missing.
“Some of the bodies have turned into ash, therefore we might not be able to locate all missing individuals,” police official Tsang Shuk-yin told reporters, choking up with emotion.
Tests on several samples of a green mesh that was wrapped around bamboo scaffolding on the buildings at the time of the blaze did not match fire-retardant standards, officials overseeing the investigations told a news conference.
Contractors working on the renovations used these substandard materials in hard-to-reach areas, effectively hiding them from inspectors, said Chief Secretary Eric Chan.
Foam insulation used by contractors also fanned the flames and fire alarms at the complex were not working properly, officials have said.
Thousands have turned out to pay tribute to the victims, who include at least nine domestic helpers from Indonesia and one from the Philippines, with lines of mourners stretching more than a half-mile along a canal next to the estate.
Vigils are also due to take place this week in Tokyo, London and Taipei, authorities said.
Amid pockets of public anger over missed fire risk warnings, Beijing has warned it would crack down on any “anti-China” protests.
At least one person involved in a petition calling for an independent probe and a review of construction oversight among other demands was detained for around two days, sources familiar with the matter said.
Police have declined to comment on the case.
Quote:Malaysia’s transport ministry said Wednesday that the deep-sea hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will resume Dec. 30, renewing hopes of finally locating the jet that vanished without a trace more than a decade ago.
The Boeing 777 plane disappeared from radar shortly after taking off on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, on a flight from Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Beijing.
Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight path and headed south to the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.
The transport ministry said in a statement that US-based marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity will search intermittently from Dec. 30 for a total of 55 days, in targeted areas believed to have the highest likelihood of finding the missing aircraft.
“The latest development underscores the government of Malaysia’s commitment to providing closure to the families affected by this tragedy,” it said.
Malaysia’s government gave the green light in March for a “no-find, no-fee” contract with Ocean Infinity to resume the seabed search operation at a new 5,800-square-mile site in the ocean.
Ocean Infinity will be paid $70 million only if the wreckage is discovered. The search was halted in April due to bad weather.
An expensive multinational search failed to turn up any clues to its location, although debris washed ashore on the east African coast and Indian Ocean islands.
A private search in 2018 by Ocean Infinity also found nothing.
MIDDLE EAST
Quote:Israel is considering expanded military operations inside Syria after an IDF raid targeting a terror suspect turned into a bloodbath.
Thirteen Syrians were killed in the clash in the southern part of Syria on Friday, when Israeli Defense Forces detained two members of the al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya terror organization from the village of Beit Jinn, roughly four miles from the Jewish state’s eastern border, according to state media.
At least two children were killed in the attack, according to Syrian state media.
Six IDF soldiers suffered injuries, with three considered to be in serious condition, after being fired upon by gunmen while executing the raid.
Israel’s Air Force responded to the incident with fighter jets, helicopters and drones conducting several strikes during the tussle, The Times of Israel reported.
The Israeli military is now considering an escalation of the attacks if it turns out that members of the Syrian military participated in the gunfight Friday, the outlet reported.
The IDF could transition to fewer terrorist arrest operations in favor of increased devastating airstrikes in the region, according to the report.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned “the criminal attack carried out by an Israeli occupation army patrol in Beit Jinn. The occupation forces’ targeting of the town of Beit Jinn with brutal and deliberate shelling, following their failed incursion, constitutes a full-fledged war crime,” Al Jazeera reported.
Nine IDF posts were established inside Syria following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024. Those posts are mostly in the UN-patrolled buffer zone that sits on the border of the two countries — though two outposts are on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, according to The Times of Israel.
Quote:Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the president to grant him a pardon during his long-running corruption trial that’s bitterly divided the country.
In a statement Sunday the prime minister’s office said that Netanyahu had submitted a request for a pardon to the legal department of the Office of the President.
The Office of the President called it an “extraordinary request,” carrying with it “significant implications.”
Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases accusing him of exchanging favors with wealthy political supporters.
He has not yet been convicted of anything.
The request comes weeks after US President Donald Trump urged Israel to pardon Netanyahu.
In a videotaped statement, Netanyahu said the trial has divided the country and that a pardon would help restore national unity.
He also said the requirement that he appear in court three times a week is a distraction that makes it difficult for him to lead the country.
Netanyahu’s request consisted of two documents — a detailed letter signed by his lawyer and a letter signed by Netanyahu.
They’ll be sent to the justice ministry for opinions and will then be transferred to the Legal Advisor in the Office of the President, which will formulate additional opinions for the president.
Quote:A Hamas commander and three other terrorists equipped with a slain Israeli soldier’s rifle were killed trying to escape a Gaza tunnel housing dozens of trapped operatives, the IDF said Sunday.
The terrorists were spotted emerging from a tunnel under Israeli control in eastern Rafah early Sunday and taken out by nearby Israel Defense Force soldiers and the Israeli Air Force.
Israeli Col. Arik Moyal appeared on social media to announce the attack, which killed the commander of Hamas’ East Rafah Battalion, his deputy, a company commander and the son of senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad.
Moyal is seen in the footage holding a Tavor assault rifle recovered from the slain terrorists, which he said belonged to Staff Sgt. Or Mizrahi, an IDF soldier killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, the Times of Israel reported.
“This is what happens to those who mess with us. Either they surrender, or we’ll kill them,” Moyal said in the video as he held the rifle in front of the Israeli flag.
The fate of an estimated 60 to 80 Hamas members still trapped underneath Rafah remained unclear Sunday.
The operatives have been hiding in the region’s complex tunnel network at least since the majority of the area fell under Israeli occupation when the cease-fire began last month. Israel has kept them trapped amid repeated attacks on IDF troops in Rafah — including one that killed two soldiers.
More than 30 terror operatives have been killed trying to flee from the tunnels, with another eight taken into custody, according to the IDF.
Hamas terrorists are believed to be trying to flee the tunnels also because they are running out of food and water, according to Israeli reports.
Hamas has claimed that its communication systems have broken down and that the gunmen in the underground aren’t aware of the temporary truce.
Quote:The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said on Wednesday morning that forensic examination had determined that the “findings” transferred from the Gaza Strip a day earlier do not belong to any of the hostages captured by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
“The families of the two fallen hostages have been informed,” the PMO stated. “The effort to bring them home will not stop until the completion of the mission—to lay them to rest with dignity in their homeland.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday handed over to Israel remains that it had received from Hamas terrorists, per the PMO.
The remains were transferred to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv for identification, it said on Tuesday.
The bodies of two captives remain in Gaza: Israel Police counter-terror officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.
Israel’s Channel 14 News broadcaster on Tuesday night aired exclusive video footage of the gun battle in Kibbutz Alumim in which Gvili was mortally wounded.
The footage shows Gvili running over two terrorists while taking heavy fire.
The officer in Israel’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit was then shot in the leg, having already been wounded in the shoulder.
Despite his injuries, Gvili kept firing at the gunmen while warning fellow police officers of additional terrorists moving in.
After almost an hour of fighting, the terrorists reached him, killed him and abducted his body.
Under the ceasefire brokered by the Trump administration that went into effect on Oct. 10, the Palestinian terrorist group committed to returning on Oct. 13 all 28 bodies it was holding.
However, Hamas has slow-walked the return of the deceased hostages.
The most recent handover took place on Nov. 25, when the terrorist group transferred the remains of Dror Or.
He was buried on Sunday.
The PMO said last week that Hamas must fulfill its obligations, vowing that the Jewish state “will not compromise” until every captive is brought home.
"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
