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‘Birth tourism’ organizer jailed over scheme to bring pregnant Chinese women to US

Los Angeles (AP) — A California woman was sentenced Monday to more than three years in prison in a long-running case over a business that helped pregnant Chinese women travel to the United States to deliver babies who automatically became American citizens.

US District Judge R. Gary Klausner gave Phoebe Dong a 41-month sentence and ordered her immediately taken into custody from his federal court in Los Angeles. Dong and her husband were convicted in September of conspiracy and money laundering through their company, USA Happy Baby.

The sentencing came as birthright citizenship has been thrust into the spotlight in the US with the return of President Donald Trump to the White House. Since taking office, Trump issued an executive order to narrow the definition of birthright citizenship, a move quickly blocked by a federal judge who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.”

Dong and her husband, Michael Liu, were among more than a dozen people charged in an Obama-era crackdown on so-called “birth tourism” schemes that helped Chinese women hide their pregnancies while traveling to the US to give birth. Such businesses have long operated in various states catering to people from China, Russia, Nigeria and elsewhere.

Under the 14th Amendment, any child born in the United States is an American citizen. Many have seen these trips as a way to help their children secure a US college education and a better future – especially since the tourists themselves can apply for permanent residency once the children turn 21.

During her sentencing hearing, Dong wiped away tears as she recalled growing up without siblings due to China’s strict “one-child ” policy and told the court that the Chinese government forced her mother to have an abortion. Moving to the US was challenging, she said, but Dong grew hopeful after having children of her own and saw she could help Chinese women who want to have additional children in California.

“I don’t want to lose my kids,” she told the court. “I hope you can give me fair judgment. I will take all my responsibility.”

Federal prosecutors sought a more than five-year sentence for Dong and argued that she and Liu helped more than 100 pregnant Chinese women travel to the US. They said the pair worked with others to coach women on how to trick customs officials by flying into airports believed to be more lax while wearing loose-fitting clothing to hide their pregnancies.

“For tens of thousands of dollars each, defendant helped her numerous customers deceive US authorities and buy US citizenship for their children,” prosecutors said in court filings. They declined to comment after the sentencing.

In December, Liu was also sentenced to 41 months in prison. Dong’s lawyer, John McNicholas, asked that she be allowed to serve her term after Liu completes his sentence because of their three children. The youngest is 13.

Federal prosecutor Kevin Fu agreed to the delay but Klausner refused and had her taken into custody immediately. Dong removed a necklace and gave it to a family member before she was led away.

The USA Happy Baby case was part of a broader probe into businesses that helped Chinese women travel to give birth in California. The operator of another business is believed to have fled to China, McNicholas wrote in court filings, while another was sentenced in 2019 to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and visa fraud for running the company known as “You Win USA.”

McNicholas said he feels Dong was given a much longer sentence because the government and Klausner blame her for the babies that were born US citizens. That, he said, is unrelated to the allegations that she and Liu helped women travel to the United States to give birth.

“Our position was these children are born in America. They’re citizens,” McNicholas said, adding that Dong will appeal. “Implicitly, he’s saying being born here is not enough.”

Man accused of impersonating FBI agent in bid to free Luigi Mangione

A man accused of impersonating a federal agent in a bid to allegedly free Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down the CEO of United Healthcare in 2024, has been arrested.

Mark Anderson, 36, is accused of going to the New York jail where Mangione is being housed and allegedly posing as an FBI agent, a criminal complaint states. He allegedly said he had paperwork that had been "signed by a judge" to free the accused killer.

Though the complaint does not name Mangione, a law enforcement source told the BBC that Anderson allegedly sought to free him.

He appeared before a judge on Thursday but has not entered a plea. The BBC has contacted an attorney said to be representing him.

Anderson approached the intake area of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Wednesday and is accused of telling officers that he was an FBI agent, the criminal complaint states. He said he had paperwork "signed by a judge" to authorise the release of an inmate.

When officers asked him for credentials, Anderson provided a Minnesota driver's licence, claimed be in possession of weapons, and "displayed and threw" what authorities described as "numerous documents" at jail staff, according to the complaint.

Bureau of Prisons officials then detained Anderson and searched his bag, where they found a large "barbecue type fork" with two prongs and a tool that resembles a pizza cutter.

The suspect had travelled to New York City for a job opportunity from Mankato, Minnesota, and had been working at a local pizzeria, according to the law enforcement source.

Anderson is facing a charge of impersonating an officer.

Mangione has been held at the Brooklyn jail since 2024. He was arrested in a McDonalds in Pennsylvania after a multi-state manhunt and then extradited to New York.

He faces both state and federal charges in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and has pleaded not guilty.

Since his arrest, Mangione has attracted a legion of supporters both online and at his court appearances. The killing also launched a debate in the US over healthcare costs.

Jury selection for Mangione's highly anticipated federal trial is currently scheduled for September.

CCP-connected millionaire allegedly bankrolls Minneapolis agitator groups through dark money network

Who is Neville Roy Singham? Meet the China-based millionaire allegedly bankrolling Minnesota agitators

As agitators and federal law enforcement continue to clash in Minneapolis, the funding behind the groups fueling the anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unrest is beginning to come to light.

One of the alleged financial backers of these agitators is a Chinese Communist Party advocate traced to a multitude of dark money organizations known to fuel far-left, CCP-influenced extremism in the U.S. and across the globe.

Earlier this week, a Fox News Digital investigation found several organizations are acting as lead voices in physically mobilizing agitators in Minneapolis, as well as communicating through multiple channels to encourage agitators to take to the streets in Minnesota and other cities. The Party for Socialism and Liberation and The People’s Forum are two of the core groups who allegedly have been behind facilitating and pushing agitators to organize on multiple occasions.

Both organizations are largely subsidized by American former tech mogul Neville Roy Singham, according to reports and congressional probes. Despite Singham facing federal investigations stretching back decades, a former federal prosecutor tells Fox News Digital that the multi-millionaire's move to China essentially shields him from being subpoenaed by U.S. authorities.

Singham, therefore, remains virtually untouchable as his dark money networks continue to wreak havoc on U.S. soil, the former prosecutor added.

Singham sold his IT consulting company in 2017 for $785 million and moved to Shanghai was the focus of a 2023 New York Times exposé that unveiled his alleged connections to the CCP and his determination to finance extremist groups to embolden his radical ideology. The Times reported that Singham has funneled over a quarter-billion dollars to dark money organizations in the U.S. with little to no footprints, and some of these organizations are vaguely named with office addresses under suspicious locations like general UPS mailboxes.

The 71-year-old U.S. citizen turned Shanghai resident reportedly shares office space with the Maku Group, a Chinese media company that is funded by Singham and is associated with pro-CCP propaganda, including a mission to "tell China's story well."

Singham’s first run-in with federal investigations dates back to 1974, when the FBI investigated him for potentially being "engaged in activities inimical to U.S. interests."

Fast-forward several decades to 2025, when Singham and the organizations he funded face a slew of congressional investigations from multiple committees in both the House and the Senate. Committee chairs also sent multiple letters to top administration officials under the Biden and Trump administrations pushing for further examination of Singham’s dark money network.

Last June, the House Oversight Committee, led by Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., launched an investigation into Singham for his alleged involvement in funding the anti-ICE riots that took place in Los Angeles last summer.

Criminal illegal immigrant allegedly rams ICE vehicle in Minnesota as attacks on agents surge
Tranquilino Sixto-Anorve allegedly struck ICE vehicle and civilian car in St. Paul after being targeted for arrest

A criminal illegal immigrant was detained Saturday after allegedly ramming his car into a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicle in Minnesota, according to federal authorities.

Tranquilino Sixto-Anorve, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was arrested after allegedly striking an ICE vehicle and a civilian car Saturday morning in St. Paul, officials said.

According to ICE, Sixto-Anorve has multiple DUI convictions and was being targeted for arrest because his criminal history indicated he was a "public safety threat."

"This ramming highlights increased risks our brave men and women of ICE face amid hostile rhetoric and actions from anti-ICE agitators and politicians," ICE said in a statement.

A spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to Fox News Digital that Sixto-Anorve entered the country illegally at an unknown date and location.

Sixto-Anorve is in ICE custody.

The incident comes amid heightened concern over illegal immigration and reports of anti-ICE agitators attempting to violently disrupt federal law enforcement operations.

DHS said earlier this month that ICE officers are facing a 3,200% increase in vehicular attacks.

According to DHS, from Jan. 21, 2025, to Jan. 7, 2026, ICE officers experienced 66 "vehicular attacks," compared to two during the same period the previous year.

ICE also arrested an illegal immigrant in San Antonio, Texas, earlier this month whom the agency said "weaponized" his vehicle by ramming two ICE vehicles and nearly running over an agent.

Cuban illegal immigrant Robyn Argote Brooks is accused of ramming two ICE vehicles in a San Antonio parking lot in an attempt to evade arrest during a targeted vehicle stop, according to DHS.

Video of the incident shows Brooks driving a sedan that was boxed in by agents’ vehicles when he allegedly defied law enforcement commands and suddenly reversed, narrowly missing an agent and striking a federal SUV.

‘The View’ co-host Ana Navarro called Alex Pretti a ‘perfect guy’ before video emerged of nurse spitting at ICE agents

A CNN panelist and co-host of “The View” described Alex Pretti this week as the “perfect guy,” shortly before video emerged of him kicking and spitting at federal agents several days before the fatal altercation.

On CNN’s “NewsNight,” Navarro called Pretti the sort of man you’d want your daughter to date.

“They killed the wrong guy, because this is like the perfect guy,” she said. “Alex Pretti is the guy you’d want to date your daughter, the guy you want your son to grow up to be, a decent human being who was serving humanity, serving sick veterans.”

“There is nothing that has been said about that man that isn’t wonderful. And so they can’t malign him,” Navarro added.

Her remarks reflected a broader media narrative that cast Pretti in overwhelmingly positive terms following his death.

Pretti, an ICU nurse who worked with veterans, was killed by Border Patrol agents on Jan. 24.

He had been protesting immigration enforcement and recording federal agents when they pushed him to the ground and then shot him.

Bodycam footage of the incident showed federal agents grabbing a pistol from Pretti’s waistband before he was shot.

State officials have said Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry, and his death has touched off a national debate over whether it was justified, with some critics even saying he was murdered.

An unearthed video released Wednesday shows Pretti spitting at federal agents during a separate protest on Jan. 13.

The News Movement published the clip, and his family confirmed to the Minnesota Star Tribune that it was him.

In the video, Pretti can be seen shouting, spitting and kicking out a federal SUV’s taillight.

The man repeatedly shouts “f— you” and flashes his middle fingers at the agents before being taken to the ground. He was not arrested.

‘Breaking Bad’ actor calls for a ‘revolution’ against ICE following fatal Minneapolis shootings

“Breaking Bad” star Giancarlo Esposito called for a “revolution” Tuesday after another fatal shooting in Minneapolis involving Border Patrol agents and growing unrest with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the city.

“This is a time for a revolution, and they don’t even know that’s what they’re starting,” the actor told Variety in an interview. “We have to stand up to it. They can’t take us all down. If the whole world showed up on Putin’s doorstep or the Iranians’ doorstep or in Washington, they’d kill 500 or 50 million or however [many], but the rest of us would survive with a new [world].”

A Border Patrol agent shot Alex Pretti over the weekend during a confrontation at an enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Esposito made the comments during an interview at the Sundance Film Festival.

“Some very rich, old, White men are exerting their power to suppress our own people, thus creating a feeling of civil war in the streets, preparing the haters to hate, teaching them how to shoot,” Esposito told Variety.

“This is all a preparation for a very insidious problem that’s happening in our world. And, for me, I have to speak out. We will not be ICE’d out. This is not going to happen,” the actor added.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Esposito’s co-star in “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” Tatiana Maslany, wore an “ICE OUT” pin, according to Variety.

During an appearance at the Sundance Film Festival Saturday, Olivia Wilde, who was promoting her film “The Invite,” also wore an “ICE OUT” pin during her red carpet appearance and shared her thoughts about the “appalling” circumstances.

“We’re all here getting to celebrate something really beautiful and hopeful in film storytelling,” she told Variety. “But the world is hurting right now, and this country is hurting. And it’s appalling.

“I’m appalled and sickened,” Wilde continued. “We can’t go another day just sort of accepting this as our new norm. It’s outrageous. People are being murdered. And I don’t want to normalize seeing people being murdered on the internet. On film. … It’s hideous. And so if we can do anything out here to support the movement to cast ICE out, to delegitimize this unbelievably criminal organization, then that’s what we should be doing.”

Senate passes $1.2 trillion spending bill — but partial government shutdown still takes effect

The Senate passed legislation Friday to fund most federal operations through the end of September, but a partial government shutdown, likely lasting at least through the weekend, still went into effect.

Funding for 78% of the federal government lapsed at midnight Saturday despite a deal struck between Senate Democrats and the White House aimed at averting a shutdown.

The deal separated funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – which oversees the federal law enforcement agencies handling the Trump administration’s controversial immigration crackdown – from a six-bill package that cleared the House last week.
The $1.2 trillion bill cleared the Senate in a 71-29 vote.

But with the House in recess until Monday, the lower chamber was not in a position to approve the Senate’s changes to the so-called “minibus” before the shutdown deadline.

The impacts of a partial weekend shutdown are expected to be limited.

Several agencies, including the departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Interior, Energy, Justice and Commerce are already fully funded through the end of the fiscal year.

Washington, DC’s Smithsonian museums and national parks are funded and will remain open over the weekend.

The Pentagon and departments of Labor, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Education, Housing and Urban Development and State are among the federal entities impacted by the latest lapse in funding — which follows the record, 43-day-long shutdown last fall.

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought instructed federal workers Friday night to prepare for a shutdown.

“As it is now clear that Congress will not complete its work before the expiration of appropriations, affected agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown,” Vought wrote in a memo. 

“Employees should report to work for their next regularly scheduled tour of duty to undertake orderly shutdown activities,” he added.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said the Democratic caucus would “evaluate the spending legislation passed by the Senate on its merits” before voting to send it to the president’s desk.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) signaled that he was “vehemently opposed” to breaking up the funding package, but pledged to “move it as quickly as possible.”

Senators struggled to pass the House version of the spending bill in the wake of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, 37, by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.

Some lawmakers refused to fund DHS without tying restrictions on federal law enforcement practices to the spending bill.

The deal, backed by Senate leaders and President Trump, provides DHS with two-weeks of funding while lawmakers negotiate limits on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) tactics.

House returns Monday to vote to end shutdown – with looming fight over ICE

The House is set to vote Monday on a bill that would reopen the government after a shutdown began early Saturday – while lawmakers will have just days to negotiate over ICE and border enforcement or face seeing the agency that oversees it grind to a halt.

Congress dodged disaster when the Senate hammered out a spending agreement last week to keep critical federal agencies running, avoiding the high drama of the recent 43-day government shutdown.

The Senate voted 71-29 Friday night to pass a collection of spending bills to finance much of the government.

But with tensions running high over Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and congressional Democrats and some Republicans demanding changes, the deal split off Homeland Security programs, funding them for just two weeks at 2025 levels.

That sets up high-stakes talks under the national spotlight as ICE agents continue crackdown on illegal migrants and protesters blast their tactics.
“It creates a bullseye fight on DHS and ICE,” said one congressional source.

The government shut down at 12:01 AM Saturday despite the deal.

Since the House had gone home on a recess, its members weren’t there to pass the latest bill language into law. But impacts were mitigated due to the weekend, when most non-essential feds were off work anyway.

Now, after President Trump installed border czar Tom Homan in Minneapolis and said he will “deescalate a little bit,” Senate Democrats have more leverage. Passage of the bill will require 60 votes, so Senate Republicans will need to find seven Democratic supporters to move forward.

The weekend shutdown means employees for the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and DHS face temporary furloughs – although during the weekend when most wouldn’t be working anyway.

House Democrats mutiny Schumer’s deal with White House, threatening longer shutdown

Democrats' divisions over the spending deal means the shutdown will extend at least into Tuesday

House Democrats are poised to rebel against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's spending deal with the White House, Fox News Digital is told, an act that could prolong the ongoing partial government shutdown.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., made clear to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., that the plan by Republicans to fast-track the legislation on Monday evening would fail, four House GOP sources told Fox News Digital.

That means Johnson will need to lean heavily on his razor-thin House GOP majority to pass the bill through multiple procedural hurdles before it can see a final vote, likely Tuesday at the earliest.

The federal government has been in a partial shutdown since the wee hours of Saturday morning after Congress failed to find a compromise on the yearly budget by the end of Jan. 30.

Some areas of the government have already been funded, but spending for the departments of War, Transportation (DOT), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), among others, is now in question.

House Democrats do not feel bound by the deal their counterparts in the Senate struck with President Donald Trump's White House, the sources told Fox News Digital.

The sources said House Democrats are also frustrated that Schumer put them in a position where they were expected to take the deal on.

"Democrat division creates another government shutdown," one House Republican told Fox News Digital.

But it could be difficult for House GOP leaders to corral all the votes needed as well. Multiple Republicans have already expressed concerns about the compromise requiring them to negotiate with Democrats on reining in Trump's immigration crackdown, while others like Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., are pushing their own priorities to be included in exchange for their support.

Luna told Fox News Digital that she would not support the legislation if it did not include an unrelated measure that would require proof of citizenship in the voter registration process, a separate but widely-accepted GOP bill.

Mamdani taps ex-con to lead NYC jails as Rikers remains under federal oversight

Stanley Richards becomes first former inmate to lead city's jail system under socialist Mamdani administration

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Saturday appointed an ex-con-turned prison reformer as commissioner of the Department of Correction as his administration pushes a rehabilitation-focused overhaul of corrections.

Stanley Richards, who did time in the 1980s for robbery, will be the first former inmate to serve as corrections commissioner.

"Stanley will make history in this role as the first ever formerly incarcerated person to serve as commissioner," Mamdani said. "I will turn to Stanley as we work to build a city where justice is at the heart of our corrections system," the mayor added.

Richards was convicted of robbery in the late 1980s and served roughly two and a half years on Rikers Island before spending an additional four and a half years in state prison, according to reporting from Gothamist and NY1. He was released in 1991.

In his first remarks as commissioner, Richards aligned himself closely with Mamdani’s vision and rejected what he described as a punishment-centered approach to incarceration.

"Today we turn the page and we start a new era under Mayor Mamdani," Richards said.

Richards also pointed to his experience within the correctional system, including serving as first deputy commissioner of programs and operations at the Department of Correction and as vice chair of the Board of Correction’s Task Force to Close Rikers.

The appointment comes as New York City’s jail system remains under heightened federal scrutiny. Earlier this week, a federal judge appointed an outside remediation manager to oversee reforms at Rikers Island after years of violence, staff shortages and federal court findings that city leadership failed to fix conditions inside the jails. Rikers was originally set to be demolished by August 2027 by former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Asked whether he had spoken with the remediation manager, Mamdani said his administration had already been in contact and emphasized cooperation.

"My administration has, and we look forward to working with the remediation manager on improving conditions in our city’s jails, both for those in custody and for correction officers," Mamdani said.

The appointment has drawn caution from the union representing correction officers, which warned that safety must come before political ideology.

In a statement, Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio said the jails "cannot and will not operate as safely as possible if the concerns of our members are brushed aside," adding that Richards must demonstrate a commitment to "putting safety and security before any political ideology."

Noem touts TSA success after thousands with terror links barred from flights at major US airport

TSA operations at Miami International Airport included seizing 82 loaded firearms

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on Saturday touted sweeping Transportation Security Administration (TSA) operations at Miami International Airport, saying the efforts have played a critical role in protecting U.S. transportation networks.

Speaking at a news conference at the airport, Noem said TSA officers prevented more than 10,000 people with suspected ties to narcoterrorism from traveling over the past year. She added that an additional 85,000 people linked to terrorism or listed on the U.S. terrorism watch list were also stopped from boarding flights.

"What has happened here at this airport is that over the last year they have prevented over 10,000 individuals from traveling that had ties to narcoterrorism, 85,000 individuals that had similar ties to terrorists and to terrorists on the watch list in the United States," Noem said.

Noem also highlighted Miami International Airport’s human trafficking unit, which conducted more than 2,200 inspections in the past year. Those efforts resulted in 24 arrests related to child exploitation.

The unit also confiscated 85 firearms from travelers — 82 of them loaded at the time of discovery, according to Noem.

"It's incredible the work that they have done to keep people safe, which is the mission that the Department of Homeland Security seeks to do every single day," Noem said.

One of the busiest airports in the world, Miami International employs more than 1,700 TSA officers and serves an average of 70,000 passengers per day. Officials recently screened nearly 100,000 travelers in a single day, setting a new record on Jan. 4. More than 25 million passengers traveled through the airport in 2025, Noem said.

As travel continues to surge, Noem pointed to a $9 billion airport modernization project aimed at strengthening security. TSA is contributing $100 million to the effort, alongside DHS’s previously announced $1 billion nationwide investment in upgraded security technology.

Planned upgrades include expanded canine units, advanced computed tomography scanners, and enhanced imaging systems.

Another nor’easter: Warning alerts issued as dangerous storm likely to ‘bomb’ out and slam this US region

A powerful nor’easter is likely to ‘bomb’ out and slam the Carolinas just days after a massive winter storm carved a 2,300-mile path through the United States and brought life-threatening ice and heavy snow to several areas.

Areas in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are still working to dig out after receiving significant snow over the weekend.

At least 65 deaths have already been reported across 16 states.

The FOX Forecast Center is forecasting a powerful nor’easter to develop off the East Coast this weekend, which has the potential to develop into a bomb cyclone.

It is nearly certain that a powerful winter storm will now impact the Carolinas and Virginia.

But from there, uncertainty remains regarding where the storm tracks.

Winter Storm Warnings have already been issued for all of North Carolina, much of South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia.

North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has issued a State of Emergency in preparation for this weekend’s snowstorm.

He said the State Emergency Response Team is being activated to assist affected communities with any response needs.

“As another round of winter weather moves into North Carolina, this time possibly bringing snow, I urge everyone to stay alert and take precautions,” Stein said in a statement.

Building the storm

A large reservoir of cold air associated with the Polar Vortex will surge south out of Canada this week and spread across the Great Lakes, eventually making its way into the Southeast.

As this unfolds, the system’s energy will swing through the Southeast and offshore along the East Coast this weekend.

This allows very cold air to establish itself across the Mid-Atlantic and the Carolinas.

Mamdani says being mayor ‘couldn’t be better’ — as 10 die in NYC deep freeze and city faces $12B budget gap

Mayor Zohran Mamdani told other US city leaders that he “struggles” to imagine how his job “could be better” at the moment — even as 10 New Yorkers died in the recent deep freeze and the Big Apple faces a $12 billion budget gap.

The cheery remarks, during a panel at the US Conference of Mayors’ annual winter meeting Thursday, reported on by Politico, came after Winter Storm Fern brought around a foot of snow, below-freezing temperatures and turned deadly last weekend.

“I’m new to the job. I know the burdens will get heavier, but right now I struggle to imagine how it could be better,” Mamdani said, according to a prepared speech shared with Playbook.
“At a moment where so many Americans are searching for genuine leadership and tangible change from government, each of us hold a mighty ability to deliver just that,” he said.

Mamdani delivered the sunny spiel virtually at the event’s “Big City Alliance” panel, and wasn’t expected to attend the two-day conference in-person as New York was still digging itself out from the winter storm.

Hizzoner’s optimistic outlook came despite him ringing alarm bells earlier in the week over the city’s $12 billion budget hole — ahead of his first spending plan that’s expected to be unveiled in mid-February.

He addressed the potential fiscal problems during his panel appearance.

“Some of your cities, like New York, might contend with budget deficits. Others might be reckoning with rollbacks in federal funding, or the myriad of other challenges we face,” Mamdani said, according to Politico.

“But no matter how hard it often feels, I try to remember every day the intimacy that defines the relationship between city government and the people of a city.”

His comments about his first month in office being better than he could imagine, drew outrage and confusion from politicians and pundits.

Feds point to ‘overt acts’ they say prove Don Lemon was part of ‘takeover-style attack’ at church — leaving children fearful their ‘parents were going to die’

The federal government laid out its case against Don Lemon by detailing 29 “overt acts” he and an group of agitators allegedly committed as they stormed a Minnesota church, leaving kids wondering “if their parents were going to die.”

Four activists, including Lemon, disrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18 and were arrested Thursday night in connection to the raid on the house of worship.

As a result of defendants’ conduct, the pastor and congregation were forced to terminate the church’s worship service, congregants fled the church building out of fear for their safety,” the unsealed federal indictment viewed by The Post reads.

“Other congregants took steps to implement an emergency plan, and young children were left to wonder, as one child put it, if their parents were going to die.

Lemon live-streamed the “takeover-style attack” under the guise of “chronicling” the events, but repeatedly revealed he was in league with the activists through his footage, the indictment says.

Notably, videos showing the church action have been deleted from his YouTube page.

In describing one of the overt acts, the indictment goes into great detail about how “The Don Lemon Show” host and his alleged co-conspirators “oppressed, threatened, and intimidated the church’s congregants and pastors by physically occupying most of the main aisle and rows of chairs near the front of the church.”

It says that they engaged in “menacing and threatening behavior… yelling loudly at the pastor and congregants, and/or physically obstructing them as they attempted to exit and/or move about within the church.”

The indictment points out that Lemon began live-streaming his internet-based show from a snowy parking lot a stone’s throw away from where the group “was gearing up for a ‘resistance’ operation” against the government’s immigration policies.

“[H]e took steps to maintain operational secrecy by reminding certain co-conspirators not to disclose the target of the operation and stepped away momentarily so his mic would not accidentally divulge certain portions of the planning session,” the indictment reads.

Lemon also thanked Black Lives Matter activist and civil rights attorney Nekima Armstrong “for what she was doing.”

Don Lemon caught off guard by arrest at swanky LA hotel elevator

Frequently fired lefty news commentator Don Lemon was caught off guard by his arrest Thursday night at a swanky Los Angeles hotel in connection with his participation in a violent takeover of a Minnesota church service, law enforcement sources tell The Post.

Lemon, 59, who was in town covering the Grammy awards, was arrested by Department of Homeland Security and FBI agents in an elevator at the Beverly Hilton and taken into custody.

He was brought to the downtown Los Angeles Homeland Security Investigations field office and interviewed before being brought to the federal courthouse nearby.

The arrest came hours after he was spotted at a swanky pre-Grammys soiree at the Fairmont Century Plaza hotel rubbing elbows with celebs like singer Brandy and rapper Busta Rhymes.

The disgraced former CNN anchor-turned-activist was one of four people arrested by federal agents early Friday “in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota,” Attorney General Pam Bondi later confirmed in a statement.

Lemon filmed himself meeting with the group of agitators – which included a local Black Lives Member chapter – just before the group stormed into Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18.

Under the paper-thin guise of covering the church takeover as a journalist, Lemon proceeded to stick his microphone in the face of several parishioners and the pastor, who asked him to leave. Lemon spent the night in jail and is expected to make his first court appearance Friday afternoon. He was due to be on the red carpet to cover the awards on Sunday.

Justice Department officials tried to issue arrest warrants for Lemon after the protest, only to be repeatedly shot down by federal judges.

But a federal grand jury ultimately indicted Lemon on the charges of conspiracy to deprive rights and interfering with First Amendment rights, White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair posted on X.

He’s also charged with a violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 federal law that deals with access to health clinics but also covers interference with religious worship, according to law enforcement sources.

Don Lemon released with no bail as defense attorney strokes his ego: ‘One of the most well-known figures in the world’

News anchor-turned-activist Don Lemon has been released with no bail or restrictions on his travel despite prosecutors claiming he “knowingly joined a mob to terrorize” members of a Minnesota church congregation.

Lemon sauntered into a federal courtroom in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon sporting the same cream-colored double-breasted suit he wore at a pre-Grammys bash the night before. Lemon was arrested just after the party by federal agents at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The disgraced TV host was caught off guard during his arrest and led through the hotel lobby in handcuffs, escorted by four agents, a law enforcement source told The Post.

He blew a kiss to his husband Tim Malone, who was seated in the third row of the public gallery behind LA Mayor Karen Bass and her team before taking a seat next to his defense attorney Marilyn E. Bednarski.

Prosecutor Alexander Robbins said Lemon was accused of a “very serious felony” and that he had “knowingly joined a mob to terrorize” members of Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18.

Robbins asked Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue that Lemon be made to surrender his passport and not have any contact with witnesses, victims or co-conspirators.

He requested a $100,000 bond, which the defense objected to as “unnecessary” before challenging the request to restrict Lemon’s travel, largely owing to an annual weeklong boat trip in France he attends each year.

Bednarski said Lemon was “not a flight risk” and “not a danger of any kind,” calling him “one of the most well-known figures in the world.”

ICE agents chase down migrant sex predator after judge allows him to stroll out of NYC courthouse

An alleged crack-smoking, sexual-predator migrant wanted by ICE was allowed to flee through a back door of a Manhattan courthouse — infuriating federal agents, The Post has learned.

Gerardo Miguel Mora, 45, was arrested Thursday for shoplifting and possession of stolen property after allegedly snatching $130 in items from an H&M display case in Midtown that day, court records show.

Mora, whose country of origin was not disclosed, was collared on the Upper West Side on Jan. 7 for possession of alleged crack cocaine, according to a criminal complaint. That case is pending in court.

In 2011, Mora was busted for attempted rape and strangulation after he allegedly followed a 21-year-old woman home in Midtown, choked her and tried to remove her clothes, police sources said.

He was stopped by a bystander who heard the woman’s cries and came to her aid, holding Mora down until cops arrived, the sources said.

He was presumably deported after that, and was off the radar for 12 years. But in 2023 he was back in the US and arrested for showing a false ID.

Federal authorities had been looking for Mora on a criminal arrest warrant under a section of the US code that concerns “reentry of removed aliens,” law enforcement sources said.

But on Thursday in a court hearing on desk appearance tickets, the judge let Mora waltz out of the courtroom, sources said.

The shoplifting charge itself was not bail eligible, but Judge Sheridan Jack-Browne, a Democrat who won a special election last year in Brooklyn, would have had the federal arrest warrant, two sources told The Post.

The warrant is actually put in a folder for the judge to peruse on the bench.

“Everything was sent over” to the courthouse by ICE, a federal law enforcement source said.

But instead of handing him over to waiting ICE agents, Mora was allowed to simply slip out the back door of Manhattan Criminal Court, law enforcement sources said.

“They refused to hand him over,” the irate fed said. “They let him out the back to avoid ICE.”

ICE agents realized Mora had been released, and chased him down outside, a source said.

Washington Post’s White House team pleads with Jeff Bezos to scrap layoff plans: report

The Washington Post’s White House team directly pleaded with owner Jeff Bezos, the uber-rich Amazon founder, to halt rumored plans of massive layoffs across the newsroom, according to reports.

The scribes emphasized their reliance on colleagues who could be on the chopping block amid unconfirmed rumors WaPo is gearing up to fire around 300 people as the paper grapples with declining readership, after its political coverage was long considered an audience draw.

“Newsroom leaders have conveyed that our team … directly brought in tens of thousands of new subscribers last year,” the reporters wrote Bezos, according to a copy of the missive obtained by Semafor. “But some of our most impactful, most-read articles… have relied on collaboration with all corners of the newsroom.”

In the letter to Bezos — which began with a chummy “Dear Jeff” — the ink-stained wretches asserted that many of their stories that drew new subscribers relied on teamwork with the international and metro desks, along with sports.

White House bureau chief Matt Viser explained the letter to colleagues on an internal Slack channel thus: “If the plan, to the extent there is one, is to reorient around politics we wanted to emphasize how much we rely on collaboration with foreign, sports, local — the entire paper, really. And if other sections are diminished, we all are.”

The plea came after WaPo recently told reporters it was scrapping plans to cover the Winter Olympics, sparking speculation the paper could be planning to eliminate its sports desk entirely.

The outlet has since backtracked, announcing plans to send a small team of journos to Italy, according to the New York Times.

Meanwhile, staffers are reportedly at a breaking point after years of layoffs and a growing distrust of Bezos and publisher Will Lewis after the paper killed an endorsement of Kamala Harris in 2024 and added more conservative voices to its Opinion section — along with making newsroom reorganization moves that came across as half-baked.

“There’s now a strong sense that neither Jeff Bezos nor Will Lewis are serious, good-faith stewards of The Washington Post,” a veteran correspondent told CNN.

UKRAINE WAR

5 killed in Ukraine after Russian drone hits passenger train

Five people were killed after a Russian drone hit a Ukrainian passenger train during an overnight assault, which President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed as a blatant “act of terrorism.”

The train was transporting more than 200 people in the Kharkiv region when a Russian drone struck a wagon, with two other UAVs hitting the area alongside it.

Harrowing video and images of the aftermath show that at least two train carriages were destroyed and set ablaze by the impacts, with Ukrainian prosecutors saying that the fragments of five bodies were found at the scene of the strike.

Along with the dead, at least 18 others were wounded by the attack, Zelensky said.

“In any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be considered in exactly the same way — purely as terrorism,” Zelensky wrote on social media. “There is not and cannot be any military purpose in this.”

“There is, and can be, no military justification for killing civilians in a train carriage,” the Ukrainian president added.

Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, CEO of the Ukrainian national railways Ukrzaliznytsia, said rescue teams and passengers worked quickly to evacuate the burning cars.
The officials also vowed to keep the trains running for Ukrainians despite the deadly attack.

“Keeping things moving is becoming more difficult,” Pertsovskyi wrote on Facebook. “We are regrouping. There will be additional strict security measures in some places, but even on those most frightening days, we cannot give up.”

The attack on the train was part of a large overnight assault across Ukraine that left at least 10 people dead and dozens wounded, according to Kyiv.

The attack, which saw more than 50 Russian drones fired, killed three people and left more than 30 wounded in Odessa, with another person killed in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Ukraine bracing for brutal weather as Trump says Putin agreed to halt power grid attacks

Ukraine awaited signs Friday that Russia is abiding by a commitment that US President Donald Trump said it made to temporarily halt attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, as Kyiv and other regions are gripped by the bitterest winter weather for years.

Trump said late Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to his request not to target the Ukrainian capital and other towns for one week, as the region experiences frigid temperatures that have brought widespread hardship to civilians.

Trump didn’t say when the call with Putin took place or when the moratorium would go into effect, and the White House didn’t immediately respond to a query seeking clarity about the scope and timing of any limited pause. There was no immediate confirmation from the Kremlin that Putin has committed to the move.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was skeptical about Putin’s readiness for such a step as Russia’s all-out invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, approaches its four-year anniversary next month with no signs that Moscow is willing to reach a peace settlement despite a US-led push to end the fighting.

“I do not believe that Russia wants to end the war. There is a great deal of evidence to the contrary,” Zelensky said Thursday in comments made public on Friday.

Drone and missile attacks continue

He said that Ukraine is ready to halt its attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, including oil refineries, if Moscow also stops its bombardment of the Ukrainian power grid and other energy assets.

While there was no official word on whether those conciliatory steps had been taken, the grinding war of attrition dragged on.

Russia fired 111 drones and one ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight, injuring at least three people, the Ukrainian Air Force said. The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said that its air defenses overnight shot down 18 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions, as well as the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.

Russia spares Ukraine’s energy grid after Trump push — but only until Sunday, Kremlin says

Ukraine saw a rare overnight lull in attacks on energy infrastructure after President Trump personally urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to pause strikes — but the Kremlin said Friday the brief reprieve will last only through Sunday.

There were no overnight strikes on energy facilities in Ukraine after Trump called on Putin to spare them as frigid temperatures leave civilians in danger of freezing to death, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post to X.

“Over the past night, there were no strikes on energy facilities,” Zelensky wrote.

But that didn’t stop Moscow from continuing to hit other civilian infrastructure across the country.

“Drone attacks on ordinary residential buildings in cities also continue,” the Ukrainian president said. “A ballistic missile was used against the Kharkiv region – civilian production warehouses were damaged, including those of an American company.”

President Trump on Thursday revealed he personally asked Putin to suspend attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy systems for a week during a brutal cold snap that has left millions vulnerable to power outages and heating failures.

Ukrainian, Russian and American officials had also discussed an energy infrastructure cease-fire during their trilateral meeting earlier this month, according to Zelensky.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday confirmed that Russia would maintain a limited cease-fire on heating and power sources.

“President Trump did indeed make a personal request to President Putin to refrain from striking Kyiv for a week until Feb. 1 in order to create favorable conditions for negotiations,” he said.

However, the halt on energy strikes only began Thursday night, as Zelensky said “there were hits specifically on energy infrastructure in several regions” earlier that day.

That means that if the limited cease-fire ends on Sunday, it would last only half as long as Trump requested.

Despite the calmer night for the power grid, Zelensky said Russia continued to intensify attacks on logistics networks and residential areas, including drone strikes on apartment buildings in major cities.

Vladimir Putin violates Trump’s temporary winter truce, killing 5 Ukrainians in overnight airstrikes

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin reneged on his deal with President Trump to briefly pause the war in Ukraine, killing at least five and injuring more than a dozen in strikes across the battered country overnight into Saturday.

Moscow continued its relentless assault on Ukraine — despite a personal plea from Trump to suspend fighting for one week — while the war-torn country and its decimated energy infrastructure go through a deadly cold snap that’s left millions vulnerable to power outages.

“I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting on Thursday. “It’s extraordinary cold — record-setting cold over there.”

Trump said the Russian dictator had agreed to his request — calling Moscow’s response “very nice.”

But Putin’s troops launched 85 drones against Ukraine into Saturday — 55 of which were Shahed-type drones, Ukraine’s Air Force said on Telegram.

Kyiv was spared from the latest attack, but the contested frontline region of Donetsk was badly hit. Two people were killed in the Russian strikes that damaged homes, cars and heating infrastructure, and three others wounded, regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin reported.

Close to 200 people had to be evacuated from their homes, including 35 children, he said.

In Kherson, in the south of the country, two people were killed, and 10 others injured, including a 14-year-old boy, regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said.

The strikes damaged 14 high-rise buildings and 5 homes, he added.

Moscow tried to spin the deal on Friday claiming that it had only meant Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, was off limits — letting reporters believe it was using “Kyiv” to denote the whole country, when it was only referring to the city.

“President Trump did indeed make a personal request to President Putin to refrain from striking Kyiv for a week until Feb. 1 in order to create favorable conditions for negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow Friday.

Asked to confirm that Putin had agreed, he said: “Yes of course, there was a personal request from President Trump.”

You didn't think that Putin would make sure his troops wouldn't strike Ukraine for a couple of days, did you?

EUROPE

Suspected Hamas terrorist nabbed for allegedly plotting terror attack on Jews in Germany

A suspected Hamas member has been busted in Germany for allegedly plotting a terror attack on Jews.

The suspect, only identified as Mohammad S., 36, was the fourth Hamas member to be arrested in the plot, with three other members of the same alleged cell detained in October, prosecutors told Der Spiegel.

Mohammad S. allegedly procured around 300 rounds of ammunition in preparation for Hamas attacks on Israeli or Jewish targets in Germany and other European countries, prosecutors said.

He was arrested at Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport on Friday upon returning from Lebanon, German prosecutors said.

During the October arrests of three other suspects, police seized an AK-47 assault rifle, several pistols, and a large amount of ammunition, investigators said.

Mohammad S. was transported over the weekend from Berlin to Karlsruhe in southwestern Germany, where he is due to appear before an investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice.

Mercedes-Benz CEO rejects Trump admin pitch to move headquarters to US: report

The chief executive of German automaker Mercedes-Benz reportedly rebuffed the Trump administration’s offer to relocate company headquarters to the United States.

Ola Källenius told German-language publication The Pioneer that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made the pitch about moving Mercedes’ HQ last year.

Källenius told Lutnick that while the company was global, it could not be “uprooted,” according to the publication.

“The star has been a global company for more than 100 years, but we are rooted in Swabia,” the CEO told the German-language publication.

“Those roots cannot — and should not — be pulled out of the ground.”

“The star” is a reference to Mercedes-Benz’s three-pointed logo. Swabia, which is known in German as Schwaben, is the region in southwestern Germany where the company’s Stuttgart headquarters are located.

Källenius — a Swedish-born executive and the first non-German to be chairman and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Group — noted that Lutnick’s proposal reflected “the fierce global competition for capital that industrial center in Europe are facing.”

While he rejected the idea of moving the HQ, Mercedes later announced it would shift production of a sport utility vehicle from Germany to its plant in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Bloomberg noted.

The Post has sought comment from Mercedes-Benz and the Commerce Department.

The Trump administration has used tariffs as a tool to encourage companies to build and expand manufacturing operations in the United States.

MIDDLE EAST

IAF airstrike kills terrorists emerging from tunnel in Rafah as Hamas cease-fire continues

IDF soldiers overnight identified eight terrorists emerging from underground infrastructure in eastern Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip, prompting an airstrike that killed at least three of them, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday.

According to the IDF, the Israeli Air Force carried out additional strikes against areas where the remaining terrorists attempted to flee.

“The results of those strikes are under review,” the arm said, adding that troops were continuing ground searches in the area to locate and eliminate remaining threats.

Forces operating under Southern Command remain deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement with Hamas and will continue acting to remove any immediate danger to Israeli troops, the military said.

The ceasefire, which took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, remains in place despite ongoing security incidents.

The operation followed a separate precision strike targeting a terrorist planning what the IDF described as an imminent attack against troops operating in southern Gaza.

Ahead of that strike, the army took steps to mitigate harm to noncombatants, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the military remains focused on completing two core missions: disarming Hamas and dismantling terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.

“I hear even now the statements that we will allow the reconstruction of Gaza before demilitarization. That will not happen,” Netanyahu said.

Speaking to lawmakers at the Knesset, Netanyahu said Hamas disarmament “will happen—as our friend Donald Trump said—the easy way or the hard way, but it will happen.”

Senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk, however, told Al Jazeera this week that the group never agreed to disarmament as part of the US-brokered ceasefire framework.

Ayatollah reemerges from secret bunker to celebrate Iranian Revolution anniversary — while deadly explosions wallop Iran

The Ayatollah resurfaced from his secret underground bunker Saturday for a brief appearance as deadly unrest continues to grip Iran.

Ali Khamenei’s reemergence was to mark the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, when the cleric’s brutal regime usurped power in 1979.

He was seen praying at the tomb of ex-Iranian Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, in photos shared by his official X account.

It was the first time the Ayatollah had been seen in public since the protests erupted in late December over the country’s collapsing economy, which sparked a brutal crackdown by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps where as many as 35,000 protestors may have been killed.

Last week, Khamenei, 86, went into hiding reportedly over fears US airstrikes were imminent, after President Trump boasted the US Navy was sending a massive “armada” to Iran’s doorstep.

The supreme leader retreated to a fortified shelter in Tehran connected to a series of elaborate underground tunnels, leaving his youngest son in charge of the day-to-day management of the Islamic Republic, after senior military officials warned of the increasing likelihood of a US attack.

His resurfacing comes the same day that mystery explosions were heard in cities across the country, killing at least six people, and injuring more than a dozen.

It’s not yet clear who’s behind the blasts.

US, Israel deny involvement in mysterious blasts that killed 6, wounded over a dozen across Iran

The US and Israel are denying involvement in the mysterious blasts that killed six and wounded more than a dozen others across Iran Saturday.

US officials said the explosion in the Iranian port city Bandar Abbas was not related to any military activity in the region, CNN reported – even though a massive US naval “armada” is set to arrive in the Persian Gulf as tensions with Tehran mount.

The Israeli government also refuted claims they had launched a targeted drone strike on an Iranian military target, the outlet reported.

One child died and 14 others were injured in a blast that rocked a residential building in Bandar Abbas on Saturday, with state media initially blaming the blast on a gas leak while continuing to probe.

Across the Strait of Hormuz, a second blast was heard in the southwestern Khuzestan province where five people were killed in a separate gas explosion, according to The Jerusalem Post.

There were also unconfirmed reports of explosions in other parts of the country.

Iranian state media pushed back against viral social media reports on Saturday that Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps naval officers fell victim to targeted drone attacks.

The mysterious explosions come as US Central Command issued a stark warning to Iran as the repressive regime prepares to conduct live-fire war games in the Strait on Sunday.

“Any unsafe and unprofessional behavior near US forces, regional partners, or commercial vessels increases risks of collision, escalation, and destabilization,” CENTCOM wrote on X Friday.

Despite heightened tensions, Iranian officials claimed they are progressing toward a deal with the US.

Islamic Republic builds roofs over damaged nuclear sites to block inspectors from monitoring activity, experts say

The Islamic Republic appears to be gauging its nuclear capabilities decimated in the 12-day war with Israel in June, as satellite images have picked up activity at two key Iranian sites for the first time in months.

Roofs have been built over two damaged buildings at the Natanz and Isfahan facilities in the past few weeks, according to images picked up this week.

The activity signals efforts by Tehran to obscure the International Atomic Energy Agency’s ability to monitor the sites, rather than the rebuilding of nuclear capacity, according to experts who examined the battered locations.

“They want to be able to get at any recovered assets they can get to without Israel or the United States seeing what survived,” said Andrea Stricker, an Iranian expert with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Stricker said the regime is likely assessing whether key assets — such as limited stocks of highly enriched uranium — survived the devastating strikes.

Because Tehran has refused to allow IAEA inspectors to visit its nuclear facilities since the crippling attacks by the US and Israel, satellite images was their only means of monitoring them.

The Natanz site, 135 miles south of Tehran, is especially key as it produced the majority of Iran’s uranium enrichment.

An Israeli strike on June 13 left it “functionally destroyed,” “seriously damaging” its enrichment capabilities. according to the IAEA. A US attack a few days later with bunker-busting bombs is thought to have decimated whatever was left.

Images show the regime began building a roof over the damaged plant in December, completing work there by the end of the month, and by early January at the Isfahan site.

It has also ramped up work to build a new underground nuclear facility a few hundred feet from the Natanz complex, that’s been described as so deep that US airstrikes likely couldn’t reach it.

Gaza ‘doctor’ who slammed Israel in NY Times op-eds is Hamas colonel, seen in military uniform: watchdog, IDF

A Gaza doctor who slammed Israel in a pair of New York Times op-eds is a colonel with terror group Hamas, according to an Israeli watchdog group and the Israeli Defense Forces.

Hussam Abu Safyia was photographed wearing a Hamas camo military uniform while at a gathering of Hamas elites to celebrate the completion of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in 2016, according to the Jerusalem-based watchdog NGO Monitor.

Safyia’s photo appeared on the Gaza Medical Services‘ Facebook page — a group overseen by the Hamas-run health ministry.

The ceremony was attended by ranking members of the brutal terror group, including Gen. Abu Obaida Al-Jarrah, Director of Military Medical Services Saeed Saoudi and National Security Forces commander Col. Naeem Al-Ghoul, according to the post.

Following Hamas’ massacre of over 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, which led to the war in Gaza, Safyia penned two screeds in the Times bashing Israel on Oct. 29, 2023, and Dec. 2, 2024.

“We are suffering and paying the price of the genocide that is happening to our people here in the northern Gaza Strip,” Safyia wrote in one op-ed.

Critics decried media giving the alleged Hamas member any ink.

“Those who platformed Abu Safyia must do some serious soul-searching, and figure out how they ended up promoting the propaganda of a literal Hamas terrorist,” NGO Monitor senior researcher Vincent Chebat said.

The Times referred to the colonel as a “pediatrician and the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza” in each op-ed.

Neither Safyia nor the Times disclosed his alleged affiliation with the terror group, even though Palestinian media refers to him by his military rank. He is also referred to as a colonel in a 2020 Facebook post on the Gaza Strip Medical Services page.

LATIN AMERICA

Panama court axes Chinese-linked control at canal in victory for Trump

Panama’s highest court has voided the contract of a Chinese-linked company that operated key ports at the Panama Canal — handing the Trump administration a major victory in its push to curb China’s influence over the strategic waterway.

Panama’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the long-standing port concession held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison was unconstitutional, stripping the company of its legal right to operate the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal.

The affected terminals — Balboa on the Pacific side and Cristóbal on the Atlantic — sit at the physical entrances to the canal, making them among the most strategically sensitive commercial assets in global shipping.

In 1997, Panama granted a long-term concession to Panama Ports Company, a CK Hutchison subsidiary, to operate the two ports as the canal transitioned from US to Panamanian control ahead of the 1999 handover.

Friday’s ruling invalidated not only the original concession but also subsequent extensions, citing constitutional and procedural defects.

Panama Ports Company blasted the Supreme Court ruling as legally flawed, warning it threatens the country’s rule of law and investment climate.

In a statement issued Thursday, PPC said it had not yet been formally notified of the decision and argued the ruling is “inconsistent with the relevant legal framework and the law that approved the contract which has been the basis for PPC’s operations at the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal for nearly three decades.”

The company described the decision as “the latest development in a campaign by the Panamanian State impacting PPC and its investor over more than a year,” citing what it called a series of surprise actions targeting the concession.

The decision reopens the question of who controls the canal’s entry ports and under what terms.

The court decision also threw a proposed $23 billion sale of CK Hutchison’s global port business into jeopardy, dealing a blow to a deal that would have transferred control of the Panama terminals to a Western-led consortium that included BlackRock.

President Trump has repeatedly warned that the US would not tolerate what he described as creeping Chinese influence over the Panama Canal, framing control of canal-adjacent infrastructure as a core national-security issue.

Trump publicly criticized Panama for allowing CK Hutchison to operate ports in the waterway, arguing that the arrangement threatened US strategic interests in the Western Hemisphere.