Quote:Authorities have identified a person of interest in the mass shooting at Brown University and are searching for the individual, multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News.
The Context
Two students were killed, and nine others were wounded, on Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside a classroom at the Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island, authorities said. The shooting occurred in the Barus & Holley engineering building during final exams.
Police said the male suspect fled the building after the shooting. In the days that followed, local police and the FBI released grainy surveillance images and video showing a man they described as a person of interest walking through a nearby neighborhood several hours before the first 911 calls were made.
Latest on Brown University Shooting
Thursday's potential breakthrough, reported by CBS News, citing sources familiar with the investigation, presents a major step forward, with a search for the individual underway.
Six days after the fatal shooting rocked the Providence community, police have faced increasing pressure to find fresh leads and demonstrate meaningful progress in the search for the shooting suspect.
The matter was exacerbated by the initial detainment and then release of a primary person of interest, identified as former U.S. Army Specialist Benjamin Erickson, followed by surveillance images and video that provide the only public insight into the investigation.
The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the person responsible for the shooting.
What We Know About the Shooting Suspect
The only information authorities have confirmed publicly about the suspect is that they are looking for a male who was dressed in black clothing and wore a facemask. None of the footage or images released has provided a clear picture of the suspect.
What Have Police Said About the Suspect Search?
Unnamed law enforcement sources told Fox News and The New York Times that investigators found DNA and fingerprints on shell casings at the scene of the shooting. However, they are still in the process of "examining that evidence," Colonel Oscar Perez of the Providence Police Department told Fox News.
“And yes, we have some DNA that we manipulated and so it just progresses everyday," Perez said, adding: “It progresses every day with forensics, it progresses everyday with witness statements and so yeah, we're just trying to find out and we are going to do our best.”
Quote:Authorities are investigating a possible connection between last weekend’s mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor two days later, three people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press Thursday.
There has been no further detail on what kind of connection may be between the two shootings.
Two of those three people, none of whom were authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity, also said investigators have identified a person of interest in the Brown shooting and are actively searching for that individual.
The shooting Saturday at Brown killed two students and wounded nine others before the attacker fled. About 50 miles away, MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro was fatally shot at his home on Monday and died at a hospital on Tuesday.
Newsweek reached out to the Providence Police Department, the Rhode Island Attorney General's office, and the FBI for comment via email Thursday afternoon. The Norfolk District Attorney's Office in Massachusetts declined to comment.
Why It Matters
The FBI had previously said that there were no known links between the two cases. While other high-profile cases have seen suspects identified and captured within days, officials have yet to officially identify a suspect in either the Brown or MIT cases.
What To Know
The reports of a potential link between the two cases came as frustration mounted with no suspect identified in either case, and no clear image had been released of a person of interest.
At Brown, there are over 1,200 cameras on campus, but the attack happened in a part of the engineering building with little to no coverage. Loureiro, meanwhile, was shot on a residential street near his home.
In Providence on Wednesday, officials asked locals for their own home security footage, with police chief Colonel Oscar L. Perez, Jr. saying officers could be looking for a split second of footage that could lead them to the suspect.
Several videos from the hours and minutes before and after the shooting have been released. Police said the person shown matched descriptions of the shooter, but a clear view of their face was not possible. They also released a photo of a person they wanted to speak with who may have been close to the shooter.
Up in Brookline, investigators only gave details of the professor's death, but no description of a suspect was given.
Quote:The suspect in Saturday's mass shooting at Brown University, in which two students were killed and nine others injured, has been found dead, according to police. The suspect was identified as Claudio Valente, 48, who was a Portuguese national with a last known address in Miami. He took his own life, authorities said.
The shooting began on Saturday afternoon when a masked gunman entered Brown's Barus and Holley Building during a review session for final exams, opened fire and fled. The two students killed were Ella Cook, 19, a sophomore from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, a freshman from Uzbekistan.
Colonel Oscar L. Perez Jr., chief of the Providence Police Department, said the shooter acted alone. Authorities added that he attended Brown University in the early 2000s. University President Christina Hull Paxson said Valente formally withdrew in 2003, adding that he did not have an active affiliation with the school.
What To Know
Authorities also confirmed that Valente is the suspected gunman in the killing of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro, who was shot at his home on Monday and died in hospital the following day.
Valente was found dead in a storage facility in New Hampshire with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
The U.S. is set to pause its diversity visa lottery program after Valente entered the country via the program in 2017 and later obtained a green card, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
Quote:Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California said that Attorney General Pam Bondi could be "held in inherent contempt of Congress" or would be "subject to impeachment" if files related to Jeffrey Epstein are not released by this week's deadline.
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Justice (DOJ) via online form on Thursday for comment.
Why It Matters
The anticipated imminent release of documents related to the late sex offender Epstein, compelled by bipartisan congressional action and signed into law by President Donald Trump, has reignited debate over transparency in high-profile federal investigations.
Bondi is tasked with overseeing the disclosure, drawing scrutiny from both parties amid fears that political considerations or ongoing investigations could delay or limit the public release. The extraordinary consensus behind the Epstein Files Transparency Act shown by Congress reflects intense public and legislative demand for a full accounting of Epstein’s connections and activities.
What To Know
The Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed with near-unanimous bipartisan votes in both chambers, mandates the release of all files on Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, including travel records and communications, by December 19, 2025. Exemptions allow for redaction to protect victims' identities and ongoing federal investigations.
As the deadline approached, House Democrats released a new batch of 68 images from Epstein’s estate, depicting influential figures such as Noam Chomsky, Steve Bannon, and Bill Gates, among others. The House Oversight Committee acquired thousands of images connected to the case, with newly revealed materials encompassing photographs, site plans for Epstein’s Caribbean property, and redacted personal documents. There is no indication of wrongdoing by those pictured.
In a video posted to X by Khanna, he highlights the Friday deadline of midnight that is looming.
"Three federal judges have ordered the release of all of these files in Maxwell and Epstein's grand jury. Here is the reality, any Justice Department official who does not comply with this law will be subject to prosecution for obstruction of justice. If Pam Bondi does not comply with the law, she will be held either in inherent contempt of Congress or subject to impeachment. We will not rest until the law is complied with and justice is served."
Quote:Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, asked a federal judge Wednesday to overturn her sex trafficking conviction and release her from a 20-year prison sentence, arguing that newly surfaced evidence shows her trial was tainted by constitutional violations.
Why It Matters
Maxwell’s filing came two days before a large set of records from her case was scheduled to be made public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law earlier this year. The measure, passed after months of political and public pressure, requires the Justice Department to release Epstein-related records by Friday.
What To Know
In a habeas corpus petition filed in Manhattan federal court, Maxwell said information that would have led to her acquittal at her 2021 trial was withheld from the defense and that jurors were presented with false testimony. She argued that the cumulative impact of those alleged violations deprived her of a fair trial and resulted in what she called a “complete miscarriage of justice.”
Maxwell said the evidence, which she contends emerged after her conviction, comes from related civil lawsuits, government disclosures, investigative reports and previously unavailable documents. Taken together, she said, the material demonstrates that no reasonable jury would have convicted her had it been presented at trial.
A habeas petition is a legal mechanism that allows someone in custody to challenge the legality of their detention, typically after appeals have been exhausted. Such petitions often allege constitutional violations, including ineffective legal representation or prosecutorial misconduct, and can seek a new trial or release from custody.
The Justice Department has said it plans to disclose 18 categories of investigative materials gathered during the sprawling sex trafficking investigation, including search warrants, financial records, interview notes from victims and data recovered from electronic devices.
Epstein, a wealthy financier with connections to prominent figures, was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. He died the following month in a New York federal jail in what authorities ruled a suicide. Maxwell, a British socialite, was arrested in July 2020 and convicted in December 2021 of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Earlier this year, Maxwell was interviewed by the Justice Department’s second-in-command and was later transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas.
After prosecutors asked a federal judge to allow grand jury and discovery materials from Maxwell’s case to be unsealed, her attorney, David Markus, said she did not oppose the release but warned it could severely prejudice any potential retrial. Markus said the records include “untested and unproven allegations” and that public disclosure could make it impossible for Maxwell to receive a fair proceeding if her conviction is overturned.
Quote:President Trump delivered a prime‑time speech on Wednesday, insisting inflation is easing, even as new data showed consumer prices rising 2.7 percent over the past year. The remarks come as the White House faces voter frustration over high costs and a slowing labor market.
What to Know:
In a Wednesday night address, Trump insisted the economy is booming despite voter concerns over high living costs, previewing housing reforms and announcing a $1,776 “warrior dividend” for 1.4 million service members.
CPI rose 2.7% in November, below forecasts but still elevated, and core inflation slowed to 2.6% from 3.1%.
Trump announced a $1,776 “warrior dividend” for 1.4 million service members.
The November jobs report showed just 64,000 new positions, and unemployment rose to 4.6%.
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, called the CPI report an “absolute blockbuster,” though Fed officials urged caution.
Separately, the Trump administration asked Congress to approve an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan, including rocket systems, howitzers, drones, and missile kits — the largest U.S. weapons sale to the island to date.
Trump is also set to finalize a $900 billion defense bill with bipartisan backing, boosting military spending and tightening Pentagon oversight.
Quote:President Donald Trump said he was offered $250 million to run for a third term during a light-hearted exchange with major Republican donor Miriam Adelson at the White House on Tuesday.
Trump had called on Adelson to address guests gathered for the annual Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony because of her previous donations to his campaign. During her speech, the billionaire said she had discussed the legality of a Trump third term with lawyer Alan Dershowitz, leading to chants of "four more years" from the audience.
The pair then embraced before Trump returned to the microphone and said: “She said, ‘Think about it, I’ll give you another $250 million,’ prompting laughter from the audience, to which Adelson responded, "I will give."
The White House referred Newsweek to past comments made by Trump about a third term. Newsweek attempted to contact Adelson via the Adelson Clinic.
Why It Matters
Although the moment appeared playful, it has reignited debate over whether the president would consider running again despite the two-term constitutional limit. The 22nd Amendment, which was added to the U.S. Constitution in 1951, says that “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
The 12th Amendment also states that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice president of the United States."
Directly addressing speculation in October, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the Constitution is "pretty clear," adding: "I’m not allowed to run. It’s too bad...but we have a lot of great people.” He also ruled out the possibility he might try to serve a third term by running for vice president first.
Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon has repeatedly claimed there is a plan to ensure the president remains in the White House after the next election in 2028. But it is not an idea that all Trump 2024 voters have welcomed. According to polling by The Economist/YouGov between November 28 and December 1, 45 percent of Trump voters do not want him to take office again, while 43 percent do. A further 11 percent said they were not sure.
Quote:Millions of Americans face the prospect of huge rises in health insurance premiums in the new year.
On Wednesday, House Republicans passed a GOP health care package which outlined an alternative, among other policies, to the Obamacare Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
Rather than choosing to extend the enhanced tax credits, the GOP health care package proposes a number of new policies and reforms that many Republicans argue will reduce health care costs for more Americans than the ACA subsidies.
While the bill has passed through the House, it is not certain if it will have the same success in the Senate, meaning—in the absence of legislation to extend the subsidies—it seems inevitable that millions will face extremely high increases in ACA premiums in the New Year.
Why It Matters
The enhanced tax credits, which gave millions more Americans access to ACA-compliant health plans on the Marketplace, have been a key point of contention in Congress.
They sat at the forefront of debate between the parties while they tried to pass stopgap funding legislation during the shutdown, and they continue to be an issue that lawmakers are struggling with.
If the subsidies expire at the end of the year, which will happen if no legislation is passed to extend them before the New Year, premiums for ACA plans are expected to go up by an average of 75 percent, according to analysis by the Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF.
What To Know
The GOP bill, titled the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, included proposals to expand association health plans, which enable small businesses in the same industry to join together to offer a large group coverage, and to fund cost-sharing reductions, which is a provision of the ACA that reduces out-of-pocket costs for Silver plan enrollees who have household incomes up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level.
The latter move will reportedly reduce ACA premium costs by 11 percent.
It would also expand access to "stop-loss" policies for employers, which protect them against catastrophic health claims—such as transplants, surgeries, cancer care and more—at a time when these kinds of claims are becoming increasingly common amid the rise of chronic health conditions, according to the consulting firm Mercer.
These changes, among others proposed in the bill, are predicted to increase the uninsured population by 100,000, while saving the government $35.6 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The main cost saver would be allowing the ACA subsidies to expire while implementing the cost sharing reductions.
In the vote on December 17, the bill passed by 216-211, but it is thought that it's success will stop when it reaches the Senate.
Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote against the bill. Massie's press office pointed Newsweek to his post on X when approached for comment: "Why I voted No on the 'placebo' GOP health care bill: Despite being sold as 'market-based reform' and codifying Association Health Plans, it keeps core Obamacare rules intact and prevents true price competition. @SenRandPaul has a far better solution we should have voted on!"
If the ACA subsidies expire, it is thought that millions will lose their health care coverage—a CBO projection predicts that up to 4 million Americans would lose coverage.
Those earning between $50,000 and $75,000 annually will be particularly affected and have to face much more expensive premiums, according to the American Journal of Managed Care.
However, the decision by the GOP to exclude an extension of the ACA subsidies from its legislation has prompted uproar among some Republicans, who signed a Democratic discharge petition that would enforce a vote on extending the enhanced tax credits for three years.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that the discharge petition will get a vote in the first week of January.
Quote:A group of Democratic lawmakers announced legislation on Thursday aimed at barring local police departments from collaborating with federal immigration authorities to apprehend migrants without legal status.
The PROTECT Immigration Act would terminate the federal 287(g) program, repealing its statutory authority and clarifying that state and local law enforcement do not have inherent authority to investigate, detain, or arrest individuals for suspected immigration offenses.
Illinois Democratic Representative Mike Quigley is leading the bill. Speaking to Newsweek on Thursday, he explained what had inspired the legislation.
"It was what I witnessed in my home city during the Operation Midway Blitz," he said, referring to the DHS operation in Chicago. "You know, I walked with young immigrant kids from a shelter to school, and they talked to me about their lives and how happy they were, and they had no idea that I was walking them with other adults because their parents couldn't."
Why It Matters
Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, the number of 287(g) agreements, which allow state and local law enforcement officers to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, has risen sharply. While some communities have clearly embraced the cooperation, others have raised concerns that immigrants, regardless of legal status, will now be afraid to report crimes and seek help from local law enforcement.
What To Know
The legislation specifies that only federal immigration officers and authorized Department of Homeland Security employees would retain immigration enforcement authority.
At the end of 2024, there were about 135 active 287(g) agreements; by mid-2025, that number had climbed into the several hundreds, reflecting the administration’s effort to expand local involvement in immigration enforcement. By September 2025, the Department of Homeland Security said that more than 1,000 287(g) partnerships across dozens of states, a marked increase compared with the end of the previous administration.
Supporters argue this growth boosts federal enforcement capabilities while addressing public safety concerns, while critics raise concerns about civil rights and community trust.
Quigley told Newsweek that it was important for ICE agents to work within the law, to arrest and deport illegal immigrants, particularly those who have allegedly committed crimes, but that blurring the lines by bringing in local police and sheriff's departments was upsetting the balance.
"There's important functions here. There's security at airports, border security, those are important things and in terms of deporting someone who really should because they are a risk, that's kind of what the American people expect," he told Newsweek. "But they don't expect them to stop a soccer mom, break her windows, drag her out in front of her kids... They've gotten carte blanche to go after anybody with brown skin, and they have, despite what they've said, they have detained U.S. citizens."
Starting October 1, 2025, participating law enforcement agencies will have reimbursement opportunities from ICE, which will cover the annual salary and benefits of each eligible trained 287(g) officer, including overtime of up to 25 percent of the officer’s annual salary.
Agencies may also receive quarterly monetary performance awards based on the successful location of individuals without legal status and overall support of ICE’s mission, with amounts ranging from $500 to $1,000 per eligible task force officer, depending on performance levels.
Quigley is the lead sponsor of the bill, alongside other Democratic Representatives Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Sarah McBride of Delaware, Valerie Foushee of North Carolina, Eleanor Holmes Norton as Washington, D.C., delegate, Sara Jacobs and Robert Garcia of California, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Sylvia Garcia of Texas, Henry "Hank" Johnson of Georgia, Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, and fellow Illinoisans Delia Ramirez, Danny K. Davis, and Robin Kelly as co-sponsors.
Quote:One of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s recent appointees has resigned after social media posts she made more than a decade ago resurfaced and drew criticism for featuring antisemitic tropes, the mayor-elect’s office said Thursday.
Catherine Almonte Da Costa, who had been tapped this week to join the incoming administration, said in a statement that she deeply regretted the posts, which date to 2011 and 2012 and were recently circulated online by the Anti-Defamation League.
Why It Matters
Mamdani, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, has faced sustained scrutiny from some Jewish groups and political opponents over whether his criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza crosses into antisemitism. During the campaign, he drew criticism for declining to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” though he has since said he discourages its use and opposes antisemitism in all forms.
A majority of New York City Jewish voters backed Andrew Cuomo, a former Democrat running as an independent, in the mayoral race, with 63% supporting him compared with 33% who voted for Mamdani, according to a CNN poll released following Mamdani’s victory. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa received support from 3% of Jewish voters, the poll found.
What To Know
Da Costa had been selected to lead Mamdani’s office of appointments, a role responsible for shaping talent recruitment and staffing strategy for the new administration. She previously worked in the mayor’s office more than a decade ago and has more recently held positions at a private communications firm and at the auction house Sotheby’s, according to Mamdani’s office.
Mamdani accepted her resignation, a spokesperson confirmed.
The Anti-Defamation League declined to comment following Da Costa’s resignation. The Jewish advocacy organization had shared three posts attributed to Da Costa, saying they “echo classic antisemitic tropes and otherwise demean Jewish people.”
After Mamdani’s election victory in November, the group announced it was launching a new tool to track and monitor policies and personnel decisions made by the incoming mayor, who has been sharply critical of Israel.
Quote:Estonia has started constructing concrete bunkers along its border with Russia as nations on NATO's eastern flank rushes to build up land defenses.
Why It Matters
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania signed an agreement in January 2024 to beef up protection along their land borders with Russia and Moscow's key ally, Belarus.
Estonia said at the time there would be a "network of bunkers, support points and distribution lines" along the border as part of what became known as the Baltic Defense Line. Poland has also launched its own initiatives to shore up defenses on the edge of its territory.
Intelligence assessments from NATO nations differ, but several have warned Russia could be able to launch an armed attack on an alliance member in the next few years.
Some officials have suggested Moscow may try to take territory from a Baltic state in a small-scale land grab just over the border. The countries forming NATO's eastern flank have stormed ahead of other nations in the alliance in raising defense spending.
What To Know
Estonia hopes to install 28 bunkers on the border by the end of 2025, Krismar Rosin, an official with the Estonian Centre for Defence Investment—the main procurement agency for the country's defense ministry—told the Defense News outlet in an article published on Friday. The first bunkers will sit on Estonia's southeastern border.
Estonia's ERR public broadcaster reported earlier this month the bunker installation had been delayed by almost a year and would be completed by the end of 2027. The country's government plans to lay down roughly 600 bunkers mainly designed to protect soldiers from artillery rounds.
It is "extremely important to carefully choose the locations of both the bunkers and the trenches," Kadi-Kai Kollo, an official also with the Centre for Defence Investment, told the broadcaster.
Sections of the Baltic Defense Line are funded individually by each country, and will include different types of defenses like "dragon's teeth" anti-tank fortifications. Dragon's teeth are concrete blocks used to halt tank advances and prevent mechanized infantry from gaining territory. This type of anti-tank fortification has littered Ukraine.
Latvia has said it started reinforcing its eastern border in March 2024 and will spend a total of €303 million ($355.7 million) over five years. Lithuania's Defense Ministry said in August it would build multi-stage defenses up to 50 kilometers, around 30 miles, from the border line, using easily demolished bridges, trenches and ditches.
The leaders of the three Baltic countries are weighing up dismantling railways linking the nations to Russia and Belarus, the regional Delfi outlet reported earlier in December.
Quote:The threat that Russia poses to NATO’s eastern flank “won’t ever stop,” former Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström has told Newsweek, as European leaders contemplate a drone wall to protect the continent from acts of hybrid warfare.
Billström said that regardless of the outcome in Ukraine, Moscow will remain a threat to Europe, which needs to urgently scale up its capacity to defend against Russian aggression, amid growing alarm at drones encroaching on alliance airspace.
Russia has been implicated in drones entering NATO territory, flying over key infrastructure in Poland, Belgium and Denmark, in moves which have focused the minds of European leaders on a proposed drone wall to protect alliance territory.
"Even after the war, we really do have to be aware of the threat that Russia will pose those countries like Sweden and its neighbors on that flank of NATO, " Billström said.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.
NATO's Warning
Billström was Sweden’s top diplomat when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and when Stockholm became NATO’s newest member in 2024, which was spurred by Moscow’s aggression, after years of non-alignment.
He warned that even when hostilities end, Europe must be prepared for a long-term policy of containing Russia in the coming years, part of which will require an increase in the ability to counter Moscow's hybrid warfare.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte issued a stark warning on Thursday that Russia could use military force against the alliance within the next five years, saying members “must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured."
That half-decade time frame for a future Russian attack has also been cited by other European military leaders, with German Germany's chief of defense, General Carsten Breuer saying in June it could be even by 2029, given Moscow's heightened military production, which according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, numbers around 150 tanks and 550 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as 120 Lancet drones per month.
The United States is pushing for a peace deal in Ukraine, which could pressure Kyiv to surrender occupied territory, though President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected it. Billström said that Russia is likely to use any halt in hostilities to reconstitute its military and its hybrid capabilities.
“Regardless of the outcome in Ukraine, Russia will be either revanchist if it fails completely or it will still pose a threat if it were to even get a partial success,” Billström said.
“If you don't put a stop to Russia's attempts to recreate its empire at the expense of smaller states on its borders, this will just continue, the undermining, the hybrid attacks, the cyber-attacks, all the things which we are seeing.”
This is why it was important not to waste time to build “the kind of defense that will be necessary” said Billström, who is now director of strategy and government affairs, of Nordic Air Defence (NAD), a Swedish firm whose Kreuger 100XR drone interceptor he hopes will be part of the proposed drone wall for Europe and wider defense for the continent.
A full-scale Russian invasion of Europe right now would, he said, hopefully never take place, but the hybrid threat would still be present.
Quote:Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is living in near-isolation in Russia, sidelined by President Vladimir Putin, one year after fleeing Syria following the collapse of his rule, according to a detailed report by The Guardian.
Once one of the Middle East’s longest-serving leaders, Assad is studying Russian and attempting to revive his career as an ophthalmologist while gradually building a private life in Moscow, largely removed from politics and the public eye.
Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Assad’s exile underscores the dramatic fall of a leader who ruled Syria for decades and survived years of civil war with decisive Russian backing. His current circumstances highlight how quickly political relevance can vanish once power is lost, even for figures once seen as indispensable to regional strategy.
The report also offers insight into how Russia manages former allies who are no longer politically useful. While Moscow guarantees Assad’s safety and financial security, it imposes strict limits on his movement, communications, and ability to engage in public or political activity.
What to Know
A closer look at Assad’s life in Russia reveals how dramatically his daily routine and responsibilities have changed since leaving Syria:
Location and Lifestyle
Assad and his immediate family are primarily based in Moscow, with occasional stays in the United Arab Emirates. They are believed to live in Rublyovka, an elite gated district west of the capital that houses senior political figures and wealthy businessmen. Despite their financial security, the family lives in near-total isolation under Russian supervision. “It’s a very quiet life. He has very little, if any, contact with the outside world,” a family friend told The Guardian.
Resuming Ophthalmology and Studying Russian
Assad has resumed practicing ophthalmology, the profession he trained in before entering politics, and is also studying Russian. “He is learning Russian and refreshing his knowledge in ophthalmology. It is a field he loves. Clearly, he does not need the money. Even before the war in Syria, he regularly practiced ophthalmology in Damascus,” a source said. Observers suggest Moscow’s wealthy elite could eventually become his patients.
Political Status and Supervision
Sources close to the Kremlin told The Guardian that Assad is no longer politically relevant in Russia. “Putin has little patience for leaders who lose their grip on power, and Assad is no longer seen as a figure of influence or even an interesting guest to invite to dinner,” another source said. He has minimal contact with former regime officials and remains in touch with only a handful of palace aides.
Quote:Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Germany and other European countries of reviving Nazism, claiming the continent is being unified and mobilized against Russia in a way he likened to the eras of Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Speaking in an interview with Iranian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation, Lavrov said Monday the “theory and practice of Nazism” are reemerging in Europe.
"The saddest and most dangerous thing is that in Europe, primarily in Brussels, but also in Berlin, London, Paris, not to mention the Baltics, the theory and practice of Nazism is being revived," Lavrov told Iran's state broadcaster.
Why It Matters
The remarks reflect Moscow’s long-running rhetoric seeking to justify its war in Ukraine by portraying Western support for Kyiv as a continuation of historical aggression against Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly cited supposed neonazism in Ukraine as one of the reasons behind his full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022, which remains ongoing.
What To Know
Lavrov alleged told Iran's state broadcaster that European leaders are ignoring what he described as “openly Nazi approaches” in Ukraine while supplying Kyiv with money, weapons and intelligence. He claimed Europe is once again fighting Russia indirectly, this time “with the hands and bodies of Ukrainians,” under what he called a Nazi banner.
"Openly Nazi approaches, a blatant disregard for the fact that the Nazi regime in Ukraine is doing exactly the same thing as Hitler did, and Napoleon before him," he continued.
As U.S.-led peace talks continue, Russia launched 153 drones of various types at Ukraine overnight into Monday, Ukraine’s air force said, adding that 133 were intercepted or otherwise neutralized while 17 struck their targets.
In Russia, the Defense Ministry said its forces destroyed 130 Ukrainian drones overnight, with another 16 downed between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. local time. The ministry said 18 drones were shot down over Moscow, prompting temporary flight suspensions at Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports as a safety precaution.
Officials said details on damage and casualties were not immediately available.
U.S. and European officials estimate that hundreds of thousands of soldiers have been killed or wounded on both sides since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with Russian military casualties believed to exceed those of Ukraine. The United Nations says tens of thousands of civilians have been killed or injured, most of them in Ukraine, while millions have been displaced by fighting and sustained attacks on cities and infrastructure.
Quote:Russia has signaled it may be open to Ukraine joining the European Union as part of a potential peace agreement to end the war, United States officials said Monday.
The officials briefed reporters after U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met in Berlin with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and officials from the United Kingdom, France and Germany over the past two days. They said such a move would represent a significant concession by Moscow, although Russia has previously said it does not oppose Ukraine’s membership in the EU.
The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States has also agreed to provide unspecified security guarantees to Kyiv as part of the proposed deal. They cautioned, however, that the offer would not remain open indefinitely.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Department of State for comment via contact form on Monday afternoon.
Why It Matters
The Trump administration has been seeking to bridge the divide between Russia and Ukraine since January, with mixed results. Before he returned to office, President Donald Trump said he wanted to end the conflict within the first few days of his second term, but NATO and EU memberships, as well as seemingly strained relations between Trump and Putin, have slowed progress.
What To Know
The latest round of talks between Zelensky and U.S. envoys ended Monday as Kyiv faces Washington’s pressure to swiftly accept a U.S.-brokered peace deal while confronting an increasingly assertive Moscow.
Ukraine's lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said on social media that “real progress” had been achieved at the talks in Berlin with Witkoff and Kushner as well as European officials. The talks lasted roughly 90 minutes, after a five-hour session on Sunday.
The U.S. government said in a social media post on Witkoff’s account after Sunday's meeting that “a lot of progress was made.”
The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.
Zelensky has expressed readiness to drop Ukraine’s bid to join the NATO military alliance if the U.S. and other Western nations give Kyiv security guarantees similar to those offered to NATO members. But Ukraine’s preference remains NATO membership as the best security guarantee to prevent further Russian aggression; however, this option doesn’t currently have full backing from all allies.
Still, Ukraine has continued to reject the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control as one of the key conditions for peace.
Zelensky's itinerary on Monday also included meetings with German and other European leaders. French President Emmanuel Macron’s office confirmed he would travel to Berlin later Monday.
The latest round of talks concluded Monday as Ukraine faces mounting pressure from Washington to move quickly toward a U.S.-brokered agreement while contending with a more assertive Russia on the battlefield and in negotiations.
The Russian president has cast Ukraine’s bid to join NATO as a major threat to Moscow’s security and a reason for launching the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine renounce the bid for alliance membership as part of any prospective peace settlement.
Zelensky emphasized that any Western security assurances would need to be legally binding and supported by the U.S. Congress.
The Kremlin said Monday it expected to receive an update on the Berlin talks from the U.S. side.
Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump thinks Russian dictator Vladimir Putin wants much more than what’s on the table in talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war, according to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
“The experts think that if he could get the rest of Donetsk, then he [Putin] would be happy,” Wiles told Vanity Fair in August, according to a report published Tuesday. “Donald Trump thinks he wants the whole country.”
Trump’s team has been pushing Ukraine to give up some of the Donbas region, a key sticking point in the talks, and they’re now trying to sell Russia on the peace plan. Moscow has not yet agreed to these terms and Ukraine is loath to cede any territory without security guarantees from the United States.
Trump for months has been convinced Putin is hellbent on taking over the entirety of Ukraine with his nearly four-year-old war there — disagreeing with advisers who felt that giving him Ukraine’s easternmost region would be enough, Wiles signaled.
A senior US official told The Post the same late last month as the latest US peace plan push was just kicking off. When asked what concessions Russia would have to make in a peace deal, the person said it was simply getting Russia to accept that it can’t take over all of Ukraine.
“I mean, look, everyone knows Vladimir Putin wants to take the whole country,’’ the official said of the Russian dictator. “That’s his been his long-sought goal. That is something he’s made quite clear. The president is very aware of that.”
Trump is not alone, according to the Vanity Fair report. Secretary of State Marco Rubio suspected similarly — at least in October — that even a maximalist deal forking over parts of the Donbas that Russia has been unable to seize in more than 11 years of war in that region would not be enough to stop Putin.
“There are offers on the table right now to basically stop this war at its current lines of contact, okay?” Rubio told Vanity Fair. “Which include substantial parts of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which they’ve controlled since 2014. And the Russians continue to turn it down.”
“And so … you do start to wonder, well, maybe what this guy wants is the entire country,” he added.
Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin said his troops had won the "strategic initiative" all along the front lines of the Ukraine war and that they are "grinding down" Kyiv's NATO-trained and equipped forces.
Russia and Ukraine, as they pursue United States-brokered peace negotiations, are jostling for control of the narrative to strengthen their positions at the diplomatic table.
Ukraine is emphasizing the effectiveness of its strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, the central pillar of the Kremlin's economy, and the robustness of its defense in the face of a much stronger aggressor. But Russia points to its steady battlefield advances, which it says will continue until victory unless Kyiv agrees to its territorial demands.
“The Russian army has gained and firmly maintains the strategic initiative along the entire front line during the special military operation,” Putin said at a high-level Defense Ministry meeting on Wednesday, the Interfax news agency reported.
Russia calls its war in Ukraine a "special military operation." Both sides have suffered huge losses of manpower in the war.
“I would note that the outgoing year has become an important stage in accomplishing the tasks of the special military operation. The Russian army has gained and firmly maintains the strategic initiative along the entire front line,” Putin said.
“Our troops are confidently advancing forward and are ‘grinding down’ the enemy—its groupings and reserves—including so-called elite units and formations that have undergone training in Western military centers and are equipped with modern foreign equipment and weapons.”
Putin also claimed that Russian forces had taken control of 300 Ukrainian settlements in 2025.
Ukraine has disputed previous claims by Russia that it has taken control of certain settlements along the front line, notably Pokrovsk, the key logistics hub in Donetsk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited his troops near Kupiansk last Friday after Kyiv's forces said they had recaptured several settlements in the northeastern Kharkiv Oblast and encircled a Russian group, a rare battlefield gain amid Moscow's advances elsewhere.
Zelensky, sharing a video on his Telegram, said in Ukrainian that "our warriors" are "achieving results for Ukraine here" that he could use in the diplomatic efforts to secure a just peace.
Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin said a medium-range system armed with Moscow's latest Oreshnik hypersonic missiles would be placed on combat duty by the end of the year, after the weapon was used for the first time in the war on Ukraine back in November 2024.
Putin was speaking at a high-level Defense Ministry meeting in Moscow on Tuesday. As Russia seeks to demonstrate its military dominance over Ukraine, Moscow is pressuring Kyiv to give in to its demands for peace, and its technological advances in weaponry, as it tries to impose itself at the top table of powers in an emerging multipolar world order.
“The high level of training of units and formations, and their ability to carry out the most complex tasks, is also confirmed during regularly conducted exercises, including those involving our foreign allies and partners, to whom we are passing on the experience gained during the special military operation," Putin said, originally in Russian, state news agency TASS reported.
The Russian leader also said tests of Russia's new nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic cruise missile had been successful, along with the unmanned underwater vehicle, Poseidon, also nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable. The Kremlin says the Burevestnik has an unlimited range.
"Thanks to the use of a nuclear power plant, these systems will remain unique and one of a kind for a long time; they will ensure strategic parity, security, and Russia’s global position for decades to come," Putin said. "We will continue working on these systems—we will further refine and improve them—but they already exist."
Touting the weapons is also a clear warning to European allies, who say Russia is preparing for a continental war within the next few years through its heavy rearmament over the course of its invasion of Ukraine. They also accuse Russia of already waging hybrid warfare against them, through means such as sabotage, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns.
Moscow denies wanting war with Europe or NATO, and says Western allies are the ones seeking conflict, citing their own rapid rearmament and ongoing military assistance to Ukraine. Putin called accusations that the Kremlin wants war with Europe "hysteria" and a "lie."
Russia's Oreshnik, Burevestnik, and Poseidon Weapons
Back in November 2024, Putin confirmed that the Oreshnik—"the hazel"—had been used for the first time in an attack on Dnipro, Ukraine.
In its analysis at the time, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a nonprofit research group and think tank, identified the Oreshnik as "an experimental medium-range ballistic missile with reentry vehicles—likely a modified RS-26 'Rubezh' intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM)" fired from Astrakhan Oblast into central Ukraine.
The Rubezh missile, which was never officially entered into service and is classed as under development, can carry a nuclear or conventional payload containing the warheads, or have multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles that transport explosives to numerous targets.
The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation reported that a medium-range missile can travel 620 miles to 1,860 miles, though Russian sources claimed that the Oreshnik has a range of up to 3,100 miles.
The Burevestnik, also known by its NATO moniker, SSC-X-9 Skyfall, is a ground-launched, nuclear-powered cruise missile. It was first unveiled by Putin in March 2018 with a host of other next-generation weapons, including the so-called "doomsday device" Poseidon, a nuclear-powered, nuclear-tipped torpedo.
Russia says the Burevestnik has a range long enough to strike the U.S. and is able to dodge Western air defenses.
Quote:Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced Thursday that his country will deploy Russia's new intermediate-range hypersonic missile system.
Newsweek reached out to the Pentagon via email and to the State Department via a submission form for comment.
Why It Matters
The Oreshnik system was revealed in late 2024. It derives from Russia's previous RS-26 Rubezh system and is capable of hitting hypersonic speeds of Mach 10, according to the BBC.
The information about the missile system comes from Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of the weaponry shortly after its first combat use against Ukraine last year. The system's proper nature and full capabilities remain unclear.
What To Know
In an address to the nation and parliament on Thursday, Lukashenko said that his forces received the Oreshnik system on Wednesday and will begin "combat alert duty," according to the BelTA news agency.
"The first positions have been prepared for Oreshnik missile systems," Lukashenko said.
Earlier this week, Putin announced that the system would be placed on "combat duty" by the end of the year. This month, he pledged to mass-produce the Oreshnik system, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Speaking at a high-level Defense Ministry meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, Putin said that Russian forces were conducting exercises "involving our foreign allies and partners, to whom we are passing on the experience gained during the special military operation."
This occurs as Russia continues testing its nuclear-powered Burevestnik strategic cruise missile system, which Putin said has thus far proven successful and has an unlimited range, along with the unmanned underwater vehicle Poseidon.
Russia continues denying it seeks any war with Europe or NATO, instead accusing the West of seeking conflict and calling any such accusations against the Kremlin "hysteria" and a "lie."
So Russia recently finished developing a new missile, and Belarus is already get some of those missiles any time soon? When did they start mass-producing them? Now not only the Baltic nations but the rest of Europe would be in serious danger in the next few weeks or months...
Quote:Russian border guards crossed into Estonia without permission using hovercrafts, authorities in Tallinn have said, in a move which will add to concerns about Moscow’s provocations near the border with NATO.
Estonian media reported that three Russian border guards entered Estonian territory on Wednesday on the Narva River, which both countries share.
Estonia's Foreign Ministry told Newsweek it had summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires to express its protest. Newsweek reached out to Estonia’s Interior Ministry and Russia’s Foreign Ministry for comment.
Why It Matters
Estonia is among the members along NATO’s eastern flank that have repeatedly warned of the threat posed by Russian hybrid warfare measures, which include its aircraft buzzing its airspace, GPS jamming and drones entering its territory.
It is unclear whether Wednesday's incident was an accident or a deliberate provocation from Moscow, but it is likely to add to speculation that Moscow is trying to test NATO's resolve.
What to Know
Estonian media reported that around 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday, three Russian border guards crossed the Estonian-Russian border and were in the NATO member for about 20 minutes without permission. The guards were spotted by surveillance equipment on a hovercraft on the Narva River near the Vasknarva breakwater, located on both Russian and Estonian territory in Ida-Viru County.
Video released by the Estonian Police and Border Guard (PPA) purports to show the guards disembarking at the entrance to Lake Peipu and then walking along the structure. They returned to the hovercraft and returned to the Russian side of the river.
Estonian Interior Minister Igor Taro told local news outlet ETV that Tallinn did not know the motive for the incident and that there was no direct security threat, but the police and border guard had significantly increased their presence and patrols.
To reach Lake Peipus via the Narva River, Russian vessels must request permission to pass through Estonian territory, but for some reason, they did not inform Tallinn this time, he said. Taro added that the Russians were not arrested because they had already returned to Russian territory before that could happen.
Quote:WASHINGTON — Top Senate Republicans are pressing President Trump to allow Ukraine to purchase American weapons using the roughly $5 billion in frozen Russian funds in the US as the Kremlin resists the White House’s peace plan to end the war.
The move would help push Europe to unleash $162 billion in Russian assets frozen on the continent to Ukraine — at least half of which could be invested in the US defense sector, according to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch (R-Idaho), Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)
“Once seized, these funds from Europe will be used to purchase weapons from US manufacturers to provide to Ukraine,” the Republicans wrote Wednesday to Trump in a letter obtained by The Post. “This is a good deal for America; it will bring in orders that will help accelerate our domestic defense industry and help ensure Ukraine’s ability to defend itself in the near future.”
“US and European taxpayers should not continue to foot this bill indefinitely, and leveraging Russian sovereign assets from Europe would significantly ease the burden,” they said of tapping the 2024 REPO Act to send Ukraine the frozen Russian funds.
The push comes as Europe on Thursday met to discuss releasing the $162 billion in Russian assets. While most countries were in support of the idea, some — such as Vladimir Putin ally and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — were hesitant.
“Some in Europe are using US inaction in seizing Russian sovereign assets in the United States as an excuse to justify their own inactions,” the senators wrote.
Russian dictator Putin has so far resisted the US peace plan, declaring in a speech Wednesday that Moscow will settle for nothing less than Ukraine to surrender “unconditionally.”
That demand came despite Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner having settled roughly “90%” of the most difficult issues in their latest discussions, a senior US official said Tuesday.
Europe’s talk of giving away frozen Russian assets has also enraged Putin, with the dictator lashing out by calling the continent’s leaders, “little pigs.”
“Everyone believed that Russia would be destroyed and collapsed in a short period of time,” Putin said. “And the European piglets immediately joined in this work of the former American administration, hoping to profit from the collapse of our country.”
Quote:The European Union (EU) has agreed on a €90 billion ($105 billion) loan to Ukraine to help it through Russia's ongoing invasion, a vital financial lifeline for Kyiv as it bears the vast cost of Moscow's ongoing invasion.
But it is an immediate compromise on what many of Ukraine's European allies had hoped for, which is to use frozen Russian assets to finance a reparations loan—a decision fraught with legal and financial risk that has been punted into the future pending yet more discussions.
What To Know
The European Council said it has approved a €90 billion ($105 billion) loan to Ukraine, financed by EU borrowing. To secure that agreement, Czechia, Hungary, and Slovakia, which all opposed sending more EU funds to Kyiv, will see no impact on their financial obligations to the bloc's budget.
But Ukraine will only repay the loan once Russia has compensated it for the destruction wrought by Moscow's war. Until then, the €210 billion ($247 billion) Russian assets within the EU will remain frozen. The Kremlin has accused Europeans of stealing the assets and threatened to retaliate.
The Europeans could not come to an agreement on seizing the Russian assets for a reparations loan as originally hoped. Belgium, where most of the assets are held, expressed strong concerns about the political and legal blowback, as well as the threat of a severe Russian response. Instead, officials will "continue working on the technical and legal aspects".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed gratitude to the EU, which Kyiv hopes to join within the next couple of years, calling it "significant support that truly strengthens our resilience. It is important that Russian assets remain immobilized and that Ukraine has received a financial security guarantee for the coming years."
Dmitry Medvedev, a top Kremlin security official and a former president and prime minister of Russia, lashed out in a Telegram post, writing in Russian that the European Council summit was "a thieves’ gathering" of "EU mobsters" and that they "have not abandoned their plans to carry out a robbery or theft in the future".
The push for peace continues, as does the brutal war. The Kremlin is awaiting the latest set of proposals from Ukraine and Europe, mediated by the U.S., on a potential settlement to end the conflict. There remain acute differences between Russia and Ukraine on territorial concessions and security guarantees.
Quote:Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a new warning to the Trump administration on Thursday amid escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela.
"We note continuous and deliberate attempts to escalate tensions with our ally Venezuela. Unilateral decisions creating a threat to international shipping are particularly alarming," the ministry said in a statement, per Russia's Tass news agency.
"Hopefully, the Trump administration, known for pursuing a rational and practical policy course, will stop short of making a fatal mistake and refrain from escalating things down a path that may cause unpredictable consequences for the entire Western Hemisphere."
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. had imposed a "total and complete" blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, saying that the country had taken what was rightfully the U.S.'s oil, land, and other assets. Russia has been a longtime ally of Venezuela, as has Iran, and the country has the world's largest oil reserves, meaning Trump's actions in the region will have a global impact.
What To Know
Moscow's message comes after Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S. military build-up around Venezuela would continue to grow until it returns the "oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us."
Concern has been growing in the U.S. and around the world that Trump is on the verge of declaring war with Venezuela after months of targeted deadly strikes on alleged drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean led up to a Venezuelan oil tanker being seized by the U.S.
On Wednesday, another lethal strike was carried out in international waters in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, according to the U.S. Southern Command, killing four alleged smugglers. In all, 98 people have been killed by U.S. forces.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has insisted the operations are lawful. He has framed them as “lethal, kinetic strikes” intended to destroy “narco-boats” and kill “narco-terrorists,” while asserting that every trafficker killed was tied to a designated terrorist organization.
Speaking about the blockade on Wednesday, Trump cited the lost U.S. investments in Venezuela when asked about his newest tactic in a pressure campaign against leader Nicolás Maduro, suggesting his administration’s moves are at least somewhat motivated by disputes over oil investments, along with accusations of drug trafficking. Some sanctioned tankers are already diverting away from Venezuela.
Russia's Foreign Ministry affirmed Thursday its solidarity with Venezuelans, and the Maduro administration's efforts to protect the country's national interests and sovereignty. Iran has shared similar messages of solidarity, as the U.S. has moved military resources closer to the South American nation.
Quote:Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro ordered his navy to escort ships carrying petroleum products out of port — a brazen challenge to President Trump’s newly declared “blockade” targeting the country’s lifeblood.
The Venezuelan navy on Tuesday and Wednesday escorted three tankers carrying Venezuelan urea, petroleum coke and other oil-based products to Asia, according to the New York Times, which cited three sources familiar with the ships’ movements.
None of the vessels that left with the Venezuelan navy were on the US sanctions list — at least for now. But Maduro’s move has increased the risk of a military confrontation, US defense analysts have warned.
Until now, the Venezuelan president has avoided responding with force, and his calling up of the navy to assist in bucking Trump’s blockade represents a new escalation from Caracas’ side as Trump aims to drain the dictator’s oil revenues with his blockade announcement on Tuesday.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in his announcement on Truth Social. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”
“The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping,” he added.
Maduro’s naval orders came after four Panama-flagged ships headed for Venezuela turned around on Dec. 11 — just one day after the US military seized an oil tanker headed for the country last week, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
One of the four vessels, known as “Bella 1,” was already on the US sanctions list for transporting Iranian oil. The others were Seeker 8, Karina and Eurovictory, according to data from maritime intelligence firm Kpler.
The seized tanker is now located near Cuba, according to the latest maritime tracking, apparently headed for Florida’s coast after Trump said the US would take its oil.
Quote:Amal Clooney’s public image is one of a trailblazing human rights lawyer unafraid to hold world leaders to account, who just happens to be married to a movie star.
But critics say the British barrister and professor is selective in her approach, favoring causes that are at odds with the state of Israel, while questioning her choice to work with a hardline Muslim group.
Eyebrows rose when it emerged last week that Amal may have had a hand in drafting a constitution for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which President Trump is in the process of designating a terrorist group.
It came to light in a resurfaced video clip of an interview between her actor husband, George Clooney, and Drew Barrymore in 2022.
Speaking about calling his wife soon after they met in 2012, George said he invited the London-based barrister on a date.
“She said, ‘Yeah, I am at a meeting at the Muslim Brotherhood right now. I’ll come right over,’ because she was in the middle of trying to redo a constitution for the Egyptians. Her life and my life are very different,” the actor told Barrymore.
Those Egyptians would have been linked to Mohamed Morsi, who had come to power in June 2012 as the country’s first democratically elected president. He was a longtime prominent member of the Muslim Brotherhood and head of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political front.
Morsi previously described Zionists as “bloodsuckers” and descendants of apes and pigs in a series of Arabic-language interviews in 2010.
He was ousted by the Egyptian military in July 2013. Months later, the government banned the Muslim Brotherhood and froze its assets.
“Presumably, any constitution of the Muslim Brotherhood would never be inclusive and fair and follow the harsh rules of sharia law,” said a New York-based professor of American foreign policy and constitutional law who did not want to be identified, noting that establishing a caliphate ruled by Sharia law dictated by the Quran has long been one of the Brotherhood’s goals.
“I am sure Amal Clooney was included to put a sweet face on the proceedings,” they added.
Despite her husband’s words, there is no official record of Amal Clooney being involved with the writing of the Brotherhood’s constitution. It is also possible she could have met with them in an advisory capacity or to give legal advice.
Quote:Automakers are losing ground in the world’s most important market, China. American, Scandinavian and European car companies are scrambling to catch up as their Chinese competition sets new speed milestones, rolls out new products and keeps what’s already working fresh with frequent technology and appearance updates.
Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have all seen annual sales drops in China over the last five years, with the larger volume automakers seeing the biggest falls.
While mass market car companies are pulling back from their original product and sales plans, and thoughtfully and relatively slowly moving forward, German luxury automakers are pressing forward with a sense of unprecedented urgency, not just in a bid to stabilize their market share, but in hopes of making gains.
Mercedes-Benz plans to launch 40 vehicles in the next two years, 20 new and 20 refreshed. There’s new architecture on the horizon and a reinvigorated AMG performance brand lineup coming. Equally as important is the company’s push for new engines, those that are far more efficient than what is in the market today.
“The main strategy to ensure that Mercedes-Benz remains competitive for the next 140 years is to build the world’s most desirable cars,” a spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz told Newsweek. “This means that Mercedes-Benz must deliver an exclusive combination of exceptional design and advanced technology, outstanding refinement and craftsmanship, a sublime ride and drivetrain and world class safety systems.”
China’s residents are open to multiple powertrain types including hybrids, plug-in hybrid, extended range electric and battery-electric models. Unlike the European Union and the U.K., China has not set strict regulations for emissions that would force buyers into pricey, zero emissions replacements for their daily driver.
Research by EY’s Mobility Lens Forecaster, an artificial intelligence-enabled forecasting model, suggests that a decade from now, battery-electric vehicles will represent just 50 percent of the sales in Europe, China and the U.S. despite major pushes from automakers and governments.
EY expects China to have over 50 percent of new vehicle sales of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) by 2033, and more than 81 percent of the market by 2044. EY calls full BEV adoption in China "elusive" before 2050.
By 2032, BEVs will account for over 50 percent of vehicle sales in Europe, the company predicts, but will strengthen to 95 percent market share by 2041.
With the impact of the Big, Beautiful Bill being felt nationwide, the U.S.'s 50-percent new EV purchase rate has been pushed back five years, to 2039, predicts EY.
Audi is pursuing a product cadence similar to Mercedes-Benz. By the end of 2025, Audi will have introduced 20 new models in 24 months, but the company admits that it has stumbled.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:President Donald Trump said he is planning to announce "some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history" next year, in an effort to address the ongoing affordability crisis.
It is not the first time that the president has promised to address the country’s housing problems, which include rising prices and soaring costs, a decades-long shortage of homes, and the restrictive local zoning keeping new construction low.
But it is the first time that Americans are being given a deadline for at least the announcement of his proposed solution to these problems—at some undefined point in 2026.
What Has Caused The Current Crisis?
U.S. home prices skyrocketed during the pandemic, when low borrowing costs sparked a home-buying frenzy across the country and this surge in demand clashed with chronically low inventory nationwide.
Between 2019 and 2024, median single-family home prices rose by 48 percent nationally at more than twice the rate of median income, which rose by 22 percent, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) at Harvard University.
Rising home prices, combined with elevated borrowing costs, higher property taxes, homeowners association (HOA) fees, and homeowners insurance premiums, have pushed many prospective homebuyers to the sidelines of the market. In the second quarter of 2025, the U.S. homeownership rate fell to 65 percent, the lowest level since late 2019, according to the Census Bureau.
What Did Trump Say About It?
Addressing the nation from the Diplomatic Room of the White House on Wednesday, Trump played up his administration’s achievements during the last 11 months, though polls show that Americans are getting frustrated with the lack of results in bringing down prices, especially when it comes to housing.
"Our nation is strong. America is respected, and our country is back stronger than ever before. We’re poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen," he said.
While offering no details on what might be included in his housing reform plans, Trump blamed immigrants for rising housing costs in the U.S., as he did during his 2024 presidential campaign.
"A major factor in driving up housing costs was the colossal border invasion," he said, accusing the Biden administration of bringing in "millions and millions of migrants" and giving them "taxpayer-funded housing" while costs increased for Americans.
Trump said during his 2024 presidential campaign that he would free housing inventory through mass deportations of illegal migrants. The White House now claims that his administration has deported more than 605,000 people and induced the so-called "self-deportation" of another 1.9 million.
"For the first time in 50 years, we are now seeing reverse migration as migrants go back home, leaving more housing and more jobs for Americans," Trump said on Wednesday.
While this year inventory has risen in the U.S. market, this has primarily happened because demand has dwindled as many Americans cannot afford to buy a home or think this is not a great time to buy. Home prices are still rising and mortgage rates, despite the recent cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve, remain historically high.
As of December 18, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.21 percent, down from 6.72 percent a year earlier.
Trump said on Wednesday that "mortgage payments will be coming down even further early in the new year."
Quote:President Donald Trump on Friday defended his administration's jobs record again in a Truth Social post, in which he claimed the rising unemployment figure is due to cuts in government jobs.
"100% OF OUR NEW JOBS ARE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR! I could reduce Unemployment to 2% overnight by just hiring people into the Federal Government, even though those Jobs are not necessary," Trump wrote, adding, "I wish the Fake News would report the 4.5% correctly."
"The only reason our Unemployment ticked up to 4.5% is because we are reducing the Government Workforce by numbers that have never been seen before," Trump wrote.
Why It Matters
Unemployment rose to 4.6 percent in November, raising concerns of a cooling market. The Trump administration has struggled with the public reception on jobs numbers, especially after a few significant corrections on previously reported numbers, which led to Trump firing the Commissioner of Labor Statistics in August due to the July jobs number coming 73,000 jobs short of expectations.
What To Know
The president's post on Friday came a few days after the DOL revealed that the economy shed 105,000 jobs in October and failed to rebound with only 64,000 added in November. The unemployment rate had risen from 4.4 percent in September to 4.6 percent.
Analysts have said that the figures show a labor market that is losing steam, rather than accelerating, but the president has insisted that his policies are working, especially as he looks to downsize the federal government as promised.
Some elements are working, with Tuesday’s figures in part coming in ahead of expectations, with healthy gains were made in private payrolls.
However, a downward revision to past months’ data and the four-year high unemployment rate contrasted with the White House’s recent labor market appraisal—issued following last month’s report—that “President Trump’s pro-growth, America First agenda is already making great progress.”
The president has also argued that his economic policies will take time to bear fruit, but with rising costs and a seemingly slowing job market, there are signs that tactics may need to change.
Quote:Former Utah Senator Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, endorsed a longtime progressive call to raise taxes on the wealthy in a New York Times opinion piece on Friday, writing, “On the tax front, it’s time for rich people like me to pay more.”
Why It Matters
Romney’s remarks place a prominent Republican voice on the same side of an issue long championed by some progressive Democrats, underscoring shifting political dynamics around taxes and wealth inequality.
As a party figure, both in the Senate and governorship, traditionally associated with tax cuts and fiscal conservatism, Romney’s call for higher taxes on the wealthy challenges party orthodoxy and highlights growing bipartisan acknowledgment of public concern over deficits, economic inequality and the concentration of wealth.
His comments come as tax policy is at the center of debate in Washington D.C., with lawmakers weighing the future of how to fund federal priorities amid mounting national debt amid public concern about the economy.
What To Know
The former senator, who served from 2019 to 2025, framed his argument as a break with traditional partisan lines, writing, “Typically, Democrats insist on higher taxes, and Republicans insist on lower spending. But given the magnitude of our national debt as well as the proximity of the cliff, both are necessary.”
He then said he had reversed a long-held view on raising the income cap on which Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) payroll taxes are applied, writing in his opinion article, “I long opposed increasing the income level on which FICA employment taxes are applied (this year, the cap is $176,100). No longer; the consequences of the cliff have changed my mind.”
From there, Romney pointed to how capital gains are treated at death, using a hypothetical involving billionaire Elon Musk, and argued the current system allows some of the wealthiest Americans to avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars, saying it should be “sealed for mega-estates over $100 million.”
He maintained his pro-capitalist views but argued, “I believe in free enterprise, and I believe all Americans should be able to strive for financial success. But we have reached a point where any mix of solutions to our nation’s economic problems is going to involve the wealthiest Americans contributing more.”
He ended by urging Republicans to adopt the approach, writing, “If my party wants to be the one to give working- and middle-class Americans greater opportunity — to be the party that is trying to restore some sense of confidence in our capitalist system — this would be a start.”
Quote:Nuno Loureiro should be remembered as a devoted husband and father of three as well as a gifted physicist, a friend and former colleague told Newsweek.
Bruno Soares Gonçalves, president of Portugal’s Institute of Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, worked closely with Loureiro, 47, from 2009 through 2015 before he became a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later led its Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
“He was a brilliant researcher — very rigorous scientifically, very focused on scientific excellency,” Gonçalves said Friday during an interview from Lisbon. “But he was at the same time, someone that was nice to be around … someone with a very good sense of humor [and] also someone that when working with other people, was always trying to push the people to do their best.”
Loureiro, a married father of three daughters originally from Viseu, Portugal, became a “kind” and affable mentor to many young minds after becoming a principal investigator at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion in 2009. The talented researcher went on to lead the institute’s theory and modeling group before departing for MIT, Gonçalves said.
“And of course, after he went to MIT, there was still a strong relationship,” he said. “He kept these links; we kept discussing things, people would meet him at conferences and meetings.”
Gonçalves said he last saw Loureiro, who was found fatally shot Monday at his apartment in Brookline, Massachusetts, about a year ago at an International Atomic Energy Agency conference in Rome. But the pair stayed in touch and emailed frequently — last connecting in July, he said.
“He was always willing to speak with his Portuguese colleagues and spend time with us if he had the opportunity,” Gonçalves said.
Investigators believe Claudio Neves Valente, 48, fatally shot two students and wounded nine others at Brown University in Rhode Island on Saturday. Two days later, Valente, who previously attended Instituto Superior Técnico alongside Loureiro, killed his former classmate, police said.
Gonçalves said he was unaware of any ties between Loureiro and Brown University, but his former colleague took the same physics course load as Valente while they both attended Instituto Superior Técnico between 1995 and 2000.
“And likely, they went to the same physics courses at IST,” he said of Loureiro and Valente, who later attended Brown University. “It’s likely that they would know [each other] from that period.”
Gonçalves said he couldn’t fathom why anyone would harm Loureiro.
“I cannot even imagine what the link would be or why someone would do something of that sort,” he said. “It was such a violent crime … It doesn’t want any sense at all.”
Gonçalves said he wants Loureiro to be remembered as a doting father in addition to being an esteemed theoretical physicist and fusion scientist.
Quote:President Donald Trump's White House responded after his Department of Justice (DOJ) released many of its files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
“By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have,” White House spokeswoman, Abigail Jackson said, the Associated Press reported. She also said the Trump administration is the “most transparent in history.”
Why It Matters
The release comes after bipartisan legislation passed the U.S. House and Senate overwhelmingly a month ago requiring the disclosure. That effort succeeded after the Trump administration for months had fought the release, with the president routinely calling it a "hoax."
The administration's opposition came after Trump, who was friends with Epstein decades ago before having a falling out, had promised during his 2024 campaign that the files would be released. While Trump has long been known to be mentioned in the files, he and his allies have consistently said he was not involved in Epstein's criminality, and no evidence had emerged to show that he was.
What to Know
The DOJ released thousands of records tied to Epstein on Friday, marking a significant public disclosures in the case. The release came as a result of the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the government to make the documents available by December 19.
The bipartisan legislation passed after Representatives Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, spearheaded the effort and utilized a discharge petition to force a vote, despite the objections of House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican. Despite the opposition of Trump and Republican leaders, the legislation ultimately passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the House and Senate last month.
The release is divided into four massive data sets. Files are available under the “Epstein Files Transparency Act” section on the DOJ website The disclosures include thousands of records, including photos, call logs, grand jury testimony and interview transcripts. Many of the documents have been redacted and at least some have already been in the public domain.
Epstein and Maxwell feature heavily in the images. Meanwhile many celebrities make an appearance including Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker and Bill Clinton, among others.
It does not appear that the DOJ has fully complied with the law, as not all the files have been released. Earlier on Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd blanche said not all the files would come today but that more would be released within the coming weeks.
Epstein and Trump were known to be close decades ago. However, they ultimately had a falling out, which was reportedly tied to a real estate deal. The president has said he also got upset because Epstein "stole" a young woman working at his Mar-a-Lago club.
The deceased financier, who was a convicted child sex offender, was well-connected, and was closely associated with many high-profile individuals, including former President Bill Clinton, former Prince Andrew, economist Lawrence Summer, Bill Gates, Trump ally Steve Bannon and many others. Ahead of the DOJ release, House Democrats and Republicans have release some files tied to Epstein, including photos of many of these individuals with him.
A new Quinnipiac University survey released this week found widespread dissatisfaction with Trump’s handling of the Epstein files. Just 26 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with his performance on the issue, underscoring public frustration over the administration’s approach to the disclosures.
Quote:Representative Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican, announced on Friday that she not only will suspend her bid for New York governor but will not seek reelection to Congress.
Newsweek reached out to House Speaker Mike Johnson's office via email on Friday for comment.
Why It Matters
Stefanik’s decision to suspend her campaign for governor and not seek reelection to Congress marks a significant shift in state and national Republican politics. The move comes as Republicans strategize to challenge a vulnerable Democratic incumbent, Kathy Hochul, in a state where they have not held the governorship since George Pataki left office on December 31, 2006.
Stefanik, a prominent ally of President Donald Trump and a rapidly rising star in national politics, had been viewed as the likely GOP front-runner. Her departure opens up the primary field and potentially alters the dynamics of the 2026 gubernatorial race while also triggering potential repercussions in House Republican leadership and representation in New York’s 21st Congressional District.
What To Know
In an email statement sent out Friday afternoon, Stefanik said she made the decision after spending some time with her family and cited concerns about spending "generous resources" on "an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York."
"While many know me as Congresswoman, my most important title is Mom," Stefanik wrote. "I believe that being a parent is life's greatest gift and greatest responsibility.
"I have thought deeply about this, and I know that as a mother, I will feel profound regret if I don't further focus on my young son's safety, growth, and happiness—particularly at his tender age [4].
"Thank you for your support and encouragement as my family and I look forward to the next meaningful personal and professional chapter."
Stefanik’s withdrawal follows Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s announcement that he would challenge her for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, with party leaders divided over the prospect of a divisive primary. Trump, who counts both as allies, refrained from endorsing either candidate, saying in part: “He’s great, and she’s great. They’re both great people. We have a lot of great people in the Republican Party.”
Quote:Colombian President Gustavo Petro has rejected a plea from Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro for military support against the United States.
"I cannot give orders to the Venezuelan army, nor can anyone there give orders to the Colombian army," Petro told reporters at a press conference at the Casa de Nariño, the official presidential residence in Bogotá, on Thursday.
Facing U.S. pressure and the possibility of armed conflict between the U.S. and Venezuela, Maduro appealed to Colombia for a military alliance.
Petro said cooperation between Panama, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela can only happen through popular support and constitutional legitimacy.
Why It Matters
Petro's comments come at a time where Venezuela seeks support from international allies, including diplomatic backing from Russia, China and Iran. Tensions have raised questions about the legality and legitimacy of U.S. military action against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and about diplomatic relations with Latin American neighbors.
American naval and air force forces remain on Maduro's doorstep under President Donald Trump's escalating pressure campaign, which included a major oil blockade and tanker seizure this week, putting extra strain on Venezuela's economy.
Tensions between Washington and Bogotá are also rising over the broadened U.S. military presence in the Caribbean region and Washington's approach to drug trafficking, particularly controversial boat strikes that have killed more than 100 people so far.
What To Know
Petro called for a negotiated, peaceful, Venezuelan-led political solution to the crisis in the Caribbean, saying he does not support "invasion," although he did not explicitly name the U.S. This came after Maduro addressed a public plea Wednesday to Colombia’s citizens, social movements, political and military groups, according to state-owned Venezuelan outlet El Correo del Orinoco.
While describing Maduro’s regime as a dictatorship that he does not support, Petro has challenged U.S. claims of the Venezuelan president's involvement in drug trafficking, saying that Colombia has found no evidence that he is a drug trafficker.
"Maduro is a dictator for concentrating powers; there is no evidence in Colombia that he is a narco. That is a narrative of the USA," the Colombian president posted to his X account Wednesday.
Like Maduro, Petro believes oil is at the core of the U.S. pressure campaign on Venezuela and has warned against Washington expanding threats to Colombia. Trump has increasingly hardened his rhetoric toward Colombia and warned Petro he could “be next," having previously issued threats aimed at Maduro.
The State Department designated Colombia’s Clan del Golfo as a foreign terrorist organization on Tuesday. The group is Colombia’s largest drug cartel and is currently negotiating with Petro’s government as part of broader peace talks with the country’s armed groups, according to El País.
Quote:Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday insisted that the Trump administration has not needed congressional approval for the strikes on boats in the Caribbean that were allegedly smuggling drugs into the U.S.
Rubio told reporters at his year-end press conference that he would not speculate "about things that haven't happened and may never happen," but that "to this point, nothing has happened that requires us to notify Congress or get congressional approval or cross the threshold into war."
Why It Matters
The Trump administration over the past few months has continued to escalate its rhetoric and actions towards Venezuela, starting with strikes on alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, and culminating with the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of the South American nation.
President Donald Trump then ordered a blockade on Venezuela's oil tankers, as he alleged that Venezuela uses oil revenues to fund drug trafficking and crime. Trump pledged to continue adding pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro until his government hands over "oil, land, and assets" he claims have been stolen from the United States.
What To Know
Rubio covered a range of topics, but reporters continued to circle back to the boat strikes, particularly the legality of the strikes and the mixed messaging it presented as Rubio stressed the administration's goal to make the U.S. the mediator of peace around the world, following the president's peace deals agreed to over the past 11 months.
He defended the administration's approach and stressed that the strikes fall under the administration's purview to defend national security and ramp up pressure on Maduro.
"We are presenting every single one of these as justified," Rubio said. "We know who is on those boats, we've been tracking them from the very beginning. We know everything about them, OK?"
Quote:U.S. Air Force personnel have joined forces with their Ecuadorian counterparts at a base in Manta in Ecuador for a temporary anti-narcotics operation.
"This short-term joint effort is carried out as part of our long-term bilateral security strategy, in line with the currently valid agreements in accordance with Ecuadorian law," the U.S. Embassy stated on X this week.
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. State Department and Ecuador's foreign ministry for further comment.
Why It Matters
Ecuadorian voters recently rejected a referendum to allow permanent foreign military bases, reaffirming the ban on foreign bases like the one the U.S. previously operated in Manta. The vote came after Ecuador’s president sought U.S. military assistance and supported the opening of U.S. military bases in the ports of Manta and Salinas following Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's visit to the Manta military base in November.
The latest move comes amid tensions over the U.S.’ expanded military presence in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific under President Donald Trump’s intensified anti-drug campaign and potential military action against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro.
What To Know
Ecuador and the U.S have activated a temporary operation at the Manta air base, which Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa described as "part of a long-term bilateral security strategy," on his X account.
The move comes as Ecuador faces an unprecedented surge in drug-related violence, with homicide rates rising sharply over the past three years and criminal groups expanding their control over coastal trafficking routes. In an operation earlier this month, U.S. special forces under Southern Command assisted Ecuador’s 4th Army Division in a counter‑narcotics action in Esmeraldas on December 3, seizing 1.4 tons of cocaine with a value of about $98 million.
Manta, a strategic Pacific port city, previously hosted a U.S. forward operating location until 2009, when Ecuador banned foreign military bases. Several U.S. allies, including El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, have backed U.S. operations, granting American forces access to local bases and airports. Washington has also expanded its regional footprint by reopening Puerto Rico’s Roosevelt Roads Naval Station and sending additional forces to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Other governments, such as that of Colombia have been more critical, and tensions between Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro have also emerged.
Quote:Dramatic video released Friday shows a Russian oil tanker being blown up by Ukrainian drones in an “unprecedented special operation” in neutral waters in the Mediterranean Sea.
The footage of the attack showed the shadow fleet tanker being obliterated more than 1,200 miles from Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine said.
The out-of-area operation marks the first time Kyiv has struck in neutral waters, according to officials. Until now, Ukraine’s security service has only claimed responsibility for drone attacks in the Black Sea.
The Qendil vessel, which was empty at the time, is said to have suffered critical damage.
Ukraine insisted the strike “posed no threat” to the environment, claiming the vessel wasn’t carrying cargo at the time.
The tanker had unloaded oil at the Indian port of Sikka earlier this month and was en route back when the strike was carried out, according to officials.
Quote:Ukraine has expanded its campaign against Russian oil shipping, striking a “shadow fleet” tanker in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time using long-range aerial drones. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed retaliation for the attack. Speaking at his end-of-year conference, Putin warned that attacks on civilian infrastructure would “always” draw a response from Moscow.
What to Know:
The Oman-flagged tanker Qendil was hit in neutral waters off Crete, sustaining heavy damage.
The vessel was empty and en route from India’s port of Sikka to Russia’s Ust Luga terminal.
Ukraine’s SBU security service said the operation involved “multi-stage” measures but gave no details.
Kyiv has recently escalated strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, including rigs in the Caspian Sea and tankers in the Black Sea.
Putin condemned the attack, calling it an effort to raise insurance costs, and vowed Russia would respond.
India remains a major buyer of Russian oil despite U.S. pressure to reduce imports.
Maritime analysts say the strike marks a significant expansion of Ukraine’s drone capabilities against Russia’s sanctioned export network.
Russia, Botswana pledge stronger cooperation at UN and beyond
Quote:Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Botswana’s Foreign Minister Phenyo Butale reaffirmed plans to deepen cooperation in international forums, including the United Nations, according to a statement from Moscow’s foreign ministry. The announcement came during the second ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum in Cairo.
The ministry said both sides confirmed their intention to expand collaboration on multilateral platforms and held substantive talks on bilateral priorities. Discussions included prospects for strengthening political, economic, and investment ties, with particular focus on healthcare, tourism, education, and training in civilian fields.
Russian intelligence chief says EU risks decline over ‘Russophobia’
Quote:Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), warned that what he called the European Union and the United Kingdom’s policy of “Russophobia” will lead to political and social decline. Speaking in an interview with TASS, Naryshkin argued that the EU has failed to keep pace with global dynamics and is falling behind other powers, including the United States.
He said the bloc’s economic and political struggles have made European integration “less attractive” and damaged the EU’s international reputation. According to Naryshkin, the recently published U.S. National Security Strategy underscores the EU’s waning influence.
Quote:WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said neither Ukraine nor Russia is anywhere close to surrendering, meaning a negotiated settlement is the only realistic way to stop the bloodshed.
“Wars end generally in one of two ways: surrender by one side or a negotiated settlement,” Rubio told reporters at a lengthy year-end briefing– as US-led talks were set to stretch into the weekend in Miami.
“We don’t see surrender anytime in the near future by either side, and so only a negotiated settlement gives us the opportunity to end this war.”
Rubio laid out the assessment as Russian President Vladimir Putin in his own four-hour-long press conference insisted he would accept nothing short of Ukraine’s unconditional capitulation, fueling doubts about whether the Kremlin is serious about compromise.
“The only thing I want to say is that we have always said this: We are ready and willing to end this conflict peacefully, based on the principles I outlined last June at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and by addressing the root causes that led to this crisis,” Putin said, referring to his demands that Ukraine surrender its entire Donbas region and change its constitution to rule out NATO membership.
But Rubio said he pays little mind to what the Russian dictator says in public and instead is focusing on plausible outcomes.
“I’m just saying there’s what people say and then what people do in the end,” Rubio said. “We’re not going to base our approach … on the basis simply of what people are saying. We’re going to base it on what people are willing to agree to, what countries are willing to agree to.”
US officials are pressing ahead with diplomacy this weekend despite what Rubio acknowledged are starkly incompatible public positions from both sides.
The discussions — which Rubio said have been ongoing “every single day” through meetings, back-channel discussions and phone calls — will continue this weekend in Miami with separate meetings with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, even as expectations for a breakthrough remain modest.
“What we’re trying to figure out here is, what can Ukraine live with and what can Russia live with?” Rubio said. “And see if we can sort of drive them towards each other to some agreement.”
Rubio stressed repeatedly that Washington is not imposing a deal — and cannot force either side to sign on.
“There is no peace deal unless Ukraine agrees to it,” he said. “But there’s also no peace deal unless Russia agrees to it. In the end, the decision will be up to Ukraine and up to Russia. It will not be up to the United States.”
Quote:The unemployment total for young Chinese city‑dwellers stood at roughly 20 million, or about 12 percent, according to a Newsweek analysis of the latest statistics from China's statistics bureau.
The figure is a sign that the general economic recovery and a raft of stimulus measures have not eased the economic pressure facing China’s young people.
Why It Matters
The world’s second‑largest economy has had a bumpy ride since the end of its strict COVID‑era lockdowns, amid slowing growth, tepid consumer demand and a years‑long real estate downturn.
Youth, defined in China as ages 15 to 24, have been particularly hard hit, as job competition intensifies amid record numbers of university graduates—a trend that analysts warn could threaten the Chinese Communist Party’s top priority: social stability.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry by email with a request for comment.
What To Know
Just under 17 percent of Chinese aged 15 to 24 living in urban areas were jobless last month, according to a National Bureau of Statistics report—a five‑month low, but still an increase of 0.8 percentage points from a year earlier.
The 25‑to‑29 age group fared better, with an unemployment rate of 7.2 percent, just marginally higher than the 6.1 percent logged in December 2023.
A conservative estimate suggests at least 20 million urban Chinese youth aged 15 to 29 are out of work—or just over 12 percent of that demographic, excluding students—according to Newsweek’s analysis of available official data. The real figure is likely higher.
After months of sky‑high rates in 2023, exceeding 21 percent by some measures, China’s government briefly halted youth unemployment reporting, then resumed six months later with a revised methodology.
Since January 2024, the main statistics agency has excluded students from youth unemployment data and no longer counts those with part‑time jobs—even if they worked one hour per week—or unemployed youths who are not actively looking for work.
At the time of the change in methodology, Chinese officials said adding the 25‑to‑29 age group—departing from the international standard youth definition of 15 to 24—would help statisticians reflect the fact that more young people pursue higher education and only enter the job market in their mid‑20s.
Quote:China has unsettled Iran by backing the United Arab Emirates in a decades-old dispute over three strategically located islands in the Persian Gulf.
Beijing’s position has revived a sensitive sovereignty issue for Tehran and sharpened scrutiny of China’s regional balancing act, as it seeks to expand ties with Arab Gulf states while maintaining its much touted strategic partnership with Iran.
Newsweek has contacted Iran and China's foreign ministries for comment.
Why It Matters
The episode highlights the limits of Iran’s reliance on China at a time when Tehran increasingly looks east to counter Western pressure and sanctions. While Iranian officials have portrayed ties with Beijing as a pillar of foreign policy, China’s stance on the islands underscores its willingness to prioritize broader regional and energy interests.
The dispute also carries wider implications for regional stability. The three islands sit near the Strait of Hormuz, a vital maritime chokepoint through which about one-fifth of the world’s total oil consumption passes, making their status a recurring concern for global energy markets.
What to Know
Tensions surfaced this week after a joint statement was issued following Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Abu Dhabi, in which Beijing expressed “support for the efforts of the UAE to reach a peaceful solution to the dispute” over Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei responded by criticizing what he described as the UAE’s “insistence on misusing every diplomatic delegation’s visit” to advance its claims. While Baqaei did not explicitly name China, Iranian media interpreted the remarks as a diplomatic setback for Tehran.
Media Backlash
Although Baqaei did not directly criticize China, Iranian media and political figures were far more pointed in their assessments, framing Beijing’s stance as a challenge to Iran’s sovereignty. Hard-line newspaper Kayhan, argued that China’s position amounted to a contradiction of its own red lines, writing that Beijing “has implicitly accepted that its own claim over Taiwan is disputable and should be resolved through negotiations.”
Ahmad Naderi, a member of the presiding board of Iran’s conservative-leaning parliament, accused China of applying a “double standard,” arguing that Beijing could not insist on strict adherence to its One China policy while questioning Iran’s territorial integrity.
State-affiliated Mehr news agency framed the issue in similar terms, noting that China considers “any mention of its territorial integrity a violation of its security red line,” and argued that Beijing’s endorsement of the joint statement “is unjustifiable and cannot be ignored.”
Quote:New satellite imagery shows recent activity at a uranium enrichment facility in Iran that was damaged during June's 12-day war with Israel when U.S. and Israeli airstrikes targeted several of the country’s nuclear sites.
The image raises concerns that Tehran may be working to restore or recover aspects of its nuclear program, according to the U.S.-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS). The image suggests Iran is taking steps to shield and access the damaged site, highlighting continued uncertainty over its nuclear intentions.
Newsweek has contacted Iran's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.
Why It Matters
The Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) at Natanz is a key site within Iran’s nuclear complex, historically used for advanced enrichment research and development. Although the facility "likely held several kilograms of highly enriched uranium," ISIS stressed that such material is “not negligible” in the broader context of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Renewed activity at PFEP comes amid longstanding U.S. and Israeli concerns that Iran’s nuclear program, which Iran insisted it has never sought nuclear weapons, could bring it closer to weapons-grade capability. The fact that U.S. airstrikes targeted multiple sites during the June conflict before a ceasefire was agreed on June 24 underscores the strategic importance of these facilities and the potential risks associated with their recovery.
What to Know
ISIS, a think tank focused on nuclear nonproliferation, reported that satellite imagery from December 13 show panels placed on top of the remaining anti-drone structure at PFEP, providing cover for the damaged facility.
Although partially sealed, a large hole remains where the drone cage was penetrated. The think tank suggested the new covering allows Iran to examine or retrieve materials from the rubble while limiting external observation. “This indicates Iran wants to explore the rubble out of sight of prying eyes,” it wrote.
ISIS posted the satellite image on X on Thursday, highlighting the renewed activity at the damaged facility.
Other Sites Remain Quiet
While PFEP shows renewed activity, ISIS said it has not observed similar signs at other major nuclear sites, including the underground Fordow facility also damaged in June by airstrikes. The targeted focus on PFEP may reflect its role in research and development of advanced centrifuges and enrichment processes.
IAEA Access Restrictions
Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said inspectors have returned to some facilities but remain barred from those struck by the U.S.
“We are only allowed to access sites that were not hit,” he told Russia’s RIA Novosti earlier this week.
Quote:The U.S. has announced that it carried out a series of strikes in Syria against ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites as retaliation for a lethal attack on American servicemembers earlier this month.
"This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance," Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on X. "The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people."
Newsweek reached out to the Pentagon by email outside of normal business hours on Friday evening for comment.
Why It Matters
An Islamic State (ISIS) gunman ambushed U.S. troops in Syria last week, killing three U.S. servicemembers—two Iowa National Guard soldiers and a civilian interpreter. The assault marked the first deadly attack on U.S. troops in Syria since the fall of President Bashar Assad.
The U.S. Army identified the soldiers just days after the attack as Sergeant Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sergeant William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown. The interpreter was identified as Ayad Mansoor Sakat, 54, of Macomb Township, Michigan.
The interim government and its military forces have committed themselves to helping the U.S. fight the presence of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS). The U.S. had no diplomatic relations with Syria under Assad, but the Trump administration has courted closer ties between the two countries, even hosting interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Washington last month.
What To Know
President Donald Trump and Hegseth confirmed the attack and deaths of the servicemembers and the ISIS gunman before swearing to retaliate last week, making good on their promise on Friday with a dozen strikes on ISIS targets.
A U.S.-led coalition carried out the airstrikes and ground operations, including participation from Syria's security forces, according to Reuters.
Hegseth praised the operation and reiterated that the U.S. will never let the deaths of U.S. servicemembers go unpunished. He labeled the strikes as "OPERATION HAWKEYE STRIKE."
"As we said directly following the savage attack, if you target Americans — anywhere in the world — you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you," Hegseth continued.
"Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue," he added.
Trump also posted about the strikes, saying that Syria was "fully in support" of the U.S. strikes, and he praised al-Sharaa for "working very hard to bring Greatness back to Syria."
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday announced plans to build new battleships for the first time in more than 80 years — and is naming them after himself.
The new ships will represent an upgrade to the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers — with the current models costing more than $2 billion apiece to build.
The shipbuilding will begin “immediately” and will take approximately two-and-a-half years to complete, the president said.
While the term “battleships” is commonly used to describe any kind of warship, the term technically refers to a heavily armored Navy ship armed with large guns and capable of serving as the command vessel in a naval attack campaign.
The US has not commissioned a battleship-class vessel since the USS Missouri in 1944. The previous US battleships were named after states.
“They will have 100 times the force, the power [of earlier warships], and there’s never been anything like these ships,” Trump said. “These have been under design consideration for a long time, and it started with me and my first term.”
The new class of battleships will be named the “Trump-class” and will be capable not only of attacking naval targets, but also will be armed with nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles — adding to the nation’s nuclear triad.
“These cutting-edge vessels will be some of the most lethal Surface Warfare ships,” Trump said. “Each one of these will be the largest battleship in the history of our country, the largest battleship in the history of the world ever built.”
While the Navy traditionally names ships after the first built in a series, the initial battleship will take the name USS Defiant.
It was not immediately clear how many of the new ships will be built, what new capabilities they might have or whether legislation will be required to finance the initiative.
There are 74 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in service — built beginning in the late 1980s, and they serve versatile functions including air defense, aircraft carrier escort and as a launch pad for Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Quote:The Trump administration is recalling more than two dozen ambassadors from posts around the world, The Post has learned.
The removal of 29 envoys from positions in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Central America follows an initial mass dismissal of appointees of former President Joe Biden in the early months of President Trump’s second term.
“This is a standard process in any administration,” a senior State Department official told The Post Monday. “An ambassador is a personal representative of the president, and it is the president’s right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the America First agenda.”
The latest recalls would leave the US without envoys in key global hotspots — including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Nigeria, and Somalia in Africa as well as Armenia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Slovakia in Europe.
The diplomatic reshuffle was first reported by Politico Friday. Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin posted a list of 48 countries where the chief of mission was ostensibly on the chopping block Monday morning, only to delete his post “because I was told by State Department officials that it was not accurate.”
The Post obtained an updated list of recalls from a source familiar with the situation at midday Monday.
John Dinkelman, president of the American Foreign Service Association, complained to Politico Friday that the recalls “undermine the confidence in the professional Foreign Service’s ability to effectively carry out the policies of the elected leadership of our nation.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has yet to nominate permanent ambassadors to key allies and partners, including Australia, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Ukraine.
“We have about 80 vacant ambassadorships,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Politico. “Yet, President Trump is giving away US leadership to China and Russia by removing qualified career ambassadors who serve faithfully no matter who’s in power.”
The Associated Press reported late Sunday that chiefs of mission were told last week that their terms would be up in January.
Those affected by the shake-up are not losing their foreign service jobs but will be offered other assignments upon their return to DC, two department officials told the wire service.
Africa is the continent most affected by the removals, with ambassadors from 14 countries being removed; followed by Asia, with ambassadorial changes coming to six countries.
Quote:The DOJ on Monday released shocking footage that appeared to be a recreation of Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide in his Manhattan jail cell — and it briefly set the Internet on fire until it was revealed to be fake.
The video was posted without explanation to the Justice Department’s website as part of its Epstein file dump — with the footage just the latest item among a trove of documents and images to be revealed after the complete horde was ordered released in November.
The grainy, 12-second, computer-generated clip showed a white-haired man in an orange jumpsuit struggling and jerking his head about while kneeling at the base of a jail-cell bunk bed.
The time stamp on the video was 4:29 a.m. Aug. 10, 2019 — two hours before the pedophile’s body was found in his cell that day at the Metropolitan Correctional Facility.
The scene in the video seemed to match Epstein’s cell, where officials determined he hung himself while awaiting trial for a litany of sex-trafficking charges.
But a closer examination of the clip showed things were not quite right – with a pile of orange prison clothes strewn about the ground looking like puddles without any texture, and the door to the jail cell not matching the one in Epstein’s behind-bars compartment.
It soon was revealed in another dumped document that the clip was in fact a fake video that circulated on 4chan and was flagged by investigators by a Florida conspiracy theorist.
A Trump administration official later confirmed to The Post that the video was bogus and has been on YouTube for years. It was eventually taken down from the DOJ’s site Monday.
But its appearance had already caused a flurry of interest online, with many viewers thinking footage of Epstein’s death had finally been revealed.
That would have flown in the face of investigators’ long-standing narrative that the cameras watching Epstein’s cell malfunctioned on the night of his death and that no footage existed.
The lack of video has been one of the primary sources of conspiracy theories around Epstein’s death, with some people using it to fuel stories that the disgraced onetime powerful financier was murdered by shadowy forces.
Those theories were fanned during the first dump of Epstein files earlier this year, when a clip from outside Epstein’s cell block on the night he died was finally released – but a minute was missing just before midnight.
The DOJ insisted nothing was afoul and that the so-called “missing minute” was merely the result of the jail’s camera system recycling. A version was finally released to show that nothing nefarious happened during those 60 seconds.
Epstein had been on suicide watch before he died but was taken off and was supposed to have a cellmate living with him.
His cellmate was transferred off just a day before Epstein’s death.
The two guards who were supposed to be watching him at the time of his death also were sleeping on the job, and later admitted to falsifying reports to hide their blunder.
Quote:President Trump revealed that he does not like the Justice Department’s release of embarrassing photos of a half-naked Bill Clinton swimming with late sex predator Jeffrey Epstein’s madam, Ghislaine Maxwell.
“No, I don’t like the pictures of Bill Clinton being shown,” he told reporters Monday. “I don’t like the pictures of other people being shown. I think it’s a terrible thing.”
“But you probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago.”
The DOJ has been forced to release the Epstein files due to a law Trump signed last month amid mounting political pressure. The Epstein Files Transparency Act had cleared the House and Senate nearly unanimously, with only one vote against it.
The law gave the DOJ a deadline of Dec. 19 — last Friday — to release all the files with redactions to protect the notorious pedophile’s victims.
While the Trump administration released thousands of pages of files, many more remain sealed, and top officials have said they will be released on a rolling basis.
One of the headline-making disclosures was the photo of Clinton in a jacuzzi with Maxwell. Another picture showed him next to Epstein and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.
Notably, the disclosures had few new images of Trump. There was one photo of him in a batch on Friday that the DOJ scrubbed from its website due to concerns from several of Epstein’s victims, according to US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Clinton’s team fired back at the Trump administration, highlighting how there’s a deluge of documents still outstanding.
Quote:As if things couldn’t get worse for Ghislaine Maxwell.
The madam who trafficked young girls for Jeffrey Epstein was proudly snapped flashing her crotch, baring her breasts and shoving her face in another man’s lap during the heyday of her and the disgraced financier’s disturbing sex trade.
Maxwell was featured in thousands of photographs released Friday as part of a massive Department of Justice document dump.
In one shot, the now convicted felon is seen suggestively sitting in the driver’s seat of a luxury sports car, wearing nothing but a smirk and a white robe — and has her legs raised just enough to show off her crotch to the cameraman.
Several other images apparently taken on the same night show Maxwell, who is currently serving 20 years for the sick scheme, cuddling up with celebrity magician David Copperfield.
The pair are seen hugging one another and laughing, with one shot showing Copperfield standing behind Maxwell and comfortably wrapping his arms around her.
Copperfield could not immediately be reached for comment.
In one of the more explicit photos, Maxwell is seen leering down for the camera and showing off her breasts — while another, unidentified person from outside the camera’s shot shoves their foot between her cleavage.
In another, Maxwell has her head shoved into the lap of a mystery man aboard what appears to be the Lolita Express — as Epstein laughs joyfully beside her.
Lawyers for Maxwell did not respond to The Post’s request for comment regarding the images.
There are plenty of other pictures of Maxwell with Epstein galavanting around the world, presumably enjoying the splendor that their sick sex trade wrought them.
She is seen celebrating birthdays, fooling around with Russian soldiers and enjoying the Ascot’s Royal Box in June 2000 with disgraced Prince Andrew.
The former Royal Highness is also featured heavily throughout the trove of images, including in one where he is seen sprawling out across the laps of numerous young women — as Maxwell smirks in the background.
Quote:A photo of the creepy lookalike puppet that then-Prince Andrew is accused of using to grope sex accuser Virginia Giuffre has been unveiled in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein files.
The doll — fashioned in the now-disgraced royal’s likeness from satirical British TV show “Spitting Image” — was spotted in the background of a snap of his sex-trafficking pal Ghislaine Maxwell inside Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse.
The existence of the puppet first emerged nearly a decade ago when Giuffre, Epstein’s most prominent victim, alleged in court papers that the then-prince had used it to grab her breasts when she was just 17.
The claim surfaced again in her posthumous memoir, “Nobody’s Girl,” which was published in October — months after Giuffre died by suicide.
“When Andrew cupped my breast with a doll made in his image, I only giggled away,” she wrote, adding that she had to pretend she was entertained by the “lewd gestures.”
Giuffre had alleged for years that she was trafficked and forced to have sex with Andrew three times as a teen at Maxwell’s London home, Epstein’s New York townhouse, and his private Caribbean island, Little St. James.
The accusations — and his disastrous attempts to address them — led to him losing all his royal duties and titles. He now goes by the commoner name of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Andrew has long vehemently denied Giuffre’s claims, but reached a settlement thought to have been worth $12 million to drop a civil lawsuit before her death.
Quote:A group of 98 Minnesota mayors raised concerns with state leaders in a letter about their state's fiscal policies, saying they have impacted their cities and residents, noting a disappearing $18 billion surplus and a projected $2.9 billion to $3 billion deficit for the 2028-29 biennium.
In a letter to state lawmakers and Gov. Tim Walz, the 98 mayors expressed concern and frustration, said the state was slipping in national economic rankings.
"Fraud, unchecked spending, and inconsistent fiscal management in St. Paul have trickled down to our cities—reducing our capacity to plan responsibly, maintain infrastructure, hire and retain employees, and sustain core services without overburdening local taxpayers," the letter states.
Cities across the state now face workforce shortages, slowed business investment, rising operational and construction costs, and families choosing to leave Minnesota altogether, the letter states.
In addition, the mayors noted potential property tax increases as a result of unfunded state mandates and costs that force cities to shift the burden to residents and businesses.
"There is a growing disconnect between state-level fiscal decisions and the strain they place on the cities we lead, the letter said. "When the state expands programs or shifts responsibilities without stable funding, it is our residents—families, seniors, businesses, and workers—who ultimately bear the cost."
Unfunded mandates include requests for schools, health and human services, and public safety.
Minnesota Republican lawmakers put the blame on Walz and Democrats.
"Governor Walz and Democrats passed unaffordable spending and tax increases along with unfunded mandates on the promise it would make life more affordable," state Republican Sen. Andrew Lang, who serves as the Lead on the Senate State and Local Government Committee, said in a statement. "In reality they just passed down the costs to local governments, schools, and small businesses, who in turn pass down costs to local taxpayers and consumers.
"Minnesota Counties sounded the alarm early last session about the proposals to shift costs onto their budgets, so I’m not surprised that nearly 100 mayors across the state are raising their own concerns. This letter is a warning that we must reduce state spending, stop the massive fraud plaguing our state, and remove unnecessary mandates to keep life affordable for everyone."
Fox News Digital has reached out to Walz's office.
The mayors noted that a state statute requires a balanced budget but that relying on one-time surplus dollars has created structural strain.
Last Thursday was the final day Congress met until early January. And despite health care dominating the conversation on Capitol Hill since late summer and through the autumn, Congress failed to execute a legislative fix for soaring health care premiums set to spike in January.
It was a Congressional jailbreak around 3 pm et Thursday as the House called its last vote and lawmakers sprinted for the exits, piling into cars on the Capitol plaza.
"Don't send us home without a vote," implored House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., on the House steps earlier in the day.
"Our message to (House Speaker) Mike Johnson, R-La., is clear," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. "You can run. But you cannot hide."
Lawmakers packed up for December, practically channeling partisans of the (once) hapless Chicago Cubs, declaring "Wait til next year."
"I'm optimistic that we still have a chance to do better in 2026," forecast Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio.
"I think before the end of January, we really do want to do something," said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.
There’s a reason why 2026 is fundamentally different from 2025.
"It's an election year," observed Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. "I think that Members of Congress are going to start hearing from their constituents."
Freshman Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., beat former Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., by one point in 2024, flipping the district from blue to red. Last week, Mackenzie became one of four House Republicans who rebelled against top Republican leaders – and aligning with Democrats – to renew Obamacare subsidies.
The "Fed Up 4" signed what’s called a "discharge petition." This is a maneuver to go around the Speaker and put a bill on the floor – if the Speaker won’t. Democrats pushed a discharge petition to re-up the expiring subsidies for three years. But they needed four Republicans to join them in their parliamentary guerilla tactic to take this out of the hands of the Speaker.
"There is no silver bullet. If there was, either party would have done it," said Mackenze.
When asked about the politics of this in his battleground district, Mackenzie replied that "we have a long way to go before the midterms."
Discharge petitions don’t ripen for a vote immediately. The House must wait seven legislative days before consideration. The House is out until January 6, 2027. After two days to trigger the discharge petition, the House may consider this maneuver around January 8 or 9.
But even one top House Republican believes this coalition of Democrats and few Republicans will succeed in January.
"My gut tells me that the COVID era subsidies, because we had the four members of the House sign onto that discharge petition, that it probably will pass," predicted House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-MI) on Fox Business.
But the Senate blocked a similar plan earlier this month. That’s why Democrats are skeptical that Congress can fix the problem once premiums explode in the new year.
"Huge damage has already been done. And nothing we do after January 1st can undo so much of that damage," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Some Republicans advocate a complete legislative overhaul of health care next year.
"What is different, though, about 2026 on health care compared to 2025 about health care? Why does this suddenly change?" yours truly asked Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Quote:At least 20% of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition committee members have ties to radical anti-Zionist groups that “openly promote terror and harass Jewish people,” the Anti-Defamation League found in a stinging report Monday.
The ADL pinpointed several activists who have downplayed the horrors of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel or were involved in the anti-Israel encampments that sprung up on New York City college campuses last spring.
Roughly 80 of the 400 people named to staff Mamdani’s 17 transition committees “have a documented history of making or sharing anti-Zionist or anti-Israel statements,” the report found.
A handful were also found to have ties to the Nation of Islam or its antisemitic leader Louis Farrakhan, including Jacques Léandre, a member of the transition’s Committee on Legal Affairs, the ADL said.
The revealing report came less than a week after Mamdani’s director of appointments, Catherine Almonte Da Costa, was forced to resign when decade-old antisemitic and anti-police remarks she made on social media resurfaced — including rants about “money hungry Jews” and defunding NYPD “piggies.”
The ADL said that and the new findings in its report raise questions about the vetting process for Mamdani’s appointments, and whether the “concerning statements, associations and activities” had been identified by his transition team.
“Many of Mayor-Elect Mamdani’s Transition Committee appointments are inconsistent with his campaign commitments to prioritize the safety of New York’s Jewish community,” the ADL wrote in the report.
“The composition of these Transition Committees will directly influence the administration’s policies and approach to Jewish community concerns, and the current appointments raise serious questions as to whether those concerns will not be adequately represented or addressed.”
Mamdani, who takes office Jan. 1, insisted Monday that he’s “always spoken out against antisemitism and hatred in any form.”
The democratic socialist has faced ongoing criticism over his staunch criticism of Israel – but has worked to earn support from more of New York’s Jewish community since getting elected, including appearing in a recent Hanukkah video with actor Mandy Patinkin.
The ADL found about 80 transition members who have been involved with virulent anti-Zionist groups that “openly promote terror and harass Jewish people,” like Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace and Within Our Lifetimes — all of which have helped spur fiery anti-Israel protests across the Big Apple.
Quote:Ebenezer Scrooge has nothing on Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is thwarting cancer treatment for kids in a possibly futile attempt to get Congress to pass his priorities.
Last week, the Vermont socialist was the sole vote opposed to fast-tracking legislation that will make it easier for kids with cancer to access treatments and clinical trials and incentivize companies to develop pediatric therapies.
His complaint: the Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act, named for a teen cancer patient who died while advocating for its passage, is a pared-down version of a previous package that included other health-care measures as well, including funding for community health centers.
Without those add-ons, he’s withholding support of a bill that was teed up to pass easily — and that even he otherwise supported.
Yet without his vote, it didn’t win unanimous backing, so it’ll now have to make its way through a much more arduous procedural process when Congress reconvenes next year.
That is, Sanders blocked an urgently needed bill in a perhaps futile attempt to get his pet projects passed.
Pray it doesn’t cost the lives of any kids who could’ve benefited. But make no mistake: This is super-villain behavior, as more rational lawmakers pointed out.
Right-wing Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who also supports funding community health centers, fumed: “To say that you’re not going to give a chance for children to have a cure for cancer if you don’t get what you want” is “selfish” and “tragic.”
Amen to that.
Too many hard-lefties think that way: Zero compromise, zero realism; just legalistic, ideology-driven insistence that things get done their way — or else. (Exhibit A: the recent government shutdown.)
Sanders has been similarly loony about data centers, claiming they’ll cost jobs. It’s the kind of logic that would have kept the world driving horse-pulled buggies.
Quote:Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials apprehended over 1,030 illegal aliens using its authority under the Laken Riley Act during its two-week Operation Angel’s Honor, The Post has learned.
The sweeping operation, which wrapped up Monday, was conducted in memory of Laken Riley, a nursing student who was brutally bludgeoned to death last year by an illegal immigrant while out for a jog.
“These criminals will face justice and be removed from our country,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a statement.
“We can never bring Laken back, but we can do everything in our power to bring these heinous criminals to justice. I am so proud of what our brave men and women of ICE have done to remove these criminals from America’s streets.”
The Laken Riley Act, which was named after Riley, sought to prevent repeats from happening by mandating that illegal immigrants who get caught committing crimes such as theft, assaulting a law enforcement officer, and more are arrested.
Riley’s murderer, José Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was convicted last year and sentenced to life in prison, had a rap sheet that included shoplifting, acting in a manner to injure a minor, and more.
The law is intended to prevent illegal immigrants such as Ibarra, who have a record, from roaming the streets. It was the first bill President Trump signed during his second term.
Some of the illegal immigrants nabbed by ICE under Operation Angel’s Honor had committed egregious crimes such as rape, assault with intent to cause injury to an officer, indecent liberties with a child, and more.
“This operation, while a massive success, also serves as a solemn reminder of the profound impact that immigrant violence and crime can have on victims and their loved ones,” ICE Director Todd Lyons said.
“ICE’s mission is to ensure that no more Americans will fall victim to illegal alien crime.”
Quote:"The View" had a total of 341 guests in 2025, but only two of them were conservative, while 128 were liberal, according to a new study conducted by the Media Research Center.
"The View" aired its final new episode of the year on Friday, so the MRC analyzed how the ABC News program presented political discussions to its audience. The conservative media watchdog found that the daytime gabfest chatted with 128 liberal guests, including 25 Democratic politicians, but only spoke to a pair of conservatives the entire year.
"Their noticeable lack of right-leaning guests is just like their search for someone to fill the ‘conservative seat’ in the panel. They don’t want to have anyone on the show who’s going to lead to embarrassing moments of their leftist cast members being held to account for the wild and controversial things they say or call them out on their hypocrisies," MRC associate editor Nicholas Fondacaro told Fox News Digital.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Sen. John Fetterman, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Gov. JB Pritzker, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Raphael Warnock, Gov. Wes Moore, former President Joe Biden and former First Lady Jill Biden, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, former Rep. Anthony Weiner, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Joe Manchin, former Vice President Kamala Harris, then-mayoral candidate Zohan Mamdani, then-mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo and Sen. Bernie Sanders were all guests on "The View" in 2025.
Obama staffers turned "Pod Save America" hosts Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor were also guests on the show, and Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appeared twice. "The View" also welcomed Sarah Kate Ellis of left-leaning GLAAD and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
When it came to conservative guests, only actress Cheryl Hines — who is married to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., appeared on the program.
Fondacaro noted that Hines isn’t truly even a conservative.
"While having left-wing politics herself, she was forced to defend her husband’s — and, by extension, the Trump administration’s — policies. Thus, she was counted as right-leaning," he wrote when detailing his findings.
"They only had Greene on because she was being a headache for Congressional Republican leadership during the government shutdown. The cast also tried to recruit her to become a Democrat," Fondacaro wrote, adding that he doesn’t expect things to change anytime soon.
Quote:A Mexican Navy aircraft conducting a medical support mission crashed near the Galveston Causeway in Texas on Monday, prompting a multi-agency response from local law enforcement and Texas officials as investigators began working to determine the cause.
The Mexican Navy secretary said on X that one of the Navy’s planes was conducting a medical mission in coordination with the Michou and Mau Foundation when it experienced an incident during its approach near Galveston, Texas.
The Mexican Navy said in a statement that the aircraft involved was a King Air ANX 1209.
According to the Mexican Navy, eight people were on board the aircraft – four naval crew members and four civilians – when it crashed during its approach near Galveston.
Search and rescue protocols were immediately activated following the crash in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard, which has rescued six people so far. Four were found alive, while two deaths have been confirmed. Efforts remain underway to rescue two additional people still believed to be inside the wreckage, the Mexican Navy said.
According to the Michou and Mau Foundation’s website, its vision is to "provide assistance so that children with severe burns have the best advanced treatment programs and multidisciplinary care."
The Mexican Navy added that search and rescue efforts were immediately activated in coordination with local authorities.
The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office said its personnel also responded to the plane crash near the base of the causeway.
"Sheriff’s Office personnel, including the dive team, crime scene unit, drone unit and patrol are assisting at the scene," the sheriff’s office said, adding that the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is leading the crash investigation with the help of the sheriff’s office and Galveston Police Department.
Fox News Digital has reached out to DPS and the Michou and Mau Foundation for additional information about the crash.
Quote:House Speaker Mike Johnson warned on Sunday that President Donald Trump could be impeached if Republicans lose the majority in the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections.
"If we lose the House majority, the radical left, as you’ve already heard, is going to impeach President Trump. They’re going to create absolute chaos. We cannot let that happen," Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference.
Kiersten Pels, the Republican National Committee's national press secretary, told Newsweek, "Democrats have made it clear that if they regain power, their agenda won’t be bringing down costs or securing the border — it will be launching partisan impeachment crusades against President Trump and his administration. If Democrats take back Congress, Americans can expect obstruction, impeachments, and government shutdowns instead of the safer streets and lower prices they voted for last year.”
Why It Matters
Even if Democrats win the House majority in the upcoming midterm elections and vote to impeach Trump, it is unlikely he would face removal in the Senate. Removal requires a two-thirds majority vote.
Trump was impeached twice during his first term, once in 2019 and again in 2021. The Senate voted to acquit Trump both times, allowing him to remain in office.
What To Know
Earlier this month, 140 Democrats in the House of Representatives voted against tabling a motion to impeach Trump.
The effort failed to receive the majority needed to move forward, with 214 House Republicans voting to table the measure. Six Republicans did not vote. Additionally, 23 Democrats voted to table the resolution and 47 Democrats voted "present."
Representative Al Green, a Texas Democrat, filed the articles of impeachment. The resolution listed two articles. The first accused Trump of abusing presidential power in a Truth Social post accusing several Democratic lawmakers of "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH." The White House said Trump was not seeking their executions.
The second article accused Trump of threatening judicial independence by attacking federal judges online.
While the majority of House Democrats voted against tabling the resolution, top House Democrats voted "present."
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said in a joint statement before the vote, "Impeachment is a sacred constitutional vehicle designed to hold a corrupt executive accountable for abuse of power, breaking the law and violating the public trust. The effort traditionally requires a comprehensive investigative process, the collection and review of thousands of documents, an exacting scrutiny of the facts, the examination of dozens of key witnesses, Congressional hearings, sustained public organizing and the marshaling of the forces of democracy to build a broad national consensus. None of that serious work has been done, with the Republican majority focused solely on rubber stamping Donald Trump’s extreme agenda."
Quote:The United States has stopped a vessel off the coast of Venezuela, Reuters and the Associated Press reported on Saturday citing U.S. officials.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the actions in an X post, writing on Saturday, "In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec. 20, the US Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela."
The Pentagon referred Newsweek to the White House on the matter when contacted for comment. Newsweek has reached out to the White House and U.S. Coast Guard for comment via email on Saturday.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump has ordered a large-scale U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean and South American waters, including the deployment of an aircraft carrier, fighter jets and tens of thousands of troops, as part of what his administration has framed as expanded counter-narcotics and sanctions enforcement.
Reuters first reported the incident, writing that U.S. forces were intercepting and seizing the vessel, which would make it the second vessel seized by the U.S. in recent weeks. On Tuesday, Trump ordered a blockade on Venezuela's oil tankers, as he alleged that the South American country uses oil revenues to fund drug trafficking and crime.
Caracas has called the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker earlier this month an “act of international piracy,” adding that the move was part of a long-running strategy to take control of its natural resources.
What To Know
Reuters first reported that a vessel off Venezuela's coast was being seized by the U.S. The outlet noted the Coast Guard was the leading agency on the matter. The AP reported that the tanker stopped voluntarily and allowed U.S. forces to come on board, citing a U.S. official who described it as "consented boarding."
Since Trump’s Tuesday announcement ordering a “total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela,” many loaded vessels have stayed in Venezuela waters instead of risking potential seizure.
Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves in the world. Its crude oil exports have dropped off following Trump’s announcement. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has said Trump is trying to seize the country’s oil and force him from office.
In a statement obtained by the AP, Venezuela's government said in a Saturday statement: "The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically denounces and rejects the theft and hijacking of another private vessel transporting Venezuelan oil, as well as the enforced disappearance of its crew, perpetrated by United States military personnel in international waters."
Quote:The US Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela, officials told Reuters on Sunday, in what would be the second such operation this weekend and the third in less than a week.
One of the officials said the tanker was under sanctions. The officials, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not give a specific location for the operation.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
President Trump last week announced a “blockade” of all oil tankers under sanctions entering and leaving Venezuela.
Trump’s pressure campaign on Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near the South American nation. At least 100 people have been killed in the attacks.
The White House’s National Economic Council Director, Kevin Hassett, said on Sunday that the first two oil tankers seized were operating on the black market and providing oil to sanctioned countries.
“And so I don’t think that people need to be worried here in the US that the prices are going to go up because of these seizures of these ships,” Hassett said. “There’s just a couple of them, and they were black market ships.”
But one oil trader told Reuters that the seizures raise geopolitical risks and probably will push oil prices higher when Asian trading resumes on Monday. On the other hand, expectations of an end to the war in Ukraine could help keep oil’s price gains in check, the trader said.
Quote:Cuban agents are protecting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as tensions flare with the US — as American forces seized a third oil tanker in the Caribbean on Sunday.
The counterintelligence forces from Cuba have been making sure the embattled Maduro is surrounded by security around the clock and no one around him carries phones or other electronic devices, according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal.
“They are taking very good care of Nicolás Maduro and his immediate successors,” said Thomas A. Shannon Jr., a former high-ranking US diplomat who spoke to the Journal. “The Cubans are not going to go quietly into the dark night.”
The seizing of oil vessels could create a crisis-level shortage in Cuba, which gets a majority of its oil from longtime longtime community ally Venezuela.
Cuban agents have long been a presence in the country but recently ramped up protection of Maduro as President Donald Trump has criticized the country’s government, built up US military presence in the ocean near the South American country and announced a “blockade.”
Earlier this month, American forces seized a ship carrying over 1 million barrels of oil to Cuba, and on Saturday a Bella 1 tanker flying a Panamanian flag was seized as it headed to Venezuela to load up, according to Bloomberg.
Without oil imports, experts warn the Cuban energy grid is on the brink, with frequent power outages plaguing the island.
In response to mounting tensions between Caracas and Washington, Maduro has sought to keep appearances up, posting consistently on Tiktok. On Saturday, he posted a video of himself singing “No War, Yes Peace” – a hit remix of his voice – to some parrots at a zoo.
@nicolasmadurom
Se pierde de vista la hermosura de Venezuela. Estamos en el país más bello y bendecido. ¡Venezuela es Tierra de Dios!
A Quick Translation of Maduro's Words:
You lose sight of the beauty of Venezuela. We live in the most beatiful and blessed country. Venezuela is God's Land!
Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday warned Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro against taking military action against the United States, telling reporters from Florida that “if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’s ever able to play tough.”
The remark came after Trump was asked why Maduro should take “seriously” Washington’s pressure campaign to force him to leave office after stealing the past two presidential elections in that country and running a narcoterrorist state.
“He could do whatever he wants. We have a massive Armada formed; the biggest we’ve ever had, and by far the biggest we’ve ever had in South America,” Trump said. “He could do whatever he wants. It’s alright, whatever he wants to do.”
It came hours after US Southern Command showed off the efforts of roughly 2,200 Marines training in the Caribbean this month in a series of eye-popping photos on Monday as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Maduro.
Part of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Force, the troops were pictured firing mortar systems in live-fire drills during “reconnaissance, selection and occupation of position” maneuvers recently and training on first-person view attack drones in Puerto Rico, as well as conducting flight operations aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima in the Caribbean Sea.
The photos — taken between Nov. 20 and Dec. 16 — tell a story of a combat-ready force as the US builds pressure on Maduro’s authoritarian, narcoterrorist regime, the Atlantic Council’s Alex Plitsas told The Post on Monday.
“It’s meant to demonstrate capability and capacity, and in some cases, it can also be signaling to adversaries,” he said.
Still, the former senior US intelligence officer and Iraq war veteran said the 2,200-strong force is not nearly large enough to conduct a ground invasion into Venezuela to overthrow Maduro by force and keep the country stable in its aftermath.
“It’s more pressure to try to get him to step down … but it appears that the administration is still trying to [get Maduro to] step down voluntarily without having to take military action,” Plitsas said, noting that it would take an estimated 100,000 troops to invade Venezuela.
But that doesn’t rule out the possibility of airstrikes on land targets, which President Trump has floated multiple times as a possibility, he added.
Asked whether he believes the US’ pressure campaign on Venezuela would be enough to “force Maduro from power,” Trump said “probably.”
“I can’t tell — that’s up to him, what he wants to do,” Trump said. “I think it would be smart for him to do that. But again, we’re going to find out.”
Also on Monday, the Associated Press reported that the Russian government — which signed a security agreement with Venezuela this year and has been accused of shipping military equipment to the US adversary — has begun evacuating the families of its diplomats in the South American country.
The report, which cited unnamed European officials, said that Russian Foreign Ministry officials assess the situation in Venezuela “in very grim tones.”
Quote:Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned that NATO and his nation had moved dangerously close to direct conflict in 2025, warning of the "catastrophic consequences" of nuclear-powered nations going to war.
The ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed to actions viewed as aggressive from the United States and its allies.
"This was actively supported by some of the most hawkish European NATO members, notably Britain and France, whose actions were particularly aggressive," Ryabkov warned, Russia's Tass news agency reported on Monday.
Why It Matters
Russian officials have issued several warnings in recent weeks over global conflicts and diplomatic decisions, as tensions around whether a wider conflict between Russia and Europe, or other nations, could erupt have continued. Last week, as the Trump administration made bolder moves in the Caribbean, Russia said it would be a fatal mistake for the U.S. to escalate its actions against longtime ally Venezuela.
What To Know
Pointing to concerns about direct military confrontation between nuclear-powered nations, Ryabkov said: "It’s redundant to emphasize, especially for this audience, that such a conflict would have catastrophic consequences."
The comments came as part of a discussion at the Valdai Discussion Club, where the official spoke of moves by former U.S. President Joe Biden at the end of 2024, seeking a "strategic defeat" of Russia, that he said were highly provocative.
For much of 2025, Russia has been involved in negotiations with the Trump administration and Ukraine, all seeking an end to the war between the two nations that began with Russia's invasion on February 24, 2022. While some progress has been made, attacks have continued from both sides, while the U.S. and other NATO nations have cautioned of the potential for the fighting to spread and escalate, with the threat of nuclear weapons.
On Monday, Ukrainian forces hit an oil terminal, a pipeline, two parked fighter jets and two ships as part of a series of strikes on Russian soil, as they struggle to hold back Russia's army on home territory. A top Russian general was killed in a car bomb in Moscow, with investigators suspecting that Ukraine was behind the attack.
NATO nations have largely thrown their support behind Ukraine, rather than Russia, and that has added to the already-strained ties between Moscow and the likes of France, Germany and the U.K.
Quote:Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said negotiations toward a potential peace agreement with Russia have produced a “solid” 20-point framework that includes proposed security guarantees involving the United States and European allies.
Speaking as Ukraine’s negotiating team returned from talks in Miami, Zelensky said in a post on X that the core elements of the plan and related documents are largely complete, though key issues remain unresolved. He described the drafts as dignified and close to a real outcome while acknowledging that some provisions are unacceptable to both Kyiv and Moscow.
U.S. officials, he said, are continuing discussions with Russian representatives and are expected to relay feedback to Ukraine.
Why It Matters
The potential for a comprehensive ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine that began with the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, has drawn international attention, given the devastating human and economic costs of the conflict and its impact on regional security.
The U.S.-steered negotiations reflect Washington's commitment to forging a settlement, and the proposed 20-point plan, with substantial security guarantees, could shape the future security architecture of Eastern Europe.
A breakthrough, if achieved, may influence global energy markets, international law and future NATO-EU security arrangements.
What To Know
Zelensky said Monday that initial U.S. proposals "meet many of Kyiv's demands," with nearly 90 percent of Ukraine's requests incorporated into the draft agreements. The core of the latest peace effort is a 20-point plan, which serves as the foundation of ongoing discussions between Ukraine, Russia, the United States, and European allies.
According to Zelensky, recent negotiations held in Florida have produced framework documents on both multilateral and bilateral security guarantees for Ukraine, with major provisions still under debate.
The plan reportedly includes stipulations that the Ukrainian army remains at a peacetime size of 800,000, as well as steps toward European Union membership for Ukraine.
Security in the air, on land, and at sea would be guaranteed by European forces under the leadership of France and the U.K., with a "backstop" from the United States.
European countries would also contribute to Ukraine’s energy, financial, and civil infrastructure security. Zelensky said that the bilateral security document with the U.S. should undergo review by Congress, with classified annexes shielding sensitive details.
While diplomatic talks continue, military activity has not abated. Ukrainian armed forces have claimed to strike multiple targets deep inside Russian territory and in Russian-occupied areas, aiming to disrupt the war effort and contest Russian claims of strength at the negotiation table.
Russian forces, meanwhile, have kept up their attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Both sides reported escalating drone strikes and missile exchanges overnight, with civilian infrastructure again in the crosshairs.
According to Ukrainian officials, a central point of the peace framework is the involvement of the U.S. and Europe in future security guarantees for Ukraine. Zelensky insisted on congressional review for any binding document, while suggesting some annexes remain classified due to sensitive information or national security concerns.
Quote:A Russian general was killed in Moscow Monday by a bomb planted on his car — and local authorities say they think Ukrainian intelligence could be responsible.
The blast happened early Monday morning on Yaseneva Street in a middle-class neighborhood. Images from the scene showed officers and investigators establishing a perimeter around several damaged cars.
Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, 56, who heads the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, died of his wounds, authorities said.
He’s the third senior military leader killed in a bombing attack inside Russia this year.
“Investigators are pursuing numerous lines of inquiry regarding the murder. One of these is that the crime was orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence services,” said Svetlana Petrenko, a spokesperson for Russia’s Investigative Committee.
Savarov was a veteran of the war in Chechnya and took part in Moscow’s military campaign in Syria, Russia’s defense ministry said.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the bombing, and Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about Sarvarov’s death, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Kyiv did, however, take responsibility for a similar bombing last December in which Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection force was killed by a bomb planted in a scooter a day after Kyiv leveled criminal charges against him.
Putin called Kirillov’s killing a “severe blunder,” and said Russian special services must redouble their efforts to prevent similar attacks moving forward.
In April, Russian military officer Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik also died in a car bombing in Moscow, after which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had been briefed about the successful “liquidation” of Russian military leaders, but did not directly mention Moskalik.
The latest bombing targeting the upper echelons of Russia’s military comes amid tenuous peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US, with Russian officials saying the negotiations were advancing “constructively” despite recent missile attacks in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa.
Quote:Vice President JD Vance glumly assessed that the Trump administration’s efforts to peacefully resolve the bloody war in Ukraine could go either way.
“We’re going to keep on trying to negotiate. And I think that we’ve made progress, but sitting here today, I wouldn’t say with confidence that we’re going to get to a peaceful resolution,” the veep bluntly assessed in an Unheard interview.
“I think there’s a good chance we will, I think there’s a good chance we won’t.”
Vance’s candid assessment is one of the more gloomy ones he’s given about the chances of ending the war over recent months.
It comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters last Friday that there is a “ways to go” on getting a final deal across the finish line.
Late last week and over the weekend, special envoy Steve Witkoff met separately with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in a bid to inch forward progress on a potential peace deal. Vance was briefed on those talks.
“The breakthrough that I do feel that we’ve made is that all of the issues are actually out in the open,” the VP told the outlet. “There’s [initially] a little bit of a game of obfuscation, of hiding behind fake issues, not actually revealing your hand.”
“The Russians really want territorial control of the Donetsk,” he continued.”The Ukrainians understandably see that as a major security problem, [even as] they privately acknowledge that eventually, they’ll probably lose Donetsk — but, eventually: it could be 12 months from now, it could be longer than that.”
By some estimates, the Russians control between 80% and 90% of Donetsk, but crucially lack possession of strategic cities such as Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.
The VP also noted that other issues, such as ethnic Russians and Ukrainians being in the other country, control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, and reconstruction, have also proven to be tough sticking points.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that his country’s constitution percludes him from surrendering land that hasn’t been conquered.
Zelensky has dangled the possibility of placing 15% of the Donbas — Donetsk and Luhansk — that Ukraine still controls into a neutral free economic zone. Russia has rejected that.
Quote:WASHINGTON — Iran launched a fresh round of ballistic missile tests Monday — six months after its 12-day war with Israel — leading officials from the Jewish state to warn the Trump administration that Tehran may be rehearsing another attack.
Missile launches were seen in the cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Khorramabad and Mahabad, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency. State-affiliated broadcaster Nournews also broadcast videos that appeared to show projectiles being fired.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government was “aware that Iran is conducting military exercises. We are monitoring this and making the necessary preparations.
“I want to make it clear to Iran,” Netanyahu added in a statement, “any action against Israel will be met with a very harsh response.”
Tehran launched more than 500 ballistic missiles at Israel during the June 13-June 24 war, killing 28 Israelis.
That conflict, which began with Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion” bombing campaign on Iranian nuclear and military sites, ended after President Trump ordered US strikes on three major nuclear facilities June 22 and followed that by pressing both combatants to agree to a cease-fire.
Half a year later, Iran is rejecting any notion that the theocratic regime would disarm — with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei telling reporters Monday that the continuance of the country’s missile program is non-negotiable.
“Iran’s defensive capabilities are by no means an issue that can be discussed,” he said.
Over the weekend, Israeli officials warned the US that the missile tests could provide cover for a new barrage targeting Tel Aviv, Axios reported Sunday.
“The chances for an Iranian attack are less than 50%, but nobody is willing to take the risk and just say it is only an exercise,” an Israeli source told the outlet.
Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Iran program, said Monday that while missile tests are “nothing new in Iran,” the “strategic context” is cause for concern.
“The Islamic Republic’s high level of interest in missiles was underscored by the war in June, as they were the only element of its security architecture that proved effective,” Ben Taleblu said in a statement. “That’s why the regime continues to invest in these systems.”
Monday’s tests “highlight the need for the US and Israel to rapidly replenish their stocks of defensive missile interceptors,” added FDD senior director of government relations Tyler Stapleton.
Quote:A former Hamas hostage told Fox News Digital that he warned Australian leaders to take antisemitism more seriously months before the deadly shooting at Bondi Beach.
Eli Sharabi, who spent 491 days as a hostage in Gaza, said the attack on Bondi Beach was “crazy,” but far from unpredictable.
Sharabi told Fox News Digital that while in Australia in June, he met with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong and warned them that rising antisemitism would lead to something worse.
Sharabi recalled telling the officials that a hate crime would take place in Australia and that he would “see the fears” of Jewish people walking on the streets.
He urged them to speak out against antisemitism before it was too late.
He recounted to Fox News Digital the moment he told Marles and Wong, “When it happens, a hate crime here, it will be your responsibility because you have to have a stronger voice against antisemitism.”
Though, Sharabi said he did not know why he told them that at the time.
“Unfortunately, it happened. And that’s crazy, it’s crazy. Really, I’m so sorry for that,” he said.
A spokesperson for Wong said that she “deeply appreciated her meeting with Eli Sharabi and thanks him for sharing his insights and experiences.”
“Minister Wong has consistently condemned antisemitism and antisemitic attacks,” the spokesperson said.
“In response to the horrific antisemitic terror attack at Bondi, we are further strengthening laws against those who spread antisemitism and online abuse, ensuring our education system properly responds to antisemitism, and lowering the threshold to cancel visas for those who come to Australia to spread antisemitism.”
The spokesperson also conveyed Wong’s sympathies to the loved ones of the Bondi Beach shooting victims.
Quote:Richmond, California’s socialist Mayor Eduardo Martinez sported a red hat emblazoned with “Death Death to the IDF” and spewed antisemitic rhetoric at a pro-Palestinian conference earlier this year — that also gave a microphone to a well-known terrorist.
Martinez, who came under fire this week for sharing conspiracy theories about the Bondi Beach terror attack, has a disturbing, documented history of hate.
The proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) opened the Detroit conference in August and drew tremendous applause when he explicitly justified Hamas’s bloodthirsty attacks on Israel that killed over 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023.
The mayor proclaimed, “If Palestine were a schoolyard playground, I would be a Palestinian. And that part of me, that part of me that couldn’t endure the abuse anymore, would be Hamas,” according to The Jewish News of Northern California.
“After so much torture, I couldn’t help but lash out. I was filled with frustration, and it came out with the ferocity of retaliation,” he added.
Meanwhile, social media posts from the event show Martinez in a hat with the initials “DD TT IDF” — an acronym for “Death Death to the IDF” — and a big smile on his face.
Convicted terrorist Hossam Shaheen, a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades who served more than 20 years in an Israeli prison for attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in relation to a failed terror plot, also spoke at the conference, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Shaheen was freed as part of a temporary Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement in early 2025.
Martinez has also posted other eyebrow-raising content on social media.
The Bay Area mayor announced his Richmond Mayor’s Office would be closed “in solidarity with this week’s global strike for Palestine” in January 2024. Over 4,400 people praised the post.
His office also raised a Palestinian flag over the California State flag in what he said was “in commemoration of our new sister city partnership with Sabastia, Palestine.”
A picture posted on Instagram shows the flag flying above the California State flag, again to high praise, with over 12,000 likes.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
News of the World
This looks highly suspicious indeed.
When did they start mass-producing them? 
Now not only the Baltic nations but the rest of Europe would be in serious danger in the next few weeks or months...![[Image: SP1-Scripter.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Scripter.png)
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![[Image: SP1-PixelArtist.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-PixelArtist.png)
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