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Military and defense officials from the U.S. and Iraq are expected to continue talks on the future of U.S. military presence in Iraq in the coming weeks, a U.S. official tells Fox News. The Defense Department is expected to announce the resumed talks later this week, the official said. 

The U.S. currently has about 2,500 troops in Iraq for the Defeat ISIS mission. These troops are stationed at several bases throughout the country and have come under more than 60 attacks from Iranian proxy groups in Iraq since October 17. The U.S. has carried out several strikes targeting these Iranian-proxy groups, including airstrikes on Tuesday, targeting two Kataib Hezbollah headquarters buildings and an intelligence facility, according to a U.S. defense official. 

US CONDUCTS STRIKES ON IRAQ FACILITIES USED BY IRAN-BACKED MILITIA GROUP, DEFENSE SECRETARY AUSTIN SAYS

The strikes have put pressure on the government of Iraq to question the U.S. presence in the region. On January 4th, the U.S. killed a militia leader in Baghdad who helped carry out several of these attacks on U.S. forces. According to U.S. Central Command, the U.S. drone strike on January 4th targeted and killed Mushtaq Jawad Kazim al Jawari. He was a leader of Iranian-proxy group Harakat al Nujaba and was involved in planning and carrying out attacks against U.S. service members in Iraq.

This specific strike is in part what led the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani to call for the U.S. to withdraw its troops from the country just a day later on January 5th. 

"We are in the process of setting a date to begin a dialogue through a tripartite committee that was formed to determine arrangements to end this presence. This is a commitment which the government will not back down from and will not neglect any matter that completes national sovereignty over land, sky, and waters of our dear Iraq," Al-Sudani said. 

Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters in a Defense Department briefing on January 4th shortly after the militia leader was killed by the U.S. strike, "Our focus is going to continue to remain on the defeat ISIS mission. But again, we're not going to hesitate to protect our forces if they're threatened."

IRAQI PRIME MINISTER DEFENDS US TROOP PRESENCE, SAYS IT'S NECESSARY FOR FIGHTING ISIS

The Pentagon has not received any requests to end its presence in the region, despite the words from the Iraqi prime minister, multiple defense officials tell Fox News. 

When asked if the U.S. has been asked to withdraw its troops from Iraq, Ryder told reporters, "I'm not aware of any plans. We continue to remain very focused on the Defeat ISIS mission under CJTF-OIR, as we advise and assist the Iraqis. And as you've heard us say many times before, we're there at the invitation of the government of Iraq."

The upcoming talks between the U.S. and Iraq were planned in August, well before Hamas invaded Israel and the attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq began. The talks could have a different outcome than what would have been expected back in August.

In August 2023, before the conflict in the Middle East started, the U.S. and Iraq agreed to start a "Higher Military Commission" or HMC for talks. According to a Defense Department press release from that time, "The United States and the Republic of Iraq intend to consult on a future process, separate from the JSCD and inclusive of the Coalition, to determine how the Coalition's military mission will evolve on a timeline according to the following factors: the threat from ISIS, operational and environmental requirements, and ISF capability levels."

The talks will be in the form of a working group with both defense and military officials from the Pentagon, the U.S. official said. 

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — With Turkey completing its ratification of Sweden's bid to join NATO, Hungary is the last member of the military alliance not to have given its approval.

After more than a year of delays, and consistent urging from its Western partners to move forward with Sweden's application, the Central European country and its conservative populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, are once again in the spotlight.

ORBÁN COMPARES HUNGARY'S EU MEMBERSHIP TO SOVIET OCCUPATION IN FIERY SPEECH

Orbán has long promised that Hungary wouldn't be the last NATO member to ratify Sweden's request to join the alliance. Yet Monday's approval in Turkey's parliament has upended those guarantees, and others in the alliance are now asking: When will Budapest follow Ankara's lead?

Hungary's government, Orbán says, is in favor of bringing Sweden into NATO, but lawmakers in his governing Fidesz party remain unconvinced, offended by "blatant lies" from some Swedish politicians that have excoriated the quality of Hungary's democracy.

Yet Orbán's critics say that there is no such schism within his party, and that when it comes to Hungary's approval of Sweden's NATO membership, Orbán alone is in control.

While Turkey made a series of concrete demands from Sweden as preconditions for supporting its bid to join the alliance, Hungary's government — long under fire in the European Union for alleged breaches of democracy and rule-of-law standards — has expressed no such requirements, hinting only that it expects a greater degree of respect from Stockholm.

Hungary's opposition parties, which favor Sweden's membership in NATO, have made several attempts over the past year to schedule a vote on the matter. But lawmakers from the Fidesz party, which holds a two-thirds majority in parliament, have refused to lend their support.

Agnes Vadai, a lawmaker with Hungary’s opposition Democratic Coalition party and a former secretary of state in the Ministry of Defense, said that the opposition would once again seek to force a vote on Sweden's membership before parliament's next scheduled session in late February.

But there's "very little chance" that Orbán’s party will support the initiative, she said, adding that Hungary's intransigence on the issue is the prime minister's attempt to prove his weight on the international stage.

"It has nothing to do with Sweden now, it has nothing to do with Turkey now. It’s merely Orbán’s personal attitude," she said. "It shows that he's driven not by political rationale, but by personal vanity. There is no gain for Hungary in this game anymore, because it's a game that he's playing."

As Turkey's parliament prepared to vote on the ratification on Monday, Orbán announced that he'd sent a letter to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, inviting him to Budapest to negotiate on NATO membership.

Kristersson hasn't commented publicly on Orbán’s letter, but Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said that he saw "no reason" to negotiate with Hungary on the matter, noting that Budapest hasn't presented any conditions for accepting Sweden into the alliance.

On Tuesday, Orbán tweeted that he’d had a phone call with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in which he had "reaffirmed that the Hungarian government supports the NATO membership of Sweden," and that he would continue to urge his parliament to approve its bid.

But Dorka Takacsy, an analyst and research fellow at the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy, said that Orbán's invitation to Kristersson showed that the fate of Sweden's NATO bid lies not in the hands of Hungarian lawmakers, but with Orbán himself.

Orbán's letter, she said, "dismantled the narrative that there was any dispute within the parliamentary group of Fidesz ... It simply points to the fact that it is Orbán, the prime minister himself, who manages this whole issue single-handedly."

Vadai, the opposition lawmaker, agreed.

"Anybody who believed that it’s in the hands of the governing party lawmakers was seriously mistaken," she said. "It’s the decision of Orbán and nobody else."

A vote on the protocols for Sweden's NATO accession hasn't yet appeared on the Hungarian parliament's agenda, and barring a surprise emergency session, the matter is unlikely to go before lawmakers until at least late February.

Hungary's delays, as well as Orbán's friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, have frustrated other allies who want to expand the alliance and provide security guarantees to Sweden amid the war in Ukraine.

With such stakes, Vadai said that she worries Orbán's conduct on the international stage has damaged Hungary's relationship with its Western partners.

"He pushes Hungary to the very edge of NATO now, he's marginalizing my country," she said. "This is just a sin."

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei faced a one-day general strike Wednesday protesting his decree targeting unions as well as his proposals for economic and labor law changes, showing that his opponents are wasting no time in trying to derail his austerity agenda.

The biggest union, known by its acronym CGT, organized the strike and was joined by other unions. Strikers took to the streets in the capital, Buenos Aires, and other cities across the country, joined by social groups and political opponents, including the Peronist party that dominated national politics for decades.

ARGENTINA'S MILEI WARNS WEF TO REJECT SOCIALISM, SAYS 'WESTERN WORLD IS IN DANGER'

Until his presidential run, Milei, an economist, was known mostly for his televised screeds against the political caste, and he secured victory last year by a wide margin and took office just over a month ago. A self-declared "anarcho-capitalist," he pledged a drastic reduction in state spending aimed at shoring up a government budget deficit that he says is fueling red-hot inflation, which finished 2023 at 211%.

On Dec. 20, Milei issued a decree that would revoke or modify hundreds of existing laws so as to limit the power of unions and deregulate an economy featuring notoriously heavy state intervention. A court ruling has put the labor changes on hold. He also sent an omnibus bill to Congress that would enact sweeping reforms in the political, social, fiscal, legal, administrative and security fields.

As of early evening, Milei had yet to comment publicly on the strike, which was scheduled to end at midnight. It remained unclear whether it would amount to a speedbump to his agenda, or no obstacle at all.

While people have legitimate reasons to complain -- triple-digit inflation and a steep devaluation of Argentina's peso -- behind the scenes the main impetus for the strike was the president's drive to weaken union power, Buenos Aires-based analyst Sergio Berensztein said.

"For union leaders what is at stake is really a lot. If they don’t complain, their bargaining capacity is going to drop dramatically and their influence in politics is going to dwindle," Berensztein told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "Milei feels quite comfortable confronting these leaders. He’s still very popular; union leaders are unpopular."

The walkout was Argentina’s first general strike in more than four years, and it was also the quickest ever to be organized in a president’s term since the return of democracy in 1983, according to a review by local media outlet Infobae. Milei’s predecessor, center-left Alberto Fernández, did not face any general strikes.

"We’re going to lose more rights that we worked for," teacher Karina Villagra told AP in a plaza in front of Congress. "The militancy should be stronger than ever."

Milei won the runoff election with 56% of the votes, and in his inaugural address told Argentina that things would get worse before improving. Two separate polls this month show he retains support of more than half of respondents despite accelerating inflation and mass layoffs announced at state-owned firms.

Security Minister Patricia Bullrich on Wednesday accused strike organizers of being "mafiosos" bent on preventing the change Argentine voters chose, saying on the X platform that the action would not halt the administration’s progress. Milei's spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, said at a news conference, "One cannot dialogue with people who try to stop the country and show a rather antidemocratic side."

His labor decree would restrict the right to strike by essential workers in hospital services, education and transport, and create new mechanisms of compensation to make it easier to fire employees. It also would enable workers to pay private healthcare providers directly, rather than channeling those resources through unions, and so dries up a significant source of their revenue.

His administration warned in recent days that, as with a demonstration held in December, protesters would be prevented from engaging in the traditional practice of blocking roads and would be subject to arrest.

The stoppage began at midday, and banks, gas stations, public administration, public health officials and trash collection were operating on a limited basis. Airports remained open, although state-owned airline Aerolineas Argentinas canceled 267 flights and rescheduled others, disrupting travel plans for more than 17,000 passengers.

Public transportation workers were set to go on strike at 7 p.m. in Buenos Aires and surrounding areas, but planned to operate normally during the daytime to facilitate protesters' access to and from the plaza in front of Congress.

By Wednesday afternoon, tens of thousands of protesters had flooded in. Héctor Daer, CGT's secretary general, told the crowd from atop a stage that Milei's decree "destroys individual rights of workers, collective rights and seeks to eliminate the possibility of union action at a time in which we have great inequality in society."

Pablo Moyano, of the teamsters’ union, told them that "if they pass these measures of adjustment, of hunger, then the workers, retirees and the most humble people will put him (Economy Minister Luis Caputo) on their shoulders and throw him in the river."

Milei has said passage of his proposed omnibus bill would create the basis for economic stability and growth, reining in inflation and reducing poverty, which is punishing four in 10 Argentines. The bill’s content is being discussed in Congress' lower house, with a vote expected in coming days.

Berensztein, the analyst, said he expectes the bill to be watered down significantly before clearing the house, then move on to the Senate for another round of negotiations.

Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America program at the Wilson Center in Washington. said that while Milei is acting as though he has a clear mandate, many of his voters were rejecting Peronism rather than throwing full support behind his proposal for austerity.

Argentines have already been hit with a 30% increase in food costs in a single month, plus a surge in energy bills and transport fares.

"His capacity to keep the Argentine public on board will be tested and is being tested already, and that’s what you’re seeing right now," Gedan said, saying the president has "given opponents a lot of weapons because he has moved so quickly and dramatically" to address Argentina’s problems.

Gedan said a one-day strike isn't "an existential threat" for the Milei presidency, but added: "Really the question is if this is a sign of what’s to come."

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — An official in Mali says more than 70 people are dead after an unregulated gold mine collapsed late last week, and a search continues amid fears the toll could rise.

Karim Berthé, a senior official at the government's National Geology and Mining Directorate, confirmed the details to The Associated Press on Wednesday and called it an accident.

UN PEACEKEEPERS WITHDRAW FROM NORTHERN MALI AS VIOLENCE RISK ESCALATES

It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse that occurred on Friday and was reported on Tuesday in a Ministry of Mines statement that estimated "several" miners dead. The collapse occurred in Kangaba district in the southwestern Koulikoro region.

Such accidents are common in Mali, Africa’s third-largest gold producer. Artisanal miners — small-scale, informal ones — are often accused of ignoring safety measures, especially in remote areas.

"The state must bring order to this artisanal mining sector to avoid these kinds of accidents in the future," Berthé said.

The Ministry of Mines statement "deeply regretted" the collapse and urged miners as well as communities living near mining sites to "comply with safety requirements."

In recent years, there have been concerns that profits from unregulated mining in northern Mali could benefit Islamic extremists active in that part of the country.

The region of this latest collapse, however, is far to the south of that and closer to the capital, Bamako.

"Gold is by far Mali’s most important export, comprising more than 80% of total exports in 2021," according to the International Trade Administration with the U.S. Department of Commerce. It says more than two million people, or over 10% of Mali's population, depend on the mining sector for income.

The Ministry of Mines has estimated that the country has 800 tons in gold deposits.

JERUSALEM (AP) — A liquor store has opened in Saudi Arabia for the first time in over 70 years, a diplomat reported Wednesday, a further socially liberalizing step in the once-ultraconservative kingdom that is home to the holiest sites in Islam.

While restricted to non-Muslim diplomats, the store in Riyadh comes as Saudi Arabia's assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aims to make the kingdom a tourism and business destination as part of ambitious plans to slowly wean its economy away from crude oil.

SAUDI ARABIA RAMPS UP PRESSURE ON ISRAEL TO AGREE TO PALESTINIAN STATE WITH FRESH DEMAND

However, challenges remain both from the prince's international reputation after the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi as well as internally with the conservative Islamic mores that have governed its sandy expanses for decades.

The store sits next to a supermarket in Riyadh's Diplomatic Quarter, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a socially sensitive topic in Saudi Arabia. The diplomat walked through the store Wednesday, describing it as similar to an upscale duty free shop at a major international airport.

The store stocks liquor, wine and only two types of beer for the time being, the diplomat said. Workers at the store asked customers for their diplomatic identifications and for them to place their mobile phones inside of pouches while inside. A mobile phone app allows purchases on an allotment system, the diplomat said.

Saudi officials did not respond to a request for comment regarding the store.

However, the opening of the store coincides with a story run by the English-language newspaper Arab News, owned by the state-aligned Saudi Research and Media Group, on new rules governing alcohol sales to diplomats in the kingdom.

It described the rules as meant "to curb the uncontrolled importing of these special goods and liquors within the diplomatic consignments." The rules took effect Monday, the newspaper reported.

For years, diplomats have been able to import liquor through a specialty service into the kingdom, for consumption on diplomatic grounds.

Those without access in the past have purchased liquor from bootleggers or brewed their own inside their homes. However, the U.S. State Department warns that those arrested and convicted for consuming alcohol can face "long jail sentences, heavy fines, public floggings and deportation."

Drinking alcohol is considered haram, or forbidden, in Islam. Saudi Arabia remains one of the few nations in the world with a ban on alcohol, alongside its neighbor Kuwait and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

Saudi Arabia has banned alcohol since the early 1950s. Then-King Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia's founding monarch, stopped its sale following a 1951 incident in which one of his sons, Prince Mishari, became intoxicated and used a shotgun to kill British vice consul Cyril Ousman in Jeddah.

Following Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and a militant attack on the Grand Mosque at Mecca, Saudi Arabia’s rulers soon further embraced Wahhabism, an ultraconservative Islamic doctrine born in the kingdom. That saw strict gender separation, a women's driving ban and other measures put in place.

Under Prince Mohammed and his father, King Salman, the kingdom has opened movie theaters, allowed women to drive and hosted major music festivals. But political speech and dissent remains strictly criminalized, potentially at the penalty of death.

As Saudi Arabia prepares for a $500 billion futuristic city project called Neom, reports have circulated that alcohol could be served at a beach resort there.

Sensitivities, however, remain. After an official suggested that "alcohol was not off the table" at Neom in 2022, within days he soon no longer was working at the project.

Britain should train and equip its citizens to be ready to fight a war with Russia, the head of the army said, as Sweden has warned its citizens to brace for possible conflict with Moscow. 

Gen. Sir Patrick Sanders, the outgoing Chief of the General Staff, warned that an increase in reserve forces alone "would not be enough" to fight a land war with Russia, the BBC reported. He said increasing the number of soldiers for a potential conflict would need to be a "whole-of-nation undertaking."

Sanders spoke of the need for the United Kingdom to maintain its military and cited the threat faced by other nations closer to Russia as Moscow continues its war with Ukraine. 

PUTIN PROMISES 'PROBLEMS' FOR FINLAND AFTER IT WAS 'DRAGGED INTO NATO'

"Our friends in eastern and northern Europe, who feel the proximity of the Russian threat more acutely, are already acting prudently, laying the foundations for national mobilization," he said during a speech at the International Armoured Vehicles conference in London. "As the chairman of the NATO military committee warned just last week, and as the Swedish government has done...taking preparatory steps to enable placing our societies on a war footing when needed are now not merely desirable but essential."

The British army should expand its size to 120,000 within three years from the current 74,000, he said. However, that isn't enough, Sanders said, adding that Britain must train and equip a "citizen army."

"We will not be immune and as the pre-war generation we must similarly prepare - and that is a whole-of-nation undertaking," he said. "Ukraine brutally illustrates that regular armies start wars; citizen armies win them.

"But we've been here before, and workforce alone does not create capability," he added. 

SWEDEN SIGNS DEFENSE PACT GRANTING US ACCESS TO ALL SCANDINAVIAN MILITARY BASES

The threat of Russia has NATO countries bracing for possible conflict as the war in Ukraine escalates. As Sweden nears NATO membership, supplies are flying off the shelves as some of its citizens remain concerned over how Russia will respond. 

"For a nation for whom peace has been a pleasant companion for almost 210 years, the idea that it is an immoveable constant is conveniently close at hand," Swedish Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said at Folk och Försvars, or "Society and Defense," annual national conference in Sälen on Sunday.

"But taking comfort in this conclusion has become more dangerous than it has been for a very long time," he said, according to a government transcript. "Many have said it before me, but let me do so in an official capacity, more plainly and with naked clarity: There could be war in Sweden."

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The commander in chief of the Swedish armed forces, General Micael Byden, who visited the eastern front of Ukraine in December, also spoke to the conference on Sunday, warning all Swedes to prepare mentally for the possibility of war as their nation is just two steps short of NATO membership.

Fox News Digital's Danielle Wallace contributed to this report. 

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cypriot police rescued 60 Syrian migrants from a rickety wooden boat that had been at sea for six days, and five minors had to be hospitalized, three of them in intensive care, authorities said Wednesday.

The migrants were found some 55 kilometers (34 miles) off the island nation's southeastern tip and appeared to have run short of food and water, officials said.

CYPRUS COLLABORATES WITH MOSSAD, THWARTS IRANIAN PLOT TO KILL ISRAELIS

Police and army helicopters initially flew three children and an adult to a hospital after a passing merchant ship notified Cypriot authorities of the boat’s presence off the island’s coast in pre-dawn hours.

Health Services spokesman Charalambos Charilaou told The Associated Press that three minors were in critical condition and two were listed as serious. The adult who was flown to a hospital was treated for hypothermia and released.

Three other adults who had broken bones were treated by officers aboard a patrol vessel that intercepted the migrant boat, police said.

The boat was towed to harbor and the remaining migrants received medical care.

Authorities said the boat had set sail from Lebanon on Jan. 18.

A Lebanese lawyer who follows migrant issues in his country said the boat had gone missing since its departure until it reached Cyprus. He said the migrants were in bad shape because they hadn't eaten for days.

Lebanon’s coast is about 168 kilometers (105 miles) from Cyprus.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides thanked authorities for their quick response in rescuing the migrants. But he said the Lebanese government needs to take action to curb these departures "because we know that these are Syrians who come here from Lebanon."

Although overall migrant arrivals to Cyprus have significantly gone down, arrivals by sea almost quadrupled from 937 in 2022 to 3,889 in 2023, with almost all migrants being Syrian, according to official interior ministry numbers.

In a written statement, Cypriot Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said the boat's arrival was "unfortunate proof" of how people-smuggling rings are endangering lives by forcing migrants to make the journey aboard unsuitable craft.

Ioannou said it's for this reason that he had told European Union Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson during her recent visit to Cyprus about the urgent need for the EU to put together a unit composed of Europol members, Lebanese officials and Cypriot police to partol Lebanon's borders.

He said he would again suggest the EU re-evaluate the safety of certain areas inside Syria to enable the repatriation of Syrian migrants when he meets with fellow EU interior ministers in Brussels on Thursday.

ROME (AP) — The Vatican tribunal has rejected a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by the Holy See’s former auditor general and ordered him to pay restitution in a case that exposed the unseemly side of Pope Francis’ financial reforms.

Libero Milone and his late deputy had sued the Holy See for 9.3 million euros, claiming they were essentially extorted by Vatican police and forced to resign in 2017 or risk arrest and prosecution for their work investigating and auditing the Holy See’s finances.

POPE FRANCIS SAYS ‘LURE OF CORRUPTION’ IS CONSTANT THREAT IN THE VATICAN

In a decision released Wednesday, the tribunal rejected their claims. The tribunal found that the main target of the lawsuit, the Vatican secretariat of state, couldn’t be held liable for the alleged harm suffered by Milone and his deputy, Ferruccio Panicco.

It ordered them to pay more than 110,000 euros in restitution to the secretariat of state and the office of the auditor general, which was also named in the lawsuit. Panicco died last year, but his estate remained as a plaintiff in the case.

Milone declined to comment late Wednesday.

In the lawsuit, the auditors said they uncovered astonishing financial malpractice in the "viper’s nest" of the Vatican after Francis began a process of financial housecleaning. They said they believed they were forced out because certain cardinals and monsignors "felt threatened by the investigations and simple requests for clarification."

They identified Cardinal Angelo Becciu, then the powerful chief of staff in the secretariat of state, as having orchestrated their ouster. But the tribunal found that Becciu wasn't acting in his official capacity in his dealings with them.

Becciu was recently convicted by the same tribunal of embezzlement and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison in connection with his role in other Vatican financial dealings.

The Israeli government and Hamas leadership are at a stalemate as both claim to want a cease-fire to facilitate a prisoner swap but cannot agree to conditions.

Both Israeli and Hamas leaders have expressed a desire to pause ongoing violence to allow an exchange, but the finer points of an agreement are proving difficult to resolve.

Hamas has turned down Israeli offers for a long-term cease-fire, rejecting the Jewish state's condition that top Hamas commanders leave the Gaza Strip for foreign exile.

EDUCATORS URGE LARGEST TEACHERS UNION IN US TO RESCIND SUPPORT FOR BIDEN UNTIL 'PERMANENT CEASE-FIRE' IN GAZA

U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators have sought to negotiate terms for a month-long cease-fire with a staggered exchange, beginning with civilians and eventually leading to the release of soldiers.

Hamas has largely refused to agree to any conditions that do not include plans for a permanent end to violence in the region.

"We are engaging in serious discussions with both sides," said Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari during a press conference this week. "We have presented ideas to both sides. We are getting a constant stream of replies from both sides and that, in its own right, is a cause for optimism."

NETANYAHU IMMEDIATELY VOWS RETRIBUTION AFTER HAMAS KILLS 21 ISRAELI SOLDIERS IN CENTRAL GAZA

An attack on Israel's forces in the Gaza Strip on Monday left 21 soldiers dead, its military said Tuesday. The attack was the deadliest for Israeli troops since the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7 that triggered the war.

According to the Israeli military, reservists were preparing explosives to demolish two buildings in central Gaza when a militant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank nearby. 

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The blast from the rocket outside the buildings triggered the explosives inside them, causing both two-story buildings to collapse on the soldiers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned the loss of the soldiers, saying Monday was "one of the hardest days" since the war began.

Fox News Digital's Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.

A U.S. destroyer intercepted ballistic missiles fired by Houthi terrorists at a U.S.-owned container ship in the Red Sea on Wednesday, a U.S. official told Fox News.

The Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists fired three anti-ship ballistic missiles at the U.S. flagged and U.S. owned M/V Maersk Detroit Commercial Container ship transiting the Gulf of Aden in the Southern Red Sea, a U.S. defense official told Fox News. The missiles were fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

The USS Gravely, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, intercepted two of the missiles while the third splashed down into the sea, the official said.

The U.S. container ship is continuing its transit and, according to initial reports, there were no injuries and no damage to the ship, the official said.

US DEFENSE OFFICIALS SAY MORE LARGE-SCALE STRIKES CONDUCTED AGAINST HOUTHI FORCES

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday afternoon that two ships were targeted.

"What I can tell you and what I do know of what happened today was that there were three Houthi missiles fired at two merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea," Kirby said. "One missile missed by something like 200 kilometers. The other two were shot down by a U.S. Navy destroyer."

CENTCOM CONFIRMS US AIRSTRIKES ON HOUTHI ANTI-SHIP MISSILES NEAR RED SEA

This is the third U.S.-owned ship the Houthis have attacked in recent weeks. 

It marks the first Houthi attack since Jan. 18 and the 36th attack on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since Nov. 19.

The Houthis have demanded that British and American aid workers, including Yemeni citizens who hold dual citizenship, leave the country within 30 days as action between the Iran-backed group and Western nations continues to escalate. 

"The ministry would like to emphasize the necessity of informing all officials and workers who hold American and British citizenship of their preparation to leave the country within a maximum period of 30 days from the date of this determination," a letter from the Yemen Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. 

"The ministry also calls upon [the humanitarian organizations] not to recruit any employees with dual nationalities from those countries mentioned above during this period," the ministry added. 

The Houthis, which the U.S. recently relisted as a terrorist group – though not a Foreign Terrorist Organization – have controlled the foreign affairs ministry since taking control of Yemen’s capital in 2015 after capturing the presidential palace. The group dissolved parliament and placed its own committee in control of the government. 

FOX NEWS GOES INSIDE HAMAS TUNNELS WHERE HOSTAGES WERE HELD

The British Embassy said staff had not yet been told to leave, and the mission was in close contact with the U.N. on the issue. 

"The U.N. provides vital assistance to the Yemeni people ... via the very sea routes that the Houthis are jeopardizing," the British mission in Yemen said in a statement. "Nothing should be done that hinders their ability to deliver."

ISRAEL FACES A ‘MUCH MORE DIFFICULT CHALLENGE’: GEN. JACK KEANE

The letter, which applies to staff of the United Nations and Sanaa-based humanitarian organizations, follows strikes from U.S. and U.K.-led coalition of allies in retaliation for raids and attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea. 

The coalition’s first strike hit over 60 targets in 16 locations, and the latest strike, carried out overnight into Wednesday, prompted the Houthis to seek the expulsion of foreign nationals from the responsible nations, Sky News reported. 

THE US ‘MUST SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE’ TO IRAN: LT. GEN. KEITH KELLOGG

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps praised the strikes as a "success," hailing the "dedication, professionalism and skill" of those involved. He claimed that the strikes ended up "degrading the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners." 

The U.S. said the strikes destroyed two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were preparing to strike at commercial ships in the Southern Red Sea. 

The Houthis insisted that their raids only target vessels tied to Israeli trade interests to stymie Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip, but Washington and London have instead argued that the attacks have impacted wider global trade. 

The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on Jan. 10 demanding the Houthis end their attacks on the shipping lanes after the Houthis ignored a formal statement from the U.S.-led coalition demanding the same. 

Reuters contributed to this report. 

A Libyan delegation visited Beirut this week to reopen talks with Lebanese officials on the fate of a prominent Lebanese cleric who has been missing in Libya for decades, and on the release of late dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s son who has been held in Lebanon for years, officials said.

The talks were aimed at reactivating a dormant agreement between Lebanon and Libya, struck in 2014, for cooperation in the probe of the 1978 disappearance of Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr, judicial and security officials said.

The fate of the cleric has been a long-standing sore point in Lebanon. His family believes he may still be alive in a Libyan prison, though most Lebanese presume al-Sadr, who would be 94 now, is dead.

TOP BIDEN ADVISER VISITS BEIRUT AS ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH NEAR ALL-OUT WAR

The late Libyan ruler's son Hannibal Gadhafi has been held in Lebanon since 2015 after he was kidnapped from neighboring Syria, where he had been living as a political refugee. He was abducted by Lebanese militants demanding information about the fate of al-Sadr.

Lebanese authorities freed him but then detained him, accusing him of concealing information about al-Sadr’s disappearance.

A legal official familiar with the case said the Libyan delegation left Beirut after spending several days in Lebanon, where they met with the minister of justice and a judge heading a committee investigating al-Sadr’s disappearance.

The official described the talks as "positive" but did not elaborate or say if they achieved any results. The delegation is expected to return next week, he said, and added that Lebanese and Libyan authorities are treating the two cases as separate.

He said "there is no deal" so far for Gadhafi’s release.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

The Libyan delegation's visit was not publicly announced by either Lebanon or Libya. Libya’s internationally recognized government, seated in Tripoli, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Al-Sadr was the founder of the Amal group, a Shiite militia that fought in Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war and later became a political party, currently headed by the country's powerful Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Many of al-Sadr’s followers are convinced that Moammar Gadhafi ordered al-Sadr killed in a dispute over Libyan payments to Lebanese militias. Libya has maintained that the cleric, along with two traveling companions, left Tripoli in 1978 on a flight to Rome.

TOP HAMAS OFFICIAL KILLED IN BEIRUT EXPLOSION, HEZBOLLAH MEDIA SAYS

Last August, Libya’s judicial authorities formally asked Lebanon to release Hannibal Gadhafi because of his deteriorating health after he went on a hunger strike in June and was hospitalized several times.

Human Rights Watch this month issued a statement calling for Gadhafi’s release. The rights group noted that Gadhafi was only 2 years old at the time of al-Sadr’s disappearance and held no senior position in Libya as an adult.

Gadhafi’s "apparent arbitrary detention on spurious charges after spending eight years in pretrial detention makes a mockery of Lebanon’s already strained judicial system," Hanan Salah, the group's associate Middle East and North Africa director, said in a statement.

"It’s understandable that people want to know what happened," Salah said. "But it is unlawful to hold someone in pretrial detention for many years merely for their possible association with the person responsible for wrongdoing."

Italy’s lower chamber of parliament on Wednesday approved a novel government deal with Albania to house migrants during the processing of their asylum requests, a cornerstone of Premier Giorgia Meloni’s efforts to share the migration burden with the rest of Europe.

The proposal, which passed 155-115 with two abstentions in the Chamber of Deputies, now goes to the Senate, where Meloni’s right-wing forces also have a comfortable majority.

Meloni and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced the groundbreaking initiative last November, in which Albania would shelter up to 36,000 migrants for a year in two centers while Italy fast-tracks their asylum requests.

TINY ITALIAN ISLAND OVERWHELMED WITH THOUSANDS OF MIGRANTS WHO ARRIVED WITHIN 24 HOURS

Italy has long sought concrete gestures of solidarity from fellow European Union nations to help it handle the tens of thousands of migrants who arrive each year. Albania is hoping to join the bloc, and Italy has been a strong supporter of its bid.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has endorsed the deal as an important initiative and the fruit of necessary "out-of-the-box" thinking to deal with the migration issue. But human rights groups have expressed concern that Italy is outsourcing its international obligations. Italy’s center-left opposition has branded the deal as an expensive exercise in propaganda ahead of European elections this year, and a shameful bid to turn Albania into Italy’s "Guantanamo."

ITALY'S CALL FOR NAVAL BLOCKADE MAY BE ONLY WAY TO STEM EUROPE'S MIGRANT CRISIS, EXPERT SAYS

Albania's constitutional court in December suspended ratification of the deal pending a review of its constitutionality, but Rama has said he is confident the court would find no violation.

A Dutch court ruled Wednesday that authorities can use paintball guns to shoot at wolves in a popular national park to scare them after at least one of the animals began approaching human visitors.

The decision was a victory for the eastern province of Gelderland, that has sought to frighten the wild wolves using paintball guns. Wolves are protected in the Netherlands and can't be hunted.

A wildlife protection organization that opposes the plan said that it would appeal the ruling.

US NATIONAL PARKS SEE NEW REGULATIONS RESTRICTING TOURIST FLIGHTS

Two centuries after wolves were hunted to extinction in the Netherlands, the animals officially returned to the country in 2019 when a pair of the animals crossed the border from Germany and gave birth to three cubs on Dutch soil.

The European Commission announced last year that it's weighing whether to rein in protective measures for the animals amid farmers' concerns about their livestock.

Experts and environmental groups estimate that up to 19,000 wolves may be present in the 27 EU member countries, with populations of more than 1,000 thought to exist in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania and Spain.

The Central Netherlands District Court said in its ruling that one female wolf at the Hoge Veluwe National Park has been seen approaching walkers and cyclists, displaying what it called "unnatural behavior."

The park is a popular destination for hikers and bicycle riders and also is home to a world-renowned art gallery, the Kröller-Müller Museum. It also is home to animals including deer, mouflon sheep and wild boars. Those animals have been repeatedly attacked by wolves in recent years.

US NATIONAL PARK MAY SOON HAVE MASSIVE PIECE OF LAND AUCTIONED OFF

The park recently posted footage on Instagram that it said showed a confrontation between two packs of wolves — one inside the fenced-off park and another outside.

An expert who gave evidence to the court on behalf of the province said that the female wolf was "becoming increasingly bolder," the court said in a statement.

"The expert concludes that this unnatural behavior poses a serious threat to public safety. The fact that the wolf seems to be less and less afraid of people does not mean that the animal can no longer become aggressive and bite," it added.

It wasn't immediately clear when authorities would begin using paintball guns to target wolves in the park.

Moldova’s foreign minister Nicu Popescu announced on Wednesday that he’s resigning from his post, saying that he "needs a break" after what he described as a difficult period for the country but also one of "remarkable achievements" punctuated by progress toward one day joining the European Union.

Popescu, who has led the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration since August 2021, will step down on Jan. 29. He will also leave his position as deputy prime minister on the same date.

"The road traveled so far has been extremely complex, and I think we have successfully achieved the foreign policy goals set together with the President at the beginning of our journey and at this stage I need a break," he wrote in a post on Facebook on Wednesday.

MOLDOVA EXPELS 45 RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS FOR 'UNFRIENDLY ACTIONS,' 'ATTEMPTS TO DESTABILIZE' COUNTRY

Throughout his mandate, Popescu helped steer Moldova through a series of crises including the coronavirus pandemic, the war in neighboring Ukraine, and what Moldovan officials have routinely said were Russian attempts to destabilize Moldova, a country of about 2.5 million people.

But in June 2022, Moldova was granted official candidate status for EU membership. It was further buoyed in December last year when Brussels said it would open accession negotiations to the 27-nation bloc, alongside Ukraine.

"We had a clear goal: to get the Republic of Moldova out of isolation, to overcome the effects of the pandemic and to bring the country back on the European path — goals we have successfully promoted," Popescu said.

Since Russia fully invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Moldova, has faced a long string of problems. These include a severe energy crisis after Moscow dramatically reduced gas supplies, skyrocketing inflation, and several incidents of missile debris found on its territory from the war next door.

EXPLOSIONS ROCK MOLDOVA AFTER RUSSIA SUGGESTS IT COULD BE ITS NEXT TARGET IN EUROPE

"The year 2022 brought us dramatic challenges: Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has drastically changed the context and forced a refocus of our efforts towards ensuring peace and security," Popescu said.

Nationwide local elections held last November were also overshadowed by what authorities said were attempts by Moscow to undermine the ballot. That followed an announcement in February last year by Moldovan President Maia Sandu when she outlined an alleged plot by Moscow to overthrow Moldova’s government with the aim of putting the nation "at the disposal of Russia," and to derail it from aspirations of joining the EU. Russia denied the accusations.

When he assumed his mandate, Popescu said Moldova was "practically lacking international respect and support, still marked by the shadow of corrupt and oligarchic governments."

Moldovans will go to the polls in late 2024 for presidential elections.

At least 39 people died and nine people were injured after a fire broke out in China’s southeastern Jiangxi province, state media said on Wednesday.

Rescuers are still trying to reach people trapped in the building, according to state broadcaster CCTV. 

The broadcaster said the fire broke out inside a building which houses an internet cafe in the basement and tutoring centers on upper floors. It is unclear how many remain trapped in the building.

DEADLY FIRE AT CHINA DORMITORY KILLS 13 STUDENTS

Officials for the Yushui district of Jiangxi province said the fire broke out in the basement of a shopping area at 15:24 on Wednesday. They said 120 rescue, firefighters, police and local government officials were deployed to the scene.

The local government said search and rescue operations are underway, and that the cause of the fire is under investigation.

26 DEAD, 38 INJURED IN FIRE AT CHINESE COAL MINING COMPANY BUILDING

Over the weekend, a fire in central Henan province broke out in a boarding school dorm and killed 13 children.

A United Kingdom-based investigative group Conflict Armament Research claims a Russian missile fired into Ukraine is marked with a Korean character.

Conflict Armament Research (CAR) documented their findings in a report, saying a piece of wreckage from the ballistic projectile was marked by hand in the foreign language.

"On a barometer documented in Ukraine on January 11, 2024, as part of the missile wreckage, CAR investigators observed a label with the handwritten Korean (Hangul) character 'ㅈ'," the report claimed.

NORTH KOREAN FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS MOSCOW AMID SPECULATION OF ARMS DEAL WITH RUSSIA

The meaning of the symbol in relation to the missile component was not immediately clear.

Regardless, the presence of a Korean language character fuels accusations of cooperation between Russia and North Korea — the latter is suspected of producing ballistic missiles for the invasion of Ukraine.

"CAR investigators did not see any Hangul characters on other components," the organization reported.

NORTH KOREA FIRES SEVERAL CRUISE MISSILES INTO THE SEA AFTER DESTROYING PEACE SYMBOL, SOUTH KOREA SAYS

The United States and South Korea have officially claimed North Korea is providing Russia with weaponry, including artillery and missiles, to help refill its supplies drained by its war in Ukraine. In return, North Korea allegedly receives technological and military insights.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby addressed speculation of the Russian-North Korean ballistics deal earlier this month in a White House press conference. 

"Our information indicates that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea recently provided Russia with ballistic missile launchers and several ballistic missiles," Kirby told reporters in a briefing at the White House.

Koo Byoungsam, spokesperson of South Korea’s Unification Ministry, said it is closely watching diplomatic visits between the two countries and any potential agreements or shifts in relations.

The spokesperson accused North Korea and Russia of "maintaining illegal cooperation activities, including arms exchanges" following Kim’s visit to Russia in September, when he met with Putin.

Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday that popular progressive politician Pita Limjaroenrat, who was blocked from becoming prime minister even though his party placed first in last year’s election, did not violate the election law and can retain his seat in Parliament.

Pita had been suspended from the legislature pending the court ruling on whether he violated the law by owning shares in a media company. He was the executor of his father's estate which included stock in ITV, a company that is the inactive operator of a defunct independent television station.

The court agreed with Pita's contention that ITV was not an operator of a media business.

THAILAND RESCUE WORKERS RETRIEVE REMAINS OF 23 VICTIMS FOLLOWING FATAL FACTORY EXPLOSION

By law, political candidates are prohibited from owning shares in any media company when they register to contest an election.

Pita was forced to step down as leader of the progressive Move Forward Party when he was suspended from Parliament.

The party's election victory last year reflected a surprisingly strong mandate for change among Thai voters after nearly a decade of military-controlled government. But the party was denied power by members of the conservative unelected Senate.

The Senate, whose members were appointed by the military, joined the elected lower house in casting votes to choose a prime minister under a constitution that was adopted in 2017 under a military government. The Move Forward Party now heads the opposition in Parliament.

The nine-member panel of judges ruled 8-1 in Pita’s favor on Wednesday.

"ITV did not operate any newspapers or media businesses, therefore, the shareholding didn’t violate the Constitution's Article 98. According to the above reasoning, the accused member's parliamentary status isn’t suspended," the ruling said.

"I’m happy and will keep working as planned," Pita said after the verdict.

About 40 supporters who had gathered outside the court with signs and flowers cheered Pita as he walked out.

"There is justice for the people. At first, I didn't trust the court but now I see justice," said Jiraporn Bussawaket, 76.

Pita still faces another serious legal challenge this month.

On Jan. 31, he is to appear again in the Constitutional Court in another case in which he and his party are accused of attempting to overthrow Thailand’s system of government by proposing an amendment to a law that makes it illegal to defame Thailand’s royal family, an offense known as lese majeste.

THAILAND COURT SENTENCES POLITICAL ACTIVIST TO 50 YEARS IN PRISON FOR INSULTING MONARCHY

Critics say the law, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, is often abused as a political weapon.

The monarchy is considered by many people to be central to Thai identity, and conservative Thais insist that it must be protected.

While the complaint only calls on the party to stop promoting an amendment, its current leader, Chaithawat Tulathon, has said an unfavorable ruling could be used in future cases against the party that could lead to its dissolution. Move Forward’s predecessor, the Future Forward Party, was dissolved by a Constitutional Court ruling in 2020.

Move Forward’s supporters have criticized the cases as dirty tricks similar to ones that have long been used by the ruling conservative establishment to oust political rivals using the courts and nominally independent state agencies such as the Election Commission as legal weapons.

A fast train collided with a truck in eastern Czech Republic on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring at least 19 people, officials said.

The Czech Railways said the driver of the train was killed and that the injured have been transported to nearby hospitals with no life-threatening injuries.

Police said there were 60 people onboard the train at the time of the crash. 

CHICAGO TRAIN CRASH WAS CAUSED BY BRAKING SYSTEM DESIGN FLAW, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD SAYS

The accident occurred early in the morning when a fast train heading for Prague, the country’s capital, hit a truck at a crossing near the town of Bohumin.

It was not immediately clear why the truck was on the tracks.

MORE DETAILS EMERGE IN RURAL KENTUCKY TRAIN DERAILMENT, CHEMICAL SPILL

Authorities said an investigation was underway into the cause of the crash. The rail line closed for the day.

North Korea fired several cruise missiles into waters off its western coast, South Korea’s military said Wednesday.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries are analyzing the launches, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is not immediately clear how many missiles were fired. Flight details were also not provided.

"Our military has increased surveillance and vigilance and is closely coordinating with the United States while monitoring for further signs and activity from North Korea," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The launches were North Korea’s second known launch event of the year following the country’s first solid-fuel intermediate range ballistic missile on Jan. 1, which the North claimed proved capable of targeting U.S. military bases in Japan and Guam.

NORTH KOREA CLAIMS IT TESTED NUCLEAR-CAPABLE UNDERWATER DRONE CAPABLE OF DESTROYING NAVAL VESSELS AND PORTS

Cruise missiles are among a broad range of weapons North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un continues to test as he issues provocative threats toward the U.S. and its allies, including South Korea and Japan.

The U.S., South Korea and Japan have also been expanding their combined military exercises in response to the North’s missile tests.

Tensions on the already turbulent Korean Peninsula have increased in recent months with such tests and with the North taking actions that have shown a clear change in its policies.

NORTH KOREA DEMOLISHES MONUMENT SYMBOLIZING POTENTIAL UNIFICATION WITH SOUTH: REPORT

Kim has declared that the North was abandoning its long-standing goals of a peaceful unification with South Korea and went as far as to rewrite the North’s constitution to identify the South as its arch enemy and most hostile foreign adversary.

On Tuesday, South Korean intelligence analyzed commercial satellite images that appeared to suggest the North tore down an archway that symbolized reconciliation with South Korea. The symbolic arch stood approximately 100-feet tall in its capital city of Pyongyang over a highway leading to the city of Kaesong near the border with South Korea.

Last week, Kim described the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification, which was also commonly called the Arch of Reunification, as an "eyesore" and called for its removal.

North Korea claims its long-range cruise missiles are nuclear-capable and can cover ranges of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.