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After the head of the United Nation’s atomic watchdog agency warned that Iran has enough uranium to produce "several" nuclear bombs, a firebrand Iranian lawmaker declared on Friday that the Islamic Republic of Iran possesses atomic weapons.

"In my opinion, we have achieved nuclear weapons, but we do not announce it. It means our policy is to possess nuclear bombs, but our declared policy is currently within the framework of the JCPOA," Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani told the Iran-based outlet Rouydad 24 on Friday, according to an article published by the independent news organization Iran International in London.

The JCPOA is an abbreviation for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal. President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the JCPOA in 2018 because, his administration argued, the accord did not stop Iran’s drive to build atomic weapons.

 The JCPOA provides massive economic sanctions relief to Iran in exchange for assurances it will not, within a limited time period, build a nuclear weapon.

SEVERAL COUNTRIES COME TO ISRAEL’S AID TO STOP IRAN BARRAGE

Ardestani, who was re-elected to Iran’s quasi-parliament in March, added, "The reason is that when countries want to confront others, their capabilities must be compatible, and Iran's compatibility with America and Israel means that Iran must have nuclear weapons,"

The Iranian parliament member noted, "In a climate where Russia has attacked Ukraine and Israel has attacked Gaza, and Iran is a staunch supporter of the Resistance Front, it is natural for the containment system to require that Iran possess nuclear bombs. However, whether Iran declares it is another matter." Fox News Digital sent press queries to Iran’s Foreign Ministry in Tehran and its U.N. mission in New York.

Experts on Iran’s illegal nuclear weapons program warned about the seemingly speculative comments made by Ardestani. Jason Brodsky, the policy director of the U.S.-based United Against a Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital that "Ardestani is only a member of parliament, and he’s not in the inner core of the regime’s nuclear decision-making circle, so while his comments are interesting, I think they have to be weighed properly given his access and standing."

Just two days before Ardestani’s announcement, the president of the Iranian Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, Kamal Kharrazi, told Al-Jazeera Network Qatar, "I announced two years ago, in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV, that Iran had the absorptive capacity and the capability to produce a nuclear bomb. Iran still has that capability, but we have not made the decision to produce a nuclear bomb. However, if the Iranian interests are threatened in this manner, we may change this doctrine. The military officials in Iran have announced that if our nuclear facilities would be attacked, we may change our military doctrine, with regard to the nuclear facilities." The U.S.-based Middle East Media Institute (MEMRI) translated and published Kharrazi’s May 8 interview.

WORLD LEADERS COLLECTIVELY CONDEMN IRAN'S 'RECKLESS' ATTACK AGAINST ISRAEL: 'WE SUPPORT ISRAEL'

Brodsky said, "Kharrazi’s comments are part of an increasingly loud chorus of threats from Iranian officials that they will change Iran’s nuclear doctrine if Israel attacks them. The current advanced state of Iran’s nuclear program provides it with the luxury to make these threats as it hopes to deter Western policymakers from launching pressure campaigns on Tehran."

Critics of the Biden administration’s Iran policy argue the White House strategy of de-escalation and containment targeting Iran’s atomic program has backfired. Iran’s regime – the world’s worst state-sponsor of international terrorism – is moving at an astonishingly fast pace to secure an operational nuclear weapon.

Nuclear security alarm bells are ringing over Iran’s illicit atomic program in Europe. Fox News Digital obtained the April intelligence agency report for Germany’s most populous state, Nordrhein-Westfalen. 

The German intelligence report notes, "The Islamic Republic's continued intensive procurement efforts by Iran in Germany continues" for its "nuclear and missile program." The German experts added "proliferation-relevant activities by Iran to circumvent existing sanctions in favor of Iran's nuclear and missile programs can still be assumed." A State Department spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital, "As the president and the secretary have made clear, the United States will ensure one way or another that Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon. We continue to use a variety of tools in pursuit of that goal, and all options remain on the table."

David Wurmser, a former senior adviser for nonproliferation and Middle East strategy for former Vice President Dick Cheney, told Fox News Digital, "The distance from where Iran is purported to be to an actual deliverable device is still a ways away, provided the information that we have in our operating from is correct. And that is quite a proviso. We know that North Koreans have been interacting with the Iranians, and we know relations with North Korea go back many, many years."

The communist state of North Korea previously aided Syria in building its illicit nuclear reactor. Israel’s air force knocked out the reactor in 2007.

IRAN'S 'NUCLEAR ENERGY MOUNTAIN' IS 'FULLY SAFE' AFTER ISRAELI STRIKE: STATE MEDIA

Wurmser warned, "As since intelligence is generally incomplete and is inherently seeking to discover that which is given to being opaque with much hidden, we have to assume surprises. I realize in the Iraq war we imagined there was more there than there actually was – and there was more than what is popularly understood – but Iraq is actually a very rare circumstance. The Pakistani, the Russian, the Chinese, the Indian, and even the South African programs all were ahead of what we had expected when they were exposed. For that matter, that was the case with Libya as well."

The non-proliferation expert noted, "So, on balance, I doubt Iran has a nuclear weapon yet, but I also doubt that the program is in a stable state, even a stable state regarding weaponization. I think Iran is pushing ahead and has every intention to go all the way. So time on this may still be there, but it is short and running out fast. And of course, the consequences of an Iranian bomb are catastrophic for the region, for Israel’s survival, and for the status of American power in the globe."

The recent saber-rattling over Iran’s nuclear weapons program from regime officials and lawmakers coincides with  International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi’s May 8 statement that his organization was working "very hard with [Iran] to prevent [nuclear weaponization] from happening."

The Washington D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War wrote this suggests "that Iran has already obtained or is close to obtaining the ability to procure nuclear weapons." The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital press query.

FIRST ON FOX – Albania’s former President Ilir Meta has a clear message for President Biden, "Don’t forget about Albania and the Western Balkans."

Meta, who was president of Albania from 2017 to 2022 and now leads the Party of Freedom, is worried that the United States is forgetting one of its most important European and NATO allies. 

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, the former president said the Balkans is "suffering from the status quo" and that outside actors such as Russia have tried to hinder the region's EU integration and NATO membership."

"They look to create a vacuum to be filled for them in order to undermine European values and foundations," Meta said.

PUTIN FUELING REGIONAL TENSIONS AS BLINKEN ARRIVES IN ALBANIA: 'BLEAK PICTURE'

The small Balkan nation, one of Europe’s poorest, has made significant contributions to U.S. foreign policy goals over the years.

Albania, an authoritarian Marxist country with bitter relations with the U.S. during the Cold War, is now one of the most pro-U.S. countries in Europe and has a large diaspora community in the United States. But the amount of attention Albania receives from President Biden and Western policymakers is little for a country struggling to consolidate its democracy.

While the U.S. is prioritizing its support of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion while at the same time backing Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza, many in the Balkans worry the region isn’t receiving the attention it needs.

The former president’s fears of U.S. absence come after the news that Aleksandar Vulin, Serbia’s former head of intelligence who has close ties to Russia and is sanctioned by the U.S., will join Serbia’s new government. Vulin was accused of being involved in transnational organized crime, illegal narcotics operations, and misuse of public office.

The announcement is seen by many in the U.S. and across Europe as an indication that Serbia is not abandoning its pro-Russian sentiments even while it seeks EU membership.

"We are disappointed to see two sanctioned individuals in positions in the new government," a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

"The United States’ top priority in the Western Balkans is supporting the countries in the region to realize their full economic and democratic potential through Euro-Atlantic integration and regional cooperation. This path includes full alignment with the European Union on foreign and security policy," the spokesperson added.

ZELENSKYY WARNS RUSSIA WANTS TO CAUSE 'EXPLOSION' IN THE BALKANS

Former President Meta warned about the dangers of the "Open Balkans" initiative, a proposal that would facilitate a freer flow of people and goods across the Balkans, which on the surface seems like it would benefit the region. But Meta called the initiative an "alternative against European integration," and fears it will strengthen hybrid regimes like Serbia that will undermine free and fair elections, eliminate political pluralism, and target the media and freedom of speech.

Serbia's new minister of foreign affairs, Marko Djuric, took issue with Meta's framing of the Open Balkans Initiative.

"Serbia is proud of its democratic efforts, including the Open Balkans initiative. We encourage economic cooperation and connectivity in the region to foster stability and create prosperity for all nations involved. Serbia is proud of its democratic efforts, including the Open Balkans initiative. We regret that such efforts are misinterpreted as undermining democracy when, in fact, they do the opposite by enhancing cooperation and mutual understanding," Djuric told Fox News Digital in a statement.

Djuric said Serbia seeks to contribute to and uphold the region’s stability, security and prosperity and remains committed to the European Union integration process, a point that many in the West are skeptical about.

"Serbia's engagement in the Balkans is guided by principles of democracy, respect for sovereignty, and regional cooperation. We are committed to our EU path while also pursuing partnerships that contribute to peace and development in the region."

Agim Nesho, former Albanian ambassador to the U.S. and the United Nations, told Fox News Digital that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Albanian Prime Minister Rama "are the most undemocratic, corrupt, and destabilizing leaders the region has seen in 30 years" and are not advancing U.S. or European interests. 

Nesho and other observers of the region say the idea that placating Serbia will keep it closer to Europe than Putin's Russia is wishful thinking and has given ultranationalist Serbs and President Vucic a strong hand to play with the West. 

The Open Balkans initiative is basically a forum for coordinating their policies with Moscow to advance both Serbian and Russian interests in the Balkans, Nesho claimed. that U.S. appeasement of Serbia’s disruptive policies allows Vucic to leverage both the Serbian entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina to create instability, and to keep the northern Kosovo region as a frozen conflict, highlighting a clear lack of strategy from the U.S.

Serbia's Foreign Minister Djuric rejected such criticism and told Fox News Digital that he recently met with the U.S. ambassador to Serbia and he "emphasized that strengthening cooperation with the United States is among the top foreign policy priorities of the Serbian government. Our political, economic and cultural relations have undergone a positive and beneficial transformation in recent years, and we are committed to further enhancing this partnership for the mutual benefit of our nations."

He concluded, "Serbian President Vucic has been very public about all of this. As the president said recently: ‘We believe we belong in Europe and we will stay on the European path. That is our strategic, permanent position that we will not change.’"

Russia, through its regional allies, exerts significant cultural and political sway in the Balkans, and has been accused of inciting violence and instability. Serbia acts as the player in the Kremlin’s bid for prominence in the Balkans.

"Putin is leveraging crises in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina to divert attention from Ukraine and to position Russia as the sole mediator of the crisis," Ivana Stradner, research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

"This plan aims to strengthen Moscow’s regional influence and give Putin leverage over Western powers who do not want the violence to escalate," Stradner added.

Meta concluded by saying that the people of the Balkans love the United States because they see it as a symbol of democracy and the country, in Meta’s eyes, must never forget this.

"The United States must never forget that, and how important the Balkans are for Europe and, that Albania can be a long-term partner in helping face many global challenges," Meta said.

Fox News Digital requests for comment to the spokesperson for Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama were not returned by time of publication.

The Irish government’s unwavering commitment to housing and feeding an unprecedented influx of migrants in the wake of a severe housing and cost of living crisis has brought the Irish electorate to boiling point. It has many similarities to the migrant crisis in the U.S.

Hundreds of protests in towns have sprung up around the country with people calling on the government to end what they say is an "open borders" globalist agenda that is putting the needs of migrants ahead of its citizens -- many of whom are struggling to pay for everyday items and unable to buy or rent homes as Ireland’s homeless numbers skyrockets. 

Several high-profile crimes linked to migrants have also driven fear into the native citizenry, culminating in the shocking knife attacks on young children and their teacher by an Algerian-born Irish citizen in November that triggered rioting and looting in the nation’s capital.

34 ARRESTED IN IRELAND RIOTS AFTER CHILD IS STABBED IN DUBLIN

Those who want immigration laws enforced and numbers reduced say they are being ignored by the political establishment.

"Ireland is a tinderbox at the moment," Irish journalist Fatima Gunning told Fox News Digital. "At this point, I don't think anything would surprise me."

On Monday, thousands of protesters carrying Irish flags rallied in Dublin calling for an end to mass migration and demanding that a new nationalist government take its place.

Chants of "get them out" in reference to the government, echoed throughout the nation’s capital while others carried signs reading "Irish lives matter" and "under siege, invasion." Large banners reading "mass deportations" and "end the plantation" hung from a bridge. 

The protesters say they represent the silent majority of the electorate – around 75% based on several polls – who say immigration is too high and that the country has taken in too many refugees.

Their anger is also being fueled by how they are being treated by the mainstream media, which is dominated by liberal news outlets as well as the semi-state-run broadcaster RTE, who seldom cover protests or do so with bias, they say. 

Think of an America without Fox News. 

For example, last Monday’s march was described as a "large crowd" by RTE and afforded just six lines of coverage on its website. Gript, a relative newcomer to the media scene, has been filling the void and has covered many anti-mass immigration protests.

"For the past two years, they've been calling people like that ‘racist’ or ‘far-right extremists,’" Gunning says. "Politicians and the mainstream media, official Ireland, that of strata of society say immigration is just totally positive. There's no negatives whatsoever and then anyone who even says something like, Oh, ‘I do agree with immigration but I think there should be controls on the numbers,’ is a racist, that's how it is."

Immigration into Ireland has more than doubled over the last 20 years with 22% of the population now made up of non-citizens, meaning Ireland has the fourth largest non-national population of all 27 EU member states percentage-wise, according to published EU statistics. 

The steady increase in migration first started with the free movement of people agreement under the EU’s Nice Treaty in 2003. It posed little problems as mainly eastern Europeans traveled to Ireland to work in the Celtic Tiger economic boom era.

But in recent years, droves of high numbers of asylum seekers have been arriving at Ireland’s shores and are being handed all sorts of taxpayer-funded welfare benefits and housing, while Irish citizens struggle to make ends meet with high inflation, a crippling housing crisis and an overwhelmed health system. 

For instance, Ireland has taken in more than 104,000 Ukrainian refugees since the onset of the war, the largest number per capita in Western Europe despite Ireland being the most westerly located nation in the whole of Europe. The figure equates to 2% of Ireland’s 5.12 million population and every Ukrainian refugee has been provided with free accommodation, free health care and, until recently, was being paid a weekly wage of around $235.

Another 30,000 non-Ukrainian refugees are currently being housed by the Irish government with taxpayers churning out more than €1 billion in the first nine months of 2023 accommodating migrants, according to government data. Meanwhile, the country’s debt is among the highest in the world per capita, standing at €223 billion in 2023.

Accommodations, including modular homes, have been built for migrants but very little, if anything, they say, is being done for the homeless population, which hit an all-time record last month. Planning rules to build some of these homes have been ignored in order to get the refugees housed at rapid speed. 

"There's a really palpable feeling that these non-national people are being prioritized over Irish people, which they are," Gunning says. "I mean, it's not even a matter of opinion that they are. There are Irish people who cannot get medical cards (health benefits) for whatever reason. These people are all given medical cards regardless of need and that's obviously a priority [of government]."

And it's not just the perceived unfairness that has angered Irish people. Just like in the U.S., Irish people feel that many of those seeking asylum have dubious claims and are essentially economic migrants who are draining taxpayer coffers.

DUBLIN SEES HEAVY POLICE PRESENCE, 11 ARRESTS AMID 'IRISH LIVES MATTER' MARCH AGAINST MASS MIGRATION

In terms of those making asylum seeker claims in Ireland, Georgian nationals have had the highest numbers of claims despite it being designated a "safe country of origin" by the Irish government. Asylum seekers have also been arriving from Nigeria, where 2,000 have arrived already this year, as well as Algeria, Somalia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. Countries that don't share customs or traditions with Ireland.

Serious concerns have also been raised about a large percentage of those asylum seekers being single men, that background checks have not been carried out on them and that they are loitering around towns and cities with nothing to do. 

"Some people get very upset when they hear it's just men because there's leaking footage from City West [hotel] in Dublin… of them just rioting inside the place. And, you know, last year it kicked off, around Ramadan, they were just rioting and throwing chairs at each other," Gunning says.

"So people feel frightened about that because ultimately these people are unvetted. You'll hear that they are vetted, they're not. Their fingerprints are run through this thing called Eurodac, which is not a criminal vetting system, it's just to see if they have made other asylum claims elsewhere or if they have been caught doing illegal border crossings. It doesn't have any criminal data to it at all."

"So the government consistently uses that to say that they're vetted when in fact they're not."

Gunning, who reports for Gript.ie, was at the scene of an ugly encounter two weeks ago when Irish police in riot gear clashed with locals of a small town who were protesting against plans to convert a shuttered care facility into a shelter for 160 male migrants.

The town, Newtownmounkennedy, is a typical rural community with a population of about 3,000 and is starved of services. Gunning says locals told her that the government promised them that the facility would be used as a much-needed community center for the town, while they were also concerned that the men are unvetted. 

Gunning says locals were also incensed that foreign men in masks were seen working on the site, leading to comparisons to the plantations of Ireland in the 1500s and 1600s when the British confiscated Irish-owned land and gave it to settlers. Hence, the "end the plantation" banner at the protest in Dublin on Monday.

After weeks of peacefully protesting and pleading with the government to reconsider, the riot police were deployed in Newtownmounkennedy to stamp out the demonstration. But the forcefulness of the response sent shockwaves through the community, which rallied in even bigger numbers in the days that followed.

In the end, it was all in vain as the first wave of migrants began arriving at the site around the same time as a migrant "tent city" of about 200 tents in nearby Dublin was being dismantled by the government. The tents were set up outside the country’s International Protections Office, which processes claims, and for many Irish people the tents became a visual example of the government's handling of the crisis. Many of the migrants have now set up their tents along Dublin's Grand Canal.

The situation at Newtownmounkennedy has been happening throughout Ireland and the locals, despite their protests, say they have no say in the matter. In some towns, local hotels have all been converted into migrant shelters, decimating tourist industries. 

Meanwhile, and just like in the U.S., some hoteliers and construction companies are profiting as government contracts ensure full occupancy and a steady stream of building work keeps the revenue flowing. 

"It’s just emerged that there was a whole estate being built without planning permission, and now they've filled that with international protection applicants," Gunning says. "So it's really crazy. And there's a lot of money being made here, an awful lot of money."

As the cries grow louder and the government refuses to change course, anger among demonstrators has exploded.

Some have protested outside the homes of the new prime minister, Richard Harris, and integration minister Roderic O’Gorman. The latter has been accused of making Ireland a popular magnet for migrants after he posted online a notice in eight different languages detailing the attractive benefits they will get if they claim asylum in Ireland. 

Members of Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee’s family were evacuated from their home last week following two hoax bomb threats. McEntee has faced tremendous pressure for her handling of the crisis due, in part, to the country’s low deportation numbers. 

For instance, McEntee recently revealed that of the nearly 7,300 people refused refugee status in Ireland since the beginning of 2023, less than 100 have been deported. She also said that more than 90% of people seeking asylum in the country are now crossing the land border with Northern Ireland amid the UK's clampdown on ineligible refugees via its Rwanda policy.

Who are these people flowing into the country and where are these people now, critics ask?

According to the government’s figures, 85% of people who applied for international protection at Dublin Airport in 2023 arrived without identity documents or with false identity documents, which is illegal, yet very few were even prosecuted. 

But the Irish government has long argued that it is bound by "international obligations" to accommodate those who arrive claiming asylum, while critics say the same level of urgency is not given to Irish people who are homeless. 

RIOTERS CLASH WITH POLICE, TORCH CAR AFTER KNIFE ATTACK IN DUBLIN

The European Union’s new Migration Pact is being held up as a silver bullet solution, a "game changer," according to McEntee, but some critics say it will only exacerbate the situation. The pact aims to cut the time for security and asylum procedures at external EU borders and increase the number of people being sent back to the Middle East and Africa.

"We always do the right thing [in Ireland], and for me, the right thing is providing protection for those who genuinely need it," McEntee said recently. "The world is a changing place, there’s significant increases in conflict across the globe, climate change is having a massive impact, and there are people who are genuinely fleeing starvation, persecution and war.

"I think as a country -- particularly people who have sought refuge in other countries over the years -- there is an onus on us and people want to us to provide that protection. And at the same time, those who are coming here seeking economic benefits, and we don’t blame them for that, this is not the right system to use."

Much of the despair and disillusionment of those on the right who oppose mass immigration is that they are not represented in the political process.

Fine Gael, McEntee’s party, is part of a coalition government in office since 2020 with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil would once have been viewed as center-right but have shifted left and embraced progressivism and globalism.

Ireland’s main opposition party to the government, Sinn Féin, has been in lockstep with the establishment throughout the crisis, creating a void for a populist, nationalist movement. 

The result has been an explosion in novice candidates running for office in next month’s local and EU elections representing newly formed right-wing parties. 

It is, of course, unclear what kind of impact they can make. 

However, thrown into the mix is the fact that refugees and asylum seekers in Ireland are able to vote in local elections. 

An Irish migrant group bragged on X Thursday that it had just registered 1,500 asylum seekers to vote, all of whom the groups said, promised to vote for the government coalition partner the Green Party.

The elections take place June 7. 

Fox News Digital requested comment from Ireland’s prime minister, justice minister and integration minister, as well as the Irish Refugee Council, but did not receive any responses. 

JERUSALEM—After President Biden gave his ultimatum of withholding offensive weapons to the Jewish state if Israel were to launch an invasion of Rafah, rocket attacks rained down on Israel on Friday from Rafah, with more rockets fired on Saturday.

Hamas launched rockets from Rafah at the southern Israeli city of Beersheva on Friday for the first time since December, as Iranian proxy Hezbollah sent a barrage of rockets into the northern Israel city of Kiryat Shmona, causing a massive fire. Within the Gaza Strip on Friday, four Israeli soldiers were killed.

"When administration officials attacked or berated Israel publicly previously during the war, Hamas hardened its demands in return for releasing hostages, in fact delaying and minimizing the chances of success of the delicate negotiation," Jonathan Conricus told Fox News Digital. Conricus served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for 24 years as a combat commander in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

UN, HUMAN RIGHTS, MEDIA GROUPS RELY ON HAMAS DEATH TOLL IN 'SYSTEMATIC DECEPTION': EXPERT

"When Israel’s enemies detect tension between the U.S. and its most loyal and steadfast ally in the region, Israel, it emboldens them to attack Israel more and continue with their tactics of using human shields, since they understand that the U.S. will eventually punish Israel for defending itself, regardless of Hamas and Hezbollah’s actions." 

Conricus, who served as an IDF spokesman during the Gaza war, added, "In the short term, these American statements will lead to enhanced violence and fighting, since they embolden Israel’s enemies. In the long term, they may push another American Middle Eastern ally away from the U.S. sphere of influence, and reinforce concerns harbored by many U.S. partners about the quality and steadfastness of U.S. support when needed the most."

America’s former Ambassador to Israel during the Trump administration, David Friedman, posted a blunt message on X about the new Biden policy: "Hamas now firing rockets from Rafah into Beersheva — Israel’s largest southern city. Why wouldn’t they? — they have no fear of a reprisal. Biden has emboldened Hamas!"

Fox News Digital reported that many Israelis view Biden’s pause of weapons deliveries to be a betrayal of his assurance that he backs the Jewish state with an "ironclad" security promise.

Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.) told Fox & Friends on Friday that Biden is "walking away from Israel," and called Biden's decision "stunning."

The enemies of Israel and America are closely watching Biden’s decision to reportedly create daylight between the U.S. and the Mideast’s only democracy, Israel. 

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SILENT OVER HAMAS' USE OF GAZA HOSPITAL AS TERROR HQ

On Thursday, John Kirby, the White House National Security Communications Adviser, said the U.S. was fully behind Israel. "The arguments that somehow we’re walking away from Israel fly in the face of the facts. I mean, this is a president who visited Israel within days of the October 7th attacks. This is a president who rushed additional military articles to Israel and, frankly, provided expertise from our own military to go over there to help them as they thought through their planning and their operation," he told reporters at the White House.

Kirby continued "this is a president who put American pilots — fighter pilots — in the sky to help shoot down more than 300 missiles and drones fired by Iran in . . . mid-April. So the argument that somehow we’re walking away from Israel, we’re not willing to help them defeat Hamas just doesn’t . . . comport with the facts."

Matthew Levitt, the director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute, told Fox News Digital, "By default, working arms before hostages—including U.S. hostages—are released, and after Hamas’ bad faith behavior in negotiations, could embolden both Hamas and Hezbollah."

Hamas has over 100 hostages in its captivity, including Americans. The terrorist mastermind behind Hamas' massacre of nearly 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans, Yahya Sinwar is believed to be using hostages as human shields to hold off Israeli soldiers seeking to capture him in a tunnel deep below Gaza.

The State Department did not answer questions about whether Biden’s blockage of offensive weapons to Israel emboldens Hamas and Hezbollah. 

On Thursday, spokesman Matthew Miller said, "What the President made clear is that we have concerns about a potential military operation in Rafah. I don’t think that’s any secret. We’ve been making those concerns known publicly, and we have made those concerns quite clear to the Government of Israel. And as the President noted, there are certain types of military assistance that we will not make available to Israel for use in a campaign in Rafah," said Miller.

The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) published a letter from a who’s who of retired U.S. military leaders, criticizing Biden’s arms directive. "Amid surging antisemitism in America and the world, following the largest one-day loss of innocent Jewish life since the Holocaust, U.S. support for the only Jewish state should be clear, unwavering, and not conditioned. The benefits of this partnership for the American people and this important region are many, and too valuable to forsake."

The letter added: "America must support Israel as it restores its security, shattered on October 7, against Iran and its terrorist proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen that all seek to destroy the Jewish state. These forces are also enemies of the United States and everything we stand for. 

"This Iranian-backed axis of terror, as well as other adversaries and allies around the world, are watching closely to see whether the United States will stand by one of its closest allies fighting in self-defense, even when the going gets tough."

Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former National Security Council official, warned, "There’s zero doubt that Iran and Hezbollah are going to escalate the longer this illegitimate embargo drags on. Our shared enemies feed on the perception of space between the United States and Israel, and the projection of weakness and desperation in both capitals."

Fox News Digital press queries to the White House and Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister’s Office were not immediately returned.

The visit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian President Viktor Orban ended with glowing praise from both parties as Xi labeled his counterpart a "model" for diplomatic relations with Europe, while Orban endorsed Beijing’s Ukraine peace plan.

"Today, Europe is on the side of war," Orbán said Thursday during a joint press conference. 

"The only exception is Hungary, which calls for an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations and supports all international efforts that point towards peace. . . . We also support the Chinese peace initiative presented by Xi Jinping," he added.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto added that Hungary will "look at our co-operation with China as a huge chance and a huge opportunity." 

US COMMITTEE PROBES GEORGIA UNIVERSITY'S ALLEGED TIES TO CHINESE MILITARY-LINKED RESEARCH

China has sought to reset its standing with Europe as it faces greater opposition and a worsening reputation throughout the bloc. Winning a kind word from Hungary, which is not only an EU member but a NATO member as well, would seem the kind of PR boost Beijing has wanted. 

Xi’s five-day stint in Hungary — just one of three visits Xi is making in Europe — ended with a proclamation of China and Hungary’s "all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era," which officials claim will serve "more than mere semantic importance," according to the Financial Times.  

The "all-weather" designation indicates that Xi considers Budapest now a member of "those countries that do most to support China’s efforts to counter U.S. power and which are increasingly rewarded with investment, trade and diplomatic support," the FT reported.  

US OFFICIAL RAISES ALARM OVER FORCIBLE REPATRIATION OF NORTH KOREANS FROM CHINA

The two nations agreed to 17 deals that loop Hungary into China’s ongoing Belt and Road Initiative and involve investment in nuclear energy, supply chain improvements, green development and boosts to the finance and trade of Hungary, which will in return export agricultural products, technology and media services. 

Xi also lauded the deals as helping to bring cooperation between Beijing and Central and Eastern Europe to "a wider scope, a broader field and a higher level." 

"China attaches importance to the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership and considers Europe an important pole in the multipolar world," Xi said of the agreements. "China supports Hungary in playing a greater role in the EU and promoting the new and greater development of China-EU relations."

The South China Morning Post noted that the "all-weather" partnership places Hungary in the company of such Chinese allies as Belarus, Pakistan and Venezuela. 

CHINA CONDEMNS US MILITARY SHIP'S PASSAGE THROUGH TAIWAN STRAIGHT WEEKS BEFORE NEW LEADER TAKES OFFICE

The Chinese Foreign Ministry last year posted a 12-point peace plan, which included a number of points that many agreed with, such as urging against the use of nuclear weapons, protecting civilians and POWs, facilitating grain exports and promoting reconstruction.

However, the plan also called for the end of unilateral sanctions and "maximum pressure," insisting that only sanctions authorized by the U.N. Security Council should go into effect. 

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"Relevant countries should stop abusing unilateral sanctions and ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ against other countries, so as to do their share in de-escalating the Ukraine crisis and create conditions for developing countries to grow their economies and better the lives of their people," the plan said.                

Foreign Policy last year published an op-ed by Jo Inge Bekkevold, a senior China fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies, criticizing China’s peace plan as having "ulterior motives."

For example, China would seek to "position itself in the reconstruction of postwar Ukraine…. [it] explicitly states that it stands ready to provide assistance and play a role in post-conflict reconstruction," though Bekkevold admits that "no other country is possibly better equipped than China to assist in rebuilding Ukraine." 

"Welcoming Chinese assistance, expertise and investments must be a tempting proposition for Ukraine," Bekkevold wrote. "Seen from Beijing, contributing to the reconstruction of Ukraine would strengthen China’s overall engagement with Europe."

The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), an exiled Iranian resistance group, provided a report to Fox News Digital presenting evidence of a top-secret unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) site in the Islamic Republic of Iran, north of Qom City in the Ganjine region. 

According to the report, members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are trained to use "all kinds of drones" at the base, including the Mohajer series, manufactured by Qods Aviation Industry. Employees of Qods Aviation Industry also reportedly use the site to train small groups of Iranian proxy operatives of Hezbollah, as well as members of Iranian proxy groups from Syria, Yemen and Iraq, to use the Mohajer-4 drone platform. 

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), based on information from the MEK, told Fox News Digital that the site is a proving ground for Mohajer-4, Mohajer-6, and Mohajer-10 drones. 

Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of NCRI's Washington, D.C., office, told Fox News Digital that "seven months into the regional conflict, it has become evident that the regime in Tehran is the proverbial ‘head of the snake’ of belligerence and terror export in the Middle East. As such, Western governments must exercise firmness instead of accommodation and engagement in dealing with Tehran and hold it to account for its malign activities." 

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Qods Aviation Industry is listed on the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, as is its new moniker, Light Airplanes Design and Manufacturing Industries. 

The newest drone in its arsenal, the Mohajer-10, can carry a payload of 300 kilograms for a range of 2,000 kilometers, according to Breaking Defense. Released in August 2023, the drone has a 450-liter fuel tank and can stay airborne for 24 hours. In a photo of the new drone shared on an Iranian television station, text in both Hebrew and Persian advised viewers to "prepare your shelters," Reuters reported.

Brett Velicovich, a U.S. Army veteran and author of "Drone Warrior: An Elite Soldier's Inside Account of the Hunt for America's Most Dangerous Enemies," said that the schematics for deadly Mohajer- and Shahed-series drones are being exported to Iranian proxies around the world. "One or two guys can launch one of these drones from the middle of a field…and they have the capability to conduct just as powerful a strike as major nation states could before," Velicovich said.

Velicovich added this allows Iran to "sow chaos and discord" while also "having plausible deniability." He claims the regime "want to use these long-range drone systems to show that they somehow have control over the Middle East and the region." 

Drones have played a role in the escalations taking place overseas following Oct. 7. The United States Institute of Peace notes that "U.S. forces deployed across the Middle East were attacked more than 160 times by pro-Iranian militias" between October 2023 and February 2024.

One of those strikes was deadly. On Jan. 28, an Iranian proxy used a drone to kill three U.S. service members in Jordan. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby stated that the Islamic Resistance in Iraq was behind the attack. He did not state which of the Iranian proxy groups under the resistance umbrella bore responsibility. The Pentagon stated it could not provide answers to Fox News Digital’s request for information about the group behind the attack or the type of drone that was used. United States Central Command told Fox News Digital that it does not comment on ongoing investigations.

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On Apr. 13, Iran fired dozens of drones, including the Shahed-136, and hundreds of missiles at Israel in retaliation for an Apr. 1 bombing that killed seven IRGC members at the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, Syria. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not respond to a request for comment about whether the Mohajer system was used against Israel in Iran’s attack, or in any attacks since Oct. 7.

Velicovich recently traveled to Israel, where he said he witnessed "a lot of activity" at the northern border, where the IDF "are fighting with Hezbollah…in a sort of covert battle." Drones are part of that conflict, though Velicovich did not report witnessing Iranian drones at the northern border. 

"Israelis have extremely strong defenses against UAVs," Velicovich said. "But Iranian scientists are everyday trying to develop something new and testing those airwaves to figure out how to get around the Iron Dome, how to get around the Patriot missile system," he added.

There has been no indication of whether Mohajer series drones have been utilized by Iran, its proxy Hezbollah or other proxy groups attacking Israel or U.S. forces since Oct. 7. The MEK was not aware of evidence that the drone site in Qom has been used in any attacks against Israel since Oct. 7.

According to online documents from the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), the Mohajer system has proliferated to Iran’s allies. TRADOC writes that the Mohajer-4 platform, which entered mass production in 1999, has been distributed "widely," including to non-state actors. Used for surveillance and to interdict drug smugglers, the Mohajer-4 can also be equipped with the Hydra unguided rocket. It can remain airborne for seven hours.

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The Mohajer-6 entered production in 2018. Syria, Hezbollah, Ethiopia, the Russian Federation, Iraq and Venezuela have access to the drone, according to TRADOC. Army documents state the drone, which can be airborne up to 12 hours, can be launched and recovered from a runway, and can carry "a multispectral surveillance payload, and/or up to two precision-guided munitions."

The MEK provided documents and aerial imagery to Fox News Digital showing how the Qom site has expanded in recent years. According to translated documents MEK provided from the Iranian Armed Forces’ Real Estate and Land Organization, the site was first proposed as a UAV testing ground in February 2005. In May 2006, 1,800 hectares (more than 4,400 acres) of land near Qom were handed over to the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.

The MEK reports that just 949 hectares have been used for the site. Aerial photographs show the site’s first 500-meter runway, created in 2007. In 2014, photos demonstrated that the runway was expanded to 1400 meters. Photos show the runway was further enlarged in 2020 to 1500 meters "so larger drones could also be tested." Additional photos show that a hangar of about 30 by 40 meters was added in 2021. 

According to the MEK’s report, asymmetric warfare forms "a critical part of a deliberate strategy" that relies on "extensive use of drones and missiles, which the regime is capable of manufacturing with the support of its allies. Proxies execute these operations on behalf of the regime." The MEK also cites "intelligence sources" claiming that Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei "has personally overseen Iran’s drone project since 2004." 

The MEK urges other Western states to follow suit with the U.S.’ 2019 designation of the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization.

Velicovich noted that "Iran was the orchestrator, in my opinion, on the Oct. 7 attacks." He explained that the regime used "one of their proxy groups, to not pin the full blame on them, but it’s their money and material." He worries that the U.S. government "doesn’t have a handle right now on the true amount of drone systems that the Iranians are trying to build. And we won’t feel the effect tomorrow. It will be years from now," he warned.

The U.S. State Department on Friday criticized Israel’s use of U.S-supplied arms in a way that may be "inconsistent" in "mitigating civilian harm" in the war in Gaza. 

A report obtained by Fox News Digital, which was sent to Congress on Friday, admitted that "Israel has had to confront an extraordinary military challenge: Hamas has embedded itself deliberately within and underneath the civilian population to use civilians as human shields."

The report added that "it is often difficult to determine facts on the ground in an active war zone of this nature and the presence of legitimate military targets across Gaza."

Nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, including many women and children, according to the Palestinian government. 

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The report was commissioned by President Biden to assess if Israel and other U.S. allies are adhering to international humanitarian law. 

Israeli officials have said the country is complying with international law "and have identified a number of processes for ensuring compliance that are embedded at all levels of their military decision-making," the report said, including giving advanced warnings, using specific weapons and avoiding places like schools, hospitals and places of worship.

"Although we have gained some insight into Israel’s procedures and rules, we do not have complete information to verify whether" U.S. arms "were specifically used in actions that have been alleged as violations of [international humanitarian law] or international human rights law during the period of the report," the report continued. "The nature of the conflict in Gaza makes it difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents."

It said, however, that the United Nations, humanitarian organizations and international humanitarian law experts "have reported Israeli civilian harm mitigation efforts as inconsistent, ineffective, and inadequate, failing to provide protection to vulnerable civilians who cannot or chose not to relocate."

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Israel has the capability, experience and tools to mitigate civilian harm, the report said, adding, however, "the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions as to whether the IDF is using them effectively in all cases." 

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Despite misgivings, the State Department said it found Israel’s assurances that it had followed international law in the use of U.S. weapons "credible and reliable" and will continue supplying arms. 

Syria’s U.S.-backed Kurdish-led force has handed over to Baghdad two Islamic State group militants suspected of involvement in mass killings of Iraqi soldiers in 2014, a war monitor said Friday.

The report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights came a day after the Iraqi National Intelligence Service said it had brought back to the country three IS members from outside Iraq. The intelligence service did not provide more details.

The Islamic State group captured an estimated 1,700 Iraqi soldiers after seizing Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit in 2014. The soldiers were trying to flee from nearby Camp Speicher, a former U.S. base.

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Shortly after taking Tikrit, IS posted graphic images of IS militants shooting and killing the soldiers.

Farhad Shami, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said the U.S.-backed force handed over two IS members to Iraq. It was not immediately clear where Iraqi authorities brought the third suspect from.

The 2014 killings, known as the Speicher massacre, sparked outrage across Iraq and partially fueled the mobilization of Shiite militias in the fight against IS, a Sunni extremist group.

Iraq has over the past several years put on trial and later executed dozens of IS members over their involvement in the Speicher massacre.

The Observatory said the two IS members were among 20 captured recently in a joint operation with the U.S.-led coalition in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, once the capital of the Islamic State group's self-declared caliphate.

Despite their defeat in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in March 2019, the extremists sleeper cells are still active and have been carrying out deadly attacks against SDF and Syrian government forces.

Shami said a car rigged with explosives and driven by a suicide attacker tried Friday night to storm a military checkpoint for the Deir el-Zour Military Council, an Arab majority faction that is part of the SDF, in the eastern Syrian village of Shuheil. Shami said that when the guards tried to stop the car, the attacker blew himself up killing three U.S.-backed fighters.

No one immediately claimed responsibility but the attack but it was similar to previous such explosions carried out by IS militants.

The SDF is holding over 10,000 captured IS fighters in around two dozen detention facilities, including 2,000 foreigners whose home countries have refused to repatriate them. The force says fighters of about 60 nationalities had entered Syria years ago and were captured in battle.

Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria have said they will put on trial IS detainees, though it is not clear when such trials would begin.

A bus veered off a bridge and plunged into a river on Friday in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, killing seven people, officials said.

The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top criminal investigations body, reported the death toll. It did not state how many others were injured, but the emergencies ministry earlier said that six people removed from the bus were in critical or serious condition.

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Russian news reports said there were 15 people on the city bus when it broke through a barrier and plunged into the Moika River in central St. Petersburg. Six of those who were onboard climbed out of the water on their own.

A surveillance video released by the Russian media showed the bus driving fast, making a sharp turn onto the bridge and colliding with another vehicle before breaking through the barrier and falling into the water.

Authorities in St. Petersburg said that the owner of the bus had been fined 23 times for various violations. Private companies run most of the city's bus services.

The bus driver was detained by police. His wife was quoted by Russian media as saying that managers forced him to work a morning shift after working for 20 hours the previous day and getting virtually no rest.

Authorities opened a criminal investigation into alleged traffic violations and unsafe travel services.

The Ukrainian military has claimed it pushed back an attempted Russian incursion amid fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin will make renewed efforts to capture the city of Kharkiv. 

"Russia has launched a new wave of counteroffensive operations in the Kharkiv sector," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Friday, claiming the Russians fought against his forces and that a fierce battle continued throughout the day. 

White House spokesperson John Kirby on Friday told reporters that Russia had commenced its offensive in Kharkiv, saying, "In the coming weeks, Russia will likely increase the intensity of fires" and increase troop deployments, but also stressing supreme confidence in the Ukrainian armed forces. 

Russia launched missiles, kamikaze drones and artillery attacks on Kharkiv overnight and into Friday morning. Russian officials claimed that their attacks hit ammunition stores and Ukrainian military personnel in the region, according to East2West news agency. 

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Ukrainian commanders have expected an offensive for a while, determining summer as the most likely time for Russia to launch an attack. They have long expected the Russians to target Kharkiv, which is the second-biggest city in Ukraine after the capital, Kyiv. 

Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov claimed that Russian reconnaissance groups tried to cross the border during the attack, but insisted that "not a single meter has been lost," the BBC reported. 

"At approximately 5:00, there was an attempt by our enemy to break through our defensive line under the cover of armored vehicles. As of now, these attacks have been repulsed, fighting of varying intensity continues," the defense ministry said.

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Some have suspected that Russia aims to create a buffer zone between Ukraine and the Belgorod region, which Kharkiv would provide if it could be claimed.

Residents of Kharkiv evacuated as the reserve troops arrived in the city to stage a defense. One civilian, 54-year-old Olena Kurylo, in an interview lamented, "We are not sleeping, again," as another air raid siren sounded. 

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"We are at the end of our tether from tiredness," she said, adding that she was too tired to even head into the basement for cover after what she claimed was the tenth siren, but she could not rest, either. 

"There hasn’t been a single quiet night for weeks," Kurylo said. "We all know this is exactly their aim: To exhaust us, and to make us leave the city, so they can take it." 

Kurylo said that she lost her house on the first day of the war, which still lies in ruins, and she suffered damage to her eye. 

"They deprived me of everything, and I wanted to ask: Why? This is our land. This is home," Kurylo said. "There is no reason why our huge neighbor is trying to destroy us. There is no excuse for millions of broken lives." 

On Friday, the U.S. announced a new military aid package worth $400 million. The Department of Defense press release noted the package includes more munitions for Patriot air defense systems and NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems), as well as HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems). This is the second weapons package announced from the foreign aid supplemental that passed in the House and Senate last month. This comes from weapons already in U.S. stockpiles and will start to arrive in Ukraine within days.

The Iraqi government has requested that the United Nations end a mission set up to promote governance and human rights reforms in the country by the end of 2025, the latest in a series of international bodies operating in the nation that Iraq has sought to wind down.

The letter sent Wednesday by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres declared that there is "no need for the continuation" of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

Sudani said Iraq's government has "been able to achieve a number of important steps" in areas that fall under the body's mandate. rendering it redundant.

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Typically, the mission is extended annually by the U.N. Security Council, with the current term expiring at the end of this month.

Sudani's letter did not oppose a one-year extension but said the mission should focus on wrapping up its tasks to ensure a permanent closure and transfer of its responsibilities by the end of 2025.

Established in 2003 in the wake of the U.S. invasion that toppled longtime dictator Saddam Hussein, UNAMI had been tasked with a number of missions, including facilitating dialogue among various groups, assisting with election logistics, monitoring human rights, and coordinating aid in conflict-affected areas.

A UNAMI spokesperson and a spokesperson for Sudani declined to comment on the Iraqi government request.

Sudani's government has made a series of moves to extricate Iraq from the presence of international bodies set up post-2003.

Earlier this year, Iraq initiated discussions to phase out the mission of a U.S.-led military coalition formed to fight the Islamic State group.

Baghdad has also decided not to renew the mandate for the U.N. Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by ISIS, and requested that the team exit by September 2024.

At least 90 people were injured in Argentina's capital when a passenger train struck an empty boxcar on the tracks and derailed Friday, authorities said, a rare collision that fueled questions about basic safety.

The train was on its way from Buenos Aires to the northern suburbs when it derailed around 10:30 a.m. on a bridge in the trendy neighborhood of Palermo, safety officials said. Authorities said it was not immediately clear why the empty boxcar had been on the rails but that they were investigating.

"There is not enough information about the mechanics of this accident," Buenos Aires Mayor Jorge Macri said from the crash site where he praised the swift evacuation of victims.

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Dozens of injured were treated at the scene and 30 people taken to hospitals in moderate to serious condition, at least two by helicopter with chest trauma and broken bones. Alberto Crescenti, director of the city's emergency service, said rescuers with police dogs had helped 90 people trapped in the train's wreckage, lowering some from the highway overpass by rope.

Dazed passengers staggering out of the derailed boxcars told local media the train had stopped on the bridge for several minutes before starting up again and slamming violently into the other train, jolting passengers and veering off the rails in a jumble of sparks and smoke.

Officials at the Argentine rail authority, Trenes Argentinos, said service on the popular rail line had been suspended as was underway to secure the area. They asked residents to stay away from the crash site to make room for emergency responders.

The collision brought increased scrutiny to rail safety in Argentina, where a string of several train crashes from 2012-2014 left over 50 people dead and hundreds injured.

It emerged at the time that outdated infrastructure, delays and human error had left the railway system vulnerable to crashes, prompting the government to invest in new safety and braking systems.

Chinese President Xi Jinping left Hungary on Friday, concluding a tour of three European nations meant to reinforce China's growing influence on the continent.

Xi's plane took off from Budapest airport on Friday evening, after five days in Europe that began with a visit to France and then Serbia.

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Earlier on Friday, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on the social platform X that Xi had concluded his three-day state visit to Hungary, the last stop on his Europe visit, hailing the development of the two nations' "strategic partnership."

During the visit, Hungary and China signed a number of new agreements on deepening their economic and cultural cooperation. During a news conference on Thursday, Orbán praised the "continuous, uninterrupted friendship" between the two countries since his tenure began in 2010, and promised that Hungary would continue to host further Chinese investments.

Xi began his visit with a meeting earlier in the week with French President Emmanuel Macron. Their talks focused on trade disputes — including lifting tariff threats on Cognac exports — and Ukraine-related diplomatic efforts.

He next went to European Union candidate Serbia, where the two nations signed an agreement to build a "shared future."

Malta’s deputy prime minister resigned Friday, and ended his European Commission bid, after he was charged with fraud in a hospital scandal roiling the Mediterranean island nation.

In his resignation letter, Chris Fearne denied wrongdoing but said he must put Malta before everything else.

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In the letter, he asked Prime Minister Robert Abela to withdraw his candidacy to be Malta’s candidate for the European Commission.

"I want to be clear, I am taking this step not because I have any doubts on my innocence, but because it is the right thing to do," Fearne wrote.

He resigned days after news emerged that he is facing charges of fraud and misappropriation of funds related to an investigation into the government's 2015 deal to turn over management of three hospitals to a private company. The concession was annulled by the courts last year in a judgment that cited fraud.

Fearne, who was a junior health minister at the time of the deal, is one of a number of past and present officials facing charges, including former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Muscat also denies wrongdoing.

Flash floods from seasonal rains in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan killed at least 50 people on Friday, a Taliban official said.

The floods also caused losses to homes and property in several districts, according to Edayatullah Hamdard, the provincial director of Natural Disaster Management in Baghlan. He said that the death toll was preliminary and that it "might rise as many people are missing."

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The flash floods also hit the capital, Kabul, said Abdullah Janan Saiq, the Taliban’s spokesman for the State Ministry for Natural Disaster Management. He said that rescue teams bringing food and other aid have been dispatched to the affected areas.

Saiq said that the rescue operation is the main focus of authorities at the moment, and that he later might be able to provide more precise figures on casualties and damage.

In April, at least 70 people died from heavy rains and flash flooding in the country. About 2,000 homes, three mosques, and four schools were damaged last month. Thousands of people require humanitarian assistance. The flooding also damaged agriculture land and 2,500 animals died in the deluges, according to Saiq.

The U.S. has promised to vote against any resolution that would seek to grant the Palestinians full membership in the United Nations after a General Assembly resolution passed with significant support from member states. 

"Our vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood," U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said after the vote. "We have been very clear that we support it and seek to advance it meaningfully: Instead, it is an acknowledgment that statehood will only come from a process that involves direct negotiations between the parties."

"This resolution does not resolve the concerns about the Palestinian membership application raised in April in the Security Council through the admissions committee process," Wood added. "Should the Security Council take up the Palestinian membership application as a result of this resolution, there will be a similar outcome." 

The vote, brought to the floor by the United Arab Emirates, received support from 143 members, with nine voting against and 25 abstaining.

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The "no" votes included Argentina, Hungary, Israel and the United States, among others, while the abstentions included Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Monaco, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, among others.

"A negotiated two-state solution remains the best path towards an enduring peace where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side with equal measures of security, freedom, and dignity," the U.S. Mission to the U.N. wrote on social media platform X after the vote. "Unilateral measures like the UNGA resolution on Palestinian UN membership adopted today will not advance this goal."

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Wood in his address to the General Assembly stressed that the resolution "does not alter the status" of the Palestinians at the United Nations, labeling the motion "unproductive," but assured that as the resolution did not ultimately grant the Palestinians the rights that would provide "the same standing as a member state." 

As such, the U.S. has indicated it will therefore not cut funding to the United Nations or specialized agencies, which it would have had to do under Public Law 101-246. President Obama during his administration cut funding to UNICEF after the organization admitted the Palestinians as members. 

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Prior to the vote, Israel’s Ambassador the U.N. Gilad Erdan accused members who would support the motion of "shredding the U.N. charter."

"Shame on you," Erdan said as he shredded a small paper with "Charter of the United Nations" written on it in a handheld paper shredder. 

Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro University Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital that "Roughly 75% of U.N. member states evidently believe that there is one exception to the U.N. Charter's membership core requirement of being a "peace-loving state," namely, the would-be Palestinian terror state. 

She warned that "With today's resolution, the U.N. General Assembly could soon have a President from the so-called "State of Palestine" - without any negotiation or agreement to live in peace and security with a Jewish state. Hamas and its Palestinian Authority UN mouthpiece at the helm of the United Nations' lead body. A day in infamy." 

Several members in their post-vote statements stressed that they condemned the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, but argued that they deemed Israel’s actions in Gaza of having gone too far: Singapore argued that supporting the motion would hopefully push Israel and the Palestinians to resume discussions aimed at establishing a two-state solution. 

France’s mission stressed that it supported the admission of the Palestinians as members of the U.N., but that while it voted in favor of the resolution to indicate ultimate support for the motion, it did not support attempts to "circumvent" the membership admission process. 

At least nine students have been abducted by gunmen during a late-night raid on their school in northern Nigeria’s Kogi state, authorities said Friday, the third such abduction amid rampant kidnappings targeting schools in the conflict-hit region this year.

The assailants invaded the Confluence University of Science and Technology in Kogi state, which neighbors the nation’s capital, Abuja, and whisked away the students from their classrooms before security forces could arrive, according to Kogi Commissioner for Information Kingsley Femi Fanwo.

The state has "activated the security architecture to track the kidnappers and ensure the abducted students are rescued and the abductors apprehended," Fanwo added.

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The official said local hunters were helping security forces in "combing" the school area, which is surrounded by bushes in the remote Osara town.

Nigeria has struggled with several mass school kidnappings since the first such incident in 2014 when Islamic extremists abducted more than 200 schoolgirls from the northeastern Chibok village, sparking the global #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign.

At least 1,400 Nigerian students have since been abducted from their schools in similar circumstances, including at least 130 children abducted from their school in Kuriga town in the northern Kaduna state in March. Some are still held captive, including nearly 100 of the Chibok girls.

A 75-year-old man will spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced Friday for the murder of a British police officer who was shot dead during an armed robbery in northern England nearly two decades ago.

Piran Ditta Khan was convicted in April, as he had fled the country to Pakistan soon after the murder of Sharon Beshenivsky. He was extradited to the U.K. last year.

Judge Nicholas Hilliard sentenced him in Leeds Crown Court to life imprisonment. He must serve a minimum term of 40 years in prison.

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"You will inevitably spend the remainder of your life in custody, but that is a consequence of sentencing a man of your age for a crime of this particular gravity," he said. "You have had your younger and healthier years at liberty because you chose to leave the country when you feared you were about to be arrested."

Though Khan stayed in the lookout car during the robbery at the family-run Universal Express travel agents in the city of Bradford in November 2005, prosecutors argued that he was the "mastermind" behind the robbery as he organized it and purchased the weapons. Police officers in Britain do not carry guns on routine patrols.

"Even though he did not fire the fatal shot, his actions stole from Sharon and those who knew her a lifetime together, and as he is sentenced today our thoughts remain with her family and loved ones," said specialist prosecutor David Holderness.

Beshenivsky was 38 years old and only nine months into the job when she responded to an alert about the robbery. She was shot dead at point-blank range by one of the three men who carried out the robbery. Her colleague, Teresa Milburn, survived after being shot in the chest.

Beshenivsky, who had three children and two stepchildren, was gunned down on her youngest daughter’s fourth birthday. In a victim personal statement read in court, Beshenivsky’s daughter Lydia said she was "too young and innocent" to understand what happened when her mother failed to return home from work to celebrate her birthday.

"There will always be a void in my life — a void that should have been filled with my mum’s presence but as a result of violent, callous actions by you, Piran Ditta Khan, and your associates that day, you robbed me of a future and precious time with my mum," she said. "Every birthday is a reminder of what happened that day."

Paul Beshenivsky, who had been married to his wife for four years when she died, said telling the children what had happened was "the hardest thing I have ever had to do."

Khan fled to Pakistan two months after the robbery. He was arrested by local authorities in Pakistan in January 2020 and extradited to the U.K. last year.

Khan denied the allegations.

The Scottish government on Friday confirmed a case of classical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), known as mad cow disease, at a farm in the southwest of the country, the first British case of the disease in over two years.

The government has imposed precautionary movement restrictions at impacted premises and on animals that have been in contact with the case in Ayrshire, it said in a statement.

Further investigations to identify the origin of the disease at the farm are ongoing, the Scottish government statement said, adding there was no risk to human health.

TEXAS CATS DIE ON DAIRY FARM AFTER DRINKING RAW MILK CONTAMINATED WITH BIRD FLU, CDC WARNS

"I want to reassure both farmers and the public that the risk associated with this isolated case is minimal. But, if any farmers are concerned, I would urge them to seek veterinary advice," Chief Veterinary Officer Sheila Voas said.

BSE was first detected in Britain in the late 1980s, spreading from there to other parts of Europe and ravaging cattle herds until the early 2000s. It has been linked to the brain-wasting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

An Australian judge on Friday extended a ban on X allowing videos of the stabbing of a Sydney bishop in his church last month after government lawyers condemned the social media company's free speech argument for keeping the graphic images circulating.

Australian Federal Court Justice Geoffrey Kennett extended his order that X Corp., the company rebranded by billionaire Elon Musk when he bought Twitter last year, block users from sharing videos of the April 15 attack.

The attack led to terrorism-related charges for the alleged attacker, a teenager, and triggered a riot outside the church.

AUSTRALIA COUNTERTERRORISM FORCE ARRESTS 7 TEENAGERS FOLLOWING SYDNEY BISHOP STABBING

The order has existed since April 22 and Kennett will decide on Monday whether it will continue in its current form.

X is alone among social media platforms in fighting a notice from Australia's eSafety Commission, which describes itself as the world’s first government agency dedicated to keeping people safer online, to take down the video of the attack during an Assyrian Orthodox service streamed online.

A bishop and a priest were injured but both survived.

Musk has accused Australia of censorship and has applied to the Federal Court to overturn the eSafety notice. The court will sit on Wednesday to consider setting a hearing date for X’s application.

X has geoblocked Australian users from the content, but eSafety argues the video can be still accessed from Australia through Virtual Private Networks.

VPNs are services that allow users to access sites in other countries that are blocked in their own nation. The regulator wants a worldwide ban on the video.

An eSafety lawyer, Tim Begbie, described X in court on Friday as a "market leader in proliferating and distributing violent content and violent and extremist material."

Begbie said Australia could not be expected to conform to X’s "pro-free speech stance."

"The fact is that that stance is in large measure illusory. Because X doesn’t stand for ‘global removal is bad’ in some pure sense," Begbie said.

X’s own policies repeatedly refer to circumstances in which the platform will elect to remove content globally, Begbie said.

"The real position is this: X says that ‘reasonable’ means what X wants it to mean," Begbie said.

"Global removal is reasonable when X does it because X wants to do it. But it becomes unreasonable when X is told to do it by the laws of Australia," Begbie added.

X lawyer Bret Walker said X had taken reasonable steps to block the content from Australia but said there had been glitches.

He described eSafety’s demand for a global ban as astonishing and the notice as invalid.

"You don’t expect to see statutes saying the Australian Parliament will regulate what concerning Australia — that is events in Australia — can be viewed in Russia, Finland, Belgium or the United States," Walker said.

"Not unless we want to become isolationist to a degree that is unthinkable," Walker added.