World News

Australia struck a new security deal with Tuvalu on Thursday after critics complained that a previous pact created an Australian veto power over any other agreement the tiny South Pacific island nation pursued with a third country, such as China.

Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong committed to a new memorandum of understanding that addresses the sovereignty concerns of Teo’s government, which was elected in January.

"It’s quite significant, the security guarantee that the treaty provides is something that is quite unique," Teo said at a joint press conference in his tiny nation with a population of around 11,500 people.

TUVALU'S NEW LEADERSHIP COMMITS TO CONTINUED DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH TAIWAN INSTEAD OF BEIJING

Teo’s predecessor, Kausea Natano, struck a landmark treaty agreement in November last year that offered Tuvaluans a lifeline to escape rising seas and increased storms that threaten their country, a collection of low-lying atolls about halfway between Australia and Hawaii.

Australia would initially resettle up to 280 Tuvaluans a year under the treaty. The deal also committed Australia to help Tuvalu in response to major natural disasters, pandemics and military aggression.

The treaty also gave Australia a veto power over any security or defense-related agreement Tuvalu wants to make with any other country, including China.

Meg Keen, director of the Pacific Island Program at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank on international policy, said the new agreement made no substantive changes to the treaty announced last year.

Teo "is re-assured that provisions related to the veto-of-third-party arrangements are not intended to impinge on Tuvalu’s sovereignty, but rather to ensure effective responsiveness/coordination and interoperability in times of crisis response," Keen said in an email.

"There are provisions, if either party feels this understanding is not being honored, to withdraw," Keen added.

Australia on Thursday announced an investment of more than $72 million into Tuvalu's priority projects, including $33 million toward creating Tuvalu’s first undersea telecommunications cable.

The Tuvalu agreement is part of the coordinated efforts of the United States and its allies to curb China’s growing influence in the South Pacific, particularly in the security domain.

Campaign issues at the January election included whether Tuvalu should switch its diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing.

Teo told the AP in March in his first international media interview since taking power that his government would maintain diplomatic ties with self-governing Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.

Japan's Fisheries Agency on Thursday proposed a plan to allow catching fin whales in addition to three smaller whale species currently permitted under the country's commercial whaling around its coasts.

The proposal comes five years after Japan resumed commercial whaling within its exclusive economic zone after withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission in July 2019. It ended 30 years of what Japan called "research whaling" that had been criticized by conservationists as a cover for commercial hunts banned by the IWC in 1988.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, whose electoral district is traditionally known for whaling, said his government supports sustainable use of whales as part of Japan's traditional food culture and plans to promote the industry.

BASIC BUILDING BLOCKS OF SPERM WHALE LANGUAGE HAVE BEEN UNCOVERED, SCIENTISTS SAY

"Whales are important food resources and we believe they should be sustainably utilized just like any other marine resources, based on scientific evidence," Hayashi told reporters. "It is also important to inherit Japan's traditional food culture."

The Fisheries Agency said Thursday it has started seeking public comment on the proposed revision to its marine resource control plan. The public comment process ends on June 5, and the agency hopes to get the plan approved at its next review meeting in mid-June, officials said.

The agency decided to propose adding fin whales to the allowable catch list after stock survey results confirmed a sufficient recovery of the fin whale population in the North Pacific, officials said.

The plan is not meant to increase whale meat supply and whalers who catch fin whales do not necessarily have to meet a quota, an agency official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

For this year, the agency has set a combined catch quota of 379 for the three other whale species.

The commercial whaling industry within the Japanese EEZ last year caught 294 minke, Bryde's and sei whales, less than 80% of the quota and fewer than the number it once hunted in the Antarctic and the northwestern Pacific under the research program.

Japan’s whaling has long been a source of controversy and attacks from conservationists, but anti-whaling protests have largely subsided since Japan terminated its much-criticized Antarctic research hunts in 2019 and returned to commercial whaling limited to Japanese coasts. Japan's whale research beyond its EEZ is limited to non-lethal surveys.

Whale meat consumption in Japan was an affordable source of protein during Japan's malnourished years after World War II, with annual consumption peaking at more than 230,000 tons in the early 1960s. Whale was quickly replaced by other meats and supply has since fallen to around 2,000 tons in recent years, Fisheries Agency statistics show.

Whaling officials want to increase that to about 5,000 tons to keep the industry afloat as it started promoting whale meat consumption. A whaling operator Kyodo Senpaku Co. last year launched whale meat vending machines. The company also completed construction of its new $48 million Kangei Maru, its 9,300-ton mother ship, as the operator pledges to use it for sustainable commercial whaling.

A Moscow court rejected Wednesday an appeal filed by a Russian deputy defense minister's lawyers who sought to have him moved from prison to house arrest as he faces bribery charges.

Timur Ivanov, who was in charge of military construction projects, was arrested on April 23 and charged with accepting bribes on a large scale. After the hearing in Moscow City Court, Russian news agencies quoted his attorney Murad Musayev as saying the case involved allegations of about $11 million and that Ivanov has been suspended from duty.

Two other men have been arrested in the case.

RUSSIA THREATENS STRIKES ON BRITISH MILITARY INSTALLATIONS, PLANS NUCLEAR DRILLS AFTER CAMERON'S REMARKS

It is rare for such a high-ranking official to be charged with a crime in Russia and it is unclear what sparked the decision to arrest him.

The team of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny conducted anti-corruption investigations and accused Ivanov, an ally of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, of living a lavish lifestyle.

Ivanov, 48, was sanctioned by both the United States and European Union in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russian media reported that Ivanov oversaw some of the construction in Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city that was devastated by bombardment and occupied by Russian forces early in the war.

Zvezda, the official TV channel of the Russian military, reported in summer 2022 that the ministry was building an entire residential block in Mariupol and showed Ivanov inspecting construction sites and newly erected buildings.

Few other high-level officials have been prosecuted in Russia.

In April 2023, former Deputy Culture Minister Olga Yarilova was arrested and charged with embezzling more than $2.2 million. Yarilova, who held her post from 2018 to 2022, is on trial and facing a possible seven-year jail term.

Former Economics Minister Alexei Ulyukayev received an eight-year prison sentence in 2017 for accepting a $2 million bribe from one of Putin’s top associates. The high-profile trial was widely seen as part of infighting between Kremlin clans. Ulyukayev, now 68, was granted early release from prison in May 2022.

A transitional council tasked with choosing new leaders for Haiti is changing the way it operates in a move that surprised many as gang violence consumes the country.

Instead of having a single council president, four longtime politicians will take turns leading the council every five months, according to two members who were not authorized to publicly share the changes because they had not yet been announced.

The members told The Associated Press late Wednesday that the council also will now consider five members a majority, instead of four. The council is composed of nine members, seven of which have voting powers.

US NATIONAL SECURITY FACES MAJOR RISKS AS GANGS BATTLE FOR CONTROL OVER HAITI

"That’s a real switch," Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, said of the changes. "I think it’s a good thing that they’re really going to share power now. … It is something that is very rare in Haitian politics."

The four members who will share power are original council president Edgard Leblanc Fils, ex-senator Louis Gérald Gilles, former presidential candidate Leslie Voltaire and ex-ambassador for the Dominican Republic Smith Augustin.

The changes follow inner turmoil that threatened to derail the council after it was sworn in on April 25. The bickering began five days later, when four council members announced not only a council president but also a prime minister to the shock of many.

However, it remains to be seen if former sports minister Fritz Bélizaire will remain as the chosen prime minister. One council member told AP that they expect to make an announcement next week.

After a prime minister is announced, the council expects to choose a new Cabinet, a process many expect will involve long and heavy negotiations with powerful politicians.

"That’s going to be the other major issue," Fatton warned.

The changes come as Haiti prepares for the U.N.-backed deployment of a Kenyan police force to help fight gangs that have decimated swaths of the capital of Port-au-Prince.

On Feb. 29, gangs launched coordinated attacks; they burned police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that has remained closed since March 4 and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates. The country’s largest seaport also remains paralyzed as food, medication and other critical items dwindle.

At least 1.4 million Haitians are on the verge of famine, according to the U.N.’s World Food Program.

U.S. military planes have landed in recent days with supplies including medicine and oral hydration fluids as well as civilian contractors to prepare for the arrival of foreign forces, although it’s not clear exactly when the Kenyan police would deploy.

A team of top Kenyan security officials are in Washington D.C. this week to finalize deployment plans, including the number of police that will be sent.

As Haiti awaits foreign forces, gang violence has surged in recent days. They have attacked several communities near downtown Port-au-Prince, forcing more than 3,700 people to flee their homes.

On Tuesday, at least four people died, and several others were injured when someone opened fire on a bus driving through Martissant, a gang-controlled area in southwestern Port-au-Prince.

Kidnappings also have increased, with a female police officer killed Wednesday morning while trying to fight off gangs who tried to abduct her, said police union leader Lionel Lazarre.

More than 2,500 people have been killed or injured in the first three months of the year, a 50% increase compared with the same period last year, according to the U.N.

A Ukrainian-born American pastor is contributing to supporting efforts for chaplains on the front lines against the ongoing Russian invasion.

Andrew Moroz — a lead elder at Gospel Community Church in Lynchburg, Virginia — is currently volunteering in Ukraine, helping military chaplains to recuperate from the traumas of the conflict.

"I show up where I’m needed and invited. I come to listen and to learn first," Moroz told Fox News Digital. "If I can model a faith that is curious and humble, as well as courageous — that’s what I want these chaplains to bring to the soldiers they serve."

Fox News Digital reached out to Moroz to learn more about the very recent creation of Ukraine's chaplaincy corps, how its clerics and faith leaders operate, and the challenges they face alongside normal combatants.

UKRAINE BUSTS UP RUSSIA'S ZELENSKYY ASSASSINATION PLOT IN MASSIVE 'FAILURE' OF PUTIN'S SPIES

Chaplains in the Ukrainian conflict are divided into two groups — enlisted soldiers and volunteers supported by churches or regional dioceses.

The Military Chaplaincy Service is a brand-new structure within the Ukrainian armed forces, introduced in 2022 by an act of the nation's parliament. Prior to its introduction, the only spiritual support provided to soldiers was auxiliary programs run independently by churches.

Training for chaplains inside and outside the armed forces is disorganized and lacks standardization. Many are forced to learn on the job and pick up pastoral skills as they go.

Ukraine is an overwhelmingly Christian country with a solid Eastern Orthodox majority, followed by a smaller contingency of Catholics, and an even smaller Protestant minority.

Sergii Dadsko — a chaplain who began volunteering in 2014 working with civilian refugees — now puts most of his effort into serving soldiers. He studied at a seminary before the invasion, but says most of his training has been through his wartime ministry.

RUSSIA'S KREMLIN PARADES WESTERN EQUIPMENT CAPTURES FROM UKRAINIAN ARMY AT EXHIBITION

Mykhailo Hryhoruk is a member of Olive Branch, an organization coordinating religious support for years across Ukraine. Olive Branch has given Mykhailo opportunities to take courses and attend seminary classes in Kyiv and Ryvne.

The pair work together, often coordinating relief for soldiers coming out of combat to resupply or due to injuries. The chaplains help soldiers find showers and a place to rest. They serve all members of the military, regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof.

In between the logistical work of caring for the wounded and exhausted, they find time to read Scripture and invite others to join them.

The work is crucial, Moroz says, as Ukrainian society continues suffering an overwhelming mental toll in the face of massive casualties.

"In the midst of trauma and conflict, I have personally experienced both individuals who are finding their faith and actively expressing it, and individuals who are experiencing a crisis of faith," Moroz told Fox News Digital. "I would say the longer this war goes, the more I see discouragement and hardening of hearts. I heard one of the volunteers say this week, trauma will either drown you (harden you) or it will teach you how to float (it will tenderize your heart)."

Moroz, through his Renewal Initiative program, is one of many foreign faith leaders entering Ukraine in order to support those aiding the soldiers. 

"I just finished a three-day retreat on a beautiful (and peaceful) camp property outside of Kyiv. We had between 80–100 chaplains and civilian volunteers that have been actively serving others during the last two years (some longer - since 2014)," Moroz said. "I brought four mental health specialists with me and three other pastors. We had self-care/self-assessment sessions based around physical, emotional, and spiritual care. Outside of the sessions, the guests set counseling appointments with the therapists."

He continued, "With the help of donors from the United States, we were able to purchase delicious and wholesome food, hire massage therapists, and provide a sauna experience. There were also moments of prayer for personal health and the country of Ukraine. We were told that this is something that is desperately needed in Ukraine and does not exist broadly."

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is now in its second year. Hard figures on military and civilian casualties are impossible to accurately calculate, but numbers in the tens of thousands for both sides.

South Korea’s president on Thursday dismissed calls for independent investigations into allegations involving his wife and top officials, drawing quick, strong rebukes from his political rivals.

After his conservative ruling party suffered a heavy loss in the recent April 10 parliamentary elections, President Yoon Suk Yeol faces what appears to be his biggest political challenge yet as opposition parties would extend their control of the National Assembly to 2028.

The opposition has recently stepped up its demand for an independent investigation into first lady Kim Keon Hee over various scandals, such as her alleged involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme and the release of spy camera footage showing her receiving a luxury bag from a Korean American pastor.

SOUTH KOREA EXPLORES POSSIBILITY OF JOINING ALLIANCE FOR SHARING MILITARY TECHNOLOGY WITH US

In a news conference marking his two years in office, Yoon said he apologizes for what he calls "my wife’s unwise behavior" in accepting the Christian Dior bag but refused to elaborate because the scandal is under investigation by prosecutors.

Yoon described the demand for a new, special investigation on Kim’s shares price allegation as a political offensive, as Kim wasn’t charged or convicted from investigations that began when the Democratic Party was in power. Yoon in January had vetoed a bill calling for the appointment of an independent counsel to investigate his wife’s stock price allegations.

During Thursday’s conference, Yoon also made it clear that he opposes another Democratic Party-led push for a special investigation into suspicions surrounding the death of a marine who drowned during a search for flood victims in 2023.

Yoon called the marine’s death heartbreaking, but stressed that police and an anti-corruption investigation agency have already been examining the case. Yoon said he would approve a new independent investigation if police and the anti-corruption investigation agency fail to address public suspicions over the case. Questions over why the marine was mobilized without safety gear and whether the government tried to prevent top officials from being held accountable have persisted.

Last week, the opposition-controlled parliament passed a bill calling for an independent investigation of the death, after ruling party members boycotted a floor vote in protest.

Later Thursday, the Democratic Party’s floor leader, Park Chan-dae, lambasted Yoon for rejecting its call for the special investigation of the marine’s death. "I can’t help questioning whether he sympathizes with the public indignant over the wrongful death of the marine at all," Park said.

Party spokesperson Han Min-soo also said Yoon’s opposition to his wife’s new investigation proves she is "a sanctuary" in criminal investigations.

Despite the election defeat, Yoon’s major foreign policy agenda is likely to be unchanged as he does not need parliamentary endorsements. Yoon has made a bolstered military alliance with the U.S. the heart of his foreign policy, while pushing to expand trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation to cope with North Korean nuclear threats and other challenges.

Yoon also Thursday criticized North Korea’s alleged arms exports to Russia to fuel its warfighting in Ukraine and maintained that Seoul will stick to its principle of providing only non-lethal support to Ukraine.

"We have a very clear policy that we do not provide lethal, offensive weapons to any side" in active conflict, Yoon said.

Since the start of the war, South Korea has sold artillery rounds to the United States, saying that the rounds were meant to backfill depleted U.S. stocks. The country also signed several arms deals with European powers eager to bolster their defenses in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

"North Korea’s export of these weapons is not only an illicit activity to support the war in Ukraine, but also a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions over the North Korean nuclear issue," Yoon said. "So, we are taking necessary actions in coordination with the U.N. and international community."

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a bombing in Afghanistan’s northeast that killed police officers who were part of an anti-poppy crop campaign.

A motorcycle was booby-trapped and exploded, targeting a Taliban patrol in Faizabad town in Badakhshan province, killing and wounding 12 members of the patrol as well as destroying a four-wheel drive vehicle, the group said in a statement late Wednesday.

Abdul Mateen Qani, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the officers were on their way to destroy poppy crops in the area.

US FACES 'INEVITABLE' ISIS ATTACKS AT HOME FOLLOWING MOSCOW MASSACRE: RETIRED GENERAL

The Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan, a major Taliban rival, has conducted attacks on schools, hospitals, mosques and Shiite areas throughout the country. In March, the group said one of its suicide bombers detonated an explosive belt among Taliban gathered near a Kandahar bank to receive their salaries.

The Taliban pledged to wipe out the country’s drug cultivation industry and imposed a formal ban in April 2022, dealing a heavy blow to hundreds of thousands of farmers and day laborers who relied on proceeds from the crop to survive. Opium cultivation crashed by 95% after the ban, a report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said last November.

Protests are rare in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, but there was a backlash in Badakhshan last week in response to the poppy eradication campaign.

It prompted a high-ranking delegation led by the chief of military staff Fasihudin Fitrat to visit the region and negotiate with protesters.

Protests erupted last Friday after a man was shot and killed by the Taliban for resisting poppy eradication attempts in Darayum district. Another was killed on Saturday during a protest in Argo district.

China’s military criticized a U.S. destroyer’s passage through the Taiwan Strait less than two weeks before the island's new president takes office and while Washington and Beijing are making uneven efforts to restore regular military exchanges.

Navy Senior Capt. Li Xi, spokesperson for China's Eastern Theater Command, accused the U.S. of having "publicly hyped" the passage of the USS Halsey on Wednesday. In a statement, Li said the command, which oversees operations around the strait, "organized naval and air forces to monitor" the ship's transit.

The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said the Halsey "conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on May 8 through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law."

TAIWAN STANDS AS MAJOR LINE OF DEFENSE AGAINST GLOBAL WAR WITH CHINA, CRITICAL FOR US SECURITY

The guided-missile destroyer transited through a corridor in the strait that is "beyond the territorial sea" of any coastal state, the fleet said in a statement.

"Halsey’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle," it said. "No member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms. The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows."

China's accusation that the transit was "publicly hyped" — essentially meaning it was played up for maximum political effect — has been standard practice when Beijing sees the announcements as a means of pushing back against China’s claim to some degree of control over who can pass freely through the strait. There was no indication the U.S. Navy had operated any differently in the latest case, nor that the Chinese response was any more vociferous.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it was fully aware of the destroyer's passage.

CHINA INCREASES AGGRESSIVE MOVES AGAINST TAIWAN AS ISLAND PREPARES TO INAUGURATE NEW PRESIDENT

"Throughout the transit, the Taiwanese military was closely monitoring the surrounding sea and airspace, and the situation remained normal," the ministry said.

The last such passage was on April 17, a day after U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. Military-to-military contact stalled in August 2022, when Beijing suspended all such communication after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. China responded by firing missiles over Taiwan and staging a surge in military maneuvers, including what appeared to be a rehearsal of a naval and aerial blockade of the island.

The critical strait is 100 miles wide and divides China from Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy where President-elect William Lai Ching-te will be inaugurated on May 20. Lai's Democratic Progressive Party favors Taiwan's de facto independent status under which it maintains strong unofficial relations with the U.S. and other major nations.

Taiwan's military heightens its alert status around sensitive dates, such as this January's presidential and legislative elections, wary that China might use its vastly more powerful military to attempt to intimidate voters and sway public opinion in favor of Beijing's insistence that unification between the sides is inevitable.

The two sides split during a civil war in 1949, and as recently as 1996, China fired missiles just north and south of the island and held military exercises in an ultimately counterproductive bid to deter voters from backing candidates they opposed. Since then, China has largely kept a low profile around elections, favoring instead to curry favor with business groups and treat unification-oriented politicians and grassroots officials to all-expenses paid visits to the mainland.

Although the heavily transited Taiwan Strait is international waters and vital to global trade, China considers the passage of warships from the U.S., Britain and other nations as a challenge to its sovereignty.

China sends navy ships and warplanes into the strait and other areas around the island almost daily to wear down Taiwan’s defenses and seek to intimidate its 23 million people, who firmly back their de facto independence.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said 23 Chinese military aircraft and eight naval ships were detected operating around Taiwan in the 24 hours up to 6 a.m. Thursday. Eight of the planes crossed the median line in the strait and entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone, prompting Taiwan to scramble jets and put coastal missile batteries and naval craft on alert.

In addition to sailing through the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. Navy conducts what it calls freedom of navigation operations in which it sails and flies in close proximity to Chinese-held features in the South China Sea, many of them human-made islands that have been 'militarized over the years with air strips, radar stations and other capabilities.

China claims virtually all of the South China Sea, a principal maritime highway for global trade, and reacts furiously to such moves, accusing the U.S. of destabilizing the region. It often shadows the U.S. vessels and planes with its own assets, demanding they leave the area immediately. The U.S. claims it has the right under international law to sail in the area and a U.N.-backed arbitration panel has tossed out China's claims, a ruling Beijing ignored.

Former Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama was sentenced Thursday to a year in prison for interfering in a criminal investigation while he headed the government of his South Pacific island nation.

Acting High Court of Fiji Chief Justice Salesi Temo sentenced the 70-year-old in the capital Suva on a conviction for attempting to pervert the course of justice. Suspended Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho received a 2-year prison sentence on a conviction for abuse of office, The Fiji Times newspaper reported.

Bainimarama had led his government for 16 years, first as a military dictator following a 2006 coup and then as a prime minister who was democratically elected in 2014 and 2018. After the 2022 election, he was succeeded by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who also first seized power as a coup leader in 1987.

FIJI EYES CHINESE PARTNERSHIP IN UPGRADING ITS PORTS

Bainimarama was prime minister in 2019 when he ended a police investigation into allegations of financial mismanagement at the University of the South Pacific.

The university is owned by 12 Pacific Island nations and its main campus is in Suva. The university’s administration had alleged to police that abuses of funding and mismanagement had been happening for a decade.

Prosecutors alleged the prime minister and police commissioner ended an active police investigation into former university staff members. Prosecutors said police were continuing their investigation and could lay more charges.

A lower court judge had acquitted Bainimarama and Qiliho of the charges last October. But prosecutors successfully appealed to the High Court, which convicted them both.

Bainimarama did not react when his sentence was read out, but his wife Mary Bainimarama broke down in tears as she sat by his side in court, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

His lawyers said they would appeal, but Temo rejected their application to have Bainimarama released on bail pending an appeals court hearing.

Police led Bainimarama from court in handcuffs to a van that took him to a prison outside Suva.

The U.S. will face a difficult decision if the Palestinians should succeed in establishing a workaround toward official recognition, which could trigger America pulling all funding from the U.N. in protest, according to experts.

"If the draft resolution as it currently stands is adopted, U.S. law demands that the U.S. withhold all funds from the U.N.," Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro University Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, told Fox News Digital. "The question is: Where is Congress? It needs to make it very clear, very publicly, that American law will be upheld and take immediate steps to do so."

The U.S. in 1990 passed Public Law 101-246, which focused on authorizing appropriations for fiscal 1990 and 1991 for the Department of State. Section 414 of the bill highlighted concerns over the inclusion of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the United Nations and specialized agencies.

The section states, "No funds authorized to be appropriated from this act or any other Act shall be available for the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states."

UN AGENCY ACCUSED OF BEING PART OF HAMAS AFTER ISRAEL STRIKES TERRORIST HQ

The broad language – "any other Act" – has created some confusion about what the U.S. would need to do if the PLO, a group internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people, were to obtain the privileges and powers of a full and recognized U.N. member. 

"It is no surprise that Biden officials are not hitting the airwaves clearly announcing that a General Assembly end run around the U.N. charter, purporting to grant the so-called state of Palestine the trappings of full-member state status, is not only contrary to the spirit and intent of the U.N.'s own charter but is contrary to American law," Bayefsky said.

"A majority of U.N. member states are not free democracies," she said. "The Islamic and Arab blocs of states, a large percentage of which continue to dispute even Israel's right to exist, wield enormous power, and despite American isolation in U.N. circles on issue after issue of importance to the United States, including the constant aggression and antisemitism meted out to Israel, American citizens still bankroll the place and host the institution in its midst."

The U.S. likely did not think it would have to wrangle with this problem, especially as American representatives at the U.N. continue to veto measures to recognize the Palestinians as a full member of the organization.

However, a new draft resolution would seek what some have called a "workaround" that would seek the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to approve powers to vote and veto without official recognition as a full member of the organization.

"They're still carelessly killing Americans and killing Israelis through terrorism and then giving those who do it if they're arrested, if they don't die to a suicide bomb, payments and a guaranteed position in the PLA when they get out of prison," Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., told Fox News Digital. "That's [one] of the ugliest, most anti-democracy and anti-human rights policies I've ever heard of." 

LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE LEGISLATION HOLDING UNRWA ACCOUNTABLE FOR JOINING, ASSISTING HAMAS TERROR ATTACK IN ISRAEL

"Pay-to-slay is exactly what happened with Hamas just recently; obviously it's been an ongoing problem with Oct. 7, [and] they're part of the Palestinian effort," Smith said, calling the approach an "impermissible act" and asking "how do you reward" an organization like Hamas that "calls for the evisceration of Israel."

"If you're going to play some game at the United Nations that somehow this isn't a full-blown membership, [then] this shows a deceptive approach to dealing with member states," Smith added. "How dare they even think of doing this? It may pass in the General Assembly – they need two thirds, as we all know – but they also need the Security Council to do it as well, and thankfully, the United States will veto that."

A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the U.S. is "aware of the draft resolution and reiterate[s] our concerns with any effort to extend certain benefits to entities when there are unresolved questions as to whether the Palestinians currently meet the criteria under the U.N. charter."

"The United States is committed to intensifying its engagement – with the Palestinians and the rest of the region – not only to address the current crisis in Gaza but to advance a political settlement that will create a path to Palestinian statehood and membership in the United Nations," the spokesperson added, noting "direct negotiations" as the path toward statehood.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan said the resolution provides de facto status and rights of a state and that he fully expects the U.S. to "completely stop funding the U.N. and its institutions, in accordance with American law" should the resolution pass, he said in a recorded video statement.

Then-President Obama, for example, cut funding to UNESCO (U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2011 after the organization granted full membership to the Palestinians, which crippled the agency as the U.S. accounted for 22% of the budget. UNESCO froze job hires and cut programs after losing U.S. funding, according to Reuters. 

EXTREMISTS RISE IN NEW PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY GOVERNMENT AS BIDEN THREATENS ISRAEL OVER GAZA WAR

"We are coping in very difficult circumstances," UNESCO's Irina Bokova told reporters at the time. "We're fundraising this year, but it's not sustainable on a long-term basis. We're not closing UNESCO, but member states will have to rethink the way forward. UNESCO will be crippled."

The U.S. fully left the organization in 2017 as part of concerns over perceived anti-Israel bias from the group, with Israel following out the door in 2018. The U.S. rejoined UNESCO in July 2023 over concerns that China had gained an outsized level of influence in the group during America’s absence.

But that absence provided a glimpse of the impact the U.S. could have if it cut its broader funding to the United Nations. Brett Schaefer, the senior research fellow in international regulatory affairs at the Heritage Foundation, noted the U.S. currently accounts for around a quarter of all funding to the U.N. regular budget and the peacekeeping budget.

"In one fell swoop, one rash decision, they could essentially prohibit the U.S. from providing a fifth of the U.N.’s funding," Schaefer told Fox News Digital. But he noted that the way the resolution’s adoption plays out could provide the U.S. some wiggle room.

"If the Palestinians don't join other organizations, technically, that funding could continue to the special interest groups," he said. "However, every single one of those specialized agencies basically grants membership opportunities to any other member of the United Nations." 

"They have been successful in getting into several U.N. special organizations, especially agencies including UNESCO," Schaefer added. "So, if they have the votes to get into the U.N. in this manner, what's to stop them from doing and following a similar path with specialized agencies?"

UN ATOMIC WATCHDOG CHIEF TRAVELS TO IRAN, GRAPPLES WITH TEHRAN'S ESCALATING NUCLEAR PROGRAM

Schaefer laid out the ongoing issues that admitting the Palestinians into the United Nations would pose, such as the fact that Hamas remains the official ruling party of the Gaza Strip, which would mean admitting a terrorist organization into the United Nations with the power and benefits of a member state. 

"There is no question that Palestinians do not meet that criteria," Schaefer insisted. Referring to Hamas, he noted that "their founding documents call for the destruction of Israel. They have sponsored terrorist acts for decades."

"Even the Palestinian Authority, which the United States has been negotiating with … celebrated the terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, so this is not a situation where there is a peace-loving state," he added.

More importantly, however, Schaefer said China has become the second-largest funding source for the United Nations, which would revive U.S. concerns over what influence Beijing could command in the absence of the U.S. 

According to Schaefer, China tripled its contributions over the past decade to account for around 15% of the regular budget. Other wealthy nations, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, contribute about 1% to 2% of the U.N. general budget, respectively.

But the impact of America cutting its funds from the U.N. would still prove crippling to the organization, according to Schaefer. 

"Your entire operations would come to a halt right away," he said. "It doesn’t mean you couldn’t do your job, but it would have a massive impact on your daily operations" and that the bulk of the U.N. general budget goes toward staff salaries and benefits, utilities and maintenance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The reputation of the U.S. globally has taken a hit over the last year and the majority of citizens believe election integrity threatens the country's democracy, while immigration is now one of the top concerns among Europeans, according to a global study published on Wednesday.

The drop in positive attitudes towards the U.S. is particularly stark in the Muslim-majority countries surveyed, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, and Algeria, as well as in European countries such as Switzerland, Ireland, Ukraine and Germany. 

Still, the U.S. remains positively viewed globally, although Russia and China are now seen as positively as the U.S. in most Middle East and North African countries surveyed, according to the study.

BIDEN PLAN TO EXTEND OBAMACARE ELIGIBILITY TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS GETS PUSHBACK IN CONGRESS: 'MADNESS'

In Europe, countries have witnessed a sharp increase in the share of people who say that "reducing immigration" should be a top government priority as concerns about climate change fall, according to a global study published on Wednesday. About 5.1 million immigrants entered the EU from non-EU countries in 2022, an increase of around 117%, or 2.7 million, compared to 2021, European data shows.

Germany was in the lead with 44% when it came to people wanting their government to focus on reducing immigration, followed by Ireland and France.

The study, called the Democracy Perception Index (DPI) is one of the world’s largest annual studies on how people perceive the state of democracy in their respective countries and consisted of 63,000 interviews from people across 53 countries. It was conducted by the Denmark-based think tank Alliance of Democracies Foundation and the research group Latana. It did not provide a reason for the U.S. reputation decline. 

The DPI found that faith in democracy has remained high across the globe over the past six years with 85% of those polled saying that it’s important to have democracy in their country.

However, governments don’t always live up to people’s expectations. While 58% of respondents were satisfied with the state of democracy in their country, the remainder were not.

In the U.S., 60% of respondents said that unfair elections and/or election fraud threatens the country's democracy, while about 77% said that corruption is a threat to democracy. 

LESS THAN 1 IN 4 AMERICANS HAVE FAVORABLE OPINION OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: POLL

The study said dissatisfaction was not limited to non-democratic countries. It was also prevalent in the U.S., Europe and in other places with a long democratic tradition. 

In Europe, about a third of Hungarians believe they live in a democracy.

About half of the people around the world, in both democratic and non-democratic countries, feel that their government is acting only in the interest of a small group of people. Over the past four years, this perception has remained highest in Latin America, lowest in Asia and has steadily increased in Europe since 2020 – particularly in Germany, the study shows. 

Israel, Ukraine and Russia have all experienced a "rally around the flag" effect, with the public perception that the government is acting in the interest of the majority of the people increasing rapidly after the start of their respective conflicts. In Ukraine, however, this perception declined sharply after it peaked in 2022.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the chair of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation and former Danish Prime Minister, says that these figures are an eye-opener and the trend shows there is a risk of losing the Global South to the autocracies.

"Around the world people want to live under democracy but these figures are a wake-up call for all democratic governments," Rasmussen said.

"Defending democracy means advancing freedom around the world, but it also means listening to voters’ concerns at home… We are witnessing an axis of autocracies forming from China to Russia to Iran. We must act now to make freedom more attractive than dictatorship and unite through an alliance of democracies to push back against the emboldened autocrats.

War and violent conflict is increasingly seen as the most important global challenge, followed by poverty and hunger, and climate change. The last year has seen a global rise in the share of people who say that migration and terrorism are among the world’s largest challenges, particularly among Europeans. 

At the national level, most people want their governments to focus more on poverty reduction, corruption and economic growth. 

However, there are strong regional differences in priorities: Europeans and Americans are much more likely to want their government to prioritize improving healthcare, fighting climate change and reducing immigration than countries in Asia and Latin America, where fighting corruption and promoting growth are seen as more important.

Globally, 33% of those surveyed believe climate change is one of the world’s three main challenges, but only 14% say fighting it should be among the top three priorities for their government.

Immigration is likely to play a major role in next month’s European elections where nationalist parties are expected to make significant gains.  

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

After nearly a decade, Nicaragua's congress finally canceled on Wednesday a controversial canal concession granted to a Chinese businessman that critics said endangered the environment and threatened to displace rural communities.

Despite a symbolic "groundbreaking" in 2014, no work was done on the canal that was to link Nicaragua’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts. At one point, crews broke ground on access roads near the canal but digging the waterway never started.

A NEW STUDY SAYS ABOUT HALF OF NICARAGUA'S POPULATION WANTS TO EMIGRATE

Thousands of Nicaraguan farmers had protested against land seizures meant to create a route for the government-backed project.

In 2019, a Nicaraguan judge sentenced three farmers’ leaders who participated in the protests to prison for 216 years, 210 years and 159 years. They were accused of promoting a "failed coup" against the government. Nicaraguan law caps prison time actually served at 30 years.

The proposed $50 billion, 172-mile (278-kilometer) canal across this Central American nation was long viewed as a joke that later turned deadly serious. The canal and its potential effect on the environment became a symbol of the odd and arbitrary nature of President Daniel Ortega's increasingly repressive regime.

Ortega’s government claimed the canal would create tens of thousands of jobs and stimulate the poor Central American nation’s economy.

Detractors argued it posed serious environmental risks, would displace thousands of families in the countryside and was financially unfeasible.

The canal concession was granted to the Hong Kong-based company HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co. Limited, owned by Chinese businessman Wang Jing.

Armenia's prime minister visited Moscow and held talks Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid spiraling tensions between the estranged allies.

Putin hosted Nikol Pashinyan for talks following a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union, a Moscow-dominated economic alliance. that they both attended earlier in the day. The negotiations came a day after Putin began his fifth term at a glittering Kremlin inauguration.

ARMENIA'S PRIME MINISTER URGES SWIFT BORDER AGREEMENT TO AVOID CONFLICT WITH AZERBAIJAN

In brief remarks at the start of the talks, Putin said that bilateral trade was growing, but acknowledged "some issues concerning security in the region."

Pashinyan, who last visited Moscow in December, said that "certain issues have piled up since then."

Armenia's ties with its longtime sponsor and ally Russia have grown increasingly strained after Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign in September to reclaim the Karabakh region, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatists’ rule there.

Armenian authorities accused Russian peacekeepers who were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after the previous round of hostilities in 2020 of failing to stop Azerbaijan's onslaught. Moscow, which has a military base in Armenia, has rejected the accusations, arguing that its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.

The Kremlin, in turn, has been angered by Pashinyan’s efforts to deepen ties with the West and distance his country from Moscow-dominated security and economic alliances.

Just as Pashinyan was visiting Moscow on Wednesday, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry announced that the country will stop paying fees to the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-dominated security pact. Armenia has previously suspended its participation in the grouping as Pashinyan has sought to bolster ties with the European Union and NATO.

Russia was also vexed by Armenia’s decision to join the International Criminal Court, which last year indicted Putin for alleged war crimes connected to the Russian action in Ukraine.

Moscow, busy with the Ukrainian conflict that has dragged into a third year, has publicly voiced concern about Yerevan's westward shift but sought to downplay the differences.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov conceded Tuesday that "there are certain problems in our bilateral relations," but added that "there is a political will to continue the dialogue."

North Macedonia elected its first woman president Wednesday as the governing Social Democrats suffered historic losses in twin presidential and parliamentary elections.

Conservative-backed Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, a 70-year-old law professor, was declared the winner after receiving nearly 65% support with more than two-thirds of the vote counted in a presidential runoff. "Is there a bigger change than electing a woman as president?" Siljanovska-Davkova told party supporters. "I will stand with women in taking this great step forward, a step towards reform."

NORTH MACEDONIA VOTES IN PRESIDENTIAL RUNOFF, PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

Incumbent Stevo Pendarovski conceded after garnering just over 29% of the vote. Siljanovska-Davkova was backed by the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, which made sweeping gains on popular discontent over the country’s slow path toward European Union membership and its sluggish economy. A coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE was ahead with nearly 43% in the parliamentary election, while the Social Democrat-led coalition that has held power for the least seven years struggled to hold onto second place with 14.8.% – just ahead of a group of parties led by the ethnic Albanian minority party DUI.

Celebrations in the capital Skopje were muted by a thunderstorm that caused power outages. The conservative landslide win will be followed by power sharing talks for the control of the 120-seat parliament. But Social Democrat leader Dimitar Kovachevski, who served as prime minister from 2022 until early this year, conceded his party's defeat late Wednesday in the parliamentary election and announced that he would stand down after a new leader is selected by the party. Victory for Siljanovska-Davkova makes her the first woman to hold the largely ceremonial post of president since the country gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

The monthlong campaign focused on North Macedonia’s slow progress toward joining the 27-nation EU, the rule of law, corruption, fighting poverty and tackling the country’s flat economic growth.

VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski headed a 22-party coalition called "Your Macedonia" that accused opponents of ineptitude and making humiliating compromises in trying to settle disputes with North Macedonia's neighbors. Mickoski, 46, told supporters that the incoming conservative-led government would make fighting corruption its priority. "Every last person who committed a crime and committed corruption will be held accountable," he said. "The people have taught the government its most important lesson and saved their country ... We have regained hope and tonight we have reason to celebrate." NATO member North Macedonia has been a candidate to join the EU since 2005, but was blocked by successive disputes with neighbors Greece and Bulgaria as well as slow progress on some reforms required for membership to advance.

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia are also seeking membership.

Skopje resident Gordana Gerasimovski said she was disappointed that the country had been waiting for so long to join the EU, but hoped for real progress now.

"We should have been part of the European Union a long time ago," she said. "This is what we are lacking, but we hope that with time we will get to where we have wanted to be for so long."

More than 2,300 domestic and international observers were authorized to monitor the election.

In sometimes violent confrontations, police broke up a protest by pro-Palestinian activists at the University of Amsterdam Wednesday in a second straight day of unrest over the war in Gaza.

After police ended a blockade on university grounds, hundreds of demonstrators moved to a nearby square to continue protesting late into the evening, demanding an end to the war. Some asked the university to sever academic relations with Israel.

ANTI-ISRAEL ENCAMPMENT SPROUTS UP AT UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS POLICE IMMEDIATELY TAKE ACTION

It was unclear if and how many people were injured during the scuffles and how many protesters were detained by police.

Also, at Utrecht University, some 45 kilometers (30 miles) to the south, students occupied a university building to protest Israeli actions in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Student protests have been gaining momentum across Europe, following similar actions in the U.S. universities where several encampments have spread out.

The war started after the Palestinian militant groups attacked the southern of Israel, killing 1,200 people in a surprise attack and taking around 250 hostage. Israel's' retaliatory military operation has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and has devastated the Gaza Strip.

Mexico was hit by hours of rolling blackouts late Tuesday due to high temperatures and temporary drops in electrical power generation.

The government’s National Center for Energy Control said the blackouts lasted a total of about five hours, though it was likely less for individual customers because it was a rolling blackout distributed around the country.

The center said the largest power cut affected about 5% of customers, and lasted about four hours.

MEXICO IMPLEMENTS VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR PERUVIANS IN EFFORT TO SLOW MIGRATION TO US

The larger blackout was partly caused by a spike in power demand in the early evening, when many Mexicans arrive home and turn on television sets, fans and air conditioners.

Mexico has broken several high temperature records this year, with about a third of the country expected to reach 113 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday. Greater Mexico City, where about one-sixth of the population lives, reached a high of 92 degrees on Tuesday.

Mexico City is located in a high mountain valley and usually cools down at night, but that has not been happening as much this year.

Power generation also dropped unexpectedly due to other reasons including lower output from hydroelectric dams, which have been affected by drought, and clouds affecting solar power.

The blackouts were an embarrassment for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has made a priority of increasing the role of the state-owned power company, known as the CFE, and reducing opportunities for private power generators.

Many of the state-owned plants that López Obrador has given priority to are dirtier because they burn fuel produced at government-owned refineries. The president has sought to limit cleaner, private power generation using natural gas or renewables.

Kenya's public hospital doctors union on Wednesday signed a return to work agreement with the government, ending a national strike that began in mid-March and had left patients in limbo.

Davji Atellah, the union secretary general, said the doctors agreed to trust the government to implement an agreement to ensure the labor issues that caused the strike, including poor remuneration and working conditions, are resolved.

KENYAN DOCTORS STAGE MASS PROTEST IN THE STREETS AS NATIONAL STRIKE ENTERS SECOND WEEK

A labor court on Tuesday had given doctors and the government 48 hours to sign a return to work agreement, failure to which the matter would be determined by the court.

Kenya's Health Minister Susan Nakhumicha said the doctors had proved to be better negotiators than the government side, adding that the doctors had put up "quite a fight."

The end of the strike comes as a relief to millions of Kenyans seeking health services from public hospitals that had been crippled by the strike.

Some hospitals had decided to hire temporary doctors for emergency services.

In 2017, doctors at Kenya’s public hospitals held a 100-day strike — the longest ever held in the country — to demand better wages and for the government to restore the country’s dilapidated public-health facilities.

Kenya is currently dealing with the devastating effects of flooding that has affected 235,000 people since mid-March when the rainy season started.

A sticky bomb exploded in northeastern Afghanistan, killing at least three police officers on Wednesday, officials said.

Abdul Mateen Qani, a spokesman for the Taliban’s interior ministry, said the bomb which was "attached to a motorcycle, exploded in Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan province," while a convoy of security forces was passing through, adding that five other officers were wounded.

6 FATALLY SHOT IN SHIITE MOSQUE IN AFGHANISTAN: TALIBAN

Qani said the officers were on their way to destroy poppy crops in the area.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

A few days ago Badakhshan witnessed violent protests against the Taliban’s poppy eradication campaign, propelling a high-ranking delegation led by the chief of military staff Fasihudin Fitrat to visit the region and negotiate with protestors.

Fitrat said Tuesday in a video message that he had addressed people's complaints and that the situation was under control. He added that locals backed poppy eradication across Badakhshan.

Protests erupted Friday after a man was shot and killed by Taliban forces after resisting poppy eradication attempts in Darayum district. Another was killed on Saturday during a protest in Argo district.

Pakistani security forces killed six militants in twin raids Wednesday targeting their hideouts in the country's volatile northwest region bordering Afghanistan, the military said.

SUICIDE ATTACK THAT KILLED 5 CHINESE NATIONALS WAS PLANNED IN AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN'S MILITARY SAYS

Five militants were killed in the first raid in Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said in a statement. It did not provide further details about the slain insurgents, and only said the men were behind various previous attacks on the security forces.

Another militant was killed in the second raid in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in the North Waziristan district in the northwest.

The statement did not provide any further details about the identity of the slain men.

Such operations often target the Pakistani Taliban, which has been emboldened by the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in 2021. Known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, it is a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban.

More than 60 people were arrested and hundreds of charges were filed in a series of investigations into child sexual abuse in Ontario, Canadian police said Wednesday.

Provincial Police Det. Staff Sgt. Tim Brown said the investigations were carried out over 10 days in February and led to the arrest of dozens of suspects accused of making, possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material.

2 OF 3 SUSPECTS IN CANADIAN SIKH SEPARATIST LEADER'S KILLING APPEAR IN COURT

"We were reacting to complaints from different electronic service providers, so services like any of the social media platforms," Brown said. "The bulk of this project was that."

Brown said one case involved luring and involved an undercover officer online.

Investigators said 64 people have been charged with a total of 348 offenses and more than 600 devices have been seized. The suspects range in age from 16 to 67.

Police allege one of the people charged was in possession of 21 terabytes of data containing child sexual abuse material.

They say 34 victims have been identified and 30 children were safeguarded.