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In Turkey, a team of archaeologists discovered the tomb of a Roman gladiator dating back to the third century B.C., with the remains of 12 individuals inside. 

The tomb was unearthed during the excavation of St. John Monument in Selcuk, Izmir, Turkey, according to Türkiye Today. The excavation was authorized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and led by associate professor Sinan Mimaroglu from Hatay Mustafa Kemal University’s Department of Art History, according to the source. 

While the tomb was from the third century B.C., it was determined that it was later reused during the fifth century A.D., to hold the remains of the 12 men and women, Türkiye Today reported. 

THE HISTORY OF THE HOXNE HOARD, THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF ROMAN TREASURE FOUND IN BRITAIN

The Roman gladiator buried in the tomb was named Euphrates, per the source. In ancient Roman times, gladiators were professional fighters who engaged in battle in front of crowded arenas.

Many early gladiators were enslaved peoples and those who committed crimes, though that wasn't always the case, History.com reported. With the growing popularity of these battles, men began to voluntarily sign up to participate, according to the source. 

Gladiators would typically engage in one on one combat, under the monitoring of a referee, according to The Colosseum's website. While early battles were often fought to the death, this less commonly became the case as the games continued, and as fighters underwent intense and expensive training and were costly to replace, according to the source.

THE 4,000 ITEMS IN THE STAFFORDSHIRE HOARD MAKE IT THE LARGEST COLLECTION IN HISTORY OF ITS KIND

Historians estimate that around one in five or one in 10 battles ended in the death of one combatant, according to History.com. Many gladiators only lived to their mid-20s, per the source. 

Tombs similar to the one belonging to Euphrates have been found in Istanbul, Marmara Island and Syria, according to Türkiye Today. 

Inside the tomb recently unearthed by archaeologists, there were crosses carved within, dating back to the fifth century, as well as on the lid, which are thought to have been added during the seventh and eighth centuries, according to the source.

Not much is known about the 12 who were buried inside the tomb, but it's believed they came from an upper-class background. 

"The burials inside the church likely belong to the upper class or clergy, as it’s unlikely an ordinary person would be buried in such a meticulous manner within a church," Mimaroglu said, per Türkiye Today. 

The finding of this tomb holds significance in many different ways, including giving researchers more knowledge of the ancient city of Ephesus as well as ancient burial practices, the source notes. 

A Canadian woman accused of killing three people in a span of a few days in separate slayings has been arrested, authorities said this week before labeling her a serial killer. 

Sabrina Kauldhar, 30, was arrested at a hotel in Burlington, Ontario, after the slayings of a woman and two men in and around the Toronto area, the Niagara Regional Police Service said Friday.

"I think by definition she is a serial killer," Niagara Regional Police Chief Bill Fordy told reporters at the news conference. "Two or more offenses, so by definition, I think that’s a fair comment."

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Kauldhar's alleged killing spree began on Oct. 1 when authorities in Toronto responded and found a woman in her 60s dead inside a home. The next day, first responders were called to a disturbance at John Allan Park in Niagara Falls.

When they arrived, they found a man with critical injuries. 

"Despite medical intervention efforts by Niagara Emergency Medical Services and the Niagara Falls Fire Service, 47-year-old Lance Cunningham was pronounced deceased at the scene," a Niagara Regional Police Service statement said. 

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The third slaying occurred on Oct. 3. A man was found stabbed in a parking lot in Hamilton, a Toronto suburb. The victim, identified as 77-year-old Mario Bilich, a retired teacher, was taken to a hospital where he later died. 

"Investigators were able to link the Hamilton homicide to the recent murder in John Allen Park in Niagara Falls, determining the suspect matched the description in both cases," police said. "An additional link was made to the active homicide investigation from October 1 in Toronto." 

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Investigators said Cunningham and Bilich were randomly targeted but the Toronto victim was known to the suspect. Authorities later identified the Toronto murder victim but have not disclosed her name publicly. 

Kauldhar is charged with first-degree murder for the Hamilton killing and second-degree murder for the Toronto and Niagara slayings, police said.

North Korea said Wednesday it will permanently block its border with South Korea and build front-line defense structures to cope with "confrontational hysteria" by South Korean and U.S. forces, while not announcing an expected constitutional revision to formally designate South Korea its principal enemy and codify new national borders.

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While the moves were likely a pressure tactic, it's unclear how they will affect ties with South Korea since cross-border travel and exchanges have been halted for years.

North Korea's military said it will "completely cut off roads and railways " linked to South Korea and "fortify the relevant areas of our side with strong defense structures," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

The North's military called its steps a "self-defensive measure for inhibiting war and defending the security" of North Korea. It said that "the hostile forces are getting ever more reckless in their confrontational hysteria." It cited what it called various war exercises in South Korea, the deployment of U.S. strategic assets and its rivals' harsh rhetoric.

South Korea’s military said later Wednesday that it won’t tolerate any attempt by North Korea to change the status quo. It said South Korea will "overwhelmingly punish" North Korea if it launches provocations. A South Korean military statement said North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs have threatened peace on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean officials earlier said North Korea had already been adding anti-tank barriers and reinforcing roads on its side of the border since April in a likely attempt to boost its front-line security posture and prevent its soldiers and citizens from defecting to South Korea. In a report to parliament on Tuesday, South Korea's Unification Ministry said that North Korea has been removing ties on the northern side of cross-border railways and nearby lamps and planting mines along the border.

KCNA earlier Wednesday said the Supreme People’s Assembly met for two days this week to amend the legal ages of North Koreans for working and participating in elections. But it didn't say whether the meeting dealt with leader Kim Jong Un's order in January to rewrite the constitution to remove the goal of a peaceful Korean unification, formally designate South Korea as the country’s "invariable principal enemy" and define the North’s sovereign, territorial sphere.

At the center of outside attention was whether North Korea makes new legal claims on the waters currently controlled by South Korea off their west coast. The poorly marked western sea boundary is where three bloody naval skirmishes and two deadly attacks blamed on North Korea happened in the past 25 years.

Some experts say North Korea might have delayed the constitutional revision but others speculated it amended the constitution without announcing it because of its sensitivity.

Kim's order stunned many North Korea watchers because it was seen as breaking away with his predecessors' long-cherished dreams of achieving a unified Korea on the North's terms. Experts say Kim likely aims to diminish South Korea’s voice in the regional nuclear standoff and seek direct dealings with the U.S. They say Kim also likely hopes to diminish South Korean cultural influence and bolster his rule at home.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with North Korea continuing a run of provocative weapons tests and South Korea and the U.S. expanding their military drills. KCNA said North Korea on Tuesday tested a long-range artillery system that observers say pose a direct threat to Seoul, the South Korean capital, which is only an hour’s drive from the border.

The Hoxne Hoard is one of Britain's unique archaeological finds, not just by its value, but also by how it was found.

Various sources note the Hoxne Hoard as the largest hoard of Roman treasure ever found in Britain. The collection of treasures is heavily made up of gold and silver coins, though there are other objects, such as tableware and jewelry that were also found.  

How this collection of ancient treasures was found adds to its uniqueness. 

SANXINGDUI RUINS WERE DISCOVERED ACCIDENTALLY BY A FARMER; HAS SINCE BEEN THE SITE OF OVER 60K RELICS

On Nov. 16, 1992, Eric Lawes was scouring a field in Hoxne village in Suffolk, not on the hunt for hidden treasure, but simply looking for a hammer that had been lost on the land. 

Lawes was scanning the area with his metal detector, when he came across a small portion of the treasures within what would become the Hoxne Hoard. 

After shoveling up some of the silver spoons and gold coins he found, he quickly reported his find to be properly excavated. 

Lawes was awarded £1.75 million for his find, which he shared with the farmer who owned the land the treasures were discovered on, according to the Smithsonian Magazine. 

THE 4,000 ITEMS IN THE STAFFORDSHIRE HOARD MAKE IT THE LARGEST COLLECTION IN HISTORY OF ITS KIND

The very next day, the Suffolk County Council Archaeology Service (SCCAS) was on the scene, according to the World History Encyclopedia. 

The gold and silver artifacts part of the Hoxne Hoard weigh around 60 pounds in total, according to Ancient Origins. There are around 15,000 Roman coins as part of the collection, per The British Museum, where many of the items are displayed today. The items were buried in the 5th century A.D. 

Other unique finds include pieces of jewelry, like a body chain, six necklaces, three finger rings and gold bracelets, according to the source. 

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Even though the Hoxne Hoard is heavily made up of coins, one of the best-known treasures that was found was the "Empress" pepper pot. This pot was one of four that were excavated from the site, according to The British Museum. The pepper pot is intricately formed to represent a woman. 

Additionally, there were many tableware items that were part of the hoard, including a set of 19 spoons, in good condition, that were decorated with marine themes, according to The British Museum. 

Archaeologists believe that the Hoxne Hoard was buried no later than 450 A.D., according to Ancient Origins. 

At the end of the 4th century A.D., the western Roman Empire was in a place of uncertainty, with Roman soldiers exiting Britain, leaving citizens to fend for themselves. 

While experts have posed varying hypotheses as to why the hoard was buried, one common suggestion is that it was done for protection, with the intent of the owners collecting their precious items once again. In the case of the Hoxne Hoard, the items were never retrieved by their owners. 

Today, the Hoxne Hoard is on display at the British Museum in London. The display contains many of the coins, jewelry and tableware, as well as Lawes' hammer, which he was originally looking for when he stumbled upon the far more significant discovery. 

Israel was once again hit by a terror attack on Wednesday, as a knife-wielding motorist ran rampant across the coastal city of Hadera, putting eight people in the hospital. The stabbing took place as rockets landed in a city in Israel’s northeastern region, killing two people.

ISRAEL’S MINISTER OF DEFENSE CANCELS VISIT TO PENTAGON AMID MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT ESCALATION

It is unclear at this time if any others were injured in the attack on the border city.

Though farther south on Israel’s north-central coastline, a knife-bearing terrorist took off on a moped in Hadera, hitting four different parts of the city and wounding eight people in a stabbing attack.

According to the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, the eight people injured in the rampage were being treated, including one victim who is in "grave condition" and one in "critical condition." 

Four of the victims were described as in "moderate condition," while another was "lightly injured." An eighth individual was also hospitalized for anxiety. 

The suspect, who was eventually subdued by armed residents until the police arrived on the scene, according to an initial report by the Times of Israel, was identified as an Israeli-Arab man from the city of Umm el-Fahm, located near the border with the West Bank, and was previously known to police for other criminal activities. 

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The hospital said in an update that the suspect had been shot and wounded, and a video posted to X showed armed residents firing into the sky before one shot at the suspect, potentially hitting him, while others yelled at him to get onto the ground. 

The Times of Israel reported that once police arrived on the scene, they pushed the suspect to the ground and yelled at the civilians standing nearby not to shoot. 

The attacks across Israel come as the Jewish nation finds itself embroiled in multiple conflicts with Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Biden are expected to hold a call Wednesday to discuss Israel’s anticipated retaliatory attack against Iran following its massive missile strike on Israel last week, reported Israeli news outlets. 

The Biden administration has grown increasingly frustrated with Israel over its withholding of security details and had previously urged it not to launch an incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah over concerns it could prompt a broader regional war. 

The White House has urged Israel not to hit Iranian nuclear or oil facilities and to keep its retaliation "proportionate," though the administration has not specified what this type of attack would look like. 

A British doctor pleaded guilty Monday for the attempted murder of his mother’s partner by disguising himself as a nurse to inject the victim with poison but telling the victim it was a Covid-19 vaccine.

Thomas Kwan, 53, sported a wig, facial hair and medical mask when he administered the fake Covid vaccine to Patrick O’Hara on Jan. 22 in Newcastle, located in northern England, more than three hours north of London.

Northumbria police said Kwan arranged a fake medical appointment with O’Hara by sending him bogus letters stating that he needed a Covid vaccination, according to Reuters. 

The police said Kwan wore a disguise so that neither his mother nor O’Hara, who are both in their 70s, would recognize him.  They believed that he was merely a nurse. 

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O’Hara developed a skin condition around the injection area and became "seriously unwell" just hours after it was injected, police said. O’Hara visited his general practitioner and was immediately admitted to the hospital. Upon his arrival, he showed hospital staff letters of his injection, which they deemed fake.

He underwent skin grafts to repair "extensive damage the poisoning caused to his body" and was left with "life-changing injuries," according to police. The skin condition is a fatal flesh-eating bacterial infection called necrotizing fasciitis. The British Crown Prosecution Service said O’Hara was injected with "an as-yet unconfirmed toxin."

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Police say that Kwan installed fake license plates on his vehicle before driving to O’Hara’s home, where the poisonous injection took place. Prosecutor Peter Makepeace said that Kwan’s motive likely regarded his mother’s will, which states that her partner would receive her home should she die and that O’Hara was still alive.

When police searched Kwan’s home, they found files on his computer that contained downloads of a "poisoner’s handbook" and other files related to using poisons to kill a person.

"Mr. Kwan used his encyclopedic knowledge of, and research into, poisons to carry out his plan," Makepeace told jurors on the first day of the trial.

Kwan was charged with attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Although he initially pleaded not guilty, he pleaded guilty Monday to the attempted murder charge.

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His sentencing will be held at a later date, and he remains in custody.

"The weight of evidence faced by Kwan was overwhelming and he has now admitted (to) attempted murder," Detective Chief Inspector Jason Henry, of Northumbria Police, said. "While nothing can change the impact of Kwan’s actions on his victim, we do hope the fact he has been brought to justice will help them move on with their life."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Tuesday that Hezbollah’s intended replacement of its former leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed late last month, has also been "taken out."

"Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been for many, many years," Netanyahu said in a message tailored directly to the "people of Lebanon."

"We’ve degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities, we took out thousands of terrorists, including [former Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah himself, and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of his replacement."

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Netanyahu said Iran has "conquered" Lebanon to ensure Hezbollah serves Tehran’s interests in the region by turning it into a "stockpile of ammunition and weapons" serving as a pseudo "Iranian military base" on Israel’s border. 

"Now you, the Lebanese people, you stand at a significant crossroads. It is your choice," he continued. "You can now take back your country. You can return it to a path of peace and prosperity."

"If you don’t, Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense," the prime minister added. "Free your country from Hezbollah."

Netanyahu did not explicitly say what it would take to stop Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, but earlier on Tuesday the group’s deputy leader Naim Qassem suggested he may be open to a cease-fire without the inclusion of Gaza in the negotiations. 

Netanyahu's announcement regarding the death of Hashem Safieddine, who sat as the head of Hezbollah’s executive council and was most likely slated to be the group’s next leader, comes as Israeli forces expanded their incursion westward along the border in Lebanon.

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Though Safieddine was not as well-known as Nasrallah, who served as the leader of Hezbollah for more than 30 years, his close ties to Iran and his outspoken behavior following the Hamas attacks against Israel on Oct. 7,2023 cemented him as a top target of Jerusalem’s.

It is not clear how or where Safieddine was allegedly killed, though the announcement of his death followed an update provided by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) which said "hundreds of terrorists" had been "eliminated" since the 98th Brigade first entered Lebanon last week. 

The brigade, which is made up of paratroopers and commandos as well as top soldiers of the 7th Brigade and the Yahalom Unit, has been targeting and dismantling Hezbollah strongholds, weapons depots and tunnel routes used by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces near the border with Israel. 

The IDF has said it will carry out a "limited, localized, targeted" operation in Lebanon, but as Israeli forces continue to hit Hezbollah strongholds well north of the border including the capital city of Beirut, concerns are mounting that Lebanon could see similar destruction to that caused in Gaza, with one U.N. official referring to the strategy of bombardment as the "spiral of doom," reported multiple outlets Tuesday.

Internally displaced people from southern Lebanon have been pouring into Beirut following Israel’s increase in strikes three weeks ago, followed by the incursion earlier this month. 

Beirut Mayor Abdallah Darwich urged a cease-fire to be reached between Hezbollah and Israel and told the BBC on Tuesday there was "no safe place in Beirut," warning that the capital city had reached the "limit of its tolerance."

"You do not know who is living in this building or that building, so you do not know if there is a target there," he said. "You can no longer say Beirut is safe. Where the next Israeli target is, nobody knows."

Roughly 1.2 million people have been displaced in Lebanon since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel escalated last month. More than 400,000 people have fled Lebanon into Syria, and roughly 1,400 people have been killed based on numbers provided by the Lebanese Health Ministry and the number of combatants believed to have been killed by Israel. Some 70,000 Israelis have been forced out of the country's northern communities since the start of the conflict. 

An activist and municipal councilor for a Hungarian opposition party disrupted a news conference in Strasbourg, France, on Tuesday as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was laying out his plans for Hungary's six-month presidency of the European Union.

The activist, Márton Gyekiczki, interrupted Orbán as he was speaking about his opposition to immigration, running toward the podium where Orbán sat and throwing a stack of what appeared to be banknotes at the prime minister.

"How much did you sell out the country for? How much did you sell out the country for, Mr. Prime Minister?" Gyekiczki yelled as the papers scattered. "He sold out to Putin, he sold out to Xi Jinping!" — referring to the leaders of Russia and China.

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The disruption came as Orbán was set to address the European Parliament on Wednesday during Hungary's six-month rotating presidency of the bloc. His government has long been at odds with the EU over what it sees as his curtailing of democratic rights, and has increasingly come under fire for his close relations with autocracies like Russia and China.

Gyekiczki, the activist, who was taken to the ground by a security guard and led out of the room, is a member of Hungary’s Democratic Coalition party and a local council member in a Budapest suburb.

The president of that party, former Prime Minister Ference Gyurcsány, later wrote on social media that he was "proud" of Gyekiczki for his actions.

"We will say it everywhere and always: Hungary has a traitorous government!" he wrote.

Orbán is expected to receive a mixed reception in the EU parliament on Wednesday. Many lawmakers have pushed for his government to be deprived of EU funds over what they see as rule-of-law and corruption violations.

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Two years ago, the parliament declared that Hungary under Orbán had become "a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy," taking it out of the community of democracies.

Yet Orbán this year successfully formed the Patriots for Europe group within the parliament, uniting far-right parties from around the continent to form the third-largest group in the EU legislature.

During the news conference on Tuesday, Orbán lamented what he sees as a declining EU economy and lagging competitiveness with the United States and China, saying that he saw that as "the most serious challenge we have to face."

He also argued against recently adopted EU tariffs on Chinese-produced electric vehicles, and railed against immigration which he said was resulting in the destruction of the EU's visa-free Schengen area as countries like Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia have introduced temporary border checks along their frontiers.

"These individual attempts will actually break up the Schengen system," Orbán said, adding that he proposed a regular "Schengen Summit" for member countries to meet and discuss border policy.

"We need a big, joint decision," he said.

Responding to the disruption by the activist, Orbán offered "a word of explanation for Hungarian political culture."

"When a Hungarian politician tells another one that he is a scoundrel, all it means in our culture is that ‘I disagree with you,’" he said.

A German court on Tuesday acquitted a man who is also under investigation in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann in a trial on charges of unrelated sexual offenses.

The Braunschweig state court acquitted the 47-year-old German national, who has been identified by local media as Christian Brueckner, of two counts of rape and two of sexual abuse.

However, Brueckner will remain in prison another year because he is still serving a seven-year sentence for rape in a different case, German news agency dpa reported.

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Brueckner had been on trial since February over offenses he is alleged to have committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. Defense lawyers had pointed to what they labeled a lack of evidence and witnesses who weren’t credible, and suggested he might not have been charged if he hadn’t also been a suspect in the McCann case.

Prosecutors had argued he should be given a 15-year prison sentence and kept in preventive detention once he has served it.

"The evidence we had was not enough to convict the defendant," presiding judge Uta Engemann said, according to dpa, adding that "we were dealing with unreliable witnesses, some of whom deliberately lied to the court."

Engemann argued that witnesses had been influenced in their statements by the media's reporting on Brueckner, who she said had been "stylized as a sex monster and child murderer."

Prosecutors said they would appeal the ruling.

"We believe that the decision is wrong, so we will appeal to the German supreme court so that the supreme court can check the verdict for mistakes," prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said.

Brueckner's lawyer, Friedrich Fülscher, told reporters after the ruling that "it was foreseeable, at least from the point of view of the defense, that there can only be one outcome that corresponds to the factual and legal situation and that is the acquittal."

Brueckner has not been charged in the McCann case, in which he is under investigation on suspicion of murder. He spent many years in Portugal, including in the resort of Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance there in 2007. He has denied any involvement in her disappearance.

He is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2019 by the Braunschweig court for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005.

The Braunschweig state court has jurisdiction because Brueckner had his last German residence in that city in Lower Saxony.

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un went after South Korea’s president for the second time in a week, warning again on Tuesday that Pyongyang will push forward with its plans to be a top nuclear player.

Kim accused South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol of issuing "some tasteless and vulgar comment about the end of the Republic" in a recent speech and said it shows "he is totally consumed by his blind faith in his master's strength," he added, according to a Reuters report, in reference to Seoul’s partnership with Washington. 

"To be honest, we have absolutely no intention of attacking South Korea," Kim said during a speech at a military school named after him, the Kim Jong Un National Defense University.

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Kim’s comments came after South Korea’s president condemned Pyongyang’s recent reveal of a new nuclear facility last month and in turn, during its Armed Forces Day last week, displayed a new Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile, which, according to a Newsweek report, is capable of destroying underground facilities in North Korea.

Yoon has repeatedly pushed for a denuclearized North Korea as regional tensions continue to escalate. 

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But Kim, who has long looked to expand North Korea’s nuclear capabilities, objected to the calls to denuclearize and said, "Every time I stated our position on the use of military force, I clearly and consistently used the qualification ‘if.’"

"If the enemies try to use force against our country, the republic's military will use all offensive power without hesitation," he added. "This does not preclude the use of nuclear weapons."

"Our footsteps toward becoming a military superpower and a nuclear power will accelerate," Kim added.

The comments were the second time in a week that Kim directed an ominous message at his southern neighbor after he warned earlier this month that North Korea will respond with nuclear force if its sovereignty is threatened.

According to state run news agency KNCA last week, Kim "affirmed that 'if' the enemy, seized with extreme foolishness and recklessness, attempt to use armed forces encroaching upon the sovereignty of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea]… the DPRK would use without hesitation all the offensive forces it has possessed, including nuclear weapons," Reuters reported. 

The mayor of a violence-plagued city in Mexico was killed on Sunday with his decapitated body left in a pickup truck and his severed head placed atop the vehicle's roof. 

Alejandro Arcos, 43, was killed just six days after he took office as mayor of the city of Chilpancingo, a city of around 280,000 people in southwestern Mexico. 

The city, the capital of Guerrero state, is so violent that a drug gang openly staged a demonstration, hijacked a government armored car and took police hostage in 2023 to win the release of arrested suspects. 

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Images of what appeared to be Arcos’ severed head atop a white pick-up truck have been circulating on social media. In other images, his headless body partially covered with a blanket can be seen in the passenger side of the truck.

Arcos' social media posts leading up to his death showed him supervising disaster relief efforts following the impact of Hurricane John last month, which caused severe flooding in beach resort Acapulco and surrounding towns.

Mourners, including Arcos’ wife, attended a funeral for the slain official on Monday.

"His loss mourns the entire Guerrero society and fills us with indignation," Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado said in a statement shared on social media.

Alejandro Moreno, the national leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, lamented Arcos' killing and said it came just three days after the new city government's secretary, Francisco Tapia, was shot to death. 

"They had been in office less than a week," Moreno wrote on his social media accounts. "They were young and honest public servants who were seeking progress for their community."

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Moreno called on the federal attorney general's office to lead the investigation into Arcos and Tapia's murders, given "the situation of ungovernability in Guerrero."

Guerrero has become one of the deadliest states for aspiring and elected public officials, as well as for journalists. At least six candidates for public office were killed in the state in the run-up to Mexico's June 2 elections.

Bloody turf battles have raged between two drug gangs, the Ardillos and the Tlacos. The battle has resulted in dozens of gruesome killings and some high-profile scandals.

A previous mayor was caught on video apparently holding a meeting with leaders of one of the gangs at a restaurant. She was subsequently expelled from her party.

In July 2023, federal officials said a demonstration held by hundreds of people in Chilpancingo that month had been organized by the Ardillos gang to win the release of two gang leaders arrested for drugs and weapons possession.

The demonstrators largely blocked all traffic on the highway between Mexico City and Acapulco for two days, battled security forces and commandeered a police armored truck and used it to ram down the gates of the state legislature building.

The demonstrators abducted 10 members of the state police and National Guard, as well as three state and federal officials, and held them hostage to enforce their demands before releasing them.

Last week, the Mexican army seized the weapons of local police in the cartel-dominated city of Culiacan in the country’s northwest Sinaloa state, as violence and gunfights have ravaged that city in recent weeks also. The Mexican army has been known to seize weapons from distrusted police forces it suspects of either being involved in aiding the cartel, or over concerns the units were carrying unregistered arms that made abuses harder to trace. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The Staffordshire Hoard is truly one of a kind as the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver found to date. There are around 4,000 items, most of which are military pieces. 

The discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard came in 2009. A metal detectorist was scanning farmland in the village of Hammerwich in England when his detector signaled a find.

What was found buried in the soil turned out to be monumental. Over the following days, the metal detectorist began to pick up pieces of a collection that would later be known as the Staffordshire Hoard. He later contacted a finds liaison officer for the Staffordshire and West Midlands Portable Antiquities Scheme for further assistance, according to Ancient Origins. 

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With permission from the landowner, a full excavation was conducted. Birmingham Archeology later joined in to assist, according to the source. 

After the items were collected, a 10-year conservation and research project was in pursuit. The findings of the project were published in 2019 in the book "The Staffordshire Hoard: An Anglo-Saxon Treasure" and online. 

During this period, ancient objects found were carefully cleaned and x-rays were taken, according to Birmingham Museums. 

IRISH FARMER FINDS NEAR 60-POUND SLAB OF ANCIENT BOG BUTTER ON HIS LAND BY ‘PURE LUCK’

Another part of this effort was to begin matching fragments that belonged to the same object because many of the items were found in incomplete parts. 

Through detailed research, there has been so much knowledge gained about this collection, including when it dates back to, but there are still questions unanswered. 

Archaeologists believe the collection was buried during the 7th century (650-675 AD), according to Birmingham Museums.

Many objects that have been discovered from the time period have been jewelry, specifically brooches and pendants, according to the Stoke Museums.

RARE ANCIENT CELTIC ARTIFACT IN POLAND, 2,300-YEAR-OLD METAL OBJECT EXCAVATED FROM CHARCOAL PIT

An element of the Staffordshire Hoard's uniqueness is that it is mostly made up of war gear, according to Stoke Museums. 

One of the Staffordshire Hoard's most valuable items is an ancient war helmet. The helmet was far from complete when it was discovered because it was broken into 1,000 pieces, according to Stoke Museums. During the days when the helmet was completed, it likely sat atop the head of a king.

After months of research, there were two replicas of the helmet created, one of which is on display at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent and the other at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. 

MOM, SONG DIG UP ANCIENT OBJECT OFTEN FOUND NEAR BURIAL GROUNDS WHILE GARDENING

Fragmented pieces make up the majority of the Staffordshire Hoard, which put together equals 700 items, according to Birmingham Museums. Of the items in the collection, the large majority are swords, according to the source. 

In large part, the items are gold. Since gold doesn't corrode in soil, the precious metal is able to stay well-preserved, according to the source. Around 150 of the items are silver.

Why the Staffordshire Hoard was buried in the first place is still a mystery, though experts have developed many theories. One is that the gear could have been buried as an offering to the gods, according to Birmingham Museums. 

Today, visitors can see the Staffordshire Hoard at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent.

TEL AVIV, Israel - Sirens blare outside our hotel balcony. 

An imminent ballistic missile strike from Iran looms, but the current alarm is different – more immediate, more dangerous.  

It’s a terror attack in Jaffa. 

The details are still emerging, but we know this much: Several people have already lost their lives. 

In a rush, we load up our gear and protective equipment into our vehicle. Just as we’re pulling out of the hotel, orders from New York come through: Get back inside. They don’t want us on the road with Iran’s attack approaching. 

FOUR AMERICAN HOSTAGES REMAIN IN HAMAS CAPTIVITY A YEAR AFTER OCT. 7 MASSACRE

Before my producer can even hang up, the car fills with a new sound: the blare of alarms. Iran has fired ballistic missiles – headed straight for us. 

It takes about 12 minutes for a missile to travel from Iran to Israel. How far into those 12 minutes we are is anyone’s guess. 

Our photographer, doubling as our driver, floors the accelerator, weaving through traffic as we race back to the hotel. 

We make it back and join about two dozen others in the hotel’s shelter. Many of them are Israelis. A father plays with his two daughters, rolling on the ground, laughing. Nearby, people chat calmly, unbothered by the threat of nearly 200 ballistic missiles targeting Israel. I notice a young man standing calmly beside his girlfriend. He’s missing a leg from the knee down but stands strong and composed. 

"Hamas terrorists," he tells me when I ask about his injury. "They hit us with an RPG." 

He credits his – and others’ – composure during this attack to their faith in Israel’s air defense systems. 

From the shelter, I go live on Fox News Channel, describing those around me. As Israel’s layered air defense – comprised of the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow systems – intercepts incoming threats, it becomes clear why the soldier’s confidence is well-placed. 

HAMAS LAUNCHES ROCKETS FROM GAZA ONE YEAR AFTER OCT. 7 ATTACKS, WHILE IDF STRIKES TERROR TARGETS 

Iran is launching the largest ballistic missile barrage in history. Amid this, a Palestinian man in the West Bank dies from falling shrapnel, but not a single additional person in Israel is seriously harmed by the missiles. 

It strikes me: the calm in the shelter is born of a tragic familiarity – being fired upon has become normal here. 

Terror attacks, while common, rarely reach Tel Aviv. 

When we’re given the all-clear, we race to the scene of the attack in Jaffa, as originally planned. 

Evidence of the brutality is everywhere along the light rail tracks: bloodstains and evidence markers hint at the horror that unfolded just before we arrived. 

"When the train stopped and opened its doors, the terrorists walked inside, began firing their automatic weapons, then stepped back out and continued their killing spree," the Israeli Police International Spokesman, Dean Elsdunne, tells me. 

US ON ALERT FOR POSSIBLE ‘VIOLENT EXTREMIST ACTIVITY’ ON AMERICANS ONE YEAR AFTER OCT. 7 

"I even saw an image where the terrorists stood over a civilian who had clearly already been shot, and they continued shooting him," he adds. 

Seven people lost their lives in the attack. 

My mind flashes back to what I witnessed 63 miles south of Tel Aviv, in the devastated city of Rafah in southern Gaza. 

Weeks earlier, I had embedded with the IDF in the evacuated city, where soldiers exchanged gunfire with militants. 

There wasn’t a single civilian in sight, but remnants of life before the war were scattered everywhere – a child’s superhero mask, clothes, household goods buried beneath the rubble from Israeli airstrikes. 

A once-inhabited neighborhood is now a wasteland. 

These are the costs of war. 

Tens of thousands have died. 

Millions are displaced. 

And now, as the war enters its second year, the possibility of a major direct escalation with Iran looms on the horizon. 

The mayor of a state capital in southern Mexico has been killed just one week after he took office, officials said Sunday.

Alejandro Arcos was sworn in last Monday as mayor of Chilpancingo, a city so violent that a drug gang openly staged a demonstration, hijacked a government armored car and took police hostage in 2023 to win the release of arrested suspects.

Chilpancingo is the capital of Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located.

The state prosecutors’ office issued a statement Sunday confirming Arcos had been killed, but provided no details.

SHOOTING NEAR LUXURY MEXICO RESORT LEAVES 1 DEAD, SUSPECTS FLEE ON JET SKIS

Alejandro Moreno, the national leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, lamented Arcos' killing and said the newly installed secretary of the city council had also been murdered three days earlier.

"They had been in office less than a week," Moreno wrote on his social media accounts. "They were young and honest public servants who were seeking progress for their community."

Chilpancingo has long been the scene of bloody turf battles between two drug gangs, the Ardillos and the Tlacos. The battle has resulted in dozens of gruesome killings and some high-profile scandals.

A previous mayor was caught on video apparently holding a meeting with leaders of one of the gangs at a restaurant. She was subsequently expelled from her party.

In July 2023, federal officials said a demonstration held by hundreds of people in Chilpancingo that month had been organized by the Ardillos gang to win the release of two gang leaders arrested for drugs and weapons possession.

The demonstrators largely blocked all traffic on the highway between Mexico City and Acapulco for two days, battled security forces and commandeered a police armored truck and used it to ram down the gates of the state legislature building.

The demonstrators abducted 10 members of the state police and National Guard, as well as three state and federal officials, and held them hostage to enforce their demands before releasing them.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed Monday that the U.S. "will continue to work tirelessly" to bring home the four American hostages who have now been held by Hamas for more than a year inside the Gaza Strip. 

The four that remain — Keith Siegel, 65, Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, Omer Neutra, 22, and Edan Alexander, 21 — were abducted by the Palestinian terrorist group exactly one year ago Monday on Oct. 7, 2023. The abductions took place alongside the murder of approximately 1,200 Israelis.

"Hamas also took 254 people hostage that day, including 12 Americans. Four of those Americans – Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Itay Chen, Judy Weinstein, and Gad Haggai – were murdered by Hamas. Four were released through an agreement the United States negotiated last November, but four remain in captivity in Gaza: Edan Alexander, Keith Siegel, Sagui Dekel-Chen, and Omer Neutra," Blinken said in a statement. 

"There are also an estimated 97 other hostages who remain held in Gaza today. They include men, women, young boys, young girls, two babies, and elderly people from more than 25 nations," Blinken added. "Hamas should release these hostages immediately. Every single one of them must be returned to their families, and the United States will continue to work tirelessly to bring them home." 

HAMAS LAUNCHES ROCKETS FROM GAZA ONE YEAR AFTER OCT. 7 ATTACKS, WHILE IDF STRIKES TERROR TARGETS 

Blinken, who on Monday called Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel the "largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust," also said "It is time to reach a ceasefire agreement that brings the hostages home, alleviates the suffering of the Israeli and Palestinian people, and ultimately brings an end to this war." 

The youngest of the hostages, 20-year-old Edan Alexander, graduated from Tenafly High School in New Jersey in 2022 before volunteering to serve with the IDF. 

"He was kidnapped Oct. 7th from his post, from the IDF post, and since then, we have no additional information about this abduction," his father Adi has said. 

Adi and his wife Yael wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times in September saying that for hundreds of days "the world has failed our son and his fellow hostages: The Israeli government has abandoned them, too many countries have turned a blind eye, and while we’re grateful for the U.S. government’s steadfast support, its efforts have yet to yield results. 

US ON ALERT FOR POSSIBLE ‘VIOLENT EXTREMIST ACTIVITY’ ON AMERICANS ONE YEAR AFTER OCT. 7 

Omer Neutra, 22, also volunteered to serve in the IDF, according to his parents Orna and Ronen. 

"He's like an all-American kid. He loved sports. He was accepted to Binghamton University, but decided to defer this school. And he went to Israel on a gap year, and he connected deeply with the country, with his peers, and he decided to volunteer to the IDF, and he was taken from his post," his mother Orna has said.

She recently told the New York Post from her home in Plainview, New York, "Our kid is a bargaining chip in this geopolitical nightmare, and we, the families, we’re just floating on this wave. We’re trying not to sink."

HEZBOLLAH ROCKET ATTACK ON ISRAEL HITS HAIFA FOR FIRST TIME 

Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose 36-year-old son Sagui is still being held in Gaza following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, said in an interview with "Fox & Friends" in September, "It is absolutely clear, the only way to get hostages home alive is by some kind of negotiated agreement with Satan." 

Dekel-Chen was abducted by Hamas in Kibbutz Nir Oz one year ago, according to the American Jewish Committee. The organization said he made sure his then-pregnant wife and his two daughters were safe in a shelter before confronting Hamas terrorists who had broken into his home. 

Last November, Elan Siegel, the daughter of 65-year-old Keith Siegel, wrote in a column for Fox News Digital, "They forced my parents, unassuming people filled with kindness and a quiet sensitivity, into my father’s car and took them to Gaza." 

Siegel’s wife Aviva later was released from captivity.  

"It’s just cruel to think that he’s in such terrible conditions for so long," Aviva Siegel recently told the New York Post. "What they’re going through is the cruelest thing on Earth." 

The bodies of Americans Itay Chen 19, Gadi Haggai, 73, and his wife Judith Weinstein, 70, also remain held by Hamas in Gaza. 

Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report. 

A Russian court sentenced a 72-year-old American to nearly seven years in prison Monday after he was convicted on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. 

Investigators alleged during a closed-door trial that Stephen Hubbard of Michigan was paid $1,000 a month to enlist in a Ukrainian defense unit in Izyum, a city in the eastern part of the country, where he had been residing since 2014, according to Reuters. 

The news agency cited Russian investigators and state media as saying that Hubbard was trained and given weapons and ammunition after he allegedly signed up for the mercenary unit in February 2022. Two months later, he reportedly was detained by Russian soldiers and then pleaded guilty to charges of fighting as a mercenary. 

Hubbard was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison. He is the first American known to have been convicted on charges of fighting as a mercenary in the Ukrainian conflict, according to the Associated Press.  

RUSSIAN ARMS DEALER VIKTOR BOUT, WHO WAS TRADED FOR BRITTANY GRINER, TO SELL WEAPONS TO IRAN-BACKED HOUTHIS 

The charges carry a potential sentence of 15 years, but prosecutors asked that his age be taken into account along with his admission of guilt, Russian news reports said. 

Last month, Hubbard’s sister Patricia Hubbard Fox and another relative told Reuters that he held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to have fought in battle at his age. 

Russian state media is saying Hubbard plans to appeal the verdict. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

UKRAINIAN STRONGHOLD VUHLEDAR FALLS TO RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE AFTER TWO YEARS OF BOMBARDMENT 

A court in the Russian city of Voronezh also sentenced American Robert Gilman on Monday to seven years and one month for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers while serving a sentence for another assault. 

Gilman, a U.S. Marine veteran, was arrested in 2022 for causing a disturbance while intoxicated on a passenger train, and then allegedly assaulted a police officer while in custody, Russian news reports say. He is already serving a 3 1/2-year sentence on that charge. 

State news agency RIA-Novosti said that last year, he assaulted a prison inspector during a cell check, then hit an official of the Investigative Committee, resulting in the new sentence.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reeling exactly a year ago from the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust: A staggering 3,800 trained Hamas terrorists from an overall number of 6,000 Palestinians invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The Iranian-backed Hamas and its supporters unleashed a scale of unprecedented barbarism, including beheadings and burning bodies, within the territory of the Jewish state, resulting in the mass murder of nearly 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans.

The U.S. designated terrorist movement Hamas also kidnapped more than 250 people on that fateful day that jolted Israel like none of the numerous wars against Iran-backed proxies that the tiny Jewish state has fought within this century. As of Monday, 101 hostages still remain in Hamas captivity, .

TRUMP SAYS ISRAEL SHOULD HIT IRAN'S NUCLEAR FACILITIES, SLAMMING BIDEN'S RESPONSE

After a year of intense war with Hamas, including the opening of six additional fronts against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s "Axis of Resistance," Netanyahu has bounced back to take on the threat to Israel's very existence. He is in his prime as a modern war planner and head of state, a number of Israeli experts told Fox News Digital, including Israel’s top diplomat to the United Nations.

"Netanyahu was completely shocked during the first hours on the first day of the attack, but at the same time, he understood what was going on and controlled events. Netanyahu responded very quickly," Ariel Kahana, the senior diplomatic correspondent for the widely read Hebrew-language daily Israel Hayom, told Fox News Digital.

Kahana referenced Netanyahu’s public announcement on Oct. 7, in which he declared, "Citizens of Israel, we are at war, not in an operation or in rounds, but at war. This morning, Hamas launched a murderous surprise attack against the State of Israel and its citizens."

FEDERAL AUTHORITIES ISSUE WARNING AHEAD OF OCT 7 ATTACKS ANNIVERSARY

Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, said, "This isn’t a war Israel started nor is it a war Israel wanted. But, under the leadership of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel has succeeded in mitigating the threat of Hamas by destroying its tunnel infrastructure and taking out its leaders. Israel is also successfully degrading Hezbollah in the north by eliminating its senior leadership and launching a targeted operation in southern Lebanon with the goal of pushing the group north of the Litani River and reducing the threat the terrorist organization poses to our northern border."

Danon, who is a member of Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party, added, "While we are making progress, there is still work to be done. We still have 101 hostages who are held in brutal captivity in Gaza, and we still have 70,000 Israelis who are refugees in their own country, unable to return to their homes in the north."

ISRAEL'S UN AMBASSADOR SLAMS WORLD BODY, SAYS UNRWA TAKEN OVER BY TERRORISTS IN GAZA

Prior to Oct. 7, Netanyahu was an embattled prime minister. His right-wing coalition government had suffered public humiliation when his administration was forced to abandon its judicial reform plan because of massive civil society protests. 

Now, with a string of tactical victories over Hezbollah and Hamas' top leaders, including Israeli control over most of the Gaza Strip, Bibi, as he is known in Israel by his nickname, has gained popularity in political polling.

One key turning point for Israel is the near total decimation of the leadership of the U.S. classified terrorist movement Hezbollah, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah, in Lebanon. 

ISRAEL WAS BEHIND LEBANON PAGER ATTACK TARGETING HEZBOLLAH, SENIOR US OFFICIAL SAYS, AS NEW BLASTS REPORTED

The de facto ruler over the Lebanese state, Hezbollah, launched missiles at Israel one day after the Hamas invasion, on Oct. 8. Last week, Israeli ground troops entered south Lebanon, with a view toward rooting out Hezbollah terrorists and missiles that sparked the flight of as many as 70,000 Israelis from their homes in the north.

Kahana noted, "Bibi made the right actions against Hamas and Hezbollah. That is why you see him rising in the polls. He is the only one to use the term victory. You don’t hear that from the security establishment." He cited the examples of Bibi’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and Herzi Halevi , the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, who "are not talking about a complete defeat of Hamas."

The veteran Israeli commentator said Israel’s seizure of the southern Gaza city of Rafah was a telling example of a clash between Bibi and his war planners, Gallant and Halevi. There was hesitation on the part of Gallant and Halevi while Netanyahu wanted to expedite the capture of Rafah, the last major holdout of sizeable Hamas terrorist forces. Kahana chalked up a possible explanation of delay from Gallant and Halevi to the Biden administration’s interference in having expressed opposition to the IDF operation in Rafah.

After a four-month offensive in Rafah, the IDF, in September, declared victory over Hamas’ Rafah brigade. The incursion into Rafah also secured the release of four Israeli hostages in June.  From May to September, the IDF eliminated thousands of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Rafah.

HEZBOLLAH'S NEIGHBORS: ISRAELI BORDER COMMUNITY UNDER CONSTANT ATTACK FROM TERROR GROUP

According to Kahana, "Bibi had to push the army to act." He compared Bibi to Britain’s WWII prime minister, Winston Churchill, who demanded that his army do certain things but encountered resistance. Kahana noted, "Netanyahu has full responsibility for what brought about Oct. 7, but he is leading the war better than Gallant, Halevi and Benny Gantz."

Gantz, a retired general and leader of the main opposition party, left Bibi’s war cabinet in June.

Yet Bibi still has many critics who believe he should have tendered his resignation on Oct. 7 or a few months into the war against Hamas. Netanyahu has also been accused of forgoing the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and thousands of Israelis have protested on a near weekly basis against his policies since the war began.

Yossi Melman, a veteran Israeli columnist for the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, is one of Bibi’s sharpest critics. Melman said, "His performance is very bad." He said Bibi has "no vision and no strategy." Melman asked, "What is the strategy, what is the exit plan in the war against Hezbollah?"

HEZBOLLAH BIGGER CHALLENGE THAN HAMAS TO ISRAEL: ‘CROWN JEWEL IN THE IRANIAN EMPIRE OF TERROR’

He claimed, "Most of his decisions are about political and personal survival."

Israel’s then-attorney general, Avichai Mandelblit, charged Netanyahu with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a legal saga that started four years ago and is still unfolding. Netanyahu has vehemently denied all the allegations against him.

Melman also stated that Netanyahu, along with his cabinet, military and security chiefs, refused to accept responsibility for Oct. 7.

As one of Israel’s leading intelligence experts, he attributed the penetration of Hezbollah’s leadership structure to the "last four chiefs of the Mossad and the military chiefs. "Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, built these abilities over the years," he said.

He also noted that Netanyahu also "strained relations with the U.S. in an unprecedented way. His performance is full of ungratefulness. The U.S. sent air carriers and the U.S. provided $14 billion in extra military aid and resupplied ammunition. Without that, Israel could not sustain one year against Gaza and now Lebanon and also Iran."

Melman charged that Bibi has failed to secure the freedom of 101 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. 

Caroline Glick, who served as an adviser to Netanyahu, took issue with criticism against him, pointing out, "Prime Minister Netanyahu's leadership in this war is a case study in tenacity and courage. Israel's other political leaders and military leadership all demanded that he capitulate to continuous pressure from the Biden-Harris administration to stand down and permit Hamas to survive and accept Hezbollah's continued presence on the border, sufficing with an entirely defensive posture."

She continued, "Had Israel agreed, its regional standing would have completely collapsed. He refused. His tenacious refusal to give up the fight and determination to fight to victory is the reason Israel has been able to turn the corner. Israel is winning today in a way that seemed unimaginable a year ago. We never would have made it to this turning point had it not been for Netanyahu."

Viktor Bout, the notorious Russian arms dealer released in a prisoner exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner, is now attempting to broker arms deals with Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Bout, 57, is known as the "Merchant of Death" and now serves as a local politician in Russian President Vladimir Putin's party. He has reportedly returned to the arms trade as well, negotiating with Houthi representatives who visited Moscow in August to purchase some $10 million worth of small arms.

While the shipment has not been delivered, an arms deal between Moscow and the Houthis – a U.S.-designated terrorist group – represents an escalation of tensions by Putin.

There have been widespread concerns about retaliation by Russia after President Biden's administration approved Ukraine to use Western-provided weapons in offensive attacks within Russia.

LITHUANIAN FM WARNS RUSSIA CAN DO 'SO MUCH DAMAGE TO ITS NEIGHBORS'

Steve Zissou, a New York attorney who represented Bout in the U.S., compared the rumored arms deal to America's own shipments of weapons across the globe.

BIDEN PLEDGES $8 BILLION TO UKRAINE FOLLOWING PUTIN'S PROPOSED CHANGES TO NUCLEAR RULES

"Viktor Bout has not been in the transportation business for over twenty years," Zissou told the Journal. "But if the Russian government authorized him to facilitate the transfer of arms to one of America’s adversaries, it would be no different than the U.S. government sending arms and weapons of mass destruction to one of Russia’s adversaries as it has sent to Ukraine."

Bout had already served 12 years of his 25-year sentence at the time of his release in December 2022.

Last year, Bout compared his sentence in the U.S. to Griner's sentence in his homeland, saying it was "the same outrage … in Russia when I was sentenced to 25 years."

"Many people would say ‘for what? Just for talking? Are you serious?’" Bout said in an interview with ESPN. "There is not even a proper translation to Russian of the term of conspiracy. We don’t have such, even the legal term. So, this is the same kind of outrage in Russia about my case and about many other cases."

He went on to describe the prisoner exchange, saying he had a moment to greet Griner during the event.

"So, they put the two planes together, give us some instruction, went down, and here you are," Bout said. "Somebody showed up from Russian side saying, ‘Hi, is everything fine?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ So he identified me, and then couple minutes afterwards, the exchange literally happened."

"Admittedly, I was a little shocked seeing her without her signature braids. She was way taller than me. I just shake the hand, I said to her, ‘I wish you good luck.’ And we both went to our planes," he said.

The Israel Defense Forces announced Monday that multiple rockets were fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip on the one-year anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack that launched the war. 

Military officials say the Israeli Air Force "intercepted five launches that crossed from the north of the Gaza Strip" into Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported that two people were lightly injured after being hit with shrapnel. 

"Sirens sounded in Israeli communities surrounding Gaza a few moments ago," the IDF wrote on X. "At exactly this time last year, sirens were sounded all over Israel, marking the beginning of Hamas’ October 7 massacre." 

The Israeli military said prior to the attack, its troops "struck Hamas terror targets and launchers throughout the Gaza Strip" in order to thwart "an immediate threat." 

AMERICAN FATHER OF HAMAS HOSTAGE ITAY CHEN PUSHES US, ISRAEL ON ‘PLAN B’ AS NEGOTIATIONS FALTER 

"A short while ago, the Israel Air Force (IAF) struck Hamas launch posts and underground terrorist infrastructure," the IDF added. "Furthermore, overnight, the IAF and IDF artillery struck targets in the central Gaza Strip that posed a threat to IDF troops operating in the area." 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited a memorial in Jerusalem on Monday for civilians, first responders and soldiers killed in Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023. 

"We remember our fallen, our hostages – whom we are committed to return – our heroes who fell in defense of our homeland and country. We went through a terrible massacre a year ago and we arose as a nation as lions," he said. 

ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF OCT. 7 ATTACKS ARRIVES WITH LASTING TRAUMA FOR ISRAELIS, AMERICAN JEWS: EXPERT 

There are still 101 hostages who have been held in Gaza by Hamas since the start of the war. Thirty-six of them are declared dead and their bodies are being held by the terrorist group. 

Idan Shtivi, a 28-year-old who volunteered to photograph the Nova music festival in southern Israel that Hamas attacked on Oct. 7, was declared dead on Monday. 

Idan, an environmental sciences student, loved nature, camping, and music. He was planning to work in the energy sector to combat climate change and join an African volunteer program that aids children. 

"On October 7, Idan arrived at the Nova Festival in the early morning to document his friends' performances and workshops. However, he never made it inside," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. "When the attack began, Idan helped two strangers he had just met escape from the site. This selfless choice ultimately led to his abduction." 

Fox News’ Yonat Friling and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Hezbollah rockets hit Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, on Monday in the first direct attack on the city since the conflict began.

Hezbollah's "Fadi 1" missiles landed in Haifa early Monday morning as the country began to mark the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre. Two rockets hit Haifa and five more hit the city of Tiberias, which lies about 40 miles away.

"This was the first real hit in the city," Haifa's mayor, Yona Yahav, said in a statement.

Israeli media said 10 people were injured across the two cities, and police in Haifa confirmed reports of minor injuries as well as damage to buildings.

ISRAELI MILITARY SAYS HEZBOLLAH LEADER HASSAN NASRALLAH KILLED IN BEIRUT STRIKE

In response, Israel says IDF fighter jets struck targets they said belonged to Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in Beirut.

The exchange of fire comes as Israel continues to issue warnings about a response to Iran's massive missile attack against Israel that occurred last week. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued an ominous warning to Iranian officials during an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

During an exchange with Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst on Sunday, Gallant promised that Israeli forces are considering all options in terms of its response to Iran's attacks against Israel, including potentially striking Iranian nuclear sites.

BIDEN SAYS HE WILL TALK TO NETANYAHU AS ISRAEL PUMMELS SUNNI TERROR TARGETS IN BEIRUT

"At the moment, everything is on the table," the Israeli official said. "Israel will respond to the unprecedented Iranian attack in the manner of our choosing, and at the time and place of our choosing."

President Biden told reporters last week that he would not support a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, but said Israel had the right to act "proportionately" to Iran. On Saturday, Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to send $157 million of "additional assistance" to Lebanon, which, she claimed, is "facing an increasingly dire humanitarian situation."

"I am concerned about the security and well-being of civilians suffering in Lebanon and will continue working to help meet the needs of all civilians there," Harris said.

Reuters contributed to this report.