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UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. — Foreign ministers from European nations with close U.S. ties reacted to Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim world leaders are "laughing" at former President Trump, dismissing the claim. 

During September’s presidential debate, Harris said, "World leaders are laughing at Donald Trump. I have talked with military leaders, some of whom worked with you, and they say you're a disgrace."

When asked about this quote, foreign ministers in attendance at the United Nations High-Level Week stressed they have no view one way or the other on the U.S. election and will work with whomever wins. 

"We are friends of America," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said, noting Italy and the U.S. are "two sides of the same coin." "If Trump will be the new president of America, we will work with him as we worked with him when he was president of America."

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"We worked well with Biden, with Bush, with Reagan, with Clinton, with Obama," Tajani added. "For us, the transatlantic relations are the key strategy of our foreign policy, Europe and America." 

Foreign ministers of Lithuania and the Czech Republic stressed that they will not interfere in the election by stating a preference, instead saying they "leave it to the American citizens to decide." 

"My role is not to comment on such a political statement," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said. 

However, Lipavsky praised Trump’s "strong" message of defense spending, which he hoped Europe would continue to embrace in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine. 

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"The point is that Donald Trump had, at his time, one strong message for Europe, and that message was quite resonating and is resonating more now because he was saying spend more on your defense," Lipavsky said. 

"My government is spending more on our defense," he added. "We want to reach those 2% of GDP, will be reaching them this year, and we will continue next year. So, (if) Donald Trump would be a president with this message, ‘Please spend 2%," we would be OK."

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis highlighted the "very long history" between the two countries, saying that the relationship is "more than politics." 

Instead, he reiterated the message that whoever wins the election will need to focus on the same message of defense spending that Trump pushed during his first administration. 

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Prior to the Trump administration, only a few members of NATO had upheld their commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense, but that number rose sharply due to Trump’s insistence and hard-line stance over the issue. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in June reported that 23 of the 32 member states have hit the minimum spending requirement, which helped improve the bloc’s ability to support Ukraine and, potentially, deter Russian aggression beyond its current ambitions. 

No European nation, though, has touted the success of Trump’s first term and expressed hopes for a strong second term as has Hungary. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó revealed his government would have "huge expectations" for a new Trump administration. 

"We have huge expectations because we do believe that many of the major crises which give us a lot of concern can be resolved by an administration of President Trump," Szijjártó said, noting he speaks as the longest-serving foreign minister in NATO with 10 years under his belt. 

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"I didn't really see anyone laughing at Trump," Szijjártó said. "What I've seen many having fear. I've seen many being afraid of a U.S. president being honest, not a hostage by the liberal mainstream, representing a patriotic position, speaking clearly about America first."  

Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have done little to hide their rosy friendship, with Trump invoking the Hungarian leader as a "strong man of Europe" who speaks well of the former president. 

Orbán proved this is a mutual dynamic when he chose to leave the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., earlier this year to instead meet with Trump in Mar-a-Lago in Florida to discuss foreign relations.

"Under President Trump, everything was under control," Szijjártó said. "Since President Trump has left office, the whole global security situation is deteriorating. So, I mean, these are experiences." 

"If we base it on our experience, we say yes, from a perspective of U.S.-Hungary relations, I think President Trump would bring another impetus, freshness, dynamism to this relationship. And I think if President Trump is elected, I think the world has a good chance to become a more peaceful place compared to the current situation."  

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Austria's far-right Freedom Party could win a national election for the first time when Austria votes on Sunday, tapping into voters' anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine and other concerns following recent gains for the hard right elsewhere in Europe.

Herbert Kickl, a former interior minister and longtime campaign strategist who has led the Freedom Party since 2021, wants to become Austria's new chancellor. He has used the term "Volkskanzler," or chancellor of the people, which was used by the Nazis to describe Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. Kickl has rejected the comparison.

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But to achieve that, he would need a coalition partner to command a majority in the lower house of parliament.

And a win isn't certain, with recent polls pointing to a close race. They have put support for the Freedom Party at 27%, with the conservative Austrian People's Party of Chancellor Karl Nehammer on 25% and the center-left Social Democrats on 21%.

Still, Kickl has achieved a turnaround since Austria's last election in 2019. In June, the Freedom Party narrowly won a nationwide vote for the first time in the European Parliament election, which also brought gains for other European far-right parties.

In the 2019 election, its support slumped to 16.2% after a scandal brought down a government in which it was the junior coalition partner. Then-vice chancellor and Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache resigned following the publication of a secretly recorded video in which he appeared to offer favors to a purported Russian investor.

The far right has tapped into voter frustration over high inflation, the war in Ukraine and the COVID pandemic. It also been able to build on worries about migration.

"You don’t really feel safe in your own country anymore. But then you’re being branded as right-wing just because you think about safety of your own people, the kids and women," Margot Sterner, 54, said at a Freedom Party campaign event this month.

In its election program, the Freedom Party calls for "remigration of uninvited foreigners," and for achieving a more "homogeneous" nation by tightly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum via an "emergency law."

Gernot Bauer, a journalist with Austrian magazine Profil who recently co-published an investigative biography of the far-right leader, said that under Kickl’s leadership, the Freedom Party has moved "even further to the right," as Kickl refuses to explicitly distance the party from the Identitarian Movement, a pan-European nationalist and far-right group.

Bauer describes Kickl’s rhetoric as "aggressive" and says some of his language is deliberately provocative.

The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, is highly critical of western military aid to Ukraine and wants to bow out of the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defense project launched by Germany.

The leader of the Social Democrats, a party that led many of Austria's post-World War II governments, has positioned himself as the polar opposite to Kickl. Andreas Babler — who is also mayor of the town of Traiskirchen, home to the country's biggest refugee reception center — has ruled out governing with the far right and labeled Kickl "a threat to democracy."

While the Freedom Party has recovered, the popularity of Nehammer's People’s Party, which currently leads a coalition government with the environmentalist Greens as junior partners, has declined since 2019.

During the election campaign, Nehammer portrayed his party, which has taken a tough line on immigration in recent years, as "the strong center" that will guarantee stability amid multiple crises.

But it is precisely these crises, ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and resulting rising energy prices, that have cost the conservatives support, said Peter Filzmaier, one of Austria’s leading political scientists.

Under their leadership, Austria has experienced high inflation averaging 4.2% over the past 12 months, surpassing the EU average.

The government also angered many Austrians in 2022 by becoming the first European country to introduce a coronavirus vaccine mandate, which was scrapped a few months later without ever being put into effect. And Nehammer is the third chancellor since the last election, taking office in 2021 after predecessor Sebastian Kurz — the winner in 2019 — quit politics amid a corruption investigation.

But the recent flooding caused by Storm Boris that hit Austria and other countries in Central Europe brought back the topic of the environment into the election debate and helped Nehammer slightly narrow the gap with the Freedom Party by presenting himself as a "crisis manager," Filzmaier said.

The People’s Party is the far right’s only way into government.

Nehammer has repeatedly excluded joining a government led by Kickl, describing him as a "security risk" for the country, but hasn't ruled out a coalition with the Freedom Party in and of itself, which would imply Kickl renouncing a position in government.

The likelihood of Kickl agreeing to such a deal if he wins the election is very low, Filzmaier said.

But should the People’s Party finish first, then a coalition between the People’s Party and the Freedom Party could happen, Filzmaier said. The most probable alternative would be a three-way alliance between the People’s Party, the Social Democrats and most likely the liberal Neos.

On a brutal day for Pope Francis, the king of Belgium, its prime minister and the rector of the Catholic university that invited him here all ripped into the institution he heads for a spectrum of sins: for covering up cases of clergy sex abuse and being far behind the times on embracing women and the LGBTQ+ community in the church.

And that was all before Francis met with the people most harmed by the Catholic Church in Belgium — the men and women who were raped and molested by priests as children. Seventeen abuse survivors spent two hours with Francis on Friday evening, telling him of their trauma, shame and pain and demanding reparations from the church.

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Through it all, Francis expressed his remorse, begged forgiveness and promised to do everything possible to make sure such abuses never occur again. "This is our shame and humiliation," he said in his first public remarks on Belgian soil.

Francis has visited countries with wretched legacies of church wrongdoing before. He made a sweeping apology to Irish abuse survivors in 2018 and traveled to Canada in 2022 to atone for the church-run residential schools that traumatized generations of Indigenous peoples.

But it is hard to think of a single day where the leader of the 1.3-billion strong Catholic Church had been subjected to such strong, public criticisms from a country's highest institutional figures — royalty, government and academia — over the church’s crimes and its seemingly tone-deaf responses to the demands of today’s Catholics.

Luc Sels, the rector of Leuven Catholic University, the 600th anniversary of which was the official reason for Francis’ trip to Belgium, told the pope that the abuse scandals had so weakened the church’s moral authority that it would do well to reform if it wants to regain its credibility and relevance.

"Wouldn’t the church be a warmer place if women were given a prominent place, the most prominent place, also in priesthood?" Sells asked the pope.

"Wouldn’t the church in our region gain moral authority if it were not so rigid in its approach to gender and diversity issues? And if it did, like the university does, open its arms more to the LGBTQ+ community?" he asked.

The comments certainly reflected the views of European social progressives. But they also reflected the reform-minded church that Francis has embraced, to a degree, in seeking to make the universal church more relevant and responsive to Catholics today.

The day began with King Philippe welcoming Francis to Laeken Castle, the residence of Belgium’s royal family, and citing the abuse and forced adoption scandals in demanding the church work "incessantly" to atone for the crimes and help victims heal.

He was followed by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who was also allowed to speak in an exception to typical Vatican protocol. He used the opportunity of a face-to-face public encounter to demand "concrete steps" to come clean with the full extent of the abuse scandal and put victims’ interests over those of the church.

"Victims need to be heard. They need to be at the center. They have a right to truth. Misdeeds need to be recognized," he told the pope. "When something goes wrong we cannot accept cover-ups," he said. "To be able to look into the future, the church needs to come clean on its past."

It was one of the most pointed welcome speeches ever directed at the pope during a foreign trip, where the genteel dictates of diplomatic protocol usually keep public remarks outrage-free.

But the tone underscored just how raw the abuse scandal still is in Belgium, where two decades of revelations of abuse and systematic cover-ups have devastated the hierarchy’s credibility and contributed to an overall decline in Catholicism and the influence of the once-powerful church.

Overall, victims welcomed the words from both church and state. Survivor Emmanuel Henckens said that "to an extent they went to the crux of the evil. He said it was no longer possible to look the other way."

But another abuse survivor, Koen Van Sumere, said it was now essential for the church to provide victims with substantial financial settlements.

"If you want to move toward forgiveness and reconciliation it is not sufficient to only say ‘I am sorry’ but you have to bear the consequences it entails and you should compensate the damages," Van Sumere said. He said so far what the Belgian church had paid out "amounted to alms" and that the settlement he received for his abuse didn’t even cover the costs of his therapy.

The victims, 17 of whom met with Francis at the Vatican residence Friday evening, had penned an open letter to him demanding a universal system of church reparations for their traumas. In a statement after the meeting, the Vatican said Francis would study their requests.

"The pope was able to listen and get close to their suffering, expressed gratitude for their courage, and the feeling of shame for what they suffered as children because of the priests to whom they were entrusted, noting the requests made to him so that he could study them," said a statement from the Vatican spokesman.

Revelations of Belgium’s horrific abuse scandal have dribbled out in bits over a quarter-century, punctuated by a bombshell in 2010 when the country’s longest-serving bishop, Brugge Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, was allowed to resign without punishment after admitting he had sexually abused his nephew for 13 years.

Francis only defrocked Vangheluwe earlier this year, in a move clearly designed to remove a lingering source of outrage among Belgians before his visit.

In September 2010, the church released a 200-page report that said 507 people had come forward with stories of being molested by priests, including when they were as young as 2. It identified at least 13 suicides by victims and attempts by six more.

Victims and advocates say those findings were just the tip of the iceberg and that the true scope of the scandal is far greater.

In his remarks, Francis insisted that the church was "addressing firmly and decisively" the abuse problem by implementing prevention programs, listening to victims and accompanying them to heal.

But after the astonishing dressing-down by the prime minister and king, Francis went off-script to express the shame of the church for the scandal and voice his commitment to ending it.

"The church must be ashamed and ask for forgiveness and try to resolve this situation with Christian humility and put all the possibilities in places so that this doesn’t happen again," Francis said. "But even if it were only one (victim), it is enough to be ashamed."

The prime minister, king and pope also referred to a new church-related scandal rocking Belgium, over so-called "forced adoptions," which echoed earlier revelations about Ireland’s so-called mother and baby homes.

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After World War II and through to the 1980s, many single mothers were forced by the Belgian church to offer their newborns up for adoption, with money changing hands.

Francis said he was "saddened" to learn of these practices, but said such criminality was "mixed in with what was unfortunately the prevailing view in all parts of society at this time."

"American Gothic" is a famous piece of artwork by Iowa-born Grant Wood.

The painting by Wood depicts a man and a woman standing in front of a house. 

The man, a farmer, wears overalls, with a pitchfork in his hand, looking straight at the viewer, where the woman's head is turned slightly with a stern look on her face.  

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Though there is a clear age gap between the man and the woman in the painting, the relationship between them is unknown. The painting could depict a husband and wife, or a father and his daughter. 

To create his famous work, Wood used his sister Nan, and his dentist, Dr. B.H. McKeeby, as models for the pair standing in front of the house in the painting, according to Britannica. The two posed separately as Wood worked on the painting. 

The house in the background of the painting was inspired by one Wood saw in Eldon, Iowa, according to the Art Institute of Chicago's website. 

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The house was built in the Carpenter Gothic style, one that was popular in the 1880s. 

The painting was completed by Wood in 1930. Upon completion, Wood submitted it to the Art Institute of Chicago, where it was accepted into a major show, according to the art institute. 

Wood won the Norman Wait Harris Bronze Award for his painting and won $300 as his prize. 

The painting has remained at the Art Institute of Chicago to this day. When it was first put on display, it quickly grew in popularity. 

Much of the public interest in the painting came from viewers trying to fill in the blanks of the story. Not much is known of the background story of the painting, so many have made their own guesses. 

One popular belief of the painting is that it was meant to be a satirical take on the Midwest, according to the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood repeatedly rejected this throughout his life, according to Britannica. 

The Art Institute of Chicago says on its website that Wood wanted to "convey a positive image of rural American values, offering a vision of reassurance at the beginning of the Great Depression." 

North Korea is expanding its list of crimes punishable by death, according to reports.

Supreme leader Kim Jong Un's regime expanded the list of offenses warranting the death penalty from 11 to 16 via revisions of criminal law, according to Yonhap News Agency.

New offenses warranting execution as a punishment include: anti-state propaganda and agitation acts, illegal manufacturing, and the illicit use of weapons are included in the new codes. 

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The legal modifications were codified via multiple amendments between May 2022 and December 2023, according to a report from the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU). 

The tightening of the criminal code is intended to strengthen the Kim regime's grip on the population through its continued monopolization of the marketplace and military. 

Earlier this month, North Korea promised to refine its weapons development and strengthen its nuclear capabilities. 

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Kim Jong Un made the comments Monday at a state event celebrating the country's 76th anniversary.

"The obvious conclusion is that the nuclear force of the DPRK and the posture capable of properly using it for ensuring the state's right to security in any time should be more thoroughly perfected," the dictator said.

"DPRK" is an abbreviation for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Kim Jong Un warned that the United States' increased involvement in the region has forced the regime to pursue more powerful weapons as a deterrence mechanism.

"The DPRK will steadily strengthen its nuclear force capable of fully coping with any threatening acts imposed by its nuclear-armed rival states and redouble its measures and efforts to make all the armed forces of the state, including the nuclear force, fully ready for combat," the supreme leader said.

The 14th Supreme People's Assembly, the unicameral legislative body of the country, amended the national constitution last year to enshrine nuclear weaponization as a core principle.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization Hassan Nasrallah died in its strike Friday against the group’s headquarters in Lebanon.

"This is not the end of our toolbox. The message is simple, anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel - We will know how to reach them," the IDF's Chief of the General Staff, Ltf. Herzi Halevi said of the elimination of Nasrallah.

The IDF attacked the Iran-backed terror proxy’s headquarters in southern Beirut, revealing that they had targeted Nasrallah. A Hezbollah media relations official initially claimed he was "fine and well," but the Israelis confirmed his death early the next morning.

At least two other people were killed and dozens were wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

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On Friday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters, "The United States was not involved in Israel’s operation," noting there was "no advance warning," from the Israelis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short his trip to New York following his speech to the United Nations General Assembly where he warned Hezbollah about Israel’s right to go on the offensive. 

"As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their home safely and that's exactly what we're doing," he said.

After his speech the prime minister’s office released a picture showing the Israeli leader in his New York hotel approving the operation against the terror chief. 

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Rich Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that Nasrallah’s death would prove a significant victory for Israel due to his close ties to Tehran.

"People don't appreciate that Nasrallah took over for Soleimani as senior strategist for Khamenei," Goldberg explained.

"Nasrallah had operational control of Lebanon and Syria: This is not just a strategic game-changer for Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria, it's a strategic game-changer for Tehran," Goldberg explained. "We should assume that the IRGC is effectively in charge behind the scenes. Khamenei clearly had made a decision in recent weeks to avoid inviting Israeli strikes inside Iran."

"The calculus that led to that decision hasn't changed," Goldberg added. "Should Khamenei decide he's feeling lucky tonight and order a direct attack, we should reset all our assumptions about what Israel is willing to do inside Iran."

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced Saturday morning that it eliminated the head of the Hamas terrorist network in southern Syria.

The Israeli Air Force struck Ahmad Muhammad Fahd following intelligence conducted by the IDF.

Fahd was responsible for carrying out terror attacks against IDF troops and Israel from the area of southern Syria, including by firing projectiles toward the Golan Heights area, according to the IDF.

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He was eliminated while planning to carry out an "imminent" terror attack, the IDF said.

The IDF noted that it is continuing to work to eliminate Hamas terrorists, regardless of their location.

The IDF also said it was calling up three reserve battalions for operational activities and to strengthen the defense in the Central Command.

Fox News' Yonat Friling contributed to this report.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced Saturday morning that it eliminated the head of the Hamas terrorist network in southern Syria.

The Israeli Air Force struck Ahmad Muhammad Fahd following intelligence conducted by the IDF.

Fahd was responsible for carrying out terror attacks against IDF troops and Israel from the area of southern Syria, including by firing projectiles toward the Golan Heights area, according to the IDF.

ISRAEL TARGETS HEZBOLLAH LEADER NASRALLAH IN STRIKE ON BEIRUT HEADQUARTERS

He was eliminated while planning to carry out an "imminent" terror attack, the IDF said.

The IDF noted that it is continuing to work to eliminate Hamas terrorists, regardless of their location.

The IDF also said it was calling up three reserve battalions for operational activities and to strengthen the defense in the Central Command.

Fox News' Yonat Friling contributed to this report.

The fate of Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah is unknown following the Israeli Defense Forces' "targeted attack" against the central headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut, Lebanon. 

Fox News has learned the target of the attack was Nasrallah, but Hezbollah has since claimed that he is "fine and well" following the strike.

"His Eminence the Secretary-General is fine and well and was not in the targeted location," Hezbollah Media Relations Officer Hajj Muhammad Afif said on Iranian television. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not provided an official status update on Nasrallah's whereabouts.

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Elijah J. Magnier, a Brussels-based veteran and a senior political risk analyst, said that the group's normal practice "is that they either want him to be in a safe place, and they are moving him, or he is dead, and they want to wait until they find his body."

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On Friday night, the IDF announced that two of Hezbollah's leaders – Muhammad Ali Ismail and Hussein Ahmad Ismail – were killed in the strike.

"Muhammad Ali Ismail, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Missile Unit in southern Lebanon, and his deputy, Hussein Ahmad Ismail, were eliminated in a precise IAF strike," the IDF announced in a X post.

The Israeli agency said that Ali Ismail was responsible for "directing numerous terrorist attacks" and "the firing of rockets towards Israeli territory and the launch of a surface-to-surface missile towards central Israel on Wednesday."

The IDF's announcement of the elimination of the two terrorist leaders came after Ibrahim Muhammad Qabisi, Head of Hezbollah's Missiles and Rockets Force, as well as other senior commanders of this unit, were previously killed.

WATCH:

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh previously said that the U.S. was not involved in this operation and had no advance warning.

"Minister [Yoav] Gallant spoke with Secretary Austin as the operation was already underway," Singh said. "This operation has happened within the last few hours. We are still assessing the event."

The Pentagon also declined to speculate on whether the Hezbollah leader was still alive.

Fox News Digital's Michael Dorgan, Fox News' Trey Yingst and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contractor was indicted Friday for acting as an illegal agent for the Iranian government, the Department of Justice said.

According to a DOJ release, from at least December 2017 through June 2024, 42-year-old Abouzar Rahmati allegedly met with Iranian government officials and acted on their behalf.

Rahmati, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Great Falls, Virginia, previously was an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) 1st Lt., a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, from June 2009 to May 2010. The IRGC is a designated terrorist group by the U.S. government.

After being discharged from the IRGC, the indictment alleges that Rahmati lied to the U.S. government regarding his military service with the IRGC in order to gain employment as a U.S. contractor.

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In Aug. 2017, prosecutors allege that Rahmati began communicating with a senior Iranian government official with whom he had previously attended college.

Four months later, Rahmati traveled to Iran and met with intelligence operatives. During the meetings, he agreed to obtain and provide them with information on the U.S. solar energy industry.

Following the initial meetings, Rahmati got to work as a spy for the Iranian government. Prosecutors said that he eventually became a contractor for FAA’s National Airspace System (NAS), which allowed him to be privy to sensitive information.

Authorities alleged that in April 2022, Rahmati downloaded private documents related to the FAA and the NAS power and electrical architecture and passed them along to Iran's government.

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He also gave the Government of Iran additional information relating to solar energy, solar panels, the FAA, U.S. airports, and U.S. air traffic control.

"As alleged, the defendant conspired with Iranian officials and intelligence operatives, even lying to obtain employment as a U.S. government contractor only to then share sensitive government materials with Iran," Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said. "When undisclosed agents of Iran or any other foreign government seek to infiltrate American companies or government agencies, the Justice Department will use every available tool to identify them and bring them to justice."

Rahmani made his initial appearance in the District of Columbia on Friday afternoon.

St. Paul's Cathedral in London has been the site of many historic moments, including the wedding of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana Spencer in July 1981. 

The cathedral's safety has been a concern many times throughout its history, especially after it was damaged in bomb raids during World War II. St. Paul's Cathedral remarkably stood among the destruction.

There were several bomb raids in and around the cathedral during WWII.

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During "The Blitz," a German bombing campaign on British cities, London was bombed 57 nights in a row, according to the St. Paul's Cathedral website. During this time, there were over a million buildings partially damaged or destroyed. 

Many bombings happened around or in the cathedral, including on Dec. 29, 1940.

On that night, the Daily Mail's chief photographer, Herbert Mason, was on the roof of the newspaper's building, looking around at the destruction below and smoke filling the air. 

Through the smoke, he saw St. Paul's Cathedral still standing tall among all the surrounding destruction as a shining light in the city. 

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"Suddenly, the shining cross, dome and towers stood out like a symbol in the inferno. The scene was unbelievable. In that moment or two, I released my shutter," Mason said of the moment, according to the cathedral's website. 

The photo, "St. Paul Survives," is still famous today.

On that night, 28 small explosive devices fell on and around the cathedral, hitting the dome and destroying the Chapter House located nearby, according to the St. Paul's Cathedral website. 

Two months before, a 500-pound bomb went off in the Apse and Quaire, according to the source, and the cathedral suffered another direct hit in April 1941. 

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In September 1940, another bomb landed in the south-west tower but didn't explode and was carefully removed for safe detonation. 

There are several places throughout the cathedral where bomb damage remains to this day, according to the website for St. Paul's Cathedral. 

Many years later, the cathedral was the setting for Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding.

St. Paul's Cathedral was a unique choice for the wedding ceremony because most in the royal family chose Westminster Abbey as their place to be wed. 

Prince Charles and Princess Diana's July 1981 wedding was the first for an heir to the throne to be held at St. Paul's Cathedral in 480 years, according to the cathedral's website. 

St. Paul's Cathedral was chosen as the wedding venue for its large size and the long route to the cathedral, Clarance House and Buckingham Palace, allowing more opportunities for public viewing. 

There were 3,500 in attendance at the royal wedding, according to the cathedral's website, with another 350 million watching from home. 

Today, St. Paul's Cathedral continues to be a holy place for worship and the setting of many royal events. It's a staple of the city, with its famous unmistakable dome among London's buildings. It's also one of London's popular tourist attractions, with millions visiting each year. 

Three U.S. warships came under attack Friday off the coast of Yemen by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have disrupted commercial shipping in the region, but no one was hurt, officials said. 

The warships shot down nearly two dozen incoming missiles and drones while transiting a narrow entrance into the Red Sea. None of the vessels was hit, and no sailors on board were hurt, a U.S. official told Fox News. 

The USS Stockdale and USS Spruance, along with a littoral combat ship, the USS Indianapolis, were transiting the Bab al-Mandab Strait when the naval warships came under attack from a barrage of incoming ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, the officials said.

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"We did see a complex attack launched from the Houthis that ranged from cruise missiles and waves," Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Friday. "My understanding is that those were either engaged in, shot down or failed."

The Stockdale and Spruance are part of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group that recently arrived in the Middle East from the Pacific.

U.S. forces have struck back at Houthi militants on multiple occasions for nearly a year. The rebel group has routinely attacked commercial and military vessels at sea over Israel's war against Hamas. 

The number of commercial ships passing through the Red Sea has dropped by 90% since the attacks began after the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. Since then, U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have come under attack dozens of times. In January, three American soldiers were killed in Jordan.

MORE THAN A MILLION PALESTINIANS IN GAZA ARE NOW DISPLACED; WHY ARE ARAB COUNTRIES NOT OPENING THEIR DOORS?

The Houthis recently attacked a Greek-flagged oil tanker, which carried four times the amount of oil that spilled from the Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989. No major oil spill occurred, and officials said the fires on board the vessel were contained. 

The ship was towed into port after being adrift in the Red Sea for days with flames visible on deck.

During her debate with former President Trump, Vice President Harris claimed, "As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world, the first time this century."

At the time of Harris's comments, elite American commandos had just conducted a raid into western Iraq, days prior, to kill ISIS leaders. A number of soldiers were wounded, including one who took shrapnel to his leg, which required surgery.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft strike group returned to Norfolk, Virginia, in July after dropping 420 bombs on Houthi targets in Yemen. Warships in the strike group fired 155 interceptor missiles to shoot down incoming Houthi missiles and drones. 

At least 135 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired into Yemen from American warships, and fighter jets aboard the ship launched 60 air-to-air missiles to shoot down incoming Houthi drones.

The Israeli Defense Forces carried out a "precise strike" on the central headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut, Lebanon, the IDF announced Friday. 

IDF spokesperson Rear admiral Daniel Hagari said the headquarters were intentionally built under residential buildings "as part of Hezbollah's strategy of using Lebanese people as human shields."

Video and images show plumes of smoke rising over Beirut following the Israeli strikes.

Fox News has learned the target of the strike on Beirut was Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH WAR: NETANYAHU 'DID NOT EVEN RESPOND' TO US CEASE-FIRE DEAL, PLEDGES TO FIGHT 'FULL FORCE'

Hezbollah's al-Manar television reported that four buildings were destroyed and there were many casualties in the multiple strikes, which marked a major escalation of Israel's conflict with the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah.

HOW A US-BACKED UN RESOLUTION FAILED TO STOP HEZBOLLAH TERROR TAKEOVER: 'BIPARTISAN FAILURE'

Security sources in Lebanon said the attack targeted an area where top Hezbollah officials are usually based. It was the heaviest attack in Beirut in almost a year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

"On Oct. 8, Hezbollah started attacking Israel after almost a year of Hezbollah firing rockets, missiles and suicide drones at Israeli civilians," Hagari said.

"After almost a year of Israel warning the world and telling them that Hezbollah must be stopped, Israel is doing what every sovereign state in the world would do if they had a terror organization that seeks their destruction on their border, taking the necessary action to protect our people so that Israeli families can leave their homes safely and securely."

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for details. 

Former President Donald Trump met with the president of Ukraine at Trump Tower in New York City on Friday, saying he has a "very good relationship" with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"It's very important to share our plan, all of our steps on how we can strengthen Ukraine," Zelenskyy said. He explained to reporters that he decided to meet with both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris because "after November, we don't know who Americans [will decide to] be the president."

Speaking with Fox News after the meeting, Trump said, "We both want to see this end and we both want to see a fair deal made. And it's got to be fair. And I think that'll happen at the right time. I think it's going to happen." 

Neither Trump nor Zelenskyy publicly explained details of a potential deal.

ZELENSKYY WARNS VANCE'S PLAN TO GIVE RUSSIA SEIZED LAND WILL LEAD TO 'GLOBAL SHUTDOWN'

"It’s an honor to have the president with us, and he’s been through a lot" Trump said of Zelenskyy's visit, at one point saying "[Zelenskyy has] gone through hell, his country has gone through hell."

The meeting at Trump Tower comes just after Zelenskyy met with Harris in Washington, D.C. 

Harris and Zelenskyy gave a joint address at the White House on Thursday, where she pledged unwavering support for the Ukrainian effort and criticized Trump's consideration of negotiated peace at the cost of some captured regions of the country.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY'S VANCE CRITICISMS COULD COME BACK TO HAUNT HIM, REPUBLICANS WARN

"In candor, I share with you, Mr. President, there are some in my country who would, instead, force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory, who would demand that Ukraine accept neutrality and would require Ukraine to forego security relationships with other nations," Harris said.

Zelenskyy affirmed on Friday after meeting with Trump that the former president shares the "common view that the war in Ukraine has to be stopped."

"He’s going through a tremendous amount," Trump said on Friday. "We’re going to have a discussion and see what we can come up with."

A brief exchange between the two leaders highlighted the high stakes of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the U.S.'s role in ending the conflict.

"We have a very good relationship. I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin," Trump said. "And I think if we win we're going to get [the war] resolved very quickly." 

"I hope we have more good [sic] relations," Zelenskyy interjected, emphasizing his desire to have a stronger relationship with the U.S. than Russia.

"It takes two to tango, and we will," Trump responded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underscored the conflicts in the Middle East as a choice between "a blessing or a curse," as he warned Iran’s "tyrants" about Israel’s ability to defend and avenge itself.

"If you strike us, we will strike you," Netanyahu said. "There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach, and that’s true of the entire Middle East: Far from being lambs led to the slaughter, Israel’s soldiers have fought back with incredible courage and with heroic sacrifice."  

Netanyahu took the podium in front of a partially empty General Assembly, with some delegates walking out, but those who gathered to hear him offered raucous applause ahead of his speech. Seemingly absent from the speech was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was hosting a global health security event on the sidelines of UNGA.

He revealed that he almost did not attend the U.N. High-Level Week, but he felt a need to "set the record straight," which included laying out the choice the world faces. 

Netanyahu brought several families with loved ones held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza to New York and once again called for their freedom, noting that, "I'll say this one more time, we remain focused on our sacred mission, bringing our hostages home. And we will not stop until that mission is complete."

THE ONLY THING NETANYAHU CAN DO IS EXUDE STRENGTH IN THE FACE OF HIS ENEMIES: ELIZABETH PIPKO

"Israel seeks peace," Netanyahu said. "Israel yearns for peace. Israel has made peace and will make peace again – yet, we face savage enemies who seek our annihilation, and we must defend ourselves against those savage murderers." 

Netanyahu framed the issue as a choice between "a blessing or a curse," with Iran’s "unremitting aggression" as the "curse" against the "blessing" of reconciliation between Arab nations and Israel.

CZECH FOREIGN MINISTER HIGHLIGHTS LACK OF EUROPEAN LEADERSHIP, FAILURE TO ‘PROJECT GEOPOLITICAL POWER’

"A normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel seemed closer than ever. But then came the curse of Oct. 7," Netanyahu said. "Thousands of Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists from Gaza burst into Israel in pickup trucks, on motorcycles. And they committed unimaginable atrocities." 

The prime minister hammered again on Iran’s aggression, warning that if left unchecked, it will "endanger every single country in the Middle East and many, many countries in the rest of the world." 

HEZBOLLAH STORES WEAPONS AMONG CIVILIANS IN LEBANON, US SAYS ITS NOT SHARING INTEL WITH IDF

"Iran seeks to impose its radicalism well beyond the Middle East," Netanyahu warned. "That's why it funds terror networks on five continents. That's why it builds ballistic missiles for nuclear warheads to threaten the entire world."

"For too long, the world is appeasing Iran. It turns a blind eye to its internal repression. It turns a blind eye to its external aggression," he added. "Well, that appeasement must end, and that appeasement must end now."

Netanyahu called on the U.N. Security Council to "snap back" sanctions against Iran and do everything in the organization’s power to "ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons." 

However, he lamented that the organization has an apparent bias against Israel and in favor of the Palestinians, citing the "automatic majority" of countries that will vote in favor of any policy that hurts Israel.

"For the Palestinians, this U.N. House of darkness is home court," Netanyahu said. "They know that in this swamp of antisemitic bile, there's an automatic majority willing to demonize the Jewish state on anything in this anti-Israel, flat Earth society. Any false charge, any outlandish allegation can muster a majority." 

"It's always been about Israel, about Israel's very existence, and I say to you, until Israel, until the Jewish state is treated like other nations, until this antisemitic swamp is drained, the U.N. will be viewed by fair-minded people everywhere as nothing more than a contemptuous force," he added. 

Fox News' David Hammelburg contributed to this story.

UNITED NATIONS, New York - Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, during an interview with Fox News Digital, bemoaned that Europe now struggles to impact geopolitical issues and lacks clear leadership in the over two dozen member bloc. 

"I think it's a clear show that Europe has lost its ability to project geopolitical power, especially into Africa and the Middle East, because we are basically not able to do any kind of measures to stop this irregular migration," Lipavsky said. 

"When somebody who really has no right for asylum is in Europe, there are no true mechanisms … so they will need to put more effort into that, definitely," he added. 

Czechia, also known as the Czech Republic, sits in the middle of Europe and still considers itself the continent’s "natural crossroads," which places it in a unique position to discuss matters regarding immigration and conflicts on the border. 

HUNGARIAN FM RECALLS STRONG TRUMP ADMIN ‘EXPERIENCE,’ CLAIMS ‘OUR HOPE IS ALL’ ON FORMER PRESIDENT

Despite that prominent perspective, Lipavsky noted that "the leadership must come from the big" countries, as "that’s how things are done in international politics." 

Lipavsky argued that this lack of leadership has made the conflict between Ukraine and Russia more difficult, but he admitted the war helped waken the bloc’s members to certain issues they had ignored. 

"We have rediscovered our ability, at least in the east, to protect Ukraine, but, still, we need to do more, honestly," Lipavsky said. "I would not say it’s a dire situation, but certainly the lack of leadership also could be visible." 

TALIBAN DISMISS DISCRIMINATION ACCUSATIONS AS ‘ABSURD’ DESPITE BANNING WOMEN FROM PUBLIC IN AFGHANISTAN

"As minister of foreign affairs from Czechia, I’m trying to come up with proposals. I’m trying to call for common action," he continued. "For example, we are delivering a lot of ammunition to Ukraine. We have this ammunition initiative." 

"Those are hundreds, thousands of shells, which then make a difference on the battlefields – more than words," he added.   

Lipavsky framed the current state of international politics as one of "global confrontation," with conflicts across multiple regions that impact all nations due to their effects on everything from energy to food supplies and general shipping.

"We see many conflicts in the Middle East," Lipavsky said. "It’s not only Gaza or now Lebanon, where the north of Israel is being shelled by rockets for many months, but it is also the navigation in Red Sea, which is being endangered by Houthis, and those are supported by Iran."

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT BACKS UN CLAIM RELIEF WORKERS ACCUSED OF AIDING HAMAS ARE IMMUNE

"This is a very complex matter, and we need to de-escalate," he added. "We need to put a lot of effort into peace, but also not forget that Israel has a right to defend itself." 

Czechia earlier this year voted against the Palestinian States gaining expanded powers in the United Nations and last week was one of 14 countries that voted against a Palestinian-drafted resolution that adopted the International Court of Justice opinion that demanded Israel leave Gaza and the West Bank. Lipavsky explained that the resolution "skewed in one direction," which was "a very basic reason to vote against" the resolution. 

However, he stressed that Russia remains "definitely" the most important crisis facing Czechia and other European countries. 

"Russia wants to destroy the complete Ukrainian nation. They want to include them into Russia and … It's like Hitler during the World War. It's absolutely similar," Lipavsky insisted. 

"We know that we used to be in a sphere of influence of Soviet Union during Czechoslovakia … after the Second World War until the fall of the Berlin Wall," he said. "I don't want to happen to Czechia again that some dictator will tell us what to do and what to not and to exploit us. 

"So we have to defend from this, from this Russian trust, and then of course, to be a good ally to U.S., and good to NATO," he added. 

"Marginalized," "powerless," living in the "Twilight Zone."

Parents of a trans teenager living in Geneva used those words to describe how they have lived in shock and fear over the last 19 months after their then 15-year-old daughter was removed from their home by court order following their objections to giving her puberty blockers.

Now, they are fighting under threat of criminal charges to preserve her identity and stop her from making potentially irreversible changes to her body.  

"This is not a question of human rights," the father told Fox News Digital. "This is a question of conducting medical experiments on children."

BIDEN OFFICIALS PUSHED TO DROP AGE LIMIT ON TRANS SURGERIES FOR MINORS: REPORT

The parents of the now 16-year-old – who wish to remain anonymous to preserve their family’s privacy – claim they have struggled to combat the institutional powers that have accused them of parental abuse for their refusal to give their daughter elective medicine.

The tumultuous journey began when the girl sat her parents down in 2021 and told them she identified as a boy.

"It was an absolute surprise. She was 13 at the time, and she had never previously demonstrated any inclination toward masculinity or any proclivity for masculine behavior ever," the father explained.

The father – who said he and his daughter were always very close – detailed how she reached this conclusion following a difficult time for their family after first his work took him abroad for several years, and then the coronavirus pandemic hit.

The pandemic forced school closures, which meant increased isolation for kids around the globe, and a significant amount of time spent online.

"We said to our daughter, ‘Well this is a surprise, but we will listen to you, and we will seek medical advice. We will all learn together and make decisions together,'" he said.

At the recommendation of their child’s pediatrician, they took their daughter to the public children’s hospital in Geneva, where she was shown a "gender unicorn" and was asked to identify with various aspects of the image, after which it was determined that she was "likely experiencing gender dysphoria."

The director of the ward then met with the parents and explained that the hospital was conducting "rigorous research" around the question of gender identity and that their daughter would receive a "comprehensive and serious assessment."

NEW HAMPSHIRE SENATE PASSES BILL THAT WOULD PROHIBIT TRANS ATHLETES' INCLUSION WITH GENDER IDENTITY

The advice was to "support her in her identity" by allowing her to cut her hair, dress as a boy and wear breast binders if that’s what she wished.

"And so, initially, we did that. We followed the medical advice," the father said.

However, after seeing a psychiatrist at the hospital for a few months, the parents were told the next step they should pursue for their daughter would be to begin the use of hormone blockers – a medication that prevents puberty-related changes to the body, like breast growth.

"We’re not at the stage where we're going to be giving our daughter any medication," he said, reflecting on their response to the psychiatrist.

"We saw firsthand in our interaction with the hospital, that there was no serious medical assessment being conducted. It was simply, well your daughter has pointed to these elements on the gender unicorn, and therefore, she’s a boy because she says so," he added, noting that they then sought out a private psychiatrist.

In response to Fox News Digital's questions, the Geneva University Hospital (HUG) said they could not comment on individual cases but said in cases of gender dysphoria the hospital works "to promote dialogue between the child and his parents."

Spokesperson for the hospital, Nicolas de Saussure, also said the "HUG does not push any patient in the direction of a legal or medical transition but supports them in their individual journey according to their values and preferences by referring to existing scientific data and international recommendations."

According to the statement sent to Fox News Digital, the hospital has received roughly 100 minors with gender dysmorphia, about half of which have begun hormonal treatments after they have reached the age of 16. 

However, the father described a sense of frustration regarding what the parents felt was a lack of adequate medical care and support offered for their daughter and their family – a frustration that marked only the beginning of what would become a long and arduous journey as they struggled to maintain their parental rights.

Against the parent’s wishes, the private school their child attended began to "socially transition" their daughter and connected her with a transgender advocacy organization.

By the time their daughter was 15, a school psychologist – who she saw in addition to the private psychiatrist hired by her parents – reached out to the Swiss Child Protection Agency (SPMI) and claimed the minor needed protection from her "transphobic" parents following their continued objection to puberty blockers.

NEW FEDERAL TRANSGENDER RULES PLACE WOMEN'S WORKPLACE RIGHTS 'UNDER ATTACK,' EEOC COMMISSIONER CHARGES

"The school was facilitating meetings between our daughter and [the transgender advocacy agency], and our daughter and the SPMI – not only without our knowledge, but fraudulently because they were marking her absentee form as if she was doing school activities," he told Fox News Digital. "We later found out she wasn't. She was out of school meeting with [the transgender advocacy group] and meeting with the SPMI."

The school, which Fox News Digital has not named for the sake of the family's anonymity, rejected the accusation that it did anything untoward and said, "The school abides by Swiss law and complies with the decisions of the child protection authorities. 

"We refute all allegations implying otherwise," a school official added, though questions regarding how the child was marked absent were not directly answered. 

Eventually, based on alleged mental and physical health concerns, a Swiss court decided their daughter should be placed in a supervised home run by social services known as a "foyer" – where the now 16-year-old has remained for more than a year.

"International law holds that a child shall not be separated from her parents against their will, except in cases of abuse," legal counsel for ADF International, Dr. Felix Boellmann, said in a statement.

The father told Fox News Digital that it is still unclear to him and his legal team what abuse was identified in order to allow them to remove his daughter from her home. 

In return to Fox News Digital's questions, Swiss authorities with the République et canton de Genève said they would not comment on "individual situations" but provided a broad response to Switzerland's legal system. 

"The SPMI respects parental authority, unless the exercise of this authority endangers the child concerned, in which case it is up to the judge to decide the child's best interests," communications officer Constance Chaix said. "No child is removed from his or her parents because of ‘a lack of consent to the transition.'"

"No child is placed for lack of consent or opposition to treatment," Chaix said.

A series of battles have ensued as the parents desperately try to maintain a relationship with their daughter and return her to their home.

But as their daughter continues to age, the harder the fight becomes. 

In Switzerland, minors are allowed to legally change their name and registered sex at the age of 16, which her parents fear could make it that much easier for her to physically transition.

"We've met too many other parents and kids who have been victimized and now regret the situation they're in, in life. And we are up against these institutions," he said, referring to the court, the school and the SPMI, which he argues have not taken an evidence-based approach when it comes to minors experiencing gender dysphoria.

"Our inclination was to not only, of course, follow doctor's advice, but LGBTQI – everybody – we support that," he continued. "But as we started to get educated about gender identity, we started to understand that this was not a question of sexual orientation, but a question of cosmetic surgeries, hormones and other sort of Frankenstein-like experiments on children."

The father said the education system in Switzerland has put trans children on a "pedestal for being somehow more courageous," which influences hasty solutions like puberty blockers that could have lasting consequences.

The effects of hormone blockers are reportedly reversible, though government institutions like the U.K.’s National Health Institute have noted the limited research there is on its use in children, and the unknown long-term effects it could have on physical development like bone density or reproductive health.

"We [need to] start taking decisions based on facts and evidence instead of a radical, harmful ideology," the father said. "This is not a question of human rights. This is a question of conducting medical experiments on children.

"I want her to come home so that we can get her back on a healthy track," he said. "For her own well-being and that of her entire family."

The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has drastically escalated over the last month as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has begun targeting the terrorist network's hot spots and military storage units, all of which are strategically embedded within civilian villages.

Images and videos provided to Fox News Digital of the recent strikes in southern Lebanon show precision missiles hitting what have been deemed civilian buildings.

Hezbollah's use of civilian infrastructure has not only created a sophisticated network of meeting houses, weapons storage units and well-hidden missile launching positions across southern Lebanon and in the suburbs of Beirut, it has ensured a war with Hezbollah cannot be conducted without immense collateral damage. 

ISRAEL READIES RESERVE TROOPS ON BORDER WITH LEBANON: 'PREPARE YOURSELVES'

Since Monday, more than 1,800 casualties have been reported and at least 560 people are believed to have been killed, including 50 children and more than 90 women, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. 

On Thursday, the U.S. again urged Israel to agree to a cease-fire in Lebanon, and deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed with reporters that the U.S. is not aiding Jerusalem militarily or with intelligence in its Lebanon-based campaign.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the international community’s calls for a cease-fire and instead instructed his troops to continue fighting "with full force."

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday warned Israel that it "cannot without consequence just expand its operations to Lebanon" as commanders on the Israeli-Lebanon border ordered its troops to "prepare" for a possible ground invasion. 

No invasion has been ordered at this time, though Israeli and U.S. security experts have told Fox News Digital that the network Hezbollah has established on the foundation of everyday life within Lebanon means war with the terrorist network will likely be even more costly in terms of human lives than what has been witnessed in Gaza.

According to the Israel-based Alma Research and Education Center, a nonprofit organization that researches Israeli security challenges along the border with Lebanon, Hezbollah has long relied on the use of civilian infrastructure to serve its needs. 

ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH WAR: NETANYAHU 'DID NOT EVEN RESPOND' TO US CEASE-FIRE DEAL, PLEDGES TO FIGHT 'FULL FORCE'

"The phenomenon of renting houses, rooms, warehouses within the Shiite civilian areas by Hezbollah is well known since the beginning of the 2000s," Tal Beeri, head of the research department at Alma, told Fox News Digital, adding that the terrorists also rent structures in non-Shia areas of Lebanon as well.

"Evidence of this matter was found in looted documents and investigations of Hezbollah operatives during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Since then, Hezbollah has only accelerated the phenomenon and estimates are that every third house in southern Lebanon has been used by Hezbollah for its needs," he added. 

Beeri shared research with Fox News Digital that showed findings from 2021 breaking down the sophisticated system in which Hezbollah has intertwined itself in the everyday running of local villages across the country. 

Hezbollah officials dubbed a "Rabat" – loosely translated to "the liaison" – are installed in villages across Lebanon and serve as the representative of the terrorist group, facilitating the needs of the villagers in coordination with the hyper-localized operations of Hezbollah.

The Rabat, which can oversee multiple villages, reportedly establishes relationships with the residents by facilitating requests for aid such as money, food and even with localized disputes.  

"In places where Hezbollah decides to expropriate or lease civilian land or properties from the residents for the purpose of its military activities, the ‘Rabat’ conducts the expropriation or leasing procedure vis-à-vis the relevant resident," Beeri found. 

The report, based on documents seized following the 2006 war with Hezbollah, found that the Rabat also recommended to local Hezbollah units the best locations in each town that are "suitable to serve the human shield tactic" based on the storage requirements surrounding concealment, infrastructure type and weapons placement. 

The Rabat then coordinates the logistics between the terrorist organization and the local property owner. 

"The ‘Rabat’ strengthens Hezbollah’s grip on the Lebanese village residents’ day-to-day life, their property, and needs, allowing Hezbollah to turn them into human shields on a wider scale," the report found.

Hezbollah’s control over local communities and its ability to stockpile and transfer weapons throughout the country through a sophisticated tunnel system signifies that the UN Resolution 1701 passed in 2006 to prevent a third war between the terrorist network and Israel has failed. 

While it remains unclear if U.N. Security Council members are looking to revamp the resolution to counter the terrorist group's movements and stop Israeli operations in civilian areas, the international community has called on Netanyahu to cease his campaign – many leaders from both adversary and allied nations, have fervently warned against invading Lebanon.

Netanyahu is set to address the U.N. body on Friday during what has been described by the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. as the most "hostile" environment he has seen in his roughly 10 years of attending the top summit.  

The Chinese government reportedly covered up the sinking of its newest nuclear-powered submarine as it sat tied to a pier, and U.S. officials say it is no surprise.

"It’s not surprising that the PLA Navy would try to conceal the fact that their new first-in-class nuclear-powered attack submarine sank pierside," a senior U.S. Defense official said. "In addition to the obvious questions about training standards and equipment quality, the incident raises deeper questions about the PLA’s internal accountability and oversight of China’s defense industry, which has long been plagued by corruption."

China’s first Zhou-class submarine likely sank between May and June, The Associated Press reported based on information from an official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Satellite images showed cranes in the area that would have been necessary to salvage the vessel from the bottom of the river.

The incident reportedly forced Chinese authorities to rush to cover up the matter, which had not been previously disclosed.

CHINA'S NEW ROLE FOR ITS NUCLEAR SUBMARINES HAS THE PENTAGON'S ATTENTION

China has previously said it is building a world-class military so it can deter aggression and protect its overseas interests.

Last year, the Pentagon announced it had discovered in a little-known report that China’s military adopted a policy of keeping at least one nuclear-capable submarine at sea at all times.

China maintains a fleet of six nuclear-capable submarines, carrying missiles that could hit the continental U.S. from the South China Sea.

AUSTRALIA COMMITTED TO BUILDING SUB FLEET POWERED BY US NUCLEAR TECH DESPITE CRITICISM FROM FRANCE

The report on China's new submarine activity came just as the U.S., U.K. and Australia entered an agreement for the production and sale of nuclear-powered attack submarines. Australia was also expected to purchase the vessels to modernize its fleet.

The attack submarines are prime candidates for tracking missile submarines like those China has deployed, and increasing Australia's capabilities will take some pressure off U.S. and U.K. forces in the region.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Reuters contributed to this report.

Vatican City may be small, but it's steeped in religious history.

It has a long history of being strongly linked with Christianity as the site of Saint Peter's tomb as well as being filled with famous churches, museums and beautiful gardens that millions visit every year. Vatican City was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. It became an independent state in February 1929, as defined by the Lateran Treaty. 

Vatican City is deemed the smallest country in the world. The city-state in Italy is landlocked in Rome and operates with its own telephone system, post office, gardens, radio station and more, per Britannica. Most of the supplies that Vatican City uses to remain functional are imported.

A GUIDE TO VISITING ROME: HOW TO PREPARE FOR TRAVEL AND MUST-SEE SPOTS

Vatican City is just around 100 acres. The pope is the ruler of Vatican City and the Holy See, which is the government of the Catholic Church. 

The official residence of the pope is the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. The Apostolic Palace is a popular destination for tourists to visit on their travels there as parts of the residence are open for the public to explore. 

One popular part of the palace to visit is the Sistine Chapel. 

A GUIDE TO SIGHTSEEING IN ITALY: A ROMAN ADVENTURE AWAITS YOU

St. Peter's Basilica is a must-see destination in Vatican City. St. Peter's Basilica was completed in 1615 under Paul V, according to Britannica. It's one of the largest churches in the world. 

It is full of breathtaking architecture, holy relics and beautiful artwork. You can purchase tickets for a self-guided or guided tour of St. Peter's Basilica.

While visiting, make sure to display proper decorum by wearing long or below-knee trousers, skirts below the knee and shirts that cover shoulders, the church's website explains. 

CHURCH IN SYRIA WIDELY CONSIDERED OLDEST IN THE WORLD; DURA-EUROPOS IS A HISTORICAL LANDMARK

Visiting the Gardens of Vatican City, exploring St. Peter's Square and enjoying a tour of the Vatican Museums are all worth the time during your trip. 

While traveling around Vatican City, you'll likely see the Swiss Guard at their posts. 

The Swiss Guard is the private security for the pope. They have been in charge of the safety of the pope since 1506. 

Rome has two major airports you can fly into if you are planning a visit to Vatican City. One is Rome-Fiumicino Airport (FCO), and the other is Ciampino Airport (CIA). 

Once you've touched down in Rome, you can get to Vatican City by means of the metro, train or bus.