World News

Experts say the Kremlin could include artificial intelligence (AI) in efforts to manipulate November's presidential elections through influence schemes. 

The U.S. Department of Justice last week revealed indictments that were part of an ongoing investigation into alleged Russian government plots to try and influence American voters through a variety of disinformation campaigns. 

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland revealed a major crackdown on influence pushed through state-run media and other online platforms – part of a campaign called "Doppleganger." He focused on employees of Russian state-controlled media outlet RT, but other indictments released this week showed a wider scope and complexity to Russia’s initiatives.

The U.S. also seized more than two dozen internet domains related to the operation and the establishment of an Election Threats Task Force, which includes FBI Director Christopher Wray and top Justice Department officials, according to CBS News. 

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"This is deadly serious, and we are going to treat it accordingly," Garland said while announcing the indictment alongside Wray on Wednesday.

Those indictments included the alleged use of AI tools used to create social media profiles "posing as U.S. (or other non-Russian citizens)" and create the impression of "a legitimate news media outlet’s website." 

"Among the methods Doppelganger used to drive viewership to the cybersquatted and unique media domains was the deployment of "influencers" worldwide, paid social media advertisements (in some cases created using artificial intelligence tools), and the creation of social media profiles posing as U.S. (or other non-Russian) citizens to post comments on social media platforms with links to the cybersquatted domains," the indictment stated. 

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The U.S. Department of the Treasury expanded on these allegations in an announcement that designated 10 individuals and two entities under the Office of Foreign Assets Control, allowing the U.S. to impose visa restrictions and a Rewards for Justice reward of up to $10 million relating to such operations. 

The Treasury reported that Russian state-sponsored actors have used generative AI deep fakes and disinformation "to undermine confidence in the United States’ election process and institutions." 

The Treasury named Russian nonprofit Autonomous Non-Profit Organization (ANO) Dialog and ANO Dialog Regions as using "deep fake content to develop Russian disinformation campaigns," including "fake online posts on popular social media accounts …. that would be composed of counterfeit documents, among other material, in order to elicit an emotional response from audiences."

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ANO Dialog in late 2023 allegedly "identified U.S., U.K. and other figures as potential targets for deepfake projects." The "War on Fakes" website served as a major outlet to disseminate this fake information, which also used bot accounts that targeted voting locations in the U.S. 2024 election.

In an interview for PBS News Hour, Belgian investigative journalist Christo Grozev revealed that complaints over the "global propaganda effort by Russia" – which the Kremlin was "losing to the West" in the early months of the invasion of Ukraine – prompted the decision to use AI and "all kind of new methods to make it indistinguishable from the regular flow of information." 

"They plan to do insertion of advertising, which is in fact hidden as news, and in this way bombard the target population with things that may be misconstrued as news, but are in fact advertising content," Grozev explained. 

"They plan to disguise that advertising content on a person-to-person level as if it is content from their favorite news sites," he warned. "Now, we haven't seen that in action, but it's an intent, and they claim they have developed the technology to do that."

"They're very explicit that they're not going to use Russia-related platforms or even separate platforms," he added. "They're going to infiltrate the platform that the target already uses. And that is what sounds scary."

An international manhunt is underway for a suspect who allegedly doused an infant with scalding hot coffee at a park in Australia late last month. 

Queensland police say the coward assaulted the infant at Hanlon Park in Stones Corner around noon on Aug. 27.

That’s when a man walked up to a family with whom he had no relation, and poured a hot liquid onto the child before fleeing the scene. 

Emergency crews were called, and the infant was rushed to a hospital with "serious burns," Queensland police said in a press release. 

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The child was later released from the hospital. 

Detectives from the Morningside Child Protection Investigation Unit identified the suspect as a 33-year-old "foreign national." 

Queensland police said the suspect has since fled Australia.

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A warrant has been issued for his arrest for "intending to cause grievous bodily harm," Queensland Police’s Paul Dalton said. 

Dalton described the attack on the infant as the "most cowardly" he’s seen in a decades-long career. 

"I’ve seen a lot of disgusting acts. But this is one, if you look at the situation, I can’t think of someone being in a more vulnerable situation and being more vulnerable — a young mother and a baby sitting on the ground," Dalton said.

The department is working with national and international partner agencies to investigate. 

A friend of the family, meanwhile, has set up a GoFundMe page to help the infant with his recovery. 

The page said the child "has a long recovery ahead of him which will include further doctors, specialists [and] hospital appointments."

El Salvador's military says the national police director, other high-ranking police officials and a fugitive banker were among nine people killed in a military helicopter crash in a rural part of the country.

The cause of the crash on Sunday night is under investigation. It occurred after the banker, Manuel Coto, was captured in Honduras over the weekend and handed over to Salvadoran authorities at the border.

Coto, the former manager of the COSAVI savings and loan cooperative, had been the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant and one of 32 people implicated in the embezzlement of more than $35 million by the cooperative’s directors and employees.

El Salvador's military in a post on X said the air force helicopter crash occurred in the area of San Eduardo, Pasaquina, La Union. It said the director general of the National Civil Police, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, and two deputies were aboard.

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El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said in a post on X that "what happened cannot remain as a simple ‘accident’" and must be investigated thoroughly "and to the ultimate consequences. We will request international help."

Bukele noted that Arriaza Chicas had led the government’s fight against the gangs that once dominated daily life for much of the Salvadoran population. Bukele’s harsh crackdown on the gangs and mass arrests of more than 80,000 people with little due process have been condemned by human rights organizations.

Security specialist Luis Contreras, said it was unlikely Arriaza Chicas’ death would negatively impact the war against the gangs, which the government claims it has all but eliminated.

"In El Salvador there are many experienced people and police commissioners who could replace the late director," Contreras said.

Contreras maintained that the gangs no longer have the capacity to react. "Crime is not eliminated, but rather neutralized," he said. "The neutralization El Salvador's government has achieved against the gangs has been almost 90%."

Bukele ordered flags to fly at half-staff Monday in remembrance of Arriaza Chicas, whom he described as a "national hero."

"All flags, throughout the national territory, as well as in our embassies and consulates, will fly at half-staff for three days in honor of the director of the National Civil Police," Bukele said on X.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the victims were taken to the capital in a caravan guarded by police.

Iran on Monday continued its threat of a "nightmare" attack on Israel following the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in late July, as international concerns remain high over Tehran’s nuclear development program which has run unchecked for more than three years. 

Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Hossein Salami said "the nightmare of Iran's inevitable response is shaking Israel day and night," reported the Jerusalem Post, citing Saudi-owned news outlet Al-Arabiya.

The commander reportedly claimed that Israeli leaders are anxious over the ambiguous threat of what will be a "painful and different" attack than "what you expec[t]."

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Despite the ominous tone set by Salami, Iran has been levying similar threats for over a month at the Jewish state following the killing of Haniyeh during a visit to Tehran on July 31.

Iran has laid the blame squarely on Israel for the assassination, in which it claimed a precision strike missile was used, though Jerusalem has not taken credit for the killing.

The U.S., along with other Middle Eastern nations, have warned Tehran against attacking Israel amid fears that a broader regional war could break out, though concerns remain that Iran could look to launch retaliatory strikes through Hezbollah – the Lebanon-based terrorist organization it has backed for decades. 

A member of Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the Knesset, Nissim Vaturi, echoed these concerns on Monday and said he believes it is just "a matter of days" before war between Israel and Hezbollah breaks out in Lebanon. 

Vaturi said Israel needs to take a provocative approach and pre-emptively strike Hezbollah's strong holds in Lebanon through a series of airstrikes followed by ground invasion – a scenario experts have warned will cause casualty rates that could be higher than those that have incurred during the nearly one-year-long war in Gaza.

"I think it’s time to deal with the north," he said, according to The Times of Israel. "Our patience has run out.

"There’s no other way," he continued, adding that Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburb — a major stronghold for Hezbollah outside the capital city — "will look like Gaza."

Iran has yet to specify how it intends to launch this long-awaited retaliatory strike against Israel, though its reported supply of ballistic missiles to the terrorist organization has kept security experts on heightened alert. 

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Iran is not believed to possess nuclear grade weaponry at this time, but a warning issued by the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Monday once again brought renewed attention to the fact that Tehran’s nuclear program has run unchecked for the last three and half years. 

"It has been more than three and a half years since Iran stopped implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA," Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Mariano Grossi told the agency’s board of directors. "Therefore, it is also over three and a half years since the Agency was able to conduct complementary access in Iran. 

"Consequently, the Agency has lost continuity of knowledge in relation to the production and inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and uranium ore concentrate," he added. 

Grossi said that Iran is known to have increased its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium metals of not only 20% purity levels, but 60% – which is just shy of the steps needed to reach weapons grade uranium which is enriched to 90% purity.

"There has been no progress in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues," he said, pointing to Iran’s false claims that it has declared all nuclear activities, materials and locations.  "I call upon Iran to implement the Joint Statement through serious engagement with the Agency’s concrete proposals."

Rossi said he called on new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to abide by agreements made under a March 4, 2023 joint statement and urged the president to meet with him in the "not too distant future" so the pair could "establish a constructive dialogue that leads swiftly to real results."

The European Union (EU) on Monday further accused Iran of providing short range ballistic missiles to Russia to aid its war effort against Ukraine, citing "credible" information provided by allied nations, reported Radio Free Europe. 

The EU is reported to still be investigating the information, but EU spokesman Peter Stano said if Iran is discovered to have provided the escalatory arms to Moscow, the response would be "swift" and would include "new and significant restrictive measures against Iran."

The Kremlin on Monday did not directly deny having been sent the missiles which are capable of carrying nuclear, chemical and conventional warheads. 

Despite Israel’s nearly one-year-long war with Hamas in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attacks, security experts continue to sound the alarm that Jerusalem’s greatest threat actually lies to the north in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has developed a sophisticated tunnel system.

Hezbollah, an Islamic terrorist organization that has long had the backing of Iran, has over the last two decades developed a network of tunnels that stretch more than 100 miles in cumulative length throughout southern Lebanon.

Though the existence of the tunnels has been known for decades, the significant role they play in arming Hezbollah has once again come to light during the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, where terrorists have not only relied on tunnels for operational rearmament and maneuvering capabilities but also to house hostages taken by Hamas nearly a year ago.

While it is estimated that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have eradicated roughly 80% of Hamas’ tunnels, Hezbollah’s tunnels, which have largely remained untouched since the war in Gaza began, are believed to be far more sophisticated and "significantly larger," according to a report by the Alma Research and Education Center, a nonprofit organization that researches Israeli security challenges along its northern border.

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Hezbollah is believed to have begun mining its tunnels after the Second Lebanon War in 2006 in close coordination between Iran and North Korea after Tehran reportedly derived "inspiration" from Pyongyang and the tunnels that it developed in the aftermath of the Korean War.

Iran deemed North Korea a "professional authority on the subject of tunneling" due to its experience in digging tunnels for military use when it attempted to drill tunnels across the Korean Demilitarized Zone in an attempt to militarily invade areas just north of Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

While the tunnels and their intended use were never realized by the authoritarian nation, two of the four neutralized tunnels uncovered were reportedly capable of accommodating up to 30,000 troops per hour along with armaments like armored personnel carriers, tanks and field artillery – an operational blueprint Hezbollah has turned to in its fight against Israel. 

The report found that Hezbollah under the advisership of North Korea – a relationship that may have begun as far back as the 1980s – built two types of tunnels across southern Lebanon, "offensive tunnels and infrastructure tunnels."

The offensive tunnels were intended for similar operational use as North Korea’s, and at least six tunnels were discovered by IDF forces that led into Israeli territory during Operation Northern Shield, which began in December 2018.

Alma's research found that some of Hezbollah’s tunnels are also capable of transporting ATVs, motorcycles and other "small vehicles," though it did not specify the number of terrorists that they could accommodate.

The tunnels are equipped with "underground command and control rooms, weapons and supply depots, field clinics and specified designated shafts used to fire missiles of all types," the report said, noting that arms like rockets, surface-to-surface missiles, anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles can be fired from "shafts" in the tunnels. "These shafts are hidden and camouflaged and cannot be detected above ground."

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The tunnels are believed to connect the capital of Beirut, where Hezbollah’s central headquarters is located and its logistical base in the Beqaa Valley near the Syrian border, to southern Lebanon.

"We call this inter-regional tunnel network ‘Hezbollah's Land of the Tunnels,’" the Alma report first released in 2021 detailed, noting the tunnel system is more akin to a "metro" of tunnels rather than one long tunnel.

The second series of tunnels Hezbollah mined, known as the infrastructure tunnels, form an underground network in and near southern Lebanese villages that establishes the first and second "lines of defense" against an Israeli invasion – a project of "enormous magnitude," according to the Alma report. 

One such tunnel is estimated to be nearly 28 miles long, prompting the question as to how the terrorist organization was able to get away with building such a sophisticated system without opposition from the Lebanese government.

"Hezbollah does try to keep the locations, routes, internal structure, etc., of these tunnels a secret. [It] does this by expropriating territories, by preventing civilians from entering into certain areas and by taking advantage of [its] presence and influence in the government," Boaz Shapira, a researcher with Alma, told Fox News Digital. 

Shapira said Hezbollah not only has the support of roughly 40%-50% of the Lebanese population, it is "much better funded, organized, trained and armed" than the Lebanese government, army, police or even the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which has a force of some 10,500 peacekeeping troops in Lebanon and that were put in place after the 2006 war.

Hezbollah’s cooperation with authoritarian nations like Iran and North Korea has long made it a major threat to Israel. 

But its growing power within Lebanon has moved it to the top of the list when it comes to Israeli security threats, according to not only Shapira but also former IDF Major Gen. Yaakov Amidror.

"Lebanon’s government is too weak to counter Hezbollah," Amidror told Fox News Digital. "Everything important is decided by Hezbollah, not by the government."

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Hezbollah is believed to have as many as 50,000 terrorists and, according to Shapira, its sphere of influence has extended to nearly every branch of Lebanon’s security apparatus. 

"Taking action against Hezbollah would be perceived as cooperation with Israel and basically as treason in Lebanon, and in the past year also against the Palestinians," he said. "That means that no one in the army has any incentive for challenging Hezbollah."

Shapira said demographics inside the once predominately Christian nation have shifted over the last several decades, and it now has a majority Muslim population – though the U.S. State Department analyzes the breakdown in Muslim populations in Lebanon as nearly equally divided between Shiite and Sunni groups. 

"This trend is happening in the army as well. That means that almost every Shiite soldier in the army has a brother, cousin, friend that is a Hezbollah terrorist," Shapira said. 

Amidror, a distinguished fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America after serving as Israel's former national security adviser to the prime minister and a 36-year veteran of the IDF, told Fox News Digital he believes Israel needs to take a proactive approach when it comes to countering Hezbollah. 

"We should initiate the war against Hezbollah," he said, noting that the timing of its operation is the main variable that needs to be determined. 

"It will not be an easy job. It will be a very, very devastating war for us and for Lebanon," the retired major general said. "Remember that at least 50% of their missiles had been hidden within populated areas. 

"The casualties will be huge, [a] devastating war for us and for them," Amidror continued. "This is why it is so problematic to fight these organizations, because they are fighting from within their own population, [and their] targets are the Israeli population.

"When you fight from within civilians and your targets are civilians, it's very complicated to fight it," he added.

A recent undercover video showing a United Nations legal affairs employee saying the world body is scared of a Trump presidency is shining a new spotlight on Trump’s policy toward many of the U.N.’s scandal-plagued agencies.

The U.N. Office of Legal Affairs official was recorded on an undercover video stating, "I’m not sure the United Nations as an institution is going to survive a second term by Trump." The Louder with Crowder podcast conducted the undercover recording and first disclosed it.

While the Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment, as president he was viewed as being very tough on the world body by taking an aggressive posture against U.N. corruption, anti-Americanism and antisemitism while pushing American interests.

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Trump stopped funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Fox News Digital reported in August that the U.N. had been forced to fire nine UNRWA employees over likely involvement in the Hamas massacre on October 7 of nearly 1,200 people in southern Israel, including over 30 Americans.

Trump withdrew from the U.N. Human Rights Council; the U.N.’s World Health Organization; the U.N.’s cultural organization UNESCO; and the Paris climate agreement.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson for Trump said at the time the decision "reflects U.S. concerns with mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO."

Biden quickly rejoined the U.N. bodies, including the Paris climate deal, that Trump walked away from during his term. However, Biden suspended funds for UNRWA after its role in the Hamas terrorist attack was exposed by Israel.

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In 2021, former Trump U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned the White House about rejoining the Human Rights Council, because it is influenced by communist totalitarian regimes like China and Cuba, to name just a few.

"If President Biden truly cared about human rights, he would keep us far away from the cesspool that is the U.N. Human Rights Council," said Haley at the time.

A senior Republican Congressional staffer who works on international affairs told Fox News Digital, "There are a list of things that are standard Republican positions now, which will happen immediately after President Trump reenters the White House, along with policies that he pursued in his first term which he will re-implement."

The staffer continued that "First and foremost, they will withdraw the U.S. from participating in the anti-American, antisemitic organizations across the United Nations that the Biden-Harris administration has been engaging and funding. They will also order our diplomats to start pushing back against international policies that undermine our interests, instead of trying to implement them the way the Biden-Harris have been doing."

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When asked about the staff member's comment, Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the U.N. Secretary General, referred Fox News Digital to his comments at his recent press briefing. He said, "The gentleman you refer to is not a senior U.N. official. He is a junior staffer.  From looking at the video, his comments were recorded in what seemed to be in a restaurant private setting without his knowledge. He was not speaking on behalf of the Organization in any way, shape or form."

He added, "But I will just state for a fact that this is not–you know, when someone is recorded without their knowledge in a private setting, I don't think any good journalist could interpret it as being the official position of the United Nations."

Anne Bayefsky, president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital, "So the U.N. gets caught weighing in on the U.S. election vehemently against Trump and the response is, "Who, me?" she added, "Today’s U.N. has forsaken its original purpose and threatens American fundamental rights and freedoms. One side of the American political spectrum tolerates America-bashing and Israel-hating under the guise of a phantom global messiah, and the other side gets it. Of course, the U.N. is afraid that Americans will get it, too."

Bayefsky concluded, "Obviously the U.N. has a mutual love affair with Democrats: Obama went to the Security Council to adopt the far-reaching and catastrophic Iran deal before bothering to ask Congress; Obama-Harris-Biden joined and legitimized the U.N. 'Human Rights' Council – home base for despots and antisemites looking to burnish their human rights credentials while Trump withdrew from it; Obama-Harris-Biden support UNRWA while Trump said no more money for the fake Palestinian U.N. ‘refugee’ agency perpetuating the Arab-Israeli conflict; Obama-Harris-Biden have used the Security Council to bludgeon Israel with resolutions that have never condemned Hamas while Trump repeatedly rejected U.N. ploys to do an end run around American and Israeli sovereignty."

Later this month, the United Nations will host world leaders for the annual General Assembly debate where some of the globe's most despotic regimes will get to address the world body.

When commandos from Israel’s elite Yamam counter-terrorism force launched a daring daytime raid on two homes deep within central Gaza and successfully rescued four hostages who had forcefully been taken across the border on October 7, it was the first time many people would learn of the unit’s existence. 

For years, the operations of Yamam have been shrouded in secrecy. Often, credit for its missions was given to other units. "Up until a few years ago, not many people knew about Yamam’s activities," a unit source told Fox News Digital. But in the age of smartphones and social media, videos of their operations have spread online. "Today, with social media broadcasting operations in real-time, we understand that the rules of the game have changed," the source says.

Yamam — Yeḥida Merkazit Meyuḥedet, in Hebrew, or Special Central Unit — was founded in 1974 as a special unit of Israel’s Border Police, with the primary mission to take control of and resolve hostage situations. In this regard, it is similar to the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, but because it also is capable of rapid offensive raids, such as the hostage rescue executed in Gaza in June, it is closely aligned with such elite American units as Delta Force and Navy SEALs, with whom they are also said to train and cooperate.

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"Yamam is like an aircraft carrier with a wide range of in-house capabilities," said Zohar Dvir, a retired unit commander, told Fox News Digital. The unit includes specialists like snipers, bomb disposal experts, canine handlers, medics and undercover agents known as "mista'aravim." "It’s full on 'Fauda," Dvir added.

"Yamam equips its personnel with cutting-edge technology," David Tzur, a retired commander from the group, told Fox News Digital. "The unit serves as a testing ground for innovations, collaborating with civilian and defense industries to refine and replicate technologies for broader use."

"What sets Yamam apart is their ability to carry out thousands of high-risk operations with exceptional precision," Dvir explained.

"Yamam is considered one of the most experienced — if not the most experienced — counter-terrorism units globally," a unit commander speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Fox News Digital. "Because of the realities we face daily, countering terrorist threats in the West Bank, Yamam fighters participate in hundreds of operations each year. After Oct. 7, we joined the fight in Gaza."

As part of a condition of talking to Fox News Digital all current Yamam members withheld their full names due to security considerations.

Intelligence pinpointing the location of the hostages in the densely populated Nuseirat refugee camp had been gathered weeks earlier by Shin Bet, Israel’s internal intelligence service, with the help of American and British drones. "We knew about the situation weeks before," explains Captain A., a team leader told Fox News Digital. "We received the mission, studied the target, and began our preparations."

On a Saturday morning, the operatives arrived in civilian trucks at the target locations, which were just a few hundred meters apart. Storming the two locations, they rescued the four hostages. At the first site, Noa Argamani, whose terrified image was seen worldwide as she was shown being taken away on a motorcycle by terrorists from Israel on the morning of October 7, was found. At the second location, they rescued Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov and Almog Meir.

There was resistance, but "everything went according to plan," said Deputy Superintendent A, a key figure in the operation. 

The team faced a particularly challenging situation at Argamani’s location, where they feared one of the terrorists was close to her. "The goal was to get as close to her as quickly as possible, and that’s what we did. We only realized she was alive when A. and D." — two operatives on the team — "shouted, ‘We have a diamond! We have a diamond!’ Once we confirmed she was with us, our priority was to get her out safely," Sgt. Major Y. recounts.

Operatives shielded Argamani with their bodies as they moved her to safety under heavy fire. "She was barefoot, so D. carried her on his back. She was terrified and couldn’t believe what was happening, even when we told her, ‘We’re here to take you home,’" A. told Fox News Digital.

While Argamani’s rescue went smoothly, the situation at the second apartment was far more complicated. As the team entered, they faced "very effective" fire. In the ensuing battle, the team’s commander, Arnon Zmora, was critically injured. "Everything happened very quickly. It was a matter of seconds," recalls Captain A.  

As with the rescue of Argamani, the team shielded the hostages with their body armor and helmets as they evacuated them under fire. "The area was like a hornets’ nest, packed with militants inside and outside," A. says. "We quickly moved [the hostages] towards the military vehicles, all the while taking effective fire from within the apartment and its surrounding."

Though the hostages were rescued unharmed, the end of the mission was tragic for the members of the Yamam team. "We saved the hostages, but we lost one of our own," one of the fighters told Fox Digital News, speaking of Arnon Zmora, a 36-year-old father of two young boys. "But this is both our privilege and our duty," he said. "We’ll fight until the last soldier, no matter the cost."

"While these operations are heroic, they create the illusion that military pressure alone will free the hostages," said Tzur.  "If there’s an operational window for a rescue, we should take it, but ultimately, we’ll need to make a tough and ugly deal. On October 7th, we were caught off guard, and now we’re forced to negotiate with the devil. Only a deal can bring the hostages back alive," he said.

The Nuseirat raid was the third time Yamam was involved in the rescue of hostages kidnapped by Hamas, including that of Private Ori Megidish, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) lookout held captive in the Gaza Strip, and Fernando Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, who were held in Rafah. 

As one of Israel’s most elite forces — its operations are often authorized at the highest levels, including the Prime Minister’s Office — the unit’s fighters generally are older than conscripts in the IDF, and they have already experienced intense combat during their service in the IDF. 

When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, YAMAM operatives were the first to respond to the unfolding crisis, fighting across 15 different locations that day, including a 27-hour-long battle against Hamas’s elite Nukba force at the police station in Sderot, an Israeli city adjacent to the northern border with Gaza. Nine Yamam fighters were killed in that fight. 

"They prevented the advance of Hamas' elite forces northward, stopping them at Yad Mordechai and neutralizing many of them. The team, led by Arnon Zmora, halted their progress towards Ashdod, Ashkelon, and even as far as Tel Aviv," said Dvir and added, "they eliminated more than 200 terrorists."

"We fight for two reasons," said G., a Yamam fighter who was in the Sderot battle. "One is the desire to destroy the enemy and to be the first to engage them. But much stronger than that," he says, "is the desire to save lives."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted what he called Iran's "axis of evil" in remarks Sunday after a terrorist attack at the West Bank-Jordan border crossing killed three Israelis. 

"It's a hard day. A despicable terrorist murdered three of our citizens in cold blood at the Allenby Bridge. On behalf of the government, I send my condolences to the families of the victims," Netanyahu said at the beginning of his cabinet meeting Sunday. "We are surrounded by a murderous ideology led by Iran's axis of evil. In recent days, despicable terrorists have murdered six of our hostages in cold blood and three Israeli police officers. The killers do not distinguish between us, they want to murder us all, until the last one; right and left, secular and religious, Jews and non-Jews." 

The Israeli military said a gunman approached the Allenby Bridge Crossing from the Jordanian side in a truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces, who killed the assailant in a shootout. It said the three people killed were Israeli civilians. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said they were all men in their 50s.

Jordan, a Western-allied Arab country with a large Palestinian population, is investigating the shooting, its state-run Petra News Agency reported.

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Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri celebrated the attack, connecting the shooting to Israel's offensive in Gaza. 

"We expect many more similar actions," he said, according to Reuters. 

It marked the first attack of its kind along the West Bank-Jordan border crossing since Hamas terrorists killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel. Another 250 were taken as hostages into Gaza, and Hamas are still holding approximately 100 of them. Around a third of the remaining hostages inside Gaza are believed to be dead.

"What prevents the elimination of our people as in the past is the strength of the State of Israel and the strength of the Israel Defense Forces," Netanyahu continued Sunday. "The heroic spirit of the soldiers, the policemen, the men and women of our security forces, the supreme sacrifice of our fallen heroes and the resilience of our people – that's all the difference. When we stand together – our enemies cannot, so their main goal is to divide us, to sow division within us."

Over the weekend, Netanyahu noted, "the German newspaper Bild published an official Hamas document that reveals its plan of action: to sow division within us, to wage psychological warfare on the families of the hostages, to exert internal and external political pressure on the Israeli government, to tear us apart from the inside, and to continue the war until further notice, until the defeat of Israel."

"The vast majority of Israeli citizens do not fall into this trap of Hamas," the prime minister said. "They know that we are committed with all our might to achieve the goals of the war – to eliminate Hamas, to return all our hostages, to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel and to safely return our residents in the north and south to their homes."

NETANYAHU SAYS SECURITY IN GAZA IS CRITICAL TO STOP HAMAS SMUGGLING HOSTAGES INTO IRAN: 'LOST FOREVER'

"We will stand together, we will hold on to David's link together, and with God's help we will win," Netanyahu said. "And lastly, some ask – 'Will you forever hold a sword?' In the Middle East, without a sword there is no eternity."

The Allenby crossing over the Jordan River, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, is mainly used by Palestinians and international tourists, as well as for cargo shipments. The crossing has seen very few security incidents over the years, but in 2014 Israeli security guards shot and killed a Jordanian judge who they said had attacked them, the Associated Press reported. 

Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994. 

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Authorities in Israel and Jordan said the crossing was closed until further notice, and Israel later announced the closure of both of its land crossings with Jordan, near Beit Shean in the north and Eilat in the south.

Fox News' Yael Rotem-Kuriel and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Havldimir quickly became a celebrity in Norway, swimming his way into their Nordic hearts. 

But this beluga whale's odd story started in 2019 when he was discovered in northern Norway near the island of Ingoya wearing a harness with "Equipment St Petersburg" written in English connected to a mount for a small camera. 

Hvaldimir, as Norwegians dubbed him – mixing together the Norwegian word for whale and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name – was intelligent, friendly and responded to hand signals, leading Norway's spy agency to believe he had been held in captivity by Russia and used for research purposes. 

Once Hvaldimir was freed from his harness, though, his friendly personality made him beloved in the country.

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He was fed and monitored by the Norwegian government and dubbed a "free-swimming whale" by the Norwegian Orca Survey, venturing as far as Sweden but always returning home, according to The Telegraph. 

Hvaldimir was found dead off southern Norway last weekend. 

"It’s absolutely horrible," marine biologist Sebastian Strand, who worked with Marine Mind, told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. "He was apparently in good condition as of (Friday), so we just have to figure out what might have happened here."

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Hvaldimir may have died of natural causes, but conservation groups NOAH and One Whale have filed police reports claiming he was shot, according to the Telegraph. 

The Oceanic Preservation Society said that a necropsy will be done on Hvaldimir to determine his cause of death in the next few weeks. 

"We've been absolutely devastated over the news, and are deeply saddened that humanity failed this beloved whale," the organization said on social media.

Nonprofit Marine Mind said on Facebook that Hvaldimir "bridged the gap" between humans and wild animals in a way "few can." 

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"Hvaldimir was not just a beluga whale; he was a beacon of hope, a symbol of connection, and a reminder of the deep bond between humans and the natural world," the organization said. "Over the past five years, he touched the lives of tens of thousands, bringing people together in awe of the wonders of nature. His presence taught us about the importance of ocean conservation, and in doing so, he also taught us more about ourselves."

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Israel's multi-front wars against Hamas and Hezbollah and fears of a wider Middle East war with Iran have made support for the Jewish state an important issue in November's presidential election.

Fox News Digital recently interviewed Israelis in the capital city of Jerusalem to see who they thought would be the better candidate in November's election – former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris.

"He [Trump] has been president for four years and was an excellent president — the only president of America who brought us somewhat closer to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Mordechai told Fox News Digital from the heart of Israel's capital city.

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Moti Stein, a professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, told Fox News Digital that Vice President Kamala Harris "is very good for Israel."

He said she was "representing and maybe delivering values that are extremely important for the future of the Israeli society."

The issue of concern for those interviewed who view the Democratic nominee as the best choice for Israel's future is the continuation of democracy in the Jewish state.

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Jerusalem resident John Golub, who, like Stern, was at a protest against Prime Minister Netanyahu near the country's parliament, believes Harris is the best choice for Israelis. "Kamala Harris is committed to democracy, and I think she is the candidate of the two who will help Israel realize its future as a strong liberal, democratic democracy with a strong, independent judiciary that we need."

Other Israelis were fearful of what a Harris administration might look like for Israel. Baruch Kalman told Fox News Digital that she's not the right "candidate to help Israel," complaining that he felt she is "concerned more about the Gazans and Hamas than she is about Israel."

"Of the two candidates, Trump is the better candidate," Kalman said. "He's already shown his support for Israel, and he's still supporting Israel, and he keeps his word, what he says, he does."

Anna Gullko said that her support for Trump is due in part to his values that help form his policies. "I think his policy will be based on biblical values, what God demands of man."

Zvika Klein, editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, one of Israel's most read English language newspapers, recently penned an opinion piece stating why he felt that Harris was the wrong choice for Israel.

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"Kamala Harris as president, I think, is something that should worry Jews and Israelis for a number of reasons," Klein said.

Klein believes that there is generally a large amount of respect from the Middle East for world leaders who display strength on the global stage – something that he says Harris is lacking. In contrast, he said the former president has demonstrated his support for Israel. Klein said that Trump's track record in realizing the Abraham Accords and moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem exemplify Trump's willingness to work with Israel.

Klein cautioned that a future Trump administration will need to have skilled people who understand the region as he had during his first administration.

"The question really would be if he's going to … actually bring back, or work with the same kind of close team he had," Klein said. "Whether with his son-in-law Jared Kushner or David Friedman, who was the ambassador to Israel. Many people who are super knowledgeable about Israel and about the region. If those types of people actually continue to be close to the president and actually are able to affect him, that's a good thing. And in general, the Republican Party is just so pro-Israel."

There are up to 600,000 American citizens who live temporarily or permanently in Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported, citing figures from the U.S. Embassy. It also noted that some half a million of those citizens could be eligible to vote in November's election.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making clear that his forces will not agree to Hamas’ demands to vacate Gaza, for two crucial reasons – overall national security and ensuring the safe return of the remaining hostages still in Hamas captivity. 

Concerns continue to mount that Hamas could look to smuggle some of the remaining 97 Israeli hostages still in captivity into the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, which has long been deemed a haven for Islamic militant groups, and where they could then be transported to Yemen or Iran.

According to Netanyahu, the best way to prevent these Hamas hostage smuggling efforts is through maintaining the contested Philadelphi Route – a security corridor that runs between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

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"Hol[d] the Philadelphi corridor, because that possesses Hamas, that prevents them from rearming," Netanhyu told Fox and Friends’ Brian Kilmeade. "It prevents Gaza from becoming this Iranian terror enclave again, which can threaten our existence. 

"But it's also the way to prevent them from smuggling hostages . . . into Egypt, into the Sinai, where they could disappear," he added. "Then they'll end up in Iran or in Yemen, and they're lost forever."

The prime minster’s comments echoed a report by The Jewish Chronicle that said Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was hashing out a secret plan to smuggle himself, other Hamas leadership and some of the remaining Israeli hostages out of Gaza through the Philadelphi corridor before heading to Iran.

The chronicle cited Israeli intelligence sources, though other Israeli news outlets refuted the reporting Thursday, and Fox News Digital could not independently verify the intelligence.

In his remarks to Fox News, Netanyahu did not expand on the leverage Hamas could gain by smuggling the hostages out of Gaza, but securing the hostages' release has increasingly taken center stage in the ceasefire negotiations.

Following the assassination of six Israeli hostages who had been held prisoner by Hamas since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, and who were found in the tunnels mined by the terrorist organization last month, Netanyahu has increased his opposition to U.S. efforts to push through a cease-fire agreement. 

NETANYAHU HITS BACK OVER GLOBAL PRESSURE TO MAKE CEASE-FIRE CONCESSIONS, SAYS DEMANDS ARE 'IMMORAL', 'INSANE'

Three of the hostages killed were reportedly supposed to be part of an exchange under a cease-fire deal proposed in July, but which never came to fruition. 

"We're doing everything we can to get the remainder [out]," Netanhyu said. "But Hamas consistently refuses to make a deal."

Details of the ceasefire agreement put forward by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt have remained closely guarded for months, and reporting for weeks has suggested that the most recent deal signed on by Israel, but rebuffed by Hamas, was down to Jerusalem’s refusal to vacate the Philadelphi Route. 

"It's just a direct falsehood," he said, noting that it is about more than just holding onto the corridor.

"What we have to do is to make sure that we do two things," Netanyahu said. "One, get the hostages out. And second, keep the red lines that are necessary for Israel's security and survival. 

"I think both of them go through holding the Philadelphi corridor," he added. 

Despite Netanyahu’s strong opposition to ceding any hold of the strategic route and Hamas' apparent refusal to hand over more hostages until Israel stops its operations in Gaza, Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said that negotiations were making significant headway. 

"I think based on what I’ve seen, 90 percent is agreed, but there are a few critical issues that remain where we need to be able to get agreement," he told reporters. "Much of this has been discussed in recent days, including the Philadelphi corridor, including some of the exact specifics of how hostages and prisoners are exchanged.  

"So that remains, but pretty much everything else is there," he added. 

Blinken said he expects in the "coming days" that an updated deal will be shared by Egypt and Qatar with Hamas and by the U.S. with Israel in an attempt to shore up a cease-fire agreement. 

"Then it will be time really for the parties to decide yes or no, and then we’ll see," he added. 

South Korea on Thursday accused North Korea of launching more trash balloons across the border. 

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had detected around 420 balloons from Wednesday evening to early Thursday. Around 20 of them have been discovered so far in Seoul, the South Korean capital, and nearby Gyeonggi province.

The balloons that landed were filled with paper waste, plastic bottles and other trash but contained no hazardous materials, officials said, accusing the North of launching more balloons into Thursday evening. 

The joint chiefs advised people to report to the police or military if they see any fallen balloons and not to touch them. No major damage was immediately reported.

NORTH KOREA'S KIM JONG UN REPORTEDLY ORDERED DOZENS OF OFFICIALS EXECUTED AFTER DEADLY FLOODS

Seoul's city government issued text alerts Wednesday evening as the North Korean balloons began appearing over South Korean territory, advising people to stay indoors and to beware of objects dropping from the sky.

The two Koreas have been engaged in petty Cold War-style psychological warfare since at least March, with the North having flown thousands of balloons toward the South, filled with wastepaper, cloth scraps, cigarette butts and even manure. 

North Korea says the balloons are in retaliation against South Korean civilian activists who fly anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.

Trash carried by at least one North Korean balloon fell on the South Korean presidential compound in July, raising concerns about the vulnerability of key South Korean facilities. Officials said the balloon contained no dangerous materials and that no one was hurt.

South Korea has retaliated with front-line loudspeakers to blast propaganda messages and K-pop songs toward the North.

The tit-for-tat campaigns are adding to tensions fueled by North Korea's growing nuclear ambitions and South Korea's expansion of joint military exercises with the United States.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

They came in their thousands in the freezing dawn, parking cars far away and winding down rural roads on foot, children riding on their shoulders. They arrived in mourning black with crowns of ferns and kawakawa leaves, bone carvings or wedges of deep green pounamu — New Zealand jade — resting on their chests.

The mourners came to the North Island town of Ngāruawāhia on Thursday to pay final respects to New Zealand’s Māori king, Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, who died six days earlier, and witness the ascension to the throne of his daughter, Ngā wai hono i te po. The new queen, 27, is the second woman to become Māori monarch in a tradition dating back to 1858.

As she was escorted onto Tūrangawaewae marae — an ancestral meeting place — where her father’s casket lay draped in feathered cloaks, cheers rang out among thousands crowded around TV screens outside and waiting along the wide, flat banks of the Waikato River to glimpse Kīngi Tūheitia’s funeral procession. After her ascension, Ngā wai hono i te po accompanied the late king in a flotilla of traditional canoes along the river as he was guided by Māori warriors to his final resting place.

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The events marked the end of a weeklong tangihanga — funeral rite — for Kīngi Tūheitia, 69, a leader who had in recent months rallied New Zealand’s Indigenous people to unity in the face of a more racially divisive political culture than before. His daughter’s ascension represents the rise of a new generation of Māori leaders in New Zealand — one which grew up steeped in a resurging language that had once almost died out.

Kīngi Tūheitia died last Friday after undergoing heart surgery, just days after celebrations marking his 18th anniversary on the throne. He became king after his mother’s death in 2006 and on Thursday was buried alongside her in an unmarked grave on Taupiri Maunga, a mountain of spiritual significance to his iwi, or tribe.

The Kīngitanga, or Māori royalty movement, is not a constitutional monarchy and King Charles III of Britain is New Zealand’s head of state. It has a ceremonial mandate rather than a legal one and was formed in the years after British colonization of New Zealand to unite Māori tribes in resistance to forced sales of Indigenous land and the loss of the Māori language and culture.

Monarchs have traditionally wielded politics lightly and Tūheitia was remembered this week as a quiet and humble man. But in recent months, his voice had become louder.

After a center-right government took power in New Zealand last November and began to enact policies reversing recognition of Māori language, people and customs, Tūheitia took the unusual step in January of calling a national meeting of tribes which was attended by 10,000 people.

"The best protest we can make right now is being Māori. Be who we are. Live our values. Speak our reo," he told them, using the Māori word for language. "Just be Māori. Be Māori all day, every day. We are here. We are strong."

Tūheitia urged New Zealanders to embrace the concept of kotahitanga — unity of purpose — in a cause that he said had "room for everyone."

His words were echoed throughout the days of his funeral, including by political leaders whose plans he had rallied to oppose. In a reflection of the place that Māori language and customs have grown to hold in New Zealand's public life in recent decades, his funeral was attended not only by Māori tribes but by leaders of all political parties, past prime ministers, leaders of Pacific Island nations, diplomats and representatives of the British crown.

Tens of thousands of ordinary people also flocked there. Many spoke to each other in Māori, a language which had steadily waned after colonization until activists in the 1970s provoked its renaissance. Among their initiatives was the establishment of Māori language pre-schools, the first graduates of which are now young adults.

Tūheitia’s daughter was among them; while her father hailed from a generation in which many were discouraged from speaking Māori, she was steeped in it, attending Māori immersion schools. Ngā wai hono i te po holds a degree in Māori customs and is an accomplished performer of kapa haka, an Indigenous performance art.

The late king, a truck driver before he took the throne, was a surprise appointment to the monarchy, which is chosen by a council and is not required to be hereditary. But the new queen was groomed for the role and had accompanied her father in his work during recent years.

Her ascension comes at a fraught political moment. Since 1858, the Kīngitanga has championed Māori sovereignty and the other promises of modern New Zealand’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840 between the Crown and Māori tribes. In the years since, translation issues and attempts to reinterpret the treaty have at times provoked conflict, which has in recent months flared again.

"The treaty provides a foundation for us all to work together. Let’s not change it, that would harm us," Tūheitia said at the event marking his coronation days before his death. While New Zealand was facing a storm as Māori rights were rolled back, "there's no need to worry. In this storm, we are stronger together," he said.

After the new queen was anointed with oils and a service for her father held, mourners flocked behind the hearse as it drove to the banks of the river sacred to his tribe. There, Tūheitia's casket was accompanied by traditional carved canoes on his journey to the mountain, with mourners, in some places 10 people deep, falling silent and bowing as he passed.

As he was carried to the foot of the mountain under a clear afternoon sky, a roaring haka, or ceremonial chant, rang out from mourners waiting among gravestones dotted up the steep hillside and dozens helped to carry the late king to his burial place at the top.

Many had waited for hours to see the procession pass, including a large number of young families. Commentators said the queen's ascension represented the culture's renewal, with the majority of Māori — who account for almost 20% of New Zealand's population — aged under 40.

Among them on Thursday was Awa Tukiri, 9, whose family had driven nearly two hours from Auckland to watch the canoe carrying the late king pass by.

"It was pretty amazing because all they do on the boat is do haka and waiata on it," he said, using the words for Māori chants and songs. Tukiri, who attends a kura kaupapa — the immersion schools that are growing in popularity — said the best part of being Māori was "just hanging out and speaking Māori to each other."

A fire in a school dormitory in Kenya killed 17 students and seriously burned 13 others, police said Friday, and they feared the death toll may rise.

The cause of the fire Thursday night at Hillside Endarasha Primary school in Nyeri County was being investigated, police spokesperson Resila Onyango said. The school serves children up to the age of 14.

Nyeri County Commissioner Pius Murugu and the education ministry reported that the dormitory that caught fire housed more than 150 boys between age 10 and 14. Since most of the buildings are built with wooden planks, the fire spread quickly.

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The private school, which has 824 students, is located in the country’s central highlands, 125 miles north of the capital, Nairobi, where wooden structures are common.

Nyeri County Gov. Mutahi Kahiga told journalists that rescue efforts were hampered by muddy roads caused by rains in the area.

Anxious parents who had been unable to find their children among the survivors waited at the school, engulfed with grief.

John Rukwaro told journalists that his 11-year-old grandson was missing and he had checked with area hospitals without success.

The education ministry's permanent secretary, Belio Kipsang, said the government was working with the school administration to account for all the children in the boarding section.

"We are asking the parents who picked up their children and the community to support us as we consolidate the numbers to ensure that we account for every child who was boarding in this school," he said.

President William Ruto called the news "devastating."

"I instruct relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate this horrific incident. Those responsible will be held to account," he wrote on the social media platform X.

His deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, urged school administrators to ensure that safety guidelines recommended by the education ministry for boarding schools are being followed.

School fires are common in Kenyan boarding schools, often due to arson fueled by drug abuse and overcrowding, according to a recent education ministry report. Many students stay at school because parents believe it gives them more time to study without long commutes.

Some fires have been started by students during protests over the workload or living conditions. In 2017, 10 high school students died in a school fire started by a student in Nairobi.

The deadliest school fire in the country in recent history was in 2001 when 67 students died in a dormitory fire in Machakos county.

The education ministry's guidelines recommend that dormitories should be spacious enough and have two doors on each end, an emergency door in the middle and that windows are not fitted with grills to allow for escape in case of fire. Fully serviced fire extinguishers and fire alarms are required at easily accessible spots.

It was not immediately clear if these guidelines were followed at Hillside school and the area near the dormitory has remained cordoned off.

An American citizen has died during a protest in the West Bank, Fox News has confirmed.

The State Department says it is aware of "the tragic death" of Aysrnur Egzi Eygi, although did not provide any more details. 

The agency did not say how she died. However, Reuters, citing the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, reported that a U.S. citizen taking part in a protest against settlement expansion in the West Bank died of her wounds on Friday after being shot in the head by Israeli troops.

The Israeli military tells Reuters it is looking into the report.

I⁠⁠n a statement, the State Department tells Fox News it offers its deepest condolences to her family and loved ones.

"We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death and will have more to say as we learn more. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens."

The world's largest wine collection can be found in Moldova, with millions of bottles stored in the underground tunnels of Milestii Mici. 

Milestii Mici shares its name with the city in which it lies. It is the world's largest wine cellar, in terms of the number of bottles it contains. Milestii Mici was recognized with this honor by Guinness World Records in 2007. There are around 1.5 million bottles of wine stored in Milestii Mici's "Golden Collection," with the oldest wines dating back to 1969. 

The wines of the "Golden Collection" include "Pinot," "Traminer," "Muscat," "Riesling," "Feteasca," "Dnestrovscoie," "Milestscoie," "Codru," "Trandafirul Moldovei," "Auriu," "Cahor-Ciumai" and more, according to Milestii Mici's website, filled with delectable flavor notes of vanilla, cherries, blackberries and other savory tastes. 

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The wines of Milestii Mici are not just enjoyed by visitors to the underground tunnels and those in Moldova, but also those abroad, with wines being exported to places such as Japan, the United States, Finland, Greece, Taiwan, Malaysia and more. 

The underground tunnels of Milestii Mici are ideal for wine storage. They were created through the excavation of limestone blocks to build the city of Chișinău, Moldova's capital, and were later turned into a wine cellar in 1969. 

The underground tunnels are always around the mid 50s in temperature and the humidity is always high, around 85 to 95%, according to Milestii Mici's website. 

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The wines in the cellar, which are stored in massive oak barrels, range in age, the oldest dating back to 1986, per the source. There are a number of different wines throughout the underground tunnels, including those of high quality, table wines and sparkling wines. 

Milestii Mici is a popular tourist attraction, with 20,000 tourists exploring the underground wine cellar each year.

Milestii Mici's is made up of 200 kilometers of underground galleries. The underground galleries can be explored by several different modes of transportation, including by electric train, car or by bike. 

With a ride through the cellar, guests will be surrounded by the massive collection while traveling through tunnels named after the wines part of the collection. 

Once you travel through the underground galleries and explore the "Golden Collection," guests can, of course, sample wines themselves. While sipping on a glass of wine, visitors can also enjoy a meal in the tasting halls of Milestii Mici. 

A recent Ph.D. graduate's excavation of an ancient forest near Strahan in western Tasmania exceeded expectations with the discovery of new plant species.

Fossils were discovered during a 2020 excavation led by Dr. Miriam Slodownik, a recent graduate of the University of Adelaide. The goal of the dig was to "understand the ancient ecosystems of Tasmania," Slodownik told Fox News Digital in an email.

Slodownik's research was published in the American Journal of Botany on Aug. 27, 2024.

"I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that regions near the poles, areas we associate with extreme cold and ice, were once covered in dense forests," Slodownik said. "To study this, I looked for places where we could find rocks that formed during the right time and at the right place."

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"Tasmania turned out to be a perfect location, not only because it was accessible (in contrast to Antarctica, which is much harder to reach) but also because previous research had already indicated the presence of fossils," Slodownik continued. Fossils were previously found during a 2003 excavation conducted by the University of Tasmania led by professor Gregory Jordan, Slodownik said.

Even though Slodownik had past findings on her side, the success of the more recent excavation turned out to be greater than what was previously expected. 

The goal of understanding ancient ecosystems was far exceeded by also discovering new plant species along the way. 

"We did not expect to find new species," Slodownik told Fox News Digital.

Among the significant fossils found included relatives of living plants such as Araucaria, Slodownik noted, as well as relatives of the Wollemi pine, an ancient and extremely rare plant. Fewer than 100 adult trees are known to exist today. 

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Fossils often tell larger stories about the conditions of the world around them at the time when they lived. 

The forest in which these plant fossils were found dates back 53 million years, according to a news release about the find from the University of Adelaide. 

"The fossils tell an incredible story. Around 50 million years ago, a lush, ‘tropical-like’ forest thrived near the polar circle. This was during a time of peak global temperatures, so much so that even regions close to the poles, areas we now think of as icy and barren, were covered in dense vegetation," Slodownik explained.

"At that time, Tasmania was positioned at the polar circle and was still connected to Antarctica, which served as a land bridge to South America. Because of this connection, many fossil plants we found in Tasmania are quite similar to those of the same age found in South America," Slodownik continued. 

"Overall, these fossils provide us with a fascinating glimpse into how Earth’s climate and continents have shifted dramatically over millions of years," Slodownik concluded. 

JERUSALEM – Israeli leaders and British Jews have slammed a U.K. government decision announced on Monday to suspend 30 arms export licenses to Israel over concerns the Jewish state has violated international humanitarian law during its 11-month war against Hamas in Gaza. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the move "shameful" in a post on X and said that it would not "change Israel’s determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that savagely murder 1,200 people on Oct. 7, including 14 British citizens." 

The Israeli leader also noted that Hamas was still holding some five British citizens as hostages and expressed disappointment that "instead of standing with Israel, a fellow democracy defending itself against barbarism, Britain’s misguided decision will only embolden Hamas."

"Israel is pursuing a just war with just means, taking unprecedented measures to keep civilians out of harm’s way and comporting fully with international law," he wrote.

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Also posting on X, Britain’s Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said that the announcement "feeds the falsehood that Israel is in breach of International Humanitarian Law, when in fact it is going to extraordinary lengths to uphold it," and that it "will serve to encourage our shared enemies."

Coming from such a close ally of Israel, the move has sparked fears that other countries, including the U.S., might follow suit. While others point out that the decision seems symbolic – and even hypocritical – as the British government, which reported overall defense orders totaling nearly $16 billion (12 billion pounds) in 2022, has made no similar move to halt exports to countries with greater human rights violations. 

Rather, the Middle East, with states such as Egypt, Turkey, Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia, which is still engaged in fighting Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen, being among its top arms recipients. 

"Firstly, it's hypocritical and its simply inconsistent," Major (Ret.) Andrew Fox, a Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital. "But more, it's dangerous, because Hamas is so evil, Hamas is so psychotic, and we're sending a message of weakness."

The U.K. sells a relatively small number of weapons to Israel compared to the U.S. and other countries, such as Germany, and withdrawing only 30 of 350 existing export licenses for equipment such as parts for military planes, helicopters and drones is unlikely to impact its ability to fight the war in the Gaza. 

Fox said he believed that the decision was purely "performative," with the newly elected government responding to pressure from the more left-wing elements in its support base – those who have held weekly anti-Israel protests around the country. 

"Israel is a very small recipient of British arms, buying just one percent of its arsenal from the U.K." Jake Wallace Simons, editor of Britain’s Jewish Chronicle, told Fox News Digital. 

NETANYAHU HITS BACK OVER GLOBAL PRESSURE TO MAKE CEASE-FIRE CONCESSSIONS, SAYS DEMANDS ARE ‘IMMORAL’, ‘INSANE’

"Countries like Qatar, which sponsors Hamas, Saudi Arabia, which has been fighting a brutal campaign in Yemen, Turkey, which has been massacring the Kurds, and the corrupt Egyptian police state all buy many more British weapons than the Middle East's sole democracy, Israel," he said, adding, "with no evidence that the Jewish state has been breaking international law, this move seems intended to win points with Muslim voters and is harming international alliances at the same time."

Amnesty International, as well as the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, have published in-depth reports on the human rights violations by countries that buy the majority of U.K. arms.

The U.K.'s decision this week also marks a departure from the Biden administration’s approach to the Israel-Hamas war, which started on Oct. 7, when more than 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists infiltrated Israel from Gaza, attacking army bases, residential communities, towns and a massive music festival taking place in the area.  

A veteran of the British army, Fox noted that taking this new stance will weaken the U.K.’s ability to have any influence on the course of the war in Gaza and leave it in a difficult position with other close allies. 

"We will now have no influence in Jerusalem at all," he said. "I think this is embarrassing for the U.K. on a national stage and our other allies will see this behavior and think there's a risk that domestic pressure might affect the U.K. It will also encourage those people who are actively trying to subvert us domestically, like Iran and Russia, because they've seen that it works." 

A request for a comment from British Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s special advisor went unanswered.

Military commanders have publicly dissented from the Pentagon over the U.S. military's response to the Houthis' threat in the Red Sea, calling for a stronger response. 

"The U.S. clearly needs to conduct more aggressive actions on Iran for supplying and supporting the Houthis. Until the U.S imposes costs on Iran, these Houthi attacks will continue," Retired RADM Mark Montgomery, senior director for the Center on Cyber and Tech Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, told Fox News Digital. 

"The Biden administration is not pursuing an effective deterrence strategy against the Iranians, and by extension, the Houthis, because the administration is overly concerned with provoking Iran and not concerned enough with shaping Iranian behavior," Montgomery said. 

"If you allow a bully to go unchecked for too long it becomes an escalatory challenge to eventually face the bully down." 

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CENTCOM’s new commander, Gen. Michael Kurilla, issued a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in which he claimed the current policies are "failing" to have the desired impact on Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Kurilla called for a "whole of government" approach to the issue, which would include economic and diplomatic pressure in addition to stronger military pressure to dissuade the terrorist group from its campaign against shipping vessels in the region.

The tone of the letter shocked some members of the defense department, one official told the Journal, particularly Kurilla’s insistence that "U.S. service members will die if we continue going this way." 

The Pentagon told Fox News Digital it had nothing additional to provide in response to a request for comment. 

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The Houthis launched attacks against shipping vessels in the Red Sea after Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip, which was a response to the Hamas attack Oct. 7. 

The Houthis claimed they were only attacking ships that did business with Israel, but their attacks hit vessels from dozens of countries, causing significant disruptions and endangering the lives of hundreds of crewmen. 

U.S. National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson Sean Savett told Fox News Digital the U.S. has "aggressively employed a whole-of-government approach" in response to the Houthis, including sanctions, listing the group as a specially designated global terrorist organization and disrupting the group's supply lines. 

"As we have said, we will continue to make clear to the Houthis that they will bear the consequences if they do not stop their illegal attacks, which harm regional economies, cause environmental damage and disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen and other countries," Savett said. 

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Earlier this summer, officials described the back and forth with the Houthis over a six-month period as the "most intense running sea battle," according to The Associated Press. One commander told the outlet the Houthis launch missiles, drones or "some other type of attack" nearly every day.

"I don't think people really understand just kind of how deadly serious it is what we're doing and how under threat the ships continue to be," Cmdr. Eric Blomberg with the USS Laboon told the AP on a visit to his warship on the Red Sea.

"We only have to get it wrong once," he said. "The Houthis just have to get one through."

The group most recently hit a Greek-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea Aug. 21, leaving it "not under command" and drifting ablaze. While the Houthis did not directly take credit for the attack, the British military labeled the group as responsible. 

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CENTCOM over the weekend announced it destroyed at least one Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicle and one uncrewed surface vessel near Yemen after determining both presented a "clear and imminent threat" to U.S. and coalition forces. 

Rear Adm. Marc Miguez of the U.S. Navy revealed during an interview with YouTube personality and retired Navy aviator Ward Carroll that more aggressive strategies had been suggested, but command passed on them over fears of an Iranian response.

"There are definite strategies that were put forward, but our National Command Authority decided that those — I would call more aggressive postures and more aggressive strikes — was not something we wanted to challenge," Miguez said in the interview, which was posted at the end of August.

"We all know Iranian-backed groups like the Houthis, where that threat's emanating from," Miguez said. "And so that is the calculus that's handled at echelon zero at the National Command Authority with NSA and everybody else.

"Moving forward, we are going to have to continue to deal with this," he added. "It'll be up to our National Command Authority to probably be more aggressive with our strike groups and all of our assets, not just the Navy."

The U.S. Navy did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment by time of publication, but an NSC spokesperson separately insisted that "the assertion that the administration decided against a more aggressive policy over concerns about Iran's response is wrong." 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A French woman who faced alleged abuses at the hands of her ex-husband and more than 50 others gave her first testimony in court on Thursday.

Gisèle Pélicot, 72, was allegedly drugged and raped after her ex-husband Dominique Pélicot invited the men to participate in her abuse online. Pélicot also filmed the alleged acts, which police used ultimately to arrest him and dozens more on charges of aggravated rape after two years of investigation.

Dominique Pélicot, also in his 70s, allegedly recruited at least 72 other men from 2011 through 2020 to assault his wife. Of the suspects, police were able to track down 50 of the men before trial.

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In September 2020, Dominique landed on the police's radar after being caught taking photos of women's crotches at a supermarket. Officers then discovered thousands of photos and videos on his personal devices depicting aggravated assault on Gisèle's person.

"It’s unbearable," said Gisèle. "I have so much to say that I don’t always know where to start."

Gisèle and Dominique were married for 50 years until 2020, when police shared the extent of alleged abuse incurred. They share three children together.

"For me, everything collapses," testified Gisèle. "These are scenes of barbarity, of rape."

Gisèle's attorneys argued that she was so heavily drugged from crushed-up pills that she had no idea the alleged rapes were going on for nearly 10 years in her own home. She waived her legal right to a closed trial in the hopes her public testimony may spare survivors of similar sexual crimes.

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A toxicologist called to testify on Thursday claimed she was administered a "cocktail" of medications which can cause unconsciousness: Temesta, Zolpidem, hypnotic, and anxiolytic drugs. Gisèle admitted there are memory holes during the years the alleged abuses occurred.

Dominique Pélicot shared with police that he had certain house rules for the alleged rapists, including wearing no scent and thorough hand-washing. Additionally, the men had to remove their clothing before entering their bedroom.

She contracted no fewer than four sexually transmitted infections during the near-decade-long abuses, according to a medical expert. The alleged rapists were forced by Dominique to not wear condoms, including one allegedly HIV-positive. HIV transmission is not a criminal offense in France save for certain circumstances.

"I was sacrificed on the altar of vice," Gisèle Pélicot testified. "They regarded me like a rag doll, like a garbage bag."

Several of the defendants, aged 22 to 70, argued they were manipulated by Dominique Pelicot to engage in the abuse. Some of them had to wait up to 90 minutes nearby for Gisèle Pélicot to fall unconscious.

"These men entered my home, respected the imposed protocol. They did not rape me with a gun to the head. They raped me in all conscience," testified Gisèle. "Why didn’t they go to the police station? Even an anonymous phone call could have saved my life."

The trial, which began Monday, is scheduled to continue for the next four months. If found guilty, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison.

 "We will have to fight until the end," asserted Gisèle.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.