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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was released from hospital on Thursday after his prostate surgery ended "successfully," his office reported on X.

NETANYAHU GOES AGAINST DOCTOR’S ORDERS, APPEARS IN ISRAELI PARLIAMENT AFTER SURGERY

"I have just left Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital," he said on X. The hospital is in Jerusalem.

His office said Netanyahu, 75, was in good condition and fully conscious after the conclusion of his prostate surgery.

A driver ran down two New Zealand police officers as they patrolled on foot in the early hours of New Year’s Day, killing one and seriously injuring the other, the country’s police chief said.

The attack jolted a country where the killing of police officers on duty is rare. Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming was the first female officer in New Zealand's history killed by a criminal act while at work, police said Thursday.

In Wednesday's attack, the vehicle drove into the officers "at speed" as they performed a routine patrol of a parking lot, before the driver turned and rammed a police car, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told reporters in the South Island city of Nelson. Fleming died in a local hospital hours later.

BOURBON STREET ATTACK ON NEW YEAR'S REVELERS JUST THE LATEST CASE OF TERRORISTS USING TRUCKS TO KILL

A 32-year-old man was arrested over the incident shortly after it happened, at about 2 a.m. local time. He was charged with eight criminal counts, including murder, attempted murder, assault using a vehicle as a weapon and driving while disqualified.

The other officer struck by the car was in serious condition but was expected to make a full recovery, Chambers said. A third officer who was in the rammed police car received a concussion and two members of the public were hurt, one of them after coming to help the injured officers.

Chambers condemned the "senseless act of an individual who appears to have been determined to cause harm," although he did not suggest a motive.

"There was, at this stage, no indication that was what about to occur, occurred," Chambers said.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell told reporters the officers were "targeted in what I consider a very cowardly attack." It was a "devastating day" for police and for the country, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wrote on X.

The attack happened in a downtown area of Nelson — population 55,000 — close to the street where the city’s New Year’s Eve celebrations had concluded two hours before.

Before Wednesday, the last killing of a police officer on duty in New Zealand was in 2020, when an officer was shot by a fleeing driver. 33 other officers have died through criminal acts while on duty since 1890, according to police records.

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Fleming had been an officer for 38 years and was a long-serving netball coach at a local girls' high school.

"She's a mother, she's a wife and she's a well-known and highly respected member of the Nelson community," Chambers said.

The man charged is due to appear in court on Friday. A murder conviction in New Zealand draws an automatic sentence of life in prison, with the presiding judge setting a non-parole period of at least 10 years.

EXCLUSIVE: Reports for years have indicated that religious intolerance is on the rise around the globe in the face of increasing authoritarian rule and the continued spread of Islamic extremism, but a report released Thursday indicates that Christianity, above all others, is taking the biggest hit. 

"The world is seeing an increasing push toward oppressive control over religion, particularly Christianity, as a consequence of several modern and historical factors converging," Jeff King, president of the International Christian Concern (ICC), a non-profit based in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital. "Christians face oppression in more countries than any other faith group, with significant challenges in regions like the Middle East, Africa and Asia." 

A report titled "The Global Persecution Index 2025," released by the ICC on Thursday, outlined which nations have become the biggest offenders when it comes to religious oppression, particularly against Christian populations, and found the majority of religion-based persecution is carried out under authoritarian leaders and by Islamic extremist groups. 

PRIEST STABBED IN THE FACE DURING MASS AS RELIGION-BASED HATE CRIME IS ON THE RISE WORLDWIDE

The greatest concentration of "Red Zone" nations, countries with the most severe actions taken against Christians, including torture and death, were found in a strip of land in Africa known as the Sahel, which includes places like Mali, Niger and Chad. However, other significantly dangerous nations for the Christian faith were identified as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Korea. 

There is a mounting trend that shows authoritarian policies are on the rise globally – particularly as geopolitics enter an increasingly fragile period – and has meant more nations are clamping down on religion.

Christians and Muslims are the two largest religious groups in the world and consistently see the highest rates of "harassment" – both physical and verbal - over any other group, according to a Pew Research Center (PRC) report released this month, which analyzed findings from 2022 – data that King also referenced. 

While neither the ICC report nor the PRC report were able to break down the exact rates of how many Christians, versus Muslims, or others, were targets of harassment, the PRC found that Christians are targeted in more countries by governments or "social groups" than any other religion, with Muslims coming in second and Jews third. 

"In many authoritarian states, Christianity is seen as a proxy for Western influence and values, which regimes often reject as imperialistic or destabilizing," King told Fox News Digital. "Christianity and other faiths emphasize allegiance to a higher moral authority, which inherently challenges authoritarian regimes that demand complete loyalty to the state." 

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However, while authoritarian attempts to control the hearts and minds of its citizens through oppressive policies are nothing new, emerging and increasingly accessible technology has upped the level to which nations can persecute perceived dissidence.  

Technology like social media in many ways has improved freedom of speech and access to information worldwide, but the expansion of other technologies has also increased oppressive authoritarian systems of hyper-surveillance – even in regions not traditionally seen as religiously oppressive, like Latin America.

"Countries like Nicaragua and Venezuela, traditionally Christian-majority nations, saw a big increase in hostility toward religious groups critical of authoritarian regimes," King said. "The targeting of religious citizens and suppression of dissenting voices marked a new and alarming trend.

"Nations like China exported sophisticated surveillance technology to other authoritarian regimes, enabling tighter control and monitoring of religious groups," he added. 

Some nations have increasingly viewed Christianity as a threat to their cultural norms, including India, which in recent years has seen a severe increase in the number of attacks against Christians, according to not only the ICC and the PRC reports, but also a report submitted to the United Nations General Assembly by the Human Rights Council in February. 

"In countries like India and Pakistan, social media platforms were used to incite mob violence and spread disinformation about Christian communities, leading to targeted attacks," King explained.

The violence and oppression against religious groups around the globe are not isolated events and are indicative of an increasingly growing threat reminiscent of historical atrocities carried out under similar oppressive policies. 

"Many nations are experiencing democratic backsliding, with authoritarian leaders consolidating power and silencing dissent, including religious voices," King explained in reference to the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. "Economic crises, political unrest, and social inequalities create conditions where leaders seek scapegoats or distractions, often targeting religious minorities to unite the majority under their rule. 

"Today’s regimes are drawing from this playbook as they face similar challenges to their authority," he added. "Religion, with its ability to inspire freedom, hope and resistance, is viewed as a mortal enemy to their dominance. 

"This trend is exacerbated by technological advancements, rising nationalism, and global instability, making the fight for religious freedom more urgent than ever," King warned.

The escalation of antisemitism in the wake of the Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror massacre in Israel has paved the way for attacks on Jewish communities around the world. For the duration of the past year, schools, community centers and houses of worship have faced threats, intimidation and physical violence.

Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, told Fox News Digital that throughout 2024, the "level of presumed security" the American Jewish community has lived with has shifted. "That’s difficult, when you have a place that you call home, and suddenly you don’t feel so at home." With the environment of "rolling antisemitism" in the U.S. becoming "an accepted part of daily life," Hauer said the issue "is still looked at as a problem for Jewish people as opposed to a stain on society." 

The suddenness of the shift has been striking, Hauer said. "It was like we were a source of darkness," he explained. "All those who we stood shoulder-to-shoulder with to fight for their needs and to fight for their rights suddenly don’t recognize us, so that’s jarring."

CALLS FOR US TO DO MORE AS ANTISEMITIC ACTS SKYROCKET IN EUROPE: ‘ENORMOUSLY PAINFUL’

The Anti-Defamation League tallied over 10,000 antisemitic incidents between Oct. 7, 2023 and Oct. 6, 2024, up from 3,325 during the prior year and representing the highest annual total the group has counted. They include over 8,000 incidents of harassment, 150 physical assaults and 1,840 acts of vandalism. Combined, more than half of these incidents took place at anti-Israel rallies (over 3,000) or at Jewish institutions (over 2,000).

Some politicians and the United Nations (U.N.) have stoked domestic anti-Israel hate. In January, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza without also calling for the disarmament of Hamas, drawing wide condemnation from Jewish community leaders. 

Despite multiple U.S. officials and the State Department condemning her spread of antisemitism, U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese visited numerous U.S. campuses in October while presenting her latest report before the U.N. General Assembly. During a stop at Barnard College, Albanese "described Israel’s war in Gaza as a ‘genocide,’ justified the October 7 attack, and questioned Israel’s right to exist," the Times of Israel reported.

Hatred that had been percolating on university campuses took new shape when anti-Israel encampments sprung up at learning institutions countrywide during the spring. During some encampment protests, Jewish students were excluded from their own campus spaces. 

Terror flags have been flown on U.S. streets and campuses during anti-Israel protests. School administrators and business leaders who have angered anti-Israel protesters have had their homes and institutions tagged with the inverted red triangle that Hamas uses to denote military targets. In July, protesters replaced the American flag with the Palestinian flag in Washington, D.C., and wrote "Hamas is coming" on a statue of Christopher Columbus. 

In September, an ISIS-inspired attack on the Jewish community was thwarted by Canadian and U.S. authorities. On Oct. 26, a Mauritanian national who entered the country illegally in March 2023 shot a Jewish worshipper in Chicago before engaging in a shootout with responding police and paramedics. Chicago leaders waited five days before confirming the religious identity of the suspect’s target and noting that the shooter had intentionally targeted the Jewish community. 

CHICAGO HATE CRIME SHOOTING SUSPECT RESEARCHED JEWISH TARGETS, HAD PRO-HAMAS MATERIAL ON HIS PHONE: PROSECUTOR

Brooke Goldstein, a human rights attorney and founder of The Lawfare Project, addressed the impetus for the atmosphere of intolerance, telling Fox News Digital that "President Biden and the largely Democratic leaders of large cities around the country have failed to act to curtail Jew-hatred because it is politically inconvenient for them to enforce the civil rights of Jewish Americans and ensure public safety." 

She said that "for years, the progressive left has ignored Jew-hatred coming from within their own ranks, choosing to ignore the reality that the Jewish people are a minority people still very much needing their legal protections upheld in the face of Marxist-oriented and Islamist-inspired attacks on their identity, indigenous right to their ancestral homeland, and their ability to enjoy equal protection under the law. Their politicians downplay Jewish identity to avoid being called out for their hypocrisy given their support for social justice for all people - other than Jews - and even to avoid prosecuting attacks against Jews as hate crimes, especially when the attackers are members of other minority communities."

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and global social action director for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told Fox News Digital that he feels the world is "at a tipping point" where antisemitic intolerance is concerned. With popular social media influencers "normalizing" hatred of Israel, national leaders around the world escalating anti-Israel rhetoric and extremists not "feeling they’re going to be held accountable" when they target the Jewish community, Rabbi Cooper explained that it is "a perfect storm." 

In Europe, incidents of antisemitic hate have risen as much as the 800% seen in Sweden between 2022 and 2023. Jews across Europe have reported that they no longer wear items that might identify their religion and have sometimes changed their names to avoid being targeted. In France, there has been a 430% increase in Jews applying to immigrate to Israel from 2022 to 2023.

Though Ireland has a small Jewish population, it has seen an uptick in antisemitic hatred and Jewish self-censorship. In December, Israel announced that it would close its embassy in the country, citing Irish leaders’ "deligitimization and demonization of the Jewish state." 

The United Kingdom has also seen a large increase in antisemitic hate, with the Community Security Trust reporting a record 1,978 antisemitic incidents in the first half of 2024. This included a 246% increase in "damage and desecration to Jewish property" between the first six months of 2023 and the first six months of 2024. The Israeli minister for Diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism said in March that due to its pro-Hamas atmosphere, London had become the world’s "most antisemitic city." 

In late November, a bus carrying Jewish school children was attacked with rocks after protesters harassed those aboard. Days earlier, a man threw bottles at a group of Jewish teens, hitting and hospitalizing one of his targets.

Headlines about hate for the Jewish community overseas have been gruesome. In June, a 12-year-old Jewish girl in France was raped by two teens on account of her religion. In November, the body of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan was found dead in the United Arab Emirates after he disappeared from his Abu Dhabi home. 

ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS TERRORIZE AMERICANS: SEE 2024'S MOST EXTREME MOMENTS

More than nine synagogues worldwide have been the targets of arson since Oct. 7, according to a social media post from Hen Mazzig, a senior fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute. The latest attack occurred on Dec. 18 in Montreal at a synagogue which was also targeted in November 2023, the New York Post reported. Just two days later, shots were fired overnight at a Jewish elementary school in Toronto. It was the third shooting at the school since May, according to the Times of Israel.

Another recent arson attack took place at a synagogue in Melbourne, Australia, on Dec. 6. The Simon Wiesenthal Center responded to the incident by issuing a travel advisory for Australia, explaining that the country’s leaders had failed to stand up against "persistent demonization, harassment, and violence against Jews and Jewish institutions."

Just a month earlier, the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a similar advisory for the Netherlands after a soccer match led to a "Jew Hunt," in which Jewish fans were tracked down and assaulted in the city. The incident sparked another attempted "Jew Hunt" in Antwerp and attacks on a Berlin youth soccer team.

When Cooper’s group placed the travel advisory on the Netherlands, he told Fox News Digital that "theoretically, you could slap a travel advisory on almost every place in Western Europe."

In the U.S., with anti-Jewish intolerance infiltrating elite universities, workplaces, the medical community, and the entertainment industry, Rabbi Cooper summarized that "the challenges ahead are going to be quite daunting." He also noted that he has hope on account of the resiliency of the Jewish community and the safety provided by American democracy. 

Cooper said that many appointees from President Trump’s incoming administration, including incoming U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Rep. Elise Stefanik, are "defenders of our community." When they begin implementing new policies, he said that he believes that "a lot of good things can happen very, very quickly." 

As the 119th Congress prepares for an opening session on January 3rd, one Republican Congressman appeals to the incoming Trump administration to advance U.S. interests and target foreign malign actors.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson calls on Secretary of State nominee, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and National Security Advisor nominee, Representative Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) to "prioritize using U.S. law enforcement mechanisms to expose and dismantle Georgian sanctions evasion schemes, scam call centers, and other illicit Georgian Dream enterprises."

FORMER GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTER SAYS NATION'S ELECTION WAS 'RIGGED,' AND 'WRITTEN IN MOSCOW'

The letter comes after the United States imposed sanctions on Georgia’s former Prime Minister and Russia made billionaire, country’s de-facto ruler Bidzina Ivanishvili.

These operations, according to the congressman's letter, enable Ivanishvili’s regime to profit from atrocities such as Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, "which is abetted by Chinese, North Korean, and Iranian complicity".

On December 27th, Ivanishvili was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for "undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia for the benefit of the Russian federation".

Congressman Wilson, who chairs The Helsinki Commission, calls sanctions on Ivanishvili a "significant step forward" and urges the incoming administration to extend sanctions to Ivanishvili’s immediate family members and cronies:

"This is a key opportunity to advance our shared goals of defending democracy and countering malign influence worldwide. The Axes of Aggressors would be deprived of a significant force multiplier should Georgia return to rule by the Georgian people," - the letter reads.

GEORGIAN PM PRAISES COUNTRY'S PROTEST CRACKDOWN DESPITE US CONDEMNATION

Wilson’s letter is a continuation in the series of public outcries among Georgia watchers in the United States and Europe following Georgian Dream’s highly disputed victory in October parliamentary elections and government’s subsequent decision to pause its accession to the European Union that led to massive daily demonstrations throughout the country.  

Local and international election observers, including International Republican Institute’s (IRI) mission, concluded elections were "fundamentally flawed".

"Reflecting on what IRI’s mission observed and on what has transpired since the election, only new elections can restore the Georgian people’s confidence in their government’s legitimacy," said IRI President Dan Twining.

Despite domestic and international calls for new elections, a single party parliament conveyed to anoint the only presidential candidate, former soccer player and a hard-line West critic Mikheil Kavelashvili on December 29th in an inauguration ceremony, visibly missing foreign dignitaries and guests.

Georgian Dream officials have repeatedly downplayed the prospect of U.S. sanctions. Minutes after the Treasury's announcement, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze claimed - "in reality, nothing has changed".

RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER BLASTS UKRAINE PEACE DEAL REPORTEDLY FLOATED BY TRUMP'S TEAM: 'NOT HAPPY'

Kobakhidze, as well as other party leaders, also voiced optimism about "positive changes" after President Trump will take office on January 20th. However, this scenario is unlikely, according to Laura Linderman, Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council.

"Given that Trump's national security team would likely pursue an even tougher stance against countries aligned with China and Iran, Georgian Dream's apparent calculation that they would receive more favorable treatment under a Trump administration is misguided," Linderman tells Fox News Digital.

Linderman also says congressional Republicans are largely united in their support for Georgia's democratic future and "Trump would be unlikely to expend political capital challenging the bipartisan consensus on Georgia's Euro-Atlantic path".

In recent years Ivanishvilis’s Georgian Dream government has increasingly isolated itself from the West and has aligned with authoritarian regimes. Georgia – until recently – a strategic U.S. partner has now formalized such partnership with China, has favoured Chinese companies over American investments, adopted Russian style "foreign agent" law, and suspended EU accession talks. This year alone, PM Kobakhidze has paid a number of visits to Iran. In Tehran he attended both - funeral of late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and inauguration of the new president Masoud Pezeshkian, who was sworn in with chants of "Death to America, Israel"

Heritage Foundations Senior Counselor and leading foreign policy expert James Carafano tells Fox News Digital, that regimes that are leaning on support from Moscow and Beijing are going to find that "playtime is over", adding they cannot expect a "favorable or indifferent hand" from the Trump administration.

"If there are U.S. interests at stake, and there are some in Georgia, governments that want to lean on Moscow are likely to not only get a cold shoulder from Trump, they are probably going to get hit with the shoulder pads," Carafano says.

A top Hamas commander responsible for the heinous Oct. 7 attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz has been killed by a targeted drone strike, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) announced.

Abd al-Hadi Sabah, who led the infiltration into Kibbutz Nir Oz, which ravaged the community near the Gaza border on Oct. 7, was killed on Tuesday local time in the Western Khan Yunis Battalion.

The IDF said in a release on social media Tuesday that they conducted the intelligence-based strike alongside the Israeli Security Agency (ISA). 

The agencies said that Sabah was hiding in a shelter in the designated humanitarian area in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza.

ISRAELI OFFICIAL REVEALS HOW 'TO TRULY DEFEAT HEZBOLLAH'

The agencies noted that Sabah was one of the leaders of the infiltration into Kibbutz Nir Oz during Oct. 7 and had been a leader in "numerous terrorist attacks against IDF troops."

IDF FINDS HEZBOLLAH WEAPONS CACHE IN UNDERGROUND TUNNEL: VIDEO

"The IDF and ISA will continue to operate against all of the terrorists who took part in the murderous October 7th Massacre," the agencies said.

The IDF said that they took "numerous steps" to mitigate harm to civilians by using "precise munitions, intelligence, and aerial surveillance."

Sabah's leadership on the destruction of Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel left nearly half of the 400 residents murdered or taken captive during the Oct. 7 attack.

Three suspected migrants were arrested Monday for allegedly killing a Mexican immigration agent who had asked to see their identification documents, Mexican officials say. 

The migrants — two from Venezuela and one from Colombia — were arrested hours after an alleged attack on the agent, who was found earlier in the day with no signs of life, state security and migration officials said. The attack took place around 30 miles south of the U.S./Mexico border.

State investigators confirmed that the immigration agent suffered a head injury and was found with no vital signs. His body also showed "signs of violence," according to a statement from public security officials with northern Chihuahua state.

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The agent was identified as Luis Alberto Olivas García, who had worked for the immigration agency for 30 years.

The slain agent was attacked at a checkpoint just south of Ciudad Juarez, which is across the border from the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas, when he asked an unspecified number of foreign nationals for their identification documents, according to the National Migration Institute.

Preliminary reports indicated that the agent had sustained several wounds possibly caused by a sharp weapon and a head injury most likely caused by a rock, the New York Times reported, citing the Chihuahua security ministry, Jorge Armendáriz. 

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Olivas García had been recognized earlier on Monday for his 30 years of service, Armendáriz added.

The death of the agent marked a rare case of deadly violence against agents and comes as migrants try to cross into the U.S. ahead of an impending crackdown on illegal crossings when President-elect Trump is sworn into office. 

Hundreds of U.S.-bound migrants waited in long lines outside an immigration office in southern Mexico on Monday, hoping to secure safe passage north and enter the U.S., according to Reuters.

The U.S. recorded an unprecedented number of illegal migrants flowing across its borders under the Biden-Harris administration.

A cornerstone of Trump’s second term in office is to secure the border and carry out the largest mass deportation program the U.S. has ever seen.

Reuters contributed to this report. 

At least 66 people have died after a truck plunged into a river in southern Ethiopia, a hospital director said Monday.

The accident took place Sunday when an old, overcrowded truck that was contracted by wedding guests fell off the Gelan Bridge, where villagers said traffic crashes have happened before.

IN ETHIOPIA, AT LEAST 183 KILLED IN 2 MONTHS DUE TO CONFLICT IN AMHARA REGION, UN SAYS

The medical director at Bona General Hospital in the southern Sidama region, Lemma Lagide, told The Associated Press on Monday that 64 people died on site and two others at the hospital.

He said those patients in need of more sophisticated critical care were transferred to a bigger hospital in Hawassa.

Delays in rescue efforts in the remote village were blamed for the high number of casualties. Villagers said they tried to save people from the raging river only with sticks.

A villager, Serak Boko, told AP that moments before the accident, music was blasting out of the truck and people dressed in suits were dancing and waving.

It is common for people in rural Ethiopia to hire trucks instead of buses to transport them to social events like weddings because they are more affordable and carry many people. Most of those on the truck were men because they are culturally required to escort the bride from her home to the groom's house.

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"The area always has regular accidents around the river as it is poorly constructed," said resident Fasil Atara, referring to the road lacking bumps and warnings.

With desolate infrastructure and overcrowded public transportation, Ethiopia has had similar accidents in the past. In August, 38 people died after a bus rolled over in Amhara region.

The site of Sunday's South Korean budget airline Jeju Air's plane crash is being combed through by U.S. investigators, with some from the aircraft's manufacturer. 

All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 died, making it South Korea's most fatal plane crash in decades. Investigators are hoping evidence collected from the scene will help them figure out why the pilot attempted the landing after declaring an emergency.

A pre-flight inspection found "no issues," the airline said, according to the BBC.

Flight data like speed, altitude, fuel levels and voice recordings from the cockpit will be examined from the plane's two separately located flight recording devices, most commonly referred to as black boxes, The Guardian reported. 

SOUTH KOREA PLANE'S FINAL MOMENTS CAPTURED ON VIDEO BEFORE HITTING CONCRETE BARRIER, TRIGGERING EXPLOSION

Air safety experts on Tuesday questioned the placement of an airport embankment into which the passenger jet slammed after skidding past the end of the runway, as video showed.

Comments in the airport's operating manual, uploaded early in 2024, said the embankment was too close to the end of the runway and recommended that the location of equipment be reviewed during a planned expansion, Reuters reported. 

PLANE VEERS OFF AIRPORT RUNWAY IN SOUTH KOREA AND CRASHES, KILLING 179: REPORTS

The South Korean government has launched safety inspections on all the 101 Boeing 737-800s in the country. The Transport Ministry said authorities are looking at maintenance and operation records during five days of safety checks that are to run until Friday.

The ministry said that a delegation of eight U.S. investigators – one from the Federal Aviation Administration, three from the National Transportation Safety Board and four from Boeing – visited the crash site on Tuesday. The results of their examination were not immediately available.

While it will likely take months to determine the cause of the crash, Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, previously said workers were looking into various possibilities, including whether the aircraft was struck by birds.

"A bird strike on an engine might shut an engine down, but there's so many redundant systems there, it just doesn't make sense. We're not in the dark, but we know the runway is 9,200 feet. It's a very long runway. It [the plane] did come in hot and high, hot and fast. We don't know why that was the real issue," aviation consultant Mike Boyd told Fox News Sunday.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

A Palestinian Authority (PA) official reportedly predicted that President-elect Donald Trump will "destroy Iran" and that Tehran's weakening will effectively break down the remaining Hamas terror cells. 

Mohammad Hamdan, secretary-general of the PA’s ruling Fatah Party, reportedly made the comments to the New York Post on Dec. 19 during a meeting between the outlet and other top PA leaders in Nablus, about an hour south of the West Bank city of Jenin, where Western-backed PA forces have launched security operations against armed extremists aligned with Hamas this month. 

The Post first reported the conversation on Monday. 

"We are confronting Hamas’ ideology. Our problem is with Hamas’ link to regimes outside Palestine," Hamdan told the Post, referencing Iran specifically. 

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"We see that Trump and the ruling government in Israel are planning to destroy Iran, so Hamas [followers] will have no other choice than to become Palestinian," he added. 

A group of more than a dozen extremists stole two PA vehicles and paraded them down the streets of Jenin while waving Hamas and ISIS flags on Dec. 6, according to the Post. 

Since then, PA forces have killed at least three extremists in the West Bank town and have vowed to arrest or "eliminate" the remaining people responsible. 

Fatah suffered a major defeat in the 2006 election, resulting in rival Hamas seizing control of the Gaza Strip, hardening Islamic-extremist rule and launching repeated attacks on Israel.

The tipping point came when Hamas terrorists launched their coordinated attack on southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.  

As Israel has decimated Hamas in the Gaza Strip since then, the PA, which is backed by the U.S. and other Western governments, appears to be positioning itself to resume governance of Gaza once the war ends. 

"Hamas rejects international legitimacy, meaning UN resolutions," Hamdan said. "The world cannot accept a situation where a party does not accept international resolutions."

Hamas and other Islamic extremist groups have sown distrust of the PA, accusing it of coordinating closely with Israel on past security raids on Jenin. 

The Jewish state in the past has cracked down on Jenin, which has long been considered a terrorist stronghold. The PA security forces had until recently little presence there until its new security operations this month.

ISRAELI OFFICIAL REVEALS HOW 'TO TRULY DEFEAT HEZBOLLAH'

At least three PA security force members have been killed, including a captain in the intelligence services, during armed clashes with extremists, The Associated Press reported. The PA has arrested dozens of people.

The Post said the PA leaders they interviewed condemned Israel's increased settlements in the West Bank but said they supported the Jewish state's right to exist. 

Hamdan also reportedly told the Post that PA President Mahmoud Abbas – who slammed Israel and the United States before the United Nations General Assembly earlier this year – "still supports realistic relations with the Americans in order to achieve the aspirations of the Palestinians." However, the secretary-general also argued that failed U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East was responsible for growing Islamic extremism. 

"Look what happened in Syria. First, the U.S. declared the rebels to be al Qaeda, and then [last week] an American delegation visited Syria," Hamdan told the Post. "And the one before that, when the Americans struck deals with the Taliban in Afghanistan. We as Palestinians believe that most of these extremist Islamic groups are produced by America by its effort to create a new Middle East." 

On the issue of post-war Gaza governance, one Israeli official told the Post that the PA remained an option but would need to stop "the corruption" and "funding terrorism" on Israeli settlers in the West bank. 

The official acknowledged though that the PA could have "a historically unprecedented opportunity" to return to its control of the Palestinian territories. 

The PA's opposition to Hamas could provide unique leverage to "participate in day-after talks," the Israeli official added. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in the hall of the Israeli parliament on Tuesday for a crucial budget-related vote, despite the objections of doctors following prostate surgery on Sunday night, the Israeli news agency Tazpit Press Service (TPS) reports.

Netanyahu, 75, was accompanied to the Knesset Plenum by his personal physician, Dr. Tzvi Berkowitz and appeared in good spirits as he took his seat for a brief appearance. The Israeli leader went under the knife on Sunday to have his prostate removed after suffering a urinary tract infection, which had reportedly "stemmed from a benign enlargement of his prostate," according to Netanyahu's office.

Two parties in Israel’s governing coalition are threatening to vote against the "Trapped Profits Law" if their demands are not met.

ISRAELI PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU COMPLETES PROSTATE SURGERY AFTER UTI DIAGNOSIS

The bill would allow the government to tax so-called "trapped profits," earnings retained by corporations and multinationals for reinvestment in business growth, infrastructure, and research. Until now, trapped profits were tax-exempt to encourage investments. 

Failure to pass the bill could jeopardize approval of the state budget, which must be passed by March 31 or the government will automatically fall, triggering national elections.

The United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party, which controls seven Knesset seats, said it would vote against the bill as a warning over the government’s failure to advance legislation exempting Haredim, or Orthodox Jewish citizens, from military service. 

The issue of exempting Haredim has sparked heated debate in recent months. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began making plans to draft yeshiva students after Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled in June that exemptions for the Haredi community were illegal, per TPS.

UTJ leader Minister Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknopf insists that the party will maintain its opposition without progress on the draft exemption law.

The Otzma Yehudit party, which also controls seven seats, is dissenting too.   

Its leader, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, is demanding an increased budget for the police, prison service and firefighting agencies and has vowed to vote against the bill until his demands are addressed, according to TPS.

Netanyahu’s government is made up of seven parties with 68 of 120 seats. 

NETANYAHU WARNS HOUTHIS AMID CALLS FOR ISRAEL TO WIPE OUT TERROR LEADERSHIP AS IT DID WITH NASRALLAH, SINWAR

On Sunday, Netanyahu's office announced that the surgery "ended successfully and without complications."

The Israeli leader has undergone several health procedures over the past two years. In March, Netanyahu underwent hernia surgery under full anesthesia, and Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin temporarily assumed his role during the process.

Months before the Oct. 7 attacks, Netanyahu suffered dehydration and was admitted to a hospital in July 2023.  The Israeli leader said that he became dehydrated after visiting the Sea of Galilee without water or sun protection during a heatwave.

A week after being admitted for dehydration, Netanyahu's doctors implanted a pacemaker to regulate his heart rate and rhythm.

Netanyahu's most recent operation came as the 75-year-old politician continues to testify in a corruption case against him in Israel.  He took the stand earlier in December and is expected to continue testifying in the new year.

Netanyahu is also currently leading the IDF on multiple fronts across the Middle East, continuing to target Iranian terrorists and their proxies.

The IDF recently launched multiple strikes against Houthi rebels, hitting Sanaa International Airport in Yemen and Houthi infrastructure in the ports of Al-Hudaydah, Salif and Ras Kanatib.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces also conducted multiple precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets in Sana’a and coastal locations within Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen on Dec. 30 and 31, Fox News has learned.

The strikes are a part of CENTCOM's effort to degrade Iran-backed Houthi efforts to threaten regional partners and military and merchant vessels in the region.

Fox News Digital's Anders Hagstrom and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

A South Korean court approved arrest warrants on Tuesday to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol and search his office and residence amid a criminal investigation into his martial law decree earlier this month.

The move marks the first time a sitting president of the country has faced arrest and follows weeks of intense political turmoil in South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy and a key U.S. ally. The country is also dealing with the deadly Jeju Air plane crash that killed 179 people on Sunday. 

The Seoul Western District Court issued warrants to detain Yoon and to search the presidential office and residence in central Seoul, according to a statement from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military authorities.

AVIATION EXPERT CASTS DOUBT ON BIRD STRIKE THEORY IN DEADLY SOUTH KOREAN PLANE CRASH: 'DOESN'T MAKE SENSE'

The agency says it’s been investigating whether Yoon’s Dec. 3 declaration amounted to rebellion, and he has been suspended from office.

Under South Korean law, the leader of a rebellion can face the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted. 

It is unclear when authorities will proceed with the warrants, with the president’s lawyer labeling the warrants "invalid" and "illegal." His whereabouts are not publicly known, and he has been banned from leaving the country.

Yoon has presidential immunity from most criminal prosecutions, but the privilege does not extend to allegations of rebellion or treason.

By law, a president in South Korea is allowed to declare martial law only during wartime or similar emergencies and has no right to suspend parliament’s operations even under martial law.

Yoon abruptly imposed martial law and pledged to eliminate "anti-state" forces after he struggled to move his agenda through the opposition-dominated parliament. The martial law, however, was only in effect for about six hours since the National Assembly voted to overrule the president's decision.

SOUTH KOREA DEADLY PLANE CRASH: US SENDS INVESTIGATORS TO COUNTRY STILL REELING FROM DISASTER THAT KILLED 179

Lawmakers then submitted a motion to impeach the president over his martial law declaration, with the leader of the People Power Party, Han Dong-hun, criticizing the martial law declaration as "unconstitutional."

After declaring martial law, Yoon sent hundreds of troops and police officers to the parliament to try to impede its vote on the decree before they withdrew after the parliament rejected it. No major violence occurred but public protests swelled in both opposition and in support of Yoon.

The National Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14, during which hundreds of troops and police officers were deployed at the assembly.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who took over from Yoon as acting president, has also been impeached by parliament after he failed to fill three justice seats at the nine-member constitutional court. Yoon can only be removed from office if his impeachment is upheld by the court.

Experts say that adding more justices could increase the chances of Yoon’s impeachment as that requires support from at least six justices. The next hearing in Yoon's Constitutional Court case is scheduled for Friday.

Kim Yong-hyun, who resigned as Yoon's defense minister after playing a major role in the martial law decree, has been detained and was indicted on Friday on charges of insurrection and abuse of power.

New acting President Choi Sang-mok on Monday presided over a task force meeting investigating the Jeju Air disaster. The Boeing 737-800 plane landed without its front landing gear deployed, overshot the runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into a fireball. 

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. 

As the third year of war in Ukraine nears a close as the new year approaches and ahead of the Feb. 24, 2025, anniversary date, new battle lines have once again been established after Russia made advances in the east and Kyiv opened a new battlefront, this time in Russia.

The war that had already plagued Europe, the U.S. and, to an extent, the Middle East, costing a whopping $278 billion in aid for Ukraine, including nearly $87 billion from Washington, expanded to Asia in 2024 as geopolitical rivalries in the Indo-Pacific began playing out through proxy in Ukraine. 

2024 began with a heated fight in Congress over whether the U.S. should supply more military aid to Ukraine, a fight that highlighted major divisions in the Republican Party and Kyiv's deep reliance on Washington's military support.

The monthslong debate, which finally ended in April, had major implications for Ukraine when it came to its ability to defend against Moscow's missiles and its ability to counter Russian offenses. In 2023, Russia was unable to make any major advances despite the sheer number of men the Kremlin has long been able to throw into its war machine.

But 2024 politics in the U.S. changed the reality of war for Ukraine.

NATO LEADERS PREDICT ERA OF 2% DEFENSE SPENDING 'PROBABLY HISTORY' AS TRUMP REPORTEDLY FLOATS HIGHER TARGET

The stalled supplies not only significantly increased Ukraine’s vulnerabilities in the east, particularly in Donetsk, it enhanced frustration from Kyiv, NATO allies and those who argued that defending Ukraine is in the U.S.’s security interest. It escalated attention around the Biden administration’s strike bans on U.S.-supplied long-range missiles, which the president eventually lifted in November. 

As U.S. politics at home grew increasingly volatile ahead of the presidential election, uncertainty mounted over what another Trump White House could mean for Kyiv; a question that has already had other geopolitical consequences.  

In late April, the House passed a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine that pushed U.S. financial commitments to $183 billion since Russia first launched its invasion in 2022. The package was meant to prompt an immediate surge in the delivery of military equipment and supplies, which, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, had fallen to 10% of what it had been the year before. 

The European Union in June officially began membership talks with Ukraine after determining Kyiv had met the necessary requirements to join an economic and political partnership by countering corruption, reining in political lobbying, increasing transparency around officials’ wealth and bolstering the rights of national minorities. 

By the July NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., some members began ramping up pressure on the Biden administration, along with other allies like the U.K. and Germany, to lift any and all strike restrictions enforced on Ukraine, which prevented Kyiv from hitting military targets and weapons depots deep inside Russia, a move Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeatedly said was needed to better stop Russia’s missile and drone attacks.

ZELENSKYY LAMBASTES PUTIN OVER CHRISTMAS STRIKES: 'WHAT COULD BE MORE INHUMANE?'

Moscow in September looked to secure its defense budget for 2025, and the federal government submitted a plan to its State Duma that called for $183 billion to be allocated for national security and defense next year, which amounted to some 41% of its annual expenditures, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

That figure appeared to have been whittled down by the time it reached Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desk in early December as he signed off on a 13.5 trillion ruble plan ($124 million), and it accounts for 32.5% of Russia’s 2025 budget, according to the Associated Press. 

In October, the G-7 finalized a $50 billion loan to Ukraine that would be paid using frozen Russian assets, and on Christmas Eve, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Kyiv had received its first $1 billion from the U.S.

The U.S. has agreed to send Kyiv $20 billion in frozen asset profits to be used for Ukraine’s military and reconstruction assistance through 2025.

President Biden has vowed to fast-track as much military assistance to Ukraine as he can during the final days in office.

Throughout the war, Russia has relied on a heavy missile and drone campaign to brutalize the entirety of Ukraine. But in 2024, Moscow escalated its aerial attacks targeting towns and cities, particularly in eastern Ukraine, ahead of its infantry advances, even if it meant the complete decimation of urban areas.

2024 saw more battlefield movement than 2023, though according to data provided by the Institute for the Study of War, this was largely seen in the second half of the year, a price for which Russian paid heavily.

November proved to be a particularly brutal month, with Russia seeing its highest battlefield losses ever with 45,720 casualties reported in November, which was up from nearly 42,000 in October, along with an estimated $3 billion worth of military equipment, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. 

Moscow also twice set the record for the greatest number of drone strikes it levied against Ukraine in a single campaign since the war began, first with 145 drones fired overnight on Nov. 9, followed by 188 strikes beginning the night of Nov. 25.

After more than a year of a relatively stagnant front line, Russia in May launched a new front in Kharkiv, which Ukraine had liberated in 2022, though the Kremlin’s renewed offensive largely failed. 

RUSSIAN PARAMILITARY SOLDIERS KILLED IN FRIENDLY FIRE ATTACK BY NORTH KOREANS AFTER ENLISTING DPRK HELP

By early August, Ukraine made international headlines when it launched a surprise ground incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. It was an apparent attempt to divert forces from eastern Ukraine to the Kremlin’s home turf and give it a bargaining chip when the time comes for peace negotiations.

The campaign was the largest attack on Russia since World War II, and by mid-October the Pentagon had confirmed that North Korea had deployed troops to Russia, with some 11,000 North Korean soldiers believed to be fighting Ukraine in Kursk, the first foreign nation to send in troops since the war began. 

Though North Korea is not the only nation to aid Russia in its invasion, Iran has for years been sending Shahed drones. In September, the U.S. accused Iran of supplying Russia with short-range ballistic missiles. 

Ukraine is estimated to have lost 40% of the land it initially seized in Russia, according to reports last month. But North Korea is also reported to have endured heavy losses, with Zelenskyy claiming this week that 3,000 North Korean troops had been killed in the fighting while others face extreme logistical shortages, including access to clean water, the Associated Press reported. 

China has also been accused of aiding Russia by covertly sending it military support in the form of microelectronics and semiconductors, among other items.

North Korea’s direct involvement in Russia’s war has further highlighted the divisions in the Indo-Pacific that have arisen in recent years, not only in the face of Chinese aggression, but Pyongyang’s, which is a dynamic that has become caught up in the largest war Europe has seen since World War II as Japan and South Korea increasingly back Western allies and view the Russia-North Korea alliance as a threat.

North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia reportedly prompted South Korea to consider escalating its non-lethal aid by mulling over a supply of missiles. Japan on Christmas Day sent Ukraine $3 billion in frozen Russian assets, adding to the $12 billion Tokyo has provided to Kyiv. In addition, Japan also pledged to support Ukraine’s energy sector, which Russia routinely targets.  

Russia once again solidified its primary winter strategy by attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Christmas Day by firing 184 drones and missiles across the country, according to Ukraine’s air force. The attacks sparked mass blackouts amid freezing temperatures in multiple regions, including Kharkiv in the north, the central Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava areas, as well as Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine.

Zelenskyy condemned the attacks as "inhumane."

Former President Trump said on the campaign trail that he would end the war before even entering office. Since winning the election, the president-elect’s confidence in his ability to do that appears to have shifted. 

Speaking at his first press conference this month since securing a second term, he said, "We’re trying to get the war stopped, that horrible, horrible war that is going on in Ukraine with Russia. We’ve got a little progress. It is a tough one, it is a nasty one."

Trump has said he will work to secure a peace deal between Putin and Zelenskyy, which the Ukrainian president this month suggested he would be open to, though there are major stipulations on which Putin is unlikely to agree, such as a future for Kyiv in the NATO alliance. 

Additionally, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed Trump’s calls for a ceasefire and said a "ceasefire is a road to nowhere," suggesting Trump could face a tough diplomatic future.

A South Korean court on Tuesday approved an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has been impeached and suspended from power over his decision to impose martial law on Dec. 3, investigating authorities said.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials confirmed the Seoul Western District Court approved the warrant.

SOUTH KOREA DEADLY PLANE CRASH: US SENDS INVESTIGATORS TO COUNTRY STILL REELING FROM DISASTER THAT KILLED 179

This is the first ever arrest warrant issued for an incumbent president in South Korea, according to local media.

On Monday, South Korean investigators sought an arrest warrant for Yoon over this month's short-lived imposition of martial law.

Yoon is facing a criminal investigation into possible insurrection charges.

The court declined to comment. 

Russia's foreign minister has rejected a reported peace deal involving Ukraine and NATO, claiming that the proposals have been made by President-elect Trump's advisors.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the comments during an interview with TASS, a state-run Russian news agency, on Monday. During the interview, Lavrov claimed that the U.S. plans "to suspend hostilities along the line of contact and transfer responsibility for confrontation with Russia to the Europeans."

"We are not happy, of course, with the proposals made by members of the Trump team to postpone Ukraine’s admission to NATO for 20 years and to station British and European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine," the foreign minister said, though that deal has not been announced by any American officials.

Lavrov said that the proposal came through "leaks" and Trump's recent interview with TIME Magazine, but Trump's interview did not contain any references to NATO. The foreign minister also claimed that NATO "has been expanding its reach for many years, which became one of the primary causes of the Ukraine crisis."

US SLAPS SANCTIONS ON COMPANIES TIED TO NORD STREAM 2 IN BID TO SQUEEZE RUSSIA

"Those who accuse Russia of various doings should be advised to look in the mirror instead," the foreign minister later said during the interview. "NATO military and mercenaries openly participate in the planning of combat operations and fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

"NATO is complicit in the invasion of the Kursk Region and long-range missile strikes inside Russia," Lavrov continued. "President Vladimir Putin made this very clear in his recent public statements."

During his TIME Person of the Year interview, Trump said that it was "an advantage to both sides," to end the Russo-Ukrainian war, and claimed that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he were president in 2022.

UKRAINIAN OFFICIAL TAKES CREDIT AFTER RUSSIAN GENERAL IGOR KIRILLOV KILLED BY EXPLOSIVE DEVICE IN MOSCOW

"I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that?" Trump said at the time. "We're just escalating this war and making it worse…[but] I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you're going to reach an agreement is not to abandon."

Lavrov's recent interview came over a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed willingness to compromise with Trump, though he insisted that Russia is in a stronger position than it was in 2022.

"Soon, those Ukrainians who want to fight will run out. In my opinion, soon there will be no one left who wants to fight," Putin was quoted as saying. "We are ready, but the other side needs to be ready for both negotiations and compromises."

"We have always said that we are ready for negotiations and compromises."

Fox News Digital reached out to Trump's team for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

Reuters contributed to this report.

An Indiana Army National Guard soldier died in a "non-combat related incident" in Iraq just days after Christmas, the National Guard confirmed to Fox News.

The National Guard said Capt. Eric Richard Hart, 34, of Indianapolis, Indiana, died on December 28 while supporting Operation Inherent Resolve in the Middle East.

The National Guard did not reveal what led to Hart's death, only saying the incident is under investigation. 

Hart was assigned to Headquarters & Headquarters Battalion, 38th Infantry Division, Indiana National Guard, according to the National Guard.

VOTERS REACT AFTER BIDEN FALSELY CLAIMED THAT NO TROOPS HAD DIED UNDER HIS WATCH

Hart served with the Indiana National Guard for 11 years, earning the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, among many others.

He commissioned as second lieutenant in 2015 from the Officer Candidate School at Camp Atterbury.

SOLDIER KILLED, ANOTHER SERIOUSLY INJURED IN VEHICLE ACCIDENT AT POLAND ARMY CAMP

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Indiana National Guard called Hart an "integral part of our team," writing "he will be missed." 

"The Indiana National Guard extends our heartfelt and sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Capt. Eric Hart who died in a noncombat incident while overseas serving with the 38th Infantry Division in support of Operation Inherent Resolve," the statement read. "Our thoughts are with them and the soldiers who worked and served alongside Capt. Hart."

US SOLDIER DEAD AFTER NONCOMBATANT INCIDENT IN KUWAIT

Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Defense for comment, but did not immediately receive a response. 

The U.S. announced plans to shrink the U.S. "footprint" in Iraq and end the current mission of coalition forces — including the Kurds — to fight ISIS, but declined to say how many of the 2,500 troops currently stationed there would remain. 

The current mission is now set to end by September 2025, with a plan to keep the number of forces on the Iraqi side to back up the 900 U.S. troops in Syria until at least 2026. 

Fox News Digital's Morgan Phillips contributed to this report. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin seemingly took a page out of President Biden’s book and is offering to write off debts for new recruits enlisting in the country’s military for one year.

In November, Putin signed a law allowing anyone who joined the Russian military after Dec. 1, 2024, to have debs of up to 10 million rubles, or about $96,000, written off.

The Associated Press reported that the law applies to debts in which a court order for collection was issued, and enforcement proceedings had commenced before Dec. 1, 2024. The legislation also applies to spouses of new recruits.

The move appears to be similar to one from Biden’s own playbook, though the latter does not connect loan handouts to military recruitment.

RUSSIAN PARAMILITARY SOLDIERS KILLED IN FRIENDLY FIRE ATTACK BY NORTH KOREANS AFTER ENLISTING DPRK HELP

Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced $4.28 billion in student loan handouts as Biden and Vice President Harris prepare to vacate the White House.

The massive handout will give 54,900 public workers loan forgiveness but also brings the total loan forgiveness approved by Biden to nearly $180 billion for nearly 5 million borrowers.

The Biden-Harris administration touted the program for creating an "incentive" for public servants to "pursue and remain" in their careers by forgiving borrowers' remaining balance after they made the 120 qualifying monthly payments.

BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN ROLLS OUT ANOTHER $4.28 BILLION IN STUDENT LOAN HANDOUTS

For Russia, though, the measure to write off debts is just another way Putin plans to build up Russian forces as he continues his war against Ukraine.

The AP reported on Sunday that western leaders say North Korea has sent some 10,000 troops to help Russia’s military campaign.

Russia also reportedly recruited hundreds of Yemeni men to fight in its war in Ukraine by luring them to Russia under false pretenses in coordination with the Houthi terrorist network, according to a report from the Financial times.

ZELENSKYY FEARS DANGER IF UKRAINE LOSES UNITY, DEFEAT IF US CUTS FUNDS, 1,000 DAYS AFTER WAR BEGAN 

The Yemeni recruits who were transferred to Russia under a "shadowy trafficking operation" were originally told they would receive high-paying jobs and Russian citizenship.

However, after arriving with the help of a Houthi-linked company, many have apparently been coerced into the Russian military, forced to sign fighting contracts at gunpoint and sent to the front lines in Ukraine.

Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.

Israeli spy agencies have uncovered information about Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr's plans to marry his four mistresses over the phone, according to a report. 

The New York Times reported this week about its investigation into how deeply Israeli spies had penetrated Hezbollah leading up to the assassination of its top leader Hassan Nasrallah, as well as other commanders in the Iran-backed terror group. 

Israel announced in July that its forces had killed Shukur during what was, at the time, a rare and provacative strike in Beirut. 

It came in response to Israel assessing that the Hezbollah commander was behind the rocket attack days earlier in the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 people, including schoolchildren. 

The United States had also long blamed Shukur for staging and planning a bombing of a Marine Corps barrack in Lebanon in 1983 that killed 241 American service members.

ISRAELI OFFICIAL REVEALS HOW 'TO TRULY DEFEAT HEZBOLLAH'

Leading up to the strike that killed Shukr, Israeli intelligence agencies had identified four of his mistresses, according to the Times. 

Shukr – apparently uneasy about his affairs – earlier this year reached out for help from Hashem Safieddine, one of Hezbollah’s highest religious clerics, to have the four women wedded, two Israeli officials and a European official told the Times. 

Safieddine, in turn, reportedly arranged four marriage ceremonies conducted over the phone. 

The intimate and sometimes mundane details of Shukr's personal affairs point to how closely Israeli intelligence agencies managed to track the moves of Hezbollah's leadership. 

IDF FINDS HEZBOLLAH WEAPONS CACHE IN UNDERGROUND TUNNEL: VIDEO

Beyond tracking meetings with mistresses, the Times report revealed how Israeli spy agencies recruited human sources within the terror group to plant listening devices in bunkers and expose hideout locations.

After a pager attack that had been orchestrated by Israel's Mossad for years, and increased strikes that killed Hezbollah leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while en route to New York City to speak before the United Nations General Assembly, finally ordered the killing of Nasrallah, according to the Times. Nasrallah, who headed Hezbollah for the past three decades, was killed in an Israeli air raid that leveled six apartment buildings in Beirut on Sept. 27. 

The Times reported that Nasrallah had brushed off warnings from his commanders to change locations from his 40-foot underground Hezbollah bunker before the attack.

Unaware of the methodical Israeli intelligence providing clear visibility of his every move, he apparently believed that the Jewish state had no interest in an all-out war with Hezbollah. 

Israeli F-15 jets soon after destroyed the bunker by dropping thousands of pounds of explosives, and Nasrallah, found locked in an embrace with an Iranian general who was based in Lebanon, reportedly died of suffocation underground. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In the shadow of Syria’s brutal civil war, one institution stands as a chilling symbol of the regime’s systemic violence: Sednaya prison. Referred to as the "Death Factory" or the "Human Slaughterhouse," Sednaya became a site of unimaginable suffering. 

Around 100,000 individuals, according to reports, have disappeared into Assad'a prisons, where people, including thousands of women and children, were detained, tortured and killed.

"Rights groups have documented that at least 10% of those detained lost their lives in these prisons, though some reports suggest the figure could be as high as 20%," said Joseph Braude, founder of the Center for Peace Communications, an NGO dedicated to resolving identity-based conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, whose group gained rare access to Sednaya. "The number continues to rise as families speak out about the whereabouts of their missing loved ones, many of whom remain unaccounted for."

SYRIA'S LIBERATED POLITICAL PRISONS REVEAL GRIM REALITY OF BASHAR ASSAD'S REGIME OF TORTURE

Sednaya was not just a prison, it was a tool to crush any form of resistance or humanity. "The prison was located on a hill outside Damascus," Ahed Al Hendi, a former political prisoner and Syrian affairs analyst, told Fox News Digital. "We would see it while going to a nearby tourist area, but even if you were just driving by, you were afraid to talk about it. If you said, ‘Sednaya,’ you would end up there."

Al Hendi continued: "I’ve heard from my friends describing the sights going into Sednaya this week. They found bags of bones, there was still fresh blood on the floor, the smell of death, and the torture machines, which were the most horrible things they’ve seen. One friend told me he saw a mother hugging the torture machine, believing her son had died there. It was a tragic image, seeing her holding the machine that killed her son, thinking she could still smell him in the machine. The tools were unimaginable, like a massive metal press designed to liquefy bodies and make them unrecognizable."

As Assad regime’s atrocities at Sednaya become clearer, and after days of looking for survivors and realizing that some people may never be found, attention has shifted to mass graves. Braude’s team on the ground in Syria is currently collecting evidence. "We're documenting, we're interviewing people who are there, trying to use equipment to discover any possibility of secret underground prisons." He said the team had recently worked at a mass grave site "where we estimate 100,000 people were buried."

"Some of the people in these mass graves came from Sednaya and died under torture," Al Hendi said. "Many show gunshot wounds, and their bodies were moved to a large area where the regime placed old military equipment to create the illusion of a restricted military zone. Locals reported seeing refrigerated trucks entering the area with security forces blocking the roads. The trucks stayed for hours before leaving. People became accustomed to the smell of death."

TREY YINGST ENTERS ABANDONED SYRIAN DETENTION SITE IN SEARCH FOR MISSING AMERICAN JOURNALIST AUSTIN TICE

Sednaya prison became a symbol of the regime’s relentless repression. "It wasn’t just political opponents," said Al Hendi, who was arrested for establishing a secular anti-regime student organization. "Children and women were also taken as hostages to pressure their fathers or husbands. We found children born there as a result of rape by prison guards. Entire families were destroyed by the regime."

The conditions in Sednaya were inhumane. Prisoners were often starved, beaten and tortured with electricity. "When they execute someone, they don’t feed them for three days before the execution. The guards say, ‘Why feed him? We will take the food for ourselves.’ Imagine someone about to die, and they are starved first, denied even the dignity of a last meal," Al Hendi said.

US GROUP LOOKS FOR KIDNAPPED AMERICANS IN SYRIA AFTER FALL OF ASSAD REGIME: WON'T 'LEAVE A STONE UNTURNED'

The atrocities committed at Sednaya were part of a broader campaign by the Assad regime to exterminate its opposition in the most horrific ways. Both Braude and Al Hendi emphasize the need for accountability. "What we need now is truth and reconciliation," Braude says. "Only by acknowledging the suffering and recognizing the full scope of the atrocities can Syria begin to heal. If we don’t do that, we risk perpetuating cycles of vengeance."

After the fall of the Assad regime earlier this month, Sednaya was liberated, and thousands of prisoners were freed. "The prisoners who emerged from Sednaya were traumatized, many of them unable to even remember their own names," Al Hendi said. "They had been detained for so long they didn’t even know that Assad’s father had died. They thought Assad was still in power."

Robert Petit, the Head of the International, Impartial, and Independent Mechanism for Syria (IIIM), visited Damascus and observed the extensive documentation of the regime’s atrocities, noting in a press release the "chilling efficiency" with which these crimes had been systematized. He emphasized the urgent need to preserve this evidence, warning, "Time is running out. There is a small window of opportunity to secure these sites and the material they hold. Each day we fail to do so, we risk losing the chance for comprehensive accountability."

The investigations into Sednaya and the mass graves have painted a horrific picture of the regime’s violence, but they also serve as a call for justice, Braude said. "The consequences of the Assad regime’s atrocities are profound. The key question now is how the population can move forward and rebuild, rather than descending into further civil conflict. There is a fear of cycles of vengeance, but true reconciliation can only come through truth and acknowledgment."

He said that "99% of Syria’s prison guards belong to the Alawi community." "We’re talking about half the young population of the Alawi sect, as most of them work in the army or secret police. The rebels have proposed a solution: Russia will surrender Assad and 100 top officials responsible for the atrocities. In return, rebels would offer amnesty to low-level perpetrators who were following orders. If Russia facilitates this, it could help prevent further violence and bring stability to Syria."

The death toll for what amounted to be South Korea's most fatal plane crash in decades stands at 179 people on Monday, a day after the disaster gripped the nation already in intense political turmoil. 

The United States is now sending investigators to help determine what caused the Jeju Air plane to crash-land at Muan airport and slam into a concrete barrier on Sunday.

Meanwhile, South Korean officials are combing through more than 600 body parts, and the stench of blood remains in the air at the crash site, the Daily Mail reported. 

So far, 141 bodies have been identified. The youngest passenger was a 3-year-old and the oldest was 78, the BBC reported. 

The plane had 181 people on board, and just two lone survivors – identified as 32-year-old Lee and 25-year-old Kwon, both flight attendants – were pulled from the tail end of the fiery aircraft alive.  

Doctors at Mokpo Korean Hospital reportedly described how Lee, who suffered a fractured left shoulder and head injuries but remained conscious, repeatedly asked them "What happened?" and "Why am I here?"

"It seems she was in a near-panic state, possibly worried about the safety of the plane and passengers," one hospital official told the Korean Times. 

AVIATION EXPERT CASTS DOUBT ON BIRD STRIKE THEORY IN DEADLY SOUTH KOREAN PLANE CRASH: 'DOESN'T MAKE SENSE'

Kwon, who is being treated at Mokpo Central Hospital, suffered a scalp laceration, a fractured ankle and abdominal pain, according to the report. She also had no immediate recollection of the crash. 

"While her life is not in danger, the trauma and injuries are significant," another hospital said, according to the Korean Times. 

South Korea's Transport Ministry said Monday it plans to conduct safety inspections of all of the 101 Boeing 737-800 jetliners operated by the country’s airlines as well as a broader review into safety standards at Jeju Air, which operates 39 of those planes. Senior ministry official Joo Jong-wan said representatives from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing were expected to arrive in South Korea on Monday to participate in the investigation.

"The NTSB is leading a team of U.S. investigators (NTSB, Boeing and FAA) to assist the Republic of Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB) with their investigation of the Dec. 29 Jeju Air accident at Muan International Airport in Muan, Republic of Korea," the NTSB Newsroom account wrote on X. 

Ministry officials also said they will look into whether the Muan airport’s localizer — a concrete fence housing a set of antennas designed to guide aircraft safely during landings — should have been made with lighter materials that would break more easily upon impact.

Joo said the ministry has determined that similar concrete structures are in other domestic airports, including in Jeju Island and the southern cities of Yeosu and Pohang, as well as airports in the United States, Spain and South Africa.

Sunday's crash, the country’s worst aviation disaster in decades, triggered an outpouring of national sympathy. Many people worry how effectively the South Korean government will handle the disaster as it grapples with a leadership vacuum following the recent successive impeachments of President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the country’s top two officials, amid political tumult caused by Yoon’s brief imposition of martial law earlier this month.

New acting President Choi Sang-mok on Monday presided over a task force meeting on the crash and instructed authorities to conduct an emergency review of the country’s aircraft operation systems.

"The essence of a responsible response would be renovating the aviation safety systems on the whole to prevent recurrences of similar incidents and building a safer Republic of South Korea," Choi, who is also deputy prime minister and finance minister, said, according to the Associated Press. 

SOUTH KOREA PLANE'S FINAL MOMENTS CAPTURED ON VIDEO BEFORE HITTING CONCRETE BARRIER, TRIGGERING EXPLOSION

The Boeing 737-800 plane operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air aborted its first landing attempt for reasons that aren’t immediately clear. Then, during its second landing attempt, it received a bird strike warning from the ground control center before its pilot issued a distress signal. The plane landed without its front landing gear deployed, overshot the runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into a fireball.

The Transport Ministry said authorities have identified 146 bodies and are collecting DNA and fingerprint samples from the other 33, according to the AP. 

Park Han Shin, a representative of the bereaved families, said they were told that the bodies were so badly damaged that officials need time before returning them to their families.

"I demand that the government mobilize more personnel to return our brothers and family members as intact as possible more swiftly," he said, choking down tears.

Earlier Monday, another Boeing 737-800 plane operated by Jeju Air returned to Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport shortly after takeoff when the pilot detected a landing gear issue. Song Kyung-hoon, a Jeju Air executive, said the issue was resolved through communication with a land-based equipment center, but the pilot decided to return to Gimpo as a precautionary measure.

Joo said officials were reviewing whether there might have been communication problems between air traffic controllers and the pilot. 

"Our current understanding is that, at some point during the go-around process, communication became somewhat ineffective or was interrupted, ahead of the landing and impact," he said.

Ministry officials said Monday the plane’s flight data and cockpit audio recorders were moved to a research center at Gimpo airport ahead of their analysis. Ministry officials earlier said it would take months to complete the investigation of the crash.

The Muan crash is South Korea's deadliest aviation disaster since 1997, when a Korean Airlines plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people on board.

The crash left many South Koreans shocked and ashamed, with the government announcing a seven-day national mourning period through Jan. 4. Some questioned whether the crash involved safety or regulatory issues, such as a 2022 Halloween crush in Seoul that killed 160 people and a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people.

Video of the crash indicated that the pilots did not deploy flaps or slats to slow the aircraft, suggesting a possible hydraulic failure, and did not manually lower the landing gear, suggesting they did not have time, John Cox, a retired airline pilot and CEO of Safety Operating Systems in St. Petersburg, Florida, told the AP. 

Despite that, the jetliner was under control and traveling in a straight line, and damage and injuries likely would have been minimized if not for the barrier being so close to the runway, Cox said. Other observers said the videos showed the plane was suffering from suspected engine trouble, but the landing gear malfunction was likely a direct reason for the crash. They told the AP there wouldn't likely be a link between the landing gear problem and the suspected engine issue.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.