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Federal and international authorities are reportedly backtracking after saying that newly disclosed evidence showed that no blood was found at the Spain apartment where a Florida woman vanished.

Ana Maria Knezevich, 40, was last seen in Madrid, Spain, on Feb. 2 around 10 p.m., just 30 minutes after a man wearing a motorcycle helmet spray-painted surveillance cameras in her apartment building in the Salamanca quarter.

According to the Miami Herald, lawyers for her husband, David Knezevich, are pushing back against the prosecution's case due to the alleged lack of forensic evidence found at the scene.

"There was no blood, no struggle ... no sign of foul play," Knezevich’s lead attorney, Jayne Weintraub, said. "He’s being detained in a United States court for something that happened in Spain — if it happened in Spain."

HUSBAND OF FLORIDA WOMAN ANA KNEZEVICH, WHO VANISHED IN SPAIN, ARRESTED AT MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

At a recent hearing, Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said that the evidence was "challengeable," pointing to the absence of blood evidence found at the Madrid apartment.

"I agree with you that some of their evidence is challengeable," Torres said. 

Torres also pointed to previous evidence that saw Knezevich purchasing duct tape and spray paint at a nearby hardware store.

"Doesn’t that make their case stronger?" Torres said.

Ana and David ran an IT company together in South Florida, and they were also interested in real estate. 

Rameau previously described them as a "successful couple" who had been married for 13 years before they decided to separate last summer, in a phone interview with Fox News Digital.

"It was difficult for her, obviously, so she started spending more time in Europe, in Madrid, where she has friends from before," Rameau said.

Then she disappeared.

FLORIDA WOMAN DISAPPEARS IN MADRID AFTER SUSPICIOUS TEXTS, BLACKED-OUT SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS

Rameau got a strange text from Ana on Feb. 3, a day after she suspected that her friend was taken against her will.

"I met someone wonderful!" the WhatsApp message reads. "He has a summer house about 2 [hours] from Madrid. We are going there now and I will spend a few days there. Signal is spotty. I'll call you when I get back."

A second message to Rameau reads, "Yesterday after therapy I needed a walk and he approached me on the street! Amazing connection. Like I never had before."

Knezevich was arrested in early May at Miami International Airport by FBI agents when returning from Serbia, where his mother lives. 

Since his arrest, he has been held at the Federal Detention Center in Miami.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department for comment.

Fox News' Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.

Members of the Taliban on Wednesday commemorated the third anniversary of the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan by parading through a former U.S. air base with American weapons and vehicles that had been abandoned.  

Bagram Airfield was once the center of America's war to unseat the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaeda militants responsible for 9/11.

Uniformed soldiers marched with light and heavy machine guns, and a motorcycle formation carried the Taliban flag. Pickup trucks crammed with men of all ages drove through Kabul's streets in celebration of the takeover. 

Members of the Taliban Cabinet lauded achievements such as strengthening Islamic law and establishing a military system that allegedly provided "peace and security."

"This is the Taliban rubbing their victory over us in our face," U.S. Army Veteran Bill Roggio told Fox News Digital. 

Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of its Long War Journal, called the parade evidence of U.S. failure in Afghanistan. 

"The Biden administration’s effort to get out of Afghanistan quickly has led to the Taliban having an American-supplied arsenal," Roggio said. 

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Biden’s decision to pull troops from Afghanistan faced widespread global backlash after Taliban insurgents retook the country in a matter of days, on Aug. 15, 2021, 20 years after their ouster by U.S.-led forces. Just a month earlier, Biden told Americans that the likelihood of a Taliban takeover was "highly unlikely."

The military evacuation, which required thousands of additional U.S. troops on the ground and significant cooperation from the Taliban to complete, ended a day ahead of a deadline on Aug. 30, 2021, leaving behind hundreds of U.S. citizens and thousands of Afghan allies, despite President Biden's promise to "get them all out."

On Aug. 26, 2021, during the U.S. military's mass evacuation at the Kabul airport, suicide bombers killed 183 people, including 13 U.S. service members. The U.S. retaliated by launching two drone strikes against suspected ISIS-K terrorists, one of which ended up killing 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children.

Taliban speeches were aimed at an international audience, urging the West to interact and cooperate with the country's rulers. Currently, no country recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

"The Islamic Emirate eliminated internal differences and expanded the scope of unity and cooperation in the country," Deputy Prime Minister Maulvi Abdul Kabir said Wednesday, using the Taliban's term to describe their government. "No one will be allowed to interfere in internal affairs, and Afghan soil will not be used against any country."

Roggio dismissed that last assertion as preposterous, noting that the Taliban has consistently lied about not allowing its soil to be used for terrorist activities against other countries. 

"They lied about it pre-9/11. They lied about it while the U.S. was in Afghanistan. They sheltered Al-Qaeda and other groups which they support to this day," Roggio said. 

ROCKET ATTACK LAUNCHED AGAINST US MILITARY BASE IN SYRIA

"What I do believe them on is their desire to maintain control in Afghanistan, to enforce their will, to impose Sharia on its people," he said. "You can’t doubt them on that one." 

Roggio said the Taliban’s parading on Wednesday was primarily for optics but still demonstrated the terrorist group’s capabilities. 

"I don’t think the Taliban is a threat to project power outside its border. But certainly the equipment is useful to project power within Afghanistan to remain in power," he said. 

Despite the Taliban’s grandiose showing of their capabilities on Wednesday, there was no mention of a plan to improve the lives of the Afghan people. Decades of conflict and instability have left millions of Afghans on the brink of hunger and starvation. Unemployment is high and women are banned from attending school beyond sixth grade. 

The Bagram parade was the Taliban's grandest and most defiant since regaining control of the country in August 2021.

The audience of some 10,000 men included senior Taliban officials such as Acting Defense Minister Mullah Yaqoob and Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani. Supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada was not at the parade.

The ancient ritual meaning of Stonehenge is still a mystery, but researchers are one step closer to understanding how the famous stone circle was created.

The unique stone lying flat at the center of the monument was brought to the site in southern England from near the tip of northeast Scotland, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal Nature. It’s not clear whether the 16-foot (5-meter) stone was carried by boat or through land — a journey of more than 460 miles (740 kilometers).

"It’s a surprise that it’s come from so far away," said University of Exeter archaeologist Susan Greaney, who was not involved in the study.

'COLOSSAL' THEORY ON STONEHENGE ORIGIN EXPLORED IN NEW FOX NATION SPECIAL

For more than a hundred years, scientists believed that Stonehenge’s central sandstone slab — long called the "altar stone" — came from much closer to Wales. But a study last year by some of the same researchers showed that the stone didn’t match the geology of Wales’ sandstone formations. The actual source of the stone remained unknown until now.

For the study, the team was not permitted to chip away rocks at the site, but instead analyzed minerals in bits of rock that had been collected in previous digs, some dating back to the 1840s. They found a match in the sandstone formations of Orcadian Basin in northeast Scotland, a region that includes parts of the tip of the Scottish peninsula as well as the Orkney Islands.

"That geological ‘fingerprint’ isn’t repeated in any other area of sediment in the U.K.," said Aberystwyth University geologist Nick Pearce, a study co-author.

Greaney said the difficult logistics of moving the stone such a long distance show a high level of coordination and cultural connection between these two regions of ancient Britain.

Stonehenge was constructed around 5,000 years ago, with stones forming different circles brought to the site at different times. The placement of stones allows for the sun to rise through a stone "window" during summer solstice. The ancient purpose of the altar stone — which lies flat at the heart of Stonehenge, now beneath other rocks — remains a mystery.

"Stonehenge isn’t a settlement site, but a place of ceremony or ritual," said Heather Sebire, senior curator at English Heritage, who was not involved in the study. She said that past archaeological excavations had not uncovered evidence of feasting or daily living at the site.

Previous research has shown cultural connections — such as similarities in pottery styles — between the area around Stonehenge and Scotland’s Orkney Islands. Other stones at Stonehenge came from western Wales.

While Britain is dotted with other Neolithic stone circles, "the thing that’s unique about Stonehenge is the distance from which the stones have been sourced," said Aberystwyth University’s Richard Bevins, a study co-author.

The newest discovery in the ancient city of Pompeii details the final moments of a man and a woman before the city of Pompeii was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius. 

During the excavations of Region IX, Insula 10, in Pompeii, the skeletal remains of a man and a woman were found, according to a press release from the Archaeological Park of Pompeii shared on Monday. 

"We know the woman was between 35 and 45 years of age, and the man was much younger, between 15 and 20 years of age," Sophie Hay, an archaeologist with the park told Fox News Digitial in an email. "We do not know the relationship between them nor their social status."

VIOLENT DOODLES MADE BY CHILDREN 2,000 YEARS AGO RAISE EYEBROWS

The woman had several valuable objects on her person that further contribute to the tragic story of her final moments. 

"The woman had on her person a purse and probably a small casket both filled with precious and valuable objects such as gold, silver and bronze coins, small engraved gemstones, some pendants, and a pair of gold and pearl earrings," Hays told Fox News Digital. 

"We know the objects had a monetary value, but we will never know what sentimental value they may have had for her, nor even if they belonged to her. The items must have represented something in the moments of chaos and terror that she thought would be important to take, whether for their monetary value or, especially in the case of the jewelry, personal belongings that meant something to her."

2 SKELETONS FOUND BURIED IN POMPEII REVEAL EARTHQUAKES ACCOMPANIED ERUPTION OF MOUNT VESUVIUS

The two sought refuge in the small room, where they found themselves trapped.

"As with each victim of the eruption, their individual death tells us a micro-story of the last moments of their lives. The very nature of this discovery – a man and a woman trapped in a room during a violent volcanic eruption – perhaps gives us a glimpse as to how absolutely terrifying the moments before their deaths must have been," Hays told Fox News Digital.

"In this case, the most significant thing we have learned is that they died at different stages of the eruption having both protected themselves against the 18 hours of falling pumice. The man was trapped in the corner of the room and the perimeter wall collapsed on him during an early stage of the pyroclastic flow, and the woman who had partially fallen onto the wooden bed in the room had died sometime later in another wave of the pyroclastic material," Hays said. "These people decided to seek shelter in their home rather than flee, and the room in which they sought safety became their tomb."

Since Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, claiming the lives of about 2,000 people living in Pompeii, the city buried in ash was rediscovered by explorers in 1748, per History.com.

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That volcanic ash covering the ancient city left much of it preserved and discoveries to be made. 

Since the site was rediscovered, it has been visited by millions of tourists each year and is a dig site for archaeologists to unearth historic finds that further tell the story of life in the ancient city. 

In 1997, it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Other recent findings in Pompeii include a prison bakery where enslaved workers and donkeys were held, and a banquet room filled with artwork depicting mythological characters inspired by the Trojan War. 

The discovery of the man and woman was found south of the Roman shrine with rare blue paint covering the walls of the room that was uncovered in June.

The Taliban celebrated the third anniversary of their return to power Wednesday at a former U.S. air base in Afghanistan, but there was no mention of the country’s hardships or promises to help the struggling population.

Under blue skies and blazing sunshine at the Bagram base — once the center of America’s war to unseat the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks — members of the Taliban Cabinet lauded achievements such as strengthening Islamic law and establishing a military system that provides "peace and security."

TALIBAN PUBLICLY FLOGS 63 IN AFGHANISTAN, INCLUDING WOMEN, DRAWING UN CONDEMNATION

The speeches were aimed at an international audience, urging the diaspora to return and for the West to interact and cooperate with the country’s rulers. No country recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

"The Islamic Emirate eliminated internal differences and expanded the scope of unity and cooperation in the country," Deputy Prime Minister Maulvi Abdul Kabir said, using the Taliban's term to describe their government. "No one will be allowed to interfere in internal affairs, and Afghan soil will not be used against any country."

None of the four speakers talked about the challenges facing Afghans in everyday life.

Women were barred from the event, including female journalists from The Associated Press, Agence French-Presse and Reuters. The Taliban did not give a reason for barring them.

Decades of conflict and instability have left millions of Afghans on the brink of hunger and starvation. Unemployment is high.

The Bagram parade was the Taliban’s grandest and most defiant since regaining control of the country in August 2021.

The audience of some 10,000 men included senior Taliban officials such as Acting Defense Minister Mullah Yaqoob and Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani. Supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada was not at the parade.

The Taliban said foreign diplomats also attended, but did not specify who.

Aid agencies warn that humanitarian efforts in the country are gravely underfunded as economic collapse and climate change destroy livelihoods.

They say that Afghans, particularly women and girls, will suffer if there isn’t more diplomatic engagement with the Taliban.

The Bagram parade was also an opportunity to showcase some of the military hardware abandoned by U.S. and NATO-led forces after decades of war, including helicopters, Humvees and tanks.

Uniformed soldiers marched with light and heavy machine guns, and a motorcycle formation carried the Taliban flag.

Pickup trucks crammed with men of all ages drove through Kabul's streets in celebration of the takeover. Some men posed for photos with rifles.

In a parade in southern Helmand province, men held yellow canisters to represent the type of explosives used in roadside bombings during the war.

The Taliban declared Wednesday a national holiday. As in previous years, women did not take part in anniversary festivities.

Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and ruled he "grossly" violated ethics by appointing a minister who was once jailed, raising the spectre of political upheaval and a shakeup in the governing alliance.

Real estate tycoon Srettha is the fourth premier in 16 years to be removed in verdicts by the same court, underlining the central role Thailand's judiciary has played in its long political crisis.

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Srettha's exit after less than a year in power means parliament must choose a new premier on Friday, with the prospect of more uncertainty in a country dogged by coups and court rulings that have brought down multiple governments and political parties.

His Pheu Thai Party, the biggest in the coalition, moved quickly to try to shore up its alliance and said it would meet early on Thursday to choose its candidate for prime minister ahead of a special session of parliament to vote on a new premier.

Pheu Thai and its predecessors have borne the brunt of Thailand's turmoil, with two governments removed by coups in a long-running grudge match between the party's founders, the billionaire Shinawatra family, and their influential rivals in the conservative establishment and royalist military.

The judges ruled 5-4 in favour of dismissing Srettha, saying he failed to perform his duty with integrity.

"The accused is terminated as prime minister due to his lack of honesty," the judges said, adding his behaviour "grossly breached ethical standards".

The decision was the court's second bombshell in the space of a week following its dissolution of the opposition Move Forward Party - the 2023 election winner - over a campaign to amend a law against insulting the crown, which it said risked undermining the constitutional monarchy.

Move Forward has already regrouped as a new party, promising to further its anti-establishment agenda.

Both rulings came at a tricky time for an economy that Srettha struggled to jumpstart, with weak exports and consumer spending, sky-high household debt and more than a million businesses unable to access loans.

"It's a negative surprise. It is a direct risk to the economy," said Trinity Securities analyst Nuttachart Mekmasin, outlining key policies including Srettha's 500 billion baht ($14.3 billion) cash handout plan may be stalled.

"Consumer and business confidence will be affected," he said. "Spending and investment will slow down until the next government is formed."

The government had estimated growth of just 2.7% for 2024, lagging regional peers, while Thailand stock market has been among Asia's worst performers this year. It slipped 1.29% after the ruling before recovering to close 0.4% down.

UNCERTAIN TRUCE

Srettha expressed disappointment and said it was possible the next government could change his policy agenda.

"I am saddened to leave as a prime minister who was found to be unethical," Srettha told reporters. "I performed my duties with integrity and honesty."

The ruling could rock a fragile truce between political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra and his enemies among the conservative elite and military old guard, which enabled the tycoon's return from 15 years of self-exile in 2023 and ally Srettha to become premier the same day.

Srettha's undoing was his appointment to cabinet of Thaksin's former lawyer Pichit Chuenban, who was briefly imprisoned for contempt of court in 2008 over an alleged attempt to bribe court staff, which was never proven.

The complaint was lodged by 40 former senators who were appointed by the military after a 2014 coup against Pheu Thai's last government. Srettha's deputy Phumtham Wechayachai takes over as caretaker premier.

The United States said it remained committed to its alliance with Thailand.

"The United States looks forward to the selection of a new prime minister as soon as possible, and a smooth transition of power," a State Department spokesperson said.

According to some political experts, it is likely Pheu Thai has the clout to lead the next administration, though it was uncertain who would be in charge.

Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, the second-largest partner in the alliance, said the coalition remained tight and Pheu Thai should lead the formation of a new government.

"Pheu Thai is still leading the government ... We have to listen to Pheu Thai," said Anutin, who is now caretaker deputy premier.

A dealmaker who has long straddled both sides of Thailand's political divide, Anutin is eligible for the top job as one of several politicians designated prime ministerial candidates by their parties before the last election.

Pheu Thai has two candidates it can nominate - former Justice Minister and party stalwart Chaikasem Nitisiri, and the party's inexperienced leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin's 37-year-old daughter.

Other potential candidates include acting Energy Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga and Prawit Wongsuwan, a staunch royalist and former army chief involved in two coups.

The United Arab Emirates has pushed back on Russia’s efforts to circumvent Western sanctions through a "shadow fleet" by refusing entry to its port for any ship from the African country of Eswatini. 

"Using a ‘shadow fleet’ to smuggle oil while concealing its origin, in order to circumvent Western economic sanctions has been part of Putin’s playbook of sanction-proofing Russia’s economy," Rebekah Koffler, a former DIA intelligence officer and author of "Putin’s Playbook," told Fox News Digital. 

"Moscow anticipated U.S. sanctions prior to the invasion of Ukraine," Koffler said. "So, Putin has been sanction-proofing the Russian economy with several measures since 2014, when the Russian forces took over Crimea."

"The vessels comprising this dark fleet are typically aging, lack proper safety standards, lack insurance, hence they present a threat to maritime security as they can create a hazardous situation at any time," she added. 

PUTIN SCRAMBLES AS UKRAINE ADVANCES TROOPS ALONG ‘DORMANT FRONT’ IN BORDER SECURITY OPERATION

A list of ships published by the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure names Eswatini as the latest country to which no services from any UAE ship agents or maritime company should be provided as they "are not complying with this circular to avoid legal accountability." 

"…this Administration has decided to include the vessels registered under the flag state of Eswatini (Swaziland) to the existing list of restricted flag State vessels calling UAE waters and ports, unless they are classified by a member of IACS Class or by the Emirates Classification Society," the notice read. 

The flags of Eswatini started showing up this year, with ship broker Clarkson Research Services Ltd. reporting zero ships in 2023 registered under the Eswatini flag even as 26 such ships now sail the seas. 

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Eswatini is a landlocked country in Southern Africa and has increasingly worked with Russia to transport oil as part of dodging sanctions. Bloomberg tracked the ownership of 18 Eswatini-flagged ships in ship-tracking data, finding that 16 had "unclear" ownership, but that several tankers transported oil produced in Russia and Iran. 

The United States sanctioned three Eswatini ships for supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and later helping export grain from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine during the briefly brokered grain corridor, according to The Economist. 

A spokesman for the Eswatini ship registry told the outlet that the country delisted two of the ships for breaking the country’s administration guidelines of compliance, but one month later two of the ships continued to fly the Eswatini flag. The spokesman argued that once the country delists a ship, they stop following them, and any use of the flag is "illegal and invalid." 

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The Atlantic Council think tank in January published a report on the growing Russian "dark fleet," estimating that 1,400 ships make up the fleet and operate in a "gray zone" that makes it hard for countries to punish. 

The great concern, as both Koffler and the Atlantic Council noted, focuses on the poor condition of these ships since they operate illegally and do not want to raise suspicion from officials. 

The think tank called such ships "aging and poorly maintained," which has given rise to incidents that legitimate vessels end up having to pay for, since the shadow fleet lacks proper insurance.

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That puts the burden on coastal nations, which are obligated under search-and-rescue convention to put in time and resources to help distressed illegal vessels without recourse. 

"The potential harm to coastal states is tangible, but since the aggression doesn’t involve military, it means it’s virtually impossible for a country to avenge harm caused to it by a shadow vessel, even if it can prove the ship is transporting Russian cargo," Atlantic Council senior fellow Elisabeth Braw wrote. 

Japan, one of the most earthquake-prone nations on earth, issued its first-ever "megaquake advisory" last week after a powerful quake struck off the southeastern coast of the southern main island of Kyushu.

The magnitude 7.1 quake caused no deaths or severe damage but the advisory has led to widespread confusion and a lingering sense of worry — in a country well accustomed to regular quakes — about when the next big one will hit.

The Associated Press explains what the advisory means, what people are being told to do, and what could happen if a massive quake hits Japan.

7.1 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE STRIKES OFF JAPAN'S COAST, TSUNAMI ADVISORY ISSUED

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the advisory after concluding that the magnitude 7.1 quake that struck on Aug. 8 on the western edge of the Nankai Trough increased the likelihood of another big one.

There is a 70-80% chance of a magnitude 8 or 9 quake associated with the Nankai Trough within the next 30 years, and the probability is now "higher than normal" after the latest quake, the JMA says.

But that is not a prediction that a megaquake will happen at any specific time or location, says University of Tokyo seismologist Naoshi Hirata, who heads the JMA’s experts panel. He urged people to remain cautious and prepared.

The Nankai Trough is an undersea trench that runs from Hyuganada, in the waters just off the southeastern coast of Kyushu, to Suruga Bay in central Japan. It spans about 500 miles along the Pacific coast.

The Philippine Sea Plate there slowly pulls down on the Eurasian Plate and causes it to occasionally snap back, an action that could lead to a megaquake and tsunami, JMA says.

The last Nankai Trough quake off Shikoku in 1946 recorded a preliminary magnitude of 8.0 and killed more than 1,300 people.

In 2013, a government disaster prevention team said a magnitude 9.1 Nankai Trough quake could generate a tsunami exceeding 33 feet within minutes, killing as many as 323,000 people, destroying more than 2 million buildings and causing economic damage of more than $1.5 trillion to large swaths of Japan’s Pacific coast.

As a result of the "megaquake advisory," Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida canceled his planned Aug. 9-12 trip to Central Asia and announced he would lead the government response and ensure preventive measures and communication with the public.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency instructed 707 municipalities seen as at risk from a Nankai Trough quake to review their response measures and evacuation plans.

Experts and officials have urged people to stay calm and carry on their daily social and economic activities while also securing emergency food and water and discussing evacuation plans with family members.

In a reassuring note on Monday, JMA experts said they have so far found no abnormal seismic or tectonic activity that would indicate a megaquake.

The "megaquake advisory," which is filled with scientific jargon, has worried and baffled people across the country. Some towns closed beaches and canceled annual events, which has led to challenges for travelers during Japan’s Obon holiday week, a time for festivals and fireworks across the nation.

Many people have put off planned trips and rushed to stock up on rice, dried noodles, canned food, bottled water, portable toilets and other emergency goods, leaving shelves empty at many supermarkets in western Japan and Tokyo, even though the capital is outside the at-risk area.

The Summit supermarket chain said microwavable rice is in short supply and the store is limiting purchases to one pack per customer.

Yoshiko Kudo and her husband Shinya said they had trouble understanding what exactly the advisory meant, how worried they should be and what they should do.

"We are trying not to go overboard. Too much worry is not good," Yoshiko Kudo said.

"We don’t know how to be prepared and to still live normally like the experts tell us," said Shinya Kudo, a caregiver in his 60s.

Yoneko Oshima, walking by a major train station in Tokyo, said: "It’s scary ... They say there's a (70-80%) chance in the next 30 years, but it could be tomorrow." Her latest purchase is a portable toilet. She says water is indispensable for her diabetic husband, who needs to take medicine after every meal.

"I plan to take this opportunity to make a list and make sure we have everything at hand," Oshima said. She hasn’t changed her holiday plans this week, but her daughter canceled a planned trip to Mount Fuji.

In Matsuyama city on the island of Shikoku, which has many hot springs, hotels and resorts reviewed their evacuation procedures and emergency equipment and launched a radio communication system for emergency use. They have received hundreds of cancelations since the advisory was issued, said Hideki Ochi, director of the Dogo Onsen Ryokan Association.

Rail companies serving the region said their trains are operating at slightly reduced speeds as a precaution.

A crisis management task force in the coastal town of Kuroshio in Kochi prefecture, where a tsunami as high as 111 feet was predicted in the government risk analysis, initially set up 30 shelters across town. But only two are still open following Monday’s JMA statement that there has been no indication of an impending megaquake.

Higashi Osaka urged residents on the town website not to engage in "unnecessary and non-urgent" travel in case of a major quake.

The popular seaside town of Shirahama in Wakayama prefecture said its four outdoor hot springs, parks and other facilities would be closed for a week. Saturday’s annual fireworks festival was also canceled.

A rocket was fired at a United States military base in Syria this week in an unsuccessful attack, Fox News Digital has learned. 

A small explosion was reported on Tuesday outside the U.S. base at Mission Support Site Euphrates in Syria. 

"On August 13, at approximately 4:00 PM ET, a rocket attack was attempted against U.S. and Coalition forces at Mission Support Site Euphrates in Syria," a U.S. defense official told Fox News Digital. 

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The attack on the base was reportedly unsuccessful, with no rockets making direct impact.

The official told Fox News Digital, "U.S. forces immediately responded in self-defense, returning indirect fire against the attackers. Our forces retain the inherent right to self-defense and we will not hesitate to take action to protect ourselves whenever necessary."

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No injuries to service members or damage to the base have been reported, a U.S. defense official tells Fox News.

This is the third attack targeting a U.S. base this month in Iraq and Syria. 

Several U.S. personnel were injured in a suspected rocket attack at the Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq last week, according to U.S. defense officials.

A U.S. defense official confirmed the suspected rocket attack to Fox News on Aug. 5 — according to Reuters, at least two Katyusha rockets were fired towards the base.

Speaking to Fox News, the official said that "several" U.S. personnel were injured during the incident.

A charity working with homeless people in Auckland, New Zealand unknowingly distributed candies filled with a potentially lethal dose of methamphetamine in its food parcels after the sweets were donated by a member of the public.

Auckland City Mission on Wednesday said that staff had started to contact up to 400 people to track down parcels that could contain the sweets — which were solid blocks of methamphetamine enclosed in candy wrappers. Three people were treated in hospital after consuming them, New Zealand authorities said, but were later discharged.

The amount of methamphetamine in each candy was up to 300 times the level someone would usually take and could be lethal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation — a drug checking and policy organization, which first tested the candies.

MILLIONS OF ILLICIT CANNABIS PACKAGES DISGUISED AS CHILDREN'S CANDY SEIZED IN CALIFORNIA

Ben Birks Ang, a Foundation spokesperson, said disguising drugs as innocuous goods was a common cross-border smuggling technique and more of the candies might have been distributed throughout New Zealand.

The sweets had a high street value of $608 per candy, which suggested the donation by an unknown member of the public was accidental rather than a deliberate attack, Birks Ang said.

The authorities' "initial perceptions" were that the episode was likely an importation scheme gone awry, said Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin, but the nature and scale of the operation was unknown. Officers have recovered 16 of the candies, but do not know how many are circulating, he said.

The City Missioner, Helen Robinson, said eight families, including at least one child, had reported consuming the contaminated candies since Tuesday. The "revolting" taste meant most had immediately spat them out.

DEA WARNS OF METH MADE TO LOOK LIKE CANDY, 'LIKE FLINTSTONE VITAMINS,' IN THE MIDWEST

The charity's food bank only accepts donations of commercially produced food in sealed packaging, Robinson said. The pineapple candies, stamped with the label of Malaysian brand Rinda, "appeared as such when they were donated," arriving in a retail-sized bag, she added.

Auckland City Mission was alerted Tuesday by a food bank client who reported "funny-tasting" candy. Staff tasted some of the remaining candies and immediately contacted the authorities. One staff member was taken to the hospital after sampling the sweet, Baldwin said, adding that a child and a "young person" were also treated in the hospital before being discharged.

The candies had been donated sometime in the past six weeks, Robinson said. It was not clear how many had been distributed at that time and how many were made of methamphetamine.

Rinda said in a written statement the company had learned through New Zealand news reports that its candies "may have been misused" and would cooperate with authorities.

"We want to make it clear that Rinda Food Industries does not use or condone the use of any illegal drugs in our products," said General Manager Steven Teh.

Methamphetamine is a powerful, highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. It takes the form of a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water or alcohol.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in a surprise move Wednesday, announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, paving the way for Japan to have a new prime minister.

Kishida was elected president of his governing Liberal Democratic Party in 2021 and his three-year term expires in September. Whoever wins the party vote will succeed him as prime minister because the LDP controls both houses of parliament. A new face is a chance for the party to show that it's changing for the better, and Kishida said he will support the new leader.

"We need to clearly show an LDP reborn," Kishida told a news conference Wednesday. "In order to show a changing LDP, the most obvious first step is for me to bow out."

JAPAN PM KISHIDA SAYS HE WILL NOT STEP DOWN AFTER HIS PARTY'S LOSS IN SPECIAL ELECTIONS AMID SCANDAL

"I will not run for the upcoming party leadership election," he said.

Stung by his party’s corruption scandals, Kishida has suffered dwindling support ratings that have dipped below 20%.

In order to achieve policies to tackle difficult situations in and outside Japan, regaining public trust in politics is crucial, Kishida said. He called on aspiring party lawmakers to raise their hands to run for leadership and have active policy debate during the campaign.

"Once a new leader is decided, I hope to see everyone unite and form a dream team to achieve politics that can gain public understanding," he said.

JAPANESE GOVERNMENT RESPONDS TO BIDEN CLAIM THAT JAPAN IS 'XENOPHOBIC': 'UNFORTUNATE'

Kishida said he has been mulling his possible resignation for some time but waited until he could put his key policies on track, including energy policy that calls for a return to nuclear power, a drastic military buildup to deal with security threats in the region, and improving ties with South Korea, as well as political reforms.

Speculation on potential candidates has landed on a number of senior LDP lawmakers, including party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi, Digital Minister Taro Kono, Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi and Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa.

A winner will replace Kishida as party president, and will be endorsed as the new prime minister in a parliamentary vote soon after. LDP executives are expected to decide next week on the date for the party election.

Since the corruption scandal broke, Kishida has removed a number of Cabinet ministers and others from party executive posts, dissolved party factions that were criticized as the source of money-for-favor politics, and tightened political funds control law. Ten people — lawmakers and their aides — were indicted in January.

Despite Kishida's efforts, support for his government dwindled.

Local election losses earlier in the year eroded his clout, and LDP lawmakers have voiced the need for a fresh face ahead of the next general election. Major losses in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly by elections in July also added to the push.

The scandal centers on unreported political funds raised through tickets sold for party events. It involved more than 80 LDP lawmakers, mostly belonging to a major party faction previously led by assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The assassination surfaced a scandal over the LDP's decades-old, deep-rooted ties with the Unification Church, for which Kishida has also faced criticism.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels stormed the headquarters of the United Nations’ Human Rights Office in the capital, Sanaa, seizing documents, furniture and vehicles, a senior U.N. official said Tuesday.

The seizure was the latest move in a crackdown by the Houthis on people working with the U.N., aid agencies and foreign embassies. The crackdown comes as the Iranian-backed rebels have been targeting shipping throughout the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

YEMEN'S HOUTHI REBELS USE MISSILES, DRONES TO ATTACK 2 MORE SHIPS IN RED SEA

The rebels took over the U.N. Human Rights Office’s premises in Sanaa on Aug. 3, after forcing U.N. Yemeni workers to hand over belongings, including documents, furniture and vehicles, U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said in a statement.

"Ansar Allah forces must leave the premises and return all assets and belongings immediately," Türk said, using the official name of the Houthis.

A spokesman for the Houthis didn’t return phone calls and messages requesting comment.

The U.N.’s Human Rights Office said it had suspended the office’s operations in Sanaa and other Yemeni areas controlled by the Houthis following the June crackdown campaign. But it still operates in the parts of Yemen controlled by the internationally recognized government.

In June, the Houthis detained more than 60 people working with the U.N. and other NGOs, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office. Among the detainees were six workers with the Human Rights Office, who joined two of their colleagues detained by the Houthis in November 2021 and August 2023, it said.

Days after the arrest campaign, the rebels said they had arrested members of what they called an "American-Israeli spy network."

The Houthis issued what they purported to be videotaped confessions by 10 Yemenis, several of whom said they were recruited by the U.S. Embassy in Yemen. The U.N. Human Rights Office said one of its staffers who was detained earlier appeared in a video in which he was forced to confess to allegations, including of espionage, the office said.

The Houthis’ claims could not be independently verified.

The Houthis have been engaged in a civil war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, since 2014, when they took control of Sanaa and most of the north.

The war in Yemen has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.

The rebels have imprisoned thousands of people during the war. And in recent months they intensified their crackdown on dissent at home, including recently sentencing 44 people to death.

A helicopter pilot was killed and others were injured early Monday after the pilot crashed a helicopter onto the roof of an Australian hotel during an unauthorized flight, authorities said. 

The New Zealand Herald identified the pilot as 23-year-old Blake Wilson of New Zealand. 

The aviation company Nautilus Aviation confirmed to news outlets that Wilson was one of its employees but had not flown in Australia before. 

AUSTRALIAN B-GIRL'S FATHER-IN-LAW TAKES SWIPE AT JUDGES OVER OLYMPIC BREAKING SCORE

The company said he was a member of its ground crew and held a helicopter pilot’s license in New Zealand but was not authorized to fly the company’s helicopters in Australia.  

The man had worked at Nautilus Aviation for four months and had recently been promoted to a ground crew job at another of the company's bases, Nautilus Aviation said. Before the crash, the man had attended a social event with colleagues to mark his departure for the new position, the company said. 

The flight was unauthorized and the helicopter "misappropriated," the company added.

PILOT, 35, IDENTIFIED FROM BRAZIL PLANE THAT SPIRALED OUT OF SKY AND CRASHED, KILLING 62

The crash early Monday morning prompted the evacuation of hundreds of people from the building as flames engulfed the aircraft.

A couple staying at the hotel was hospitalized for smoke inhalation, and the two have since been discharged, Queensland Police Service Acting Chief Superintendent Shane Holmes told reporters. No one else on the ground was hurt.

Cairns Airport CEO Richard Barker said initial findings of a review Monday showed "no compromise of the airport security program or processes."

The airport operated under "a federally approved, multi-layered transport security program," Barker said.

The crash took place in a busy tourist district of Cairns, a tropical city of 150,000 people in far north Queensland, where it is peak season for holidaymakers. 

Witnesses told local news outlets the crash sounded like a bomb exploding.

Smoke billowed and flames rose from the roof of the DoubleTree Hilton, and one of the helicopter's rotor blades landed in the hotel pool, the Australian broadcaster ABC reported.

The hotel remains cordoned off while its structural integrity is being examined.

Fox News Digital has contacted Nautilus Aviation and Queensland police for updates. 

As Israel continues to brace itself under the threat of an imminent attack from Iran or its proxy forces, including Hamas and Hezbollah, security experts are sounding the alarm that Tehran has its sites set on Jordan as its next great "terror front."

"Jordan is the last holdout," Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran expert and senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) told Fox News Digital. "It's the last bastion of the pro-Western or status quo order in the heartland of the northern part of the Middle East."

The security expert pointed to Iran’s growing influence and support for proxy fighters not only in Gaza, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, but further out across the Arabian Peninsula, including Yemen and Oman, where anti-Israel sentiment is on the rise. 

"Increasingly, the regime has benefited from the rise in anti-Israel sentiment to cause instability in Jordan," Ben Taleblu said.

IRAN WILL ATTACK ISRAEL IF GAZA CEASE-FIRE TALKS COLLAPSE: REPORT

Growing concern over how Tehran will use anti-Israeli sentiment in the Middle East coincided with a warning issued Monday by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who said Iran was working "to establish a new eastern terror front against Israel’s major population centers."

The Israeli official said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is coordinating with "Hamas operatives in Lebanon to smuggle weapons and funds into Jordan" with the apparent aim of destabilizing the Israeli neighbor. 

Katz said smuggled arms are transported across Jordan’s western border into the West Bank, known as Judea and Samaria, with a particular focus on refugee camps and the goal of establishing pro-Iranian sentiment as it has done in areas like Gaza and southern Lebanon. 

"The Iranian axis of evil today effectively controls refugee camps in Judea and Samaria through its proxies, leaving the Palestinian Authority powerless to act," Katz added. 

Jordan’s border with Israel is the Jewish state’s longest shared border, reportedly stretching some 300 miles from the contested Golan Heights in the north, through the Palestinian West Bank and the Dead Sea, before ending at the Gulf of Aqaba.

ISRAEL STARES DOWN ‘RING OF FIRE’ AS IRAN PLEDGES RETALIATION

Though Katz’s warnings come as tensions between Israel and Iran have reached a historic peak, local reporting shows that Iranian-led smuggling efforts have plagued Jordanian security efforts for years.

The Jordanian regime over the last half decade has increasingly been working to stop smuggling operations to help prevent the formation of anti-Israel terrorist cells in the West Bank. 

"Ultimately [that would] be a benefit to the Islamic Republic, because it could allow for a full encirclement of Israel," Ben Taleblu said.  "The one thing that stands in the way of all of this is the Jordanian monarchy and the strength of the Jordanian security services."

Jordanian officials have been working to ease tensions in the region by meeting with U.S., Israeli and Iranian officials over recent weeks following Tehran’s threat to hit the Jewish state directly.

Though even as Jordan works to maintain the status quo in the region and prevent an all-out war, it has also warned it will not become a battleground state for either nation to utilize. 

"We will not be a battlefield for Iran or Israel. We informed the Iranians and the Israelis that we will not allow anyone to violate our airspace and risk the safety of our citizens," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in a Saturday interview, according to a Reuters report. 

"We will intercept anything that passes through our airspace or think that it constitutes a threat to us or our citizens," he added.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reportedly postponed a trip to the Middle East over heightened security concerns in the region and a possible retaliatory strike from Iran against Israel. 

Blinken’s trip, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was delayed over "uncertainty about the situation," Axios reported, citing two unnamed sources. 

The delayed trip comes ahead of planned cease-fire talks later this week after more than 10 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. 

Hamas fired two rockets aimed at Tel Aviv on Tuesday while Israel launched separate deadly airstrikes in Gaza. 

IRAN WILL ATTACK ISRAEL IF GAZA CEASEFIRE TALKS COLLAPSE: REPORT

Despite the ongoing violence, U.S. officials said Monday they expected the talks to resume Thursday as planned. 

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany on Monday urged Iran and its allies to refrain from retaliatory attacks against Israel in response to the assassination of a top Hamas commander in Tehran last month. 

Israel was immediately blamed for the assassination after pledging to kill Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state, which killed 1,200 people and saw hundreds more taken hostage. 

The Palestinian death toll is nearing 40,000 people, per figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. 

European leaders have also backed a push by mediators from the U.S., Qatar and Egypt to broker an agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war. 

Mediators have spent months trying to get both sides to agree to a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages captured in its Oct. 7 attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and Israel would withdraw from Gaza. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scrambling to counter Ukrainian offensives amid a weeklong invasion in Russia’s Kursk region in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy argued Monday night was a border security operation. 

"Our operations are purely a security matter for Ukraine – the liberation of the border area from the Russian military," Zelenskyy said in an overnight address.

Zelenskyy’s comments were among the first he has made publicly acknowledging Ukraine’s invasion and came just hours after Ukrainian General Oleksandr Syrskyi provided an update on the operation in Kursk in which he said Ukrainian troops have captured nearly 400 square miles of Russian territory.

UKRAINE BRINGS WAR TO RUSSIA IN ‘MASSIVE’ DRONE STRIKE ON MILITARY, GOVERNMENT TARGETS

Moscow called for a federal state of emergency in Kursk late last week as Ukrainian troops, tanks and drones flooded the border, prompting hundreds of thousands of Russian civilians to evacuate. 

Zelenskyy said that since the beginning of June, Ukraine’s Sumy oblast – which borders Russia’s Kursk region – has come under heavy fire with more than 2,000 rounds of drone, artillery and mortar strikes having been launched from Kursk alone.

"It is only fair to destroy Russian terrorists where they are, where they launch their strikes from," the Ukrainian president said. 

Reports surfaced this week claiming that Ukrainian forces have begun digging trenches in the Kursk region in a sign that Kyiv intends to stay operational in Russia for the long-term – a strategy some believe is an attempt to draw Russian forces away from the frontlines.

Fox News Digital has not been able to confirm whether Ukrainian troops have begun digging their own trenches, but pro-Russian military bloggers on Tuesday signaled that Putin is doing what he can to ensure that the fighting that has reached his homeland does not become a part of his protracted war with Ukraine.

Russian bloggers on Telegram have claimed that Putin has appointed a new security official to oversee ending Ukraine’s operation in Kursk, former bodyguard to the Kremlin chief and allegedly one of the key players in the 2014 annexation of Crimea, Alexei Dyumin. 

Fox News Digital could not independently verify the appointment of Dyumin as overseer of Kursk operations, but expert analyst on the Ukraine-Russian war and team lead of the Institute for the Study of War’s Russia Team and Geospatial Intelligence Team, George Barros, said Ukraine’s push into Kursk is forcing Moscow to re-evaluate its war strategy.

FIGHTING RAGES INSIDE RUSSIAN TERRITORY AFTER UKRAINE'S SURPRISE INCURSION

"The Ukrainian operation in Kursk Oblast [has forced] a decision-point on the Kremlin and the Russian military command about whether to view the thousand-kilometer-long international border with northeastern Ukraine as a legitimate frontline that Russia must defend, instead of a dormant area of the theater, as they have treated it since Fall 2022," he told Fox News Digital.

"Russia has spent considerable resources to build fortifications along the international border area but has not allocated the manpower and material to significantly man and defend those fortifications," Barros added.

Barros argued that Ukraine’s successful cross-border invasion has forced Russia to not only re-evaluate its border security, but also how it will continue its force posture in Ukraine.

"This conclusion will narrow the flexibility Russia has enjoyed in committing manpower and material to its ongoing offensive efforts in Ukraine, and the Russian military command will have to consider the requirements for border defense when determining what resources it can allocate to future large-scale offensive and defensive efforts in Ukraine," Barros said.

Ukraine’s offensive in Russia has left the international community wondering if Kyiv has reshaped how and where the more than two-year-long war will continue to be fought. Though Zelenksyy has argued that shifting the war to Putin’s doorstep is the only way forward in ending the conflict.

UKRAINE BREACHES RUSSIAN BORDER NEAR MAJOR GAS TRANSMISSION HUB, DEFENSE OFFICIALS SAY

"Russia must be forced into peace if Putin wants to continue waging war so badly," he said Monday night.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly called on the U.S. and its international allies to allow Kyiv to use long-range weapons to hit Russian military targets and logistics hubs to counter the barrage of missile fire it has endured on a daily basis. However, Washington has repeatedly denied approval for "long-range" operations.

The Biden administration in May reversed its complete opposition to inter-border attacks in Russia and said Ukraine could use U.S. weapons to hit strategic targets to stop attacks targeting Ukraine’s Kharkiv region from Russia’s Belgorod oblast. 

However, according to reports over the last week, Kyiv has targeted at least six western Russian regions on or near the Ukrainian border including the Bryansk, Oryol, Kursk, Lipestk, Belgorod and Voronezh oblasts in a series of drone strikes. 

The Pentagon last week confirmed that Ukraine’s current operations fall within Washington’s policy when it comes to Kyiv’s permitted use of U.S. provided weapons for "cross border" attacks. 

The Biden administration has repeatedly said it does not approve the use of long-range strikes in Russia, though it has refused to outline what range is considered permissible for Ukraine to continue hitting. 

However, Zelenskyy continues to press Washington for more, warning that the bans on long-range targets are prolonging the war.

"We see how useful this can be for bringing peace closer," he said.

"We need appropriate permissions from our partners to use long-range weapons," Zelenskyy urged. "This is something that can significantly advance the just end of this war, as well as save thousands of Ukrainian lives from Russian terror."

A senior Iranian security official is warning that Iran will attack Israel if its talks with Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza fall apart, a report says. 

The official, speaking to Reuters, said Iran and its allies, including Hezbollah, would also launch a direct attack on the Jewish State if it believes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is dragging out negotiations with the Palestinian terrorist group. 

Only Israel and Hamas reaching a ceasefire deal would hold Iran back from a direct strike against Israel in the wake of the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July, three senior Iranian officials told Reuters, but the news agency notes that the sources did not say how long Iran would let the talks progress before deciding to take any action. 

Hamas said Sunday it would not participate in new negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza this week unless mediators presented a plan based on previous talks. Talks are expected to resume on Thursday. 

ISRAEL ACCUSES IRAN OF SMUGGLING WEAPONS INTO JORDAN AS REGION BRACES FOR POSSIBLE RETALIATORY STRIKE 

The developments come a day after White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby told reporters that "we do share the assessment made by our Israeli counterparts that something could happen, as soon as this week by Iran and its proxies." 

Iran’s president has also told Britain's prime minister that Tehran considers retaliation against Israel over the killing of Haniyeh a right, and a way to discourage future aggression. 

A Tuesday report by the official IRNA news agency said President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a late Monday phone conversation with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said that a punitive response to an aggressor is "a right of nations and a solution for stopping crimes and aggression." 

IRAN COULD ATTACK ISRAEL SOON, SOURCES SAY, AS WESTERN POWERS ISSUE WARNING 

The report said the two leaders discussed ways for restoring peace and stability in the region and the world as well as improving bilateral relations, without elaborating. 

Starmer said in his own statement that he was deeply concerned by the situation in the region and called on all parties to de-escalate. During the 30-minute call with Pezeshkian, Starmer asked Iran not to attack Israel, adding that war was not in anyone’s interests. 

On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said "a projectile that was identified crossing from the Gaza Strip fell in the maritime space in central Israel." 

Fox News’ Bradford Betz, Yonat Friling and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A teenager wearing a helmet and a neo-Nazi-styled bullet-proof vest randomly stabbed five people near a mosque in Turkey on Monday while live-streaming the attack on social media, according to officials and local media.

The 18-year-old, identified as Arda K., broadcast the knife rampage on social media through a camera attached to his vest, HaberTurk television reported. 

The teenager, who also wore safety goggles, gloves and a skull half-mask, was detained following a police chase, with Turkey’s interior minister posting a video of the suspect being bundled into the back of a police vehicle. The suspect’s bulletproof vest had a "black sun" symbol, which originated in Nazi Germany and is used by neo-Nazis.

6 FATALLY SHOT IN SHIITE MOSQUE IN AFGHANISTAN: TALIBAN

The victims had been relaxing at an open-air café after prayers at a mosque in Eskisehir, in northern Turkey, about 143 miles west of the capital Ankara.

The attack video was circulating on X on Tuesday and showed several men crying out after being stabbed. Many of the victims appeared to be elderly men and were attacked from behind.

Other footage online shows men and police standing over the suspect after he was apprehended.

TIM WALZ HAS TIES TO MUSLIM CLERIC WITH ANTISEMITIC VIEWS, GAVE STATE FUNDING TO HIS GROUP: REPORT

The five wounded individuals were hospitalized and two of them were in serious condition, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. The assailant was also carrying an ax but did not appear to have used it.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said an investigation had begun, while HaberTurk and other media reported the assailant is believed to have been influenced by a video game and that he dressed like a video game character. 

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The interior minister also posted an image showing the items the suspect had on him, including a bloodied knife, a second knife with a swastika symbol with the letters "KKK" written on the weapon.

Yerlikaya also released an image of the suspect in handcuffs lying face down on the floor.

The official wrote on X that he wished a speedy recovery to the victims injured in the attack.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Amid the slew of recent artwork which has captivated his audience day-over-day consecutively for a week, Banksy – the elusive illustrator – has sparked wonder among fans who are shape-shifting the elucidation behind his murals in the comment section of his social media posts.

Though the unknown artist has previously been caught costumed on camera, his identity has never fully been revealed since he began his career spray-painting and stenciling in Bristol, England, in the 1990s.

He is one of the world’s most well-known artists.

NEW BANKSY MURAL WITH A ‘GREEN’ THEME APPEARS IN LONDON

The often satirical creator has been more active than usual in the last week, and fans are piqued with wonderment and concern as to what is motivating his daily murals. Banksy is most present amid the world's tribulations. 

London residents are fixated and flocking to sites where Banksy has mischievously left illustrations before snapping a photograph of his piece and evading back into the comforts of his unknown quiet.

On Aug. 5, Banksy revealed the silhouette of a relaxed but crammed goat or gazelle perched on a ledge, though rocks are falling beneath the animal’s feet, alluding to an inevitable fall.

BANKSY'S LONDON TREE MURAL COVERED IN PLASTIC, FENCED OFF AFTER APPARENT VANDALISM

Some social media users purportedly believe the goat or type of antelope is the national animal of the Palestinian people, and there may be a message with regard to the conflict in Gaza within the confined painting.

Banksy was credited with the mural of two elephants in neighboring windows the following day. In the middle of the two trunks, a missing or discolored brick appears that the pair may be sharing or playing with.

BANKSY UNVEILS NEW MURAL IN UKRAINE AMONG COUNTRY'S WAR RUINS

Using the existing world around him, Banksy often leverages key elements of the Earth or mankind to add color and questioning. Earlier this year, in March, Banksy confirmed he crafted a mass of green paint – an unnatural foliage – behind the wall of a bare tree.

Fans of the unknown artist flocked to the comment section of his post on Aug. 7 to determine the meaning of three monkeys displayed jumping on the concrete wall beneath a transit system that flies by carrying travelers and working professionals day-to-day.

A satellite sitting atop a garage covered in graffiti was abruptly stolen by masked individuals not long after Banksy posted the mural of a howling wolf last week onto his social media pages.

Often, the slippery artist’s work, if removable, is captured by onlookers as Banksy’s mastery had previously sold for a hefty price.

"Love is in the Bin," a 2021 painting by the British-based street artist, was sold at auction for a whopping 18.58 million British pounds – roughly $23.7 million U.S. dollars – according to Statista.

LATEST BANKSY ART SHOWS BURNING AMERICAN FLAG IN FLOYD TRIBUTE

On Friday, Banksy took his talents to Bonners Fish Bar, a fish and chip shop in northeast London, to leave the silhouette of two pelicans. The painting is designed to make it look like one bird is tossing a fish into its mouth enjoying its meal and the other appearing to get its catch from the small business’ sign displayed out front.

The shop in Walthamstow took to their social media to post in gratitude for the one-of-a-kind gesture.

"So proud to have a @banksy on the side of our shop! Thank you for choosing us, and Walthamstow to showcase your talent," the account read.

The painting was realized after counter-protestors took to the streets of Walthamstow to object to the lack of diversity and inclusivity in the London Borough.

Among the genus of Banksy's uninterrupted flow include a stretching cat painted on a billboard, which was later removed, a colorful school of swimming piranhas in a palette of blue painted on a London Police box and a gray rhino which appears to be mounting a small and abandoned car on a London sidewalk.

The comment sections of the social media posts which confirm his elbow grease are filled with curious and imaginative onlookers.

Today, Banksy posted his latest work, which is outside the London Zoo’s shutter doors and includes the silhouettes of a gorilla lifting the garage-like door to free a seal and bird, among other wide-eyed peering animals.

It is unclear if Banksy has completed the series for now, but fans believe he has concluded this series.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is continuing to blame the West for his nation's difficulties subduing opposition forces in Ukraine.

The Russian president told regional governors and national defense officials on Monday that the Ukrainian military's current campaign in the territory of the Kursk region will not affect negotiations.

"The West is fighting us with the hands of the Ukrainians," Putin told them at his home outside the capital city of Moscow, according to a report from The New York Times.

FIRE AT ZAPORIZHZHIA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT EXTINGUISHED, RUSSIA, UKRAINE EXCHANGE BLAME

"The enemy will certainly get the response he deserves, and all our goals, without doubt, will be accomplished," he continued.

Ukraine launched incursions into the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk districts last week, continuing the campaign since last Tuesday. 

The events have put the Russian military command under fire over the intelligence and tactical lapses that allowed such an attack to happen. 

PUTIN UNDER PRESSURE AS UKRAINE INCURSION CONTINUES, MAY GIVE KYIV BARGAINING CHIPS IN PEACE TALKS: EXPERTS

"One of the obvious goals of the enemy is to sow discord, strife, intimidate people, destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian society," Putin told government officials in a televised meeting this week, according to the Moscow Times. "The main task is, of course, for the defense ministry to dislodge the enemy from our territories."

Experts attribute the Ukrainian gains to "unconventional" tactics that have caught the much larger Russian military off-guard.

"Given the significant disparity of combat potential favoring Russia on the battlefield, Ukrainian forces appear to be switching to, or at minimum, intensifying, unconventional warfare, bringing war deeper into Russia," Rebekah Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst and author of "Putin’s Playbook," told Fox News Digital last week. 

"With the latest surprise incursion into Kursk oblast, Zelenskyy likely aims to demonstrate to Putin that as long as there’s no peace in Ukraine, the Russian people will not sleep peacefully either," Koffler said. "Kyiv is probably also seeking to beef up its negotiating position in a potential peace settlement with Moscow."

Approximately 121,000 people have evacuated the Kursk region — residents of the Belovsky and Krasnoyaruzhsky districts have also joined the exodus.

Ukraine has been the beneficiary of tens of billions of dollars from Western powers providing weapons and resources in order to push back against Russian expansion through the remote conflict.

Fox News Digital's Peter Aitken and Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.