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Scientists suspect the first complete specimen ever recorded of the world’s rarest whale died from head injuries, an expert said Friday.

The first dissection of a spade-toothed whale, a type of beaked whale, was completed last week after a painstaking examination at a research center near the New Zealand city of Dunedin, the local people who led the scientific team, Te Rūnanga Ōtākou, said in a statement issued by the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

WHALE CAUGHT ON CAMERA SURPRISING NEW YORK CITY RESIDENTS DURING SWIM NEAR BROOKLYN

A near-perfectly preserved 5-meter (16-foot) male was found washed up on a South Island beach in July. It was the first complete specimen ever recorded. There have only been seven known sightings and never of a living spade-toothed whale.

New Zealand conservation agency beaked whale expert Anton van Helden said the whale’s broken jaw and bruising to the head and neck led scientists to believe that head trauma may have caused its death.

"We don’t know, but we suspect there must have been some sort of trauma, but what caused that could be anyone’s guess," van Helden said in a statement.

All varieties of beaked whales have different stomach systems and researchers didn’t know how the spade-toothed type processed its food.

The scientific team found the specimen had nine stomach chambers containing remnants of squid and parasitic worms, the statement said.

Among the more interesting finds were tiny vestigial teeth in the upper jaw.

"These little teeth embedded in the gum tells us something about their evolutionary history. It’s remarkable to see this and it’s just another thing that we had no idea about," van Helden said.

"It’s a week I’ll never forget in my life, it’s certainly a highlight and it’s the start of the storytelling around this beautiful animal," van Helden added.

The dissection was also notable because scientists and curators worked together with local Māori people to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and customs into each step of the process.

Following the dissection, the local iwi, or tribe, will keep the jawbone and teeth of the whale before its skeleton is displayed in a museum. 3D printing will be used to replicate those parts retained by the iwi.

To Māori, whales are a taonga -– a precious treasure -– and the creature has been treated with the reverence afforded to an ancestor.

New Zealand is a whale-stranding hotspot, with more than 5,000 episodes recorded since 1840, according to the Department of Conservation.

The first spade-toothed whale bones were found in 1872 on New Zealand’s Pitt Island. Another discovery was made at an offshore island in the 1950s, and the bones of a third were found on Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island in 1986.

JERUSALEM — Just hours after meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and discussing the fight against the Islamic State in Syria, Turkey's foreign minister sent a shocking message to Washington by saying his country's goal is to eliminate the main fighting force of the Syrian Kurds, which defeated ISIS in tandem with the U.S..

According to Turkish media, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in a live broadcast on NTV that "the elimination of YPG is [Turkey's] strategic goal." He also noted the country's Kurds must be protected.

Asked about Fidan's comments, the State Department referred Fox News Digital to comments made earlier on Friday after Blinken's meeting with Fidan in Turkey. 

The statement said, in part, "Secretary Blinken emphasized the importance of U.S.-Turkish cooperation in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS mission in Syria."

SYRIAN DICTATOR BASHAR ASSAD FLEES INTO EXILE AS ISLAMIST REBELS CONQUER COUNTRY 

The U.S. has a long-standing military alliance with the Syrian Kurdish military organization, The People’s Defense Units (YPG), in Syria. The YPG is part of a broader organization known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and played a key role in dismantling the Islamic State in Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has seized on the collapse of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s rule to gobble up territory controlled by the pro-American Syrian Kurds, risking hard-won gains against the Islamist State terrorist movement.

Erdoğan's campaign to purge the SDF in northern Syria has created a dangerous security situation in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), according to Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the SDF’s commander in chief.

In an exclusive interview Thursday, Mazloum told Fox News' Jennifer Griffin, "We are still under constant attack from the Turkish military and the Turkish-supported opposition, which is called SNA. Eighty drone attacks a day we have from the Turkish military. There is intensive artillery shells. This situation has paralyzed our counterterror operation." 

Islamic State prisoners held in SDF-run detention camps could escape amid the military offensive launched by pro-Turkish forces against the SDF. The SDF has redirected much of its force capability and resources to blunt an aggressive Turkish-backed military offensive. 

In 2022, Fox News Digital reported that Erdoğan’s slated invasion of northern Syria could open the floodgates for the release of as many 10,000 Islamic State fighters.

The U.S. on Wednesday brokered a cease-fire between the pro-Turkey Syrian National Army (SNA), the Syrian opposition (TSO) and the SDF.

FALL OF SYRIA'S BASHAR ASSAD IS STRATEGIC BLOW TO IRAN AND RUSSIA, EXPERTS SAY

The U.S. has about 900 troops stationed in northeast Syria who coordinate with the SDF to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State after the new wave of Turkish attacks against the Syrian Kurds.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., warned the Turks on X, posting, "In the past I have drafted sanctions targeting Turkey if they engage in military operations against the Kurdish forces who helped President Trump destroy ISIS. I stand ready to do this again in a bipartisan way.

"We should not allow the Kurdish forces — who helped us destroy ISIS on President Trump’s watch — to be threatened by Turkey or the radical Islamists who have taken over Syria."

Fox News Digital attempted to contact various Turkish officials, including its embassy spokespeople in Washington and Tel Aviv and its United Nations mission in New York.

"We have time and again pointed out threats against our national security, posed by the PKK/YPG terrorist network in Syria and Iraq," Turkish diplomats previously told Fox News Digital about the Kurdish military forces PKK and YPG. PKK is an abbreviation for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an organization classified by the U.S. as a terrorist entity. 

Efrat Aviv, a professor in the Department of General History at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and a leading expert on Turkey, told Fox News Digital, "Turkey's actions in Syria further complicate the situation and hinder international efforts to bring about a comprehensive resolution to the conflict. The withdrawal of Turkish forces from the region and the cessation of conflicts with the Kurds could contribute to improving regional stability and efforts to end ISIS terrorism.

TURKEY'S INVASION THREATS SHOULD BE TAKEN 'VERY SERIOUSLY': CYPRUS OFFICIAL

"Turkey's military actions in Syria jeopardize regional stability and undermine efforts to end ISIS terrorism. The Turkish strikes not only harm the Kurds, but also exacerbate the humanitarian situation in the region, causing significant population displacement."

Uzay Bulut, a Turkish-born political analyst, told Fox News Digital, "Erdoğan’s imperial ambition in Syria has not changed. Land grab and demographic change have always been Turkey's plan in Syria. Turkey's military campaigns against Syria have brought nothing but instability to the region and severe persecution of minorities.

"To prevent further abuses, massacres or forced displacements against Christians, Kurds and Yazidis and to stop the spread of jihadism in the region, the Trump administration should get involved diplomatically to protect religious and ethnic minorities, particularly defenseless Christians, in Syria." 

Syria's Christian population could be as low as 2.5%, down from 10% before the civil war started in 2011. Christian and other ethnic and religious minorities face persecution from the radical Islamist Sunni terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its extremist allies. 

"The ongoing jihadist assault against Syrian Kurds and Christians is led by the al Qaeda offshoot, HTS," Bulut said. "HTS forces are backed by the government of Turkey and have brutalized and displaced religious minority communities in Idlib since 2017. HTS aims to install Islamic rule in Syria."

The Trump transition team did not respond to Fox News Digital press queries.

When asked by Fox News Digital if the U.S. was contemplating sanctioning Turkey, a State Department spokesperson said, "As a general matter, we do not preview sanctions."

On his trip to the region Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Turkish counterpart, and the two discussed the latest developments in the area. 

A readout of their meeting noted in part that Blinken "reiterated calls for all actors in Syria to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Syrians, including members of minority groups, and to prevent Syria from being used as a base for terrorism."

An American who was released this week after being held in a Syrian prison for seven months has been flown out of the country on a U.S. military helicopter, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

Travis Timmerman, who was among thousands of prisoners freed by rebels who overthrew former President Bashar al-Assad over the weekend, said after his release that he had been on a Christian pilgrimage when he illegally crossed into the country seven months ago and was detained.  

He told The Associated Press that, along with another Syrian man, the "liberators" freed him with around 70 women, some of whom were also being held with their children. 

Timmerman said that he wasn’t treated badly while he was held in the infamous Syrian intelligence facility known as Palestine Branch. 

TRUMP'S PLEDGE AGAINST ‘FOREVER WARS’ COULD BE TESTED WITH SYRIA IN HANDS OF JIHADIST FACTIONS

But he told the Al-Arabiya TV network that he could hear other men being tortured in the prison every day. 

"It was OK. I was fed. I was watered," said Timmerman. "The one difficulty was that I couldn’t go to the bathroom when I wanted to. I was not beaten, and the guards treated me decently."

He was allowed out of his cell three times a day to go to the bathroom. 

After Assad’s overthrow, he said the rebels came to the prison and "knocked the door down (of his cell) with a hammer."

Timmerman was first seen in video that emerged online Thursday after rebels seized Damascus, the country’s capital. 

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

In the video, a bearded Timmerman was lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private house. A group of men in the video said he was being treated well and would be safely returned home, The Associated Press reported.

Palestine Branch, also known as Branch 235, houses nearly a dozen buildings hidden behind high concrete walls, according to The New York Times. 

Human Rights Watch reported more than a decade ago that prisoners there were subjected to torture, including electrocutions and beatings. 

"The guards hung me by my wrists from the ceiling for eight days," a former prisoner told the organization in 2012. "After a few days of hanging, being denied sleep, it felt like my brain stopped working. I was imagining things. My feet got swollen on the third day. I felt pain that I have never felt in my entire life. It was excruciating. I screamed that I needed to go to a hospital, but the guards just laughed at me."

Many prisoners would also die of illnesses or starvation under the deplorable conditions. 

At another notorious Syrian prison known as Sednaya, The Free Press, in collaboration with the Center for Peace Communications, also discovered testimonies of torture and executions while investigating it after the fall of Assad’s regime this week. 

"They would call out names at dawn, strip the prisoners of their clothes, and take them away," a former inmate told The Free Press. "We knew from the sound of chains on the platforms that these were executions. Condemned prisoners wouldn’t be fed for three days prior. Once a month, they would search us. During one such search, an officer declared, ‘We’re not here to inspect; we’re here to kill.’"

Since the thousands of prisoners were released, loved ones have been searching for signs of those who went missing in the barbaric prisons. 

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"We slept on top of each other," one woman, who said she had been held at Palestine Branch for four and a half months in 2020 along with dozens of other women, told The New York Times. "They did not feed us, they beat us."

Fox News' Stephen Sorace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.  

Russia on Friday continued for the third year in a row with its primary winter strategy to pummel Ukraine’s power grid as freezing conditions settle ahead of the winter months in a "massive blow" to the country’s largest energy company. 

Moscow’s forces fired some 90 missiles, including cruise missiles, and 200 drones in one of the largest mass attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, targeting plants across Western Ukraine in the Lviv, Ternopil and the Ivano-Frankivsk regions, the Kyiv Independent reported.

The severity of the attack is not yet known, though at least half of the Ternopli region was reportedly without power and equipment was said to have been "damaged" by the DTEK civilian energy company.

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"This year, this is already the twelfth mass attack on the Ukrainian energy industry and the ninth mass attack on the company's energy enterprises," the company said in a post on Telegram, noting that no casualties had been reported. "In total, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the DTEK thermal power plant has been fired upon more than 200 times."

The mass attacks came after reports this week suggested that Russia could be planning another attack using its latest ballistic missile, the Oreshnik missile — which it first fired last month — to hit Ukraine. 

The attack could apparently happen "as soon as this weekend," according to a U.S. National Security Council official in a Friday Financial Times report. 

Similarly, an official told Reuters earlier in the week, "We assess that the Oreshnik is not a game-changer on the battlefield, but rather just another attempt by Russia to terrorize Ukraine, which will fail."

The threat of another substantial attack comes amid concern that Russian forces are making incremental gains in Donetsk near the town of Pokrovsk, which has potentially given Moscow access to supply routes connecting the area to Zaporizhzhia, Estonian Intelligence reported on Friday.

VOTERS WANT MORE US INVOLVEMENT ON WORLD STAGE DESPITE ISOLATIONIST TALK, RONALD REAGAN INSTITUTE SURVEY FINDS

Though according to open-source data presented by Estonian Colonel Ants Kiviselg, head of the nation’s Defense Forces (EDE), Ukrainian forces have also successfully repelled attacks levied by Russian forces on the Dontesk town of Kurakhove, some 35 miles south of Pokrovsk, despite Russian attempts to encircle the town.

"Russian occupiers are throwing all available forces forward, attempting to break through the defenses of our troops," Ukrainian army chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a Facebook post late Wednesday. 

Pokrovsk remains a key defensive post for Ukraine in Donetsk, and its fall would not only compromise Kyiv’s access to supply routes, but its ability to continue to fend off Russia’s attempts to seize the entire region.

The increasing crunch Ukraine is feeling in Donetsk coincides with concerns over whether the U.S. will continue to aid Ukraine as the Trump administration is set to take office in late January. 

President-elect Trump has not said whether he will maintain the U.S.' ongoing level of support for Ukraine, and in an interview with Time magazine released Thursday, he criticized Kyiv’s use of U.S.-supplied ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) to hit targets in Russia. 

"Anything can happen. Anything can happen. It's a very volatile situation," Trump said of the war in Ukraine. "I think the most dangerous thing right now is what's happening, where [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy has decided, with the approval of, I assume, [President Biden], to start shooting missiles into Russia. I think that's a major escalation. I think it's a foolish decision."

Biden in November relinquished his long-held opposition to Ukraine using U.S.-supplied missiles to hit military targets in Russia after years of pleas by Kyiv to do so.

Zelenskyy, along with other U.S. security experts, have long argued Ukraine should be able to attack Russia amid its yearslong deadly invasion, and that hitting weapons depots and Russian military positions used to launch massive missile and drone campaigns that target Ukrainian civilians is critical in turning the tide of the war. 

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday named centrist ally François Bayrou as prime minister, after a historic parliamentary vote ousted the previous government last week.

Bayrou, 73, a crucial partner in Macron’s centrist alliance, has been a well-known figure in French politics for decades. His political experience is seen as key in efforts to restore stability as no single party holds a majority at the National Assembly.

Macron’s office said in a statement that Bayrou "has been charged with forming a new government."

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Former Prime Minister Michel Barnier resigned last week following a no-confidence vote prompted by budget disputes in the National Assembly, leaving France without a functioning government.

Macron in an address to the nation vowed to remain in office until his term ends in 2027.

Macron’s centrist alliance does not have a majority in parliament and Bayrou's Cabinet will need to rely on moderate lawmakers from the left and the right to be able to stay in power. Some conservatives are expected to be part of the new government.

Macron’s strategy aims at preventing far-right leader Marine Le Pen from holding "make or break" power over the government. Le Pen helped oust Barnier by joining her National Rally party’s forces to the left to pass the no-confidence motion last week.

Bayrou's appointment is also in line with Macron’s efforts to build a non-aggression pact with the Socialists so that they commit not to vote against the government in any future confidence motion.

Bayrou leads the centrist Democratic Movement, known as MoDem, which he founded in 2007.

In 2017, he supported Macron’s first presidential bid and became a weighty partner in the French president’s centrist alliance.

At the time, he was appointed justice minister, but he quickly resigned from the government amid an investigation into the MoDem’s alleged embezzlement of European Parliament funds.

Bayrou this year was cleared in the case by a Paris court, which found eight other party officials guilty and sentenced the party to pay a fine.

Bayrou became well known to the French public when he was education minister from 1993 to 1997 in a conservative government.

He was three times a candidate for president, in 2002, 2007 and 2012.

The Israeli air force is apparently readying itself for a potential strike against Iran’s nuclear program as the incoming Trump administration is also reportedly mulling a "maximum pressure 2.0" campaign against Tehran as the situation in the Middle East rapidly evolves.

The fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime – a former ally of Iran – due in large part to the dismantling of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in extension Syria, has not only once again changed the political landscape in the Middle East, it has left Tehran increasingly isolated. 

Israeli reports on Thursday said the evolving reality in the region has prompted Israel to once again consider targeting Iran’s nuclear program, which Jerusalem and its international allies have deemed one of the greatest emerging threats at a time when tensions between the West and nations like Russia and Iran continue to deteriorate. 

JAKE SULLIVAN SAYS NETANYAHU 'READY TO DO A DEAL' AS HAMAS SAID TO CONCEDE TO ISRAEL CEASE-FIRE DEMANDS

Fox News Digital could not immediately reach the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on alleged plans to hit Iran’s nuclear program, though it is a step long viewed as taboo and one that Jerusalem already pursued earlier this year. 

The U.S., under the Biden administration, along with its international partners including the International Atomic Energy Agency, have urged Israel not to strike Iran’s nuclear installations. 

However, last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the IDF had hit and degraded part of Iran’s nuclear program during a retaliatory strike in late October, but he warned it was not enough to thwart Tehran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon.

In a similar sentiment, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in November that Iran was "more exposed than ever [for] strikes on its nuclear facilities."

"We have the opportunity to achieve our most important goal – to thwart and eliminate the existential threat to the State of Israel," he added.

ISRAEL'S UN AMBASSADOR INSISTS NATION IS 'NOT GETTING INVOLVED' IN SYRIAN REGIME CHANGE

It remains unclear to what extent Iran’s nuclear program has been impacted by the Israeli strikes, and the IAEA continues to assess that Iran is rapidly bolstering its stockpiles of near-weapons grade enriched uranium.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to once again take a hard-line approach when it comes to Tehran’s attempts to develop a nuclear weapon, and a report by the Wall Street Journal on Friday said his transition team was evaluating a "maximum pressure 2.0" campaign.

Trump has reportedly called on his team to devise options on how the U.S. could clamp down on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, including through the possible use of preventive airstrikes, though without pulling the U.S. military into a war with Tehran.

Fox News Digital could not immediately reach the Trump transition team for comment, though in an interview with the president-elect released on Thursday, Time magazine questioned the possibility of the U.S. going to war with Iran, to which Trump responded "anything can happen."

In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the main U.S. ally whose fighters are currently guarding 45,000 ISIS militants and their families at camps and prisons in Eastern Syria, said the Turkish military and its allied forces continue to attack his Kurdish forces, despite a U.S. brokered ceasefire deal Wednesday. 

"We are still under constant attack from the Turkish military and the Turkish-supported opposition which is called SNA," Gen. Mazloum told Fox. "Eighty drone attacks a day we have from the Turkish military. There is intensive artillery shells. This situation has paralyzed our counterterror operation." 

The attacks by the Turkish military on the SDF have increased since Bashar Al Assad’s fall on December 8. Gen. Mazloum warned that if his Kurdish fighters have to flee, ISIS would return.

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

Gen. Mazloum said half of his fighters guarding the ISIS camps had to withdraw in recent days.

"All of the prisons still are under our control. However, the prisons and camps are in a critical situation because who is guarding them? They are leaving and having to protect their families," said Gen. Mazloum in an interview from his base in Eastern Syria. "I can give you one example like the Raqqa ISIS prison, which contains about 1,000 ISIS ex-fighters. The number of guards there have diminished by half which is putting them in a fragile position." 

A chilling warning from one of America’s staunchest allies. The U.S. has 900 troops in Eastern Syria, and they would likely have to withdraw if the allied Kurdish fighters retreat under attack from Turkey’s military, which views the Kurds as a terrorist threat.

"We don't want to see that happen. So we're in very close touch with our SDF partners to try to maintain that focus on counter-ISIS missions. And we are just as importantly in touch with our Turkish counterparts," said National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby during a White House press briefing Thursday.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is in Turkey today meeting with President Recep Erdogan to discuss how to bring stability to Syria.

Secretary Blinken "reiterated the importance of all actors in Syria respecting human rights, upholding international humanitarian law, and taking all feasible steps to protect civilians, including members of minority groups," State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement following the meeting with President Erdogan. "He emphasized the need to ensure the coalition can continue to execute its critical mission to defeat ISIS." 

CENTCOM Commander General Erik Kurilla met with Gen. Mazloum and the SDF in Syria on Tuesday, two days after the U.S. military carried out extensive airstrikes targeting dozens of ISIS positions in Eastern Syria. The operation struck over 75 targets – camps and operatives – using U.S. Air Force B-52s, F-15s, and A-10s, according to a statement released by U.S. Central Command.

"There should be no doubt – we will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria," said Kurilla. "All organizations in Syria should know that we will hold them accountable if they partner with or support ISIS in any way."

On Wednesday, the SDF announced a truce with Syria’s Turkey-backed rebels in northern Manbij following U.S. mediation "to ensure the safety and security of civilians," Gen. Mazloum said early on Wednesday.

US GROUP LOOKS FOR KIDNAPPED AMERICANS IN SYRIA AFTER FALL OF ASSAD REGIME

"The fighters of the Manbij Military Council, who have been resisting the attacks since November 27, will withdraw from the area as soon as possible," Gen. Mazloum added. 

And new indications suggest a ceasefire late Thursday has tentatively been agreed to in Aleppo and Deir Ezzor south of Raqqa along the Euphrates River.

Gen. Mazloum worries about what would happen if the U.S. pulled its forces out of Syria right now.

"We saw that the Russians – they have no further leverage in the country – same for the Iranians. So if now U.S. troops withdraw from Syria that will bring a vacuum."

ISRAEL'S UN AMBASSADOR INSISTS NATION IS 'NOT GETTING INVOLVED' IN SYRIAN REGIME CHANGE

He added the following warning: "We expect those Islamists, different factions to unite, to fight with ISIS and that will bring back tougher extremists, terrorist organizations back to the country."

The SDF Commander fears another bloody civil war could start if the new Syrian government in Damascus does not include different minority groups, like the Syrian Kurds.

"So any new government in Syria needs to be representative, needs to be inclusive and contain and include all different parties of Syria. So if not that takes us to a bloody civil war in the country and that will put us in huge stage of escalatory path that no one can predict the fate of that," Gen. Mazloum told Fox.

Facing the Turkish fighter jets, the SDF mistakenly shot down a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone in Syria on Monday, the result of "friendly fire," a U.S. defense official told Fox News. "The U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters who are under attack from the Turkish military misidentified the drone as a threat," the official said.

Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu is "ready to do a deal" to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday. 

"I got the sense from the prime minister he is ready to do a deal," Sullivan told reporters during a Tel Aviv press conference, according to multiple reports. "The prime minister indicated he wants to get it done."

Biden’s national security adviser, who met with the Israeli prime minister on Thursday, was pressed on whether Netanyahu was stalling cease-fire negotiations with Hamas in a move to wait for the incoming Trump administration, to which Sullivan said, "No, I do not get that sense."

"We want to close this deal this month. I wouldn't be here today if I thought this is waiting until after Jan. 20," he said. 

NETANYAHU WANTS TO ESTABLISH ‘RELATIONS’ WITH SYRIA BUT SAYS ISRAEL WILL ATTACK IT IF BECOMES A THREAT

Sullivan’s comments came just two days after he met with the family members of American hostages who have been held captive by Hamas for more than 430 days following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel. 

Hope that a hostage deal could finally be on the horizon after more than a year since the last hostage release was agreed to in November 2023, resurfaced late last month after Jerusalem and Hezbollah agreed to a cease-fire under a 13-point deal. 

A report this week by the Wall Street Journal further suggested that Hamas has conceded on two key Israeli demands and reportedly told mediators the terrorist network would allow Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers to remain in Gaza during a pause in the fighting.

The group also apparently agreed to drop its demands for a permanent end to Israel’s campaign and handed over a list of hostages, including Americans, who would be exchanged under a "cease-fire pact."

It remains unclear how many hostages Hamas would hand over or which of the seven Americans still in Gaza – three of whom are still believed to be alive – were on this list.

QATAR RETURNS TO HAMAS-ISRAEL NEGOTIATIONS AS TRUMP ENVOY LOOKS TO MAKE INROADS

Families of the hostages, both in the U.S. and in Israel, have been calling on Netanyahu for months to seek a truce and secure the release of the hostages. This plea became increasingly urgent after a cease-fire deal collapsed in late summer, and ultimately failed to secure the release of American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who, along with two other Israelis shortlisted for release, were killed alongside three other hostages by Hamas in August. 

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday issued a sweeping demand that Israel and Hamas reach a cease-fire agreement and that all hostages be freed from captivity. 

The resolution, which was adopted with 158 votes in favor of the 193-member body, called for an "immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire, to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages."

Though U.N. General Assembly resolutions are not binding, they are significant as they portray the international position regarding an issue. 

Nine countries voted against the resolution, including the U.S. and Israel, while 13 other nations abstained.

In an address to the assembly following the vote, Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said, "The draft resolution on a cease-fire in Gaza risks sending a dangerous message to Hamas that there’s no need to negotiate or release the hostages."

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"Even as the Gaza resolution before us today does nothing to advance a realistic diplomatic solution, the United States will continue to pursue a diplomatic solution that brings peace, security, and freedom to Palestinian civilians in Gaza," he added, saying now is the time to put more pressure on Hamas.

Sullivan on Thursday reportedly said Hamas’ "posture at the negotiation table" had shifted since the cease-fire in Lebanon was agreed to last month, effectively showing the terrorist network it could no longer rely on assistance from Hezbollah. 

The White House national security adviser is expected to travel from Israel this week to Qatar and then to Egypt, where he will meet with top officials to secure a cease-fire and the release of hostages. 

A devastating arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue is now being investigated as a possible terror attack, drawing worldwide attention to a stark increase in antisemitism in Australia.

Masked vandals set the Adass Israel Synagogue aflame on Dec. 6, in one of several incidents that have left the Jewish community seeking support from government leaders.

On Wednesday, Sky News Australia reported a car was destroyed after being set on fire in a Jewish community in Sydney. At least two, but possibly as many as seven, buildings in the area were vandalized, with one graffiti tag reading "kill Israiel" (sic). This rash of hate followed in the wake of a similar incident late last month, when vehicles and a restaurant in the same area were covered with graffiti. 

Following the attacks in Sydney, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told Sky News Australia, "Sydney, per capita, has the second-highest number of Holocaust survivors in the world," explaining that they came "to Australia specifically to be free from this kind of hate." 

JEWISH CHILDREN, TEENS VIOLENTLY ATTACKED IN LONDON: ‘STREETS ARE NO LONGER SAFE’

Worshiper Yumi Friedman told Avi Yemini of Rebel News that he was inside the synagogue when he heard banging on the door and saw glass flying. Friedman later said he smelled fire and burned his hand while attempting to open the synagogue door. 

Friedman said that responding police told Jewish worshipers to get on the ground and show their hands. "They came and arrested us," he said. "It took them a while to realize that we’re Jewish and we didn’t do this." 

Zionism is not a feature of the Haredi Judaism that worshipers at the Adass Israel Synagogue practice. Yemini asked members of the community why they believed the non-Zionist synagogue was targeted. "Jews are Jews," a man wearing a kippah replied. "They’re anti-Jews," another visibly Jewish man told Yemini. "Not anti-anything else."

Yemini filmed a protester outside the firebombed synagogue wearing a keffiyeh and a baseball cap featuring the Palestinian flag who held a sign stating "Nothing is more antisemitic than Zionism."

Numerous community members interviewed by Yemini said they felt unsupported by the local government. "People have been attacked here," one man reminded Victoria Police Detective Inspector Chris Murray, who was present to address the community. "Why don’t you put someone in here?"

"We’re doing our best," Murray responded.

Murray told crowds that police would "do everything" to "bring these individuals before the courts." Though they believed the attack was targeted, Murray said that "what we don’t know is why." 

Shane Patton, Victoria police chief commissioner, told reporters at a press conference that the firebombing is being investigated as "a likely terror attack."

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

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been lambasted for his response to the Melbourne attack, which a Sky News Australia host said was "four days too late." Yemini documented Albanese’s visit to the Adass Israel Synagogue. When the kippah-wearing prime minister failed to answer questions from assembled reporters, Yemini followed him to the car, telling Albanese that "yesterday was the first time you didn’t conflate antisemitism and Islamophobia." 

Though it has faced more intolerance, the Jewish population of Australia is around one-eighth the size of the Muslim population, and has been stagnant or declining while the percentage of Muslims has grown. In 2016, Jewish Australians made up 0.5% of the population, according to Monash University. Muslims made up 2.6% of the population in 2016, according to the University of South Australia. Today, Muslims account for 3.2% of the Australian population while 0.4% of the population is Jewish.

In the aftermath of recent attacks, Albanese stated that the Australian Federal Police will be conducting an operation that would "focus on threats, violence, and hatred" targeting the Jewish community. Reuters reported that Albanese has allocated $25 million (approximately U.S. $15 million) since 2022 to increase security for Jewish organizations. He has also worked to minimize hate speech and banned the Nazi salute.

Many Jewish Australians believe these efforts are not enough. Earlier this month, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) sent an open letter to Albanese, which it shared with Fox News Digital. The ECAJ explained that "the very character of this country as a free, democratic and multicultural society is in peril," citing the "fear and anxiety" experienced by Jewish Australians who question whether it is safe to display signs of their Judaism or publicly celebrate their faith and heritage.

Though the ECAJ expressed gratitude to Albanese for "swiftly condemning" the arson in Melbourne, they requested that he act in response to "what is now a national antisemitism crisis." Among their requests are an increase in security funding, support for antisemitism education in schools, enforcement of laws against harassment and intimidation, and support for higher government efforts to curtail antisemitism in universities. 

COLUMBIA GROUP’S ANTISEMITIC NEWSPAPER DRAWS OUTRAGE FROM NY LAWMAKER, AS UNIVERSITY INVESTIGATES

Albanese’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about criticisms of the prime minister’s reaction to the Melbourne firebombing, his response to the ECAJ’s letter, and whether the country’s shift regarding a Palestinian state might have an impact on the state of antisemitic hate in Australia. 

As it has worldwide, antisemitism has risen dramatically in Australia since Oct. 7, according to an ECAJ report from November 2024. Reporting entities counted 2,062 antisemitic incidents in Australia between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024, compared with 495 incidents tallied during the prior 12 months. This represents a 316% increase in expressions of anti-Jewish hate, which began as early as Oct. 8, when the ECAJ reported that Sheikh Ibrahim Daoud told an audience in western Sydney that he was "elated," explaining, "it’s a day of pride, it’s a day of victory."

The ECAJ sent Fox News Digital a trove of photographs showing acts of hate directed against Jewish Australians. These included an incident from November 2023, when unknown individuals sprayed "Kill Jews" and "Jew lives here" on a residential unit in southeast Melbourne, and wrote "Jew-free zone" in a Brunswick window, as reported by the Jewish Independent.

The government responded to some major acts of antisemitism. In February, anti-Israel activists released a document featuring the "names and other personal details" of 600 Jewish musicians, writers, academics and artists in a WhatsApp group whose communications were also leaked. 

Seven months later, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced a proposed sentence of up to six years in prison for those who release individuals’ private details in order to cause harm. The punishment would increase to seven years if a victim was targeted because of their race, religion or sexual orientation, among other factors.

In recognition of the rising intolerance in Australia, on Dec. 9, the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a travel advisory warning Jews to "exercise extreme caution" if visiting the country. As Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center’s director of global social action, explained, authorities there have failed "to stand up against persistent demonization, harassment and violence against Jews and Jewish institutions in Australia."  

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday declared himself a "proud feminist" as he lamented Vice President Harris’ loss to President-elect Trump in the 2024 presidential election as just one recent example of a setback for women’s progress.

Trudeau delivered remarks in Ottawa at a gala for Equal Voice, an organization that works to improve gender representation in Canada’s politics. 

"We were supposed to be on a steady, if difficult, march towards progress," Trudeau said. "And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for a second time to not elect its first woman president."

"Everywhere, women’s rights and women’s progress is under attack, overtly and subtly," Trudeau continued. "I want you to know that I am, and always will be, a proud feminist. You will always have an ally in me and in my government."

TRUMP SUGGESTS CANADA BECOME 51ST STATE AFTER TRUDEAU SAID TARIFF WOULD KILL ECONOMY: SOURCES

Trudeau’s remarks come as relations between the U.S. and Canada grow tense over immigration and the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S.

Trudeau jetted into Mar-a-Lago unannounced on Nov. 29, just days after Trump threatened to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products. Trump is threatening to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over failures by both nations to curb the flow of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs from those countries into the U.S. 

Both Trump and Trudeau called the meeting "very productive."

TRUMP BOASTS OF ‘VERY PRODUCTIVE MEETING’ WITH CANADIAN PM TRUDEAU AT MAR-A-LAGO

Sources later told Fox News that Trudeau had told Trump he cannot levy the tariff because it would kill the Canadian economy completely. Trump retorted by asking, so your country can't survive unless it's ripping off the U.S. to the tune of $100 billion? 

Trump then suggested to Trudeau that Canada become the 51st state, which caused the prime minister and others to laugh nervously, sources told Fox News.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

Former Syrian President Bashar Assad's brutal regime of imprisonment and torture is on full display this week as victorious rebels dig through the dictator's now-liberated political prisons.

Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani vowed to dissolve the Assad regime's remnant security forces as well as close prisons that had been used to house political dissidents.

Thousands of Syrians stormed Assad's various prison facilities across the country as his regime fell in hopes of releasing their incarcerated friends and family members. Thousands were released alive, but others were found dead and still others remain missing.

U.S. prosecutors named two Syrian officials who they say ran a torture facility at Mezzeh air force base in the Syrian capital, Damascus. The U.S. alleges that their victims included political prisoners, peaceful protesters and a 26-year-old American woman who was later believed to have been executed.

TRUMP URGES US TO STAY OUT OF SYRIAN CIVIL WAR, BLAMING OBAMA FOR FAILURE AS ISLAMISTS CLOSE IN ON CAPITAL

The U.S. indictment names Jamil Hassan, director of the Syrian air force’s intelligence branch, who prosecutors say oversaw a prison and torture center at the Mezzeh air force base in the capital, Damascus, and Abdul Salam Mahmoud, who prosecutors say ran the prison.

The most notorious of Assad's prison facilities was Saydnaya Prison, however, which lies just outside Damascus.

ISLAMIST REBELS IN SYRIA CATCH ASSAD, PUTIN, IRAN REGIMES OFF GUARD GIVING US NEW MIDEAST HEADACHE

Syrian citizens have flocked to the prison in the days since Assad's fall on Sunday, breaking open cells and scouring what images reveal to be a labyrinthine prison. While dozens were freed on Sunday, virtually no one has been found since.

"Where is everyone? Where are everyone’s children? Where are they?" said Ghada Assad, breaking down in tears.

Syrians are continuing to search the facility, however, searching for hidden cells as well as documents that might shed light on their family members' fates.

ASSAD ARRIVES IN MOSCOW, IS GRANTED ASYLUM BY RUSSIA

"There is not a home, there is not a woman in Syria who didn’t lose a brother, a child or a husband," said Khairiya Ismail, 54, said of the prison and Assad's rule.

An estimated 150,000 people were detained or went missing in Syria since 2011. Tens of thousands of them are believed to have gone through Saydnaya, according to the Associated Press.

Amnesty International estimated that there were between 10,000 and 20,000 people being held in the prison as of 2017. The organization also claimed that there were routine mass executions.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte painted a grim picture of the world and called on Europe and Canada to ramp up their defense spending Thursday.

Rutte made the comments during an address to member countries at a Carnegie Europe conference in Brussels. He issued stark warnings about Russia's alleged ambitions beyond Ukraine as well as China's own growing aggression.

"I'll be honest, the security situation does not look good," Rutte began, calling it the worst in his lifetime. "From Brussels, it takes one day to drive to Ukraine. That's how close the Russian bombs are falling. It's how close the Iranian drones are flying, and not much further, the North Korean soldiers are fighting."

Rutte went on to argue that Putin poses a wider threat to Europe beyond Ukraine, saying he "wants to crush our freedom and way of life."

TRUMP TAPS FORMER ACTING AG MATTHEW WHITAKER AS NATO AMBASSADOR

"This all points in one clear direction: Russia is preparing for long-term confrontation – with Ukraine and with us," Rutte said. "It is time to shift to a wartime mindset."

TRUMP’S NATO COMMENTS TRIGGER FIERCE MEDIA AND EUROPEAN OPPOSITION: HOW SERIOUS IS HE?

Rutte's remarks come just weeks before President-elect Trump enters office after campaigning on an anti-war platform. Trump has, however, likewise urged NATO's other members to pay their fair share of the organization's defense budget.

Trump has also said he does not plan to abandon Ukraine. He said he will advocate for a peace agreement with Russia, but has not elaborated on what that would entail.

NATO members agreed to work toward spending 2% of their annual GDP on defense, following Russia's annexation of Crimea a decade ago.

Only six member nations met the 2% goal in 2021, but this year, NATO expects a record 23 of 32 member nations to hit the Western military alliance's spending goals, according to data released over the summer.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NATO leaders have emphasized that the 2% target should be considered a minimum.

Poland and Estonia both led the United States this year in the percentage of their GDP they spend on defense, according to NATO. The U.S. is estimated to spend 3.38% of its GDP on defense.

Rutte, who stepped into the NATO role on Oct. 1, was the Dutch prime minister during Trump's first term and had a reputation as a "Trump whisperer," Politico reported.

Fox News' Hannah Ray Lambert contributed to this report.

A U.S. nonprofit headquartered in Washington, D.C., is on the ground in Syria looking for kidnapped Americans in the aftermath of the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), told Fox News Digital in an interview from Damascus that he and six members of his team arrived in the capital Wednesday to look for Americans kidnapped or held captive by the ousted Assad regime, most notably, American freelance journalist Austin Tice and Syrian American psychotherapist Dr. Majd Kamalmaz.

"God willing, he's alive. God willing, we can find him and bring him home," Moustafa said of Tice. "Same for Majd, same for the other Americans whose names are not public."

Tice, who traveled to Syria as the country’s civil war was erupting, was kidnapped in 2012 while reporting in Daraya, a Damascus suburb. He was seen on a video released months after his capture wearing a black blindfold and being led away by a group of men shouting "Allahu Akbar." 

Tice has not been seen or heard from since. The Syrian government has always denied holding Tice or other Americans. 

Kamalmaz, a U.S. citizen who helped survivors of Hurricane Katrina and refugees from war-torn Syria and Kosovo recover from trauma and PTSD, was detained at a government checkpoint in Damascus while visiting a family member in February 2017. 

U.S. officials presented the Kamalmaz family with classified information earlier this year, saying they believe the humanitarian died in Syria’s notorious prison system. 

He likely died within a year or two of his detainment, his daughter Maryam told Fox News Digital in June, citing U.S. officials. The officials did not say how or where Dr. Kamalmaz died.

"We will not leave a stone unturned while I'm here in Damascus, and I hope to find them," said Moustafa. 

ASSAD ARRIVES IN MOSCOW, IS GRANTED ASYLUM BY RUSSIA

The SETF leader has several geolocations from sources and tips and has dispatched his team to specific locations in search of Tice. 

"Now that Damascus is free, we have no restrictions. We can go anywhere," he added. 

Moustafa praised Tice for his bravery and for traveling to Syria to report on the country’s brutal civil war and cover the plight of civilians in the early years of the outbreak.

"The very least that we can do is to look for him. And for a long time, we could only look for him through calling people, trying to find people that had been – that had come out of detention, seeing if they've seen him," he told Fox News Digital. 

Joel Rayburn, the former U.S. special envoy for Syria, told Fox News Digital earlier this year the ousted Assad regime viewed Tice and other detainees as "cards" to use as leverage and to get concessions.

"We know it's almost certain that they have them in their custody, or they've had them in their custody, or they know definitively what happened to those people, but they're absolutely not forthcoming," Rayburn said. 

The U.S. State Department is now offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Tice and has conveyed to the leading Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that finding the journalist remains a top priority. 

"In all of our communications with parties that we know talk to HTS, we have sent very clearly the message that, as they move through Syria liberating prisons, that our top priority is the return of Austin Tice," said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

A Syrian journalist who was imprisoned by the Assad regime claims he was detained in a Damascus jail in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood with Tice at the same time until as recently as 2022, according to a report from The Sunday Times. 

AUSTIN TICE: FAMILY OF JOURNALIST KIDNAPPED IN SYRIA 12 YEARS AGO SAY HE'S STILL ALIVE, CITING ‘VETTED’ SOURCE

Moustafa told Fox News Digital he was aware of the article and plans to go "straight there" in the coming days to find out more information.

"It is every Syrian's job to do everything they can to get Austin back to his mother and his father, to his country, to his home," he said.

An American freed in Syria on Thursday said he was on a Christian pilgrimage when he crossed into the country on foot seven months ago and was detained by the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Travis Timmerman was first seen in video that emerged online Thursday after rebels seized the capital Damascus and overthrew Assad over the weekend.

In the video, a bearded Timmerman was lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private house. A group of men in the video said he was being treated well and would be safely returned home, The Associated Press reported.

Some who viewed the video initially believed Timmerman was Austin Tice, an American journalist and Marine veteran who disappeared in Syria 12 years ago. Tice remains missing as of Thursday morning, though U.S. officials have said they believe he is still alive.

ISRAEL'S UN AMBASSADOR INSISTS NATION IS ‘NOT GETTING INVOLVED’ IN SYRIAN REGIME CHANGE

Timmerman later told the Al-Arabiya TV network during an interview that he was detained after illegally crossing into Syria on foot from the eastern Lebanese town of Zahle seven months ago.

He said the guards treated him well in detention but could hear others, who he believed were young men, being tortured daily.

"It was OK. I was fed. I was watered. The one difficulty was that I couldn’t go to the bathroom when I wanted to," he said, noting that guards only let him out three times a day.

"I was not beaten and the guards treated me decently," he added.

U.S. officials did not immediately comment on Timmerman.

HERE IS WHO IS VYING FOR POWER IN SYRIA AFTER THE FALL OF BASHAR AL-ASSAD

Meanwhile, the Biden administration sent the U.S. government’s top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, to Lebanon earlier this week in hopes of collecting information on the whereabouts of Tice.

Tice was detained in Damascus in August 2012 while reporting on the uprising against the Assad regime, which marked the early stages of the Syrian civil war.

Tice was last seen in video that emerged weeks after his disappearance, showing him blindfolded and held by armed men and saying, "Oh, Jesus."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Pope Francis has cited the Gospel while calling for migrants to be "welcomed, encouraged and integrated" as Europe and the United States struggle to cater to unprecedented levels of global mass migration.

The pontiff, a steadfast advocate for asylum seekers, refugees and economic migrants, said that many migrants are faced with the "drama of forced migration" and make treacherous journeys by sea in search of better lives which can sometimes lead to tragedy. 

Speaking to an Italian pro-immigrant nonprofit called "ResQ" on Wednesday, he said needy migrants are often "exploited, rejected, abused and reduced to slavery" while traveling to the unknown.

POPE FRANCIS SAYS INTENTIONALLY ALLOWING MIGRANTS TO DIE IS A 'GRAVE SIN'

He praised groups like ResQ which seeks to protect desperate migrants and refugees in danger in the Mediterranean Sea. The group has its own 128-foot long rescue boat that helps save migrants at sea. 

"So we welcome the action of those who do not just observe things, criticizing from afar, but who get involved, offering some of their time, their ingenuity and their resources to alleviate the suffering of migrants, to save them, welcome them and integrate them," Pope Francis said. 

"The migrant must be welcomed, accompanied, encouraged and integrated. This generosity, this industriousness is in harmony with the Gospel, which invites us to do good to everyone, and in particular the last, the poorest, the most abandoned, the sick, people in danger."

The crisis has deeply divided opinions in the West as residents and governments often grapple with the cost of housing and feeding migrants against humanitarian concerns. For instance, New York City spent $4.88 billion in the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years combined providing shelter, food and other services to migrants.

"Faced with the vastness and complexity of the migratory phenomenon, the civil authorities do not always succeed in fully meeting their responsibilities," the Pope added.  

ICE NON-DETAINED DOCKET EXPLODES TO 7.4M CASES

"Indeed, the rescue of those in danger of sinking in miserable vessels… is a very necessary task," the Pope said. "The action pursued by your organization aims to save lives: the lives of people fleeing from places where serious conflicts rage, often triggering humanitarian crises and also involving the violation of fundamental human rights."

"Dear friends, keep going forward! May Mary, help[er] of migrants, assist you in your work. I bless you and I accompany you with prayer."

It is difficult to get an exact number of the number of migrants who have left their countries of origin throughout the crisis due to a lack of comparable data in many regions in the world. The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates a record 6.5 million migrant immigrants moved to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in 2023, a jump of 10% compared to 2022.

Total net migration during the Biden administration is likely to exceed 8 million people, a recent New York Times report confirmed, citing Congressional Budget Office data. The crisis has squeezed federal, state and local finances. 

It's not the first time the pope has called on countries to open their borders to migrants. 

At a gathering in the Vatican last year, he praised an initiative that created so-called "humanitarian corridors," for refugees to travel into Europe safely.  

"Safe, orderly, regular and sustainable migration is in the interest of all countries," Pope Francis said. 

The Sant’Egidio Catholic charity, the Federation of Evangelical Churches and the Waldensian Church spearheaded the ecumenical humanitarian transfer initiative in Italy, which has brought more than 6,000 people to Europe from 2016 to 2023. 

Under the program, aid workers identify asylum candidates in refugee camps and process initial paperwork to bring them into Italy on humanitarian grounds. Once they arrive, they are then provided with assistance to settle and apply for asylum.

The Catholic Church teaches that secular governments have two obligations to balance when dealing with immigration and outsiders seeking refugee status within their borders.

These duties are outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the definitive document outlining the church's doctrines on theological and social issues.

The first duty is to "welcome the foreigner out of charity and respect for the human person," due to the fact that human beings "have the right to immigrate and thus government must accommodate this right to the greatest extent possible, especially financially blessed nations."

The second duty, based on secular governments' obligation to care for their citizens and maintain a healthy society, is "to secure one’s border and enforce the law for the sake of the common good." 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

There is surely no shortage of Christmas trees in Oregon. 

Oregon is the largest producer of Christmas trees in the United States, harvesting around 4 million trees annually, according to World Population Review. That equals out to be about 33% of the total amount of Christmas trees produced in the country each year, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. 

That number equates to around $120 million annually, per the source. 

THE WORLD'S TALLEST SNOWMAN, MEASURING 122 FEET, BUILT BY RESIDENTS IN BETHEL, MAINE

In Oregon lies Holiday Tree Farms, which is widely regarded as the largest Christmas tree producer in the world. The farm is one of 15,000 growing Christmas trees throughout the United States, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. 

Holiday Tree Farms was established in 1955 by the Schudel family. 

The farm spans over a whopping 8,500 acres, with 1 million trees harvested each year from the location, according to the Holiday Tree Farms website. 

During harvest season, the farm's 12 separate processing yards employ around 600 employees, per the website. 

25-30M CHRISTMAS TREES ARE CUT DOWN ANNUALLY, DISPLAYED IN HOMES, BUSINESSES ACROSS THE US

The farm is home to several different types of trees commonly displayed in homes during the holiday season, but the most popular is their Douglas fir.

The Douglas firs grown at Holiday Tree Farms are not just sold to Oregon residences; they are also shipped out around the United States and exported outside the country to Mexico, Guam, Asia, Central America and more, according to the farm's website.

Holiday Tree Farms also grows Grand fir, Noble fir and Nordmann fir trees, according to their website. 

Behind Oregon in terms of tree production is North Carolina. The state is not too far behind Oregon, producing about 4 million trees each year and bringing in about $86 million, according to World Population Review. 

THE WORLD'S OLDEST DOUGLAS FIR TREES HAVE LIVED OVER 1,000 YEARS

As a whole, there are about 25 to 30 million real Christmas trees sold in the United States annually, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, with about 350 million growing around the country. 

The process of growing a Christmas tree is no small order. For an average sized tree of about six to seven feet, the average growth time is seven years, but it could take upwards of 15 years to grow, according to the source. 

Every spring, farmers around the country place one to three seedlings in place of every single tree that was harvested during the fall for the holidays, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. 

From there, the slow growing process of the freshly planted trees begins. 

Hundreds of tractors blocked streets in central London on Wednesday, the latest protest by farmers against the government after it ended an exemption from inheritance tax for agricultural families.

The measure, dubbed the "tractor tax" by critics, was introduced by the government to boost funds to pay for strained public services, but farmers say it will destroy family farms and reduce food production.

Farmers lined their tractors up close to the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday, hoping to convince the government to change course, or face escalating protests.

BELARUSIAN JOURNALIST FACES TRIAL FOR COVERING PROTESTS AS GOVERNMENT INTENSIFIES CRACKDOWN ON DISSENT

"It's the final nail in our agricultural coffin," farmer Gareth Wyn Jones told Sky News, standing in front of rows of stationary tractors as protesters held up signs saying "No Farmers, No Food, No Future".

Farmers say their income has been squeezed over the years by Britain's competitive supermarket sector, cheap imports from abroad and subsidy cuts following Brexit.

The passing down of farms through generations was previously tax-free but in October the government said farmers would be subject to a tax from 2026. Protests in different parts of the country swiftly followed.

FARMERS BLOCK SPANISH HIGHWAYS IN PROTEST OF EUROPEAN UNION BUREAUCRACY

The biggest was in mid-November when 13,000 people gathered in Westminster, including Britain's most high profile farmer Jeremy Clarkson, the former Top Gear presenter whose programme Clarkson's Farm is one of Amazon's top UK shows.

The government has repeatedly said there will be no u-turn on the inheritance tax policy.

Environment minister Steve Reed said the government was working to help farmers via rural support schemes.

"We are focused on supporting our farmers, supporting rural economics growth and boosting Britain’s food security," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

Under the new inheritance tax rules, from 2026 a 20% tax will be paid on the value of a farm above 1 million pounds. Existing personal allowances, which a married couple can combine, takes the threshold for a farm and associated property up to 3 million pounds.

EXCLUSIVE - In a rare bipartisan push Wednesday morning, senators on both sides of the aisle called on President Biden to instruct his administration to brief the upper chamber by Dec. 20 on efforts underway to free Austin Tice from Syria. 

A letter, first obtained by Fox News Digital, was sent to the Oval Office by Sens. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md, calling on Biden to "seize" the rapidly changing situation in Syria and secure Tice’s return.

"Given the recent fall of the Assad regime and the rapidly changing dynamics on the ground in Syria, we think this moment presents a critical opportunity to secure Austin’s release and bring him home to his family," the letter, signed by 34 senators, read. 

COLLAPSE OF SYRIA’S ASSAD REGIME RENEWS US PUSH TO FIND AUSTIN TICE

The letter applauded comments issued by both Biden and his national security advisor Jake Sullivan affirming that Tice’s return was a "top priority" amid the rebel takeover of Damascus, but lawmakers are looking to be briefed on detailed steps being taken to secure his release.

Multiple rewards systems have been initiated by both the FBI, which is offering up to $1 million, and the State Department's Rewards for Justice program, which is offering up $10 million, for information pertaining to Tice’s whereabouts. 

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Monday evening, "There are intensive efforts underway by the United States to find Austin Tice and bring him home to his family."

HERE IS WHO IS VYING FOR POWER IN SYRIA AFTER THE FALL OF BASHAR AL-ASSAD

Efforts to connect U.S. officials with on the ground sources who may have information on where Tice is have been renewed. 

Sullivan told ABC’s "Good Morning America" on Monday that the U.S. was working with partners in Turkey through back-channel communications with people in Syria who may have information on which prison Tice was kept in, and the State Department confirmed that hostage-affairs envoy Roger Carstens has been engaging in a similar outreach approach in Beirut. 

The fall of the Assad regime on Sunday brought renewed hope for the return of Tice, who is still assessed to be alive despite his 2012 capture in Damascus and unknown condition, as rebel groups in recent days have begun freeing men, women and children held in Syria’s notoriously deplorable prisons.

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"For more than 12 years, Austin’s parents have demanded our government bring him home, and given the evolving situation in Syria, we urge you to seize this opportunity to launch an urgent effort to secure Austin’s release," the letter penned by Cronyn and Van Hollen stressed. "As a beloved son, brother, Eagle Scout, journalist, and veteran, Austin represents the best our nation has to offer and deserves the full and active support of our government to secure his release. 

"Congress is committed and more than willing to work with you to return him to his loving family. We encourage your administration to utilize all available means to further discourage the hostage taking of American citizens," it added. 

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

North Korea condemned South Korea as a "fascist dictatorship" Wednesday in reaction to President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed attempt to impose martial law.

North Korea had remained silent for roughly a week after Yoon's attempt, which was foiled by the nation's legislature. Kim's regime finally commented on the issue through its state-run news outlet, KCNA.

"The shocking incident of the puppet Yoon Suk Yeol regime, which was faced with a serious governance crisis and an impeachment crisis, suddenly declared a martial law decree and unhesitatingly wielded the guns and knives of its fascist dictatorship," KCNA said in a report.

SOUTH KOREA IMPOSES A TRAVEL BAN ON PRESIDENT YOON OVER MARTIAL LAW DECLARATION

"Yoon Suk Yeol, who was faced with the possibility of being kicked out, committed an insane act that was reminiscent of the coup during the military dictatorship several decades ago and that drew strong condemnation from all walks of life, including the opposition party and further ignited the public anger demanding impeachment, the statement continued.

"The international community is sternly watching, with assessments that the martial law incident exposed vulnerabilities in South Korean society ... and that Yoon Suk Yeol’s political life could face an early end," KCNA added.

SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT APOLOGIZES FOR DECLARING MARTIAL LAW AHEAD OF IMPEACHMENT VOTE

While the legislature blocked Yoon's attempt to enforce martial law earlier this month, it failed in an impeachment vote against Yoon this week. Investigations into Yoon's power grab remain active, however.

South Korea’s former defense minister, Kim Yong Hyun, attempted suicide while in detention over the president's martial law declaration before officials stopped him.

The main liberal opposition Democratic Party plans to hold a second impeachment vote against Yoon on Saturday for his declaration to impose martial law after the first attempt failed.

Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service, told lawmakers Wednesday at a parliament committee meeting that Kim attempted to kill himself overnight at a detention center in the capital of Seoul but that the attempt to end his life was unsuccessful after officials stopped him.

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

South Korea’s former defense minister, Kim Yong Hyun, attempted suicide while in detention over the president's martial law declaration before officials stopped him.

This, as police raided President Yoon Suk Yeol's office Wednesday amid the investigation into the president's declaration.

The main liberal opposition Democratic Party plans to hold a second impeachment vote against Yoon on Saturday for his declaration to impose martial law after the first impeachment attempt failed last weekend.

Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service, told lawmakers Wednesday at a parliament committee meeting that Kim attempted to kill himself overnight at a detention center in the capital of Seoul but that the attempt to end his life was unsuccessful after officials stopped him.

SOUTH KOREA IMPOSES A TRAVEL BAN ON PRESIDENT YOON OVER MARTIAL LAW DECLARATION

Kim is listed in a stable condition.

Justice Minister Park Sung Jae also confirmed Kim’s failed suicide attempt during the parliament committee meeting.

Kim was detained early Wednesday after a Seoul court approved a warrant for his arrest on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power. Kim was the first person formally arrested over the president's Dec. 3 martial law decree.

A close associate of Yoon, Kim is accused of recommending martial law to the president and sending troops to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting on the motion. Lawmakers eventually managed to enter a parliament chamber, where they unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing it to be lifted just hours after it was declared.

Prosecutors have up to 20 days to decide whether to indict Kim in the case.

Cho Ji Ho, commissioner general of the National Police Agency, and Kim Bong-sik, head of the metropolitan police agency of Seoul, were detained over their actions during martial law on allegations of deploying police forces to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting.

SOUTH KOREA'S PRESIDENT YOON SURVIVES IMPEACHMENT ATTEMPT AFTER HIS PARTY BOYCOTTS VOTE

The country’s main law enforcement agencies are centering on whether Yoon, Kim and others involved in the martial law decree committed the crime of rebellion, for which a conviction carries a maximum sentence of death.

Yoon, a conservative, apologized on Saturday for the martial law declaration, saying he would not seek to avoid legal or political responsibility for the motion. He also said he would leave it to his party to lead the country through its political turmoil, "including matters related to my term in office."

In declaring martial law, Yoon said he wanted to rebuild the country by eliminating "shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces," a criticism of his liberal rivals who control parliament.

Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law decree was unconstitutional. This was the first time martial law was imposed in South Korea in more than 40 years.

During a parliamentary hearing Tuesday, Kwak Jong-keun, commander of the Army Special Warfare Command whose troops were sent to parliament, testified that Yoon called him and requested that troops deployed at parliament "quickly destroy the door and drag out the lawmakers who are inside."

Kwak said he did not follow Yoon's order.

Senior officer Kim Dae-woo of the military’s counterintelligence agency said at the same hearing that his commander, Yeo In-hyung, asked him if an army bunker in Seoul had space to detain politicians and other figures after martial law was declared. Yeo is considered a close associate of Kim.

If Yoon is impeached, his powers will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to remove him from office. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the second in command in the South Korean government, would take over his presidential responsibilities.

Should the president be removed, an election to replace him must be held within 60 days.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.