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South Korean president declares martial law in move against opposition party
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Tuesday, accusing the opposition of "anti-state" activity.
In an unannounced address broadcast live late at night on YTN, Yoon said he had no choice but to take drastic measures to protect South Korean freedoms and the constitutional order. He said opposition parties have taken hostage of the parliamentary process to throw the country into crisis.
"I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free constitutional order," Yoon said.
He did not say in the address what specific measures would be taken.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Reuters contributed to this report.
After Trump's tariff threat, Mexico says Canada wishes it 'had the cultural riches Mexico has'
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum says Canada "could only wish they had the cultural riches Mexico has" following a threat by President-elect Donald Trump to impose tariffs on both countries over the flow of migrants and drugs into the U.S.
Sheinbaum made the remark after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined Trump for dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, during which he spoke to the president-elect about his border concerns, Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador in Washington, told The Associated Press.
"The message that our border is so vastly different than the Mexican border was really understood," Hillman said Sunday.
Sheinbaum then told the AP the following day that "Mexico must be respected, especially by its trading partners," adding that Canada had its own problems with fentanyl consumption and "could only wish they had the cultural riches Mexico has."
TRUMP SUGGESTS CANADA BECOME 51ST STATE AFTER TRUDEAU SAID TARIFF WOULD KILL ECONOMY: SOURCES
U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border during the last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border, the AP reported.
On immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October alone, while there were only 23,721 arrests at the Canadian border between October 2023 and September 2024. During the same period, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 1.53 million encounters with migrants at the southwest border with Mexico.
"As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before," Trump wrote last week on Truth Social.
"On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders. This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!" Trump added.
Sheinbaum also said to the AP that during her own conversation last week with Trump, he "had agreed" that Mexico wanted to focus on intelligence sharing in anti-drug efforts, noting "he said that in his opinion that was good."
However, she said Mexico would reject any direct U.S. intervention in Mexico and continue to enforce the tight restrictions on U.S. law enforcement agencies in Mexico imposed by her predecessor.
"That is going to be maintained," she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Russian tourist dies after being swept away by massive wave while doing yoga in Thailand
A Russian tourist visiting Koh Samui, Thailand, died after she was swept away by a massive wave on Friday as she was doing yoga on a rock at a popular viewpoint.
Local news outlets identified the woman as 24-year-old Kamilla Beliatskaya.
Police reviewed CCTV footage that showed Beliatskaya arriving at the Laad Koh viewpoint parking lot in a red car just before 1 p.m.
She then retrieved a pink yoga mat from the trunk of the car before she walked down to the rocky area below the viewpoint by herself.
THAILAND LEGALIZES SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, ALLOWS COUPLES TO WED STARTING IN JANUARY
A little bit later, video shows Beliatskaya being swept off the rocks by a powerful wave. Horrified onlookers watched helplessly as the tragedy unfolded.
Witnesses contacted the Bo Phut Police Station at about 1:30 p.m. to report the woman had gone missing.
She was last seen struggling in the rough waters, with waves reaching heights up to nine feet, local news outlet Khaosod English reported.
THAILAND SCHOOL BUS BURSTS INTO FLAMES OUTSIDE BANGKOK, 23 FEARED DEAD, OFFICIALS SAY
Water rescue teams attempted to search the area for Beliatskaya, but operations were suspended after about 30 minutes because wave conditions continued to worsen.
Earlier in the day, Jet Ski operators removed their vehicles from the beach due to hazardous conditions.
Khaosod English reported that the incident happened near the Laad Koh viewpoint in Moo 6, Bo Phut District, Surat Thani Province in Thailand. Surat Thani is home to the popular tourist islands of Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan.
Chaiyaporn Subprasert, the head of Samui Rescue Center, told the publication that warning systems were in place at all the beaches across the island.
MEDICAL INTERN SURPRISES WOULD-BE SEXUAL ABUSER WITH HIDDEN TALENT: ‘THOSE LESSONS SAVED MY LIFE’
"During monsoon season, we constantly warn tourists, especially at high-risk areas like Chaweng and Lamai beaches, where red flags indicate no swimming," he said. "While the incident location isn’t a swimming area but rather a viewpoint for scenery, the victim may have been caught off guard by the unexpected wave surge."
At about 11 p.m. on Saturday, police received a report that staff from the Impeña Resort Hotel discovered a body on Chaweng Noi Beach. The body was determined to be that of Beliatskaya. Her boyfriend, Grigorii Anokhin, confirmed the identification, according to Khaosod English.
Authorities urged visitors to use extreme caution during monsoon conditions and to avoid rocky coastal areas when the surf is large.
IDF soldiers accuse UN peacekeepers of enabling Hezbollah terrorists amid increasing cease-fire violations
As Israel and Hezbollah implemented a fragile cease-fire deal, questions are resurfacing about United Nations (U.N.) peacekeepers' failure to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and whether its continued presence will continue to favor the Iran-backed terror group.
The cease-fire, brokered by the U.S. and France, took effect on Nov. 27 and aims to halt over a year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Under its terms, Hezbollah is required to withdraw north of the Litani River, and Israeli forces will pull back from southern Lebanon within 60 days. The agreement marks a significant step but faces immediate challenges, with both sides accusing the other of violations. Against this backdrop, the role of the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) is facing renewed scrutiny.
On Monday, Hezbollah launched two projectiles at Mount Dov, alleging Israeli cease-fire violations. Responding to the launches, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in Hebrew on X: "Hezbollah’s fire toward Mount Dov constitutes a serious violation of the cease-fire, and Israel will respond forcefully. We are determined to continue enforcing the cease-fire and to respond to any violation by Hezbollah-whether minor or severe."
The cease-fire agreement is being implemented under a five-nation monitoring committee led by the U.S. to oversee the de-escalation process - an arrangement that U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein has referred to as a "game-changer" in addressing longstanding limitations.
HEZBOLLAH'S NEIGHBORS: ISRAELI BORDER COMMUNITY UNDER CONSTANT ATTACK FROM TERROR GROUP
Javed Ali, a former U.S. counterterrorism official and an associate professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, highlighted UNIFIL’s challenges in enforcing U.N. Security Council resolution 1701. "The same issues are likely to manifest again under the revised UNSCR 1701, although in this current iteration, both the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL will be charged with overseeing the implementation of the resolution and ensuring that Hezbollah is unable to violate its terms or rebuild an operational infrastructure south of the Litani River that could once again threaten Israel."
Ali also pointed to historical U.N. peacekeeping failures, such as those in Somalia, Rwanda and the Balkans, as cautionary examples. "In decades past, there are other examples of the limitations of U.N. peacekeeping elements to prevent either the outbreak or dramatic escalation of armed conflict between combatants in similarly small countries with complex ethnic, tribal, or religious divisions."
A documentary filmed in the southern Lebanon village of Houla a few weeks prior to the cease-fire captured Israeli reserve soldiers as they moved cautiously from house to house, clearing each room as they advanced through a Hezbollah stronghold. Gunfire erupted suddenly, forcing the troops to take cover as Hezbollah terrorists fired at them from nearby homes. The exchange intensified, with bullets cutting through the air, when an unexpected sight left the soldiers stunned: a UNIFIL convoy driving directly into the firefight.
The white U.N. vehicle crossed the road separating the Israeli soldiers from Hezbollah fighters, coming to a halt amid the smoke and chaos. A UNIFIL peacekeeper stepped out, seemingly oblivious to the life-threatening battle unfolding around him. "It was a total surprise. The IDF soldiers were shocked," said Itai Anghel, an Israeli journalist embedded with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). "The timing of the convoy’s arrival, as well as its route, made the soldiers suspect coordination with Hezbollah."
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MIDDLE EAST'S HEZBOLLAH AND HAMAS GROUPS?
Anghel, a veteran war reporter for the Israeli TV program "Uvda," described the bizarre scene. "This was not my first time in Houla. I documented the battle here during the Second Lebanon War 18 years ago, but this time, it was worse," he said. "Every second or third house in the village was packed with weapons - RPGs, rockets, tunnels - all aimed at storming Israeli villages just a few kilometers away."
As the battle raged, Anghel witnessed the soldiers’ frustrations with UNIFIL’s presence. "They don’t trust them," he told Fox News Digital. "One soldier even told me, ‘If we leave these villages for UNIFIL to manage, it will all revert to how it was before - nothing will change.’"
An IDF official told Fox News Digital that during the 14 months of fighting in South Lebanon, "We’ve seen Hezbollah use U.N. convoys to get close to the border - a Hezbollah car just entered the convoy and tagged along with them to safely gather intelligence. Cameras operated by Hezbollah have even been found on the fences of UNIFIL facilities. In one case, we discovered a massive tunnel just a few meters from a UNIFIL base. Think of the noise and effort required to dig a tunnel in stone - it’s impossible they didn’t know."
A former special unit IDF fighter, who asked to stay anonymous, described what he witnessed during his service in southern Lebanon. "We’d see UNIFIL on one side and Hezbollah just meters away on the other," he said. "Over time, Hezbollah became bolder, setting up tents right on the border. Everyone played the game - they knew Hezbollah was there, walking freely among them. And nothing was done."
UNIFIL responded to the criticism by emphasizing its limited mandate. "The implementation of Resolution 1701 is the responsibility of the parties, Lebanon and Israel," Andrea Teneti, a UNIFIL spokesperson, said. "UNIFIL supports the parties’ implementation, monitors, and reports on violations. We do not have the mandate to enforce the resolution, nor to disarm Hezbollah by force."
The spokesperson pointed to the unprecedented period of stability from 2006 to 2023 as evidence of UNIFIL’s contributions, despite both parties failing to implement their obligations. UNIFIL acknowledged that the proliferation of weapons outside state control in southern Lebanon remains a violation of Resolution 1701, adding, "The removal of unauthorized weapons can only be achieved through the full implementation of Resolution 1701. There is no military solution."
ISRAEL DEGRADES IRAN-BACKED HEZBOLLAH TERRORISTS IN SPECTACULAR PAGER EXPLOSION OPERATION: EXPERTS
"Since UNSCR 1701’s implementation, Hezbollah has successfully circumvented nearly all its conditions," Ali told Fox New Digital, adding "By doing so, the group was able to create fortified bunkers, weapons caches, command posts for mobile fighting squads, and firing positions for rockets, mortars, and other projectiles used to attack Israeli civilian and military targets - which increased exponentially in the aftermath of October 7, 2023. By all accounts, UNIFIL did little to prevent this operational buildup or prevent the escalation in Hezbollah attacks after October 7."
Following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Hezbollah opened another front in the war along the northern border, launching hundreds of rockets, anti-tank missiles and UAVs into Israeli territory. Alarmingly, many of these attacks originated near UNIFIL bases. "Over 430 Hezbollah projectiles have landed in and around UNIFIL outposts," an IDF military official reported. "Yet the U.N. has only twice named Hezbollah explicitly as responsible for these attacks."
"The actions of both the IDF and Hezbollah are putting peacekeepers in danger, whether through crossfire or deliberate acts", said Teneti. "We name a party only when we are sure about the source of fire impacting the mission and Hezbollah has been mentioned several times as responsible for some of those attacks."
The IDF has provided Fox News Digital with further evidence of Hezbollah’s violations, including fortified positions and training centers. In one instance, a Hezbollah facility packed with weapons and attack plans was discovered just 200 meters from a UNIFIL base. "You had to walk past the facility to even reach the U.N. base," an IDF officer noted.
Michael, a former Danish soldier who served with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, reflected on his time in southern Lebanon. "Hezbollah controlled all the areas we were supposed to monitor," he told the Danish newspaper BT. "We couldn’t operate at night out of fear, and taking photos was prohibited. Despite daily reports of violations, nothing happened."
As more violations of the cease-fire are reported, Israeli officials are concerned that Hezbollah’s continued presence in southern Lebanon will lead to renewed violence, while UNIFIL insists its role is limited to monitoring and reporting.
Experts believe that for now, the ceasefire has provided a momentary reprieve, but whether it can hold remains uncertain. With Hezbollah entrenched and Israel skeptical of UNIFIL’s efficacy, the peacekeeping mission’s role is more critical - and contested - than ever.
Biden administration to announce $725M weapons package to Ukraine months before Trump is sworn in
The Biden administration is unveiling a $725 million weapons package for Ukraine this afternoon, a U.S. official tells Fox News.
The move comes less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
This package will include anti-tank weapons, artillery, drones, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and anti-personnel land mines to slow Russia's advances in the Kursk region, the official said.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance have railed against the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion, and on the campaign trail, the former president said he would bring an end to the war before even entering office.
However, Trump has yet to detail how he will do this.
Vance made headlines earlier this year after he suggested that the best way to end the war was for Ukraine to cede the land Russia has seized and for a demilitarized zone to be established, a proposal Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy flatly rejected.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is urging NATO leaders gathering for a meeting in Brussels this week to invite the country to join the Western military alliance.
UKRAINE IS PUSHING FOR A NATO INVITATION
"We believe that the invitation should be extended at this stage," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha recently said in a letter to NATO leaders, which was obtained by Reuters.
"It will become the Allies' adequate response to Russia's constant escalation of the war it has unleashed, the latest demonstration of which is the involvement of tens of thousands of North Korean troops and the use of Ukraine as a testing ground for new weapons," he added.
Last Friday, Zelenskyy also used an interview on Sky News to up the public pressure for NATO leaders to extend his country a membership offer.
"If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control," he reportedly said.
Fox News’ Caitlin McFall and Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
Pro-Putin leader backs harsh crackdown as over 40 people hospitalized amid protests in Georgia
More than 40 people in the former Soviet nation of Georgia have been hospitalized following a brutal police crackdown on protesters in a move that was backed by pro-Russia Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.
Tens of thousands of protesters hit the streets in the capital city of Tbilisi for a fourth night on Sunday after Kobakhidze’s ruling party, known as the Dream Party, suspended the country’s 15-year push to join the European Union (EU) last week.
"Any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law," Kobakhidze said during a weekend briefing. "Neither will those politicians who hide in their offices and sacrifice members of their violent groups to severe punishment escape responsibility."
GEORGIAN PM PRAISES COUNTRY'S PROTEST CRACKDOWN DESPITE US CONDEMNATION
Some 44 people, including 27 protesters, 16 police officers and one member of the media, were reported by Georgia's Ministry of Interior as having been hospitalized on Sunday after police forces clashed with civilians and used water cannons and tear gas while angry protesters shot off firecrackers.
Kobakhidze insisted in his comments that Georgia’s integration process has not been halted and said, "The only thing we have rejected is the shameful and offensive blackmail, which was, in fact, a significant obstacle to our country’s European integration."
The government’s decision to stop EU integration came just hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday that condemned Georgia’s general election last month as neither free nor fair.
Kobakhidze, a billionaire who made his wealth in Russia and who is supportive of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has faced push back abroad and at home over claims that the general election was rigged.
Georgia, which left the Soviet Union in 1991, has leaned on Western support for decades in an attempt to breakaway from Moscow’s influence over the country – which saw a Russian invasion in 2008.
PROTESTERS STORM PUTIN-BACKED PARLIAMENT IN GEORGIA BREAKAWAY REGION
However, under the Dream Party, Georgia has been increasingly pushing authoritarian policies and general unrest in the country has been on the rise.
The government has claimed that recent policy changes are a move to protect the country from foreign interference and avoid being dragged into a war like that in Ukraine. However, critics of the Georgian government point to recent trends in Tbilisi that could be perceived as attempts to kowtow to Putin-favored policies.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas and Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos released a joint statement on Sunday condemning the Georgian government’s decision to suspend EU accession talks and reiterated "serious concerns about the continuous democratic backsliding of the country."
"We note that this announcement marks a shift from the policies of all previous Georgian governments and the European aspirations of the vast majority of the Georgian people, as enshrined in the Constitution of Georgia," the statement said.
The EU officials urged Georgian authorities to "respect the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, and refrain from using force against peaceful protesters, politicians and media representatives."
The U.S. similarly condemned the violence against the protesters and argued the move to suspend Georgia’s EU accession "goes against the promise to the Georgian people enshrined in their constitution to pursue full integration into the European Union and NATO."
"By suspending Georgia’s EU accession process, Georgian Dream has rejected the opportunity for closer ties with Europe and made Georgia more vulnerable to the Kremlin," the State Department said Sunday.
Kobakhidze dismissed the Biden administration’s comments and said, "You can see that the outgoing administration is trying to leave the new administration with as difficult a legacy as possible. They are doing this regarding Ukraine, and now also concerning Georgia."
"This will not have any fundamental significance. We will wait for the new administration and discuss everything with them," he added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
US Navy ships repel attack from Houthis in Gulf of Aden
Two U.S. Navy destroyers repelled an attack by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on American ships over the weekend, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) says.
"U.S. Navy destroyers USS Stockdale and the USS O’Kane successfully defeated a range of Houthi-launched weapons while transiting the Gulf of Aden, Nov. 30-Dec. 1," U.S. Central Command said in a statement. "The destroyers were escorting three U.S. owned, operated, flagged merchant vessels and the reckless attacks resulted in no injuries and no damage to any vessels, civilian or U.S. Naval."
"The destroyers successfully engaged and defeated three anti-ship ballistic missiles, three one-way attack uncrewed aerial systems, and one anti-ship cruise missile, ensuring the safety of the ships and their personnel, as well as civilian vessels and their crews," the statement continued.
"These actions reflect the ongoing commitment of CENTCOM forces to protect U.S. personnel, regional partners, and international shipping, against attacks by Iran-backed Houthis," CENTCOM added.
RUSSIA TRICKS YEMENI MEN TO FIGHT IN UKRAINE UNDER HOUTHI SCHEME
The attack came weeks after U.S. forces conducted retaliatory strikes against Houthi weapons storage facilities in Yemen.
The facilities targeted in mid-November were all located in Houthi-controlled territories and housed a variety of advanced conventional weapons used by Houthis to target U.S. and other international military – as well as civilian – vessels moving through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
US FORCES TARGET HOUTHI WEAPONS STORAGE FACILITIES IN YEMEN
U.S. Air Force and Navy assets, including the F-35C, were used during the operation.
This marked the first time the F-35C stealth strike fighter had ever been used in combat, a U.S. defense official told Fox News.
The strikes also aimed to degrade the group’s ability to threaten partners in the region.
Fox News’ Greg Wehner and Liz Friden contributed to this report.
American-Israeli IDF platoon commander killed in battle, body held in Gaza, IDF says
Capt. Omer Neutra, 21, from New York was killed in battle on Oct. 7, 2023, and "his body has been held hostage in Gaza since," Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on social media.
The American-Israeli served as a tank platoon commander in the Armored Corps 77th Battalion, 7th Brigade, the IDF said on Monday.
"May his memory be a blessing," a post to X reads.
Neutra was from Long Island, according to ABC 7 New York. The media outlet reported he was killed during the Hamas attack on the Nova Music Festival in Israel.
7 US HOSTAGES STILL HELD BY HAMAS TERRORISTS AS FAMILIES PLEAD FOR THEIR RELEASE: 'THIS IS URGENT'
Prior to the IDF announcement, it was believed Neutra was alive and being held hostage.
Due to Neutra's body being held hostage, he is considered one of seven American hostages held in Gaza. Their families once again sat through another Thanksgiving dinner with an empty seat on Thursday, after urging that their release be prioritized.
AMERICAN FATHER OF HAMAS HOSTAGE ITAY CHEN PUSHES US, ISRAEL ON ‘PLAN B’ AS NEGOTIATIONS FALTER
Cease-fire negotiations have all but collapsed, while Israel's military campaign to defeat Hamas continues.
Many hold out hope that even if the Biden administration cannot secure the release of the hostages before he leaves office in January, that the incoming Trump administration may bring a change to the negotiations and secure the hostages’ release.
President-elect Trump said from the campaign trail, "We want our hostages back, and they better be back before I assume office, or you will be paying a very big price."
The other American hostages still being held in Gaza include Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Gadi Haggai, Judi Weinstein Haggai and Keith Siegel.
Fox News' Caitlin McFall and Ben Evansky contributed to this report.
Trump victory boosts conservatives in Latin America, wake-up call to dictators: 'there will be consequences'
MEXICO CITY - U.S. foes in Latin America have expressed apprehension regarding the forthcoming Trump administration, primarily due to anticipated shifts in U.S. foreign policy that may adversely affect their national interests.
Just last week, Trump's tariff policies seemingly unsettled Mexico's socialist president, who seemed to offer an olive branch to the incoming administration over tariffs and migration.
"The authoritarian axis or autocrats of the region: Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia who have an anti-American stance and whose foreign policies are closer to Russia, China and Iran will certainly think twice before they become more aggressive in the region," Joseph Humire, Executive Director of the Center for a Secure Free Society, told Fox News Digital.
"Those countries have often provoked and destabilized their neighbors, have created platforms for criminal apparatus to grow throughout Latin America (transnational crime and international terrorism) and pushed to align the region closer to China. They will think twice about continuing to do a lot of that, because it’s not going to be as effective. They are going to respect the United States position. The United States is going to project strength so adversaries and autocratic countries know that if they try to provoke conflicts or war, there will be consequences," he said.
MEXICAN PRESIDENT MIGHT BE CHANGING VIEW ON US AS TRUMP WIN SENDS WARNING TO RULING SOCIALISTS
Humire, who wrote a paper titled "The Foreign Policy Foundations of Trumpism," noted, "A return to nation-state sovereignty and burden sharing are the most important pillars of President Trump’s foreign policy, known as America First or ‘Trumpism.’ These pillars come together to support a vision that America must be strong at home to project power abroad. In many ways, it is a return to the basics of U.S. foreign policy established by the founding fathers."
"The reaction for President Trump’s victory in Latin America is overwhelmingly positive. I was recently in Mar-a-Lago, and Argentinian President Javier Milei was the first foreign leader to see President Trump after his victory. It was very important that a President from Latin America was one of the first presidents to see President Trump, because President Milei’s victory shortened the distance for a new way of right-wing-conservative-libertarian presidents in Latin America to rise at the surface and achieve electoral victories."
He predicted, "We are going to start to see a new wave of a political class rising in Latin America connected to President Bolsonaro, to President Milei and hopefully many elections coming up in Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Perú. Many of these countries are going to look for those candidates as potential front-runners for those elections. The brand of conservatives, of libertarians, of right-wing leaders is immediately growing. I think many of these leaders will be inspired to move their policies way closer to the U.S. and won’t have as many obstacles as those presented by the Biden-Harris administration."
Given its extensive economic ties and shared border with the United States, Mexico is particularly concerned about potential changes in immigration and trade policies. President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration is wary of stricter immigration controls and the possibility of renegotiating trade agreements, which could impact Mexico's economy and the well-being of its citizens.
The Colombian government is concerned about potential shifts in U.S. drug policy and security cooperation. President Gustavo Petro’s administration fears that a more aggressive U.S. approach could complicate ongoing peace processes and efforts to combat drug trafficking within the country.
Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, often referred to by U.S. officials as the "troika of tyranny," anticipate increased sanctions and diplomatic pressure under the new administration. The appointment of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State signals a more hardline stance against these governments, potentially leading to heightened economic and political isolation.
Chilean economist Axel Kaiser, Senior Fellow at the Archbridge Institute, told Fox News Digital: "All of Latin America will benefit from Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, because he really cares about Latin America, and he is aware of the socialist threat in our region, and therefore he will take measures that will put pressure on left-wing authoritarian governments or those with left-wing authoritarian projects, such as Mexico, to stay at bay. Perhaps there is also some hope with Venezuela. I think Marco Rubio is going to do everything possible to ensure a transition to democracy in Venezuela."
Kaiser continued: "There can be no better news for the entire region, whether they are countries governed by left-wing governments or right-wing governments, because the United States is going to collaborate more actively. For example, Trump's victory is decisive for Argentina, because, in the financial needs that country is facing, the help from the United States is going to make an important difference for Javier Milei to do well, and his success is going to have an impact on the entire region."
He continued, "In Brazil, Bolsonaro is going to experience an important recovery, he is already having one, we will see if he ends up being the presidential candidate. Trump's victory is important for leaders like him, like José Antonio Kast and Johannes Kaiser in Chile, and Vicky Dávila in Colombia. There are several leaders who could benefit from a more conservative government in the U.S., because they will be aligned, and I believe that the United States will support them."
TRUMP LIKELY TO MAKE SEVERAL BORDER SECURITY MOVES ON FIRST DAY, SAYS EXPERT
Under President Javier Milei, who shares a libertarian and pro-market stance similar to Trump’s, Argentina anticipates strengthening bilateral relations. Milei is seeking U.S. support to secure additional International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans and attract investments, aiming to stabilize Argentina’s economy and implement capitalist reforms.
With a right-leaning government, Brazil may find common ground with the Trump administration on trade and regional security. Potential collaboration could involve increased U.S. investments and support for Brazil’s initiatives in areas like infrastructure and energy.
"Donald Trump's victory is very important for Latin America . . . because he has a team with many people who are experts on security, democracy, freedom, and the reality of Latin America. . . . I feel that this time he will not leave any pending tasks; the authoritarian regimes of the region such as Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia will surely no longer have an ally in the United States, by action or omission," Colombian Senator Paola Holguin told Fox News Digital.
Holguin, a member of the conservative-leaning Centro Democrático party continued, "Although Colombia and the United States have maintained a stable and harmonious bipartisan diplomatic relationship for more than 200 years, it is hardly foreseeable that the new White House administration will adjust the agenda and support for our country, due to the poor results in the anti-drug and total peace policy; as well as the signs of alignment with the Russia, China and Iran axis; the efforts to enter the BRICS economic bloc; the desire to legitimize the narco-dictatorship and the weakness in the face of Maduro's electoral fraud."
She noted that "conciliatory messages of congratulations to Trump from Petro and Maduro make it clear that they fear what is to come, and that, contrary to their custom, they will make enormous efforts to keep the party in peace."
Experts consider that while some countries may find favorable conditions under the new Trump administration, the actual benefits will depend on the specific policies implemented and the dynamics of bilateral relations.
Biden travels to Africa where policies were ‘over-promised and under-delivered,' amid massive China expansion
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Legacy or lethargy? President Biden this week steps onto African soil for the first time in his presidency, in a visit to Angola seen by many as an attempt to leave a legacy. But China, analysts say, is threatening, through a decade of investment in Africa, to thwart the Biden administration’s aims to bring sweet memories in Africa of his time in the White House.
"The headline on Biden’s legacy in Africa is likely to be ‘over-promised and under-delivered,’" analyst Cameron Hudson told Fox News Digital. Hudson, director of African affairs at the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration, and now senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Affairs, added, "Biden set high expectations that he would revamp relations with the continent, when instead his approach and results have not substantially differed from any of his predecessors."
African analyst Cobus van Staden added his thoughts: "The Biden administration's legacy in Africa is somewhat mixed." Van Staden is managing editor of the China-Global South Project, an organization that acts as a watchdog on Beijing’s actions and is a project contributor for the South African Institute of International Affairs.
"While it (Biden’s administration) contrasted with the first Trump term in upgrading the optics and rhetoric of U.S. engagement, it remains unclear how many of the announced projects will be completed. Overall, Africa was included in Biden's approach of coalition-building as a response to growing Chinese power. His term also saw the positioning of critical minerals as a key U.S. strategic priority. However, so far this hasn't translated to many gains on the African side," he said.
Speaking at a special State Department briefing on Biden’s Angola trip, Dr. Frances Brown, special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs at the National Security Council, pushed back on criticism. Referring to the African leaders’ confab in 2022, he noted, "At that summit, we – the U.S. – pledged to invest $55 billion in Africa over three years. We are over-delivering on that thus far. Two years later, we’ve spent – we’ve invested more than 80% of that commitment."
At another briefing, senior Biden administration officials noted that over "the past two years since the Africa Leaders Summit, the administration has had over 20 Cabinet level and senior officials travel to the continent," the senior official added, "I think this administration is about the totality of those visits and those initiatives, and we're proud of our record on that front."
Brown claimed last week that "billions of dollars have been mobilized" in the Lobito Rail Corridor, a planned 800-mile railway that is central to Biden’s Angola visit – and his legacy. Brown claimed it is one of his ‘signature initiatives’.
The rail system will stretch from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and a point close to Zambia, to the port of Lobito, on Angola’s Atlantic seaboard. Washington is hoping that it can be used to transport critical raw materials (CRMs), such as cobalt and lithium, needed for the likes of electric vehicles, EV, batteries, and cut down transit time from the current 45 days to under a week.
"The International Energy Agency (IEA) has estimated that between 2020 and 2040, demand for nickel and cobalt will increase by 20 times, for graphite 25 times, and for lithium more than 40 times," Dr. E.D. Wala Chabala wrote in a recent paper for the Africa Policy Research Institute.
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Chabala, a former chairman of Zambia Railways and an economic policy consultant, added, "This projected surge in demand for CRMs has fueled great interest in the Lobito Corridor, and with it an inevitable scramble for access. The DRC, as the world’s largest producer of cobalt (estimates are consistently around 70% of global production), has found itself at the epicenter of this scramble, as has, by association, Zambia."
But there’s a large panda in the room: China. Chabala pointed out "the targeted materials (CRMs) are mostly already locked in by China, and the Asians are leaders in EV technology."
Chabala added, "Not only are the Chinese ubiquitously present on the African continent, but China is already far ahead in building supply chains for cobalt, lithium, and several other essential metals and minerals. And what is more, China is moving to take over the running of the TAZARA railway line, which runs from central Zambia to the port of Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean."
"The reality of the Lobito Corridor development is that it may be coming too late in the day. What is more, there is a proposed route, shorter by some 500 km, to the east between Lubumbashi and Dar es Salaam."
"The European Union (EU) and the U.S. are not currently leaders in EV technology. It is reported that almost 90% of cell component manufacturing, the most significant step in the battery value chain, is undertaken in Asia," Chabala said.
Van Staden told Fox News Digital, "The viability of the rail corridor partially depends on external factors. It will compete with the TAZARA rail line between Zambia and Tanzania, which will be upgraded by Chinese companies over the next few years. There will likely be pressure from the African side to connect the two lines, because that would realize a long-held goal to connect the Atlantic and Indian Ocean coasts."
"The U.S. has no choice but to seek access to critical minerals in Africa, as many of these are crucial components to the kind of high-tech manufacturing that the U.S. is trying to remain competitive in," Hudson told Fox News Digital, adding, "We simply cannot afford to cede that territory to China, nor is it too late to try to claw back our influence in this sector."
"More importantly, there is an opening to do so because Africans want diversity in their economic partnerships. Just as we are wary of China cornering the market on critical minerals in certain countries, so too are those countries worried about being so beholden to Chinese interests."
Hudson continued, "The Lobito project is really a proof of concept that the U.S. can and should be undertaking the kind of large-scale commercial infrastructure projects similar to what China has been doing on the continent for decades. Importantly, it is a recognition that we have heard the calls from African leaders that they want a relationship that is based on ’trade not aid.’"
THOUSANDS OF CHRISTIANS ‘DELIBERATELY TARGETED’ AND KILLED IN NIGERIA, NEW REPORT SAYS
Chabala told Fox News Digital this week that another factor working against U.S. interests is that the Chinese are involved in ownership of the mines producing CRMs in the DRC. "They own 80% of the largest cobalt producer in Congo, they are heavily involved in the EV battery value chain, with the bulk of the value chain activities being undertaken in Asia, and they are currently the number one global producer of EVs (the Chinese auto manufacturer BYD)," he said.
He added, "The long-term strategy of the EU and U.S. ought to be to invest and establish strong counterweight economies, so much so that the impact and consequences of the Chinese economic dynamics are counterbalanced. The African continent has 1.4 billion people, 60% below the age of 24, with a landmass of more than 30 million square kilometers (over 11 million square miles)."
"This is double the population of the EU and U.S., and almost double their landmasses. The quantities of materials on the African continent and the potential they represent for the global economy are astounding. This represents [an] unfathomable potential for establishing industries on the continent, not only to counterweight the Chinese economy, but to lock in a future market for all the top brands of EU and U.S. businesses. The mind boggles that the EU and U.S. have not embarked on pursuing this strategy, decades ago."
Van Staden noted, "Chinese actors make up less than 10% of all the mining done on the continent and there is space for more engagement from many stakeholders, as long as that happens on African terms."
Hudson concluded that, with his new administration, President-elect "Trump needs to be paying attention, treating Africans as equal partners, not talking down to them, and recognizing that they have choices. If we want Africa to choose us, then it will be through the attractiveness of our offer and not as a result of pressure."
Largest gold deposit in the world worth $83 billion found in China
What is being dubbed as the largest gold deposit in the world has been found in China, state outlet Xinhua news said.
The gold reserves are worth 600 billion yuan, according to Reuters, which amounts to $83 billion U.S.
The discovery was made by geologists with the Hunan Provincial Geological Institute about 12 miles beneath the surface in the Asian country's Pingjiang County, Xinhua reported, according to the New York Post.
The area of the discovery of 40 gold ore veins with a total of 300.2 tons of gold resources is known as the Wangu goldfield.
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Hunan Academy of Geology forecast that there were more than 1,000 tons of gold reserves at a depth of over 3,000 meters, according to Xinhua.
China is the world's largest gold producer, accounting for around 10% of global output in 2023, data from the World Gold Council showed.
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Prior to the discovery, the title of the largest gold reserve in the world went to the South Deep gold mine in Gauteng Province, South Africa, the Post states. It holds about 930 metric tons of gold.
In October, prices for gold futures had risen over 32% year to date and more than 38% in the past year, setting a number of new all-time highs in the process.
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One ounce of gold is currently going for nearly $2,674.
Investors have turned to gold as a safe haven from a variety of geopolitical risks in the past year, including the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. Uncertainty surrounding the direction of U.S. economic policy after the election, as well as the Fed's rate-cutting plans and long-term trajectory of the growing national debt have also bolstered investment in gold.
FOX Business' Eric Revell and Reuters contributed to this report.
Georgian PM praises country's protest crackdown despite US condemnation
Facing condemnation from the United States and defiance from his own president, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze praised police on Sunday for cracking down on protesters who he said were acting on foreign orders to undermine the state.
Georgia, a country of 3.7 million people that was once part of the Soviet Union, has been plunged into crisis since the governing Georgian Dream party said on Thursday it was halting European Union accession talks for the next four years.
The EU and the United States are alarmed by what they see as Georgia's shift away from a pro-Western path and back towards Russia's orbit. Big anti-government protests have taken place in the capital Tbilisi for the past three nights, and police have fired water cannon and tear gas into the crowds.
'PRO-RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE NETWORKS' EXIST IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, BELGIAN PM SAYS
More protests are planned in Tbilisi for Sunday night, and local media reported demonstrations were taking place in towns and cities throughout the country.
Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that an attempted revolution was taking place in Georgia. The former Russian president said on Telegram that Georgia was "moving rapidly along the Ukrainian path, into the dark abyss. Usually this sort of thing ends very badly".
Medvedev, once seen as a modernising reformer, has reinvented himself as an aggressive hawk since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, often hurling dire warnings at Kyiv and its Western supporters.
The Kremlin has yet to comment on the latest events in Georgia, but it has long accused the West of fomenting revolutions in post-Soviet countries that Moscow still regards as part of its sphere of influence.
Georgian Prime Minister Kobakhidze dismissed criticism by the United States, which has condemned the use of "excessive force" against demonstrators.
"Despite the heaviest systematic violence applied yesterday by the violent groups and their foreign instructors, the police acted at a higher standard than the American and European ones and successfully protected the state from another attempt to violate the constitutional order," he told a press conference, without providing evidence of foreign involvement.
Kobakhidze also shrugged off Washington's announcement on Saturday that it was suspending its strategic partnership with Georgia. He said this was a "temporary event", and Georgia would talk to the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump when it takes office in January.
Deepening the constitutional crisis in the country, outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili - a critic of the government and a strong advocate of Georgian membership of the EU - said on Saturday that she would refuse to step down when her term ends later this month.
Zourabichvili said she would stay in office because the new parliament - chosen in October in elections that the opposition says were rigged - was illegitimate and had no authority to name her successor.
Kobakhidze said he understood Zourabichvili's "emotional state".
"But of course on December 29 she will have to leave her residence and surrender this building to a legitimately elected president," he said.
Georgian Dream has nominated Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former soccer star with a record of hardline, anti-Western statements, as its candidate for president. The head of state will be chosen on Dec. 14 by an electoral college consisting of members of parliament and local government representatives.
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For much of the period since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia has leaned strongly towards the West and tried to loosen the influence of Russia, to which it lost a brief war in 2008. It has been promised eventual NATO membership, and became an official candidate for EU entry last year.
But domestic opponents and Western governments have become alarmed by what they see as increasingly authoritarian and pro-Russian tendencies by the Georgian Dream government.
In June, it enacted a law obliging NGOs to register as "foreign agents" if they received more than 20% of their funding from abroad. In September, parliament approved a law curbing LGBT rights.
The government says it is acting to protect the country from foreign interference and avoid suffering the fate of Ukraine by being dragged into a new war with Russia.
New EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas voiced solidarity on Sunday with the demonstrators.
"We stand with the Georgian people and their choice for a European future," she posted on X.
"We condemn the violence against protesters & regret signals from ruling party not to pursue Georgia's path to EU and democratic backsliding of the country. This will have direct consequences from EU side."
Ireland election: Incumbent center-right parties likely to retain power, but left-wing Sinn Fein holds water
Irish exit polling suggests that the incumbent center-right parties could likely form a coalition government, though vote counting continues on Sunday and the left-wing Sinn Féin remains in the running.
Center-right party Fine Gael was the first choice of 21% of voters, and another center-right party, Fianna Fáil, had 19.5%, according to an Ipsos B&A poll, which asked 5,018 voters across the country how they had cast their ballots.
The two parties, which governed in coalition before the election, would need the support of smaller groups or independents to achieve a majority in the 174-seat Dail, the lower house of Parliament.
Left of center opposition party Sinn Féin was at 21.1% support, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.
IRELAND VOTES IN A CLOSE-RUN ELECTION WHERE INCUMBENTS HOPE TO CLING ON TO POWER
The two center-right parties have yet to see the 88 seats needed to secure majority rule, and negotiations to form a coalition could extend for weeks as Europe awaits a potential shake-up brought by the return of President-elect Trump.
Sinn Féin achieved a stunning breakthrough in the 2020 election, topping the popular vote, but was shut out of government because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael refused to work with it, citing its leftist policies and historic ties with the Irish Republican Army during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
Though Sinn Féin, which aims to reunite Ireland with the independent Republic of Ireland, could become the largest party in the Dail, it may struggle to get enough coalition partners to form a government. During the election campaign, both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil maintained they would not go into government with it.
Fianna Fáil could get as many as 48 seats and Fine Gael 39, leaving them on the cusp of 88 seats, former Trinity College Dublin political science professor Michael Gallagher told RTE, citing vote tallies.
The most obvious candidates as coalition partners would be center-left parties Labour and the Social Democrats, who Gallagher said could take eight seats each, according to Reuters.
A Sinn Fein-led government would shake up Irish politics — and the future of the United Kingdom. The party is already the largest in Northern Ireland, and a Sinn Féin government in the republic would push for a referendum on Irish reunification in the next few years. Party leader Mary Lou McDonald said that Sinn Féin had "broken the political mold" in Ireland.
"Two-party politics is now gone. It’s consigned to the dustbin of history, and that in itself is very significant," she told the Associated Press, as she awaited results at a count center in Dublin. "The question now arises for us, what do we do with that?"
The poll only gives an indication and does not reveal which parties will form the next government. Ireland uses a complex system of proportional representation in which each of the country’s 43 constituencies elects several lawmakers and voters rank candidates in order of preference. As a result, it can take some time for full results to be known.
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The cost of living — especially Ireland’s acute housing crisis — was a dominant topic in the three-week campaign, alongside mass migration, which has become a flash-point issue in a country of 5.4 million people long defined by emigration.
The election results will show whether Ireland bucks the global trend of incumbents being ousted after years of pandemic, international instability and cost-of-living pressures.
Before polling day, analysts said the most likely outcome was another Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil coalition. That remains a likely option. The front-runners to be the next Taoiseach, or prime minister, are current Taoiseach Simon Harris of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin — despite their parties’ relatively lackluster showing. Harris, Martin and McDonald all won-re-election to their parliamentary seats in results announced Saturday.
Fine Gael candidate Paschal Donohoe, a minister in the outgoing government, said the main theme of the election was "one of the center holding."
"The big picture is, at a time in which incumbent governments all over Europe are struggling to get re-elected, the two larger parties within this government, in particular Fine Gael, are going to deliver a very strong performance," he told the AP.
The Green Party, which held 12 seats in the last parliament and propped up the governing coalition, acknowledged that it was headed for a disappointing result.
Among a large crop of independent candidates was reputed organized crime boss Gerry "the Monk" Hutch, who has seen a groundswell of support since he was bailed on money-laundering charges in Spain this month in order to run for election.
Early results suggested he stood a good chance of winning a seat in Dublin.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
China sentences journalist for espionage after he was detained while eating with Japanese diplomat
A prominent Chinese journalist was sentenced in a Beijing court to seven years in prison for espionage, according to his family.
Dong Yuyu, a commentator and editor, was detained by police in February 2022 while he was meeting a Japanese diplomat at a restaurant, according to The Associated Press, and has been in police custody since.
The verdict on Friday named then-Japanese ambassador Hideo Tarumi and Shanghai-based chief diplomat Masaru Okada as agents belonging to an espionage organization, Dong's family said.
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Dong had served as the deputy head of the editorial department at Guangming Daily, a state-owned newspaper in China. He also contributed to the Chinese edition of the New York Times.
His published work includes his support for constitutional democracy and political reform, which were later deemed to be against the position of China's Communist Party.
Dong had contacts with foreign diplomats, scholars and other journalists through his decades-long career as a journalist. He also considered Tarumi as a friend.
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His family said he knew he was always watched by state security, so he wanted to be as open as possible while meeting his Japanese or American contacts.
"With Yuyu's conviction, every Chinese citizen, when dealing with the Japanese embassy — or perhaps any other foreign embassy and diplomat — will be expected to know that the Chinese government may consider those embassies to be 'espionage organizations,'" the family said in a statement. "Every sensible Chinese citizen should be appalled by this reasoning."
The U.S. Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, criticized Dong's conviction.
"Punishing Dong for exercising his freedom of speech and the press, guaranteed by the PRC’s constitution for all its citizens, is unjust," Burns said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
White House responds to disturbing Edan Alexander hostage video, denounces Hamas: 'Cruel reminder'
The White House denounced the harrowing hostage video of Edan Alexander released on Saturday, calling it "a cruel reminder of Hamas’s terror."
The disturbing hostage footage shows the 20-year-old covering his face and crying. Alexander, who is a dual American-Israeli citizen, was serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) when he was abducted by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 attacks.
In the footage, Alexander appeared gaunt and pale. The hostage explained that he had been a prisoner for over 420 days and delivered forced messages to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President-elect Trump.
On Saturday, National Security Council (NSC) spokesman Sean Savett said that the White House was aware of the footage and is in touch with Alexander's family.
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"The hostage video released today of American-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander is a cruel reminder of Hamas’s terror against citizens of multiple countries, including our own," he said.
"The war in Gaza would stop tomorrow and the suffering of Gazans would end immediately — and would have ended months ago — if Hamas agreed to release the hostages," Savette added. "It has refused to do so, but as the President said last week, we have a critical opportunity to conclude the deal to release the hostages, stop the war, and surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza."
Savett also promised that President Biden "will continue to work around the clock" to secure the release of the hostages in Gaza.
The release of the footage came days after the IDF and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group, agreed to a 60-day cease-fire in Lebanon. While announcing the deal on Tuesday, Biden acknowledged Hamas' unwillingness to release its hostages.
"Far too many civilians in Gaza have suffered far too much," the president said from the White House's Rose Garden. "And Hamas has refused, for months and months, to negotiate a good-faith ceasefire and a hostage deal."
Alexander's parents, Yael and Adi Alexander, appeared on "Fox & Friends" last month to speak about their son. During the interview, the New Jersey residents described a meeting they had with President-elect Trump.
"I just told [Trump] about Edan, what kind of a Jersey boy he is," Yael said. "I told the president that people that [were] rescue[d] in mid-November, saw Edan inside the tunnels, and they told me that he was speaking with them, tell[ing] everyone that he's an American citizen."
"He tried to calm everyone down and to say, 'Listen, you're all civilians. You will be out soon, very fast. Don't worry about it.' It gave us a lot of strength to know that Edan was strong on October 7th, and he was comforting others," she added.
Reuters and Fox News Digital's Bailee Hill contributed to this report.
How Brazilian police say Bolsonaro plotted a coup to stay in office
Brazil's Federal Police in late November formally accused far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 others of planning a coup to keep him in office. The agency described a multistep scheme, substantiated by evidence and testimony, in an 884-page report.
The plan included systematically sowing distrust of the electoral system among the populace, drafting a decree to give the plot a veneer of legal basis, pressuring top military brass to go along with the plan, and inciting a riot in the capital.
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Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet will now decide whether to formally charge the accused parties, toss the investigation or request more testimony to understand each person’s participation in different parts of the alleged plot before deciding who stands trial on which counts. Bolsonaro and his main allies have denied any wrongdoing or involvement and accuse the authorities of political persecution.
Here is a breakdown of the plan's key elements as laid out in the report and how they are supposedly connected.
Sowing doubt about Brazil’s voting system
Police allege that efforts to disseminate fake news about Brazil’s electronic voting system began in 2019, Bolsonaro’s first year in office, but were conducted more strategically and intensively as his 2022 reelection bid drew near.
Police say so-called "digital militias" comprised of thousands of social media accounts linked to pro-Bolsonaro propaganda, as well as other prominent right-wing influencers and politicians, spread propaganda claiming the voting system could be tampered with. Bolsonaro also openly expressed admiration for Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964-1985), which he claimed saved the country from communism.
The narrative of an impending illegitimate election defeat helped Bolsonaro rally tens of thousands of supporters to multiple street demonstrations and also muster many to set up camp outside military barracks and headquarters to pressure leaders.
Three months before the election, Bolsonaro invited dozens of diplomats to the presidential palace for a nationally televised meeting in which he presented supposed vulnerabilities of the voting system, without providing any evidence.
Following Bolsonaro’s loss in 2022 to leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro's Liberal Party questioned results at the country's top electoral court, arguing voting devices made in specific years could have permitted fraud. The electoral court swiftly dismissed the claims.
"They spread false studies on the vulnerabilities of the electronic voting machines through the Liberal Party, in an attempt to create a factual basis for a presidential decree" that would set the coup in motion, the report says.
A draft decree to set the coup in motion
In January 2023, Brazilian police found a draft decree in the home of Bolsonaro’s former justice minister Anderson Torres. It was one of many versions drafted either at the far-right leader's behest or with his knowledge, police say. The former president presented the document, unsigned, to the commanders of the three divisions of the armed forces on Dec. 7, seeking their support.
Investigators say the draft decree shows Bolsonaro and his allies sought to create a committee to probe alleged fraud and crimes in the October 2022 vote, so they could later suspend the powers of the nation’s top electoral court and possibly convene a new election.
The navy’s commander was ready to comply with the decree, but army and air force leaders objected to any plan that would prevent Lula's inauguration, the report said. Those refusals are why the plan did not go ahead, according to witnesses who spoke to investigators.
Many legal experts including say evidence that former president presented the draft to military leaders and supported for different versions of the document are very damaging.
"(The goal) was to unduly intervene in elections," said Luiz Henrique Machado, a law professor at the IDP university in the capital Brasilia. "In Brazil, it is the electoral prosecutors' office and the top electoral court that have the final word about electoral legislation."
In an interview with website UOL published Thursday, Bolsonaro said he discussed with military leaders moves including decreeing a state of emergency and other exceptional measures that would have suspended the rule of law for the public good. He said such measures are provided for by the constitution, so there is nothing unseemly about evaluating those options.
"What is being said is absurd. For my part, there has never been any discussion of a coup," Bolsonaro told journalists in Brasilia on Monday.
Plan to assassinate the president-elect
On Nov. 19, Brazil's Federal Police arrested four army special operations officers and a federal police officer accused of plotting in 2022 to assassinate Lula, vice-president-elect Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The arrested men were all mentioned in a police report that was unsealed later.
The assassination plan sought to leave Bolsonaro's ticket as the only remaining valid one in the 2022 runoff, police say. As for de Moraes, he led a five-year probe into fake news and threats against Supreme Court justices, which has led some far-right allies and supporters being barred from social media and even imprisoned. In early 2023, he presided over the nation’s top electoral court when it declared Bolsonaro ineligible for office until 2030 over abuse of power related to a meeting he convened with foreign ambassadors to spread lies about the voting system.
Gen. Walter Braga Netto, Bolsonaro’s 2022 running mate and former defense minister, greenlit the assassination plan at a meeting with the plotters inside his home, investigators added. Federal Police portray the retired general as one of the plot's leaders, also involved in pressuring military leaders to sign onto the coup.
Braga Netto said in a statement on Tuesday that he never plotted a coup. He added that several of the documents seized from one of his aides, including "writings, drafts and media reports" were "preparatory material to answer media requests and to prepare for testimony in congressional hearings."
The police report contains no indication that any attempt to assassinate Lula or Alckmin was put into motion. However, investigators found messages and documents indicating that the plotters were monitoring and following de Moraes at the time.
Police said they found evidence that retired Brig. Gen. Mário Fernandes, one of the officers arrested who had been serving as interim general secretary of the presidency, also visited the protest camps outside military installations, including at the army headquarters in Brasilia. Investigators said they have evidence that he gave instructions and financial support to the protesters.
Jan. 8 uprising
Federal Police linked Bolsonaro and some of his top ministers to the Jan. 8, 2023 riot in which supporters of the former president, many of whom had been camped outside army headquarters for months, ransacked the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace in Brasilia.
The protesters had pleaded for the armed forces to keep the leftist leader out of office and their uprising — which came after Lula was sworn in — was an attempt to force military intervention and oust the new president, police say.
The riot appears in the report as one of several "other actions to pressure the army commander to join the coup d’etat." Police also say that Brig. Gen. Fernandes sent a message in November 2022 to Gen. Marco Antônio Freire Gomes, then the Army's commander, discussing the need for a "triggering event" for a coup.
Defendants, including Bolsonaro, have argued that the riot was an isolated event, and many legal experts have noted that the report's evidence of a connection between it and a broader plot is tenuous.
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"It is clear that the alleged coup plotters had contacts with people camped outside military barracks, people who were there on Jan. 8. But how much of that contact was transformed into planning, coordination, stimulus for those people to take public buildings that day? That is to be debated, it is going to be discussed in the process and the collection of more evidence," said João Pedro Pádua, a professor of criminal law proceedings at the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro.
Bolsonaro left for the United States days before Lula’s inauguration on Jan. 1, 2023 and stayed there three months, keeping a low profile. The police report alleges he was avoiding possible imprisonment related to the coup plot and awaiting the fallout from the uprising.
Islamist rebels in Syria catch Assad, Putin, Iran regimes off guard giving US new mideast headache
JERUSALEM—Extremist Syrian Islamist forces have seized control over much of Aleppo, the second-largest city in the war-torn country, raising significant new questions for the U.S. government about its policy in the highly volatile Syrian Arab Republic.
"I think it is concerning if some elements of the anti-Assad forces get their hands on sensitive sites in Syria. There have been reports that they have seized the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center, which is where Assad’s chemical weapons program is housed among other military assets," Jason Brodsky, policy director for United Against Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital.
He continued, "Given the background of some of these groups which were formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, it raises serious questions and could have implications for Israeli national security."
The government of Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly met on Friday night to discuss the latest news coming out of Syria.
Former President Barack Obama cut a widely criticized deal with Syrian regime dictator Bashar Assad in 2013 to remove his chemical weapons program. U.S. officials later said that Assad likely retained part of his chemical warfare apparatus. Assad has repeatedly used poison gas on his population to dissolve the democratic revolt that unfolded against his regime in 2011.
There are currently about 900 American soldiers in Syria as part of a mission to defeat the Islamic State. The U.S. military presence in Syria, according to Mideast experts, also helps to blunt the Iranian regime's attempts to absorb of parts of Syria.
The seizure of most of the two million-person populated city of Aleppo is a stunning military defeat for Assad and his allies, the U.S-designated terrorist movement, Hezbollah, Russia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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Yet, Brodsky warned that Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an amalgam of radical Islamist groups that secured the victory in Aleppo, is also a highly dangerous organization for the U.S.
"We can’t forget that one of these groups, HTS has been designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization. I think Israel’s degradation of Hezbollah emboldened the anti-Assad forces as they smelled blood in the water with this assault on Aleppo. It’s not only Hezbollah’s losses, but also the IRGC’s [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] losses which are testing the Quds Force’s structures in Syria.
"Let’s not forget that Israel decapitated the IRGC Quds Force Department 2000, which oversees operations in the Levant, twice in the last year alone, not to mention other key commanders in the Syrian theater. That is a loss of relationships, skills and networks that have placed the IRGC at a disadvantage, especially when Hezbollah has been under such strain," he said.
The United States government has designated both Iran’s regime and the Syrian Arab Republic as state-sponsors of terrorism.
Phillip Smyth, an expert on Iranian regime proxy groups and Syria, who is with the Atlantic Council, told Fox News Digital, "If you were thinking Assad was sending out or had anything elite and functional for fighting forces, recall that nearly every successful offensive for pro-Assad side was executed by Iran and Iran proxies and or Russia since 2013 and 2015, respectively."
Smyth said that "HTS is a group that is an outgrowth of Al-Qaeda and has connections to Turkey. Their endgame is to create a Talibanesque society with a few tweaks."
He said, "I doubt the U.S. will be in a position to say we're hunky-dory with this. They attacked us on 9/11, "in reference to the Al-Qaeda origin of HTS. Smyth, however, noted that Assad’s is the other side of the same dangerous coin for U.S interests. He said regarding Assad and HTS, "I don’t think either is a good case. Assad has been very Anti-American. He has allowed Lebanese Hezbollah to metastasize and utilized Sunni Jihad groups" Smith added that "Assad allowed Al-Qaeda to go to Iraq to kill Americans."
The U.S. allied group, a coalition of Kurdish forces called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), is also present in Aleppo. The SDF played a critical role in defeating the Islamic State in Syria.
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Wladimir van Wilgenburg, a Kurdish studies expert, discussed the SDF and the Kurdish force YPG (The People's Defense Units) with Fox News Digital. He said "The city of Aleppo is home to two Kurdish-dominated neighborhoods under the control of the Kurdish-led SDF/YPG and a significant number of displaced people from Afrin (which is under Turkish control) living in Til Rifaat in northern Aleppo. It is unlikely the HTS will accept the YPG from controlling the airport. Russia, for the first time, has also carried out airstrikes in Aleppo, killing several civilians and rebel fighters."
Van Wilgenburg, the co-author of the 2021 book with Dr. Michael Knights on the SDF-U.S. partnership against the Islamic State, continued that "The rising influence of HTS also poses a threat to the YPG’s presence in northern Aleppo. Notably, the YPG/SDF withdrew from Nubl and Zahra without a fight, having moved in after regime and Iran-backed militias previously took control of those towns."
General Hossein Daghighi, Advisor to the Commander of the IRGC, said on Saturday, according to Iran International, "The enemy is incapable of taking any effective action, as the resistance networks have been systematically organized. Their attempts to meddle in Syria will result in their hand being decisively severed, leaving a mark on history that will not be forgotten."
The Syrian regime’s military announced their "redeployment operation" in Aleppo. "The large numbers of terrorists and the multiplicity of battlefronts prompted our armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defense lines in order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers, and prepare for a counterattack," said Syria’s military.
According to Syria’s military, "Dozens of men from our armed forces were killed and others wounded" as "terrorist organizations were able over the past hours to enter large parts of neighborhoods of Aleppo city."
Assad’s regime has slaughtered over 500,000 people in Syria since 2011. The U.N. has since stopped tracking the death toll there.
Israeli military says Hezbollah is smuggling weapons into Lebanon during cease-fire
Hezbollah terrorists are smuggling weapons into Lebanon despite an ongoing cease-fire agreement with Israel, the Israel Defense Forces alleged Saturday.
IDF Arabic Spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X that "earlier today, Air Force fighter jets, under the direction of Military Intelligence, attacked military infrastructure near the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon, which Hezbollah actively used to transfer weapons from Syria to Lebanon.
"This raid came after monitoring the transfer of Hezbollah combat equipment from Syria to Lebanon even after the cease-fire agreement, which constitutes a threat to the State of Israel and a violation of the understandings of the cease-fire agreement," he added.
The cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah is now in its fourth day on Saturday. Some Israeli forces still remain in southern Lebanon following a ground operation that was launched there in October, and under the terms of the cease-fire, they are expected to withdraw within the next 60 days.
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However, Hezbollah’s militants still appear to be active within Lebanon.
Adraee said Saturday that "a number of gunmen were observed arriving in the southern Lebanon area, where they loaded RPGs, ammunition boxes and other military equipment into a vehicle" and "a short time later, an IAF aircraft attacked the vehicle."
"In another incident, an Air Force aircraft attacked a military vehicle operating inside Hezbollah's missile production infrastructure deep inside Lebanon," he continued.
Adraee also said Saturday that in southern Lebanon, Israeli troops "uncovered combat equipment inside a mosque used by Hezbollah members, and the forces confiscated it."
He shared images of rifles and grenades that reportedly were found at the scene.
"The IDF is deployed in the southern Lebanon area and will enforce any violation of the cease-fire agreement," he declared.
Imprisoned Kremlin critic convicted again, receives 3-year sentence for opposing war in Ukraine
Imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Gorinov was convicted again on Friday and given a three-year prison sentence for opposing Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.
The three-day trial against Gorinov again revealed Russian intolerance of dissent.
Gorinov, 63, is a former member of a Moscow municipal council who is already serving a seven-year prison term for public criticism of the invasion, according to The Associated Press.
Noting his previous conviction and sentence, a court in Russia's Vladimir region ordered Gorinov to serve a total of five years in a maximum-security prison. Russia's independent news site Mediazona quoted Gorinov's lawyer, who said the new sentence means he will spend a year more behind bars compared to his previous sentence.
Gorinov was first convicted in July 2022, when a Moscow court sentenced him to seven years in prison for "spreading false information" about the Russian army at a municipal council meeting. Gorinov was accused of expressing skepticism about a children’s art competition in his constituency and saying that "every day children are dying" in Ukraine.
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He was the first known Russian imprisoned under a 2022 law that essentially bans any public statements about the war that deviate from Moscow's narrative.
In March 2023, Gorinov told The Associated Press from behind bars that "authorities needed an example they could showcase to others (of) an ordinary person, rather than a public figure."
Last year, authorities launched a second case against Gorinov, his supporters said. He was purported to have been "justifying terrorism" in conversations with his cellmates about Ukraine’s Azov battalion, which Russia outlawed as a terrorist organization, and the 2022 explosion on the Crimean bridge, which Moscow considered an act of terrorism.
Gorinov rejected the allegations against him Wednesday, according to independent news site Mediazona, which quoted him as saying that he only said the annexed Crimean Peninsula was Ukrainian territory and that he called Azov a part of the Ukrainian army.
His trial began Wednesday in the Vladimir region, where he is serving time in prison from his previous conviction. Photos from the courtroom, published by Mediazona, showed Gorinov in the defendant’s cage with a hand-drawn peace symbol on a piece of paper covering his prison badge and holding a handwritten placard saying: "Stop killing. Let’s stop the war."
"My guilt is that I, as a citizen of my country, allowed this war to happen and could not stop it," Gorinov said in his closing statement in court, Mediazona reported.
"But I would like my guilt and responsibility to be shared with me by the organizers, participants, supporters of the war, as well as the persecutors of those who advocate peace," Gorinov added. "I continue to live with the hope that this will happen someday. In the meantime, I ask those who live in Ukraine and my fellow citizens who suffered from the war to forgive me."
About 1,100 people have been the subjects of criminal cases over their anti-war stance since the war against Ukraine began in February 2022, according to OVD-Info, a prominent rights group that tracks political arrests. Nearly 350 of them are currently behind bars or have been involuntarily committed to medical institutions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ireland votes in a close-run election where incumbents hope to cling on to power
Ireland is voting Friday in a parliamentary election that will decide the next government — and will show whether Ireland bucks the global trend of incumbents being ousted by disgruntled voters after years of pandemic, international instability and cost-of-living pressures.
Polls opened at 7 a.m.. (0700GMT), and Ireland’s 3.8 million voters are selecting 174 lawmakers to sit in the Dail, the lower house of parliament.
Here’s a look at the parties, the issues and the likely outcome.
Who’s running?
The outgoing government was led by the two parties who have dominated Irish politics for the past century: Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. They have similar center-right policies but are longtime rivals with origins on opposing sides of Ireland’s 1920s civil war.
After the 2020 election ended in a virtual dead heat they formed a coalition, agreeing to share Cabinet posts and take turns as taoiseach, or prime minister. Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin served as premier for the first half of the term and was replaced by Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar in December 2022. Varadkar unexpectedly stepped down in March, passing the job to current Taoiseach Simon Harris.
Opposition party Sinn Fein achieved a stunning breakthrough in the 2020 election, topping the popular vote, but was shut out of government because Fianna Fail and Fine Gael refused to work with it, citing its leftist policies and historic ties with militant group the Irish Republican Army during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
Under Ireland’s system of proportional representation, each of the 43 constituencies elects multiple lawmakers, with voters ranking their preferences. That makes it relatively easy for smaller parties and independent candidates with a strong local following to gain seats.
This election includes a large crop of independent candidates, ranging from local campaigners to far-right activists and reputed crime boss Gerry "the Monk" Hutch.
What are the main issues?
As in many other countries, the cost of living — especially housing — has dominated the campaign. Ireland has an acute housing shortage, the legacy of failing to build enough new homes during the country’s "Celtic Tiger" boom years and the economic slump that followed the 2008 global financial crisis.
"There was not building during the crisis, and when the crisis receded, offices and hotels were built first," said John-Mark McCafferty, chief executive of housing and homelessness charity Threshold.
The result is soaring house prices, rising rents and growing homelessness.
After a decade of economic growth, McCafferty said "Ireland has resources" — not least 13 billion euros ($13.6 billion) in back taxes the European Union has ordered Apple to pay it — "but it is trying to address big historic infrastructural deficits."
Tangled up with the housing issue is immigration, a fairly recent challenge to a country long defined by emigration. Recent arrivals include more than 100,000 Ukrainians displaced by war and thousands of people fleeing poverty and conflict in the Middle East and Africa.
This country of 5.4 million has struggled to house all the asylum-seekers, leading to tent camps and makeshift accommodation centers that have attracted tension and protests. A stabbing attack on children outside a Dublin school a year ago, in which an Algerian man has been charged, sparked the worst rioting Ireland had seen in decades.
Unlike many European countries, Ireland does not have a significant far-right party, but far-right voices on social media seek to drum up hostility to migrants, and anti-immigrant independent candidates are hoping for election in several districts. The issue appears to be hitting support for Sinn Fein, as working-class supporters bristled at its pro-immigration policies.
What’s the likely outcome?
Opinion polls suggest voters’ support is split into five roughly even chunks — for Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, several smaller parties and an assortment of independents.
Fine Gael has run a gaffe-prone campaign, Fianna Fail has remained steady in the polls and Sinn Fein says it has momentum, but is unlikely to win power unless the other parties drop their opposition to working with it.
Analysts say the most likely outcome is another Fine Gael-Fianna Fail coalition, possibly with a smaller party or a clutch of independents as kingmakers.
"It’s just a question of which minor group is going to be the group that supports the government this time," said Eoin O’Malley, a political scientist at Dublin City University. "Coalition-forming is about putting a hue on what is essentially the same middle-of-the-road government every time."
When will we know the results?
Polls close Friday at 10 p.m. (2200GMT), when an exit poll will give the first hints about the result. Counting ballots begins on Saturday morning. Full results could take several days, and forming a government days or weeks after that.
Harris, who cast his vote in Delgany, south of Dublin, said Irish voters and politicians have "got a long few days ahead of us."
"Isn’t it the beauty and the complexity of our system that when the clock strikes 10 o’clock tonight, there’ll be an exit poll but that won’t even tell us the outcome of the election," he said.