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Poland, the closest NATO member to the Ukraine-Russia war, scrambled fighter jets and placed its air defenses on high alert early Thursday as Russia launched more than 70 missiles and roughly 280 drones across Ukraine, killing at least eight and wounding dozens from Kyiv to the western city of Lviv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, just returning from this week's U.S. visit with President Donald Trump and the funeral of late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the barrage exposed a critical shortage of Western-supplied interceptors, particularly against ballistic missiles.

"The protection of people’s lives depends directly on their willingness" to provide Ukraine with air-defense missiles, Zelenskyy said of Kyiv’s allies.

Hours later Thursday morning, the European Union disbursed $4 billion to Ukraine to finance the procurement of more drones, missiles, air defense and fighter jets, according to the European Commission.

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The disbursement is part of a more than $100 billion loan approved by the EU earlier this year and follows the roughly $3.5 billion installment on June 25 and $4.5 billion on June 30.

Polish forces detected an unidentified object moving west through the country’s airspace shortly before 4 a.m. An F-16 was dispatched to intercept it, but the object disappeared from radar minutes later. Authorities subsequently found a crater about 33 feet wide and scattered debris in farmland near Tarnawa-Kolonia, about 1.2 miles from the closest buildings.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said initial evidence indicated the object was a Russian Kh-101 missile, although investigators were still working to confirm its type and origin.

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"All the indications are that it was a Russian Kh-101," Tusk said, adding that Polish forces were prepared to shoot it down if it had continued flying toward a populated area.

He added the U.S. is interested in joining the investigation, which has initially determined the missile was not intended for Poland territory. The fate of the Ukraine-Russian war might be decided within the next 100 days, Tusk told reporters.

The threat to a NATO ally is a new frontier in the long-running war and comes after Zelenskyy pressed senators to advance Graham's sweeping sanctions package. Also, Trump and Zelenskyy discussed U.S. licenses allowing Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptors, along with other defense cooperation and efforts to revive stalled diplomacy with Moscow.

Six people, including two girls ages 5 and 12, were killed when a Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile struck a private home housing a large family near Kryvyi Rih, according to local officials. Seven others were reported killed in Kyiv and elsewhere in the Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava regions as the casualty count rose during rescue operations.

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"A dark night," Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of Kryvyi Rih’s defense council, wrote on Telegram. Eight people were wounded in the strike on the home.

The person killed in Kyiv was a 31-year-old man, while two others were wounded, according to Ukrainian police. Russian strikes damaged residential buildings, vehicles, storage facilities, a market and a garage complex in the capital, where air raid warnings lasted more than five hours and thousands of residents sheltered in subway stations.

In Lviv, about 40 miles from the Polish border, emergency crews searched damaged apartment buildings for people trapped beneath concrete and debris. Thirty people, including children, were reported injured. More than 20 residential buildings, a school and two kindergartens were damaged, officials said.

"I was terrified watching the rescuers go beneath those concrete slabs," one Lviv resident told Reuters as crews pulled a boy from a damaged building.

Ukraine’s air force said its defenses intercepted 55 missiles and 265 drones. But only one of nine ballistic missiles was shot down, while 11 missiles and 17 drones struck targets at 20 locations.

The U.S.-made Patriot is the only system currently in Ukraine’s arsenal capable of reliably intercepting Russian ballistic missiles, which travel at several times the speed of sound. Zelenskyy has repeatedly warned that Patriot interceptors are arriving too slowly and in insufficient numbers.

During his Tuesday meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy said the leaders discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production in Ukraine. He also met with Lockheed Martin executives and told senators that domestic production would be a long-term solution but would not address Ukraine’s immediate shortage of missiles. European countries have offered to pay for additional U.S.-made interceptors.

Zelenskyy’s Washington visit coincided with Senate consideration of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, named for the longtime defense hawk and outspoken Ukraine supporter who died unexpectedly earlier this month.

The Senate voted 86-12 Tuesday to clear an initial procedural hurdle and voted 84-12 Wednesday to formally proceed with the legislation. Additional votes were still required before final passage.

The package would impose sanctions on Russian officials, oligarchs, financial institutions, energy projects and vessels accused of helping Moscow evade existing restrictions. It would also authorize tariffs of up to 100% on goods from the five largest purchasers of Russian oil and natural gas and the leading countries facilitating sanctions evasion.

Graham negotiated the revised package with the White House shortly before his death. The legislation also includes an extension of sanctions targeting Iran’s energy and weapons sectors, a provision sought by the Trump administration.

Zelenskyy met with a bipartisan group of senators before the procedural votes and called the legislation an important signal to Russia, Europe and the Ukrainian people. He watched the Senate vote from the chamber’s gallery after attending Graham’s funeral at Washington National Cathedral.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The United States resumed airstrikes inside Iran Wednesday night in retaliation for Tehran’s attempted surprise ballistic-missile attack on American forces, as an Iran expert warned that the regime has become increasingly willing to test Washington despite its weakened military capabilities.

"The strikes are a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East," U.S. Central Command said as the new operation began, according to The Associated Press.

The renewed strikes marked the first U.S. attacks inside Iran since President Donald Trump paused the bombing campaign Friday after 13 consecutive nights to allow diplomacy another chance. Iran’s missile launch shattered that brief pause and returned the conflict to direct exchanges between Washington and Tehran.

Trump had signaled the retaliation earlier Wednesday, saying the United States would hit Iran "very hard."

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Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the surprise nature of Iran’s attack reflected a significant shift in Tehran’s strategy.

"What makes this attack different is that it’s basically a surprise attack," Taleblu told Fox News Digital. "This is the Islamic Republic matching its deeds with its words," he said. "That means a more risk-tolerant, more confident, perhaps less capable, but more dangerous Iran in the Middle East."

U.S. Central Command said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran at U.S. forces in the region at approximately 5:45 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday. All were intercepted, and no casualties or damage were immediately reported.

Trump later vowed a forceful response, telling Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst that the United States would be "hitting them hard" and that Iran was "going to get a beating." "We're going to beat the f---ing s--- out of them," Trump said.

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But Ben Taleblu warned that successful interceptions alone may not restore deterrence. He argued that Tehran has repeatedly learned that it can fire on American forces, absorb a U.S. response and then attempt to dictate when the exchange ends.

"The dangerous lesson for America here is that you have to treat every single Iranian missile attack, whether it was successful or not, as being successful," he said. "You can’t over-rely on technology because, ultimately, this is not a technological problem. This is a political problem."

The attack came as the nearly five-month conflict threatened to widen across the region.

Iran said it also targeted commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, while the United States and Saudi Arabia jointly struck Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq following drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities. The operation marked the first time Riyadh publicly acknowledged participating in strikes alongside Washington, potentially opening a new front in the confrontation, Reuters reported. 

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The renewed fighting also threatens already-fragile negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran rejected an Omani proposal for joint regional management of the waterway, insisting on broader control over shipping routes through the strait.

The attack followed a far deadlier Iranian attack on U.S. forces in Jordan earlier in July. That strike hit housing used by American troops at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, killing two U.S. service members and wounding several others.

The United States subsequently struck Iranian targets, but Ben Taleblu argued that Tehran continues to believe it can absorb retaliation, fire back and dictate when each cycle of fighting ends.

He said the United States must respond while preparing for another Iranian counterattack, warning that allowing Tehran to claim it had "closed the round" after retaliating would reinforce the regime’s belief that it can dictate the pace of the conflict.

"The U.S. certainly does need to respond, and President Trump indeed has promised to respond with some very colorful language, but it has to be prepared for the Iranian response," he said.

Russia launched a ballistic missile attack on Ukraine's capital early Thursday, with multiple explosions reported across Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged residents to seek shelter as blasts rocked the city. Reuters, citing a witness, reported hearing multiple explosions.

The Ukrainian Air Force also said Russia was targeting the capital with ballistic missiles.

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Klitschko later said several non-residential sites caught fire following the strikes. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The attack came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia appeared to be preparing a major overnight assault.

"I received a report from Air Force Commander Anatolii Kryvonozhko," Zelenskyy wrote on X Wednesday, saying Russia had prepared a "massive attack several days ago" and that there was a "high probability" it would be carried out overnight.

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"It is important that our partners fully understand what is happening and that the protection of lives directly depends on their readiness, or lack thereof, to help us with air defense missiles," Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president made the appeal after returning from the United States, where he met with President Donald Trump.

Trump recently announced at the NATO summit in Turkey that the United States would license Ukraine to manufacture Patriot air defense systems, according to The Associated Press.

"First and foremost, this concerns the United States and those partners that have Patriot missiles and can provide them to support our defense," Zelenskyy wrote.

"Every partner knows what is needed and fully understands the consequences of marking time."

Fox News Digital's Emma Bussey and Reuters contributed to this report.

As multiple international crises grip the world, from Iran to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Sudan quietly remains one of the largest humanitarian and displacement disasters in the world.

Since the outbreak of hostilities in 2023, over 14 million people have been displaced and nearly 34 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian support, accounting for 10% of global needs, according to the International Rescue Committee.

"The war in Sudan has caused the world's largest humanitarian crisis and has escalated into a regional war involving all of its neighbors as well as numerous Middle Eastern powers," Alan Boswell, Project Director for the Horn of Africa at International Crisis Group, told Fox News Digital.

"Despite this, world leaders continue to ignore the conflict, leaving it to subordinates. That approach continues to fail," Boswell added.

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The United Nations says that some 19.5 million people are experiencing acute hunger, and 4.5 million people have fled the country.

The U.S. also recently imposed an additional round of sanctions against the Sudanese Armed Forces for allegedly using chemical weapons in 2024 in violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The Sudanese government denied the allegations.

The Trump administration has made significant efforts in trying to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, as well as bring Israel’s war against Gaza to an end. The administration is also trying to uphold a shaky ceasefire that was agreed with Iran to halt the war that began on February 28.

"For three years, we have warned that Sudan was on the brink of catastrophe, and those warnings have gone unanswered," said International Rescue Committee Country Director Richard Data.

Sudan’s recent outbreak of civil war, following years of coups and credible accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide, persists under the radar.

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The civil war broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as "Hemedti," leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The two had been in an uneasy alliance ruling the country following the 2019 overthrow of Sudan’s longtime dictator, Omar al-Bashir, who had been in power since 1989. Together, the generals staged another coup in 2021, toppling the interim civilian government that had been in power after the fall of Bashir.

While both the Sudanese Armed Forces and RSF are accused of committing atrocities, recent reports have highlighted the brutality of the RSF.

A major focus of the deteriorating conditions has been in El-Obeid in North Kordofan state, where an escalating hunger crisis is plaguing over 100,000 displaced people in camps throughout the city.

"What we need to do is really now to plan for the scale-up beyond the 100,000 people that we have been supporting," said World Food Programme Sudan Country Director, Abdallah Alwardat.

El Fasher in the Darfur region is another major flashpoint, where the RSF took control in October 2025 and killed more than 6,000 people in the initial siege of the city.

A recent July report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights revealed widespread acts of sexual violence against women and girls, some as young as 12, including reports of mass and gang rapes committed by the RSF.

The RSF is also accused of abduction, with survivors describing incidents of girls and women being beaten, having their hands tied behind their backs, and being driven away in a Land cruiser.

The United Nations and other human rights groups have accused the RSF of perpetrating ethnically targeted attacks and concluded that at least three components of genocide have been overwhelmingly met, including deliberately inflicting conditions of life intended to destroy a group in whole or in part.

A U.N. report from September 2025 found that the Sudanese Armed Forces have also committed war crimes and attacked civilian populations and infrastructure. Both the Sudanese Armed Forces, and the RSF, targeted civilians with perceived affiliations to the enemy, with executions, torture and rape commonplace.

A shocking new report says 2025 was the deadliest year for antisemitic attacks worldwide since 1994.

The J7 Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism released its second annual report, which tracks antisemitic hatred in the seven countries outside of Israel where over 90% of Jews live. According to the report, 20 people were killed in antisemitic attacks in 2025. All of the deadly attacks took place in J7 countries.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is one of two organizations representing the Jewish diaspora in the U.S. in the J7, which includes similar organizations from Australia, Canada, Argentina, the U.S., the U.K., Germany and France.

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The ADL’s Senior Director of Global Research and Diplomatic Affairs, Aykan Erdemir, told Fox News Digital that the report’s findings show "there’s no time to waste" in combating hate.

"This isn't a warning sign anymore, it's already happening," Erdemir said. "If governments let antisemitism take root and perpetrators walk free, the violence won't stop with Jewish communities. History shows Jews are the canary in the coal mine: when hatred against Jews rises unchecked, it's an early warning that everyone's safety and rights are at risk."

The J7 report finds that there were over 23,000 antisemitic incidents in J7 countries throughout 2025 – this represented a 97% increase in violent incidents and a 136% increase in total antisemitic incidents since 2022.

The Hamas terror attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, sent antisemitic hate skyrocketing worldwide.

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According to the report, each of the countries face an environment where antisemitism is "no longer confined to the fringes." Countries are witnessing anti-Zionism associated with the conflict in Gaza becoming "a vehicle for antisemitic expression" and educational institutions becoming an "acute flashpoint" for hatred. Combined with growing online extremism, Jewish people "across the globe report hiding their Jewish identity in public" and question "whether they have a future in their home countries."

Individually, the report shows how countries face their own unique challenges in quashing hatred.

Australia, which has seen a 270% increase in antisemitic incidents since 2021, was home to the Bondi Beach terror attack in December 2025, during which 15 people were killed. The report says that both Islamist and left-wing extremist threats in the country "need to be prioritized, and dealt with effectively."

In Germany, a 215% increase in antisemitic incidents has been coupled with the highest per capita rate of incidents, with 69.8 incidents per 1,000 Jewish residents in 2025 for a total of 8,725 incidents.

The report said that normalization of hate "remains the most pressing challenge" in Germany, with the rise in incidents attributed to the "confluence of far-right ethno-nationalism, left-wing anti-Zionism, and Islamist extremism simultaneously."

In Canada, which has experienced a 60% rise in antisemitic incidents since 2021, there is a concern that "foreign state interference" is at play, in addition to "the exploitation of domestic institutions by extremist networks."

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The U.S. has had a 131% increase in antisemitic incidents since 2021. Though antisemitic incidents declined significantly from 2024, the 6,274 antisemitic incidents tracked in 2025 included 300 reports of physical assault.

France has witnessed a rise in antisemitic incidents of 124% since 2021. The report notes that there is "a growing climate of discrimination" where Jews in France report being refused service, denied contracts and excluded from events.

In the U.K., which has experienced a 64% increase in antisemitic incidents since 2021, 48% of 3,700 antisemitic incidents were motivated by anti-Zionism, and 53% included references to the conflict involving Gaza.

Though the government in Argentina is pro-Israel, the country "has generated conspiratorial antisemitic backlash from the left and from fringe nationalist movements," the report said. Since 2021, Argentina has seen a 46% increase in antisemitic incidents.

The J7 report also added a special chapter on antisemitism in Ireland, which is not a J7 country. While Ireland has only a 2,200-person Jewish community, it has reported 143 incidents of antisemitism. Despite antisemitism in Ireland taking hold "primarily in everyday settings," unlike J7 countries, Ireland has no national plan for combating antisemitism and no security funding for the Jewish population.

Erdemir said that "the most urgent priority for every government should be protecting Jewish communities and institutions before they're attacked, not after." He called on law enforcement to "hold perpetrators fully accountable," but said that "the real goal has to be stopping attacks before they happen and preventing Jews from being driven out of public spaces, not just responding once the damage is done."

Erdemir said, "Governments can't rely on security alone. It takes a whole-of-society effort, government, business, schools, civil society and everyday citizens, to root out the hate targeting Jewish communities worldwide. And because this hate crosses borders, so must the response: governments, international bodies and NGOs around the world need to work together, not in isolation."

China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are acting as a strategically aligned bloc even without a formal mutual-defense treaty, according to a new Foundation for Defense of Democracies book warning that their cooperation could leave the United States confronting multiple crises simultaneously.

The book, "Axis of Aggressors: Countering the Cooperation of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea," examines how the four authoritarian governments support one another across military, economic, cyber and technology domains.

Its authors acknowledge that the grouping is not a NATO-style alliance. It has no unified command, comprehensive defense commitment or complete trust among its members. But they argue that its practical effects are already visible in active conflicts.

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"I just got back from a couple of weeks in Ukraine, and when I’m sitting in Ukraine, it’s really obvious to me that Ukraine is fighting Russia, North Korea, Iran and China," retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, one of the book’s three authors, told Fox News Digital.

Montgomery pointed to North Korean ammunition and troops, Iranian drones and production expertise, and Chinese economic and technological support for Moscow.

"China is backstopping the whole thing, providing the economic backstop to Russia’s economy so they can survive this four-year catastrophic event for Russia," Montgomery said. "They’re providing microelectronics that we see in ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles."

The book’s researchers documented 616 instances of security cooperation among the four governments from Jan. 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2025, including arms transfers, weapons development, military exercises, intelligence sharing and military exchanges.

The central danger, Montgomery said, is what the book calls the "simultaneity problem."

"We don’t get to handle these with a singularity anymore. We have to handle this with a simultaneity," he said. "And I don’t think we can handle two problems at once, much less three or four."

During a potential confrontation between China and Taiwan, Montgomery said, North Korea could threaten South Korea or conduct limited attacks intended to pin down U.S. forces. A conflict involving Russia and NATO’s Baltic members could be accompanied by Iranian terrorism or other hostile activity.

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The book identifies China-Russia military cooperation as the axis’s most consequential bilateral relationship. Chinese dual-use products have helped sustain Russia’s defense industrial base, while Moscow is transferring technology and battlefield lessons that could assist China in a Pacific conflict.

North Korea has supplied Russia with millions of artillery rounds, ballistic missiles and troops, while Moscow has assisted Pyongyang’s missile, space, drone and nuclear programs, according to the book.

Iran has provided Russia with drones and production knowledge. The book warns that Russian and Chinese assistance could also help Tehran rebuild military capabilities damaged during its conflicts with Israel and the United States.

"The longer they can entangle the United States, whether it was in Ukraine or in Iran, China and Russia are the primary beneficiaries," Montgomery said.

Economic ties underpin the military cooperation, according to co-author Elaine Dezenski, who described the four-country economy as a "fractured alignment."

"These four players are bound together more by necessity than they are by a specific trust or shared strategy among them," Dezenski told Fox News Digital. "China needs energy. Russia and Iran need buyers for their oil and gas. And North Korea needs any lifeline that it can get."

China purchases discounted Russian and Iranian energy while providing goods, technology and access to its domestic market.

The relationships remain unequal. Russia and Iran compete to sell similar products, while China can seek other suppliers. But Dezenski said those divisions should not obscure the benefits the cooperation provides.

"The economics of this very much underpin the foundations for the military engagement that we see," she said.

The book says China purchases as much as 95% of Iran’s oil exports. Some sanctioned oil is routed through third countries, relabeled or processed by independent Chinese refineries known as "teapots."

"The export juggernaut that is China today is fueled by sanctioned oil and gas," Dezenski said.

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Dezenski also warned that China, Russia and Iran are developing payment systems outside traditional Western banking infrastructure. More trade is being settled in yuan through China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, or CIPS, potentially reducing Washington’s ability to enforce sanctions through the dollar system.

"We need to really think about that sooner rather than later, before this alternative payment system becomes too big to tackle," Dezenski said.

Montgomery said the line between criminal hackers and government operatives is often deliberately blurred in all four countries.

"These regimes routinely outsource work to criminal groups to keep their own hands clean, and those groups are increasingly networking with each other," he said.

The book cites ties involving Iranian cybercriminals and Russian ransomware groups, Chinese actors on Russian dark-web forums, and Russian and North Korean state-backed hackers using shared operational infrastructure.

Carrie Filipetti, executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition and a former State Department official during the first Trump administration, said drone warfare demonstrates how assistance moves among the countries.

"Chinese components are used to create Iranian drones, which are then deployed by the Russians against Ukrainian civilians," Filipetti told Fox News Digital.

She said the relationship has also endangered American troops, pointing to the January 2024 Tower 22 attack in Jordan, which killed three U.S. Army Reserve soldiers and wounded more than 40 service members.

"The military and ideological relationship between Russia and Iran is not just a theoretical threat to the United States — American service members have been killed as a result of it," Filipetti said.

Filipetti said the attack used an Iranian drone and Russian tactics developed during the war in Ukraine. "These adversaries don’t agree on everything, but they do on one thing: to reorient the world away from America and the West," she said. "Our service members and citizens will continue to suffer until we treat the threat as the united threat it is."

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard Newton said the danger stems not only from military modernization in each country, but from the degree to which the four governments are increasingly coordinating.

"I couldn’t agree more with the underlying findings the authors present regarding the rapid military modernization unfolding across multiple domains — air, sea, land, space and cyber — emanating from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea," Newton told Fox News Digital.

"These nation-states represent extraordinary adversarial challenges for the United States. That’s concerning enough," he said. "But a major challenge President Trump is facing in his second administration is the level and degree of integration, synchronization and coordination among these four adversaries, who are more unified today than ever in their collective pursuits to threaten U.S. national security interests."

Newton said the changing character of warfare, demonstrated by more than four years of fighting between Russia and Ukraine and the current U.S.-Iran conflict, has compounded the threat.

"Couple that with the changing nature of warfare we’ve been witnessing," he said, "and the task to defend our nation is now much more complex and daunting."

Retired Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, who served as NATO supreme allied commander and commander of U.S. European Command from 2013 to 2016, argued that Washington’s language understates the severity of the confrontation.

"We often say that we are in ‘strategic competition’ with China and Russia. They are at war with us," Breedlove told Fox News Digital.

Breedlove said China, Russia, Iran and North Korea "are not partners looking for cooperation with the U.S.," but governments seeking to "diminish and defeat" American power.

"The enemy gets a vote," Breedlove said. "Our enemies are voting by their support to Russia and Iran."

He added that assistance from the other countries has become increasingly important to Moscow as it struggles to sustain its war.

"Aid is critical to Russia," Breedlove said. "Russia is failing and becoming ever more dependent on its allies."

The authors recommend stronger coordination with allies, expanded defense production, greater protection of U.S. critical infrastructure and more aggressive sanctions enforcement.

Dezenski called for targeting the full network supporting sanctioned Russian and Iranian oil, including refineries, ports, insurers and financiers, rather than focusing primarily on individual vessels.

"We need to treat this axis as a threat, as a combined threat," Montgomery said, "that will confront us in every one of our crisis areas."

A man in France discovered remains believed to belong to five newborns hidden inside cardboard boxes in his home after his partner gave birth at home and was taken to a hospital, according to prosecutors.

He became distressed after he found out about her pregnancy at ⁠a very late stage, despite her repeated denials, and began searching their home, prosecutors said. The couple already had two children, ages eight and nine.

The woman, 32, who was not identified, was allegedly arguing with her husband over what was in the boxes at their home in the town of Orange on Monday after she gave birth at home to a baby boy the day before.

She started complaining about abdominal pain during the argument on Monday. She was taken to a hospital and her husband stayed behind and discovered the dead babies hidden in the boxes.

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The man, also 32, then notified authorities through the hospital ​where the woman was being treated for pain.

"The husband stayed behind when she was taken to the hospital, and looked inside the cardboard boxes they had been arguing over – that’s when he found the five dead babies," an investigating source said, according to the US Sun. "All the [fetuses] were decomposing, and had been around for quite a while."

Police searched the couple's home, and prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into suspected murder on Monday.

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A forensic pathologist estimated, based on initial findings, that the bones ​and decomposing remains belonged to five newborns.

Authorities said the remains included bones believed to belong to four newborns and the decomposing body of a fifth. Autopsies and further laboratory testing were ordered.

The man told ‌police ⁠he was unaware of his wife's possible pregnancies.

The public prosecutor's office urged child welfare services to assess the health of the couple's eight and nine-year old children. It ​also issued a ​provisional placement ⁠order for the newborn baby, pending referral of the case to a children's court judge.

The ​mother, who was still in the hospital on Tuesday, has not yet spoken to investigators.

A post-mortem examination has been ordered on ​the decomposing remains, and the bones will undergo anthropological analysis in a laboratory, according to prosecutors.

The couple had no history of problems and were described by a neighbor as "charming people," according to French outlet AFP.

The neighbor, Florent Jean, told the outlet that the wife was a stay-at-home mother and the husband worked. Jean said the two were "normal people, really."

Reuters contributed to this report.

More than 1,000 inmates death-row inmates held in a unit of Iran’s Ghezel Hesar Prison have entered a third week of a mass hunger strike to protest regime executions, with some prisoners sewing their lips shut in protest, according to reports.

The escalating demonstration at the U.S.-sanctioned Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj near Tehran, also highlights growing international concern over the Islamic Republic's reliance on capital punishment, particularly for drug-related offenses.

According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency  (HRANA), the hunger strike started on July 13, after six inmates were transferred to solitary confinement ahead of possible executions. Other Iranian human rights groups said the prisoners had been convicted of drug-related offenses.

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Reports also indicate that the striking prisoners have been chanting "No to Execution" and taking extreme measures, including sewing their lips shut.

One media outlet cited a video that appeared to show an inmate speaking to the camera and saying he was going to sew his lips shut because, six days into the hunger strike, no prison official had responded to the protest.

The Guardian reported that the video also appears to show an unseen prisoner using a needle and thread to stitch the man's lips shut.

In a statement released on July 27, the exiled Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), reported that prisoners in Unit 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison were in "deteriorating physical condition" because of the hunger strike.

"Although 15 days have passed since the start of this hunger strike, the henchmen of the regime’s judiciary have given no response to the striking prisoners. Despite the prisoners’ deteriorating physical condition and urgent need for medical attention, prison guards have taken no measures to care for them," the organization said.

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The NCRI also said the striking prisoners urged the public, human rights organizations and international bodies to take action to halt the executions.

This marks the second major demonstration at the facility in recent months.

A similar protest occurred at Ghezel Hesar Prison in October 2025, when more than 1,500 inmates staged a six-day hunger strike, according to reports.

That demonstration ended after senior judicial and prison officials made a visit to the facility and promised to temporarily halt executions and review cases.

However, human rights activists report those promises were never fulfilled, according to Ynet.

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The State Department had designated and sanctioned Ghezel Hesar Prison in 2024 for gross human rights violations and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners.

"These heinous acts included multiple severe beatings of political prisoners engaged in a peaceful hunger strike to protest the increased wave of executions being carried out at the facility," then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the time.

According to Amnesty International, the Islamic Republic of Iran executed at least 2,159 people in 2025.

Iran’s total helped drive the number of executions recorded by Amnesty International to at least 2,707 across 17 countries — the highest figure the organization has recorded since 1981. The total excludes China, where execution data is classified as a state secret and Amnesty believes thousands of executions were carried out.

Iran publicly hanged two young men Tuesday over their alleged roles in January's nationwide anti-government protests, as onlookers chanted "Dishonorable, dishonorable!" before security forces fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled Iranian opposition group.

Abolfazl Sepahi Badjani and Amirhossein Safari Hosseinabadi were hanged Tuesday in Isfahan's Shahid Alikhani Square — where authorities alleged they committed offenses connected to the Jan. 8 protests, according to the NCRI and Iranian state media.

The NCRI said onlookers condemned the executions before security forces fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. The opposition group also said security personnel had been deployed on rooftops and surrounding streets.

Iranian state media also reported the public executions, Reuters said, with Iran's semi-official news agency Mehr saying they were carried out in Alikhani Square "in the presence of a group of people."

WHO IS AHMAD VAHIDI? IRAN’S NEW IRGC CHIEF TIED TO GLOBAL ATTACKS AND ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ IDEOLOGY

"Fearing public outrage over this brutal crime, the regime's suppressive forces had deployed agents in the surrounding streets and on rooftops," NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi said in a statement shared on X.

The executions mark the latest escalation in Iran's crackdown on protesters arrested during the nationwide demonstrations that began in late December and intensified in January.

Human rights groups have accused Iranian authorities of denying defendants due process, relying on coerced confessions and carrying out executions after unfair trials.

Iran's judiciary, meanwhile, accused Badjani and Hosseinabadi of participating in the Jan. 8 killing of four members of the State Security Force during demonstrations in Shahid Alikhani Square.

US-SANCTIONED MOJTABA KHAMENEI NAMED IRAN’S NEXT SUPREME LEADER AFTER FATHER’S DEATH: REPORTS

According to the judiciary's Mizan news agency, Badjani and Hosseinabadi were convicted of moharebeh, or "enmity against God," efsad-fil-arz, or "corruption on Earth," as well as destruction and arson of public property, and acts that led to the deaths of four officers. Authorities also accused them of possessing firearms and Molotov cocktails.

The NCRI claimed Tuesday that the defendants were denied the right to choose their own lawyers, and even their court-appointed attorneys were denied access to the case files.

Iran publicly hanged Abolfazl Sepahi-Badjani Tuesday over his alleged role in January's nationwide anti-government protests.

The judiciary, however, said the men had legal representation, appealed their convictions and were convicted using police reports, cellphone evidence, witness testimony, confessions and a crime scene reconstruction. 

The pair were said to be among 12 protesters sentenced to death in what has become known as the Alikhani Square case.

Two other defendants, Erfan Esfandiari and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi, were executed July 19, bringing the total number of executions in the case to four.

The U.N. experts warned this week that the remaining defendants face an imminent risk of execution.

'KILLING OFF THE COUNTRY': IRAN EXECUTES DOZENS, ARRESTS 4,000+ IN WAR CRACKDOWN

"The young men, aged between their late teens and early 20s, were reportedly arbitrarily deprived of their liberty, in some cases being subjected to enforced disappearance, ill-treated and accused of involvement in the killing of four security force members, as well as arson and vandalism during the Jan. 8, 2026, protests in Shahid Alikhani Square in Isfahan," U.N. experts said in a statement.

The statement also said all defendants were sentenced to death during a single closed-door hearing without clarity about each individual's alleged responsibility, calling the proceedings a violation of international fair trial standards.

Human Rights Watch said this week that at least 50 people have been executed over the past four months on what it described as vague national security charges.

"By resorting once again to the medieval practice of public hangings, the Islamic Republic is trying to instill fear throughout society and deter future protests," Iran Human Rights Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said in a post shared on X.

"Public executions are a cruel form of state terror that the international community must not tolerate," he added.

The protests across Iran began in late December amid a deepening economic crisis before expanding into one of the largest anti-government movements in the Islamic Republic's history.

Massive wildfires sweeping through southwestern France are threatening key defense and nuclear sites near Bordeaux, forcing evacuations and emergency measures at missile factories, military research facilities and aerospace plants, according to reports.

The escalating blazes come as France braces for its fourth major heat wave of the year Tuesday, with soaring temperatures and arid conditions increasing pressure on crews battling massive wildfires near Bordeaux, according to Reuters.

Temperatures in the French region were forecast to reach 91 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius), about 13 degrees (7 degrees Celsius) above normal, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor.

EUROPE'S FIRES REVEAL DEADLY MIX OF RECORD HEAT, HUMAN ERROR, ARSON AND LAND MISMANAGEMENT

"The situation we are dealing with today is the most severe we have ever recorded, the toughest since the Second World War," President Emmanuel Macron, who flew to the area, had said Sunday.

French Economy Minister Roland Lescure said the fires have disrupted more than 13,000 businesses in the Gironde region, with many forced to close or evacuate.

According to The Telegraph, the fires are closing in on missile and rocket factories that store explosive materials.

At least seven sites holding hazardous substances are within 12 miles of the blaze.

FRANCE RECORDS MORE THAN 5,700 EXCESS DEATHS DURING HISTORIC EARLY SUMMER HEAT WAVE

Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, to the west-northwest, is one of the evacuated towns and is home to a large factory that produces propellants for Ariane space rockets and France's strategic missiles.

A nearby plant in Sainte-Hélène also produces ammonium perchlorate, a key oxidizer used in solid rocket propellants.

According to Defense News, the fires are also threatening factories that make key parts for France's nuclear missiles, Rafale fighter jets and military missiles.

ArianeGroup evacuated employees from sites in the fire zone, while France's Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) closed its military research center in Le Barp as the wildfires first advanced toward Bordeaux.

Officials said there is no risk of radioactive leakage because the facility contains no nuclear materials, the outlet reported.

EUROPE'S FIRES REVEAL DEADLY MIX OF RECORD HEAT, HUMAN ERROR, ARSON AND LAND MISMANAGEMENT

French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said July 24 that protective measures had been deployed around the sites "given the nature of the products stored there," Le Monde said.

Meanwhile, France's Defense Ministry said 1,500 military personnel have been deployed since Friday to support firefighting operations and help secure strategic industrial sites.

So far, the fires have scorched more than 104,000 acres (42,000 hectares) in the Gironde region, making them among France's largest wildfires on record.

Authorities said about 240 homes have been destroyed, while nearly 4,000 holidaymakers have been evacuated from campsites, holiday villages and tourist resorts in Lacanau, about 35 miles west of Bordeaux.

As France and Spain battle one of Europe's worst wildfire seasons in decades, roughly 360,000 people have been forced to evacuate in recent days.

A shopping mall in southern Japan that had just reopened after years of reconstruction following a devastating 2016 earthquake was destroyed Tuesday after a powerful earthquake struck the region and was followed by a massive explosion, leaving dozens of workers unaccounted for.

The Aeon Mall in Kumamoto Prefecture celebrated its grand reopening on June 13 after years of rebuilding meant to mark the region's recovery from the 2016 disaster.

Just weeks later, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck near Kumamoto, according to FOX Weather, citing the U.S. Geological Survey. Japan's Meteorological Agency measured the same quake at magnitude 7.1 using its own seismic scale.

EARTHQUAKE SHAKES PERU'S ANDES REGION, KILLING AT LEAST 5, DISPLACING HUNDREDS

About 200 shoppers were safely evacuated after the earthquake, officials said. Roughly an hour later, a powerful explosion ripped through the building, blowing off exterior walls and exposing its steel framework. NHK reported that about 20 to 30 mall employees remained unaccounted for, while police said rescuers could not immediately enter because of the risk of aftershocks.

The mall had become one of the most visible symbols of Kumamoto's recovery after the magnitude 7.3 earthquake that devastated the region in April 2016. Aeon said the redevelopment included seismic reinforcements and other safety improvements designed to make the complex more resilient.

Witnesses reported smelling gas before the explosion, according to Reuters. An Aeon spokesperson said employees immediately helped evacuate visitors after the quake, while prefectural officials confirmed about 200 people were guided safely outside before the blast.

EXCLUSIVE: FRANKLIN GRAHAM VISITS EMERGENCY HOSPITAL TREATING VENEZUELA EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS

According to FOX Weather, the earthquake struck just before 4:30 p.m. local time about 9 miles north of Kumamoto at a depth of roughly 6 miles. Japan's Meteorological Agency briefly issued and later lifted a tsunami advisory for parts of Kyushu. NHK reported at least 50 people were injured, while Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said the quake sparked at least eight fires. Kumamoto Airport also temporarily closed.

Reuters reported the mall welcomed more than 8 million visitors annually after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. opened a factory nearby in 2024.

The complex housed about 200 stores, a movie theater and parking for roughly 5,000 vehicles. It also became known locally after a supermarket inside sold 10-yen onigiri to help survivors following the 2016 earthquake.

When the mall reopened in June, Aeon described the project as a "'re-start' initiative" marking both the shopping center's 21st anniversary and the region's recovery from the 2016 earthquake.

As night fell Tuesday, rescue operations remained on hold because of continuing aftershocks as families awaited word on the employees still believed to be inside.

A man has been arrested after one of the world's most famous Catholic pilgrimage sites was vandalized and partially set on fire, with a statue of the Virgin Mary defaced and the words "Devil in a skirt" scrawled across its pedestal in black, according to reports.

Bosnian police arrested a suspect Tuesday in connection with the overnight vandalism and arson at the Shrine of Our Lady in Medjugorje, according to Vatican News.

Authorities have not released the man's identity as investigators work to determine a motive and whether he was responsible for other incidents reported at the shrine that same night, the outlet said.

NIGERIAN PASTOR HIGHLIGHTED BY TRUMP SAYS HE’S NEXT AFTER MILITIA KILLS HIS RELATIVES

Police were called around 4:30 a.m. on July 27 after the face and hands of the statue of the Virgin Mary on Apparition Hill, also known as Podbrdo, were found covered in black paint.

The pedestal at the foot of the statue was spray-painted with the English phrase "Devil in a skirt," while other graffiti and the statue's hands were painted black.

An outdoor altar nearby was also set on fire near St. James Church, the outlet said.

Surveillance footage reportedly at that location showed a man pouring what investigators believe was gasoline onto the altar before setting it ablaze. The fire was extinguished.

REPORT DETAILS RISING PRESSURE ON UNDERGROUND CATHOLICS AS CHINA DENIES CRACKDOWN

The two attacks came just days before Medjugorje's annual youth prayer festival, which is expected to draw more than 50,000 pilgrims from around the world.

In a statement Tuesday, the Medjugorje Parish Office condemned the vandalism and urged Catholics to respond with "prayer, fasting, and forgiveness" rather than anger.

"It is with great sadness that we received the news of the act of vandalism," the parish said.

Church officials also said cleanup and repairs began immediately so the damaged prayer sites could once again welcome pilgrims.

"The affected areas are being cleaned and restored as quickly as possible," the parish said, thanking volunteers for helping preserve the shrine as "a place of encounter with God, a place of peace."

CATHOLIC NUNS SUE NEW YORK, SAY ASSISTED SUICIDE LAW FORCES THEM TO VIOLATE THEIR FAITH

Rather than calling for retribution, the parish urged the faithful to pray for those responsible.

"We pray for the conversion of the hearts of those who committed this act," the statement said, asking that God "touch them with His grace and lead them on the path of goodness."

The parish also appealed for peace, encouraging Catholics "not to return evil for evil," but instead to bear witness through "love, forgiveness and hope."

Despite the attack, officials said the shrine remains open, and its regular schedule of Mass and prayer services will continue as planned.

Located about 85 miles southwest of Sarajevo, Medjugorje became one of the world's best-known Catholic pilgrimage destinations after six children and teenagers reported seeing apparitions of the Virgin Mary there in 1981.

The Vatican gave the green light for Catholics to continue flocking to Medjugorje offering its approval for devotion at one of the most contested sites of Roman Catholic practice in recent years, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Burma's government approved the death penalty as punishment for internet scammers just months after the FBI announced a sweeping $8 billion crackdown on scam networks coming from the country, according to the country's state-backed media.

The Anti-Online Scam Law passed the country's parliament on Tuesday, green lighting the death penalty for anyone who participates in a scam in which they "commit violence, torture, unlawfully arrest or detain, or treat any person in a cruel manner," according to The Global New Light of Myanmar, a media outlet jointly operated by a private company and the country's Ministry of the Interior.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, has become ground zero for digital scams, with criminals often recruiting migrants from other Asian countries with promises of legitimate work only to imprison them and force them to conduct the scams.

In May, the FBI announced a massive crackdown on a criminal network in Burma known as the "Democratic Karen Benevolent Army." The operation resulted in the seizure of 127,000 Bitcoin, worth over $8 billion as of July.

FBI BRINGS ALLEGED CHINA-LINKED HACKER TO US IN RARE EXTRADITION AS PATEL DEFENDS ITALY TRIP

The scammers, who allegedly have ties to Chinese organized crime, had been specifically targeting Americans in their operations, extracting over $3 million from one elderly American, the FBI previously told Fox News Digital.

In 2025, Chinese, Thai and Burmese authorities liberated more than 7,000 people from locked compounds in Burma.

NEW GERMANY SEX-CRIME FIGURES REIGNITE MIGRATION FIGHT AS EXPLOITATION PROBE EXPANDS

While the new Anti-Online Scam Law only mandates the death penalty for offenses that lead to another person's death, the law mandates 10 years in prison for any instance of forced labor in relation to cybercrime.

The law's approval also comes two days before the United Nations International Organization for Migration's World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. This year the international body will commemorate the day on July 30 under the theme "Trapped Behind the Scam."

"People trapped in scam compounds are victims of trafficking, forced to commit crimes through violence, threats and coercion. They deserve protection, not punishment," IOM Director General Amy Pope said in a statement. "We must work together to support survivors, stop traffickers and close the gaps these criminal networks exploit. No country can tackle this alone."

The United Nations estimates that South Pacific scams resulted in the loss of over $114 billion in 2025.

A leading Iran expert has called on the British government to shut down an Islamic center that he claimed has been functioning as an office of the regime’s supreme leader amid a shocking report that Iran’s regime smuggled operatives into the United Kingdom.

The Islamic Center of England recently came into the spotlight following revelations that the U.K. government has allegedly allowed the center to sponsor visas for imams. The report comes at a time when Iran has said Britain is a legitimate target if it allows the U.S. to use its bases to fly missions against Tehran.

The reported green light to imams to secure visas as "skilled workers" for the Islamic Center raises profound questions about dangerous gaps in Britain’s national security and immigration policies, according to lawmakers and Mideast experts.

UK PINS STRING OF ANTISEMITIC ATTACKS ON IRAN-LINKED GROUP, BANS IRGC

Kasra Aarabi, director of IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] Research at United Against Nuclear Iran told Fox News Digital, "In light of the IRGC’s threat to attack Britain and reports that it has been exploiting the illegal migrant crisis to send ‘Islamic revolutionary agents’ to the country, the U.K. government simply must not tolerate the existence of this Islamist extremist infrastructure on British soil."

Aarabi added, "The Islamic Centre of England — a U.K.-registered charity and mosque — has long been operating as the office of the Iranian regime’s supreme leader in the U.K. Its Imam is the personally appointed U.K. representative of the regime’s supreme leader. The very fact that the supreme leader of the Iranian regime, who is ordering terror plots on British soil, has an office and appointed representative in the U.K. is completely unacceptable. In light of the IRGC’s latest threats against Britain, the center should be immediately shut down and all of its non-British staff deported."

The revelation about the Islamic Center of England comes amid a report in the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph that Tehran officials claimed the IRGC controls some illegal human trafficking routes between the Middle East and the English Channel.

An Iranian official told The Telegraph, "Of course, don’t forget that our armed forces have influence and run the [smuggling] routes in some cases if they want." The official warned, "At the moment we have people right there in London, revolutionary people who care about the world and the lives of children – they wait for us to tell them what to do. We have not done that yet, but we can easily make London unsafe for you if we want to."

The official added, "These smuggling routes are more important and useful than the missiles for us – we do not need a missile to target London, it’s easier than that."

WHO IS AHMAD VAHIDI? IRAN’S NEW IRGC CHIEF TIED TO GLOBAL ATTACKS AND ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ IDEOLOGY

Fox News Digital previously reported in February that the Islamic Center of England was accused of selling merchandise supporting the U.S.-designated terrorist movement, Hezbollah and the IRGC — also a U.S.-classified terrorist entity.

The Islamic Center allegedly had stickers of late Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps global terrorist Qassem Soleimani, who was responsible for the murders of over 600 U.S. military personnel, according to the Trump administration. President Donald Trump ordered a drone strike in January 2020 that killed Soleimani in Iraq.

A spokesperson for the United Kingdom’s Home Office — a mix of the Department of Homeland Security and DOJ — told Fox News Digital, "The Islamic Center of England has not sponsored any workers since 2022 under the previous government, and the Charity Commission is currently investigating this organization."

The Home Office spokesperson continued, "We treat the threat posed by the Iranian regime and those who do its bidding with the utmost seriousness. That’s why we have fast-tracked a change in the law to outlaw support for the IRGC, equipping the police and intelligence service with more powers to disrupt those working on their behalf, and making it easier to prosecute them. If wrongdoing is uncovered, those responsible will face the full force of the law, with the possibility of lengthy prison sentences, loss of licenses, and further civil action."

Iran and its chief strategic ally, Hezbollah, have been blamed for bombing the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983 in which 63 people, including 17 Americans, were murdered, and dual suicide truck bombers blew up the barracks of American and French members of a multinational force in Lebanon in 1983, in which 220 U.S. Marines, 18 U.S. Navy sailors and 3 U.S. Army soldiers lost their lives. Fifty-eight French troops were also murdered in the terrorist attack.

Critics have long urged the British government to pull the plug on the Islamic Center’s operation as pressure mounts on the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, to act against Iranian regime apparatus in the country.

Aarabi said, "Burnham’s government should use all available tools — including the new designation of the IRGC under the National Security (State Threats) Act — to dismantle this Islamist extremist apparatus across Britain that is linked to the IRGC. To put it more clearly: all the charities, mosques and centers that have carried out IRGC-linked activity should be dismantled, and their non-British staff deported immediately. No ifs or buts."

He added "The Imam of the center, who is the representative of the ayatollah in the U.K., has continuously expressed extremist views that are sympathetic to the IRGC. In spite of this, not only does he continue to reside in the U.K. but he is listed as the trustee of several charities in Britain. This individual does not hold a diplomatic passport, meaning his visa could be immediately revoked."

US-SANCTIONED MOJTABA KHAMENEI NAMED IRAN’S NEXT SUPREME LEADER AFTER FATHER’S DEATH: REPORTS

Aarabi argued that the "IRGC has built an entire ‘soft power’ infrastructure across Britain under the guise of charities, mosques and colleges. The IRGC’s goal has been to use this infrastructure to nurture home-grown Islamist radicalization, terrorism and acts of violence. In doing so, it has successfully cultivated, within segments of the British Muslim community, what can only be described as an Islamist constituency that is loyal to it and its violent extremist ideology. These tactics mimic ISIS and al Qaeda — yet there has been no attempt to counter it by the British government."

Iranian agents have attacked Iranian dissidents over the years in Britain. Two Romanian nationals, who prosecutors said had been acting ​for Iran, were jailed this month for stabbing a journalist working for an independent Iranian news outlet, Iran International, in London.

Tehran has always denied involvement in such attacks, calling allegations ​to the contrary unfounded and politically motivated.

"If the IRGC seeks to attack Britain, it could activate this radicalized Islamist constituency for acts of home-grown violence and terror. This form of kind-actor terror, where a radicalized extremist carries out an attack because they’re ideologically inspired rather than paid or directed by Tehran, also provides the IRGC with sufficient plausible deniability to complicate attribution and reduce the likelihood of British retaliation," said Aarabi.

A spokesperson for the Islamic Center of England told Fox News Digital, "The Islamic Center of England is an independent registered charity, established and operating under the laws of England and Wales. It is governed by English charity law and regulated by the Charity Commission. It is not an official office or representative of any government, political entity, or individual."

The spokesperson for the center added, "Like many charities, faith organizations and other eligible institutions in the U.K., the Center holds a Home Office sponsor license, which allows it to sponsor skilled workers where it meets the requirements of the U.K.'s immigration system."

The spokesperson concluded, "Sponsor licenses are granted and overseen by the Home Office, and all licensed sponsors are required to comply with the same legal and regulatory obligations. The Center has consistently maintained that it is an independent U.K. charity and carries out its activities in accordance with U.K. law and its charitable objectives."

The British prime minister’s press office referred Fox News Digital to the Home Office for comments.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The United States dramatically walked out as France addressed the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council Monday, escalating an extraordinary clash between the longtime allies after Paris claimed America was no longer a "beacon of human rights."

The U.S. delegation left the chamber as French Ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont delivered remarks during a Security Council meeting on Ukraine, days after France’s U.N. mission in Geneva accused Washington of standing alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali and Russia following a vote on the U.N.’s human rights chief.

Deputy U.S. Ambassador Dan Negrea accused France of "disingenuous grandstanding" and warned that American diplomats would continue walking out during French statements until Paris renounces what he called its "condescending and disrespectful rhetoric."

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TOUTS MORE THAN $1B IN UN BUDGET CUTS AS REFORM PUSH GAINS MOMENTUM

"Today, I remind them that it is the United States that remains the beacon of liberty for the world," Negrea told the council. "As such, we will not be affording them the benefit of listening to their politicized drivel until they renounce their condescending and disrespectful rhetoric and behave in a manner commensurate with their seat on this council."

The clash matters because the United States and France are among the world’s oldest allies, dating back to French support for the American Revolution, and today remain NATO partners and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Their cooperation is central to Western policy on Ukraine, European security and sanctions enforcement.

A French diplomat told Fox News Digital that the dispute should not be interpreted as a broader rupture between the longtime allies. "Differences in how we assess a vote do not call into question the quality of our relations or our ability to work together," the diplomat said.

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon backed Washington’s response and sharply criticized France.

"I think the behavior of France is shameful," Danon told Fox News Digital Tuesday. "The U.S. is demonstrating moral clarity, standing for the real values of the U.N."

Danon accused France and other European countries of supporting voices within the United Nations that undermine rather than advance human rights. "It’s about time to reform the U.N., and I want to thank the U.S. for showing leadership on that issue," he said.

The confrontation marked a significant escalation from the unusually personal social media exchange that erupted after the General Assembly approved a second four-year term for U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

Türk, an Austrian diplomat who has served as U.N. high commissioner for human rights since 2022, has drawn criticism from the United States and outside watchdogs over what they describe as uneven scrutiny of democracies and authoritarian governments. A 2024 analysis by UN Watch found that, among public country criticisms initiated by Türk or his office, he criticized the United States more often than China, North Korea, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Qatar combined, while issuing no such criticism of several repressive governments during the period reviewed.

Türk’s supporters, including France and the European Union, argue that his willingness to criticize powerful democracies reflects the independence and universality required of the U.N.’s top human rights official.

France’s Geneva mission had declared that the United States was no longer a human rights leader and claimed "the world no longer listens to it" after Washington joined nine other countries in voting against Türk’s extension.

IRAN SECURES UN ROLE WITH BACKING FROM UK, FRANCE, CANADA, AUSTRALIA AS US STANDS ALONE

U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz responded by accusing France of backing an official who lectures democracies while "cozying up to the world’s worst oppressors."

Negrea went further Monday, invoking the history of the U.S.-French alliance and saying Washington had stood beside France whenever its freedom was threatened.

The United States had tolerated France’s "grandstanding" out of "a sense of camaraderie and mutual respect," he said, but would no longer remain silent in the face of what he described as feigned French "moral outrage."

Bonnafont did not directly address the walkout when he spoke again at the end of the meeting. Instead, he invoked the countries’ historic ties, noting that France helped the United States secure its independence and participated in celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary. "This is the spirit of the relationship between France and the United States," he said, before reaffirming France’s commitment to the U.N.’s work on peace, development and human rights.

AMERICANS ARE NOT GIVING UP ON NATO, BUT THEY EXPECT EUROPE TO DO ITS SHARE

"The United Nations was created with the goal of working towards international peace and security, human rights and development," Bonnafont said, adding that France would continue working to protect the institution’s independence and its ability to serve human rights and peace.

The dispute began after the General Assembly voted 144-10, with 13 abstentions, to extend Türk’s tenure through October 2030.

The United States had unsuccessfully sought an additional week for consultations, arguing that the vote was being rushed even though Türk’s current term does not expire until Oct. 11.

Washington also objected to Türk’s record. U.S. officials have accused him of disproportionately criticizing democracies, including the United States and Israel, while failing to confront authoritarian governments with the same urgency.

EXCLUSIVE: As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets President Donald Trump in Washington for talks expected to center on Iran and regional security, a new report is urging the administration to expand U.S.–Israel defense cooperation by making Israeli air-defense technology a central component of the Golden Dome, the planned layered missile shield intended to detect, track and intercept ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons and drones before they can strike the United States.

The report warns that the planned American missile shield could leave U.S. cities, military installations and critical infrastructure exposed to increasingly common drone and cruise-missile threats if Washington directs too much money toward costly space-based systems that could take years to become operational.

The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) report, titled "The Missing Shield: Acquiring Israeli Air Defenses Makes Golden Dome Sustainable," argues that the initiative’s current funding priorities favor strategic and space-based capabilities that could take years to develop while giving insufficient attention to more frequent, lower-altitude threats such as drones, cruise missiles and shorter-range projectiles.

THE US-ISRAEL STRATEGIC ALLIANCE – PARTNERSHIP, NOT CHARITY

Ari Cicurel, the report’s author, told Fox News Digital that long-range defenses remain necessary but should not come at the expense of systems capable of stopping threats that could reach the United States now.

"Right now, the current approach is spending the time and money primarily on space, long-range threats, which are absolutely needed," Cicurel said. "But the most frequent and immediate threats are actually short-range projectiles, particularly drones."

Cicurel pointed to recent drone activity over American cities, including Washington, D.C., as evidence that the danger is not confined to overseas battlefields.

"We’ve seen several drone overflights of cities, including in Washington, D.C., over the past few months," he said. "And that’s certainly the most frequent threat that the U.S. needs to be addressing."

The report estimates that the Israeli-designed launchers it examined are 58% to 88% less expensive, interceptors 19% to 97% less expensive and radars 32% to 87% less expensive than the U.S. systems used for comparison. JINSA argues those savings could allow the Pentagon to purchase more launchers, expand interceptor stockpiles and preserve funding for expensive strategic and space-based technologies.

The Pentagon told Fox News Digital that Golden Dome is being designed as a layered system capable of addressing a broad range of threats.

"Golden Dome for America continues to focus its efforts on protecting America and delivering on President Trump’s vision for homeland defense," a Pentagon official said.

PENTAGON CONSOLIDATES DRONE OVERSIGHT AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PUSHES RAPID UNMANNED WARFARE EXPANSION

The official said the implementation plan remains "dynamic" and is intended to defend against "the full spectrum of evolving threats," including hypersonic and ballistic missiles, advanced cruise missiles and unmanned aerial systems.

The scale of the choices ahead was underscored by a May 12 Congressional Budget Office analysis. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that a notional national missile-defense system broadly consistent with Trump’s executive order could cost approximately $1.2 trillion over 20 years to develop, deploy and operate. 

The office stressed that the estimate was not a projection of the Pentagon’s actual Golden Dome plan because the department had not released sufficient details about its intended architecture.

The Congressional Budget Office modeled four interceptor layers, including a space-based layer, two wide-area surface layers and a regional surface-defense layer.

The JINSA report proposes making Israeli-designed defenses a central part of those lower layers. It recommends Iron Dome for short-range threats, David’s Sling for medium-range threats, Arrow for ballistic missiles and Iron Beam for lower-cost laser interception.

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Cicurel said the proposal should not be seen simply as buying foreign weapons because Washington helped finance their development and American companies already participate in their production.

"What we’re really talking about is finally leveraging American tax dollars that have gone to help produce, help develop these Israeli systems," he said.

One hundred and two companies across 34 states participate in producing Israeli air defense systems.

Asked specifically whether the Pentagon is evaluating Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow or Iron Beam for purchase, integration or expanded co-production, the official declined to say.

"We have nothing new to announce at this time," the official said. "Due to operational security and the need to protect our competitive advantages, we will not provide further details."

The report also argues that recent fighting with Iran demonstrated how high interception rates can obscure vulnerabilities, including rapid depletion of interceptor inventories, strained production lines and attacks against radar systems anchoring defensive networks.

"Both the U.S. and the Israeli defense industrial bases were not well-equipped to handle the amount of production that either country needed," Cicurel said.

The report calls for dedicated Golden Dome funding for short- and medium-range defenses, expanded joint production, and the inclusion of Golden Dome cooperation in the next U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding. It also recommends updating export-control and technology-sharing rules, while acknowledging challenges involving interoperability, classified data and intellectual property.

Trump has repeatedly described the Golden Dome as a defining homeland-defense project, saying it would create a shield capable of protecting the United States from advanced missile threats. Whether Israeli systems become part of that architecture remains unclear, but Netanyahu’s visit gives both governments an opportunity to push the issue higher on the bilateral defense agenda.

For nearly six years, American conservationist Morad Tahbaz lived in what he described as hell inside Iran’s prison system. The worst four months were spent completely alone in a small cell, beneath a bright light that never went dark.

Tahbaz was held in Ward 2A of Iran’s Evin Prison, which he described as a high-security detention facility controlled by the intelligence branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He was allowed out only twice a day for about 10 minutes and was forced to wear a blindfold whenever he left, Tahbaz told Fox News Digital. His weekly call with his wife lasted only a few minutes and was monitored so closely that an official interrupted whenever he spoke in English.

"This is probably the harshest and toughest imprisonment that any prisoner will go through," Tahbaz, who was finally released in September 2023, told Fox News Digital of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence detention facility inside Iran's Evin Prison.

WHO IS AHMAD VAHIDI? IRAN’S NEW IRGC CHIEF TIED TO GLOBAL ATTACKS AND ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ IDEOLOGY

Tahbaz was living and working in Iran as a conservationist when authorities arrested him alongside several colleagues in January 2018. He had co-founded the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, which worked to protect endangered species including the Asiatic cheetah and Persian leopard.

One of the accusations leveled against him, Tahbaz said, was that he had trained lizards to spy on Iranian military installations for Israel.

"You can’t make this stuff up," Tahbaz said in the Zoom interview with Fox News Digital. "It just gives you an idea of the kind of narrative that this regime comes up with. They’ll come up with anything."

What began with interrogations in January 2018 turned into nearly six years of imprisonment for the Iranian American conservationist.

Now free and back in his home in the U.S., Tahbaz fears the war between the United States and Iran could make the Americans still held by Iran both more vulnerable and more valuable as negotiating assets.

"I do think the strikes in Iran will have an impact on the hostages’ situation and their circumstances," he said.

TRUMP SAYS IRAN WILL PAY — WHAT IT TAKES TO END THE WAR REMAINS UNCLEAR

Tahbaz said he spent his first two years inside the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence facility at Evin.

After his conviction, Tahbaz was transferred into the general prison population. He said his cellmates ranged from suspected ISIS members to former Iranian government ministers.

The isolation and physical conditions were accompanied by constant uncertainty.

"The uncertainty when you are a hostage is not like you think at the end of your sentence they’ll necessarily let you go," Tahbaz said. "They’ll just come up with another charge to keep you there for as long as you’re of value to them."

Tahbaz was released Sept. 18, 2023, with four other Americans in a Qatar-mediated agreement between Washington and Iran. The exchange also involved five Iranians held by the United States and the transfer of $6 billion in previously frozen Iranian funds into a restricted account for humanitarian transactions.

The negotiation brought Tahbaz home, but he believes Western governments have failed to establish consequences strong enough to stop Iran from detaining more foreign and dual nationals.

"This business of hostage-taking has been going on essentially since the beginning of the revolution," he said.

LAWYER FOR AMERICAN DETAINED IN IRAN SAYS HOSTAGE DEAL IS 'EASIEST PROBLEM ON THE TABLE' FOR BOTH SIDES

"It will continue, in my opinion, as long as there is no deterrence," Tahbaz added. "None of the Western governments, in reality, have done anything significant about stopping this practice."

The issue returned to the forefront in July with the release of Dena Karari, a 53-year-old Iranian American from California.

Karari had been unable to leave Iran since December 2024 after authorities confiscated her passports. Her attorney said she faced allegations of espionage and collaboration with a hostile state. President Donald Trump announced in July that she had been allowed to leave and called the decision a "gesture of goodwill."

Karari was not continuously imprisoned, according to reporting about her case, but she remained under an exit ban and was repeatedly interrogated.

Her release offered relief during a widening conflict, but Tahbaz said dual nationals remain particularly vulnerable because Iran does not recognize their foreign citizenship.

"Iran doesn’t recognize any other nationality other than the Iranian," he said.

Authorities can develop a national-security case, secure a sentence and then preserve the prisoner for use in future negotiations, Tahbaz said.

"You’re condemned and they pass sentence and you’re in the system, and now you are a bargaining chip," he said.

The precise number of Americans currently imprisoned or prevented from leaving Iran remains unclear.

Reuters reported in March that at least six U.S. citizens or permanent residents were detained in Iran, including journalist Reza Valizadeh, businessman Kamran Hekmati and U.S. permanent resident Shahab Dalili.

Valizadeh, a former Radio Farda journalist, was sentenced to 10 years for allegedly collaborating with a hostile government. Hekmati was sentenced to two years for having visited Israel more than a decade earlier, according to his family. Dalili, who was arrested after traveling to Iran for his father’s funeral, was sentenced to 10 years for allegedly cooperating with a hostile government.

Advocates warned that escalating strikes could increase the risk that detainees would be harmed or used as leverage.

The State Department formally designated Hekmati, who has bladder cancer, as wrongfully detained in March.

Tahbaz said he believes three Americans remain in custody, although that number could not be independently confirmed. Some cases are deliberately kept private because families fear publicity could increase the danger to detainees.

His concerns about the current war are rooted in how Iranian interrogators responded to tensions with Washington during his own imprisonment.

"When I was taken in in January of 2018, and it was right at the beginning of the first Trump administration, the amount of frustration and anger at the rollback of the JCPOA at that time, I mean, it was thrown into my face just about every day of my interrogation in some way, shape or form," Tahbaz said, referring to a 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. 

The United States formally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in May 2018, several months after Tahbaz’s arrest.

Tahbaz believes the current conflict could similarly be transferred onto prisoners who have no control over decisions made in Washington.

"It definitely will worsen the case of prisoners in custody and those who may be just under surveillance or potential hostages," he said.

US ‘LOCKED AND LOADED’ FOR ‘MUCH HIGHER’ STRIKES IF IRAN TALKS FAIL AS TRUMP PAUSES HORMUZ OPS

He described prisoners as one more source of leverage in Iran’s broader confrontation with the United States.

"You’re seeing that playing out even with the war, this tit for tat, you do this, we’ll do that," he said.

"The hostages are, you know, just a commodity from Iran’s perspective, to be used at the right time."

Tahbaz’s experience with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also shapes his analysis of the struggle unfolding inside Iran.

He stressed that he is not a political analyst and described his conclusions as personal assessments based on his experience and conversations with contacts familiar with the country.

Tahbaz said he believes competing interests within the Revolutionary Guard are fighting to preserve their political and economic power.

He pointed specifically to Khatam al-Anbiya, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' engineering and construction conglomerate. Tahbaz argued that sanctions have benefited powerful IRGC-linked entities by forcing oil sales, imports and money transfers into opaque black and gray markets.

"They have created a huge franchise for themselves because of these sanctions," he said.

"They don’t want to see the sanctions go away, because they will lose their franchise, if you will. They will lose their power, their control over the money and everything that goes along with it."

He said ordinary Iranians have suffered most from the resulting economic isolation and wartime conditions.

"The people who are hurt most by all of this are the people of Iran," Tahbaz said. "They’re unfortunately taking the brunt of all of these in their daily lives."

Tahbaz predicted Iranians would eventually return to the streets, but said many had lost confidence that Western governments would intervene to help remove the regime.

"I’m sure they’ll be back on the streets," he said. "But I think this notion that the Western states are going to step in and help them overthrow this regime, that went out the window."

Tahbaz said many Iranians had previously been strongly sympathetic toward the United States and initially hoped the conflict might end the Islamic Republic. That characterization reflects his assessment and conversations and could not be independently quantified.

He believes any future political movement will have to develop primarily inside Iran rather than being directed by opposition groups abroad.

"There’s a lot of hatred and anger just boiling there," Tahbaz said. "So it will boil up and over again without a doubt. The question is when, how, but it will happen again."

Tahbaz is recounting his imprisonment in his new book, "Green Parrots: A Memoir of Survival in Iran’s Evin Prison," scheduled for publication Sept. 29. The publisher says the book describes how he relied on skills developed while tracking endangered wildlife to survive nearly six years in Evin, including solitary confinement.

His release illustrates the contradiction confronting governments trying to recover their citizens: negotiations can bring individual prisoners home, but Tahbaz believes the broader practice will continue unless Iran faces meaningful deterrence for taking them.

He survived because governments ultimately negotiated for his freedom.

His warning is that as the war intensifies, the Americans still held in Iran could become more valuable to Tehran at precisely the moment their circumstances become more dangerous.

A gunman fired at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto on Monday, marking the second time this year someone shot at the building, according to authorities.

A single shell casing was found at the scene, and there was damage to the building's facade.

No injuries were reported in the incident.

"The U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Canada are open and operating normally, though some routine U.S. citizen services in Toronto are being rescheduled," the consulate said in a statement.

GUNFIRE SHATTERS TORONTO LATIN STREET FESTIVAL, LEAVING AT LEAST 2 DEAD AND MULTIPLE WOUNDED

Toronto Deputy Police Chief Frank Barredo said there was a high-speed chase after the shooting that lasted an hour. However, no arrest was made and Barredo committed to continuing the search for those involved.

"We will approach this investigation with great seriousness," Barredo said at a news conference. "We will bring the people responsible for this to justice."

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow described the shooting as a "brazen attack."

"I want to say to the person or persons responsible, we will get you," she said.

This was the second shooting targeting the U.S. Consulate this year, with the first coming on March 10, when two suspects allegedly fired multiple shots at the building before driving away in a stolen vehicle.

Sheldon Tracy-Stewart, 18, and Zara Jabbi, 19, were arrested last month and charged with multiple offenses in connection with the March shooting. The allegations have not been tested in court.

A police presence has been seen at the consulate since the first shooting.

Barredo said a patrol vehicle was outside the consulate with its lights on when the shooting happened. Two security personnel were also in the building.

Last month, police said they believed multiple shootings, including the one in March, could be tied to "multilayered" gun-for-hire networks that have also targeted Toronto synagogues.

Two popular Jewish-owned bakeries were targeted by gunfire over the weekend.

US CONSULATE IN TORONTO STRUCK BY GUNFIRE, POLICE SAY; NO INJURIES REPORTED

Barredo said police had not ruled out a connection between Monday's consulate shooting and the attacks on the bakeries. The motive for the consulate shooting remains under investigation.

"Investigators will follow the evidence to where it leads," he said.

Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, said he was "disgusted" by the recent violence in Toronto.

"I’m totally disgusted by the shootings and vandalism that took place in Toronto over the last few days, including at two Jewish-owned businesses over the weekend and near the U.S. Consulate this morning," he said on X. "In all cases, active police investigations are underway. I expect all those responsible to be found, prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A series of violent attacks on Egyptian Christians, including the incarceration of a man who converted from Islam to Christianity, prompted the U.S. State Department to urge that religious freedom be respected in the Muslim-majority country of Egypt.

The situation of the Christian minority in Egypt has implications for religious freedom in the northern African nation that receives $1.3 billion in annual funding from the U.S.

Raymond Ibrahim, an expert on Christians in the Muslim world, wrote on the website of the Gatestone Institute, that "Said Mansour Rezk Abdelrazek, a Muslim convert to Christianity, has become one of Egypt's most prominent religious freedom cases.

NIGERIAN PASTOR HIGHLIGHTED BY TRUMP SAYS HE’S NEXT AFTER MILITIA KILLS HIS RELATIVES

"After embracing Christianity in 2016, he endured years of harassment, detention, and abuse. On April 13, prosecutors referred him to a terrorism court, while his lawyers were denied access to the case file. He remains imprisoned, with advocates reporting torture, physical abuse, denial of adequate medical care, and repeated postponements of his trial."

In another case, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) reported that a mob of Muslims tossed stones at a church in Upper Egypt on July 8, injuring Christians and causing damage to the building and a priest’s car.

Just days later, a group of men attacked Father Matta Roushdy, 49, a priest at the Virgin Mary and Saint Abanoub Coptic Orthodox Church in Dahab, South Sinai Governorate.

REPORT DETAILS RISING PRESSURE ON UNDERGROUND CATHOLICS AS CHINA DENIES CRACKDOWN

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that President Trump has stated that "America will always defend the right of every person to live out their faith openly, freely, and without fear." The spokesperson added that "Religious freedom is a fundamental American value. We aspire for all others to enjoy the same freedom, protection, and benefits."

However, there has been some progress in combating bias against Coptic Christians. The organization Coptic Solidarity wrote last week that a breakthrough unfolded with respect to the alleged longstanding discrimination against Coptic athletes in soccer.

"In an unprecedented move, Egypt’s Ministry of Youth and Sports announced that its investigation found sufficient evidence of misconduct by a coach at Alexandria’s Al-Ittihad Club who allegedly excluded a junior football player, Makari Younan, because of his Christian name," the organization announced.

It added that, "The decision deserves recognition. Whether motivated by public pressure or a genuine policy shift, the Ministry’s response represents a notable departure from the longstanding official tendency to dismiss such allegations."

CHRISTIAN SCHOOL CHAPLAIN WINS SETTLEMENT AFTER FIRING OVER LGBTQ SERMON

The organization continued, "It appears to be the first official acknowledgment that discrimination against Copts in Egyptian sport is not merely an allegation raised by disappointed families or human rights organizations, but a matter requiring government intervention."

Open Doors, a global organization that aids persecuted Christians around the world, said of the attack on the priest that, "These types of attacks are usually committed by members of radical Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood."

Their statement added, "Their actions reflect a broader anti-Christian sentiment, especially in rural and village societies across the country where weak law enforcement leaves Christians vulnerable to attack. Though violent cases like this have decreased in the last decade, these attacks will continue until the state takes anti-Christian fanaticism as seriously as it deserves."

Fox News Digital sent multiple press query emails to the Egyptian embassies in Washington and Tel Aviv and called the embassy in Washington.

Dalia Ziade, an Egyptian Middle East Scholar and Research Fellow at The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, told Fox News Digital that "These cases represent only a small fraction of what Coptic Christians endure in Egypt every day. We are speaking about a population of more than 20 million Egyptians. On paper, they are labeled a minority. In reality, they are at the essence of Egyptian identity. They are the preservers of the country’s history and cultural memory."

According to Ziade, "Women and Coptic Christians constitute President El-Sisi’s most important political base. These were the two vulnerable groups that felt most threatened by the Muslim Brotherhood in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. They strongly supported El-Sisi then, and they continue to support him today. Consequently, he must maintain the appearance of protecting and pleasing them by visiting their church on Christmas every year. But beyond that, nothing is actually happening to make them less vulnerable."

The U.S. State Department 2025 report on Christians depicts a bleak situation for the Egyptian Christian community. The community makes up an estimated 10% of the nation’s 120 million people.

According to the State Department report on Egyptian Christians, "Despite efforts for greater representation, Christians remain underrepresented in senior positions across the public sector. Currently, only two Christians – the minister of local development and the minister of parliamentary affairs – serve in Egypt’s 31-member cabinet," wrote the State Department, adding: "Of 27 appointed governors, only one is Christian. In the senate, 24 Christians (17 elected and seven appointed) hold seats, out of 300 senators. One serves as deputy speaker. A Coptic Christian is the head of the constitutional court. No Christian serves as president of any of the country’s 27 public universities. Employment discrimination against Christians – especially within the security services, judiciary, and senior civil service – remains a significant issue."

According to an April 29 Christian Today report, a Coptic Christian YouTuber, Augustinos Samaan, was sentenced to five years in prison for insulting Islam because he published videos defending the Christian faith.

In the wake of the recent violent attack in Berlin near a pride festival, German officials are left to contend with the questions surrounding why suspect Abdul Ballout was free to perpetrate the assault despite his recent conviction related to supporting ISIS.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday wished to know how the violent assault could have been prevented.

"We must do everything to protect people in Germany as best possible from such criminals, from dangerous people who for whatever reason can’t be taken into custody," Merz said, according to The Associated Press.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told public broadcaster ZDF during an interview that in light of the 21-year-old suspect's conviction and record of backing the Islamic State, it did not make sense that the man was roaming free.

"You can assume that it certainly would have made sense to put this person in custody," he noted, according to the report.

BERLIN PRIDE ATTACK SUSPECT KILLED IN POLICE CONFRONTATION: AP

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner told regional broadcaster RBB in an interview that while he did not wish to question the independence of the court system, when it comes to the matter of this attack, "words fail me."

The suspect in the recent Berlin attack went to Lebanon last year with the goal of traveling to Syria to join ISIS, according to an English translation of a joint release from the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office and the Berlin Court of Appeal, which noted that the man "was born and raised in Berlin and is a German citizen."

The attack on Saturday night left one dead and 29 injured, according to the AP, which reported that 21-year-old Abdul Ballout is suspected of plowing a van into people near a pride festival prior to apparently slashing people with a machete in what authorities think was a terror attack.

The suspect was killed by authorities on Sunday.

"According to current information, the 21-year-old allegedly attacked the special forces officers with a bladed weapon, whereupon they used their firearms," an English translation of a July 26 joint press release from the Berlin Police and public prosecutor's office noted. "The man suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene. The investigation is ongoing."

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Earlier this year, a Berlin juvenile court convicted Ballout of preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state, and publishing propaganda supporting ISIS.

A news release from the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office and Berlin Court of Appeal said the court sentenced Ballout to one year and 10 months in youth custody before prosecutors appealed.

Officials have stated that the man was granted a suspended sentence, but the news release states: "The decision regarding the suspension of this sentence on probation was deferred for six months pursuant to Section 57 in conjunction with Section 61 Paragraph 1 of the Juvenile Courts Act. The court also imposed various conditions on Abdul B., including placing him under the supervision of a probation officer. The court lifted the existing arrest warrant, as pretrial detention primarily serves to secure the criminal proceedings and does not constitute a prejudicial punishment."

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The news release noted that the case was not over, given that the appeals process had yet to play out.

"This conviction is not yet legally binding, as the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office has filed an appeal. The Public Prosecutor's Office had requested a longer, non-probationary sentence for a juvenile and the continuation of the arrest warrant," the release noted.