As Death Toll Reaches 80 After U.S. Attack on Venezuela; ABC News Frames Delta Force Killings as Self-Defense
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provided a very detailed account of how the U.S. military’s mission to apprehend Nicholas Maduro and his wife took place early Saturday morning.
Caine said that more than 150 aircraft were involved, including fighter aircraft, bombers, surveillance aircraft, intelligence aircraft, and helicopters. He said the entire joint force was involved in the mission (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force, intelligence agencies).
The helicopters arrived at the compound at 1:01 a.m. Eastern time, 2:01 a.m. local time. Upon arrival, they came under fire and responded in self-defense with "overwhelming force," Caine said.
One of the helicopters was hit, but remained flyable. Maduro and his wife were taken into custody by Justice Department officials "assisted by incredible U.S. military forces " Caine said. He did not provide any details of any injured Americans.
When the helicopters left the compound, they were protected by fighter aircraft and drones that provided suppressive fire.
The extraction force was over water at 3:39 a.m. Eastern time, Caine said.
Maduro and wife were then taken to the USS Iwo Jima.
The military worked closely with the U.S. intelligence agencies: CIA, NGA, NSA. "We watched, we prepared, we remained patient and professional," said Caine.
U.S. intelligence knew Maduro’s pattern of life -- where he moved, lived, traveled, ate, and worked, he said.
The mission was ready in early December waiting for the right day to maximize the element of surprise, he said.
Are u guys stupid? If usa will truly help Nigeria then i 100% welcome them here, but u guys are too daft to see that the satanic usa will never go to a place that won't benefit them. Sudanese are currently killing theirselves, why didn't the usa go help them? Show me one country that usa has intervane that are currently doing well today
Fuckyoumod: instead of you to Appreciate Trump and beg him to help Nigeria, you are here crying and wailing like a toddler that lost his ice cream 🍦🍨
Santa-Clad Gunman Kills Nine in Christmas Day Shooting
It was the night of Christmas Eve when horror unfolded in a quiet cul-de-sac in Los Angeles County, California. An eight-year-old girl opened the front door to see a man dressed as Father Christmas carrying a large present.
That man was 45-year-old Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, a devoted Roman Catholic and aerospace industry worker. He abruptly shot the young girl in the face before stepping over her and using one or two semi-automatic handguns to spray bullets around the house, where about 25 people, including many children, had gathered for the party.
He was looking for his ex-wife Sylvia, with whom he had been involved in a contentious divorce which had concluded on 18 December, ending two years of marriage.
Police recovered nine charred bodies, none of which could be positively identified until dental records were examined. Jan Gregory, a neighbour, said she saw a teenage boy running from the house and screaming: "They shot my family!"
Pardo was found dead at one of his brother's houses hours later, with five guns found near his body. Police said that Pardo - who had no criminal record or history of violence - killed himself after suffering burns on one arm.
Democrats win big on Election Night as Trump’s Republicans lose every major race
Democrats made a clean sweep in the three biggest contested elections in the United States on Tuesday night.
The winners include Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim and self-described democratic socialist who will become the next mayor of New York City, according to NBC News projections.
In New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill is projected to become the next governor.
And in Virginia, Abigail Spanberger will become the state's first female governor, and her fellow Democrat Jay Jones will defeat incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, NBC News projected.
Trump, in a social media post, said that unnamed "pollsters" concluded that the reason Republicans lost on Tuesday was because he was not on the ballots, and because of the ongoing federal government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1.
To deter #BokoHaram and other jihadist groups in Nigeria—and to stop their massacres of Christians and threats against moderate Muslims— I advise the #Trump administration to establish an emergency base in #PortHarcourt, the main port city of the #Biafra region.
Such a move would enable the rapid deployment of international humanitarian aid, particularly assistance from American churches. President @realDonaldTrump has issued two strong statements condemning the jihadist attacks on Nigerian Christian communities and has directed the Secretary of War to prepare contingency plans for the “protection of communities” in Nigeria, should the federal government fail to stop the jihadists—as has been the case for years in northern and central Nigeria. In the meantime, targeted strikes against jihadist forces could also be considered.
Israel Strikes Kill at Least 104 People, Including 20 Women and 46 Children Overnight.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s military said Wednesday that the ceasefire was back on in Gaza after it carried out heavy airstrikes overnight across the Palestinian territory that killed 104 people, including 66 women and children, according to local health officials.
The strikes, the deadliest since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, marked the most serious challenge to the tenuous truce to date.
The bombardment pointed to Israel’s readiness to strike hard at what it says are Hamas violations of the ceasefire deal. Meanwhile the militant group denies it is responsible and blames Israel for violations.
Israel said its overnight strikes were in retaliation for the shooting and killing of an Israeli soldier in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Hamas violated provisions in the deal concerning the handover of remains of hostages.
Hamas denied any involvement in the deadly shooting and, in turn, accused Israel of “a blatant violation of the ceasefire deal.” It also said it would delay handing over the body of another hostage to Israel because of the strikes.
The strikes across Gaza in the early hours Wednesday pounded buildings and tent camps housing displaced families.
Ambulances and small trucks carrying bodies crowded hospital entrances. In Deir al-Balah, bodies were wheeled in on stretchers or carried on mattresses. One man walked into a hospital carrying the body of a young child.
“They burned children while they were asleep,” Haneen Mteir, whose sister and nephews were killed in a strike, shouted at the morgue in at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 104 people, including 20 women and 46 children, were killed in the overnight strikes and 253 people were wounded, most of them women and children.
Israel’s military says ceasefire is back on as death toll from Gaza strikes reaches 104
One person was killed and seven others were wounded on Thursday in a series of Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, the Health Ministry's Emergency Operations Center said.
The center said in a statement that one person was killed in the eastern town of Shmustar, one injured in Bna'foul in the Sidon district, and six wounded in Ansar in the Nabatieh district.
A Lebanese Army Intelligence source told Xinhua that the Israeli Air Force carried out 31 strikes targets in southern and eastern Lebanon, without giving further details.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attacks, saying the repeated Israeli strikes were part of a systematic policy aimed at destroying productive infrastructure, undermining economic recovery, and destabilizing the country under "false security pretexts."
Breaking News: President Trump is considering an overhaul to the U.S. refugee program that would favor mostly white people, documents show.
The Trump administration is considering a major overhaul of the U.S. refugee system that would favor white immigrants — including English speakers, white South Africans, and Europeans who oppose migration — according to internal documents obtained by The New York Times.
The proposals would transform a program meant to help the most vulnerable people into one that prioritizes mostly white applicants who say they are being persecuted. Some of the plans have already taken effect, such as offering priority refugee status to Afrikaners, the white minority that once ruled South Africa under apartheid.
Documents show the administration wants to emphasize “assimilation” and favor Europeans who have been “targeted for peaceful expression of views online,” including opposition to mass migration or support for populist political parties.
Officials argue that America’s refugee policy has made the country “too diverse,” claiming diversity “reduced the level of social trust essential for democracy.” The proposals would cancel applications from hundreds of thousands of nonwhite refugees already in the pipeline and sharply reduce the overall refugee cap to 7,500.
Critics say the plan exposes the administration’s belief that “true Americans” are white and Christian, turning long-standing humanitarian policy into one shaped by race and ideology .
"U.S. provided $17.9 billion to Israel in the first year of the war — when Democratic President Joe Biden was in office — and $3.8 billion in the second year"
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States under the Biden and Trump administrations has provided at least $21.7 billion in military assistance to Israel since the start of the Gaza war two years ago, according to a new academic study published Tuesday, the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel that provoked the conflict.
Another study, also published by the Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs, says the U.S. has spent roughly $10 billion more on security aid and operations in the broader Middle East in the past two years.
While the reports rely on open source material for most of their findings, they offer some of the most comprehensive accountings of U.S. military aid to close ally Israel and estimated costs of direct American military involvement in the Middle East.
The reports, which are sharply critical of Israel, say that without the U.S. assistance, Israel would not have been able to sustain its concerted campaign against Hamas in Gaza. They note that tens of billions of dollars in future funding for Israel is projected under various bilateral agreements.
The main report says the U.S. provided $17.9 billion to Israel in the first year of the war — when Democratic President Joe Biden was in office — and $3.8 billion in the second year. Some of the military assistance has already been delivered while the remainder will be supplied in the coming years, it said.
Netanyahu said that he is on A historical and spiritual mission to build “Greater Israel.” Which means he is on a mission to violate all international laws, commit crimes against humanity and annex Palestinian and other Arab countries territories.
Netanyahu is not happy with Trump’s proposed plan, which he believes could jeopardize that goal.
Zionists will turn on you as soon as you do or say something not in their favor. they forget all the money, weapons, bombs and security they got from USA
you can sacrifice your first born for them, but the second you refuse them anything, you become their sworn enemy.
US President Donald Trump told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to be “so fucking negative” in a tense phone call on Friday, Axios reports.
The conversation took place shortly after Hamas announced that it had submitted its response, in which it welcomed parts of the US proposal, while hinting at resistance regarding other sections and insisting that additional negotiations were needed to finalize the terms.
According to a US official, Netanyahu told Trump the ambivalent Hamas response was “nothing to celebrate.”
“I don’t know why you’re always so fucking negative,” responded Trump, per the official. “This is a win. Take it.”
Trump expected Hamas to reject the plan, and was pleasantly surprised by the terror group’s response, says Axios.
A US official says it was a somewhat combative conversation and that Trump was irked, but that they finally reached an agreement. “Ultimately, President Trump wants peace, and that’s what matters most. The administration is already working closely with Israel to accomplish that,” says a US official.
An Israeli official tells the outlet that Netanyahu said in private meetings on Friday that he sees Hamas’s response as a rejection of the Trump plan, and that he wanted to fight the idea that Hamas had accepted the proposal.
BREAKING: The US and Qatar signed an agreement that considers any attack on Qatar a threat to US security.
President Donald Trump has issued an executive order in which The United States pledges to guarantee Qatar’s security – including retaliatory military action – if the country were to come under attack again, in the wake of Israel’s unprecedented air strikes on the country last month that drew regional and global outrage.
Israel said that the attack targeted Hamas leaders who were in the capital, Doha, discussing a US ceasefire proposal for Gaza under Qatari auspices. It killed several members of the Palestinian group’s team, but not the leaders, as well as a Qatari security officer.
“In recognition of this history, and in light of the continuing threats to the State of Qatar posed by foreign aggression, it is the policy of the United States to guarantee the security and territorial integrity of the State of Qatar against external attack,” he said.
“The United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty or critical infrastructure of the state of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States,” the order says.
After the Israeli strikes in Doha on September 9, Washington tried to repair the damage done to diplomatic relations with Qatar while also showing its continued ironclad support for its ally Israel. The Gulf nation had called Israel’s actions “cowardly and treacherous”.
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestine marchers cross Sydney Harbour Bridge in the rain on to protest against Israel’s conduct in Gaza and to speak up for starving Palestinian children. The world-famous landmark was closed to traffic, with protesters gathering in the city centre in chilly weather before walking north across the bridge. NSW police estimate 90,000 people turned out, while the Palestine Action Group claims up to 300,000 peacefully protested
FBI Stops White Supremacist Plot to Kill 30,000 Black Citizens
An Ohio resident who nearly decapitated a woman during a confrontation last year is now facing federal charges over a post on X, the Elon Musk-owned social network formerly known as Twitter, where he vowed to “cleanse” an entire city of Black people, according to a newly unsealed FBI affidavit. Scott Hanna, 30, was arrested Friday morning on one count of making interstate communications with a threat to injure, after the Cincinnati Police Department sent screenshots of the July 31 post to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
“Organizing mobs to kill all the apes in Cincinnati Since @GovMikeDeWine and the @OSHP won’t do anything about this nonsense,” the post read. “We the people need to paint the town red and KILL THEM ALL. Fill the morgues and cleanse this city of blacks. By Sunday we are aiming to have killed 30k[.]”
Cincinnati has a Black population of about 120,000. The affidavit doesn’t specify how Hanna allegedly planned to carry out his threat, or what it was that set him off, but video of an interracial brawl last Saturday in downtown Cincinnati went megaviral, and appears to be, based on the timeline, what may have inspired it.
After a threatening post was made from the X account @generalquinny, the FBI quickly traced it to Joseph Hanna through account details from X, Google, and AT&T. His identity was confirmed using email, IP address, photo matches, and payment info.