NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States and Israel have already destroyed Iran’s nuclear program and warned that Tehran would face renewed military action if it attempts to rebuild, as new reports allege the regime is pursuing chemical and biological warheads for its ballistic missiles.

Speaking at Mar-a-Lago alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump issued a blunt warning to Tehran over its nuclear and missile ambitions.

“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down,” Trump said. “We’ll knock the hell out of them.” He added that Iran would be “much smarter” to pursue a deal.

IRAN, ISRAEL AND US AGREE THAT ISLAMIC REPUBLIC NUCLEAR SITES WERE ‘BADLY DAMAGED’ DESPITE LEAKED INTEL REPORT

US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Jim Waston/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump framed Iran’s defeat as central to regional stability, claiming joint U.S.-Israeli military action had fundamentally altered the Middle East balance.

“We just won a big war together,” he said. “If we didn’t beat Iran, you wouldn’t have had peace in the Middle East. We wiped it out.”

Pressed on whether he would support further Israeli military action if Iran continues advancing its missile or nuclear programs, Trump responded affirmatively. “If they continue with the missiles — yes,” he said. “The nuclear — absolutely.”

The Trump-Netanyahu meeting came as Iran’s currency has hit record lows, and shopkeepers in Tehran have staged strikes over soaring inflation and a collapsing economy.

TRUMP WOULD STRIKE IRAN ‘WITHOUT QUESTION’ IF IT RESTARTS NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM

Iranian worshippers hold up their hands as signs of unity with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during an anti-Israeli rally to condemn Israel’s attacks on Iran, in downtown Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2025.  (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Asked whether he would support the overthrow of Iran’s regime, Trump rejected the idea while pointing to unrest inside the country.

“I’m not going to talk about overthrow of a regime,” he said. “But they have tremendous inflation. Their economy is busted.” Trump added that protests are frequently met with lethal force by Iranian authorities.

The remarks followed a report Sunday by Iran International alleging that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is accelerating work on unconventional missile payloads, including chemical and biological options, citing unnamed military and security sources.

MOSSAD CHIEF THANKS US FOR HELP WITH IRAN, SAYS ‘MISSION IS NOT YET COMPLETE’

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows damage at the Fordo enrichment facility in Iran after U.S. strikes, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP) (Maxar Technologies via AP)

Iran denies pursuing chemical or biological weapons and maintains its missile program is defensive. Tehran ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997 and analysts say the reported developments fit a broader pattern.

“The fact that Tehran’s ballistic missiles can carry unconventional payloads is not new,” said Behnam Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Iranian pro-government supporters hold a giant Palestine flag at Palestine Square in Tehran, on April 14, 2024, in a celebration of the early morning Iran’s IRGC attack on Israel.  (Photo by Hossein Beris / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP)

Taleblu pointed to Iran’s recent military behavior. 

“What should underscore the chemical threat was Tehran’s use of warheads with cluster munitions against Israel during the 12-day war,” he said. “These warheads can easily carry canisters for poison gas. In short, the conflict contained a dry run for a potential chemical attack.”

He added that Iran’s history heightens concern, citing Tehran’s past use of chemical agents during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and its transfer of such weapons to Libya.

Efrat Lachter is an investigative reporter and war correspondent. Her work has taken her to 40 countries, including Ukraine, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan. She is a recipient of the 2024 Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalism. Lachter can be followed on X @efratlachter.

SOURCE PAGE

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

A sword-wielding man is offering his services to homeowners in Northern California who want help evicting squatters from empty properties.

On the official ASAP Squatter Removal website, owner James Jacobs claims he has a 95%+ success rate and leverages his combat training and mixed martial arts experience to remove squatters from vacant properties, according to a report in The Oaklandside.

“We are the only squatter removal service that actively defends your property. While others rely solely on law enforcement relationships – often leading to delays and failed removals – we bring real-world combat training and experience to the table,” Jacobs’ site reads.

“Our team leader has over 20 years of mixed martial arts expertise, advance melee weapons training and four years of NRA AND USCCA certification, ensuring both strategic and physical preparedness for any situation.”

In an interview with The Oaklandside, Jacobs said his experience with martial arts was unfamiliar to most squatters when it came to evictions.

James Jacobs says he helps kick squatters out with his sword (ASAP Squatter Removal)

“The average squatter has no melee experience,” Jacobs told the online outlet, explaining that he views squatting as theft regardless of the housing crisis and homelessness in the East Bay area.

“I’d much rather make a squatter homeless than have a landlord lose property,” Jacobs added.

Jacobs’ website further added that squatter removal in the area can be unpredictable. It claimed some groups operate as organized crime, which he said he was prepared for with professional-grade tactical gear.

The gear includes firearms, ballistic full-body armor, flash bangs and smoke grenades, tear gas, gas masks, and custom ammunition and tactical gear.

“With ASAP Squatter Removal, you’re not just hiring a service – you’re securing your property, your investment, and your peace of mind with professionals who are ready for anything,” according to his website.

The Oaklandside confirmed a recent eviction completed by Jacobs in Oakland earlier this year, but he declined to provide the outlet proof of other evictions, claiming he’s signed non-disclosure agreements and that his attorney advised against providing further information concerning legal proceedings. Videos posted online by Jacobs in the past year show him working at several properties, including one titled “Another Squatter Removed” and “Tour of a Squatter Property.”

His services come as Californians face a pronounced housing crisis, which has seen rising rents and housing costs and a dearth of new construction price out many residents. Home values in the Golden State are among the steepest in the nation, and the state has among the highest rates of homelessness, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Housing prices in San Francisco are so high that a new housing company has rolled out stacked “sleeping pods” for $700 per month in an attempt to solve the city’s affordability crisis, The Independent previously reported.

Under California law, squatters can acquire title to a building after five years, typically much faster than in other states.

In a statement to The Oaklandside, The Oakland Police Department said it handles calls about squatters by responding to all issues locals report.

“Our officers will respond to investigate the nature of the call,” they said in a statement.

“If our officers determine this is a landlord-tenant issue, the case will be referred to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office for further investigation.”

SOURCE PAGE

NEED TO KNOW

• Rebecca Gayheart is sharing how Eric Dane’s ALS diagnosis has impacted her family’s dynamic
• In an essay for The Cut, the model and actress spoke about helping Dane navigate his ALS diagnosis
• Gayheart shared how it’s “nice” for her daughters to see a “softer side” to their parents’ relationship, but noted they don’t have “hope” for a reconciliation

Rebecca Gayheart is sharing how navigating Eric Dane’s ALS diagnosis has brought her family closer.

In an essay for The Cut published on Monday, Jan. 29, the model and actress spoke about helping the Euphoria star, 53, navigate his ALS diagnosis alongside her two daughters Georgia, 14, and Billie, 15. While Gayheart admitted that there’s no escaping the future ahead of them, she wrote that she tries to focus on the current moment.

“Spending all this time together, it’s all been really positive, and I think it’s nice for the kids to see maybe a softer side of us,” she wrote. “It’s not that they have the hopes of us being together — kids always dream of their parents getting back together, and I think now ours don’t because they understand the reality of the situation.”

Rebecca Gayheart and her daughters in 2019.

JB Lacroix/Getty

Gayheart went on to share what she hopes this moment will show her girls.

“Hopefully, what they see instead are two adults who are trying to be mature and focus on what’s important,” she said.

Dane met Gayheart in 2003, and the pair wed less than a year later in Las Vegas. They welcomed their first daughter, Billie Beatrice, in 2010, and their second daughter, Georgia Geraldine, in 2011. The Beverly Hills, 90210 actress filed for divorce in February 2018 and requested to dismiss the petition in March 2025. 

While the pair have dated other people, she explained in her new essay that she lives 12 minutes from Dane’s home, where they have “a lot of meals together” and “a lot of drop-by visits” with their children.

“He made it very clear that he wants to spend time with his family as much as possible, and I am committed to facilitating that,” she wrote. 

Gayheart noted that she she always wants “the best” for Dane. She added, “It’s a very complicated relationship, one that’s confusing for people. Our love may not be romantic, but it’s a familial love.”

Eric Dane (left) and Rebecca Gayheart in 2016.

JB Lacroix/WireImage

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Dane revealed his ALS diagnosis exclusively to PEOPLE in April. “I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time,” he said in a statement at the time.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE at Step Up’s 2025 Inspiration Awards, Gayheart said she and their two daughters are “taking it day by day” when it comes to Dane’s diagnosis.

“We have some professional therapists who are helping us, and we’re just trying to have some hope and do it with dignity, grace and love,” she continued. “I mean, it’s heartbreaking. My girls are really suffering, and we’re just trying to get through it. It’s a tough time.”

SOURCE PAGE

The 21-year-old sorority girl daughter of a General Electric executive died on Christmas Eve after a fire caused by ‘heat spots’ destroyed her family’s mansion.

Kayla Corrigan, 21, was killed when her $4 million home in Needham, a suburb of Boston, erupted into flames last week. Two other adults who were inside the residence at the time of the fire managed to escape unharmed.

Corrigan was a ‘beloved’ member of the university’s Sigma Delta Tau chapter and on track to graduate with a degree in marketing management this spring.

‘Kayla shared the most beautiful presence and was such a kind and caring soul,’ her sorority sisters hailed in a heartbreaking Instagram post. ‘Everyone who knew her recognized her kindness, her warmth, her humor and her selflessness.’

The sorority issued its condolences to Corrigan’s family, whose home has sustained what police described as ‘catastrophic damage’.

Investigators believe the fire began in the rear of an attached garage, the state fire marshal said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but firefighters found several heat sources that they suspect may have contributed to the blaze.

A GoFundMe campaign established to cover Corrigan’s funeral expenses and provide temporary housing to her family has already amassed more than $160,000. 

Sigma Delta Tau is also planning to honor Corrigan at their chapter house once students return to Syracuse after winter break.

Kayla Corrigan, 21, (pictured in Spain earlier this year) was killed when her family home in Needham, a suburb of Boston, erupted into flames last week. Two other adults who were inside the residence at the time of the fire managed to escape unharmed

Corrigan (pictured during a beach trip in March 2023) is remembered for her generosity, caring attitude and her devotion to her family. Loved ones said she was a ‘beautiful and beloved sister and daughter’

The fire erupted at the sprawling 2,500 square-foot mansion, which boasts six bedrooms and seven bathrooms, around 5am on December 24. Pictured the Corrigan home in Needham, MA

Firefighters were called to the sprawling 2,500 square-foot mansion, which boasts six bedrooms and seven bathrooms, around 5am on December 24 as heavy smoke and flames engulfed the property.

Crews tried to enter the home, but were pushed back by the raging inferno, with the state fire marshal said ‘quickly spread’ throughout the residence.

Two residents escaped, but Corrigan was later found dead inside the home. 

It is unclear who was in the home at the time, but property records reviewed by the Daily Mail indicate that Corrigan’s mother Christa and 23-year-old sister Alyssa are residents at the property.

Christa, 55, has had a storied career at Boston-based General Electric, which dates back to the mid-1990s, her LinkedIn profile revealed.

She held several positions at GE and has served as the VP Human Resources for its Capital Retail Finance and Restructuring Operations leg for the past 16 years.

Corrigan’s father James worked for GE Healthcare for 11 years. He left the company in 2013 after serving as the President & CEO of Surgery for eight months, according to his LinkedIn.

James, 61, remarried in 2022 and currently lives in a $2.6 million house in Florida.

He works for financial services firm JMC Advisors LLC, where he has served as President and CEO since July this year, his profile stated.

James has worked at multiple companies in the pharma, biotech, and digital health industries. His previously roles included investor, top executive and board member.

Fire crews tried to enter the home, but were pushed back by the raging inferno, with the state fire marshal said ‘quickly spread’ throughout the residence. Two residents escaped, but Corrigan was later found dead inside the home

Corrigan’s mother Christa Baer Corrigan (pictured with Kayla in 2019) is the VP Human Resources at Capital Retail Finance & Restructuring Operations. Property records reviewed by the Daily Mail show that Christa and her two daughters are residents at the Needham home

Kayla Corrigan (right) is pictured with her father James (left), sister Alyssa (second left) and step-mother Jennifer (second right)

Fire investigators in Needham have determined that the blaze was accidental and suspect it first ignited in the family’s garage. 

‘We haven’t determined the cause of this fire yet, but we know that tragedies like this one are most common in the winter months,’ State Fire Marshal Jon Davine said in a press release obtained by the Daily Mail. 

In wake of the horrible tragedy, Davine urged other families to ‘please be sure you have working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms on every level of your home and a practiced escape plan in the event of an emergency.’

Corrigan is remembered for her generosity, caring attitude and her devotion to her family.

Amy Lund, who established the crowdfunding page supporting Corrgian’s family, said the house fire tragically took the life of a ‘beautiful and beloved sister and daughter.’

‘Words cannot express the depth of our grief or the shock of this loss,’ Lund wrote. 

‘Kayla was a beautiful 21 year old girl who was deeply loved by many. Her absence has left a space that can never be filled. We will carry her memory with us always.’

‘She touched the lives of so many,’ her sorority echoed, adding that her Sigma Delta Tau sisters are ‘so incredibly grateful for the memories she shared’ with them.

Kayla Corrigan (pictured in Barcelona in May this year) was a driven student and on track to graduate from Syracuse University this spring with a degree in marketing management

A GoFundMe campaign established to cover Corrigan’s funeral expenses and provide temporary housing to her family has already amassed more than $160,000. Sigma Delta Tau is also planning to honor Corrigan (pictured during her trip to Spain) at their chapter house once students return to Syracuse after winter break

Corrigan was a driven student and passionate about her field of study, Syracuse University Chief Student Experience Officer Allen Groves shared in a letter to the campus community.

She had ‘immersed herself into internships strengthening her understanding of navigating marketing decisions in an evolving global landscape.’

Groves urged her classmates and others impacted by the tragedy to use available counseling and support resources.

The Syracuse University community has already demonstrated a wave of support for the Corrigans. Two fraternities – Delta Kappa Epsilon and Sigma Alpha Epsilon – and the men’s ice hockey team were among the organizations who contributed to the family’s GoFundMe.

Neither Corrigan’s parents nor her sister Alyssa, who graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst this past May, have publicly commented on the tragedy. 

SOURCE PAGE

The December 29 Set For Life draw has taken place with players set to win a life-changing monthly payment of £10,000 for the next 30 years



SOURCE PAGE

Six militants and three police officers have been killed during a shoot-out after extremists clashed with authorities in Turkey.  

At least eight police officers and a night guard were also wounded in the confrontation in the country’s northwest on Monday, Turkey‘s interior minister said.

Shots were fired after police stormed a house where the alleged militants were hiding in the Elmali district in Yalova province, south of Istanbul.

Image:
President Erdogan has vowed to continue the crackdown on IS activity. Pic: Reuters.

Turkey’s interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said the operation was one of more than 100 simultaneous raids carried out in 15 provinces across the country against suspected IS militants.

The violence comes amid a crackdown on extremist groups across with country, with Turkish police carrying out another wave of raids last week.

Some 115 militants were arrested for allegedly planning attacks targeting Christmas and new year celebrations during this operation.

Mr Yerlikaya said the operation in Yalova was carried out with “great care” because women and children were inside the house where the alleged militants were located.

All the militants arrested were Turkish nationals, the minister said.

Image:
Turkish police have arrested a total of 138 IS suspects in the last month. Pic: Reuters.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his condolences for the police officers who were killed and vowed to push ahead with the fight against extremist groups.

“We will continue our fight against the blood‑stained killers who threaten our nation’s peace and our state’s security both within our borders and beyond, with determination, comprehensively and without compromise,” he said in a statement posted on X.

Read more from Sky News:
Anthony Joshua injured in car crash in Nigeria
Activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah apologises for historic tweets

Image:
More than 100 simultaneous raids were carried out in 15 provinces on Monday. Pic: Reuters.

The Yalova Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into Monday’s shooting.

Turkish justice minister Yilmaz Tunc said on X that five prosecutors had been appointed to lead the probe.

Captivate

This content is provided by Captivate, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Captivate cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.


Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Captivate cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Captivate cookies for this session only.

Enable Cookies
Allow Cookies Once

👉 Tap here to follow The World With Richard Engel And Yalda Hakim wherever you get your podcasts 👈

IS has carried out a series of deadly attacks in Turkey in recent years, including a shooting at an Istanbul nightclub during new year celebrations in 2017, which killed 39 people.

SOURCE PAGE

NewsFeed

Volodymyr Zelenskyy quickly denied a claim by Moscow that his country’s military launched a drone attack on Vladimir Putin’s residence in the city of Novgorod. The Ukrainian leader accused Russia of trying to derail peace talks a day after Zelenskyy met with US President Donald Trump.

Published On 29 Dec 202529 Dec 2025

Click here to share on social media

share2

Share

SOURCE PAGE

President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied allegations by Russia that Ukraine launched a drone attack on one of President Vladimir Putin’s residences, and accused Moscow of trying to derail peace talks.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Kyiv had launched an attack overnight using 91 long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on Putin’s state residence in Russia’s northwestern Novgorod region.

Russia said it would now review its position in peace negotiations. It is not yet clear where Putin was at the time of the alleged attack.

Zelensky dismissed the claim as “typical Russian lies”, intended to give the Kremlin an excuse to continue attacks on Ukraine.

He said that Russia had previously targeted government buildings in Kyiv.

Zelensky added on X: “It is critical that the world doesn’t stay silent now. We cannot allow Russia to undermine the work on achieving a lasting peace.”

In a statement shared on Telegram on Monday, Lavrov said all of the 91 drones he claimed were launched at Putin’s residence were intercepted and destroyed by Russian air defence systems.

He added that there were no reports of casualties or damage as a result of the attack.

“Given the final degeneration of the criminal Kyiv regime, which has switched to a policy of state terrorism, Russia’s negotiating position will be revised,” he said.

But he added that Russia does not intend to exit the negotiating process with the US, Russian news agency Tass reported.

The claim by Moscow comes after talks between the US and Ukraine in Florida on Sunday, where Presidents Trump and Zelensky discussed a revised peace plan to end the war.

Zelensky said the US had offered Ukraine security guarantees for 15 years, and Trump said an agreement on this point was “close to 95%” done.

Ukraine’s leader described territorial issues and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as the last unresolved matters, and there was little sign of progress on the future of Ukraine’s contested Donbas region – which Russia wants to seize in full.

Moscow currently controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and some 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk. The two regions are known collectively as Donbas.

Russia has previously rejected key parts of the plan under discussion.

The White House said on Monday that President Trump had “concluded a positive call” with Putin, following the US-Ukraine talks.

Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin foreign policy aide, told reporters on Monday that during the call, Putin had pointed out the alleged attack on his residence happened “almost straight after what the US had considered to be a successful round of talks”.

Ushahov said: “The US president was shocked by this information, he was angry and said he couldn’t believe such mad actions. It was stated that this will no doubt affect the US approach to working with Zelensky”.

The White House did not address this claim when confirming the call took place.

Ushakov added that Putin had stated that the “reckless terrorist action” would be met with “the strongest response”.

SOURCE PAGE

The Mountain of God — Ol’doinyo Lengai to the Maasai — is an active volcano rising sharply a few kilometers from the town of Engare Sero in northern Tanzania. At its base lies Lake Natron, a shimmering salt lake. It’s considered the most important breeding site for 75% of the global population of lesser flamingos.

But it’s also an important site for Maasai people, who consider parts of it their ancestral land. Now, some fear another mass eviction is coming.

“I was forced to flee my home. They turned the area where I lived into the Pololeti hunting reserve,” says 36-year-old Nesikar Daudi, now living in Engare Sero.

In 2022, the Tanzanian government established the Pololeti Game Reserve, and designated it exclusively for hunting and tourism. Thousands of people, like Nesikar were directly affected or even forcibly evicted.

“We suffered a lot because of this takeover. We lost our livestock, and bulldozers demolished our homes,” Nesikar says. She, and hundreds of others, relocated to Lake Natron.

Activist and lawyer Joseph Oleshangay together with members of Maasai communities, between the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Loliondo areaImage: Marco Simoncelli/DW

Since the 1990s, the country has seen a 20% expansion of protected areas. But Maasai lawyer and activist Joseph Oleshengay says the government’s strategy in recent years has little to do with conserving nature.

“It is essentially a mechanism for land dispossession,” he says. Behind the rhetoric of environmental protection, he argues, stand economic interests linked to tourism and trophy hunting.

“The idea is to empty these territories so they can be turned into something that makes money,” Oleshengay told DW.

Authorities operate under a lawthat allows all land in Tanzania to be reclassified if it is deemed to serve the “public interest.” In practice, the head of state can decide the fate of entire areas without any obligation to consult the communities living there.

Maasai excluded from tourism projects

Tanzania has game-controlled areas (GCAs) and wildlife management areas (WMAs). All are officially defined as tools for protecting wildlife and the environment, but differ in their rules and in how they affect local communities.

In WMAs and GCAs, human activities are restricted but not entirely excluded. WMAs allow residence, pastoralism, and sometimes agriculture. In GCAs, cultivation is prohibited, and grazing is allowed only with a specific permit from the relevant authority, while residence remains permitted. In game reserves like Pololeti, however, human presence is completely banned.

A sign at one of the entrance gates to the Pololeti Game Reserve, damaged by Maasai protesters during demonstrations following forced evictions from the area Image: Marco Simoncelli/DW

Game reserves outnumber national parks and cover a comparable amount of land. Around 43% of Tanzania’s territory now falls within some form of protected area. Taken together, game reserves, GCAs and WMAs span roughly 159,000 square kilometers, an area larger than the neighboring nation of Malawi.

Engare Sero stretches along the banks of a river that descends from the volcano. Its calm waters sustain farming, pastoralism, and daily life before flowing into the vast salt lake below. For Nesikar Daudi, reports that the state wants to turn Lake Natron into a hunting reserve is worrying.

“We are not happy about this at all. It would mean yet another mass eviction,” she says, adding: “You’ve seen the lake basin? That’s where our livestock graze. If they turn it into a game reserve, our animals would have to climb the mountains to find food, and that’s simply impossible.”

An internal report from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, based on its 2021–2026 strategic plan, indicates that 15 new areas — nearly 7,000 square kilometers — are slated for conversion from GCAs into game reserves. The project, which would affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, also includes 4,000 square kilometers in the Lake Natron area.

Tourist dollars beckon

“For years, the government has tried to evict residents because, from a tourism perspective, it is a strategic area,” says Navaya Ole Ndaskoi, a Maasai academic and member of the Pastoralists Indigenous NGOs Forum. The land around the lake — about 3,000 square kilometers — is already classified as a GCA, with four hunting blocks leased to private companies that pay annual fees of up to $300,000 (€255,000) each.

Clients include several high-profile figures. On 8 June 2023, Donald Trump Jr., son of the United States’ president, visited Tanzania, including the Lake Natron area. According to local media and sources close to TAWA (Tanzanian Wildlife Management Authority), he spent tens of thousands of dollars on a safari that included intensive hunting sessions.

Even though the area has not yet been formally designated as a game reserve, TAWA rangers seem to be behaving as if it already were. Several testimonies report that in recent years, they have begun imposing restrictions on the movement of local communities.

“We welcomed them, and they took our land by force. They no longer consult us. Now we understand their real intentions. TAWA is not a good neighbor,” says Nesikar.

Rural services cut

Authorities have also targeted essential health services, repeating patterns seen in other areas such as Ngorongoro. In 2022, without offering any explanation, they revoked the flight permits of the Flying Medical Service — a non-profit organization that has operated in northern Tanzania for 40 years, providing free healthcare to around 30,000 patients annually, including vaccinations, support for high-risk pregnancies, and emergency evacuations.

Nalotwesha, a young Maasai woman from the remote village of Napandi near Lake Natron, has suffered two strokes. The first time, she was saved by an emergency flight operated by the Flying Medical Service, but when she suffered a second stroke the planes were already grounded Image: Marco Simoncelli/DW

The consequences have been severe for the people living in the area. Nalotwesha, 28, comes from the remote village of Napandi near Lake Natron. The Maasai woman has suffered two strokes. The first time, an emergency medical flight saved her life by bringing her to the region’s main city Arusha. But the service had been shut down when she suffered another stroke.

“The plane gave us hope. Now we are abandoned. There are no doctors or medicines in our village,” she says.

The delay in receiving care left Nalotwesha partially paralyzed. She now lives near the hospital in Arusha, and is undergoing physiotherapy.

Territories like Lake Natron, Pololeti, and others earmarked for game reserves lie along crucial wildlife migration routes: adjacent to major national parks, and close to the Kenyan border. While this makes them especially valuable for conservation and tourism, their pastoralist communities are vulnerable.

For the Maasai, who once moved freely between Tanzania and Kenya in search of pasture, these new boundaries and restrictions have dramatically narrowed the land available for their herds.

Edited by Cai Nebe

SOURCE PAGE

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

A Texas teenager who vanished from her home on Christmas Eve and has been missing ever since could be in “imminent danger,” authorities have warned, following fears she may have been trafficked abroad.

Camila Mendoza Olmos was last seen just before 7 a.m. Wednesday outside her home, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities say she appeared to be heading out for what her family believed was just a routine walk.

“Camila’s mother stated that Camila normally goes for a morning walk; however, she became concerned when Camila did not return within a reasonable period of time,” the sheriff’s office said.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said detectives have not ruled out any scenario in the teen’s sudden disappearance, including kidnapping or human trafficking.

“We definitely don’t want to miss anything,” Salazar told ABC News. “The ground search is somewhat limited to a couple of square miles. We’re also not ruling out that this case may take us outside the borders of the continental United States.”

open image in gallery

Camila Mendoza Olmos was last seen just before 7 a.m. Wednesday outside her home, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities say she appeared to be heading out for what her family believed was just a routine walk (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office)

He also confirmed that Mendoza Olmos was not arrested by ICE agents, stating that she is a U.S. citizen, and that the Department of Homeland Security was monitoring border crossings for signs of her.

The Independent has contacted the Bexar County Sheriff for further information.

While the teenager had reportedly gone through a recent break up, authorities said it was mutual and they do not believe any “nefarious” circumstances were involved, adding that those close to the teenager were cooperating.

Surveillance video showed Mendoza Olmos wearing baby blue pajama shorts, a black hoodie and white shoes as she rummaged through her car before the footage cut off, officials said.

Her vehicle was left at the home, and investigators believe she walked away carrying only her car keys and possibly her driver’s license.

Salazar said that the fact Mendoza Olmos had left her belongings at home before disappearing was “highly unusual,” adding that she left an active lifestyle. “That’s why we’re working basically around the clock on this case,” he said.

open image in gallery

Surveillance video showed Mendoza Olmos wearing baby blue pajama shorts, a black hoodie and white shoes as she rummaged through her car before the footage cut off, officials said. Authorties believe she could be in ‘imminent danger’ (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office)

The morning she disappeared, the teenager had been sleeping in the same bed as her mother, Rosario Olmos. She told KENS5 that she felt her daughter get up but stayed in bed for about 90 minutes before checking on her.

Her mother later searched the neighborhood, believing she would spot her daughter on her usual route, but she was nowhere to be found. After contacting the teenager’s current boyfriend and father, both of whom said they had not seen or heard from her, she filed a missing persons report.

Family and friends spent Christmas Day searching areas near the home but found no sign of her. “I only ask God to please bring her back home,” her mother told KENS5. “Bring her back to me.”

Anyone who may have seen or heard from Camila Mendoza Olmos is asked to contact the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office at 210-335-6000.

In 2025 there have been more than 170 cases in which U.S. citizens have been detained by federal agents at raids and protests, according to ProPublica. The Independent has contacted ICE for comment.

Since returning to office in January, Donald Trump and his administration have pushed aggressive anti-immigration policies. The president’s immigration czar Stephen Miller has previously been reported to have pushed ICE agents to make up to 3,000 arrests per day. As a result, the number of people without a criminal record being arrested by federal agents and held in detention has jumped 800 percent since January.

According to both public and internal ICE data and data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, as of September 2025 there were 59,207 immigrants in ICE custody. June marked the first time that U.S. detention centers held over 50,000 immigrants at once.

SOURCE PAGE

NEED TO KNOW

• Drew Barrymore shared a vulnerable makeup-free video on Instagram, saying that aging “is not something to fear”
• Celebs and fans alike are praising Barrymore in the comments section
• Barrymore recently revealed that she’s never had any cosmetic work done to her face

Drew Barrymore is embracing aging.

On Wednesday, Dec. 24, the actress and television host, 50, shared a vulnerable makeup-free video on Instagram. In the clip, which was set to an instrumental version of Billie Eilish’s song “What Was I Made For?”, Barrymore sports a bare-faced look, showing off close-ups of her skin and making faces at the camera.

The star wore a casual outfit of a t-shirt, hoodie and jacket while her hair is pulled back into a messy bun.

“Aging is a privilege,” she wrote over the video. “It is not something to fear.”

In the caption, the Drew Barrymore Show host added, “Aging is a privilege that I will never take for granted.”

Celebs and fans alike are praising Barrymore in the comments section.

“We need more of this!!!” Bella Thorne wrote.

English actress and podcaster Giovanna Fletcher shared, “Yes. A thousand times, YES!!!!! How lucky we are to be alive to do all the things. Xxx.”

Another comment read, “❤️❤️❤️Aging is a privilege but promised to no one. Its so sad that people can be so cruel when we start to look older and age.”

In April, Barrymore said that she’s never had any cosmetic work done to her face.

In a behind-the-scenes moment on The Drew Barrymore Show, one fan asked the talk show host, “Can you let us know your secret to aging gracefully and being so comfortable in your own skin?”

Barrymore offered a heartfelt response in which she revealed that she hasn’t had any cosmetic procedures done to her face — but urged the women in the audience to not judge those who do.

“I haven’t done anything and I want to try and stay that way … but I also am like, do whatever works for you. The only thing I do know is don’t judge other people because they do things differently,” the Charlie’s Angels actress told the crowd.

Drew Barrymore.

Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock

“We’re all on our own path and we have to support each other,” Barrymore said, noting that she on occasion struggles with flaws of her own. “I see a lot of turkey neck or I have a lot of other time where i’m like ‘Oh Wow, we’re there now.'”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Barrymore celebrated her 50th birthday this year on February 22.

Ahead of the landmark birthday, she expressed gratitude while gracing the cover of AARP The Magazine‘s February/March 2025 issue.

“My whole life I’ve been worried and stressed and, like, happy and having the best time ever. I would have never guessed that I would feel peace,” Barrymore told the outlet. “This last decade has been the most ass-kicking and furthering of my life, and it is finally bringing peace.”

SOURCE PAGE

America’s enemies already know the CIA can find them. But according to one of the agency’s best-known whistleblowers, they should now be afraid of how it can do it.

Former CIA counterterrorism officer John Kiriakou painted a chilling picture of an intelligence machine that has surged far ahead of public understanding – a system turbo-charged by cutting-edge surveillance tech, robotized warfare, and covert powers that have survived every scandal of the last two decades.

And Kiriakou should know. He spent 15 years inside the CIA’s most secret units, helped run operations in Pakistan, and became the first agency insider to publicly confirm that the US used waterboarding – a revelation that landed him behind bars.

Today, he remains one of America’s most outspoken critics of the intelligence world he once served.

Now, after a bruising year for US spy agencies – and just weeks after an inspector general blasted War Secretary Pete Hegseth in the explosive Signalgate scandal for mishandling sensitive battlefield information on a messaging app – Kiriakou said the real story is bigger, darker, and far more dangerous.

Because while Washington frets over leaks and political infighting, the CIA and its sister agencies have been quietly perfecting tools that would have seemed like science fiction a decade ago.

Speaking with the Daily Mail, Kiriakou said the truth is hiding in plain sight – in the massive 2017 Vault 7 leak published by WikiLeaks.

The documents revealed that the CIA and NSA had pioneered a suite of cyberweapons capable of turning everyday consumer gadgets into spying tools.

An aerial photo shows a former CIA black site in Lithuania used for torture during the war on terror

Kiriakou left the CIA in 2007 and became the first former officer to publicly confirm the agency had used waterboarding and other torture-like methods

The problem, he said, is that almost no one bothered to read them.

‘People don’t realise what the CIA is able to do with technology – the information is out there, but nobody read the Vault 7 papers,’ he told the Daily Mail.

And what can those tools do? Quite a lot.

Kiriakou said the CIA can listen through phones, laptops, and even smart TVs, even when they appear to be switched off.

The agency can infiltrate new consumer tech as soon as it hits the market. And it can reportedly hijack modern vehicle computers – remotely.

‘They can crash a car and kill you if they want to… and they can do it through a satellite,’ he said.

It’s the kind of claim that sends conspiracy theorists into overdrive. But Kiriakou insists the capability exists – and that nothing in the leaked documents contradicts it.

But the CIA’s cyber tools, he said, are only one part of a rapidly shifting battlefield.

He argued that the next phase of warfare – one already underway inside DARPA, the Pentagon’s ultra-secretive tech agency – will involve robot dogs, robot soldiers, and automated weapons systems operating alongside or instead of human troops.

‘I really believe the next war the United States fights is hardly going to have any human beings in it,’ he said.

‘Robot dogs and robot warriors are not sci-fi anymore – they’re almost upon us.’

The push toward autonomous warfare mirrors China’s rapid advances in drone and AI weapons; while Russia’s cyber units are among the best on the planet.

And it’s not only foreign adversaries who are concerned about US capabilities.

‘It would be logical to use these technologies for crowd control, riot control… to infiltrate demonstrations and political gatherings,’ he warned.

One of Kiriakou’s most explosive assertions is that the US government maintains a weekly ‘kill list’, drawn up by a National Security Council committee every Tuesday morning.

According to him, the CIA has a dedicated unit whose job is to take the list, travel to whichever country the targets are hiding in, ‘kill the person,’ return home, and move on to the next name.

The targets, he said, are generally terrorist leaders – but the legal and moral issues are immense.

Satellite imagery of Salt Pit outside of Kabul, Afghanistan, which was an isolated CIA black site prison and interrogation center

Human fighters will only play a minor role in America’s wars of the future, said  ex-CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou

Waterboarding, demonstrated here as part of a political protest, was a controversial topic in the War on Terror 

A US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper on the tarmac in Puerto Rico, part of Washington’s campaign against Venezuela’s leaders   

He said officials justify the program by arguing that it prevents another 9/11.

Kiriakou called it immoral and illegal, though he notes the machinery behind it is decades old and unlikely to change.

Washington insists it shut down its network of secret prisons – the notorious black sites used for the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program after 9/11. But Kiriakou doesn’t buy it.

‘I believe those sites still exist,’ he said. ‘We just have to take the CIA’s word for it – and I can’t take their word for it.’

He pointed out that even members of Congress’ intelligence committees were once barred from knowing the full scope of the detention program. Only the top two lawmakers in each chamber were given access.

If black sites continue today, he said, they would be so heavily classified that ‘almost nobody would know.’

The CIA did not answer the Daily Mail’s request for comment. Officially, the agency abandoned enhanced interrogation techniques in 2009.

Kiriakou is also watching the situation in Venezuela, where President Donald Trump recently took the unprecedented step of publicly authorizing CIA covert action – something no commander-in-chief has ever done.

He speculated that the agency would be drawing up plans to seize the presidential palace, capture President Nicolás Maduro, take control of state media, and secure key intersections in the capital Caracas.

Success, he said, would hinge on winning over the military – the one element the CIA cannot control.

He added that Trump may topple Maduro without ‘firing a single shot’ through a mixture of military pressure, oil seizures and psychological operations.

It may not even be illegal – the president has wide powers to launch covert missions abroad under what’s known as Title 50.

But regime change, he warned, is only the easy part.

‘It’s what you do the next day that’s hard,’ he said, pointing to the implosion of Iraq after the 2003 invasion and other American debacles.

Perhaps Kiriakou’s most unsettling claim is not about technology at all – but about power. 

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden briefs delegates at an educational conference in Moscow, Russia, where he now lives

CIA Director John Ratcliffe before briefing lawmakers on covert military strikes in the seas around Venezuela 

He argued that the intelligence community barely shifts course between administrations.

‘I’ve come around to the belief that the deep state is real,’ he said. ‘These people know they can out-wait presidents. They don’t have to follow an order they don’t like.’

He called it a bureaucracy obsessed with budget growth, internal empire-building, and protecting its own survival – a machine so large that elected leaders can struggle to control it.

Kiriakou left the CIA in 2007 and became the first former officer to publicly confirm the agency had used waterboarding and other ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ — which he called torture. 

He was later indicted under the Espionage Act and pleaded guilty to revealing the identity of a covert operative, receiving a 30-month sentence and serving nearly two years. 

He remains the only person to go to prison over the CIA’s torture program. 

Since his release in 2015, Kiriakou has pushed for intelligence reform and transparency, writing, speaking, and co-founding Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. 

On the home front, Kiriakou is blunt: Americans have become frighteningly complacent.

Despite whistleblower Edward Snowden’s leaks, the Patriot Act, mass surveillance, and the Utah mega-facility capable of storing every American’s calls, texts, and emails for 500 years, there has been almost no public outrage, he said.

‘I’m scared the most about our loss of civil liberties in the United States… and nobody seems willing to do anything about it,’ he said.

‘Are we that cowed that we just accept this is what government is going to do?’

For Kiriakou, a man who sacrificed his career and freedom to expose CIA torture, the answer may be the most alarming revelation of all.

Kiriakou’s new show Whistleblowers will air from March 2026, featuring interviews with other insiders who risked everything to expose wrongdoing. 

SOURCE PAGE

Two amber alerts for cold were issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) with affected services warned of a “rise in deaths” amid expected chilly weather

The demand on the key services is likely to rise amid cold weather(Image: PA)

Brits are braced for a freezing start to the new year after health experts issued an amber weather warning for cold.

Two amber alerts for cold were issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), with affected services warned of a “rise in deaths” amid weather that is “likely to cause significant impacts across health and social care”. The two warnings, designed to alert the health and social care sectors, were issued for the northwest and northeast and were brought into effect from 8pm on December 28. Both alerts are due to last until 8pm on January 5 next year.

The UKHSA said there will be a “likely increase in demand for health services”, along with “temperatures inside places like hospitals, care homes, and clinics dropping below the levels recommended for assessing health risks”. There are also further challenges for keeping indoor temperatures at the recommended 18C, while there could also be staffing issues due to potential travel delays and impacts on the transport and energy sectors.

The North East and North West are under an amber warning

A yellow cold warning, meaning there is a slightly lower risk than the amber alerts in place, is in place across much of England country with the following areas affected: southwest; southeast; London; East of England; the Midlands and Yorkshire and The Humber.

Dr Agostinho Sousa, Head of Extreme Events and Health Protection at UKHSA, said: “As the colder weather sets in it is vital to check in on friends, family and neighbours that are most vulnerable. The forecasted temperatures can have a serious impact on the health of some people, leading to increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and chest infections, particularly for individuals over the age of 65 and those with pre-existing health conditions.”

Met Office Deputy Chief Forecaster Mark Sidaway said Brits are likley to see an icy blast as planet Earth spins into a new year. “It certainly looks like we are in for a taste of ‘winter’ as we welcome in the New Year, initially in the north, but more widely across the UK for the first week of 2026,” he said.

Snow is expected on January 1(Image: WXCharts)

“Arctic air and strong northerly winds will bring cold or very cold conditions to all parts of the UK, and it will feel especially cold in the strong winds. Widespread and locally severe frosts are expected, along with the first snow of the winter for many.”

The UK’s weather service has issued two yellow weather warnings for later this week, with snow and ice expected in northern part of Scotland across January 1 and the following day.

“A yellow warning for snow and ice has been issued for northern Scotland on New Year’s Day and beyond, where frequent and heavy snow showers may lead to some travel disruption,” Mr Sidaway said. “These colder conditions and wintry hazards – snow, ice and strong winds – will develop more widely as we enter the New Year, with more warnings for snow and ice likely. It looks like this cold spell will last through at least the first week of January, so it’s important people keep up to date with the latest forecast and warnings.”

SOURCE PAGE

Protests have erupted across Syria’s coastal regions, marking a new wave of sectarian upheaval since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime a year ago.

During the protests on Sunday, gunfire was directed at Syrian security forces at the al-Azhari roundabout in Latakia while unknown assailants threw a hand grenade at the al-Anaza police station in the district of Banias in the Tartous governorate.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

The Alawite minority, which al-Assad is a member of, held the protests after at least eight people were killed in the bombing of an Alawite mosque in Homs on Friday. They are demanding security guarantees and political reforms.

Several cities along Syria’s Mediterranean coast have experienced deadly sectarian violence over the past year, raising questions about whether the interim government can maintain unity in a nation still scarred by 14 years of civil war.

So what are the protests about, and what do they mean for political and social stability in Syria?

What sparked the protests?

The bombing of the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dahab neighbourhood of Homs during Friday prayers led to the demonstrations.

The bombing was claimed by a little-known group called Saraya Ansar al-Sunna, which said on its Telegram channel that the attack was intended to target members of the Alawite sect.

Syria’s security and political establishment was dominated by Alawites until al-Assad’s regime fell in December 2024.

Saraya Ansar al-Sunna also had claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing of a Damascus church ‍in June that killed at least 20 people.

Syria’s government condemned the mosque attack on Friday, describing it as the latest in a series of “desperate attempts to undermine security and stability and sow chaos among the Syrian people”.

Who’s leading the protests?

The protests were primarily organised after calls for action by Ghazal Ghazal, an Alawite religious figure who lives outside Syria with little known about his whereabouts.

He heads a group called the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and Abroad.

“We want political federalism. … We want to determine our own destiny,” Ghazal said in a video message on Facebook, referring to a system of government under which power is shared between the national government and its states.

Protesters also called for greater protections for the Alawite community, accountability for attacks against civilians and political guarantees.

In coastal areas, including the cities and wider governorates of Latakia and Tartous, clashes broke out between Alawite protesters and counterprotesters supporting the new government.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Latakia reported seeing counterprotesters throwing rocks at Alawite demonstrators while a group of protesters beat a counterprotester who entered their area.

Syria’s Ministry of Defence said on Sunday that army units had moved into the centres of these cities after assaults by “outlaw groups” targeting civilians and security personnel with the aim of re-establishing stability.

Have there been any casualties?

SANA, the official Syrian news agency, reported that four people have been killed and more than 100 injured in the unrest in Latakia.

Quoting officials from Syria’s Directorate of Health, SANA said injuries included “stabbings, blows from stones, and gunfire targeting both security personnel and civilians”.

Later on Sunday, the Interior Ministry reported that one of its security officers had been killed in the clashes.

Two security personnel were wounded in Tartous when unknown assailants threw a hand grenade at the al-Anaza police station.

Who are the Alawites?

The Alawites are a religious minority in Syria and are the second largest religious group after Sunni Muslims.

Alawites make up 10 percent of Syria’s 23 million people, but this community was politically dominant under al-Assad, who ruled Syria beginning in 2000 and recruited heavily from the Alawite community for his army and security apparatus.

Members of the Syrian security forces stand atop tanks after being deployed during protests in Latakia on December 28, 2025 [Karam al-Masri/Reuters]

Since al-Assad’s overthrow, Syria has seen several instances of sectarian violence. In March, violence broke out in coastal cities, including Latakia, Banias, Tartous and Jableh, and government-allied groups were accused of carrying out summary executions, mostly of Alawite civilians.

A government committee tasked with investigating the attacks concluded that about 1,400 people were killed during several days of violence.

In July, violence between Druze and Sunni Bedouin communities flared up in the southern governorate of Suwayda, although experts say this conflict is rooted in more complex issues than just sectarianism, including in historical disputes over land. That unrest escalated into Israel bombing Syria’s Ministry of Defence and other targets in the capital Damascus – ostensibly to protect the Druze, although local activists and analysts said Israel’s aim was to fuel internal instability.

Alawites have also voiced grievances about discrimination in public sector hiring since al-Assad’s fall as well as the detention of young Alawite men without charge.

Will the Syrian government be able to maintain peace?

Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has emphasised the need to “preserve national unity and domestic peace”.

At the Doha Forum this month, al-Sharaa said people in Syria “simply did not know each other well” due to issues inherited from the al-Assad regime.

Syria’s enduring sectarian divides and the central government’s limited authority are fuelling demands from minorities for decentralisation, according to Rob Geist Pinfold, a scholar of international security at King’s College London.

The Alawites are not the only minority who have aired concerns about sectarianism since the fall of al-Assad, Geist Pinfold told Al Jazeera.

The interim government so far has failed to integrate regions controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the new government, he added, despite a March 10 agreement between them that planned for integration.

This is largely down to mistrust, experts said.

Minority groups, including Alawites and the Druze, “simply don’t think that the government has their best interests at heart and actually see the government as a security threat”, Geist Pinfold explained.

“Syria is caught up in this vicious cycle where the government doesn’t have trust with minority groups. It can’t exert enough power to bring those minority groups into the fold,” he said, adding that it also doesn’t want to do so in an “oppressive or repressive way that would only alienate them further”.

What will happen next?

Over the next few days, Geist Pinfold said, there could be two potential outcomes.

“The positive outcome would be that the Syrian government reaches some kind of understanding or a tentative understanding with the SDF in eastern Syria that points towards a kind of roadmap for a future integration,” he noted, adding that such a step could ease tensions not only in eastern Syria but in other regions as well.

However, he warned that continued violence could spark deeper ethnic and sectarian divides.

“Syria stands on the edge of a very, very dangerous precipice,” he cautioned, comparing the risk to Iraq’s descent into mass sectarian violence after the 2003 United States-led invasion.

SOURCE PAGE

Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet Donald Trump at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday evening amid growing fears Israel could launch new offensives against regional enemies, potentially plunging the Middle East further into instability.

The Israeli prime minister left Israel on Sunday on his fifth visit to see Trump in the US this year.

High on the agenda will be the ceasefire in Gaza, which in October halted the devastating two-year-long war. Though the terms agreed for an initial phase have been largely completed, with Israel’s forces pulling back to new positions and Hamas releasing all living and all but one of the dead hostages, immense challenges face the implementation of the second phase of the president’s 20-point plan.

There are also fears Israel will launch new offensives against Hezbollah in Lebanon, breaking a ceasefire established more than a year ago, or against Iran, which it accuses of accelerating the manufacture of ballistic missiles in recent months.

Gershon Baskin, the co-head of the peace-building commission at the Alliance for Two States, who has taken part in back-channel negotiations with Hamas, said the timing of Netanyahu’s trip was “very significant” for Gaza.

“Phase 1 is basically over, there’s one remaining Israeli deceased hostage which [Hamas] are having difficulty finding,” he said.

Both sides accuse each other of ceasefire violations. Hamas has failed explicitly to commit to disarmament and has had considerable success in imposing its authority in the parts of Gaza where almost all the population is concentrated. Israel appears reluctant to withdraw from the 53% of Gaza it now controls or to allow free passage of aid into the territory.

“Phase 2 has to begin … and I think the Americans realise that it’s late because Hamas has had too much time to re-establish its presence and this is certainly not a situation that the Americans want to leave in place,” Baskin said.

More than 70,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, died in Gaza during the war and almost all the territory’s 2.3 million population was displaced. About 400 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the October ceasefire, and huge numbers continue to live in conditions of acute hardship.

Donald Trump talks with Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in October. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/AP

In recent weeks, heavy rain and cold temperatures have compounded the suffering in Gaza, where most housing and infrastructure have been badly damaged or razed.

The war was triggered by a surprise attack by Hamas in southern Israel in 2023, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 250 others abducted.

Under the next stages of Trump’s plan, an interim authority made up of nonaligned Palestinian technocrats is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas and an international stabilisation force (ISF) of thousands of troops is to be deployed.

Hamas’s armed wing reiterated on Monday that it would not surrender its weapons.

“Our people are defending themselves and will not give up their weapons as long as the occupation remains,” the new spokesperson for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, who has adopted the name of his late predecessor Abu Obeida, said in a video statement.

US officials have suggested the composition of the new authority could be announced in January.

On Friday, the US news outlet Axios reported senior Trump officials were growing frustrated “as Netanyahu has taken steps to undermine the fragile ceasefire and stall the peace process”. Analysts in Israel and overseas agree.

“There are more and more signs that the American administration is getting frustrated with Netanyahu,” said Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at the London-based thinktank Chatham House.

“The question is what it’s going to do about it, because phase 2 is right now going nowhere,” Mekelberg added.

For Netanyahu, a priority will be convincing Trump to allow Israel to act to prevent Iran from repairing the damage inflicted on its nuclear programme in its short war with Israel and the US this summer, or building its ballistic missile capabilities.

The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said on Saturday that his country was in a full-scale war with the US, Israel and Europe. He added that the conflict was “more complicated and more difficult” than the Iran-Iraq war, which left more than 1 million casualties on both sides.

Meanwhile, efforts to secure a security agreement between Israel and Syria have failed to make significant progress and will also be on the agenda at Mar-a-Lago, local media in Israel said. Israeli officials have also called for more effective efforts to disarm Hezbollah in accordance with the 2024 ceasefire in Lebanon.

Netanyahu faces an election within 10 months, and the looming polls will influence his agenda, Mekelberg said. “Everything is connected to [his] staying in power,” he said.

Polls show Netanyahu’s current coalition would struggle to form a government if elections were held now, with many voters angry over the failures that led to the Hamas raid of 2023, moves to continue the exemption of most ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from compulsory military service in Israel and a series of scandals among other issues.

A close relationship with Trump would reinforce Netanyahu’s appeal among undecided voters and his base, and this suggests any public disagreement between the two leaders is extremely unlikely, analysts said.

Netanyahu is expected to seek to convince Trump of the need for Israel, which relies on the US for many of its defence needs, to maintain a military technological edge over potential regional enemies. Many Israeli officials were shaken when Trump said this year that he would allow the sale of F-35 fighter planes to Saudi Arabia, which he described as a “great ally”. The state-of-the-art stealth aircraft was key to Israel’s successes against Iran in this summer’s war.

SOURCE PAGE