The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain has been reduced to “mission critical” staffing ahead of potential U.S. strikes on Iran, multiple U.S. officials told Fox News.
There are now fewer than 100 personnel remaining at the facility. Ahead of Operation Midnight Hammer last June, when the U.S. struck Iranian nuclear sites, the 5th Fleet headquarters was evacuated in a similar manner.
The U.S. has been surging military assets to the Middle East in recent weeks as discussions have been ongoing between the U.S. and Iran over the future of Tehran’s nuclear program.
U.S. Central Command said this week that sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln — one of the ships in the region — have reguarly been performing maintenance to “keep aircraft mission-ready.”
U.S. Central Command released this photo on Feb. 24, saying, “Sailors and Marines aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) regularly perform maintenance to keep aircraft mission-ready.”(CENTCOM)
“Their experience and skills allow Abraham Lincoln to sustain continuous airpower and conduct over 100 sorties per day,” CENTCOM said on X.
President Donald Trump warned in his State of the Union address earlier this week that Iran has “sinister ambitions” with its nuclear program and that the U.S. has not yet heard from Tehran that it will “never have a nuclear weapon.”
“After Midnight Hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program and, in particular, nuclear weapons. Yet they continue starting it all over. We wiped it out, and they want to start all over again and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions,” Trump said Tuesday, referencing the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last summer.
“We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words, ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon,’” Trump added. “My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let that happen.”
The head of a London airline parts firm was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison Monday after selling more than 60,000 fake aircraft engine parts, a fraud that triggered worldwide safety concerns and briefly grounded planes.
Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala, 38, pleaded guilty in December to fraudulent trading, admitting he falsified paperwork about the source and condition of engine parts sold by his company, AOG Technics, between 2019 and 2023.
Prosecutors said more than 60,000 suspect parts entered the global aviation supply chain as a result of the scheme. Many of the parts were linked to CFM56 engines, widely used in Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The discovery of the fraudulent components in 2023 led to planes being temporarily grounded and prompted calls for tighter industry oversight.
Judge Simon Picken said Zamora Yrala’s actions amounted to a “more or less complete undermining of a regulatory framework designed to safeguard the millions of people who fly every day.”
Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala, former director of AOG Technics Ltd., departs from Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Monday, June 2, 2025.(Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
According to prosecutors, AOG Technics sold falsified parts totaling roughly $9.3 million (£6.9 million) — about 90% of the company’s revenue — causing an estimated $53 million (£39.3 million) in losses across the aviation industry.
Fan blades for CFM56 turbofan aircraft engines following production at the Safran SA aircraft engine plant in Gennevilliers, France, on Wednesday, March 17, 2021.(Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
American Airlines alone suffered about $31 million (£23 million) in losses tied to engine repairs, replacement leasing and aircraft downtime, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said CFM International’s co-owners, GE Aerospace and Safran, lost about $4 million (£3 million) and $780,000 (£580,000) respectively, and suffered reputational damage.
Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala was at the center of a global investigation into bogus airplane parts.(Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Zamora Yrala was also barred from serving as a company director for eight years and faces confiscation proceedings aimed at compensating affected companies.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Joshua and Naomi Alade have established themselves as top-ranked Taekwondo fighters, earning national and world titles. Both have trained since age six at The Houston Center for Taekwondo.
In the video above, their coach discusses the qualities that make these Carnegie Vanguard High School seniors outstanding athletes. Joshua and Naomi also describe how they push each other to new heights.
The U.S. State Department ordered non-emergency personnel to evacuate the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon on Monday.
“The Department of State has ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and eligible family members from U.S. Embassy Beirut,” the State Department said.
“We continuously assess the security environment, and based on our latest review, we determined it prudent to reduce our footprint to essential personnel. The Embassy remains operational with core staff in place. This is a temporary measure intended to ensure the safety of our personnel while maintaining our ability to operate and assist U.S. citizens,” the statement continued.
This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on X: @Hagstrom_Anders.
Kate Middleton made her first public appearance on Saturday, two days after former Prince Andrew was arrested in connection to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The Princess of Wales attended a championship rugby match between England and Ireland in Twickenham, London.
“Congratulations Ireland,” she wrote of the team that beat England 42-21 on her Instagram page. “Always a pleasure to see @englandrugby in action at Twickenham @sixnationsrugby.”
The 44-year-old, who attended the match without her husband, Prince William, is a patron of the Rugby Football Union and Rugby Football League.
Kate Middleton made her first public appearance since ex-Prince Andrew’s Thursday arrest at a rugby match on Saturday. (David Rogers/Getty Images)
She appeared to be all smiles as she sat next to injured England player Fin Baxter while she watched the match which wearing an England rugby scarf.
The princess and William haven’t yet spoken out on Andrew’s arrest, although Buckingham Palace put out a statement on their behalf following the most recent Epstein files release.
“I can confirm the prince and princess have been deeply concerned by the continuing revelations,” a palace spokesperson told the BBC earlier this month. “Their thoughts remain focused on the victims.”
The former prince, who is now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was arrested on his 66th birthday Thursday at Sandringham, where he currently lives, and later released after an 11-hour detention. He has not been charged and denies all the allegations of wrongdoing against him.
Kate Middelton meets with the father of a rugby player on Saturday. (Dan Mullan/RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)
Andrew had been accused of sexual assault by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was forced to have sex with the prince when she was underage. Giuffre died last year.
“I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office. What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities.”
“As this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter. Meanwhile, my family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all,” he added.
Kate Middleton laughs with John O’Driscoll, president of the Irish Rugby Football Union, on Saturday. (David Rogers/Getty Images)
Andrew was stripped of his royal titles last October, and forced to leave his home at the Royal Lodge in Windsor for a smaller home on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
The government is also considering removing Andrew, who is eighth in line to the throne, from the line of succession. Edward VIII was the last royal to be removed from the line of succession when he abdicated in 1936. Queen Elizabeth II’s father became king in his place.
Former Prince Andrew was arrested on Thursday. (Reuters/Phil Noble TPX Images of the Day)
“The government is considering any further steps that might be required, and we’re not ruling anything out,” announced James Murray, the government’s chief secretary to the Treasury.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Saturday that it had carried out ten strikes against over 30ISIS targets in Syria, in recent days as part of a joint military effort to “sustain relentless military pressure on remnants from the terrorist network.”
CENTCOM said, from Feb. 3 – 12, its forces “struck ISIS infrastructure and weapons storage targets with precision munitions delivered by fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft.”
Recently,CENTCOM forces conducted five strikes against an ISIS communication site, critical logistics node, and weapons storage facilities in Syria between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2.
Operation Hawkeye Strike targets over 30 ISIS sites following a December ambush that killed US troops. (CENTCOM)
“Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, said in a statement at the time.
“Operating in coordination with coalition and partner forces to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS makes America, the region and the world safer,” he added.
On Jan. 27, President Trump told reporters he had a “great conversation with the highly respected” President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck.(CENTCOM)
“All of the things having to do with Syria in that area are working out very, very well,” said President Trump. “So we are very happy about it.”
The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS “ambush” attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead on Dec. 13, 2025, in Palmyra, Syria.
“More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck with hundreds of precision munitions during two months of targeted operations,” states CENTCOM.
The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS “ambush” attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead.(CENTCOM)
On Thursday, CENTCOM announced it has completed its withdrawal of American forces from al-Tanf Garrison in Syria pointing to a broader shift in U.S. posture in the region.
“Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” said Adm. Brad Cooper.(CENTCOM)
Operation Inherent Resolve was launched in 2014 to combat ISIS with American troops maintaining a limited presence to support partner forces and prevent ISIS from returning after it was territorially defeated in 2019.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom told world leaders Friday that President Trump’s retreat from efforts to combat climate change would decimate the U.S. automobile industry and surrender the future economic viability to China and other nations embracing the transition to renewable energy.
Newsom, appearing at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, urged diplomats, business leaders and policy advocates to forcefully stand up to Trump’s global bullying and loyalty to the oil and coal industry. The California governor said the Trump administration’s massive rollbacks on environmental protection will be short-lived.
“Donald Trump is temporary. He’ll be gone in three years,” Newsom said during a Friday morning panel discussion on climate action. “California is a stable and reliable partner in this space.”
Newsom’s comments came in the wake of the Trump administration’s repeal of the endangerment finding and all federal vehicle emissions regulations. The endangerment finding is the U.S. government’s 2009 affirmation that planet-heating pollution poses a threat to human health and the environment.
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin said the finding has been regulatory overreach, placing heavy burdens on auto manufacturers, restricting consumer choice and resulting in higher costs for Americans. Its repeal marked the “single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States of America,” he said.
Scientists and experts were quick to condemn the action, saying it contradicts established science and will put more people in harm’s way. Independent researchers around the world have long concluded that greenhouse gases released by the burning of gasoline, diesel and other fossil fuels are warming the planet and worsening weather disasters.
The move will also threaten the U.S.’s position as a leader in the global clean energy transition, with nations such as China pulling ahead on electric vehicle production and investments in renewables such as solar, batteries and wind, experts said.
Newsom’s trip to Germany is just his latest international jaunt in recent months as he positions himself to lead the Democratic Party’s opposition to Trump and the Republican-led Congress, and to seed a possible run for the White House in 2028. Last month Newsom traveled to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and in November to the U.N. climate summit in Belém, Brazil — mocking and condemning Trump’s policies on Greenland, international trade and the environment.
When asked how he would restore the world’s confidence in the United States if he were to become president, Newsom sidestepped. Instead he offered a campaign-like soliloquy on California’s success on fostering Tesla and the nation’s other top electric vehicle manufactures as well as being a magnet for industries spending billions of dollars on research and development for the global transition away from carbon-based economies.
The purpose of the Munich conference was to open a dialogue among world leaders on global security, military, economic and environmental. Along with Friday’s discussion on climate action, Newsom is scheduled to appear at a livestreamed forum on transatlantic cooperation Saturday.
Andrew Forrest, executive chairman of the Australia-based mining company giant Fortescue, said during a panel Friday his company is proof that even the largest energy-consuming companies in the world can thrive without relying on the carbon-based fuels that have driven industries for more than a century. Fortescue, which buys diesel fuel from countries across the world, will transition to a “green grid” this decade, saving the company a billion dollars a year, he said.
“The science is absolutely clear, but so is the economics. I am, and my company Fortescue is, the industrial-grade proof that going renewable is great economics, great business, and if you desert it, then in the end, you’ll be sorted out by your shareholders or by your voters at the ballot box,” Forrest said.
Newsom said California has also shown the world what can be done with innovative government policies that embrace electric vehicles and the transition to a non-carbon-based economy, and continues to do so despite the attacks and regressive mandates being imposed by the Trump administration.
“This is about economic prosperity and competitiveness, and that’s why I’m so infuriated with what Donald Trump has done,” Newsom said. “Remember, Tesla exists for one reason — California’s regulatory market, which created the incentives and the structure and the certainty that allowed Elon Musk and others to invest and build that capacity. We are not walking away from that.”
California has led the nation in the push toward EVs. For more than 50 years, the state enjoyed unique authority from the EPA to set stricter tailpipe emission standards than the federal government, considered critical to the state’s efforts to address its notorious smog and air-quality issues. The authority, which the Trump administration has moved to rescind, was also the basis for California’s plan to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035.
The administration again targeted electric vehicles in its announcement on Thursday.
“The forced transition to electric vehicles is eliminated,” Zeldin said. “No longer will automakers be pressured to shift their fleets toward electric vehicles, vehicles that are still sitting unsold on dealer lots all across America.”
But the efforts to shut down the energy transition may be too little, too late, said Hannah Safford, former director of transportation and resilience at the White House Climate Policy Office under the Biden administration.
“Electric cars make more economic sense for people, more models are becoming available, and the administration can’t necessarily stop that from happening,” said Safford, who is now associate director for climate and environment at the Federation of American Scientists.
Still, some automakers and trade groups supported the EPA’s decision, as did fossil fuel industry groups and those geared toward free markets and regulatory reform. Among them were the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America, which praised the administration for its “efforts to reform and streamline regulations governing greenhouse gas emissions.”
Ford, which has invested in electric vehicles and recently completed a prototype of a $30,000 electric truck, said in a statement to The Times that it appreciated EPA’s move “to address the imbalance between current emissions standards and consumer choice.”
Toyota, meanwhile, deferred to a statement from Alliance for Automotive Innovation president John Bozzella, who said similarly that “automotive emissions regulations finalized in the previous administration are extremely challenging for automakers to achieve given the current marketplace demand for EVs.”
Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego are among the world’s least affordable cities for homebuyers, a recent report says.
When the price of a regular home is compared to regular local salaries, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego and San José were among the five least affordable cities in the world, according to a survey from financial services provider Remitly conducted late last year.
Relative to local pay scales, the cities are more expensive for homebuyers than New York, Paris and Singapore, Remitly’s analysis says.
In Los Angeles, a single buyer earning the local average salary could afford a home worth only 28% of the average property in the region, according to the survey. Residents of San José can afford to buy a home worth only about a quarter of the average.
“This could mean they would have to stretch themselves financially, often finding larger down payments or asking for financial help from family to be able to make their dream of owning a home a reality,” the report said.
Two additional Bay Area cities appeared on the “20 least affordable” list. San Francisco came in at 10th place, while Oakland ranked 19th.
California homes are about twice as expensive as the typical midtier U.S. home, according to a recent report from the state Legislative Analyst’s Office. As of December, the average home price in California was $755,000, the report said.
Researchers looked at property prices, average salaries pre-tax, mortgage, interest rates and down payments and deposits to compare housing affordability across 151 cities in 11 countries.
Countries were chosen as they ranked in Remitly’s previous study of the most popular countries to move to. The study included the 50 U.S. cities with the highest populations. It excluded the United Arab Emirates and Japan because of insufficient data. The only Asian city the researchers included was Singapore.
Property prices were taken from national statistics agencies and real estate databases, the study said. Income figures were from national and regional datasets.
Detroit — where a person making the local average salary could afford more than two times the average property price — was named the world’s most affordable city to become a homeowner. It was the only U.S. city to make it onto the list, which otherwise consisted of German and Italian cities.
Michael Lens, professor of urban planning and public policy at UCLA, said the “writing has certainly been on the wall” for California’s housing market to be considered the most expensive in the world.
California’s draws include its “unparalleled amenities” and strong job market, Lens said. But “we make it very challenging to build enough homes to satiate the demand,” he said.
“That combination of low supply and relatively high affluence for some parts of our country make the baseline of an entry-level home very expensive,” Lens said.
Detroit’s ranking as the most affordable city in Remitly’s list reflects the city’s decades-long population loss, driven by white flight and a decline in the auto industry, Lens said. Vacancy rates are high because it was built to house a population that was once much larger.
One of the nine current leaders of Haiti’s transitional government admitted to Fox News Digital that his country is currently “helpless” to handle the return of its citizens, noting that Haiti relies on billions of dollars generated by U.S., Canadian and French-based migrants to keep its economy going.
Leslie Voltaire, a member of the nine-member transitional council leading Haiti ahead of scheduled elections later this year, described a state of total dependency on a “temporary” protected status that has now spanned more than 15 years, and which President Donald Trump is trying to end. Voltaire warned that a sudden termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) would trigger an immediate crisis as the nation lacks the economic infrastructure to reabsorb as many as 400,000 repatriated citizens from the United States.
“We think that we are helpless if another country is sending back our compatriots,” Voltaire told Fox News Digital. “We cannot do anything about it – just accommodate them, give them money to go back to their provinces and to their cities, help them with food, but it’s very painful due to the small budget that we have in the government.”
Trump tried to end Haiti’s long-standing TPS status during his first administration, but similar to today, federal judges stepped in to block the move. In November, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a notice indicating that Haiti’s temporary status would not be renewed this month, but in a subsequent 11th-hour ruling earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from ending Haiti’s TPS status. Reyes argued the move was likely motivated by “hostility to non-white immigrants” as opposed to an objective view of the ongoing situation in Haiti.
Leslie Voltaire, a member of Haiti’s transitional council ahead of new elections, is seen next to a Haitian immigrant.(Getty Images)
Shortly before Fox News Digital spoke with Voltaire Thursday evening, three U.S. warships arrived off the coast of Haiti ahead of the country’s Feb. 7 deadline for the council to transition power to a soon-to-be elected leader, or leaders. In addition to the U.S. ramping up its presence, the United Nations recently approved, with U.S. support, the deployment of a new Gang Suppression Task Force to Haiti to help with the ongoing violence there.
When asked for specific metrics on when Haiti might be stable enough to no longer require its TPS status, Voltaire did not point to anything concrete, like a certain number of police officers, territory controlled, or national GDP. Rather, Voltaire said that Haiti needs more time, more investment, and greater security before the country can be considered stable enough to take back hundreds-of-thousands of its people.
“The problem of security in Haiti is mainly to have jobs,” Voltaire told Fox News Digital. “There are no jobs because there is no investment right now. There is no investment because there is insecurity. And also we have to provide services to the population, so, there is a huge need of cash, of resources – financial resources … if they come with 400,000 people that would be a huge problem.”
Police stop at a car to inspect in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Voltaire conceded the U.S. economy and migrant labor – pointing out Haitians living in the U.S., Canada and France bring $3 to $4 billion per year into Haiti through remittances – could be described as a “crutch,” indicating that around 85% of the country’s “professional” class resides abroad.
Voltaire noted that Haitian leadership was currently “pleading” with U.S. leadership to give them a break on tariffs, something Voltaire thinks could improve his country’s economic situation.
“We don’t have an economy that has the capacity to produce the kind of dollars that [migrant workers] are generating,” lamented Voltaire.
Haitian immigrants Petterly Jean-Baptiste, left, and his wife Leonne Ysnardin, right, ride aboard a van, in Boston, as they are transported with their children to a shelter in Quincy, Mass., Nov. 16, 2023.(AP Photo/Steven Senne)
While admitting his nation is propped up by migrant labor from the U.S., as well as France and Canada, Voltaire simultaneously pointed the finger at the United States for the very poverty that necessitates the aid Haiti needs.
Voltaire argued that a 19-year U.S. military “occupation” in the early 20th century “depleted” Haiti’s middle class by turning the country into a pool of cheap labor for neighboring sugarcane producers.
“I think one of the historic problems is that when the U.S. occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934, they chose to use the Dominican Republic and Cuba as the sugarcane producers,” Voltaire said when asked about why the neighboring Dominican Republic has not dealt with some of the same instability as Haiti. “And Haiti, because it was densely populated, was treated as the labor for those countries. This is why we have like half-a-million Haitians in the Domincan Republic, and the same in Cuba … and we have been depleted.”
A Haitian flag is seen in Port-au-Prince.(STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images)
Voltaire also cited the U.S. favoring the “dictatorship” of former president of Haiti between 1957 and 1971, Francois Duvalier, for the dire circumstances in Haiti and why the Domincan Republic has fared differently.
“The U.S. was favoring the dictatorship of Duvalier, which was bad with the Tonton Macoute, and which did not have the investment that we hoped we would have when Kennedy launched the Alliance for the Progress. We were not part of it. And we have been under a dictatorship, and then when the dictatorship disappeared, there was a dismantlement of the Haitian state that we have to re-consolidate,” Voltaire pointed out.
Voltaire, who cited this history as a reason why 85% of its professional class, like university professors, artists and skilled technicians live outside of Haiti, mused that “maybe it’s a good thing” to begin repatriating Haitians back to their home country, but reiterated that economic and political development must continue for that to happen.
Catherine O’Hara, Canadian comedic actor and star of Schitt’s Creek, has died, her manager confirmed to Global News.
She was 71.
O’Hara was born in Toronto in 1954, the second oldest of seven siblings. After graduating from high school, she got a job as a waitress at the Second City Theater.
After auditioning for the cast, then-director Joe Flaherty advised, “Keep up the day job. Keep up the waitressing,” according to the Second City website. However, O’Hara eventually joined the company in 1974 and was cast in a TV show called Second City Television, where she became known for both her impressions of celebrities and original fan-favorite characters.
O’Hara made her film debut in 1980’s Double Negative, which also featured future Schitt’s Creek co-star, Eugene Levy. O’Hara then took on roles in Martin Scorsese’s 1985 black comedy After Hours and 1986’s Heartburn.
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In 1988, she had a role in Beetlejuice as Delia Deetz, the stepmother of Winona Ryder’s Lydia. O’Hara later reprised her role in the 2024 sequel Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. She also hosted Saturday Night Live twice in 1991 and 1992 but opted to leave the show to return to Second City Television.
One of her most well-known roles was inHome Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York as the forgetful mother of Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin, which has gone on to be one of the most beloved movie franchises.
She would team up with Levy and his son Dan for Schitt’s Creek in 2015, as the show grew from only streaming in Canada to being picked up by Netflix.
O’Hara remembered for her ‘light’
Reactions to O’Hara’s death have begun to pour in.
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Canadian-American comedian Tom Green also paid tribute to O’Hara in an X post, calling O’Hara “one of the greatest Canadian comedy icons of all time.”
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Fellow Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin posted a photo of him and O’Hara from the movie to his Instagram with the tribute: “Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later.”
Pedro Pascal also posted a tribute to her on his Instagram account, saying “Oh, genius to be near you. Eternally grateful. There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always. Always. The one and ONLY #CatherineOHara.”
Beetlejuice co-star Justin Theroux also posted on his Instagram account; “Oh Catherine. You will be so so missed.”
When O’Hara was awarded the Order of Canada in in 2017, she was highlighted as a “cultural trailblazer” whose “international success has inspired many artists and helped pave the way for the next generation of women in comedy.”
Actors Annie Murphy, from left, Catherine O’Hara and Jennifer Robertson attend the 11th Annual New York Television Festival “Schitt’s Creek” screening at the SVA Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP).
(Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Actor and comedian Catherine O’Hara of Toronto and Los Angeles is invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada by Governor General Julie Payette during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Justin Tang.
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Dan Levy, from left, Catherine O’Hara, Annie Murphy and Eugene Levy participate in the Pop TV “Schitt’s Creek,” panel during the Winter 2020 Television Critics Association Press Tour, Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, in Pasadena, Calif. The CBC series “Schitt’s Creek” and “Anne with an E” were the top winners at the ACTRA Awards in Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ AP-Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/ AP-Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
The stars of the popular Canadian hockey drama “Heated Rivalry” are headed to the Olympics.
Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie will be among the torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame for the Milan Cortina Games in February.
Williams plays Shane Hollander and Storrie plays Ilya Rozanov in the Crave-produced show. Williams is from Kelowna, B.C., and Storrie is American.
Hollander and Rozanov are two of the best hockey players in the world and rivals on the ice who struggle to contain their feelings for each other off it.
‘Heated Rivalry’ sparks conversation on identity, inclusion in sports
“Heated Rivalry” will start airing in Italy on Feb. 1 on HBO Max, which is also one of the official Olympic rights holders for the Milan Cortina Games. Viewers in Canada can continue to watch it on Crave.
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There are 16 more days left in the torch’s journey to the Olympic opening ceremony on Feb. 6.
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“Heated Rivalry” has already been renewed for a second season after its runaway success on streaming platforms in Canada and the United States.
The six-episode series is based on a gay hockey romance series called “Game Changers” by Rachel Reid. The screen adaptation was written by Jacob Tierney for Crave.
Tierney is the co-writer, director, and executive producer of the sitcom “Letterkenny” and an executive producer and director on the hockey comedy “Shoresy.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2026.
Which Canadian city can claim ‘Heated Rivalry’ star Conner Storrie?
Dozens of the world’s major rivers are so heavily tapped, they often run dry before reaching the sea. More than half of all large lakes are shrinking, and most of the world’s major underground sources are declining irreversibly as agricultural pumping drains water that took centuries or even thousands of years to accumulate.
In a report this week, U.N. scientists warn that the world has entered a new era of “global water bankruptcy” — a term that starkly underlines the urgency of efforts needed to protect what remains.
“For too long, we have been living beyond our hydrological means,” said lead author Kaveh Madani, director of the U.N. University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health.
Drawing on extensive research, the report says more and more regions of the world are effectively overspending from all their water accounts, and their reserves are dropping. The term “water crisis” is often used locally and globally, but the scientists said that denotes a temporary emergency from which a region can recover, whereas many parts of the world are depleting water beyond safe limits and are now bankrupt or approaching bankruptcy.
Many rivers, lakes, aquifers and wetlands have been pushed past “tipping points” and cannot bounce back, the report says.
“Millions of farmers are trying to grow more food from shrinking, polluted or disappearing water sources,” Madani said.
An estimated 70% of water globally is used for agriculture. Where water resources are exhausted, it can mean collapsing economies, displacement and conflict. The report says about 3 billion people, and more than half of global food production, are concentrated in areas where water resources are in decline.
The scientists said more than half of the world’s large lakes have shrunk since the 1990s. About 35% of the planet’s natural wetlands, nearly the size of the European Union in total, have been wiped out since the 1970s.
Excessive pumping of groundwater has led to long-term declines in about 70% of the world’s major aquifers, and in many areas these declines are causing the land to sink. Land subsidence linked to groundwater overpumping, the report says, is occurring across more than 2.3 million square miles, nearly 5% of the global land area. This permanently reduces what the aquifers can hold and also worsens the risk of flooding.
About 4 billion people endure severe water scarcity at least one month each year.
Water bankruptcy is not only a problem in the world’s dry regions, Madani said. “Like financial bankruptcy, it’s not about how rich or poor you are. What matters is how you manage your budget.”
And in many regions, the water people are using perpetually outstrips the supply year after year, effectively breaking the budget.
The report points to the Colorado River and its depleted reservoirs, on which California and other western states depend, as symbols of over-promised water. Other hotspots of chronic overuse include parts of South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
“We must prioritize prevention of further damage to our remaining savings,” Madani said. “By acknowledging the reality of water bankruptcy, we can finally make the hard choices that will protect people, economies and ecosystems. The longer we delay, the deeper the deficit grows.”
Water bankruptcy also is caused by deforestation, loss of wetlands and pollution, the researchers said. These problems are compounded by climate change, which is upending the water cycle and bringing more severe droughts and floods.
Madani also authored a peer-reviewed article this week that presents a definition of water bankruptcy, saying the term is a diagnosis to “communicate the severity of the problem and the urgency of a transformative fresh start.”
The banking analogy used throughout the report, he said, points to solutions that are similar to managing a financial bankruptcy — preserving remaining capital while cutting spending.
Solutions for dealing with exhausted water resources will vary by region, Madani said, and will need to account for the reality that “simply taking water away from farmers can mean unemployment, immediate tension, chaotic situations,” and that farmers and others need assistance to use less water and adapt.
In a related study published last year, scientists analyzed more than two decades of satellite data and found that vast areas of the world are losing fresh water and getting drier.
In a recent World Bank report, researchers said global water use “increased by 25 percent from 2000 to 2019, with about a third of this increase occurring in regions already drying out.”
Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist and professor at Arizona State University, said embracing the term water bankruptcy “is a brilliant way to convey that the water resources have been mismanaged, excessively utilized, and are no longer available for current and future generations.”
He said water experts struggle to find the right “hook” to convey the severity and urgency of the problem, and calling it water bankruptcy promises to catch on.
What’s the absolute best way to give Gov. Gavin Newsom free publicity and a worldwide audience?
Freeze him out at Davos, where the rich and powerful are meeting in the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland. The Trump administration is learning the hard way, in real time, that petty comes with a price — in this case, being laughed at by, well, the world.
And while Congress, Europe and law may hold no terrors for our president, we all know ridicule hits him in his soft, white underbelly.
In case you missed it, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the California governor has been banned from a scheduled media talk (allegedly under pressure from the White House) that was going to be a rebuttal to Trump’s ramble at the event, according to Newsom’s office.
On Wednesday, Newsom’s team announced that he had been turned away from USA House, the privately run but official gathering spot of the United States. Newsom was scheduled to do a fireside chat with Fortune magazine, but apparently when he arrived at the church-turned-conference hall, he was politely told to beat it.
“How weak and pathetic do you have to be to be this scared of a fireside chat?” Newsom posted on X.
Cue the outrage. Cue the coverage.
Fortune didn’t know the snub was coming, according to screen shots of private text messages reviewed by The Times, but within minutes it was world news. Except maybe on CBS.
That’s a lot of focus on a guy who isn’t even a billionaire and doesn’t run a country, and supposedly isn’t even in the presidential race yet. In case you’re not personally familiar with the gathering at Davos, it’s pretty much the kings (and occasional queen) of the world coming together to think big thoughts. Getting cold-shouldered in that crowd is a big deal.
But it’s the kind of big deal that makes Newsom look good. Blackballing him from USA House was akin to screaming in his face that he’s a big meanie and the president wasn’t going to take it any more. So there!
It’s funny. It’s powerful. It gets him the kind of news coverage that other not-yet-candidates dream about.
It makes it clear that far from the useful foil that the Newsom-Trump rivalry is often explained as, Newsom is hitting on points that are hitting home. With Trump, and with voters. And now, maybe with world leaders — which just makes him that much more viable as a candidate. Without a doubt, this is Trump quashing dissent.
Earlier in the day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went after Newsom, calling Newsom “Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken.”
That’s a reference to the overly suave serial killer in the film “American Psycho” crossed with a popular 1990s version of a male Barbie known for its pretty eyes and good hair. To be fair, Newsom does resemble both of them.
That remark came in response to Newsom calling Bessent’s speech “smug” for suggesting that the average American couple was buying up homes as rentals for their retirements. Personally, like most of us, I can’t even afford an extra Barbie doll house, so to be fair, Newsom is right on that one.
Newsom also scored points off Trump’s speech. He called it “boring,” the most vicious insult you can hurl at Trump. But it was.
For more than an hour, Trump repeatedly called Greenland Iceland by mistake, while demanding it be turned over to him.
Yawn.
He went after windmills because “they kill the birds, they ruin your landscapes.”
Wut?
He went after Minnesota with a particularly rabid if overused bit of racism, because it “reminds us that the West cannot mass import foreign cultures, which have failed to ever build a successful society of their own.”
Yuck.
As Newsom pointed out in a press gaggle not too long afterward — right before being banned from his formal talk — for an American audience, it’s the same ugly drivel we’ve been subjected to for nearly a year. Absolutely none of it is fresh, though it remains awful and dangerous.
“My God, there wasn’t anything new about that speech,” Newsom said. “It was remarkably insignificant.”
It was certainly not a speech that won Trump credibility or support from those kings and queens. It certainly did not contain diplomacy or leadership, or frankly, even sense. Despite the laughter and applause from the audience, I doubt there are few if any outside of Trump’s team who would call it a success.
NUUK, Greenland — President Trump retreated Wednesday from his most serious threats toward Denmark, easing transatlantic tensions and lifting Wall Street after rejecting the prospect he would use military force to annex Greenland, a Danish territory and the world’s largest island.
Instead, the United States struck a “framework” agreement in talks with NATO’s secretary general regarding the future of Greenland, “and in fact, the whole Arctic region,” Trump wrote on social media. He did not immediately provide details on the contents of the plan.
The whiplash of developments followed weeks of escalating threats from the president to control Greenland by any means necessary — including by force, if left with no other choice.
Now, “the military’s not on the table,” Trump told reporters at the economic forum in Switzerland, acknowledging sighs of relief throughout the room.
“I don’t think it will be necessary,” he said. “I really don’t. I think people are going to use better judgment.”
It was a turn of events that came as welcome news in Nuuk, where signs hang in storefronts and kitchen windows rejecting American imperialism.
“It’s difficult to say what are negotiating tactics, and what the foundation is for him saying all of this,” said Finn Meinel, an attorney born and raised in the Greenlandic capital. “It could be that joint pressure from the EU and NATO countries has made an impact, as well as the economic numbers in the states. Maybe that has had an influence.”
President Trump speaks during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday.
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)
In his speech at Davos, Trump took note of the market turmoil his threats against Greenland had caused entering the conference. Announcing the agreement framework on social media Wednesday, he said he would pause punitive tariffs planned against longstanding European allies that had refused to support his demands.
Prominent world leaders — including from Canada, France and the United Kingdom, among Washington’s closest allies — had warned earlier this week that Trump’s militant threats against a fellow NATO member were ushering in a new era of global order accommodating a less reliable United States.
For years, Trump has called for U.S. ownership over Greenland due to its strategic position in the Arctic Circle, where ice melting due to climate change is making way for a new era of competition with Russia and China. An Arctic conflict, the president says, will require a robust U.S. presence there.
While the president rejects climate change and its perils as a hoax, he has embraced the opportunities that may come with the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet, the world’s largest after Antarctica, including the opening of new shipping lanes and defense positions.
The United States already enjoys broad freedom to deploy any defense assets it sees fit across the island, raising questions in Europe over Trump’s fixation on outright sovereignty over the land.
“We want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won’t give it. We’ve never asked for anything else,” Trump said, addressing members of the NATO alliance.
“I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force,” Trump said. But Europe still has a choice. “You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative,” he continued, “or you can say no, and we will remember.”
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The day before Trump’s speech, allies warned about a “rupture” in a global order in which the United States could be relied upon as a force of good. Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, in a speech Tuesday characterized Trump’s push to acquire Greenland as an example of why “the old order is not coming back.”
Trump apparently took note of Carney’s remarks, and told the crowd on Wednesday that Canada “should be grateful.”
“But they are not,” Trump said. “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
The president struck a similar tone with his demands for Greenland, repeatedly characterizing the United States as a “great power” compared with Denmark in its ability to protect the Arctic territory. At one point, he cited the American military’s role in World War II to justify his demands, telling the eastern Swiss audience that, “without us, you’d all be speaking German, or a little Japanese perhaps.”
It was a slight carried forward by the president’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, who derided Copenhagen for its decision to divest from U.S. treasuries. “Denmark’s investment in U.S. treasury bonds like Denmark itself is irrelevant,” the secretary said.
In several instances, Trump framed the transatlantic alliance as one that benefits other countries more than the United States.
“We will be with NATO 100%, but I’m not sure they will be there for us,” Trump said. But NATO Secretary Gen. Mark Rutte responded to the concern in their meeting, noting that the alliance’s Article 5 commitment to joint defense has only been invoked once — by the United States, after the September 11th attacks. “Let me tell you: they will,” Rutte said.
But Trump expanded on his thinking over Greenland in his speech to the summit, describing his fixation on Greenland as “psychological,” and questioning why the United States would come to the island’s defense if its only investment was a licensing agreement.
“There’s no sign of Denmark there. And I say that with great respect for Denmark, whose people I love, whose leaders are very good,” Trump said. “It’s the United States alone that can protect this giant, massive land – this giant piece of ice – develop it, and improve it, and make it so that it’s good for Europe, and safe for Europe, and good for us.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom was among the people in the audience reacting to Trump’s remarks in real time. The president’s speech, he told CNN afterward, was “remarkably boring” and “remarkably insignificant.”
“He was never going invade Greenland. It was never real,” Newsom said. “That was always a fake.”
Wilner reported from Nuuk, Ceballos from Washington, D.C.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin received an invitation to join his new Board of Peace that will supervise the next phase of the Gaza peace plan.
Trump confirmed Putin’s invitation while speaking to reporters at the College Football National Championship Game in Florida, where Indiana defeated Miami.
President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The Kremlin said earlier on Monday that Putin had received the invitation, adding that it is now “studying the details” and will seek clarity of “all the nuances” in communications with the U.S. government.
France has also received an invitation but does not plan to join the Board of Peace “at this stage,” a French official close to President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.
The French official said the issue is raising questions, particularly with regard to respect for the principles and structure of the United Nations.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska.(REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
Asked at the championship game about Macron being unlikely to join, Trump took jabs at his French counterpart and threatened tariffs for refusing to accept the invitation.
“Well, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon,” Trump said of Macron.
“I’ll put a 200% tariff on his wines and champagnes, and he’ll join,” he added. “But he doesn’t have to join.”
Seventeen-year old Evan O’Steen has signed a one-year contract with Seattle Reign FC, the club announced on Friday. She became the youngest goalkeeper signee in the franchise’s history.
O’Steen played in four games, starting twice for Florida State’s national championship team in the fall of 2025. The freshman logged 169 minutes, made two saves and didn’t allow a goal while combining on three shutouts.
The Seminoles went on to win the 2025 national championship, their fifth title, all achieved since 2014. Five other Florida State players have been signed to professional contracts since they captured the championship in December.
The native of Grapevine, Texas, trained with the Reign early in the 2025 campaign, along with Dallas Trinity FC of the Gainbridge Super League.
‘We’re pleased to welcome Evan O’Steen to Seattle,’ said Seattle Reign FC General Manager Lesle Gallimore. ‘Evan is an exceptional young talent who has already demonstrated composure and quality beyond her years. At Reign FC, we take pride in helping players develop and reach their potential, and we’re excited to be part of Evan’s journey as she continues to grow as both a goalkeeper and a professional.’
Internationally, O’Steen has competed for the United States U-17 Women’s National Team and saw action in the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. She posted a shutout in the opening match against Ecuador.
O’Steen also earned Golden Glove honors after recording four shutouts in the 2024 U-17 World Cup.
‘I’m honored to sign with Seattle Reign FC,’ said O’Steen. ‘Training with the club provided me with a clear sense of the standards and culture here, and I’m excited to continue learning and growing in this incredible environment.’
O’Steen joins former Seminole goalkeeper Cassie Miller on the Reign, along with Claudia Dickey and Seattle native Neeku Purcell.
The Reign gave up the fourth fewest goals (31) in the NWSL in 2025 with Dickey serving as the team’s No. 1 goalkeeper.
Who knew that by “America First,” President Trump meant all of the Americas?
In puzzling over that question at least, I’ve got company in Marjorie Taylor Greene, the now-former congresswoman from Georgia and onetime Trump devotee who remains stalwart in his America First movement. Greene tweeted on Saturday, just ahead of Trump’s triumphal news conference about the United States’ decapitation of Venezuela’s government by the military’s middle-of-the-night nabbing of Nicolás Maduro and his wife: “This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong.”
Wrong indeed. Nearly a year into his second term, Trump has done nothing but exacerbate the domestic problems that Greene identified as America First priorities — bringing down the “increasing cost of living, housing, healthcare” within the 50 states — even as he’s pursued the “never ending military aggression” and foreign adventurism that America Firsters scorn, or at least used to. Another Trump con. Another lie.
Here’s a stunning stat, thanks to Military Times: In 2025, Trump ordered 626 missile strikes worldwide, 71 more than President Biden did in his entire four-year term. Targets, so far, have included Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Nigeria, Iran and the waters off Venezuela and Colombia. Lately he’s threatened to hit Iran again if it kills demonstrators who have been marching in Tehran’s streets to protest the country’s woeful economic conditions. (“We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump posted Friday.)
The president doesn’t like “forever wars,” he’s said many times, but he sure loves quick booms and cinematic secret ops. Leave aside, for now, the attacks in the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. It’s Trump’s new claim to “run” Venezuela that has signaled the beginning of his mind-boggling bid for U.S. hegemony over the Western Hemisphere. Any such ambition raises the potential for quick actions to become quagmires.
As Stephen Miller, perhaps Trump’s closest and most like-minded (read: unhinged) advisor, described the administration’s worldview on Monday to CNN’s Jake Tapper: “We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”
You know, that old, amoral iron law: “Might makes right.” Music to Vladimir Putin’s and Xi Jinping’s ears as they seek hegemonic expansion of their own, confident that the United States has given up the moral high ground from which to object.
But it was Trump, the branding maven, who gave the White House worldview its name — his own, of course: the Donroe Doctrine. And it was Trump who spelled out what that might mean in practice for the Americas, in a chest-thumping, war-mongering performance on Sunday returning to Washington aboard Air Force One. The wannabe U.S. king turns out to be a wannabe emperor of an entire hemisphere.
“We’re in charge,” Trump said of Venezuela to reporters. “We’re gonna run it. Fix it. We’ll have elections at the right time.” He added, “If they don’t behave, we’ll do a second strike.” He went on, suggestively, ominously: “Colombia is very sick too,” and “Cuba is ready to fall.” Looking northward, he coveted more: “We need Greenland from a national security situation.”
Separately, Trump recently has said that Colombia’s leftist President Gustavo Petro “does have to watch his ass,” and that, given Trump’s unhappiness with the ungenuflecting Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, “Something’s going to have to be done with Mexico.” In their cases as well as Maduro’s, Trump’s ostensible complaints have been that each has been complacent or complicit with drug cartels.
And yet, just last month Trump pardoned the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted in a U.S. court and given a 45-year sentence for his central role in “one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world.” Hernández helped traffickers ship 400 tons of cocaine into the United States — to “stuff the drugs up the gringos’ noses.” And Trump pardoned him after less than two years in prison.
So it’s implausible that a few weeks later, the U.S. president truly believes in taking a hard line against leaders he suspects of abetting the drug trade. Maybe Trump’s real motivation is something other than drug-running?
In his appearance after the Maduro arrest, Trump used the word “oil” 21 times. On Tuesday, he announced, in a social media post, of course, that he was taking control of the proceeds from up to 50 barrels of Venezuelan oil. (Not that he cares, but that would violate the Constitution, which gives Congress power to appropriate money that comes into the U.S. Treasury.)
Or perhaps, in line with the Monroe Doctrine, our current president has a retro urge to dominate half the world.
Lately his focus has been on Venezuela and South America, but North America is also in his sights. Trump has long said he might target Mexico to hit cartels and that the United States’ other North American neighbor, Canada, should become the 51st state. But it’s a third part of North America — Greenland — that he’s most intent on.
The icy island has fewer than 60,000 people but mineral wealth that’s increasingly accessible given the climate warming that Trump calls a hoax. For him to lay claim isn’t just a problem for the Americas. It’s an existential threat to NATO given that Greenland is an autonomous part of NATO ally Denmark — as Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned.
Not in 80 years did anyone imagine that NATO — bound by its tenet that an attack on one member is an attack on all — would be attacked from within, least of all from the United States. In a remarkable statement on Tuesday, U.S. allies rallied around Denmark: “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
Trump’s insistence that controlling Greenland is essential to U.S. national security is nuts. The United States has had military bases there since World War II, and all of NATO sees Greenland as critical to defend against Russian and Chinese encroachment in the Arctic. Still, Trump hasn’t ruled out the use of force to take the island.
He imagines himself to be the emperor of the Americas — all of it. Americas First.
President Trump on Wednesday withdrew the United States from 66 international organizations and treaties, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
In a presidential memorandum, Trump said it is “contrary to the interests of the United States to remain a member of, participate in, or otherwise provide support to” the organizations, which also include groups geared toward education, economic development, cybersecurity and human rights issues, among others. He directed all executive departments and agencies to take steps to “effectuate the withdrawal” of the U.S. from the organizations as soon as possible.
While the president has already announced a withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement — an international treaty to limit global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius in order to prevent the worst effects of climate change — the latest move will further isolate the nation at a critical moment, experts said.
The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change is a global treaty created in 1992 and signed by nearly 200 countries with the aim of addressing climate change through coordinated international action, including limiting planet-warming greenhouse gases. Trump already raised eyebrows last year by refusing to attend or send any high-level delegates to the annual U.N. Conferences of the Parties meeting in Brazil, where Gov. Gavin Newsom instead took on a starring role.
Withdrawing from the U.N. Framework Convention is a “shortsighted, embarrassing, and foolish decision,” Gina McCarthy, a former director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said in a statement.
“As the only country in the world not a part of the UNFCCC treaty, the Trump administration is throwing away decades of U.S. climate change leadership and global collaboration,” said McCarthy, who also served as the first White House national climate advisor and is now chair of the America is All In climate coalition.
David Widawsky, director of the World Resources Institute, called the move a “strategic blunder that gives away American advantage for nothing in return.”
“The 30-year-old agreement is the foundation of international climate cooperation. Walking away doesn’t just put America on the sidelines — it takes the U.S. out of the arena entirely,” Widawsky said.
Trump on Wednesday also withdrew the U.S. from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading global scientific body studying global warming. Its major assessments published every six or seven years help inform climate policy around the world.
Pulling the U.S. out of the IPCC won’t prevent individual U.S. scientists from contributing, but the nation as a whole will no longer be able to help guide the scientific assessments, said Delta Merner, associate accountability campaign director for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, who has attended previous IPCC meetings.
“Walking away doesn’t make the science disappear, it only leaves people across the United States, policymakers and businesses flying in the dark at the very moment when credible climate information is most urgently needed,” Merner said. “This is a clear attempt to weaken scientific guardrails that protect the public from disinformation, delay and reckless decision-making. Such a move will make it easier for fossil fuel interests to distort the facts while front-line communities pay the price.”
Trump, who received substantial donations from oil and gas companies during his 2024 presidential campaign, has heavily promoted the development of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. He has also taken several steps to limit scientific research and climate action in the U.S., including moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, one of the world’s leading climate and weather research institutions, in Boulder, Colo.
Last year, the Trump administration also fired hundreds of scientists working to prepare the congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment and removed the website that housed previous assessments.
Other climate, environment and energy groups Trump withdrew from on Wednesday include the International Renewable Energy Agency, the International Solar Alliance, the the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, among many others.
But the United States is the first nation to walk away from the U.N. Framework Convention, according to Manish Bapna, president and chief executive of the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.
“President Trump pulls the United States out of the UNFCCC at the nation’s peril,” Bapna said. “It is not only self-defeating to let other countries write the global rules of the road for the inevitable transition to clean energy, but also to skip out on trillions of dollars in investment, jobs, lower energy costs and new markets for American clean technologies.”
The head of Iran’s military threatened preemptive action over “rhetoric” targeting the country as the regime faces massive protests. Iran’s Maj. Gen. Amir Hatami was likely responding to President Donald Trump’s warning that America would act if violence was used against protesters.
Trump recently made it clear that the U.S. would step in if it saw that Iran was mistreating or killing protesters.
The president wrote on Truth Social, “If Iran shoots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”
Trump’s warning took on a new meaning for Iran following the historic U.S. mission in Venezuela that led to the capture and extradition of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Iranian military chief Maj. Gen. Amir Hatami seemed to respond to President Donald Trump’s remarks in his latest statement on the ongoing protests.(Masoud Nazari Mehrabi/Iranian Army via AP; Alex Brandon/AP Photo)
Hatami, who was speaking to military academy students, said, “The Islamic Republic considers the intensification of such rhetoric against the Iranian nation as a threat and will not leave its continuation without a response,” according to The Associated Press, which cited the state-run IRNA news agency.
He added, “I can say with confidence that today the readiness of Iran’s armed forces is far greater than before the war. If the enemy commits an error, it will face a more decisive response, and we will cut off the hand of any aggressor.”
Economic woes have led to an uprising among the Iranian people, and international backlash over the treatment of demonstrators has left regime officials feeling threatened, particularly by the U.S. and Israel.
Protesters hold signs during a demonstration in Iran amid ongoing unrest, according to images released by the Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran.(NCRI )
In an effort to quell the unrest, Iran’s government began paying the equivalent of $7 a month to subsidize rising food costs for dinner-table staples, such as rice, meat and pasta. Iranian state TV reported that the subsidy will go to more than 71 million people across the country, according to the AP. The outlet noted that the new subsidy is more than double the 4.5 million rial the people had previously received.
Iranian shopkeepers have warned that prices for items like basic cooking oil could triple under pressure from the collapse of the country’s currency, the AP reported. Iranian media has also reportedly covered the rise in prices of basic goods, including cooking oil, poultry and cheese.
Protesters march in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Fars News Agency via AP)
Iran’s vice president in charge of executive affairs, Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah, told reporters that the country was in a “full-fledged economic war,” the AP reported. He called for “economic surgery” to get rid of rentier policies and corruption within Iran, the AP added.
Protests began late last month and have showed no signs of stopping. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) claimed the cities of Abdanan (Ilam province) and Malekshahi were effectively “taken over” by protesters.
The Associated Press and Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey contributed to this report.
Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told “Hannity” on Tuesday why he believes the UN is “so upset” about President Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
“Over 50 countries didn’t even recognize Maduro because he stole the election. So, it’s hard to figure out what they’re so upset about,” Waltz told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
“I think we know the answer. It’s because it’s President Trump, and he’s a man of action and took real action. And now the Venezuelan people are going to be better off,” he added.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro greets his supporters during a rally in Caracas on Dec. 1, 2025. (Pedro Mattey/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Waltz’s comments came after the UN said Tuesday the United States’ removal of Venezuela’s Maduro violates international law and makes the world less safe.
Maduro is currently being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. — a facility notorious for housing high-profile criminals like disgraced musician Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
He pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges, including narco-terrorism.
Waltz applauded the president for taking “real action” against the South American strongman.
Venezuelan citizens celebrate during a rally on the Colombia-Venezuela border after the confirmation of Nicolas Maduro’s capture this early morning in Caracas, on January 3, 2026 in Cucuta, Colombia.(Jair F. Coll/Getty Images)
“The world is safer, stronger and certainly more prosperous because of it,” Waltz argued.
China, Russia and Iran are among several nations that have criticized the administration’s actions against the dictator.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz raises his hand to vote in favor of a draft resolution authorizing an International Stabilization Force in Gaza on Nov. 17, 2025.(Adam Gray/Getty)
But, the Trump-appointed ambassador maintained dethroning Maduro was a good choice from the commander-in-chief.
“This was the right thing to do,” said Waltz. “President Trump took bold action and will continue to swing and DOGE that ridiculous organization called the United Nations.”
Waltz also touted defunding the UN’s Human Rights Council, a move he said was made possible by the Trump administration.
“We just pushed and pressed the UN to agree to cut over 3,000 of its bureaucrats, its first budget cut in its history. So we’re DOGE-ing away,” he said.
Nora Moriarty is a Production Assistant at FOX News.
