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  • Trump says the US ‘needs’ Greenland for Arctic security. Here’s why

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    Location, location, location: Greenland’s key position above the Arctic Circle makes the world’s largest island a key part of security strategy in the High North. But for whom?Increasing international tensions, global warming and the changing world economy have put Greenland at the heart of the debate over global trade and security, and U.S. President Donald Trump wants to make sure his country controls this mineral-rich country that guards the Arctic and North Atlantic approaches to North America.Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally that has rejected Trump’s overtures. Greenland’s own government also opposes U.S. designs on the island, saying the people of Greenland will decide their own future. The island, 80% of which lies above the Arctic Circle, is home to about 56,000 mostly Inuit people who until now have been largely ignored by the rest of the world.Here’s why Greenland is strategically important to Arctic security: Greenland sits off the northeastern coast of Canada, with more than two-thirds of its territory lying within the Arctic Circle. That has made it crucial to the defense of North America since World War II, when the U.S. occupied Greenland to ensure it didn’t fall into the hands of Nazi Germany and to protect crucial North Atlantic shipping lanes.Following the Cold War, the Arctic was largely an area of international cooperation. But climate change is thinning the Arctic ice, promising to create a northwest passage for international trade and reigniting competition with Russia, China and other countries over access to the region’s mineral resources.Video below: Stephen Miller says ‘obviously Greenland should be part of the United States’ Greenland is also a rich source of the so-called rare earth minerals that are a key component of mobile phones, computers, batteries and other gadgets that are expected to power the world’s economy in the coming decades.That has attracted the interest of the U.S. and other Western powers as they try to ease China’s dominance of the market for these critical minerals.Development of Greenland’s mineral resources is challenging because of the island’s harsh climate, while strict environmental controls have proved an additional bulwark against potential investors. The U.S. Department of Defense operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, which was built after the U.S. and Denmark signed the Defense of Greenland Treaty in 1951. It supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.Greenland also guards part of what is known as the GIUK (Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom) Gap, where NATO monitors Russian naval movements in the North Atlantic. Denmark is moving to strengthen its military presence around Greenland and in the wider North Atlantic. Last year, the government announced a roughly 14.6 billion kroner ($2.3 billion) agreement with parties including the governments of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, another self-governing territory of Denmark, to “improve capabilities for surveillance and maintaining sovereignty in the region.” The plan includes three new Arctic naval vessels, two additional long-range surveillance drones and satellite capacity.Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command is headquartered in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, and tasked with the “surveillance, assertion of sovereignty and military defense of Greenland and the Faroe Islands,” according to its website. It has smaller satellite stations across the island.The Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, an elite Danish naval unit that conducts long-range reconnaissance and enforces Danish sovereignty in the Arctic wilderness, is also stationed in Greenland. In 2018, China declared itself a “near-Arctic state” in an effort to gain more influence in the region. China has also announced plans to build a “Polar Silk Road” as part of its global Belt and Road Initiative, which has created economic links with countries around the world.Then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejected China’s move, saying: “Do we want the Arctic Ocean to transform into a new South China Sea, fraught with militarization and competing territorial claims?”Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is worried about NATO’s activities in the Arctic and will respond by strengthening its military capability in the polar region. European leaders’ concerns were heightened following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.

    Location, location, location: Greenland’s key position above the Arctic Circle makes the world’s largest island a key part of security strategy in the High North. But for whom?

    Increasing international tensions, global warming and the changing world economy have put Greenland at the heart of the debate over global trade and security, and U.S. President Donald Trump wants to make sure his country controls this mineral-rich country that guards the Arctic and North Atlantic approaches to North America.

    Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally that has rejected Trump’s overtures. Greenland’s own government also opposes U.S. designs on the island, saying the people of Greenland will decide their own future.

    The island, 80% of which lies above the Arctic Circle, is home to about 56,000 mostly Inuit people who until now have been largely ignored by the rest of the world.

    Here’s why Greenland is strategically important to Arctic security:

    Greenland sits off the northeastern coast of Canada, with more than two-thirds of its territory lying within the Arctic Circle. That has made it crucial to the defense of North America since World War II, when the U.S. occupied Greenland to ensure it didn’t fall into the hands of Nazi Germany and to protect crucial North Atlantic shipping lanes.

    Following the Cold War, the Arctic was largely an area of international cooperation. But climate change is thinning the Arctic ice, promising to create a northwest passage for international trade and reigniting competition with Russia, China and other countries over access to the region’s mineral resources.

    Video below: Stephen Miller says ‘obviously Greenland should be part of the United States’


    Greenland is also a rich source of the so-called rare earth minerals that are a key component of mobile phones, computers, batteries and other gadgets that are expected to power the world’s economy in the coming decades.

    That has attracted the interest of the U.S. and other Western powers as they try to ease China’s dominance of the market for these critical minerals.

    Development of Greenland’s mineral resources is challenging because of the island’s harsh climate, while strict environmental controls have proved an additional bulwark against potential investors.

    The U.S. Department of Defense operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, which was built after the U.S. and Denmark signed the Defense of Greenland Treaty in 1951. It supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

    Greenland also guards part of what is known as the GIUK (Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom) Gap, where NATO monitors Russian naval movements in the North Atlantic.

    Denmark is moving to strengthen its military presence around Greenland and in the wider North Atlantic. Last year, the government announced a roughly 14.6 billion kroner ($2.3 billion) agreement with parties including the governments of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, another self-governing territory of Denmark, to “improve capabilities for surveillance and maintaining sovereignty in the region.”

    The plan includes three new Arctic naval vessels, two additional long-range surveillance drones and satellite capacity.

    Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command is headquartered in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, and tasked with the “surveillance, assertion of sovereignty and military defense of Greenland and the Faroe Islands,” according to its website. It has smaller satellite stations across the island.

    The Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, an elite Danish naval unit that conducts long-range reconnaissance and enforces Danish sovereignty in the Arctic wilderness, is also stationed in Greenland.

    In 2018, China declared itself a “near-Arctic state” in an effort to gain more influence in the region. China has also announced plans to build a “Polar Silk Road” as part of its global Belt and Road Initiative, which has created economic links with countries around the world.

    Then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejected China’s move, saying: “Do we want the Arctic Ocean to transform into a new South China Sea, fraught with militarization and competing territorial claims?”

    Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is worried about NATO’s activities in the Arctic and will respond by strengthening its military capability in the polar region. European leaders’ concerns were heightened following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

    Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.

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  • North Korea test-launches hypersonic missile system in front of Kim, nation says

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    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw test-flights of hypersonic missiles and called for a stronger nuclear war deterrent, state media said Monday, as Pyongyang ramps up weapons displays ahead of a major political conference.

    North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said Sunday’s drill involving a hypersonic weapon system was designed to test combat readiness, sharpen missile troops’ operational skills and assess the country’s overall war deterrent.

    “Through today’s launching drill, we can confirm that a very important technology task for national defense has been carried out,” Kim said, according to KCNA. “We must continuously upgrade the military means, especially offensive weapon systems.”

    The announcement came a day after South Korea and Japan said they detected multiple North Korean missile launches, which they condemned as provocations. The tests also took place just hours before South Korean President Lee Jae Myung departed for China to meet with President Xi Jinping.

    HEGSETH APPLAUDS SOUTH KOREA’S PLAN TO TAKE LARGER ROLE IN DEFENSE AGAINST NORTH KOREAN AGGRESSION

    In this photo provided by the North Korean government, leader Kim Jong Un, center, inspects test-flights of hypersonic missiles, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

    If fully operational, a hypersonic missile would give North Korea the ability to evade U.S. and South Korean missile defense systems. While Pyongyang has conducted a series of hypersonic tests in recent years, many foreign experts remain skeptical that the weapons have achieved the necessary speed and maneuverability.

    Kim Jong Un walking on road with military members

    In this photo provided by the North Korean government, leader Kim Jong Un walks on a road as he inspects test-flights of hypersonic missiles, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

    The latest tests follow recent launches of what North Korea described as long-range strategic cruise missiles and new anti-air systems, along with state-released images showing progress on what it claims is its first nuclear-powered submarine.

    Experts say the regime is showcasing its weapons advancements ahead of the ruling Workers’ Party congress, its first in five years. The meeting is expected to review military achievements and could signal whether Kim plans to shift his approach toward the U.S. or revive long-stalled nuclear talks.

    NORTH KOREA FIRES BALLISTIC MISSILE DAYS AFTER HEGSETH WRAPS SOUTH KOREA VISIT

    North Korea’s nuclear program is also expected to be discussed during the summit between Lee and Xi. Lee’s office said the South Korean president plans to urge China — Pyongyang’s main ally and economic lifeline — to play “a constructive role” in easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

    South Korean President Lee Jae Myung walking with wife, Kim Hea Kyung

    South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, center left, and his wife Kim Hea Kyung arrive to depart for China at the Seoul airport in Seongnam, South Korea, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

    Defending his push for nuclear expansion, Kim cited growing global instability. 

    “Why it is necessary is exemplified by the recent geopolitical crisis and complicated international events,” he said.

    The missile launches followed Saturday’s dramatic U.S. military operation that removed Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro from power and brought him to the U.S. to face narco-terrorism conspiracy charges. North Korea condemned the operation, calling it further proof of what it described as “the rogue and brutal nature of the U.S.”

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    Analysts say the move is likely to reinforce Kim’s push to expand North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, which he views as essential to regime survival and national sovereignty in the face of what Pyongyang sees as U.S.-led hostility.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Here’s what to know about Venezuela’s oil industry in five charts

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    President Donald Trump said Saturday the U.S. would tap into Venezuela’s oil reserves following President Nicolás Maduro’s capture. Trump wants U.S. oil companies to invest in Venezuela’s oil industry, which holds the largest crude oil reserves in the world. The country has about 303 billion barrels of crude, roughly a fifth of the world’s oil reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Get the Facts Data Team compiled data to explain the state of Venezuela’s oil industry and what it means for the U.S. Which countries have the highest oil reserves?Oil reserves refer to estimates of crude oil underground that can be recovered in the future, according to the EIA. Behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia has the second-highest amount of reserves at 267 billion, about 12% less than Venezuela. The U.S. has about 74 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, roughly 76% less than Venezuela.How much oil does the U.S. import from Venezuela? The U.S. doesn’t import as much oil from Venezuela as it did in prior decades. At its peak, the U.S. imported 61.7 million barrels of crude in Oct. 1997. That figure has since dropped to 4.2 million barrels, a decline of about 93%. Imports of Venezuelan crude oil fell sharply in 2019 after the U.S. imposed sanctions on the state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA. Those sanctions were later eased in Nov. 2022, when the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control granted waivers to Chevron, allowing it to resume exporting crude from its joint venture operations in Venezuela to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.The country accounts for about 1% of the crude oil the U.S. imports. Canada supplies 51% of the crude oil the U.S. imports, roughly 4.4 million barrels per day. Which countries import Venezuela oil?China imports the majority of Venezuela’s oil. In 2023, China accounted for 68% of imports. The U.S. imported the second highest at 23%. From 2019 to 2023, Venezuela exported more heavy-sour oil than any other type of oil. Heavy-sour oils contain high sulfur content, requiring more processing to remove the sulfur. Venezuela exported about 782,000 barrels per day of heavy-sour in 2019. In 2023, that number dropped to about 618,000 barrels per day.PHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=

    WASHINGTON —

    President Donald Trump said Saturday the U.S. would tap into Venezuela’s oil reserves following President Nicolás Maduro’s capture.

    Trump wants U.S. oil companies to invest in Venezuela’s oil industry, which holds the largest crude oil reserves in the world. The country has about 303 billion barrels of crude, roughly a fifth of the world’s oil reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    The Get the Facts Data Team compiled data to explain the state of Venezuela’s oil industry and what it means for the U.S.

    Which countries have the highest oil reserves?

    Oil reserves refer to estimates of crude oil underground that can be recovered in the future, according to the EIA.

    Behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia has the second-highest amount of reserves at 267 billion, about 12% less than Venezuela.

    The U.S. has about 74 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, roughly 76% less than Venezuela.

    How much oil does the U.S. import from Venezuela?

    The U.S. doesn’t import as much oil from Venezuela as it did in prior decades. At its peak, the U.S. imported 61.7 million barrels of crude in Oct. 1997. That figure has since dropped to 4.2 million barrels, a decline of about 93%.

    Imports of Venezuelan crude oil fell sharply in 2019 after the U.S. imposed sanctions on the state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA.

    Those sanctions were later eased in Nov. 2022, when the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control granted waivers to Chevron, allowing it to resume exporting crude from its joint venture operations in Venezuela to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.

    The country accounts for about 1% of the crude oil the U.S. imports.

    Canada supplies 51% of the crude oil the U.S. imports, roughly 4.4 million barrels per day.

    Which countries import Venezuela oil?

    China imports the majority of Venezuela’s oil. In 2023, China accounted for 68% of imports. The U.S. imported the second highest at 23%.

    From 2019 to 2023, Venezuela exported more heavy-sour oil than any other type of oil. Heavy-sour oils contain high sulfur content, requiring more processing to remove the sulfur.

    Venezuela exported about 782,000 barrels per day of heavy-sour in 2019. In 2023, that number dropped to about 618,000 barrels per day.

    PHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=

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  • Trump says Cuba is ‘ready to fall’ after capture of Venezuela’s Maduro

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    President Donald Trump late Sunday predicted Cuba was “ready to fall” after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, warning that Havana can no longer rely on Caracas for security and oil.  

    Trump said Cuba’s fate is now directly tied to Maduro’s ouster and the collapse of Venezuela’s ability to bankroll allies in the region.  

    Asked if he was considering U.S. action in Cuba, Trump replied: “I think it’s just going to fall. I don’t think we need any action. Looks like it’s going down. It’s going down for the count.” 

    The president’s comments during a press gaggle with reporters aboard Air Force One come after Saturday’s capture of Maduro and his wife on charges tied to a narco-terrorism conspiracy. The audacious operation has sent shockwaves through allied governments in the region, with Cuban officials calling for rallies in support of Venezuela and accusing the U.S. of violating sovereignty.

    MADURO AND ‘LADY MACBETH’ CILIA FLORES MARRIAGE SPELLS ‘WORST CASE’ CUSTODY SCENARIO 

    President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while in flight on Air Force One, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, as returning to Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

    U.S. officials say Cuban security forces played a central role in keeping Maduro in power. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Cuban operatives effectively ran Venezuela’s internal intelligence and security operations – including personally guarding Maduro and monitoring loyalty inside his government. 

    PSL protest at White House

    Protestors rally outside the White House, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Washington, after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a military operation. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

    “It was Cubans that guarded Maduro,” Rubio said. “He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards.” 

    Cuba’s government acknowledged Sunday that 32 Cuban military and police officers were killed during the American operation in Venezuela, marking the first official death toll released by Havana. Cuban state media said the officers had been deployed at the request of Caracas and announced two days of national mourning.

    US CAPTURE OF MADURO THROWS SPOTLIGHT ON VENEZUELA’S MASSIVE OIL RESERVES 

    Trump confirmed Cuban casualties while traveling back to Washington. 

    “A lot of Cubans were killed yesterday,” he said. “There was a lot of death on the other side. No death on our side.” 

    Cilia Flores and Maduro

    Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores face ‘worst case scenario’ in U.S. custody, according to expert, with federal indictments on drug and weapons charges. ( Juan BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)

    Trump also took aim at neighboring Colombia, accusing its leadership of fueling drug trafficking into the U.S.

    UN AMBASSADOR WALTZ DEFENDS US CAPTURE OF MADURO AHEAD OF SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING 

    “Colombia is very sick, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States,” Trump said, adding that the country, “is not going to be doing it for a very long time.” 

    Nicolás Maduro speaks during a military ceremony

    President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro speaks during a military ceremony commemorating the 200th anniversary of the presentation of the ‘Sword of Peru’ to Venezuelan independence hero Simón Bolívar on November 25, 2025, in Caracas, Venezuela.  (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)

    He suggested the U.S. was prepared to act against narco-trafficking networks operating by land and sea, citing recent interdictions.  

    Trump also revived his long-standing focus on Greenland, arguing the Arctic territory is critical to U.S. security amid growing Russian and Chinese activity.

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    “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security,” Trump said. “Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.” 

    Trump has framed Saturday’s operation as part of a broader effort to reassert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere, invoking the Monroe Doctrine and warning that hostile regimes can no longer rely on one another for survival. 

    Maduro is set to be arraigned in federal court in New York on Monday. 

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Bradford Betz is a Fox News Digital breaking reporter covering crime, political issues, and much more. 

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  • Kamala Harris blasts Trump administration’s capture of Venezuela’s Maduro as ‘unlawful and unwise’

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    Former Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday evening condemned the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, calling the operation both “unlawful” and “unwise.”

    In a lengthy post on X, Harris acknowledged that Maduro is a “brutal” and “illegitimate” dictator but said that President Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela “do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable.”

    “Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable,” Harris wrote. “That Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both unlawful and unwise. We’ve seen this movie before.

    “Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos, and American families pay the price.”

    SEE PICS: VENEZUELANS WORLDWIDE CELEBRATE AS EXILES REACT TO MADURO’S CAPTURE

    Vice President Kamala Harris had strong words for the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)

    Harris made the remarks hours after the Trump administration confirmed that Maduro and his wife were captured and transported out of Venezuela as part of “Operation Absolute Resolve.”

    The former vice president also accused the administration of being motivated by oil interests rather than efforts to combat drug trafficking or promote democracy.

    “The American people do not want this, and they are tired of being lied to. This is not about drugs or democracy. It is about oil and Donald Trump’s desire to play the regional strongman,” Harris said. “If he cared about either, he wouldn’t pardon a convicted drug trafficker or sideline Venezuela’s legitimate opposition while pursuing deals with Maduro’s cronies.”

    SECOND FRONT: HOW A SOCIALIST CELL IN THE US MOBILIZED PRO-MADURO FOOT SOLDIERS WITHIN 12 HOURS

    maduro-capture-uss-iwo-jima-1

    President Donald Trump shared a photo of captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima after Saturday’s strikes on Venezuela. (Donald Trump via Truth Social)

    Harris, who has been rumored as a potential Democratic contender in the 2028 presidential race, additionally accused the president of endangering U.S. troops and destabilizing the region.

    “The President is putting troops at risk, spending billions, destabilizing a region, and offering no legal authority, no exit plan, and no benefit at home,” she said. “America needs leadership whose priorities are lowering costs for working families, enforcing the rule of law, strengthening alliances, and — most importantly — putting the American people first.”

    MADURO’S FALL SPARKS SUSPICION OF BETRAYAL INSIDE VENEZUELA’S RULING ELITE

    CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Trump and Marco Rubio

    CIA Director John Ratcliffe, left, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio watch U.S. military operations in Venezuela from Mar-a-Lago in Florida early Saturday. (Donald Trump via Truth Social)

    Maduro and his wife arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn late Saturday after being transported by helicopter from the DEA in Manhattan after being processed.

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    Earlier in the day, Trump said that the U.S. government will “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

    Harris’ office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

    Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.

    Sophia Compton is a Writer at Fox News Digital. Sophia was previously a business reporter covering finance, energy and tourism and has experience as a TV news producer. She graduated with a journalism degree in 2021 from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

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  • ‘I waited for this moment for so long.’ Many U.S. Venezuelans praise Maduro capture

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    WASHINGTON — Maria Eugenia Torres Ramirez was having dinner with her family in Los Angeles on Friday night when the flood of messages began. Word had begun to circulate that the U.S. was invading Venezuela and would seize its president, Nicolás Maduro.

    Torres Ramirez, 38, fled her native country in 2021, settled in L.A. and has a pending application for asylum. Her family is scattered throughout the world — Colombia, Chile and France. Since her parents died, none of her loved ones remain in Venezuela.

    Still, news that the autocrat who separated them had been captured delivered a sense of long-awaited elation and united the siblings and cousins across continents for a rare four-hour phone call as the night unfolded.

    “I waited for this moment for so long from within Venezuela, and now that I’m out, it’s like watching a movie,” said Torres Ramirez, a former political activist who opposed Maduro. “It’s like a jolt of relief.”

    Many Venezuelans across the U.S. celebrated the military action that resulted in Maduro’s arrest. Economic collapse and political repression led roughly 8 million Venezuelans to emigrate since 2014, making it one of the world’s largest displacement crises.

    About 770,000 live in the U.S. as of 2023, concentrated mainly in the regions of Miami, Orlando, Houston and New York. Just over 9,500 live in L.A., according to a 2024 U.S. Census estimate.

    In the South Florida city of Doral, home to the largest Venezuelan American community, residents poured into the streets Saturday morning, carrying the Venezuelan flag, singing together and praising the military action as an act of freedom.

    In Los Angeles, a different picture emerged as groups opposed to Maduro’s arrest took to the streets, though none identified themselves as being of Venezuelan descent. At a rally of about 40 people south of downtown Los Angeles, John Parker, a representative of the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, called the raid a “brutal assault and kidnapping” that amounted to a war crime.

    The United States’ intervention in Venezuela had nothing to do with stopping the flow of drugs, he said, and everything to do with undermining a legitimate socialist government. Parker called for Maduro to be set free as a few dozen protesters behind him chanted, “Hands off Venezuela.”

    Parker said when he visited Venezuela a few weeks ago as part of a U.S. peacemaking delegation, he saw “the love people had for Maduro.”

    A later demonstration in Pershing Square drew hundreds out in the rain to protest the U.S intervention. But when a speaker led chants of “No war in Venezuela,” a woman draped in a Venezuelan flag attempted to approach him and speak into the microphone. A phalanx of demonstrators circled her and shuttled her away.

    At Mi Venezuela, a restaurant in Vernon, 16-year-old Paola Moleiro and her family ordered empanadas Saturday morning.

    A portion of one of the restaurant’s walls was covered in Venezuelan bank notes scrawled with messages. One read: “3 de enero del 2026. Venezuela quedo libre.”

    Venezuela is free.

    Around midnight the night before, Paola started getting messages on WhatsApp from her relatives in Venezuela. The power was out, they said, and they forwarded videos of what sounded like bomb blasts.

    Paola was terrified. She’d left Venezuela at age 7 with her parents and siblings, first for Panama and later the U.S., in 2023. But the rest of her family remained in Venezuela, and she had no idea what was going on.

    Paola and her family stayed up scanning television channels for some idea of what was happening. Around 1:30 a.m., President Trump announced that U.S. forces had captured Maduro.

    “The first thing I did, I called my aunt and said, ‘We are going to see each other again,’” she said.

    Because of the Venezuelan state’s control over media, her relatives had no idea their leader had been seized by U.S. forces. “Are you telling me the truth?” Paola said her aunt asked.

    Paola hasn’t been home in nine years. She misses her grandmother and her grandmother’s cooking, especially her caraotas negras, or black beans. As a child, she said, certain foods were so scarce that she had an apple for the first time only after moving to Panama.

    Paola said she was grateful to Trump for ending decades of authoritarian rule that had reduced her home country to a shell of what it once was.

    “Venezuela has always prayed for this,” she said. “It’s been 30 years. I feel it was in God’s hands last night.”

    For Torres Ramirez, it was difficult to square her appreciation for Trump’s accomplishment in Venezuela with the fear she has felt as an immigrant under his presidency.

    “It’s like a double-edged sword,” she said. “Throughout the course of this whole year, I have felt persecuted. I had to face ICE — I had to go to my appointment with the fear that I could lose it all because the immigration policies had changed and there was complete uncertainty. For a moment, I felt as if I was in Venezuela. I felt persecuted right here.”

    During a news conference Saturday morning, Trump said Maduro was responsible for trafficking illicit drugs into the U.S. and the deaths of thousands of Americans. He repeated a baseless claim that the Maduro government had emptied Venezuela’s prisons and mental institutions and “sent their worst and most violent monsters into the United States to steal American lives.”

    “They sent everybody bad into the United States, but no longer, and we have now a border where nobody gets through,” he said.

    Trump also announced that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela and its vast oil reserves.

    “We’ll run it professionally,” he said. “We’ll have the greatest oil companies in the world go in and invest billions and billions of dollars and take that money, use that money in Venezuela, and the biggest beneficiary are going to be the people of Venezuela.”

    Torres Ramirez said that while she’s happy about Maduro’s ouster, she’s unsure how to feel about Trump’s announcement saying the U.S. will take over Venezuela’s oil industry. Perhaps it won’t be favorable in the long term for Venezuela’s economy, she said, but the U.S. intervention is a win for the country’s political future if it means people can return home.

    Patricia Andrade, 63, who runs Raíces Venezolanas, a volunteer program in Miami that distributes donations to Venezuelan immigrants, said she believes the Trump administration is making the right move by remaining involved until there is a transition of power.

    Andrade, a longtime U.S. citizen, said she hasn’t been to Venezuela in 25 years — even missing the deaths of both parents. She said she was accused of treason for denouncing the imprisonment of political opponents and the degradation of Venezuela’s democracy under Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez. She said she worries that Venezuela’s remaining political prisoners could be killed as payback for Maduro’s arrest.

    “We tried everything — elections, marches, more elections … and it couldn’t be done,” she said. “Maduro was getting worse and worse, there was more repression. If they hadn’t removed him, we were never going to recover Venezuela.”

    While she doesn’t want the U.S. to fix the problems of other countries, she thanked Trump for U.S. involvement in Venezuela.

    She said she can’t wait to visit her remaining family members there.

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  • Climate setbacks and steps forward from 2025

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    There’s no mincing words: The list of climate records broken and the number of “unprecedented” extreme weather events this year goes on and on. Just in the past few months, at least 1,750 people died in monsoon flooding in Asia that a consortium of climate scientists attributed to human-caused global heating. Related video above: Solar and wind power increased faster than electricity demand in first half of 2025, report saysIn the U.S., investments in renewable, non-polluting energy were rolled back, and policy moves like the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and the Environmental Protection Agency’s reconsidering a key part of the federal government’s legal authority to regulate emissions.However, other nations have continued to make policy progress on prioritizing renewable energy and protecting the environment, and so have some scientists and groups on this side of the Atlantic.Here are a few of the highs and lows of humanity’s effect on our planet this year.The bad news firstGoal of keeping warming to 2.7 degrees no longer realisticHumans have failed to keep global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, long considered the goal following the original Paris climate agreement, according to UN Secretary General António Guterres. “Overshooting is now inevitable,” he said.Scientists widely consider the 2.7 degree goal the point at which climate change will begin hitting its most severe, irreversible damage.“We don’t want to see the Amazon as a savannah. But that is a real risk if we don’t change course and if we don’t make a dramatic decrease of emissions as soon as possible,” Guterres said ahead of the 2025 UN climate summit COP30, urging humanity to change course immediately. COP30 fails to make substantive progressUnfortunately, the outcomes from that UN summit did not live up to the secretary general’s hopes. This summit is an annual meeting where member countries measure their progress on addressing climate change and agree to legally binding goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.However, this final decision coming out of this year’s summit only included new voluntary initiatives to accelerate national climate action. According to commentary from the World Resources Institute, more than 80 countries advocated for a “global roadmap” to guide the transition away from fossil fuels, but negotiators didn’t include it in the final decision after they faced opposition from countries whose economies are built largely on oil and gas extraction and exports.World passes first climate ‘tipping point’This year, the world passed its first climate “tipping point,” meaning a threshold of irreversible change. Warming oceans have caused mass death in coral reefs, which are some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems. These reefs support a quarter of marine life and a billion people. Other tipping points, such as the devastation of the Amazon rainforest and melting ice sheets, are also approaching, scientists warn. Record-setting days of heat in major citiesThe world’s major cities now experience a quarter more very hot days every year on average than they did three decades ago, according to a September analysis by the International Institute for Environment and Development.“This isn’t a problem we can simply air-condition our way out of,” said Anna Walnycki, a principal researcher, in a press release. “Fixing it requires comprehensive changes to how neighbourhoods and individual buildings are designed, as well as bringing nature back into our cities in the form of trees and other plants.“Climate change is the new reality. Governments can’t keep their heads buried in the sand anymore.”Where positive action made a differenceGlobal renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time This year, expanding solar and wind power infrastructure led to record shifts away from fossil fuels and toward renewables. Wind and solar farms produced more electricity than coal plants for the first time, a massive shift for power generation worldwide.According to a report from climate think tank Ember, in the first six months of the year, renewable energy overtook the global demand for electricity. The world generated almost a third more solar power in the first half of the year than it did in the same period last year, meeting a whopping 83% of the global increase in demand for electricity.Solar installations were up 64% around the globe after the first half of the year, driven largely by China, whose solar installations more than doubled compared to last year. Solar installations rose in the U.S. by only 4%, however.Pennsylvania children see drop in asthma after a coal plant closedAfter a coking plant closed near Pittsburgh, the population living in the area saw an immediate 20.5% drop in weekly respiratory trips to the emergency room, according to a study published almost 10 years later. Even more encouraging was that over the immediate term, pediatric emergency department visits decreased by 41.2%, a trend that increased as the months went on. The region also saw lower hospitalizations for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the fourth-leading cause of death worldwide.Congestion toll drops emissions in NYC by 22%In January, New York City became the first in the country to put in place a toll on drivers in certain parts of the city during rush hours. The measure was intended to reduce traffic and improve health. During the first six months of the policy, NYC emissions dropped 22%. The city is using the revenue to fund mass transit, including the subway system.

    There’s no mincing words: The list of climate records broken and the number of “unprecedented” extreme weather events this year goes on and on. Just in the past few months, at least 1,750 people died in monsoon flooding in Asia that a consortium of climate scientists attributed to human-caused global heating.

    Related video above: Solar and wind power increased faster than electricity demand in first half of 2025, report says

    In the U.S., investments in renewable, non-polluting energy were rolled back, and policy moves like the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and the Environmental Protection Agency’s reconsidering a key part of the federal government’s legal authority to regulate emissions.

    However, other nations have continued to make policy progress on prioritizing renewable energy and protecting the environment, and so have some scientists and groups on this side of the Atlantic.

    Here are a few of the highs and lows of humanity’s effect on our planet this year.

    The bad news first

    Goal of keeping warming to 2.7 degrees no longer realistic

    Humans have failed to keep global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, long considered the goal following the original Paris climate agreement, according to UN Secretary General António Guterres. “Overshooting is now inevitable,” he said.

    Scientists widely consider the 2.7 degree goal the point at which climate change will begin hitting its most severe, irreversible damage.

    “We don’t want to see the Amazon as a savannah. But that is a real risk if we don’t change course and if we don’t make a dramatic decrease of emissions as soon as possible,” Guterres said ahead of the 2025 UN climate summit COP30, urging humanity to change course immediately.

    COP30 fails to make substantive progress

    Unfortunately, the outcomes from that UN summit did not live up to the secretary general’s hopes. This summit is an annual meeting where member countries measure their progress on addressing climate change and agree to legally binding goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

    However, this final decision coming out of this year’s summit only included new voluntary initiatives to accelerate national climate action. According to commentary from the World Resources Institute, more than 80 countries advocated for a “global roadmap” to guide the transition away from fossil fuels, but negotiators didn’t include it in the final decision after they faced opposition from countries whose economies are built largely on oil and gas extraction and exports.

    World passes first climate ‘tipping point’

    This year, the world passed its first climate “tipping point,” meaning a threshold of irreversible change. Warming oceans have caused mass death in coral reefs, which are some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems. These reefs support a quarter of marine life and a billion people.

    Other tipping points, such as the devastation of the Amazon rainforest and melting ice sheets, are also approaching, scientists warn.

    Record-setting days of heat in major cities

    The world’s major cities now experience a quarter more very hot days every year on average than they did three decades ago, according to a September analysis by the International Institute for Environment and Development.

    “This isn’t a problem we can simply air-condition our way out of,” said Anna Walnycki, a principal researcher, in a press release. “Fixing it requires comprehensive changes to how neighbourhoods and individual buildings are designed, as well as bringing nature back into our cities in the form of trees and other plants.

    “Climate change is the new reality. Governments can’t keep their heads buried in the sand anymore.”

    Where positive action made a difference

    Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time

    This year, expanding solar and wind power infrastructure led to record shifts away from fossil fuels and toward renewables. Wind and solar farms produced more electricity than coal plants for the first time, a massive shift for power generation worldwide.

    According to a report from climate think tank Ember, in the first six months of the year, renewable energy overtook the global demand for electricity. The world generated almost a third more solar power in the first half of the year than it did in the same period last year, meeting a whopping 83% of the global increase in demand for electricity.

    Solar installations were up 64% around the globe after the first half of the year, driven largely by China, whose solar installations more than doubled compared to last year. Solar installations rose in the U.S. by only 4%, however.

    Pennsylvania children see drop in asthma after a coal plant closed

    After a coking plant closed near Pittsburgh, the population living in the area saw an immediate 20.5% drop in weekly respiratory trips to the emergency room, according to a study published almost 10 years later. Even more encouraging was that over the immediate term, pediatric emergency department visits decreased by 41.2%, a trend that increased as the months went on. The region also saw lower hospitalizations for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the fourth-leading cause of death worldwide.

    Congestion toll drops emissions in NYC by 22%

    In January, New York City became the first in the country to put in place a toll on drivers in certain parts of the city during rush hours. The measure was intended to reduce traffic and improve health. During the first six months of the policy, NYC emissions dropped 22%. The city is using the revenue to fund mass transit, including the subway system.

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  • Explosive fire kills multiple people at Swiss Alps bar during New Year’s celebrations

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    An explosive fire at a bar in the Swiss Alps killed multiple people and injured others during New Year’s celebrations, police said.

    The blaze happened in the Alpine ski resort municipality of Crans-Montana, Switzerland, police said.

    “The fire started around 1:30 a.m. this morning in a bar called ‘Le Constellation,’” police spokesperson Gaëtan Lathion said. “More than a hundred people were in the building, and we are seeing many injured and many dead.”

    EXPLOSION AT PENNSYLVANIA SENIOR HOME PROMPTS MASS CASUALTY RESPONSE

    Rescuers and fire-fighters work at the site of an explosion that ripped through a bar in Crans-Montana on January 1, 2026. (MAXIME SCHMID / AFP via Getty Images)

    Investigators were working to determine the cause of the fire, police said.

    “We’re just at the beginning of our investigation, but this is an internationally renown ski resort with lots of tourists,” Lathion said.

    SWITZERLAND-ACCIDENT-EXPLOSION-TOURISM-POLICE

    A police officer walks near ambulances at the site of an explosion that ripped through a bar in Crans-Montana on January 1, 2026.  (MAXIME SCHMID / AFP via Getty Images)

    A reception center and helpline have been established for impacted families, Lathion said.

    swiss alps deadly explosive fire

    Rescuers are seen at the site of an explosion that ripped through a bar in Crans-Montana on January 1, 2026.  (MAXIME SCHMID / AFP via Getty Images)

    A news conference was scheduled by police for 10 a.m. The community is in the heart of the Swiss Alps, about 25 miles north of the Matterhorn.

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    The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

    This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

    Bradford Betz is a Fox News Digital breaking reporter covering crime, political issues, and much more. 

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  • Ukraine–Russia at a crossroads: How the war evolved in 2025 and what comes next

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    President Donald Trump spent much of 2025 attempting what had eluded his predecessors: personally engaging both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an effort to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. From high-profile summits to direct phone calls, the administration pushed for a negotiated settlement even as the fighting ground on and the map changed little.

    By year’s end, the outlines of a potential deal were clearer than they had been at any point since Russia’s full-scale invasion, with U.S. and Ukrainian officials coalescing around a revised 20-point framework addressing ceasefire terms, security guarantees and disputed territory. But 2025 also made clear why the war has proven so resistant to resolution: neither battlefield pressure, economic sanctions nor intensified diplomacy were enough to force Moscow or Kyiv into concessions they were unwilling to make.

    The Trump administration’s push for a deal

    The year began with a high-profile fallout last February between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when the Ukrainian leader stormed out of the White House after Trump told him he did not have “any cards” to bring to negotiations with Russia.

    Frustrated by the pace of talks after promising to end the war on “Day One” of his presidency, Trump initially directed his ire toward Zelenskyy before later conceding that Moscow, not Kyiv, was standing in the way of progress.

    “I thought the Russia-Ukraine war was the easiest to stop but Putin has let me down,” Trump said in September 2025.

    President Donald Trump met multiple times with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy throughout 2025.  (Ukranian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    That frustration had already surfaced publicly months earlier as Russian strikes continued despite diplomatic engagement. “He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening,” Trump said in July.

    Trump’s outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin culminated in a high-profile summit in Alaska in August, though additional meetings were later called off amid a lack of progress toward a deal.

    ZELENSKYY ENCOURAGED BY ‘VERY GOOD’ CHRISTMAS TALKS WITH US

    Still, Trump struck a more optimistic tone toward the end of the year. On Sunday, after meeting Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago, the president said the sides were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to a peace agreement, while acknowledging that major obstacles remained — including the status of disputed territory such as the Donbas region, which he described as “very tough.”

    Trump said the meeting followed what he described as a “very positive” phone call with Putin that lasted more than two hours, underscoring the administration’s continued effort to press both sides toward a negotiated end to the war.

    Where negotiations stand now

    By the end of 2025, the diplomatic track had narrowed around a more defined — but still contested — framework. U.S. officials and Ukrainian negotiators have been working from a revised 20-point proposal that outlines a potential ceasefire, security guarantees for Ukraine, and mechanisms to address disputed territory and demilitarized zones.

    Zelenskyy has publicly signaled openness to elements of the framework while insisting that any agreement must include robust, long-term security guarantees to deter future Russian aggression. Ukrainian officials have also made clear that questions surrounding occupied territory, including parts of the Donbas, cannot be resolved solely through ceasefire lines without broader guarantees.

    Russia, however, has not agreed to the proposal. Moscow has continued to insist on recognition of its territorial claims and has resisted terms that would constrain its military posture or require meaningful concessions. Russian officials have at times linked their negotiating stance to developments on the battlefield, reinforcing the Kremlin’s view that leverage — not urgency — should dictate the pace of talks.

    President Trump welcomes Vladimir Putin to Alaska for peace talks on ending the war in Ukraine.

    “I thought the Russia-Ukraine war was the easiest to stop but Putin has let me down,” Trump said in September 2025. (Getty Images/ Andrew Harnik)

    The result is a negotiation process that is more structured than earlier efforts, but still far from resolution: positions have hardened even as channels remain open, and talks continue alongside ongoing fighting rather than replacing it.

    Russia’s territorial pressure — and Ukraine’s limited gains

    Even as diplomacy intensified in 2025, the war on the ground remained defined by slow, grinding territorial pressure rather than decisive breakthroughs. Russian forces continued pushing for incremental gains in eastern and southern Ukraine, particularly along axes tied to Moscow’s long-stated objective of consolidating control over territory it claims as Russian.

    Russian advances were measured and costly, often unfolding village by village through artillery-heavy assaults and sustained drone use rather than sweeping offensives. While Moscow failed to capture major new cities or trigger a collapse in Ukrainian defenses, it expanded control in parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, maintaining pressure across multiple fronts and keeping territorial questions central to both the fighting and any future negotiations.

    U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as they meet to negotiate for an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S., August 15, 2025.

    U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as they meet to negotiate for an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S., August 15, 2025. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

    Ukraine, for its part, did not mount a large-scale counteroffensive in 2025 comparable to earlier phases of the war. Ukrainian forces achieved localized tactical successes, at times reclaiming small areas or reversing specific Russian advances, but these gains were limited in scope and often temporary. None translated into a sustained territorial breakthrough capable of altering the broader balance of the front.

    Instead, Kyiv focused on preventing further losses, reinforcing defensive lines, and imposing costs on Russian forces through precision strikes and asymmetric tactics. With decisive territorial gains out of reach, Ukraine expanded attacks against Russian energy infrastructure, targeting refineries, fuel depots and other hubs critical to sustaining Moscow’s war effort — including sites deep inside Russian territory.

    ZELENSKYY SAYS FRESH RUSSIAN ATTACK ON UKRAINE SHOWS PUTIN’S ‘TRUE ATTITUDE’ AHEAD OF TRUMP MEETING

    Russia, meanwhile, continued its own campaign against Ukraine’s energy grid, striking power and heating infrastructure as part of a broader effort to strain Ukraine’s economy, civilian resilience and air defenses. The result was a widening pattern of horizontal escalation, as both sides sought leverage beyond the front lines without achieving a decisive military outcome.

    The result was a battlefield stalemate with movement at the margins: Russia advanced just enough to sustain its territorial claims and domestic narrative, while Ukraine proved capable of blunting assaults and imposing costs but not of reclaiming large swaths of occupied land. The fighting underscored a central reality of 2025 — territory still mattered deeply to both sides, but neither possessed the military leverage needed to force a decisive shift.

    Firefighters looking at rubble

    Firefighters surveying the scene from Russia’s missile attack on the Kharkiv Region in Ukraine.  (Kharkiv Regional Governor Oleh Sunyiehubov Office/ via AP)

    That dynamic would increasingly shape the limits of diplomacy. Without a major change on the battlefield, talks could test red lines and clarify positions, but not compel compromise.

    Why talks stalled: leverage without decision

    For all the diplomatic activity in 2025, negotiations repeatedly ran into the same obstacle: neither Russia nor Ukraine faced the kind of pressure that would force a decisive compromise.

    On the battlefield, Russia continued to absorb losses while pressing for incremental territorial gains, reinforcing Moscow’s belief that time remained on its side. Ukrainian forces, though increasingly strained, succeeded in preventing a collapse and in imposing costs through deep strikes and attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure — demonstrating an ability to shape the conflict even without major territorial advances.

    Economic pressure also reshaped — but did not determine — Moscow’s calculus. Despite years of Western sanctions, Russia continued financing its war effort in 2025, ramping up defense production and adapting its economy to sustain prolonged conflict. While sanctions constrained growth and access to advanced technology, they raised the long-term costs of the war without producing the immediate pressure needed to force President Vladimir Putin toward concessions.

    Ukrainian military uses a self-propelled howitzer.

    Ukrainian servicemen of the 44th artillery brigade fire a 2s22 Bohdana self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions at the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (Danylo Antoniuk/AP Photo)

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    Those realities defined the limits of U.S. mediation. While the Trump administration pushed both sides to clarify red lines and explore possible frameworks for ending the war, Washington could illuminate choices without dictating outcomes, absent a decisive shift on the ground or a sudden change in Moscow’s calculations.

    The result was a year of talks that clarified positions without closing gaps. As long as pressure produced pain without decision, negotiations could narrow options and define boundaries, even if they could not yet bring the conflict to an end.
     

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  • Avalanche on Mammoth Mountain kills 30-year-old ski patroller

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    KCRA.COM, AS WE GET MORE INFORMATION. TONIGHT WE ARE LEARNING A SKI PATROLLER CAUGHT IN AN AVALANCHE ON MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN HAS DIED FROM HIS INJURIES. 30 YEAR OLD COLE MURPHY IS BEING REMEMBERED BY HIS FAMILY FOR HIS KINDNESS AND DEVOTION, SAYING THE MOUNTAIN IS WHERE HE FELT MOST ALIVE. THE SKI RESORT SAYS TWO OF THEIR PATROLLERS WERE PERFORMING AVALANCHE MITIGATION WORK FRIDAY MORNING, WHEN THEY WERE CAUGHT IN THAT SLIDE. ONE OF THEM WAS BEING ASSESSED FOR INJURIES, BUT WE DO NOT KNOW THEIR CONDITION AT THIS POINT. MURPHY WAS HOSPITALIZED AND DIED FROM HIS INJURIES. THE RESORT WARNS ANY SKIERS TO BE MINDFUL OF DEEP SNOW

    Avalanche on Mammoth Mountain kills 30-year-old ski patroller

    Updated: 9:29 PM PST Dec 28, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    A man died after getting caught in an avalanche at Mammoth Mountain on Friday, according to the ski resort. Cole Murphy, a 30-year-old ski patroller, was out with another patroller performing avalanche mitigation work when the avalanche happened on Lincoln Mountain. Mammoth Mountain said the two of them were immediately taken to a nearby hospital.Murphy died in the hospital on Friday, Mammoth said. The resort described him Sunday as “an experienced patroller with a deep passion for the mountains and love for his career.” Murphy’s family provided the following statement: With hearts that are aching and full of love, we share the passing of our beloved son, Cole Murphy, who was involved in a tragic accident at Mammoth Mountain. He was just 30 years old. In these tender days, he is held close by the family and friends who cherished him deeply. Cole moved through the world with kindness, intention, and a wholehearted devotion to the life he chose.The mountain was where Cole felt most alive. It was his place of purpose, his community, and his second home. Serving on ski patrol wasn’t just a role for him—it was a calling. To his ski patrol family, the ones who worked beside him, had confidence in him, and shared a bond shaped by snow, service, and unwavering camaraderie: thank you for loving him as one of your own. That brotherhood meant more to him than words can ever express.At the center of Cole’s heart was Hayley—his partner, his joy, his steady place in the world. Their love was built on adventure, laughter, and a connection that ran deep. She is forever a part of who he was, and always will be. Cole also held his family close, meeting life with an easy smile, a generous spirit, and a warmth that drew people in wherever he went.We find ourselves without the right words, but never without love. We are profoundly grateful for the compassion, tenderness, and support that have surrounded our family during this unimaginable time. As we begin to navigate the path ahead, we carry with us the memories, the love, and the bright, enduring light that Cole brought into all of our lives.This was the second second ski patroller death on the mountain this year.Mammoth Mountain’s ski area was closed after the avalanche on Saturday and reopened on Sunday. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    A man died after getting caught in an avalanche at Mammoth Mountain on Friday, according to the ski resort.

    Cole Murphy, a 30-year-old ski patroller, was out with another patroller performing avalanche mitigation work when the avalanche happened on Lincoln Mountain. Mammoth Mountain said the two of them were immediately taken to a nearby hospital.

    Murphy died in the hospital on Friday, Mammoth said. The resort described him Sunday as “an experienced patroller with a deep passion for the mountains and love for his career.”

    Murphy’s family provided the following statement:

    With hearts that are aching and full of love, we share the passing of our beloved son, Cole Murphy, who was involved in a tragic accident at Mammoth Mountain. He was just 30 years old. In these tender days, he is held close by the family and friends who cherished him deeply. Cole moved through the world with kindness, intention, and a wholehearted devotion to the life he chose.

    The mountain was where Cole felt most alive. It was his place of purpose, his community, and his second home. Serving on ski patrol wasn’t just a role for him—it was a calling. To his ski patrol family, the ones who worked beside him, had confidence in him, and shared a bond shaped by snow, service, and unwavering camaraderie: thank you for loving him as one of your own. That brotherhood meant more to him than words can ever express.

    At the center of Cole’s heart was Hayley—his partner, his joy, his steady place in the world. Their love was built on adventure, laughter, and a connection that ran deep. She is forever a part of who he was, and always will be. Cole also held his family close, meeting life with an easy smile, a generous spirit, and a warmth that drew people in wherever he went.

    We find ourselves without the right words, but never without love. We are profoundly grateful for the compassion, tenderness, and support that have surrounded our family during this unimaginable time. As we begin to navigate the path ahead, we carry with us the memories, the love, and the bright, enduring light that Cole brought into all of our lives.

    This was the second second ski patroller death on the mountain this year.

    Mammoth Mountain’s ski area was closed after the avalanche on Saturday and reopened on Sunday.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Tiny Pacific nation to take up to 75 deportees as Trump administration accelerates mass removals

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    Palau has struck a deal with the U.S. to accept up to 75 deportees from the U.S. in exchange for $7.5 million in foreign aid.

    The agreement will allow “third-country nationals” who have never been charged with a crime to live and work in the Pacific nation, which has a population of about 18,000 people, according to announcements Wednesday from President Surangel Whipps Jr.’s office and the U.S. Embassy in Koror.

    “The United States deeply appreciates Palau’s cooperation in enforcing U.S. immigration laws, which remains a top priority for the Trump administration,” the U.S. Embassy in Koror said in a statement. “In this regard, the United States granted $7.5 million to address the needs of relevant Palau public services.”

    HOW A TINY AFRICAN ABSOLUTE MONARCHY CAN PLAY A ‘VITAL ROLE’ IN US NATIONAL SECURITY: EXPERT

    An aerial view of Palau Oct. 6, 2015 (iStock)

    The agreement was formalized through a memorandum of understanding, with Palau citing labor shortages as a key motivation.

    “Palau and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding allowing up to 75 third country nationals, who have never been charged with a crime, to live and work in Palau, helping address local labor shortages in needed occupations,” Whipps’ office said in a statement.

    EXCLUSIVE: 17,500 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED UNDER LAKEN RILEY ACT IN TRUMP’S SECOND TERM

    Donald Trump arrives at North Carolina rally

    President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign event Dec.19, 2025, in Rocky Mount, N.C.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

    The Trump administration will also provide $6 million to support Palau’s struggling civil service pension plan system and $2 million for new law enforcement initiatives, according to Whipps’ office.

    Palau, a former filming location for the long-running reality TV series “Survivor,” has long been a recipient of U.S. support and relies heavily on foreign aid, according to the New York Post.

    CROCKETT ACCUSES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OF DISHONESTY OVER BORDER ENCOUNTER NUMBERS

    SURVIVOR: PALAU

    Castaways from the Ulong Tribe — James Willson, Ibreham Rahman, Bobby Jon Drinkard and Stephanie LaGrossa — during the third episode of Survivor: Palau on CBS.   (Monty Brinton/CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images)

    Under a deal brokered during the Biden administration, Washington committed $889 million in aid over 20 years, according to the State Department.

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    As the Trump administration ramps up mass deportations, many countries have agreed to take illegal immigrants, including Uganda, Rwanda, Eswatini, South Sudan, Costa Rica, Panama and El Salvador.

    Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

    Sophia Compton is a Writer at Fox News Digital. Sophia was previously a business reporter covering finance, energy and tourism and has experience as a TV news producer. She graduated with a journalism degree in 2021 from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

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  • Pope Leo XIV urges faithful on Christmas to shed indifference in the face of suffering

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    We’re holding *** few activities for the children to help with their mental health. We just want to relieve the children from the shock that they have experienced in the last two years of war and the conditions that completely swallowed them. They couldn’t control it, but those were our conditions. They have suffered *** lot, so we’re trying *** different touch this holiday season, different activities, so that they can feel some amount of joy. It is true that we always have hoped that it will get better and Gaza will become better, that we go back to our homes, celebrate, go back to the same way we were before the war, go to pray and celebrate, that we would reunited again as *** family around the table tomorrow or at dinner on Christmas Day, and we would talk, relax, and laugh. Every time I remember those moments, I feel sad of what our lives have become.

    During his first Christmas Day message Thursday, Pope Leo XIV urged the faithful to shed indifference in the face of those who have lost everything, like in Gaza, those who are in impoverished, like in Yemen, and the many migrants who cross the Mediterranean Sea and the American continent for a better future.Related video above: Gaza’s tiny Christian community tries to revive holiday spirit during ceasefireThe first U.S. pontiff addressed some 26,000 people from the loggia overlooking St. Peter’s Square for the traditional papal “Urbi et Orbi” address, Latin for “To the City and to the World,” which serves as a summary of the woes facing the world.While the crowd gathered under a steady downpour during the papal Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, the rain had subsided by the time Leo took a brief tour of the square in the popemobile, then spoke to the crowd from the loggia.Leo revived the tradition of offering Christmas greetings in multiple languages that was abandoned by his predecessor, Pope Francis. He received especially warm cheers when he made his greetings in his native English and Spanish, the language of his adopted country of Peru, where he served first as a missionary and then as archbishop.Someone in the crowd shouted out, “Viva il papa!” or “Long live the pope!” before he retreated into the basilica. Leo took off his glasses for a final wave.Leo surveys the world’s distressDuring the traditional address, the pope emphasized that everyone can contribute to peace by acting with humility and responsibility.“If he would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change,” the pope said.Leo called for “justice, peace and stability” in Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria, prayers for “the tormented people of Ukraine,” and “peace and consolation” for victims of wars, injustice, political stability, religious persecution and terrorism, citing Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and Congo.The pope also urged dialogue to address “numerous challenges” in Latin America, reconciliation in Myanmar, the restoration of “the ancient friendship between Thailand and Cambodia,” and assistance for the suffering of those hit by natural disasters in South Asia and Oceania.“In becoming man, Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us: with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent,” the pontiff said.He also remembered those who have lost their jobs or are seeking work, especially young people, underpaid workers and those in prison.Peace through dialogueEarlier, Leo led the Christmas Day Mass from the central altar beneath the balustrade of St. Peter’s Basilica, adorned with floral garlands and clusters of red poinsettias. White flowers were set at the feet of a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus, whose birth is celebrated on Christmas Day.In his homily, Leo underlined that peace can emerge only through dialogue.“There will be peace when our monologues are interrupted and, enriched by listening, we fall to our knees before the humanity of the other,” he said.He remembered the people of Gaza, “exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold” and the fragility of “defenseless populations, tried by so many wars,’’ and of “young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them, and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.’’Thousands of people packed the basilica for the pope’s first Christmas Day Mass, holding their smartphones aloft to capture images of the opening procession.This Christmas season marks the winding down of the Holy Year celebrations, which will close on Jan. 6, the Catholic Epiphany holiday marking the visit of the three wise men to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.___Barry reported from Milan.

    VATICAN CITY —

    During his first Christmas Day message Thursday, Pope Leo XIV urged the faithful to shed indifference in the face of those who have lost everything, like in Gaza, those who are in impoverished, like in Yemen, and the many migrants who cross the Mediterranean Sea and the American continent for a better future.

    Related video above: Gaza’s tiny Christian community tries to revive holiday spirit during ceasefire

    The first U.S. pontiff addressed some 26,000 people from the loggia overlooking St. Peter’s Square for the traditional papal “Urbi et Orbi” address, Latin for “To the City and to the World,” which serves as a summary of the woes facing the world.

    While the crowd gathered under a steady downpour during the papal Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, the rain had subsided by the time Leo took a brief tour of the square in the popemobile, then spoke to the crowd from the loggia.

    Leo revived the tradition of offering Christmas greetings in multiple languages that was abandoned by his predecessor, Pope Francis. He received especially warm cheers when he made his greetings in his native English and Spanish, the language of his adopted country of Peru, where he served first as a missionary and then as archbishop.

    Someone in the crowd shouted out, “Viva il papa!” or “Long live the pope!” before he retreated into the basilica. Leo took off his glasses for a final wave.

    Leo surveys the world’s distress

    During the traditional address, the pope emphasized that everyone can contribute to peace by acting with humility and responsibility.

    “If he would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change,” the pope said.

    Leo called for “justice, peace and stability” in Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria, prayers for “the tormented people of Ukraine,” and “peace and consolation” for victims of wars, injustice, political stability, religious persecution and terrorism, citing Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and Congo.

    The pope also urged dialogue to address “numerous challenges” in Latin America, reconciliation in Myanmar, the restoration of “the ancient friendship between Thailand and Cambodia,” and assistance for the suffering of those hit by natural disasters in South Asia and Oceania.

    “In becoming man, Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us: with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent,” the pontiff said.

    He also remembered those who have lost their jobs or are seeking work, especially young people, underpaid workers and those in prison.

    Peace through dialogue

    Earlier, Leo led the Christmas Day Mass from the central altar beneath the balustrade of St. Peter’s Basilica, adorned with floral garlands and clusters of red poinsettias. White flowers were set at the feet of a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus, whose birth is celebrated on Christmas Day.

    In his homily, Leo underlined that peace can emerge only through dialogue.

    “There will be peace when our monologues are interrupted and, enriched by listening, we fall to our knees before the humanity of the other,” he said.

    He remembered the people of Gaza, “exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold” and the fragility of “defenseless populations, tried by so many wars,’’ and of “young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them, and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.’’

    Thousands of people packed the basilica for the pope’s first Christmas Day Mass, holding their smartphones aloft to capture images of the opening procession.

    This Christmas season marks the winding down of the Holy Year celebrations, which will close on Jan. 6, the Catholic Epiphany holiday marking the visit of the three wise men to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.

    ___

    Barry reported from Milan.


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  • How the Grinch went from a Yuletide bit player to a Christmas A-lister

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    It takes a lot for sweet-tempered 28-year-old Nick Darnell to transform himself into Christmas’ most sought-after sourpuss.

    There’s colored contacts and facial prosthetics, a protruding belly and at least an hour of makeup. But for the devout Christian and preternaturally cheerful young actor, the real metamorphosis is psychological.

    “People today love to connect with the villain,” said the viral Grinch impersonator. “The world is just a darker world now.”

    Darnell called the chartreuse baddie he portrays “the modern-day Santa.”

    Dr. Seuss’ holiday parable “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” has been a seasonal favorite since it was published in 1957, ranking among the most popular and profitable of the author’s iconic rhyming picture books.

    The story’s sassy, brassy antihero has likewise adorned Christmas trees and school library shelves for generations. His hornlike fur forelocks and pathological refusal to assimilate have led some critics to call the Grinch ambiguously antisemitic, but those concerns have largely been glossed over by years of nostalgia.

    Experts say 2025 heralds the Grinch’s ascent from Yuletide bit player to Christmas A-lister. He now crowds out Kris Kringle in store displays, social media feeds and holiday meet-and-greets.

    Unlike Santa, who ho-ho-hos his way through the holiday season, Grinches twerk and pout and scream in kids’ faces. Compilations of their antics on YouTube and TikTok routinely rack up millions of views.

    “I do the things that people think,” Darnell said of the role. “I’m not restrained.”

    Despite the Grinch’s anti-consumerist zeal, the market for his visage has exploded in recent years.

    Target touts its “Grinchmas,” while Walmart has “WhoKnewVille.” McDonald’s sells Grinch fries, Starbucks features a “secret menu” frappuccino. Hanna Andersson, a popular purveyor of holiday pajamas, boasts roughly a dozen different Grinch patterns, compared to three Hanukkah options and just one Santa design in two colorways.

    “I’m not restrained,” Grinch impersonator Nick Darnell, 28, says of his role.

    (Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

    Ownership of the Grinch’s likeness is guarded as jealously as the villain protects his lair: Dr. Seuss Enterprises holds the rights to the children’s book, Warner Bros. Discovery the 1966 animated TV special, and Universal Studios the 2000 live-action Jim Carrey film, which ranks among the highest-grossing Christmas movies of all time.

    But impersonators, academics and even working Santas agree: Americans’ embrace of the Grinch in 2025 goes far beyond consumerism.

    “It’s definitely more popular,” said ‘Santa’ Ed Taylor, the famed Los Angeles Santa behind the Worldwide Santa Claus Network, a training camp for the art of Christmas cheer. “It’s a little yin and yang. Maybe we need a little bit of both.”

    Costume companies across Los Angeles say they’ve seen a deluge of demand for the Grinch this year. At Etoile Costume & Party Center in Tarzana, nearly half of Christmas costume rentals are now furry green villains.

    “It’s about equal to Santa,” one employee said. “Maybe 40% Grinch and the rest Santa.”

    Ryan Ortiz, dressed in a Grinch costume, stands next to his 1969 Volkswagen Bus

    Ryan Ortiz, dressed in a Grinch costume, stands next to his 1969 Volkswagen Bus in San Diego on Dec. 21.

    (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)

    Fans of the hirsute sourpuss seek him out for his in-your-face edge — the opposite of Santa’s remote joviality. Santa enforces his regime of goodness through lists and surveillance. The Grinch will get in your face and yell at you to shut up.

    “[Santa]’s supposed to be mysterious and unknown,” said Darnell’s fiancee JadaPaige. “He’s supposed to just come in the night and you’re never supposed to see him.”

    “I grew up obsessed with Santa Claus — I did not grow up obsessed with the Grinch,” Darnell said. “I was the kid waiting up in the middle of the night, peeking, wondering if Santa’s down there. A lot of modern day kids aren’t having that journey.”

    Instead, many Gen Alpha youths look to the Grinch for his views on “corruption or poverty or the oversaturation of commercialism,” Darnell said.

    “Santa is looked at more like a godly figure, while the Grinch is a more everyday man,” the actor explained. “The world is so sinister and negative. [The Grinch] tells you how it is, rather than telling you everything is going to be fine.”

    TikTok turbocharged that trend, with the infamous green meanie matching or beating his red rival in holiday clout.

    “He has aura,” Darnell said.

    Nick Darnell, a longtime Grinch impersonator, is photographed at home

    Grinch impersonator Nick Darnell said the character he plays has become popular because, “He has aura.”

    (Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

    Today’s professional Santas are often retirees with a bit of a belly and some time on their hands. Grinches, by contrast, are more likely to be working actors like Darnell, who look reverently to Carrey’s performance as a blueprint for the character’s slapstick antics and snarky reads.

    Still, experts say the Grinch’s 2025 glow-up likely owes as much to holiday exhaustion and broad consumer pessimism as it does vertical video virility.

    “The Grinch is the opposite side of Christmas,” said Oscar Tellez, who owns Magic Dream Costumes and Party Rentals in East Los Angeles and says he’s seen a spike in Grinch requests even as overall holiday rentals have sagged.

    “Especially with the Latino community, I don’t think they feel the enthusiasm to celebrate,” Tellez said. “They are more worried about what’s gonna happen next.”

    Pop culture experts agreed.

    “The economy is in big trouble, our political situation is chaotic, there’s a lot of hate — it’s no wonder that we would seek to express that through the embodiment of a monster like the Grinch,” said Michael M. Chemers, director of the Center for Monster Studies at UC Santa Cruz.

    “You’ve seen these nativity displays popping up all over the country that have the Jesus figures removed and it says ‘ICE was here,’ ” he added. “I think there’s just a lot of Grinchy feeling right now in the world.”

    Chemers and other scholars say the emergence of the Grinch as a foil to Santa is less a departure than a return to form: the Grinch is a “PG version” of the mythical Krampus, a shaggy, fork-tongued Germanic goat man who beats and even abducts naughty children, working as an enforcer for Father Christmas.

    a person dressed as the anti-Christmas character known as the Grinch

    An “organillero,” or traditional street musician, dressed as the anti-Christmas character known as the Grinch plays on a central street in Mexico City on Dec. 9.

    (Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images)

    “He’s been called the Christmas devil,” said Jeff Belanger, author of “The Fright Before Christmas,” a compendium of so-called “Yuletide monsters.”

    “[Krampus] represented the consequence of bad behavior, while St. Nick rewards good behavior,” he said.

    Krampus likely evolved from older, pre-Christian deities, just as Christmas absorbed solstice and midwinter customs, the author explained. The Christmas most Americans grew up with only emerged as a national holiday in the wake of the Civil War, he said, about a decade after the formal introduction of Thanksgiving in 1863. It was around this time that Christmas trees became popular in the United States.

    “In 1867, Charles Dickens came over to Boston and that’s when he read his ‘Christmas Carol’ for the first time in America,” spurring President Ulysses S. Grant to declare Christmas a federal holiday, Belanger said. “It was truly on the back of that story.”

    The holiday’s corpulent, white-bearded dandy arrived even later, his schmaltzy persona skimmed from bony St. Nicholas between Reconstruction and 1931, when Coca-Cola debuted its iconic, brandy-flushed Santa Claus.

    “That’s when Christmas turned purely commercial, and there was no room for consequences anymore,” Belanger said.

    Seuss’ Grinch sits somewhere in the middle — cuddlier than Krampus and pricklier than Santa — making him the perfect avatar for a moody, uncertain age.

    Workers check the inflated toys of The Grinch

    Workers check Grinch inflatables ready for export at a factory in Suixi County in central China’s Anhui Province on March 19.

    (Wan SC/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

    Grinch boosters point out that the villain repents and reforms at the end of the story, shedding his pathological hatred of Christmas.

    “I always tell people, ‘Don’t you just love how his heart grew three sizes?’ ” Taylor, the famous Santa, said of his increasingly popular crossover events.

    Others note that it’s never the repentant Grinch who marauds through schools and holiday parades or blows up on social media.

    “Once he’s rehabilitated, he’s no fun anymore,” Chemers said.

    That makes it hard for the holiday villain to visit sick kids in the hospital, as legions of Santas do every year, or comfort children who confide in him about bullying.

    “The message is one of encouragement and positivity and acknowledgment of accomplishments and encouragement to strive harder,” Taylor said. “It’s these beautiful personal development messages that Santa gets to be the conduit for.”

    The Grinch, by contrast, can affirm where you are, without ever asking you to be better.

    “He can hear you and know what you’re thinking, because he has the same thoughts,” Darnell said of his beloved version of the character. “People want to know his heart and his mind, and that’s something they wouldn’t be able to ask Santa.”

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    Sonja Sharp

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  • DEI in education: Pros and cons

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    eSchool News is counting down the 10 most-read stories of 2025. Story #6 focuses on DEI in education.

    Key points:

    Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have become integral to educational institutions across the United States. DEI aims to foster environments where all students can thrive regardless of their backgrounds. The programs are designed to address systemic inequalities, promote representation, and create inclusive spaces for learning. However, as DEI becomes more prevalent, it also faces scrutiny and debate regarding its effectiveness, implementation, and impact on educational outcomes.

    One of the main advantages of DEI in education is the promotion of a more inclusive and representative curriculum. Students gain a broader understanding of the world by integrating diverse perspectives into course materials. This enhances critical thinking and empathy. Furthermore, the approach prepares students to navigate and contribute to our increasingly globalized society. Moreover, exposure to diverse viewpoints encourages students to challenge their assumptions and develop a more nuanced perspective on complex issues.

    DEI initiatives also contribute to improved academic outcomes by fostering a sense of belongingness amongst students. When students see themselves reflected in their educators and curricula, they are more likely to feel valued and supported. This leads to increased engagement and motivation. This sense of inclusion can result in higher retention and graduation rates (particularly among historically marginalized groups). Furthermore, diverse learning environments encourage collaboration and communication skills because students learn to work effectively with peers from different backgrounds.

    In addition to benefiting students, DEI programs can enhance faculty satisfaction and retention. Institutions that prioritize diversity in hiring and promotion practices create more equitable workplaces. This can lead to increased job satisfaction among faculty members. Mentorship programs and professional development opportunities focused on DEI can also support faculty in creating inclusive classroom environments, which further benefits students.

    Despite these benefits, DEI initiatives are not without challenges. One significant concern is the potential for resistance and backlash from individuals who perceive DEI efforts as a threat to traditional values (in other words, a form of reverse discrimination). This resistance can manifest in various ways (opposition to DEI policies, legal challenges, and political pressure). Such opposition can hinder the implementation and effectiveness of DEI programs, thereby creating a contentious atmosphere within educational institutions.

    Another challenge is the difficulty in measuring the success of DEI initiatives. Without clear metrics, it can be challenging to assess the impact of these programs on student outcomes, faculty satisfaction, or institutional culture. The lack of quantifiable data can lead to skepticism about the efficiency of DEI efforts, thus resulting in reduced support or funding for such programs. Additionally, the absence of standardized definitions and goals for DEI can lead to inconsistent implementation across institutions.

    Resource allocation is also a critical issue in the execution of DEI initiatives. Implementing comprehensive DEI programs often requires significant financial investment (funding for specialized staff, training, and support services). In times of budget constraints, institutions may struggle to prioritize DEI efforts. This may lead to inadequate support for students and faculty. Without sufficient resources, DEI programs may fail to achieve their intended outcomes thus further fueling criticism and skepticism.

    The potential for tokenism is another concern associated with DEI initiatives. When institutions focus on meeting diversity quotas without fostering genuine inclusion, individuals from underrepresented groups may feel marginalized or exploited. Tokenism may undermine the goals of DEI by creating superficial diversity that does not translate into meaningful change or equity. To avoid this, institutions must commit to creating inclusive environments where all individuals feel valued and empowered to contribute fully.

    Furthermore, DEI programs can sometimes inadvertently reinforce stereotypes or create division among student populations. For example, emphasizing differences without promoting commonalities may lead to increased social fragmentation or feelings of isolation among certain groups. Educators must carefully balance the celebration of diversity with the promotion of unity and shared values to foster cohesive learning communities.

    In summary, DEI initiatives in education offer numerous benefits, but these programs also face significant challenges. To maximize the positive impact of DEI efforts, educational institutions must commit to thoughtful, well-resourced, and inclusive implementation strategies that promote genuine equity and inclusion for all members.

    Latest posts by eSchool Media Contributors (see all)

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    Dr. Yuvraj Verma, Bessemer City Middle School and William Howard Taft University

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  • Australian politician calls country ‘guinea pig’ for censorship amid world-first social media ban

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    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    A world-first social media ban took effect in Australia last week, restricting children younger than 16 from using platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.

    “Australia has become an international guinea pig for the people who want internet censorship,” said Hon. John Ruddick, a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.

    More than 200,000 accounts were deactivated Wednesday after Australia’s Online Safety Amendment went into effect.

    “It’s massive,” he explained. “It’s the only thing the country’s talking about.”

    AUSTRALIA IMPLEMENTS FIRST-EVER YOUTH SOCIAL MEDIA BAN

    A 13-year-old boy displays a message on his mobile phone from social media platform Snapchat after his account was locked for age verification in Sydney on December 9, 2025.  (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

    The 10 social media giants included in the ban are Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat, Kick, Reddit, Threads, Twitch and YouTube. By law, they are required to locate and deactivate accounts of Australian users under the age of 16. 

    “I have heard that every playground around Australia for months has been talking about censorship coming,” Ruddick told Fox News Digital.

    Children and parents won’t be penalized for violating the ban, but social media companies face fines of up to $33 million if they don’t take “reasonable steps” to remove underage users.

    Many Aussie children, Ruddick said, are already finding ways to skirt the sweeping ban.

    “They’re getting around it through fake IDs, opening new apps — which you know are popping up — VPNs,” he explained. “Kids are tech-savvy… This is what we predicted would happen.”

    instagram australia social media ban

    A teenager gets a notification from Instagram after the account was locked for age verification in Sydney on December 9, 2025.  (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

    Ruddick, alongside two Australian teenagers, is taking legal action over the ban, filing a constitutional challenge to Australia’s High Court. Equivalent to the U.S. Supreme Court, the court can overturn laws it deems unconstitutional.

    Ruddick told Fox News Digital he believes the social media ban violates young Australians’ right to political communication.

    “We’re saying that this is breaching young kids’ ability to engage in politics, and a lot of them will be voting within two years of turning the age of 16,” he explained.

    The Australian politician is the president of the Digital Freedom Project, a group launched to raise public awareness about the ban that he calls a “dangerous violation” of free speech.

    AUSTRALIA BEGINS ENFORCING SOCIAL MEDIA LAW BANNING CHILDREN UNDER 16 FROM MAJOR PLATFORMS

    A judgment on their constitutional challenge is expected in March or April 2026.

    australia's prime minister speaking on social media ban

    Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during an official function to mark the start of Australia’s social media reform at Kirrilbilli House in Sydney on Dec. 10, 2025.  (DAVID GRAY / AFP via Getty Images)

    Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the ban is about shielding children from the harmful effects of social media.

    Albanese said Wednesday that the nation is taking a leading role in challenging major tech platforms and demanding accountability for how social media impacts children’s well-being.

    “It’s a profound reform which will continue to reverberate around the world in coming months, to assist not just this generation, but generations to come,” Albanese said.

    The politician counters Albanese’s argument, saying the ban will create the “worst of both worlds,” with children turning to dangerous underground media platforms while parents let their guard down, assuming the ban is protecting them.

    AFTER AUSTRALIA PASSES SOCIAL MEDIA BAN, LAWMAKERS PROBED ON WHY CONGRESS HASN’T DONE MORE TO PROTECT KIDS

    us capitol building

    US lawmakers are being probed on whether a social media ban could come to America. (J. David Ake/Getty Images)

    Back in the U.S., lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are signaling an interest in tougher social media restrictions for young people following the Aussies’ one-of-a-kind ban.

    “I think we ought to look at what Australia’s doing, for example, requiring access to these social media platforms to not be available to anybody under the age of 16,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said.

    “I think protecting children is an avenue that should be pursued,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said. “I won’t rule out some sort of limitation in sales or distribution or use of those devices… Parents and grandparents need a helping hand; this is getting out of hand.”

    australia social media teen ban

    Social media giants like Meta could face multi-million-dollar fines if they fail to ban underage Australian users. (Anna Barclay/Getty Images)

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

    Ruddick warned that Australia’s ban is making “very prominent people” interested in a dangerous strategy of censorship.

    “I was assuming that the U.S. First Amendment was going to protect you from this,” the politician told Fox News Digital. “But this is why I think we’re a guinea pig. We’re having very prominent people all around the world coming out and supporting this ban.”

    “They’re going to try and say it’s a success, and then they’re going to say, ‘Oh, the rest of the world needs to do this.’ This is not about protecting kids. This is about internet censorship, which all governments crave,” he added.

    Nora Moriarty is a Production Assistant at FOX News.

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  • Pro-life leader praises Vatican’s ‘inspiring’ anti-abortion Nativity scene: ‘It’s really beautiful’

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    FIRST ON FOX: The leader of an international pro-life organization lauded the Nativity scene set up by the Vatican that highlighted the more than 25,000 babies who were not aborted this year thanks to the group’s outreach initiatives.

    In an interview with Fox News Digital, 40 Days for Life CEO and founder Shawn Carney said the Vatican reached out to his organization about creating a Nativity scene representing the babies he says were saved by the group’s pro-life activism, which includes prayer and vigils outside abortion clinics.

    “It’s really beautiful,” Carney said.

    “The artist made the straw in the manger where Baby Jesus is and Mary, and Joseph,” he continued. “The straw is made up of 25,000 ribbons. Each ribbon represents a baby boy or baby girl that was saved from abortion during a 40 Days for Life campaign.”

    POPE LEO XIV CONDEMNS ‘ANTI-SEMITIC VIOLENCE’ AFTER MASSACRE IN SYDNEY: ‘WE MUST ELIMINATE HATRED’

    A nativity scene donated by Costa Rica, in which the Madonna is represented pregnant, in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican. (Getty Images)

    Crafted by Costa Rican artist Paula Sáenz Soto and donated by the Central American country, it features a pregnant Virgin Mary, Joseph and  thousands of colored ribbons dedicated to the babies who were not aborted.

    Pope Leo XIV said at a recent audience with the donors of the Vatican’s Christmas decorations that a sign of life was reflected in the Nativity scene in the Vatican’s audience hall, which he described as a sign of “faith and hope.”

    Each of the ribbons that decorate the scene “represent a life saved from abortion thanks to the prayer and support provided by Catholic organizations to many mothers in need,” said the pontiff, who personally blessed the display.

    Leo also thanked the artist for the message affirming that “life is protected from conception.”

    Carney said the Nativity was “inspiring” and “beautiful news,” particularly amid a series of recent bad news in the U.S. and around the world.

    “It’s so inspiring, and frankly, we’ve had a lot of bad news lately in America and around the world, and this display represents good news,” he told Fox News Digital.

    Pope Leo blesses a pro-life Nativity

    Pope Leo XIV prays in front of Nacimiento Gaudium, a nativity scene in which the Madonna is represented pregnant, at the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican. (40 Days for Life)

    “It represents babies that have been saved from abortion, and the artist who is a participant in 40 Days for Life who is from Costa Rica, did a wonderful job. She did a fantastic job making this beautiful display that really shows the dedication of so many pro-life volunteers around the world who take time out in the hopes of saving a baby. And now those saved babies are represented in the most important place in the world, which is the Nativity, which is what we pin our hope to, that Jesus came through the womb, that he came through a family to save us from our sins,” he continued.

    “So it’s beautiful news, it’s good news, and I think it’s news that’s being well received as we’ve had so much bad news the last few weeks,” Carney added.

    Carney went on to explain that the Nativity is “at the heart of Catholicism and all Christians, and certainly at the heart of the pro-life movement.”

    “This is why we do what we do,” he said. “Our Lord could have popped out of an acorn and saved us from our sins. He didn’t do that. God chose a family, a holy family, a 14-year-old virgin, to bring his son into the world through the womb, which is statistically now the most dangerous place in the world. He chose the womb, he chose a family, and the family is under attack. So this is a beautiful nativity display, but I think it speaks to the heart of every Christian that looks for hope in the world, that looks for hope for us to overcome our own sins, and certainly hope that we can end the tragedy and the barbaric nature of abortion in our world. America is leading the way through that.” “We just had a historic year for the pro-life movement in 2025, and I think 2026 is going to be even better,” he added. “This display certainly inspires so much hope and confidence that if we pray, if we fast, if we’re faithful and we get to work, we can end abortion anywhere.”

    Carney also stressed that the Nativity of a pregnant Mary with an unborn Jesus “speaks to the scientific reality of the unborn child and the Biblical reality that Our Lord came through the womb.”

    PRO-LIFE PREGNANCY CENTERS SEE CLIENT INCREASE AFTER SUPREME COURT DECISION: STUDY

    Ribbons representing lives saved from abortion

    Ribbons representing lives saved from abortion according to Catholic organizations are seen on Nacimiento Gaudium, a Nativity scene set in the Paul VI Hall during an audience led by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. (AP)

    “The Nativity is one of the most depicted scenes in the history of the world, and it represents that great meeting between Heaven and earth, Christ coming into the world through a child nine months after the Annunciation,” he said. “So it’s absolutely beautiful. It puts emphasis on how we treat our unborn children with 72 million abortions around the world every year. It is by far the greatest moral crisis of our time, and we have to respond to that. We have to respond with great hope, and you don’t find a greater hope than Jesus coming into the world and being with us on Christmas Day.”

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    The pro-life leader also stated that the pope “is going to be a stronger voice than most people think” on the issue of abortion.

    “I think he’s righting the ship,” Carney said. “I think he’s speaking with a little bit more clarity than what we saw from Pope Francis. Pope Leo has been very supportive of the pro-life movement. He’s certainly been very supportive of 40 Days for Life with this beautiful Nativity at the Vatican, so I’m very encouraged.”

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  • Pilgrims flock to celebrate Virgin of Guadalupe — the ‘mother of Mexico’

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    MEXICO CITY — Edivaldo Hernández Villar crawled on his knees toward the Basilica of Guadalupe, wincing and whispering prayers.

    It was the final stretch of a punishing four-day pilgrimage to Mexico’s most venerated shrine, where Catholics believe the Virgin Mary miraculously appeared nearly 500 years ago.

    Hernández, his wife and their teen son had trekked 100 miles from their rural village to the nation’s capital, walking with heavy backpacks all day and sleeping under the stars at night. As with an estimated 10 million other Mexicans who will make their way to the basilica this month, their journey had been an act of faith, of penitence, and of thanks.

    “You endure cold, you endure hunger, you cross mountains,” said Hernández, a 34-year-old farmer. “All for her.”

    There is no figure more central to Mexican religious, cultural and national identity than the Virgin of Guadalupe.

    Her serene gaze is ubiquitous, adorning T-shirts, trucks and the walls of most homes. People name their children after her and tattoo their skin with her likeness: a queenly woman surrounded by sunbeams, her head bowed in prayer.

    Ada Carrillo, one of the devout who crowded the basilica this week, said she unites all of Mexico, transcending political, geographic and class divides. Even President Claudia Sheinbaum, who is Jewish, has worn clothes emblazoned with the image of Guadalupe.

    The Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City fills with pilgrims during the week of her feast day, which was celebrated Friday.

    A few days before the Virgin’s feast day on Friday, Carrillo looked around the vast plaza outside the grand church, where Indigenous dancers from southern states mingled with cowboys from the north and cosmopolitan types from Mexico City. Competing bands played booming, brass-heavy songs. Teenagers and street dogs dozed in the sun. A priest gave nonstop blessings, flinging holy water from a pink plastic bucket.

    “Here there are no colors, no classes,” Carrillo said. “Just faith.”

    It was in the winter of 1531, a few years after the Spanish conquest, when the virgin was said to have miraculously appeared at the base of Tepeyac Hill, a site where the Aztecs had worshiped the goddess Tonantzin. An Indigenous man named Juan Diego said she spoke to him in his native Nahuatl, and asked him to build a church in her honor.

    A skeptical Catholic bishop disregarded Juan Diego’s story at first. To help Juan Diego, who was later named a saint, prove his story, the Virgin is said to have imprinted her image on his cloak. That was on Dec. 12, a date celebrated by Mexicans ever since.

    People sing in front of an altar to the Virgin of Guadalupe, while pilgrims stop to speak to her and ask for favors

    People sing in front of an altar to the Virgin of Guadalupe, while pilgrims stop to speak to her and ask for favors. .

    1

    A man holds the cross he wears alongside a pendant of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

    2

    Alison Juarez, 14, an from Santiago Tepepa, Hidalgo, poses in her traditional attire

    1. A man holds the cross he wears alongside a pendant of the Virgin of Guadalupe. 2. Alison Juárez, 14, from Santiago Tepepa in Hidalgo state, wore traditional attire to perform with a group in a procession at the Basilica of Guadalupe.

    Now, millions come to the basilica, where the cloak is displayed, each December, with most arriving in the days leading up to Dec. 12. At midnight on that day, devotees famously sing Las Mañanitas, the traditional birthday song, for the Virgin, and set off fireworks.

    Pilgrims come from across Mexico, arriving on foot, motorcycle, bicycle, bus and even wheelchair. Many, like Hernández, knee-walk across the stones of the vast plaza to the basilica’s doors.

    The working class La Villa neighborhood of Mexico City where the basilica is located fills with trucks festooned with with wreaths and Christmas lights and hordes of pilgrims camping in the streets.

    People come bearing roses to ask for help — with matters of health, of heart, of business. They come to pray for peace for relatives who have passed.

    Others come to express gratitude for miracles that they credit to the Virgin.

    Carrillo, 46, had been told by doctors years ago that she was infertile. She had traveled to the basilica from her home in Tabasco state to beg Guadalupe to bestow on her at least one child.

    This week, Carrillo walked the steps to the basilica with her daughter, Ximena, a busy high school school student who just celebrated her 15th birthday.

    As Carrillo lighted a candle for Guadalupe, tears welled. She pulled her daughter close and murmured a small prayer. “Thank you for the blessing,” she said.

    Each December about 10 million people will visit the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

    Each December about 10 million people will visit the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

    The basilica is one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the world, and on this afternoon drew tour groups from Vietnam, China and the United States. Inside the cavernous church, priests celebrated Mass hourly, and an electronic walkway kept visitors from lingering in front of Juan Diego’s famous cape.

    Religious scholars say the tradition of Guadalupe, which mixes Indigenous beliefs with Christian ones, helped solidify Catholicism’s dominance in Mexico. It has also helped prevent the encroachment of evangelical Christianity seen in many other parts of Latin America, with few here willing to give up their devotion to the “Virgencita,” as Guadalupe is widely known.

    Significantly, Mexico’s Virgin has brown skin, a detail not lost on the Indigenous population, today or centuries ago. Today some Mexicans refer to her as Guadalupe Tonantzin.

    Theresa Sanchez, 66, a retiree from Mexico City who arrived with the help of a cane, said she sees Guadalupe as a connection to Mexico’s Indigenous past and views her pilgrimage to the basilica as a way to “thank Mother Earth for all that she had given us.”

    She views the cult of Guadalupe as both an effort by the Spanish to promote the adoption of Catholicism in the New World and an opportunity for native Mexicans to who “couldn’t maintain their beliefs in an open way” to preserve traditions.

    Pilgrims pass by a blessing station, where a priest sprinkles believers with holy water, at the Basilica of Guadalupe.

    Pilgrims pass by a blessing station where they are sprayed with holy water inside the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

    Many pilgrims arrived at the basilica with artifacts of devotion — mostly statues of Guadalupe from their local churches. Safely bringing the blessed objects home was an important part of the journey. Many pilgrims take turns running hundreds of miles back to their pueblos, carrying a torch lighted at the foot of Tepeyac.

    Antonio and Jesús Zamora, brothers from Michoacán state, were preparing to run 260 miles back to their hometown. Antonio, 70, had recently been declared free of prostate cancer, and said that with every step he would be thanking Guadalupe for his quick recovery. She was, he said, the “mother of Mexico.”

    Zamora and his younger brother have lived for decades in Missouri, where Zamora worked until retiring from the hotel business. During all that time, he said he returned to Mexico every December to visit the shrine.

    Guadalupe Ascencion crawls to the top of Hill of Tepeyac accompanied by his family and others

    Guadalupe Ascencion from Huamantla, Tlaxcala, crawls to the top of Tepeyac Hill accompanied by his wife, Jacqueline Maximo, and their children, Astrid, Hannytzi and Angel, on Thursday. His family says he does this every year to thank the Virgin for the favors he asks of her.

    He has asked Guadalupe for good health, for a strong family and for an end to the cartel violence plaguing his home state.

    “I pray for peace,” he said. “For Michoacán. For Mexico. For the United States. For the world.”

    This year, he said, he also thought about the immigrants in America who weren’t able to visit the basilica because they lack documents allowing them to travel between Mexico and the U.S.

    The immigrant community, he said, had been battered like never before in recent months. He also asked Guadalupe to help them.

    “I prayed for my people,” Zamora said. “And I prayed for Donald Trump, too.”

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  • World launches its ‘super app,’ including crypto pay and encrypted chat features | TechCrunch

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    World, the biometric ID verification project co-founded by Sam Altman, released the newest version of its app today, debuting several new features, including an encrypted chat integration and an expanded, Venmo-like capability for sending and requesting crypto. 

    World was created by the startup Tools for Humanity in 2019, and originally launched its app in 2023. The company says that, in a world roiled by AI-generated digital fakery, it hopes to create digital “proof of human” tools that can help separate the humans from the bots.

    During a small gathering at World’s headquarters in San Francisco on Thursday, Altman and World’s co-founder and CEO, Alex Blania, briefly introduced the new version of the app (which developers have termed a “super app”) before the product team took over to explain the new features. During his remarks, Altman said that the concept for World grew out of conversations he and Blania had had about the need to create a new kind of economic model. That model, based around web3 principles, is what World has been trying to accomplish through its verification network. “It’s really hard to both identify unique people and do that in a privacy-preserving way,” said Altman.

    World Chat, the app’s new messenger, seems designed to do just that. It uses end-to-end encryption to keep users’ conversations safe (this encryption is described as being equivalent to Signal, the privacy-focused messenger), and also leverages color-coded speech bubbles to alert users to whether the person they’re talking to has been verified by World’s system or not, the company said. The idea is to incentivize verification, giving people the power to know whether the person they’re talking to is who they say they are. Chat was originally launched in beta in March.

    The other big feature reveal on Thursday was an expanded digital payment system that allows app users to send and receive cryptocurrency. World app has functioned as a digital wallet for some time, but the newest version of the app includes broader capabilities. Using virtual bank accounts, users can also receive paychecks directly into World App and make deposits from their bank accounts, both of which can then be converted into crypto. You don’t have be verified by World’s authentication system to use these features.

    Tiago Sada, World’s chief product officer, told TechCrunch that part of the reason chat was added was to create a more interactive experience for users. “What we kept hearing from people is that they wanted a more social World app,” Sada said. World Chat is designed to fill that need, creating what Sada says is a secure way to communicate. “It took a lot of work to make this feature-rich messenger that is similar to a WhatsApp or a Telegram, but with encryption and security of something that is a lot closer to Signal,” Sada said.

    World (which was originally called Worldcoin) deploys a unique authentication process: interested humans get their eyes scanned at one of the company’s offices, where the Orb—a large verification device—converts the person’s iris into a unique and encrypted digital code. That code, the verified World ID, can then be used by the person to interact with World’s ecosystem of services, which are available through its app.

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    The addition of more social-friendly features is clearly meant to drive broader adoption of the app, which makes sense since scaling verification is the company’s main challenge. Altman has said that he would like the project to scan a billion people’s eyes, but Tools for Humanity claims to have scanned less than 20 million people.  

    Since standing in long lines at a corporate office to have your eyeballs scanned by a giant metallic ball may seem slightly less than enticing to some users, the company has already sought to make its verification process less cumbersome. In April, Tools for Humanity announced its Orb Minis—hand-held, phone-like devices—that allow users to scan their own eyes from the comfort of their homes. Blania previously told TechCrunch that, eventually, the company would like to turn the Orb Minis into a mobile point-of-sale device or sell its ID sensor tech to device manufacturers. If the company takes such steps, it would drop the barrier to verification significantly, potentially inspiring much more widespread adoption.

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  • Trump says US will begin stopping Venezuelan drug traffickers by land: ‘Going to start very soon’

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    President Trump on Thursday said the U.S. will “very soon” begin stopping suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers “by land.”

    Speaking to U.S. service members on Thanksgiving, Trump praised the U.S. Air Force’s 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas, and their efforts to deter Venezuelan drug networks.

    “In recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers, of which there are many,” Trump said. “Of course, there aren’t too many coming in by sea anymore. Have you probably noticed that?”

    The president noted that drug traffickers are killing “hundreds of thousands of people a year” in the U.S. from the “poisons” that they bring in. 

    US TROOPS IN VENEZUELA? TRUMP HINTS MAJOR MOVES POSSIBLE AS TENSIONS SOAR

    President Donald Trump participates in a video call with military service members from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on Nov. 27, 2025, during the Thanksgiving holiday. (Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images)

    “From sending their poisons into the United States, where they kill hundreds of thousands of people a year — but we’re going to take care of that situation,” Trump said. “We’re already doing a lot… It’s about 85% stopped by sea.”

    The president added, “You probably noticed that now people aren’t wanting to be delivering by sea, and we’ll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon.”

    “We warn them, ‘stop sending poison to our country’,” Trump said.

    US MILITARY KILLS 2 SUSPECTED NARCO-TERRORISTS IN 16TH EASTERN PACIFIC STRIKE, HEGSETH SAYS

    Narco boat strike.

    U.S. Southern Command released footage showing a precision strike by U.S. forces on a narcotics vessel operated by a designated terrorist organization in the Eastern Pacific on Nov. 15. (US Southern Command)

    Earlier this month, Trump said he was not ruling out sending U.S. ground troops into Venezuela amid his administration’s crackdown on criminal networks tied to the country’s top leadership and drugs that are exported from it. 

    “No, I don’t rule out that, I don’t rule out anything,” Trump said Nov. 17 when asked if he had ruled out sending U.S. troops to Venezuela. 

    US CARRIES OUT MORE ‘LETHAL’ STRIKES ON ALLEGED DRUG BOATS IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS, SECRETARY HEGSETH SAYS

    U.S. drone strike against narco-terrorists.

    A U.S. military drone strike ordered by President Trump destroyed a vessel in the Eastern Pacific on Oct. 22, 2025, killing three suspected narco-terrorists, according to the Department of War. (Department of War)

    Since early September, strikes across the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean have destroyed dozens of vessels, many tied to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang and Colombia’s Ejército de Liberación Nacional. 

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    The administration has since carried out at least 21 fatal strikes on the boats.

    The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

    Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Emma Colton contributed to this report.

    Sophia Compton is a Writer at Fox News Digital. Sophia was previously a business reporter covering finance, energy and tourism and has experience as a TV news producer. She graduated with a journalism degree in 2021 from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

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  • Middle East officials look toward second phase of Israel-Hamas ceasefire with two hostages left in Gaza

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    Turkish, Qatari and Egyptian officials met Wednesday in Cairo to discuss the second phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

    The meeting is said to have included Turkey and Egypt’s intelligence chiefs, as well as Qatar’s prime minister, according to reports.

    “During the meeting, [they] also agreed to continue strengthening coordination and cooperation with the Civil Military Coordination Center to eliminate all obstacles to ensure the continuity of the ceasefire and to prevent further violations,” a Turkish source told Reuters, adding that they also discussed countering Israeli ceasefire violations.

    US-BACKED AID GROUP ENDS GAZA MISSION AFTER DEFYING HAMAS THREATS, UN CRITICISM

    Red Cross personnel wait to head towards an area within the so-called “yellow line” to which Israeli troops withdrew under the ceasefire in Gaza City on Nov. 12, 2025. (Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)

    Despite Hamas and Israel accusing each other of violating the U.S.-brokered agreement, mediators are still looking to move to the next stage.

    The second phase of the deal involves the deployment of an international stabilization force and the development of an international body to govern Gaza. It also includes the disarmament of Hamas. Additionally, Israel will move further from the so-called “yellow line” ahead of the international force taking over, according to The Times of Israel.

    Israeli soldier looks into Gaza

    An Israeli soldier looks out at destroyed buildings, as seen from a guard position at an Israeli military outpost within the borders of the “yellow line” in the Shujaiya neighborhood in the eastern part of Gaza City in the Gaza Strip on Nov. 5, 2025.  (Nir Elias/Reuters)

    IDF ANNOUNCES TRANSFER OF DECEASED ISRAELI HOSTAGE REMAINS THROUGH RED CROSS

    On Tuesday, Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians in exchange for the remains of Israeli hostage Dror Or. Israel has said that Or and his wife, Yonat Or, were killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Kibbutz Be’eri. 

    The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement that as their house caught on fire, Dror and Yonat evacuated their children through a window in the safe room, saving their lives. The couple split up in an attempt to escape, but they were both murdered by the terrorists. Two of their children, Noam and Alma, were taken hostage.

    On Nov. 25, 2023, Noam and Alma were released in the first hostage exchange, exactly two years before their father’s remains would be returned to Israel.

    Israeli hostage Dror Or

    This undated photo provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum shows Israeli hostage Dror Or, who was abducted and brought to Gaza in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum via AP)

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    The remains of two hostages — one Israeli, Ran Gvili, and one Thai national, Sudthisak Rinthalak — are still in Gaza. 

    Hamas has committed to upholding its end of the deal and returning both, but did not give a timeline on when that may happen, according to The Associated Press.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

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