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Iran’s foreign minister will visit Pakistan next week, the two countries said Monday, following unprecedented attacks on either side of the border last week that appeared to target Baluch militant groups with similar separatist goals.

PAKISTANI FORCES KILL 7 MILITANTS NEAR AFGHAN BORDER

The countries accuse each other of providing a haven to the groups in their respective territories.

Pakistan’s military and political leadership last Friday moved to de-escalate tensions with Iran. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said that Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian spoke to Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani to defuse the flare-up.

Pakistan said in a statement that Amirabdollahian would visit the country on Jan. 29. The statement also said that the two foreign ministers agreed that the ambassadors from both countries could return to their posts by Jan. 26.

Pakistan recalled its ambassador amid the brief crisis and stopped Iran’s envoy from returning to his post.

At least nine people have died in a mountainous region of China on Monday following a landslide that buried 47 people in more than a dozen homes, reports say. 

Video and images are now emerging of first responders combing through debris in the village of Liangshui in southwestern China in hopes of finding survivors. 

The rescue operation is being hindered by snow, icy roads and freezing temperatures that are forecast to persist for at least the next three days, according to The Associated Press. 

The disaster struck just before 6 a.m. By that evening, state broadcaster CCTV put the death toll at nine. About 500 people were evacuated from the area, while the Zhenxiong county publicity department says victims are buried in about 18 homes.

DEADLY FIRE AT CHINA DORMITORY KILLS 13 STUDENTS 

Luo Dongmei told the AP that she was sleeping when the landslide struck, but she survived and was relocated to a school building by local authorities. 

"I was asleep, but my brother knocked on the door and woke me up. They said there was a landslide and the bed was shaking, so they rushed upstairs and woke us up," the 35-year-old said. 

Luo added that she had been unable to contact her sister and aunt, who lived closer to the site of the landslide.

"The only thing I can do is to wait," she said. 

PHILIPPINES LANDSLIDE KILLS 10, INCLUDING 5 CHILDREN 

So far, two people have been pulled out from the rubble. 

Chinese state television broadcast video of first responders carrying away an individual on a stretcher. 

Other footage showed excavators digging through debris. 

The landslide happened a month after an earthquake in northwestern China left more than 100 people dead. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A truck driving at high speed ran out of control and plunged into a ravine in southwestern Congo, killing 18 passengers on board and injuring more than a dozen others, police said.

The truck was "filled with goods and carrying many passengers" on a major highway in the remote Kasangulu territory in Kongo Central district on Sunday when it fell into the ravine, according to Kasangulu police commander Benjamin Banza.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS IN URGENT NEED OF ASSISTANCE AS SEVERE FLOODING HITS CONGO

"The bodies recovered from the ravine were transported to the morgue of the Kasangulu General Hospital, while the injured, including six serious and 15 minor ones, are being treated at the hospital," Banza said late Sunday.

The truck was severely damaged and was yet to be recovered from the ravine, Banza said, adding that speeding is suspected as the cause of the accident.

Speeding is a common cause of crashes along major roads in Congo, where traffic rules are often not adhered to.

Sunday's accident raised fresh concerns about road safety in the Kongo Central region, which regularly records such tragedies. Local authorities have promised to educate drivers and enforce traffic rules in response.

Pakistan security forces killed seven militants in a shootout in the country's volatile southwest near the border with Afghanistan, the military said Monday.

PAKISTAN SEEKS TO DE-ESCALATE CRISIS WITH IRAN AFTER DEADLY AIRSTRIKES THAT SPIKED TENSIONS

The military said the intelligence-based operation was conducted in Zhob district in southwestern Baluchistan province. In a brief statement, it said security forces also recovered munitions after the shootout.

Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, where Baloch nationalists, Islamic militants and the Islamic State group have claimed responsibility for attacks on security forces in recent years.

Gas-rich Baluchistan province at the border with Afghanistan and Iran has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baluch nationalists for more than two decades. They initially wanted a share of provincial resources, but later demanded independence.

After a campaign by environmentalists, Benito the giraffe left Mexico's northern border and its extreme weather conditions Sunday night and headed for a conservation park in central Mexico, where the climate is more akin to his natural habitat and already a home to other giraffes.

Environmental groups had voiced strong complaints about conditions faced by Benito at the city-run Central Park zoo in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, where weather in the summer is brutally hot and temperatures plunge during the winter.

A crane carefully lifted a container holding the giraffe onto a truck while city dwellers in love with the animal said a bittersweet goodbye. Some activists shouted, "We love you, Benito."

RARE SPOTLESS GIRAFFE BORN AT TENNESSEE ZOO BELIEVED TO BE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD

"We’re a little sad that he’s leaving. but it also gives us great pleasure ... The weather conditions are not suitable for him," said Flor Ortega, a 23-year-old who said she had spent her entire life visiting Modesto the giraffe, which was at the zoo for two decades before dying in 2022, and then Benito, which arrived last May.

The transfer could not have come at a better time, just when a new cold front was about to hit the area.

Benito was heading on a journey of 1,200 miles and about 50 hours on the road to his new home, the African Safari park in the state of Puebla. Visitors travel through the park in all-terrain vehicles to observe animals as if they were on safari.

The container, more than 16.5 feet, was specially designed for Benito, and the giraffe was allowed to become familiar with it during the weekend, said Frank Carlos Camacho, the director of the park.

DALLAS ZOO EUTHANIZED 15-YEAR-OLD GIRAFFE OVER INJURIES FROM 'UNEXPECTED FALL'

The animal's head sticks up through the top of the big wooden and metal box, but a frame allows a tarp to cover over Benito and insulate him from the cold, wind and rain as well as from noise and the sight of landscape speeding by.

"The giraffe has huge, huge eyes and gains height to be able to look for predators in the savannah and we have to inhibit that so that it does not have any source of stress," Camacho said in a video posted on social media.

Inside the container is straw, alfalfa, water and vegetables, and electronic equipment will monitor the temperature and allow technicians to even talk to the animal.

GIRAFFE SMASHES TEXAS FAMILY’S CAR WINDSHIELD AT WILDLIFE PARK: ‘GLASS SHOT EVERYWHERE’

Outside, Benito will be guarded by a convoy of vehicles with officers from the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection and the National Guard.

"He’s going to be calm, he’s going to travel super well. We’ve done this many times," Camacho said.

JERUSALEM — The Biden administration is lost in the Middle East and in Central Asia because of its misguided policy toward its enemies, ranging from Iran’s regime to the Taliban to Hezbollah, according to experts contacted by Fox News Digital.

The Islamic Republic of Iran launched drone and missile attacks into Iraq, Syria and Pakistan in less than 24 hours starting on Tuesday. The regime’s open warfare follows its military aid to Hamas ahead of the organization’s massacre of 1,200 people on Oct. 7 in southern Israel, including more than 30 Americans.

The heightened pro-war feeling was on display last Tuesday in the capital city of Tehran, where the clerical regime blanketed a building with a banner that warned its enemies in Hebrew and Farsi to "Prepare your coffins." Pro-Iran regime activists gathered in front of the banner to show fealty to the Islamic Republic. 

OUTRAGE AS IRAN PRESIDENT PREPARES TO ADDRESS UN: 'WANTS TO KILL AMERICAN CITIZENS' 

The Islamic Republic’s foreign policy has long been animated by the country’s late revolutionary anti-Western founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who famously declared, "All of Islam is politics." 

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Khomeini, has announced that "Death to America will happen. In the new order I am talking about, America will no longer have any important role."

The other pillar of Iran’s foreign policy is, according to Khamenei, "Death to Israel."

The rapid spread of Khomeini-style radical Islamism across the Middle East, including aiding the Lebanese-based terrorist movement Hezbollah, is just one window onto the courtyard of a deficient Biden foreign policy, according to experts.

Walid Phares, a Lebanese-American academic expert on the Mideast, told Fox News Digital "The Biden administration resumed the Obama Mideast policies entirely, but with further recklessness, yielding a domino effects worldwide and particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. The removal of the Houthis from U.S. terror lists in February 2021 signaled that Washington was making concessions to Iran at the expense of the Arab coalition and to the advantage of Iran. In August, the apocalyptic withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the transfer of power and weapons to the Taliban, broke the backbone of U.S. anti-Jihadist strategy. It also messaged the anti-American forces that the U.S. are hurdling towards a global retreat."

A U.S. State Department spokesperson countered by telling Fox News Digital in a statement that "Secretary Blinken and the Department have focused on promoting both stability and regional integration in the Middle East since the beginning of the administration and especially since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on October 7. The Secretary has made four trips to the region since October 7 – during which period, the United States has helped negotiate temporary humanitarian pauses in Gaza, secure the release of 110 hostages, and promote the delivery of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza."

IRAN MOVES TOWARD POSSIBLE ATOM BOMB TEST IN DEFIANCE OF WESTERN SANCTIONS: INTEL REPORT 

The spokesperson added, "Our most critical and enduring interest in Afghanistan is to ensure that it never again becomes a safe haven for those who wish to harm the United States or our allies."

"We closely watch the Taliban’s treatment of the people of Afghanistan. As we have said – in public and in private with Taliban representatives – their relationship with the international community depends entirely on their actions. Ultimately the United States wants to see Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbors, and able to stand on its own two feet," the State Department spokesperson stated.

According to Phares, who served as an adviser to President Trump, "The Biden administration made dangerous choices regarding U.S. traditional friends and allies, especially by pressuring Israel to delay any action against Iran’s aggressive behavior in the region, and also pressures on Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, regarding their containment of the Houthis in Yemen, leading to a lionization of the Ansarallah, hence encouraging them to hold the maritime line in the Red Sea hostage."

Ansarallah, which is generally known as the Houthis, was relisted as a terrorist organization by the U.S. on Wednesday. Biden, to the wonderment of many counter-terrorism experts, delisted the Houthi movement as a terrorist entity at the start of his term in 2021. "Allah is Greater. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse on the Jews. Victory to Islam" is the slogan of the Houthis.

One foreign policy expert presented a more mixed analysis of Biden’s role on the international stage. Fox News Digital asked Michael E. O'Hanlon, a senior fellow and director of research in foreign policy at the Washington D.C.-based Brookings Institution, about the White House’s foreign policy strategy and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

Sullivan penned an essay for Foreign Affairs just prior to Oct. 7 in which he boasted, "The war in Yemen is in its 19th month of truce, for now the Iranian attacks against U.S. forces have stopped, our presence in Iraq is stable, I emphasize for now because all of that can change and the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades."

O'Hanlon told Fox News Digital, "The Afghanistan withdrawal was a mistake. Jake’s article was mistaken. But I see no other major evidence of a lack of vigilance or resolve."

Jason Brodsky, the policy director of the U.S.-based United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital that he views the Biden administration's marriage to rekindling the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal, as the first flawed departure point of the White House.

Biden wishes to inject more than $100 billion into Iran’s coffers as part of a revived JCPOA deal, according to one think tank estimate, in exchange for Tehran pledging to impose temporary restrictions on its nuclear weapons program.

"I think the Biden administration’s Iran policy has repeatedly failed. The effort to revive the JCPOA collapsed, and then its informal de-escalatory understandings with Tehran to keep the Iran file off the president’s desk before the 2024 presidential election collapsed. This is because the administration’s strategy is premised on faulty and outdated assumptions about the Islamic Republic. It also does not understand the Iranian leadership’s psychology. Ignoring Iran and avoiding Iran does not work," he said.

Brodsky added, "The Biden administration’s public messaging has also been extremely weak. The constant pleas that the U.S. does not seek conflict with Iran makes an impression in Tehran: That the American government is more fearful of the Islamic Republic than the Islamic Republic is of the American government. That only emboldens the supreme leader to escalate. President Biden is seen as a predictable and non-threatening adversary for the supreme leader. That’s a dangerous perception. If the U.S. government wants to deter Iran, it can’t focus solely on its expendable proxies. It has to strike strategic targets that hold value for the Iranian leadership in order to restore deterrence and deescalate."

Phares concurred with Brodsky about the principal role that Iran’s regime plays in fomenting regional volatility. 

"The Iran regime is the central source of terror and destabilization in the region, followed by the metastasizing Islamist forces that are now taking advantage of the militant organized migrations in the Mediterranean and across the Rio Grande, both facilitated by radical lobbies, constitute today the global threat against Western democracies, in addition to the Ukraine War and Western divisions," said Phares.

Iran’s rapidly advancing program to weaponize a nuclear warhead remains foremost in the thinking of countries affected by Tehran’s desire to obliterate them.

American physicist and nuclear weapons expert David Albright warned on Jan. 8 that "Given short warning times and few prospects of a nuclear deal, the United States and its allies have little choice other than focusing on a strategy to deter Iran from deciding to build nuclear weapons in the first place."

Albright's report recommended that "Iran needs to be made fully aware via concrete demonstrations that building nuclear weapons will trigger quick, drastic actions by the international community, including military strikes. U.S. military cooperation with Israel aimed at destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities should be bolstered, ensuring Israel can decisively strike Iran’s nuclear sites on short notice if there are signs that Iran is moving to build nuclear weapons, including the ability of delivering a second strike if Iran reconstitutes those activities."

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When asked about the Iranian threat, a State Department spokesperson referred Fox News Digital to a comment made by spokesperson Matt Miller on Nov. 14: "When it comes to holding Iran accountable for its destabilizing activities, I would remind you that we have imposed more than 400 sanctions on Iran since the outset of this administration. In the past few weeks, we have taken a number of actions to ensure deterrence and … the Pentagon has conducted strikes against Iranian-backed militias. And we will continue to hold … Iran accountable for its destabilizing behavior in a number of manners."

A search for two U.S. Navy SEALs who went missing at sea off the coast of Somalia earlier this month has been called off, U.S. Central Command said Sunday. 

The SEALs had been on a mission chasing shipments of Iranian-made weapons bound for Houthi rebels in Yemen. A U.S. official previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that the SEALs were attempting to board a ship they suspected was falsely flagged that could be smuggling weapons. 

The two special forces operators were climbing on a ladder aboard a vessel while on a mission in the Gulf of Aden when high waves knocked one into the sea. The second SEAL jumped in after the first as part of Navy SEAL protocol to help a partner in distress and both vanished. 

"We regret to announce that after a 10-day exhaustive search, our two missing U.S. Navy SEALS have not been located and their status has been changed to deceased," U.S. CENTCOM said in a statement, adding that it is now conducting recovery operations. 

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Airborne and naval platforms from the U.S., Japan, and Spain continuously searched more than 21,000 square miles for the missing SEALs. 

Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command, University of San Diego – Scripts Institute of Oceanography, and the Office of Naval Research – Oceanographic support also assisted in the search, CENTCOM said. 

"We mourn the loss of our two Naval Special Warfare warriors, and we will forever honor their sacrifice and example," General Michaele Erik Kurilla said in a statement. "Our prayers are with the SEALs’ families, friends, the U.S. Navy, and the entire Special Operations community during this time." 

The names of the SEALs have not been released as family notifications continue.

The SEALs’ Jan. 11 raid marked the latest seizure by the U.S. Navy and its allies of weapon shipments bound for the rebels, who have launched a series of attacks now threatening global trade in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The seized missile components included types likely used in those attacks.

The U.S. Navy ultimately sunk the ship carrying the weapons after deeming it unsafe, Central Command said. The ship's 14 crew were detained.

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

There are many organizations in the world where business leaders and governments work closely together. But few are said to be as polarizing as the World Economic Forum and its founder, Klaus Schwab.

On the one hand, almost every January a few thousand leading business executives, politicians, journalists and others flock to the miniscule alpine village of Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, for WEF’s exclusive invitation-only annual meeting. TV, radio and print reporters fawn over the so-called good and the great. 

The likes of Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, were both there for the event that lasted from Jan. 15-19, and both were seen on TV. On the surface, things might seem benign. But scratch the surface, and you see something quite different.

"What is interesting when you look at how the WEF was started," says Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, a policy think tank in London, England. "It wasn’t random."

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In 1971, with the help of the European Commission (EC), a governmental body, Klaus Schwab, then a business professor at the University of Geneva, founded the European Management Forum and invited 450 business executives to a conference in Davos. The idea was to get European leaders to learn something about how American business works. 

"You had institutional backing," Mendoza says. "That then attracts business leaders and then politicians." He also thinks one of the most shocking achievements by Schwab the "scale of what he has achieved."

However, there are worries about the WEF’s future after Schwab, who is 86. So far he hasn’t named a successor and that in turn has the organization’s backers concerned about the future of WEF, according to a 2023 Politico report. 

The Politico report cites insiders as saying he’s like a monarch who will stay in the job until death. In a similar way, he also employs family members in high-ranking posts within the not-for-profit organization. The report also states that insiders wouldn’t talk on the record as they feared reprisals such as being banned from WEF events or even being fired just for talking.

Other insiders, both current and former employees, anonymously compare Schwab to Russia’s dictator, according to a Guardian newspaper report last year. "Klaus picks his leaders using the same criteria Putin uses to pick deputies for the state duma: loyalty, guile, sex appeal," the paper quotes one of the sources as saying. Another source in the report called Schwab’s top team "nobodies."

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By 1987, it had morphed into the WEF, and from then, seemingly nothing could stop it. And that’s where critics say the first problem with WEF arrives.

As the WEF has grown in popularity, they say it looks more and more like an exclusive networking club for the mega-rich and super-powerful. "It is nothing more than an official mechanism by which cronyism can flourish," says Ben Habib, co-deputy leader of British political party Reform UK. "The event legitimizes cronyism." 

Others who have attended Davos, as the annual event is known, see it as a competitive event where the guests play a game of high-stakes social climbing where the winners get cushy high-paid jobs at the top of massive multinational corporations. 

Facebook and Blackrock are examples of where former U.K. government ministers have taken on senior roles. Nick Clegg, former leader of Britain’s center left Lib-Dems, is now the president of global affairs at Meta. Similarly, for a while, George Osbourne, former chancellor of the exchequer (finance chief) for the U.K. government, took a role as a senior adviser to the giant U.S.-based fund management company Black Rock. 

Habib says it’s no wonder big business and top politicians are deeply in bed with each other. And it is viewed by many as a powerful yet unaccountable organization that doesn’t reflect the needs or wants of all society. Instead, it has an invitation-only policy to the annual event.

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM TO KICK OFF IN DAVOS, SWITZERLAND WITH GLOBAL ELITES LIKELY TO FACE FLAK FOR PRIVATE JETS

Indeed, WEF has the following statement on its website: "Our activities are shaped by a unique institutional culture founded on the stakeholder theory, which asserts that an organization is accountable to all parts of society." 

The WEF didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the seeming discrepancy between its statement about serving everyone and having an invite-only policy.

"The little guy is not represented anywhere in these major international forums," Mendoza says. The issue with WEF is its huge scale, he says. "If we have problems with [the little guy being silent], it is not a WEF problem, it's a broader capitalism issue."

Another issue that has irked its critics revolves around demands at past WEF events calling for a greener global economy and the idea of reducing the world's use of carbon-based energy. That contrasts with the 1,000 private jets that reportedly ferried in the big shots this year for the annual meeting, which ended Jan. 19. Those private jets emit 10 times more carbon than commercial jetliners and 50 times more than trains. 

ZELENSKYY MAKES URGENT CALL FOR SUPPORT AT WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM AT DAVOS

Mendoza notes that while a couple of decades ago the secretive Bilderberg Group had been the  focal point of conspiracy theorists, now WEF has become a lightning rod for similar ideas. Habib concurs, stating, "There are many people who think Schwab controls the world. I’m not one of them." But he doesn’t like the people who Schwab hangs out with. "He has embedded himself with the ‘great and good,’ but they ain’t so great and ain’t so good."

Observers say a turning point was in 2021 after the previous year’s COVID-19 pandemic. It was then that the idea of "the Great Reset" took off. "The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world to create a healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous future," Schwab said. And he spoke about wealth taxes. 

Instead of something new and better happening in the economy, something as old as the hills manifested; The richest people got even richer, and the poor got poorer. Earlier this month, Forbes magazine found that the top five wealthiest people in the world had collectively more than doubled their wealth. These include investing guru Warren Buffett and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Meanwhile, U.K.-based charity Oxfam says five billion people got poorer over the same period, primarily due to surging inflation and war.

The WEF didn’t respond immediately to Fox News Digital's request for comment on the huge global wealth shift.

Mendoza wonders why WEF doesn't fight back on its poor public image. "You have to ask, is there any sense that it continues with this negative image?" he says. "I am not sure it is a sensible place for anyone to want to be."

CIUDAD JUÁREZ – Mexican drug cartels are making millions in profits from the hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border and are now turning entire border towns into war zones. 

The money left by the migrants trying to get across the border wall from Mexico into the U.S. to criminal organizations that are charging to guide them across, extorting them or kidnapping them is creating a multimillion-dollar illegal business. Now the different criminal organizations operating across the border are fighting to death for a piece of the pie. 

From small towns like Sonoyta, across the border from Lukeville, Arizona, to entire cities like Ciudad Juárez, across the river from El Paso, Texas, different cartels are killing each other and challenging Mexican authorities to gain control of the smuggling routes.

In a video from Dec. 29 shared online from Sonoyta, Sonora in northern Mexico, an SUV with several armed men around it is set on fire during a violent gunfight between alleged members of a local criminal organization with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and the Mexican army, according to local news outlets. 

MEXICAN CARTEL BASES USED TO SPY ON ENEMIES, DISPATCH HITMEN

The gunfight lasted for several hours, according to Sonora state authorities. The gunmen used AK-47s and AR-15s to fight authorities. After the gunfight, only five of over a dozen henchmen were captured, according to authorities. 

Several videos from the same gunfight were shared online by locals where sicarios are seen firing their weapons at authorities barely managing to stay put. The main international bridge between Sonoyta and Lukeville remained closed for days after the incident, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authorities. 

"This last one (shooting) was probably the most publicized because the videos made it to mainstream news, but it is not the first one. This is all because of the amount of migrants arriving to this town," Joel Pérez, a local Sonoyta resident, told Fox News Digital. 

DEADLY CARTEL DRONE ATTACK STRIKES REMOTE MEXICAN VILLAGE

A few weeks back, on Dec. 4, the same bridge was closed for a full day by U.S. authorities regarding a large number of migrants arriving at the border and overwhelming U.S. border authorities' capacities. 

The Tucson sector, where Lukeville sits, is one of the busiest sectors on the southern border, recording over 300,000 migrant crossings in FY 2023 alone.

On Jan. 2 in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, 31 migrants were kidnapped by a convoy of cartel members while riding a bus heading toward the city of Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville. 

The group was stopped in the middle of the night on a highway by armed men who ordered them to get off the bus and board several pickup trucks. The migrants had to pay over $2,000 each to be released, according to Mexican news outlets that obtained proof of the ransom. The group was freed 24 hours later. 

MEXICAN CARTELS FORCE LOCALS TO COVER BOOTLEG WI-FI COSTS UNDER THREAT OF DEATH

A cartel member in Ciudad Juárez, across El Paso, Texas, who oversees human smuggling operations for a local criminal gang, said that over the past two years the illegal business around immigration has become "more profitable than ever before". 

"No one wants to work on anything else right now. Everyone wants to work with the migrants because you can make a lot of money from it these days and it is easy work," the cartel member told Fox News Digital, at the request of remaining anonymous.

"Right now it is more profitable to smuggle migrants than to traffic bricks of cocaine, and with less risk if you get caught," he said.

The attorney general in Chihuahua, César Jáuregui, where Ciudad Juárez is located, also said the city is "[experiencing] a spike in homicides" as a direct consequence of the number of migrants arriving to the city and the illegal business around them. 

"Criminals are finding a profitable business in migrants and abusing them to bleed more money from them, and this is increasing as more large numbers [of migrants] keep arriving in the city or transiting along the state," Jáuregui said. 

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Overall the U.S.-Mexico border had record-setting numbers during 2023 for migrant apprehensions, with more than 225,000 in the first 27 days of December, according to U.S. Border Patrol statistics. 

"It is cruel that we have to go to criminals to help us navigate through the border or get killed, we come running from very similar situations in our countries, only to find more of that here in Mexico," Alfonso Robles, a Venezuelan migrant in Ciudad Juárez told Fox News Digital.

Robles left Venezuela after a local gang began extorting his small business, threatening to kill him. He traveled from Venezuela to the U.S.-Mexico border along with his wife and his 7-year-old daughter. 

"As soon as we entered Mexico they started to extort us, or try to kidnap us. Right now we don’t know what else to do because the (U.S.) government is not allowing us to get into the United States and wait there, but here, it's only a question of time before a criminal group finds us and takes us," Robles said. 

The same cartel member in Ciudad Juárez confirmed that two gangs, one affiliated with the Juarez cartel and another with Sinaloa Cartel, are fighting for the human smuggling business, and that the turf war has extended to U.S. border cities. 

"This business is not only on this (Mexican) side of the border, it is also leaving millions in the U.S. to American smugglers, so they are also fighting for this business over there," the smuggler said. 

World and business leaders speaking at last week’s Davos World Economic Forum hit attendees with some hard truths about the global and political tumult they face, led by Argentina’s firebrand President Javier Milei claiming that "the Western world is in danger."

Milei said the West "is in danger because those who are supposed to have defended the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that inevitably leads to socialism and thereby to poverty."

"Unfortunately, in recent decades, motivated by some well-meaning individuals willing to help others, and others motivated by the wish to belong to a privileged caste, the main leaders of the Western world have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism," he continued. 

"We’re here to tell you that collectivist experiments are never the solution to the problems that afflict the citizens of the world, rather they are the root cause," Milei insisted. "Do believe me, no one [is] in a better place than us Argentines to testify to these two points." 

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"Do not be intimidated by parasites who live off the state, do not surrender to the political class that only wants to stay in power and retain its privileges," Milei concluded. "You are social benefactors, you are heroes, you are the creators of the most extraordinary period of prosperity we've ever seen."

The conference, held in Davos, Switzerland, from Jan. 15 to 19, included leaders from various industries and nations, celebrities and billionaires. Davos famously draws criticism for promoting a green agenda, as reports claimed up to 1,000 private jets carried conference goers to the meeting.

In addition to the annually highlighted hypocrisy of the attendees, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts spoke on the sidelines after his panel at the forum about his shock at receiving an invitation, but said he cherished the opportunity to give voice to "forgotten people." 

"There's a lot of these forgotten people, as I've come to learn over the last few years [who are] small business owners, people who scraped and saved," he said, adding that many aren't often inherently political. "They all believe the same thing, which is that the American Dream is slipping away from them."

"It's laughable that you or anyone would describe Davos as ‘protecting liberal democracy,'" Roberts added. "It's equally laughable to use the word ‘dictatorship’ at Davos and aim that at President Trump. In fact, I think that's absurd."

BIDEN ADMIN MISSING MARK AS IT REDESIGNATES IRAN-BACKED HOUTHIS TO TERROR LIST, CRITICS SAY

During his panel, Roberts stressed that "the very reason that I'm here at Davos, is to explain to many people in this room and who are watching, with all due respect, nothing personal, but that you're part of the problem."

"I'll be candid here, because I think I've been invited here to be candid: The kind of person who will come into the next conservative administration is going to be governed by one principle, and that is destroying the grasp that political elites and unelected technocrats have over the average person," he said. 

Former President Trump found some surprising support from unlikely sources, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who praised Trump’s handling of some issues, including the economy and China. 

"I think we should stop insulting the other side, including ‘MAGA,'" Dimon told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo in an interview that aired on "Mornings with Maria" ahead of the Davos conference. 

BIDEN'S IRAN NUCLEAR CONTAINMENT POLICY FAILING AS UN WARNS REGIME HAS ENOUGH MATERIAL FOR ‘SEVERAL’ WARHEADS

"I've mentioned publicly many times that a lot of people have voted for President Trump, not because they believe in his family values, but they look at some of the things he did," Dimon continued. "He grew the economy. He was right about NATO, they spend more money. He was right… about China. He was right that… some regulations do not cause positive output."

"So, that's why they're voting for him, and I think the Democrats should be a little more thoughtful when they talk about ‘MAGA,'" he added. "I don’t like how he said things about Mexico […] but he wasn’t wrong about some of these critical issues, and that’s why they’re voting for him."

Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman argued that the Biden administration’s approach to a range of issues, including the border and economy, has proven too much for the U.S. and he doubts it can handle a second Biden term. 

"We’ve now got $2 trillion deficits with no end in sight, we’ve got our debt to GDP going up, we’ve got open borders with 8 million people coming over," Schwarzman said during an interview with Bloomberg. "I don’t know that the country, frankly, is prepared for four more years of that, because those things all poll very negatively, so I can’t really project what would happen." 

He also lamented the significant drop in commercial real estate value – of which Blackstone stands as the largest holder – and that "no one wants to buy," which in turn is creating a lot of "interesting" investments. He would not be drawn on speculation about the U.S. election more broadly, saying only that he wants to see "how the game plays." 

Greece's conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned that "one needs to be very careful in this environment where everyone is pointing the finger at populists, not to alienate the people who actually vote for them, because some of these grievances are actually very real. People feel that they are left behind by globalization. The fact that wages have not really increased, inflation is really hitting lower-income households – these are real grievances."

Open Society Foundations Chairman Alex Soros, son of the controversial Democrat mega-donor George Soros, surprised some with his comments that "the Davos consensus is always wrong." Soros was discussing whether Donald Trump would once again be president. 

Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays, Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and FOX Business’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report. 

The Biden administration’s policy of trying to play friendly with China has yielded few material gains, and the U.S. has failed to capitalize upon what little concessions it has gotten, experts told Fox News Digital.

"The one thing that we've got is time," Gordon Chang, Gatestone Institute senior fellow and China expert, explained. "The United States is not ready to defend itself and its allies and partners, and by appeasing China we have bought a little bit of time.

"Biden has bought time, and the Pentagon has done nothing. It hasn’t done as much as it’s needed to do, so we have wasted time. … Apart from that, I don’t think we’ve gotten very much.

"Clearly, the United States is no longer deterring China as we once did, so this is the time to change a policy that has worked but is no longer sufficient in today’s setting."

BIDEN ADMIN FAILING TO TRACK CHINESE OWNERSHIP OF US FARMLAND: GOVT WATCHDOG

President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2022 held their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took office while attending the G-20 summit in Indonesia. Last year, Xi visited the U.S. for the first time since 2018 and met with Biden in San Francisco on the sidelines of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference. 

Xi and Biden agreed to military-to-military communications and aggressively tackle the manufacture and distribution of fentanyl, which largely originates in China and Mexico. Nearly all "precursor chemicals" needed to produce fentanyl originate in China, according to The Associated Press.

Last week, Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos about the administration's progress with China.

"The United States is competing with China across multiple dimensions, and we make no bones about that. But we are not looking for confrontation or conflict. And we are seeking to manage that competition responsibly, intensifying diplomacy to reduce the risk of miscalculation," Sullivan said.

Sullivan also highlighted the recent meeting between the two leaders and noted the resumption of military-to-military communications, claiming the move was "good for our relationship but also for regional and global stability. It will help reduce the risk of unintended conflict."

Yet critics like Chang harbor major criticism of the Biden administration for not taking action in response to the many deaths from COVID-19 and fentanyl, both originating in China. Over 1.1 million Americans died from the pandemic, according to numbers published in April 2023, and over 73,000 Americans died from fentanyl overdoses in the U.S. in 2022.

TAIWAN ELECTION: RULING PARTY CANDIDATE WINS TIGHTLY CONTESTED PRESIDENTIAL RACE, UPSETTING CHINA'S AMBITIONS

"To me, it's incomprehensible that we would allow this, but we have allowed the killing of Americans in great numbers," Chang said. 

Critics and analysts had also expected stronger action from Biden following a tumultuous year for China-U.S. relations. The U.S. caught China sending spy crafts into sovereign American airspace, and China increased its incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ). 

The Biden administration instead has spent time ramping up military drills with regional allies and strengthening ties with partners like Australia, Singapore, South Korea and Japan. 

Japan this week agreed to buy 400 U.S.-made long-range Tomahawk missiles, just one day after holding a massive naval drill with both the U.S. and South Korea in a show of force against North Korea. But China will have paid attention to such a demonstration. 

CHINA CONDEMNS PHILIPPINES AFTER PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES TAIWAN ELECTION WINNER

Matt McInnis, senior fellow for the Institute for the Study of War’s China program, told Fox News Digital he would hesitate to label the Biden administration’s total approach to China as one of appeasement, but he argued that the White House does show "too much concern about provoking China."

"The Biden administration has continued many of the policies of the Trump administration on China and is actually taking some strong steps in many areas with China, but I do think that inherent fear of provocation is setting us up — especially this year — for some concessions that are going to be detrimental." 

In addition to the spy balloon incident and a lack of significant U.S. response, the U.S. has not managed to convince China to curb North Korea, which continues to make greater and greater shows of force as the hermit kingdom’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un seeks to establish his country as a legitimate world power. 

Chang argued that the soft touch with China has allowed the international system to break down as "bad actors now feel they can do what they want." He cited the escalating tensions last week between Iran and Pakistan as an example. 

CHINA'S POPULATION FALLS AGAIN AS RECORD-LOW BIRTHS POSE ECONOMIC STRAINS

Chang criticized the Biden administration’s policy of "strategic ambiguity," which administration spokespeople have cited in a variety of responses regarding America’s approach to China. 

"Strategic ambiguity" sees America oscillating between clear support for the One China Policy, which necessitates opposition to Taiwan’s independence, even as the Pentagon continues to arm Taiwan and prepare it for possible invasion.

Both China and North Korea have provided backdoor support for Russia, with North Korea providing basic munitions in a bid to obtain more advanced weapons from Moscow. China reiterated support for Russia after the failed Wagner mercenary rebellion against the Russian Ministry of Defense over disagreements regarding progress in Ukraine. 

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China has also only emboldened Iran, which has continued to push its proxies in the Middle East and fund their attacks against American military assets and allies in the region.

While the Iran-backed Houthis double down on their attacks against international commercial ships in the Red Sea, China looks to fold Iran into the BRICS economic bloc and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. 

"The more we restrict ourselves, that is going to set new norms that China can exploit and pressure us," McInnis said. "We end up deterring ourselves and not getting much in return for it."

The terrorism threat in the United Kingdom is at an "unprecedented" level following the start of the war between Israel and Hamas last October, a top U.K. counter-terrorism official said on Friday. 

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes said there’s been a 25% rise in terror information coming to police in the country since the war began, adding, "it's hard to remember a more unstable, dangerous and uncertain world," according to Sky News.

Jukes added that the Israel-Hamas war has created a new "radicalization moment" for Islamist extremists egged on my "extraordinary amounts" of online content and misinformation, according to BBC News. 

ARMED PALESTINIANS ATTACK CHRISTIAN HOLY SITE IN WEST BANK: REPORT

"All of that online material is part of a dangerous climate," Jukes said, which created a "radicalization moment, with the potential to push people towards terrorism."

In the U.K., there have been 33 terrorism-related arrests connected to the war in Gaza so far, the BBC reported, adding that police didn’t confirm if any terrorist plots had been stopped. 

ISRAEL TO SCALE BACK MILITARY OFFENSIVE IN SOUTHERN GAZA SOON, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS 

"This is not simply rhetoric," he continued. "In my seat, you tend to look at dashboards of indicators and there are particular indicators that we will be focused on. And right now, there are needles on that dashboard that are moving in the wrong direction."

Jukes added that the U.K. faces the worst threats from "hostile state actors" since the Cold War. 

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"I don't want to be coy. We are talking about parts of the state apparatus of Iran, China and Russia," he told reporters. The Metropolitan police said Friday it had added another unit to its department centered on countering threats from those three countries. 

Reuters contributed to this report. 

Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was met with massive crowds of protesters Saturday, after a report revealed it had discussed deporting millions of immigrants, including German citizens, late last year. 

Investigative journalism group Correctiv published a report Wednesday on the meeting between AfD and the Identitarian Movement (IM) in November, claiming IM member Martin Sellner presented a plan for "re-migration" of immigrants out of Germany, including those who already have citizenship, but have failed to integrate.

AfD has confirmed the meeting, which was allegedly captured on hidden cameras, took place but rejected assertions that it reflects their party policy.

"The AfD won't change its position on immigration policy because of a single opinion at a non-AfD meeting," a spokesperson told Reuters.

GERMAN POLITICIAN LAUNCHES NEW PARTY, POISED TO CHALLENGE RIGHT-WING OPPOSITION

Protesters across Germany held signs on Saturday that read "Never Again is Now," "Defend Democracy" and "Against Hate" as the meeting garners comparisons with the Nazis. 

A protest in Frankfurt on Saturday had around 35,000 people and one in Hamburg had around 50,000, police said. Others took place in cities like Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Hannover. 

Hamburg’s demonstration ended early over crowd size safety concerns. 

GERMAN LAWMAKERS APPROVE PLAN TO LOOSEN CITIZENSHIP RULES IN EFFORT TO ATTRACT SKILLED WORKERS 

Large protests in cities like Berlin and Munich are also planned for Sunday. 

The report and subsequent protests have also renewed calls for a ban on the AfD in the country. 

The AfD was founded in 2013 and polling suggests it has around 23% support in the country. 

AfD was the first right-wing party since the Nazis to win a mayoral and district council election when it did last year. It has also made significant gains in state elections in Bavaria and Hesse. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the AfD and Identarian Movement in a statement on social media last week, comparing them to the Third Reich.

"We protect everyone — regardless of origin, skin color or how uncomfortable someone is for fanatics with assimilation fantasies," said Scholz. 

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Although immigration is a top issue in the country, Scholz himself previously admitted "too many are coming." 

Fox News' Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was met with massive crowds of protesters Saturday, after a report revealed it had discussed deporting millions of immigrants, including German citizens, late last year. 

Investigative journalism group Correctiv published a report Wednesday on the meeting between AfD and the Identitarian Movement (IM) in November, claiming IM member Martin Sellner presented a plan for "re-migration" of immigrants out of Germany, including those who already have citizenship, but have failed to integrate.

AfD has confirmed the meeting, which was allegedly captured on hidden cameras, took place but rejected assertions that it reflects their party policy.

"The AfD won't change its position on immigration policy because of a single opinion at a non-AfD meeting," a spokesperson told Reuters.

GERMAN POLITICIAN LAUNCHES NEW PARTY, POISED TO CHALLENGE RIGHT-WING OPPOSITION

Protesters across Germany held signs on Saturday that read "Never Again is Now," "Defend Democracy" and "Against Hate" as the meeting garners comparisons with the Nazis. 

A protest in Frankfurt on Saturday had around 35,000 people and one in Hamburg had around 50,000, police said. Others took place in cities like Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Hannover. 

Hamburg’s demonstration ended early over crowd size safety concerns. 

GERMAN LAWMAKERS APPROVE PLAN TO LOOSEN CITIZENSHIP RULES IN EFFORT TO ATTRACT SKILLED WORKERS 

Large protests in cities like Berlin and Munich are also planned for Sunday. 

The report and subsequent protests have also renewed calls for a ban on the AfD in the country. 

The AfD was founded in 2013 and polling suggests it has around 23% support in the country. 

AfD was the first far-right party since the Nazis to win a mayoral and district council election when it did last year. It has also made significant gains in state elections in Bavaria and Hesse. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the AfD and Identarian Movement in a statement on social media last week, comparing them to the Third Reich.

"We protect everyone — regardless of origin, skin color or how uncomfortable someone is for fanatics with assimilation fantasies," said Scholz. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Although immigration is a top issue in the country, Scholz himself previously admitted "too many are coming." 

Fox News' Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

U.S. personnel were injured during an attack on the Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq Saturday, and a member of Iraq's security forces was seriously wounded, according to reports.

The base came under a tactical missile attack, and more than 15 U.S. Patriot missiles were launched to intercept. But some missiles got through, according to Charles Lister, a senior fellow and director of the Middle East Institute Syria Program and the Middle East Institute Countering Terrorism and Extremism Program. 

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militants, claimed responsibility, Lister wrote. 

US MILITARY BASES IN IRAQ, SYRIA ATTACKED AGAIN, BRINGING TOTAL TO AT LEAST 90 SINCE OCT. 17

A defense official told Fox News the missiles were launched from inside Iraq and that two U.S. personnel sustained concussions described by the Pentagon as "traumatic brain force injuries."

Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department and the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response. 

IRAN ANNOUNCES STRIKES IN NORTHERN IRAQ, SYRIA

Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, the U.S. military has come under attack at least 58 times in Iraq and another 83 times in Syria by Iran-backed militants, usually with a mix of rockets and one-way attack drones, according to Reuters. The militants are seeking to impose a cost on the United States for its support of Israel against Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The U.S. has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large parts of both countries before being defeated.

The attack comes after three armed drones were shot down in Iraq Tuesday near where U.S. and other international forces are stationed, officials said.

Reuters contributed to this report. 

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus has called on countries to sign on to the health organization’s pandemic treaty so the world can prepare for "Disease X."

Ghebreyesus, speaking in front of an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, said that he hoped countries would reach a pandemic agreement by May to address this "common enemy."

Disease X is a hypothetical "placeholder" virus that has not yet been formed, but scientists say it could be 20 times deadlier than COVID-19. It was added to the WHO’s short list of pathogens for research in 2017 that could cause a "serious international epidemic," according to a 2022 WHO press release.

BIDEN'S 'PANDEMIC TREATY' WOULD SURRENDER POWER TO WHO BUREAUCRATS, HOUSE REP WARNS

Ghebreyesus said that COVID-19 was the first Disease X, but it's important to prepare for another pandemic.

"There are things that are unknown that may happen, and anything happening is a matter of when, not if, so we need to have a placeholder for that, for the diseases we don’t know," Ghebreyesus said.

"We lost many people [during COVID] because we couldn’t manage them," Ghebreyesus said at the global confab. "They could have been saved, but there was no space. There was not enough oxygen. So how can you have a system that can expand when the need comes?" 

He said that a shared response via the treaty would help the world better react to another outbreak. 

'DISEASE X': WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM CREATING CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR INFECTIOUS VIRUS OUTBREAK

"The pandemic agreement can bring all the experience, all the challenges that we have faced and all the solutions into one," Ghebreyesus said. "That agreement can help us to prepare for the future in a better way."

"This is a common global interest, and very narrow national interests should not come into the way."

Ghebreyesus said that independent panels and experts have been working on ways to respond in a collective fashion and that a deadline for the treaty to be signed is in May.

He said that some of the preparedness responses could include an early-warning system, organizing supply chains and advancing research and development to test drugs. Primary health care would need to be looked at, too, given that wealthy countries did not fare well during COVID, since they struggled with basics like contact tracing.

"It’s better to anticipate something that may happen because it has happened in our history many times, and prepare for it. We should not face things unprepared; we can prepare for some unknown things, as well." 

World leaders met in March 2021 to announce that a treaty was being negotiated and drafted.

"The main goal of this treaty would be to foster an all-of-government and all-of-society approach, strengthening national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics," a statement put out by two dozen heads of state reads. 

"This includes greatly enhancing international co-operation to improve, for example, alert systems, data-sharing, research and local, regional and global production and distribution of medical and public health countermeasures such as vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and personal protective equipment."

The Biden administration was negotiating the global pandemic treaty last year. GOP critics have said that such an agreement would cede sovereignty to the WHO.

"The World Health Organization pandemic treaty is very vague, it affects our sovereignty, and it could be exploited to tell Americans what kind of health care they need in the event of a global pandemic," Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said at a May press conference.

JERUSALEM - The oil-rich Gulf state of Qatar hired a former CIA agent's company to discredit Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., and other lawmakers who oppose Hamas and its parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.

The documents reveal that the alleged Qatar state-funded espionage campaign targeted Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, because he sought to have the Muslim Brotherhood designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

The clandestine document, titled "Project ENDGAME" and drafted by U.S. company Global Risk Advisors (GRA), which was founded by the ex-CIA employee Kevin Chalker, reads, "High Alert: An attack on Hamas is an attack on Qatar. An attack on the Muslim Brotherhood is an attack on Qatar."

The March 2017 Qatari-funded plan of action to torpedo anti-Hamas and anti-Muslim Brotherhood legislation and policies noted that "Sen. Ted Cruz has reintroduced his bill to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group. Unless you act soon, your enemies will inject Qatar into this fight."

MY PARENTS WERE KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS. THEY ARE NOT A FOOTNOTE TO GAZA WAR, THEY ARE ITS ESSENCE

In the month before Qatar reportedly started its attacks on adversaries of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, Fox News Digital reported on Cruz’s legislation to outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood.

Since Hamas massacred some 1,200 people on October 7 in southern Israel, including more than 30 Americans, Qatar has been in the crosshairs of U.S. senators and some U.S. representatives for harboring Hamas leaders in Doha and allegedly financing it.

Cruz told Fox News Digital: "The Qatari government spends uncountable billions of dollars promoting and even funding the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and other terrorist groups. They have either bought or intimidated huge parts of Washington, D.C., into silence. It’s not at all surprising they would consider the few remaining outspoken opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood in Congress to be Qatar’s enemies. It is long past time for the U.S. to reevaluate the U.S.-Qatari relationship."

Hamas has declared itself as "one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine." American allies such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have either outlawed or designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. 

The "Project ENDGAME" proposal says, "Qatar’s Enemies Must Be Identified" and, "In the U.S., your enemies operate in the shadows. You can’t stop the enemies that you can’t find."

The existence of the Qatar-sponsored "Project ENDGAME" was first reported in an AP article titled "FBI probing ex-CIA officer’s spying for World Cup host Qatar," in 2022.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla, co-sponsored the bill to sanction the Muslim Brotherhood in 2017. Global Risk Advisors marked Diaz-Balart as one of the Gulf state’s enemies, according to the Congressman and AP.

Diaz-Balart told Fox News Digital, "The revelation that the Qatari government not only targeted my office but two sitting U.S. senators is not surprising and only validates my longstanding concerns with the Qatari government. This is not the first time a regime has targeted my office using covert tactics and it will not dissuade my resolve to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization."

A former employee of GRA who obtained the "Project ENDGAME" document from the company’s office in Doha told Fox News Digital that Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family, via GRA, aimed to also discredit Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas.

Cotton’s view that the secular ruler of Egypt, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, is a more reliable American ally than the former Muslim Brotherhood regime under the late President Mohamed Morsi might have played a role in Qatar’s including the senator on its ideological hit list.

REPUBLICANS, SOME DEM HOUSE LAWMAKERS URGE BIDEN TO REFREEZE $6B IN IRANIAN ASSETS AMID HAMAS ATTACKS

When asked about GRA’s offensive spy operation against Cotton, a spokesperson for the senator told Fox News Digital that "Senator Cotton will not be commenting on this at this time."

Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., who has broad expertise regarding Qatar’s power politics, told Fox News Digital, "As a member of Congress, I will continue to use my office to hold Qatar accountable. Qatar must be exposed and their years-long hacking campaign to silence critics not just of Qatar but also critics of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas cannot go unchecked."

Bergman, a retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant general, added, "If the Qataris are willing to use their state espionage capabilities to protect terrorist groups by targeting senators and the [former] chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce, then how can we be confident in the security of our servicemen and women—and our secrets—at CENTCOM's forward headquarters in Doha?"

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has approximately 8,000 personnel at Al Udeid Air Base—the largest American military base in the Middle East—southwest of Doha.

Former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Royce, R-Calif., did not respond to Fox News Digital WhatsApp messages and a phone call.

When asked about the reported Qatari state-financed espionage operation against American politicians and citizens, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "We refer you to the FBI regarding any potential investigation."

The FBI told Fox News Digital, "The FBI has no comment. We can neither confirm nor deny conducting specific investigations."

DEMOCRATS JOIN REPUBLICAN PUSH FOR BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO REFREEZE $6B IRANIAN ASSETS

Kevin Carroll, the lawyer representing Kevin Chalker, wrote Fox News Digital, "What I do know and can speak about is that there are NO pending indictments against Mr. Chalker or any employees of GRA."

He continued, "Instead, Mr. Chalker and GRA have been subjected to civil complaints filed in federal courts in California and Washington, D.C., since 2018. The case in California has been dismissed. The plaintiffs’ third complaint in the New York case has seen several of the original claims and defendants dismissed.

"Mr. Chalker has a long-standing record of service to the United States and any allegations of wrongdoing—much less defamatory allegations of criminal wrongdoing—by him or GRA are just false," Carroll said.

Fox News Digital reviewed a 2023 email written by Chalker, in which he said the FBI showed up unannounced at the residences of former GRA employees. He advised his employees to state they are represented by legal counsel and assured his workers that GRA will pay for the attorney fees. 

Chalker also ridiculed the FBI, stating, "I have zero respect for the FBI. They are a bunch of Keystone Cops who are poorly trained, inadequately educated…"

Carroll suggested that Fox News Digital should not report on Chalker and GRA. In a series of emails, he wrote, "I’d lean back from the story" and, "I would not run with the story about Chalker and GRA. Can explain by phone."

When reached on the phone, Caroll refused to go on the record as to why he opposed publication of the new allegations against Chalker and GRA.

Chalker declined to be interviewed by Fox New Digital. A press query was sent to his new company, Qrypt- a technology firm that claims to have "built the only cryptographic solution capable of securing data indefinitely."

BIDEN ADMIN 'UNEQUIVOCALLY' CONDEMNS TERROR GROUP HAMAS, SAYS US 'STANDS WITH ISRAEL'

Fox News Digital reviewed an April, 2017 signed letter of intent between the Qatar’s regime and GRA. According to the letter, GRW would furnish the Al-Thani family with "enhanced tracking and monitoring, intelligence collection, predictive intelligence, information operations." The AP also confirmed the letter of intent in its 2022 report. 

The AP noted that GRW would provide Qatar’s state with "other spy services for $60 million over three years. Other records show a Gibraltar-based company owned by Chalker began receiving seven- and eight-figure payments from Qatar shortly afterward." Fox News Digital reviewed the financial records of the Gibraltar company reportedly owned by Chalker and cited in the AP report.

Chalker and GRA in "Project ENDGAME" also zoomed in on the American organization Counter Extremism Project (CEP) in an effort to "Mitigate Attacks" against Qatar.

Former U.S. Ambassador Mark Wallace, the CEO of the Counter Extremist Project, told Fox News Digital that after the Qatari operation "hacked accounts that contained email correspondence with members of CEP leadership, they engaged in a PR campaign to destroy us and paid Americans to do their bidding. All to whitewash their support of Hamas in the face of our criticism. We have called out their support of Hamas since 2017."

In November, Middle East experts told Fox News Digital that the Obama-era deal to allow Hamas terrorists to reside in Doha backfired against American interests.

Wallace said the "The greatest prevarication of the duplicitous Al Thanis is that they did not know what their money would be used for. But they knew from 2017 and our loud public campaign and they used their hydrocarbon wealth to whitewash their insidious support for Hamas and others. They are responsible.Any American that worked for Qataris to whitewash their behavior and to silence critics should raise their hands before the mirror because their hands are covered with blood."

Wallace revealed an alleged attempt by Qatar to bribe an American. 

Wallace claimed that "Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani (HBJ) and his Al Thani deputy asked to meet our colleague Joe Lieberman in the midst of this dispute — they made it clear that he should name his price and they would pay it to stop this effort. He made the wise decision and politely declined." Joe Lieberman was a former U.S. Senator from Connecticut, and a Democratic candidate for vice-president.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Qatar is accused of bribing members of the European parliament. "The State of Qatar categorically rejects any attempts to associate it with accusations of misconduct. Any association of the Qatari government with the reported claims is baseless and gravely misinformed," an official with the Qatari Embassy in Washington, D.C., previously told Fox News Digital.

HBJ was the former Prime Minister of Qatar and has faced criticism last year after it was revealed that he issued an antisemitic statement to the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas in 2022, stating "Imagine oil [was sold] by some Jews…what would be the price of a barrel of oil? It would be the most expensive thing in the world. It would be more precious than anything, like medicine."

NYU STUDENT ADMITS TEARING DOWN ISRAELI HOSTAGE POSTERS, BLAMES ‘MISPLACED ANGER’

When questioned about "Project ENDGAME" and other allegations against Qatar, Sheikh Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar’s ambassador to the United States, wrote Fox News Digital via WhatsApp, "will connect you with our media attaché who will be able to assist. Please reach out to Ali Al Ansari at the above email."

Fox News Digital press queries sent to Al Ansari went unanswered. Qatar’s embassies in Berlin and London also declined to comment. Meshal Al Thani refused to answer follow-up Fox News Digital press queries.

The "Project ENDGAME" proposal also laid out a media strategy for Qatar to advance its agenda. "Many news organizations won’t publish ENDGAME content, so Qatar’s media’s assets play a critical role." Some of the alleged Qatari media assets listed in the document are The New York Times, Middle East Eye and The Intercept.

The Middle East Eye’s legal team told Fox News Digital, "Our view is that this is an old, tired, lazy and false contention. We are an independently funded digital news organisation."

The Middle East Eye said Jamal Bessasso is the owner of the news outlet. Bessasso previously worked for the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera news organization and the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV in Lebanon.

Numerous Fox News Digital press queries sent to The Intercept went unanswered. 

New York Times spokesman Charles Stadtlander asked Fox News Digital via WhatsApp to send its questions by email for a response. The New York Times declined to comment to multiple Fox News Digital Email press queries.

A document provided to Fox News Digital from a source familiar with the New York Times' relationship with Qatar noted that Qatar is a minority owner of the New York Times building in Manhattan via its control over Brookfield Property Partners. The New York Times declined to comment on Qatar’s partial ownership of its building.

A Canadian conspiracy theorist who peddled falsehoods about his government starting Canada’s wildfires last summer to trick people into believing climate change is real has been found guilty of starting 14 fires.

Brian Paré, 38, pleaded guilty earlier this week to 13 counts of arson and one count of arson with disregard for human life at a courthouse in central Quebec, according to CBC. When he was eventually apprehended he told police he started the fires to check if the forest was dry or not.

The pyromaniac’s arsonist spree began in May and lasted through September in a year which saw Canada suffer its worst wildfire season on record. Smoke from the Canadian wildfires choked much of North America with dangerous smoke for months and cities like New York were often smothered in a yellow haze. International fire crews helped Canada extinguish the flames.

CANADA WILDFIRES: TRUDEAU, OTHERS MOURN SECOND FIREFIGHTER DEATH AS SMOKE SPARKS FURTHER US AIR QUALITY ALERTS

Two of the fires ignited by Paré forced the evacuation of around 500 homes in Chapais, Que., a small community located around 265 miles northwest of Quebec City. Residents of the town weren't able to return home until June 3, prosecutor Marie-Philippe Charron told the court, according to CBC.

One of those fires, at Lake Cavan, burned more than 2,000 acres of forest and was the largest of the fires Paré admitted lighting.

It was the first in a series of five fires set by Paré between May 31 and June 1, about three days after the Quebec government banned open fires in or around forests due to dry weather condition, the outlet reported. 

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Charron said that five fires in such a short period of time raised suspicion. The prosecutor said that officials determined that the fires had no possible natural cause and had been criminally set. 

While Paré was setting the fires, he was also claiming on social media that the flames had been started by the Canadian government in a ruse to make believe in climate change. 

In fact, the general director of Canada’s fire services in November said that 99.9% of the more than 700 wildfires last year were sparked by lightning strikes with dry conditions exacerbating the fames. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Biden blamed the fires on climate change at the time. 

Police were able to catch Paré after they installed a tracking device on his car. He had raised suspicion back on June 2 when he turned up at a fire and "demonstrated a certain interest in fires" when police interviewed him, Charron said, according to CBC. On Sept. 1 and Sept. 5 the tracking device showed he was at locations where other fires were started and when questioned on Sept. 7 he admitted to starting nine fires. 

"At this point, the accused admitted he was the one who started the fires and, as his main motivation, claimed he was doing tests to find out whether the forest was really dry or not," Charron said.

Paré is still detained and a pre-sentencing report has been ordered that will consider his mental state and the risk he poses to public safety. 

More than 100 wildfires are still listed as burning in British Columbia thanks to a combination of a busy wildfire season, extreme drought and generally warmer and drier conditions through December, according to the Vancouver Sun, citing local fire officials.

U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) confirmed Saturday yet another airstrike on Houthi weaponry in the region of the Red Sea.

"As part of ongoing efforts to protect freedom of navigation and prevent attacks on maritime vessels, on Jan. 20 at approximately 4 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces conducted airstrikes against a Houthi anti-ship missile that was aimed into the Gulf of Aden and was prepared to launch," USCENTCOM said in its statement on the strike.

US FORCES STRIKE 2 HOUTHI ANTI-SHIP MISSILES, TWO DEFENSE OFFICIALS SAY

It continued, "U.S. forces determined the missile presented a threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region, and subsequently struck and destroyed the missile in self-defense."

This is the sixth round of strikes against the Houthis since the U.S. and U.K.-led coalition strikes last Thursday.

"This action will make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy and merchant vessels," USCENTCOM concluded in their report.

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President Biden said Thursday that U.S. military strikes against the Iran-backed Yemeni group will continue as long as it continues to attack ships in the Red Sea.

"When you say working, are they stopping the Houthis, no. Are they going to continue, yes," Biden told reporters before departing from the White House for a domestic policy speech in North Carolina.

The State Department relisted the Houthis as a terrorist organization earlier this week in response to ongoing attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea. 

The Houthis will be placed on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list, which will trigger sanctions designed to prevent further attacks on global trade in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, senior administration officials said.

The Houthi attacks on commercial ships have not stopped even after the U.S. and the United Kingdom launched strikes against Houthi assets in Yemen. The group said the attacks served as a response to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

Fox News Digital's Chris Pandolfo and Liz Friden contributed to this report.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has blamed Israel for a strike in Syria that killed four senior members of the group. 

"The Revolutionary Guards’ Syria intel chief, his deputy and two other Guards members were martyred in the attack on Syria by Israel," Iran’s Mehr news agency announced, citing an unnamed source. 

Nour News, another Iranian news agency that allegedly has close ties to the country’s intelligence networks, identified Gen. Sadegh Omidzadeh, intelligence deputy of the IRGC’s Quds Force in Syria, and his deputy among the dead. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that another Iranian and a Syrian — unidentified at this time — also died in the strike. 

The strike destroyed a building in the western Damascus neighborhood of Mazzeh that the IRGC officials had allegedly used as a base of operations. The Syrian army claimed the Israeli Air Force fired the missiles while flying over the disputed Golan Heights region. 

PAKISTAN SEEKS TO DE-ESCALATE CRISIS WITH IRAN AFTER DEADLY AIRSTRIKES THAT SPIKED TENSIONS

The Israeli military has not issued any comment on the strike, though Israeli officials have rarely spoken about alleged strikes. 

Iran has blamed Israel for several strikes in Syria over the past two months, including a strike on Christmas Day that killed high-ranking Iranian Gen. Seyed Razi Mousavi, and another just a few days later that killed members of the Iran-backed Iraqi militant group Islamic Resistance and Hezbollah.

Iran retaliated this week by launching a strike on an alleged Israeli "spy headquarters" near the U.S. Consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, killing four civilians and injuring six more. 

Israel allegedly launched these strikes in retaliation for attacks by Iran-backed groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq since the start of the war in Gaza. The strikes in Syria aim to cut off a significant weapons supply line for the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, who have launched a series of strikes along the Israeli border, The Times of Israel reported. 

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Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday told his American counterpart Defense Sec. Gen. Lloyd Austin that Israel would soon decide on Lebanon and Hezbollah, stressing that Israel would prefer a diplomatic resolution but was "prepared to do this through military force." 

Gallant said on Friday, during a tour along the Lebanon border, that Israel "will not accept this reality for an extended period."

"There will come a moment when if we do not reach a diplomatic agreement in which Hezbollah respects the right of the residents to live here in security, we will have to ensure that security by force," Gallant declared. 

The U.S. and Israel remain divided on a resolution to the conflict, even after President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally spoke following a month-long gap in direct communication. 

IRANIAN PROXIES STEPPING UP THEIR DRONE ATTACKS IN WAR WITH ISRAEL

Biden has increased his calls for a two-state solution and Palestinian sovereignty, but Netanyahu this week made clear that he will never allow such developments as long as he remains in power. 

Netanyahu reiterated his belief that an independent Palestine would provide a base of operation for terrorist strikes, stressing that Israel "must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River," adding: "That collides with the idea of sovereignty. What can we do?"

"This truth I tell to our American friends, and I put the brakes on the attempt to coerce us to a reality that would endanger the state of Israel," Netanyahu said. 

Just under 25,000 people have died in Gaza, according to numbers reported by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry and repeated by agencies such as the BBC and Al-Jazeera. The IDF this week claimed that its forces have killed 9,000 Hamas militants since the beginning of operations in Gaza in October. The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between combatant and civilian deaths.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.