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La Kena, a notorious Mexican drug cartel leader whose faction is believed to have killed two U.S. tourists last year, has been captured. 

José Alberto García Vilano, who heads up the powerful "Los Ciclones," or "Cyclones" cell, was arrested in a shopping plaza on the outskirts of the city of Monterrey on Friday after information about his whereabouts was leaked to officials, local media and officials say. 

The Cyclones, one of the most powerful and violent factions of the now-divided Gulf cartel, have been accused of kidnapping four U.S. citizens in March and killing two of them.

DRONE VIDEO SHOWS MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS THROWING EXPLOSIVES ALONG TEXAS SOUTHERN BORDER

Video posted on social media allegedly shows Vilano and his associates being dragged out of the mall by navy personnel and then bungled into unmarked vehicles parked outside the mall in the municipality of San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, one of Mexico’s wealthiest areas. 

Mexico's navy said in a statement that marines had detained the alleged leader of a criminal group "in one of the criminal organizations with the most presence in the state of Tamaulipas," although it did not provide a name. 

The statement noted he was one of the main targets of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Miguel Treviño, the mayor of San Pedro Garza García, shared on X a screenshot of a newspaper article that names La Kena.

"Thanks to good intelligence, coordination and police monitoring, today an alleged criminal leader was arrested without a single shot," Treviño wrote. 

TEXAS VIDEO SHOWS MIGRANT RECALLING ASSAULT, SHAKEDOWN BY CARTELS AT BORDER 

In 2022, Tamaulipas state prosecutors offered a $150,000 reward for Vilano’s arrest while identifying him by a second nickname, "Cyclone 19."

In March, the group allegedly kidnapped four Americans who had crossed into Matamoros from Texas so that one of them could have cosmetic surgery.

They were fired on in downtown Matamoros and then loaded into a pickup truck, having unknowingly got tangled in the crosshairs of a shootout between the Cyclones and another cartel.

Americans Zindell Brown and Shaeed Woodard died in the attack; Eric Williams and Latavia McGee survived. Most of them had grown up together in the small town of Lake City, South Carolina.

A Mexican woman, Areli Pablo Servando, 33, was also killed, apparently by a stray bullet.

Several people have been arrested in connection to the kidnappings and killings. The Gulf drug cartel turned over five men to police soon after the abduction, and prosecutors arrested two more individuals days later. 

Fox News' Bradford Betz and Landon Mion as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Rescue workers carried out the grim task Thursday of recovering the remains of the 23 apparent victims of a fireworks factory explosion in central Thailand.

Only part of the building frame stood at the site of the devastated factory in an otherwise-empty rice field in rural Suphan Buri province the day after the blast.

The damage to the site and the condition of the bodies made the number of victims difficult to determine.

FACTORY EXPLOSION KILLS AT LEAST 23 PEOPLE IN THAILAND, OFFICIALS SAY

Families and friends of the victims gathered at a temple where remains were being stored, to report missing loved ones and provide DNA samples to help identify the remains, but uniformed local officials sought to keep reporters from speaking with them. Several of the bereaved openly wept.

The province’s deputy governor, Don Samitakestarin, said the death toll was 23 and not expected to rise. National police chief Torsak Sukvimol, who traveled to Suphan Buri to oversee police operations, said 22 bodies had been found and one more person was considered missing but presumed dead.

The cause of the blast has not been determined.

"There are no survivors from the site at all, so there are no eyewitnesses to tell us what happened," Torsak said. "We can only use forensic science to discover the cause."

Don said it will take time to investigate the cause as there were no survivors to tell what happened. He said the area was sealed off as officers were not done clearing hazardous materials.

The factory marketed small fireworks to scare away birds, a common practice for Thai farmers to protect their crops. Its products looked like what are sometimes called cherry bombs, but it did not appear that the factory manufactured fireworks for entertainment, which would be in high demand to celebrate the Lunar New Year next month.

Don said the factory had met the requirements for operating legally. It experienced an earlier explosion in November 2022 that killed one person and seriously injured three others, but Don said there was no regulation that could prevent it from obtaining a new permit.

"This business operation complied with all the regulations from the Interior Ministry, so we had to give it a license," he said.

The remains of the victims were taken to Wat Rong Chang, a Buddhist temple in the province capital, Mueang Suphan Buri, where they were being kept in a refrigerator truck pending confirmation of their identities.

THAILAND TRIES TO CONTAIN OVERNIGHT FIRE THAT ENGULFED 2 MOUNTAINS

The government will pay maximum compensation of $8,400 per affected household, Don said

The 16 women and seven men presumed to have died in the blast included the workers and the wife and son of the factory's owner, Don said.

An explosion at a fireworks warehouse in southern Thailand last July killed 10 people and wounded more than 100 while damaging about 100 houses in a 1,640-foot radius of the warehouse. The region's governor said sparks from metal welding work likely ignited the fireworks in the warehouse and caused the explosion.

Deputy Prime Minister Somsak Thepsutin, who also came to Suphan Buri, said Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who is in Switzerland attending the World Economic Forum, would be briefed at next week's Cabinet meeting on ways to improve weak interagency cooperation.

The United Kingdom is concerned about the further spread of measles, as the country has declared a national health incident.

U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) chief executive Jenny Harries announced a surge in measles cases over the last few months, urging parents across the country to vaccinate their children against the illness. 

"This is a call right across the country for all parents to check the vaccination rates of their children," Harries said in an interview with BBC Radio 4. 

MEASLES OUTBREAKS IN US, UK HAVE HEALTH AGENCIES ON HIGH ALERT: 'BE VIGILANT'

Officials are pointing to decreased rates of uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine over the last decade, with only 85% of children fully inoculated.

"We are well under the recommended coverage for MMR vaccination," Harries continued. "It’s clearly not where we want the vaccination program to be. We want it to be 95%." 

The U.K. is currently experiencing a measles outbreak, with more than 1,600 people in England and Wales contracting the highly contagious disease in 2023 — up from 735 in 2022 and 360 in 2021, according to reports.

HEALTH OFFICIALS WARN OF POSSIBLE MEASLES EXPOSURE AT DULLES, RONALD REAGAN AIRPORTS

"Predictably, we’re seeing that swing more to other – particularly inner-city – areas where we know vaccination rates are low, and we know large numbers of children will be congregating together," Davies said.

The UKHSA released data this week confirming 216 cases of the disease in the West Midlands region since last October, with an additional 103 likely cases. 

Approximately 80% of the reported cases were traced to Birmingham and an additional 10% to Coventry. 

The highly contagious disease can be serious and even fatal for young children.

In 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared measles "eliminated" in the U.S., meaning there were no cases for at least 12 months. 

The WHO could be forced to rescind that designation if outbreaks continue for more than a year.

Fox News Digital's Melissa Rudy contributed to this report.

Two North Korean teenagers were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after they were previously convicted of watching K-pop videos, according to a video released Friday.

K-pop, or Korean pop, is South Korean music which is barred in the North. North Korea has imposed tough sentences on anyone caught enjoying South Korean entertainment, including movies and music videos, to reduce outside influence under a sweeping new "anti-reactionary thought" law that was first imposed in 2020.

Reuters reported North Korean authorities sentenced the two 16-year-old girls during a public hearing and that video footage of the sentencing was released Friday by the South and North Development (SAND) Institute, an organization that works with North Korean defectors.

K-pop bands like the seven-member band BTS, the all-female Blackpink and the South Korean duo TVXQ have surged in popularity in South Korea and around the world for their charisma and soulful harmonies.

KAMALA HARRIS CITES 'SQUID GAMES' AS EXAMPLE OF 'CULTURAL TIES AND INTERTWINED HISTORY' WITH SOUTH KOREA

The video, produced by North Korean authorities, shows the two handcuffed students wearing gray scrubs in an amphitheater with about 1,000 students watching the sentencing.

Choi Kyong-hui, president of SAND and doctor of Political Science at Tokyo University, who defected from North Korea in 2001, told Reuters that the heavy punishment is likely to be a message to other students and the country.

"Judging from the heavy punishment, it seems that this is to be shown to people across North Korea to warn them. If so, it appears this lifestyle of South Korean culture is prevalent in North Korean society," Choi said.

RECORD-BREAKING HIT SONG 'GANGNAM STYLE' TURNS 10 YEARS OLD

The date of the sentencing was not provided, but all the students, including the two 16-year-olds, were wearing face masks in the video. Choi suggested this could mean the video was recorded during the COVID pandemic.

"I think this video was edited around 2022... What is troublesome for (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un is that Millennials and Gen Z young people have changed their way of thinking. I think he's working on turning it back to the North Korean way," Choi added.

In the video, the narrator said the students were convicted of watching and spreading South Korean movies, music and music videos over three months.

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"They were seduced by foreign culture... and ended up ruining their lives," the narrator can be heard saying before it shows the teens.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain turbulent as the North continues to develop and test nuclear and ballistic technologies. The effort to bolster its arsenal comes in preparation for a potential war with the South and its allies, which include the United States and Japan.

Earlier this month, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said that he would be discarding his country’s longstanding idea of a peaceful reunification with South Korea and would be revising its constitution accordingly.

North Korea is technically still at war with democratic South Korea after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce and not a formal peace treaty.

Reuters contributed to this report.

A landslide set off by days of heavy rain buried a house where people were holding Christian prayers in the southern Philippines, killing at least 10 people, including five children, officials said Friday.

Two people were injured, and at least one more villager remained unaccounted for following the landslide in a remote mountain village in the gold-mining town of Monkayo in Davao de Oro province, Ednar Dayanghirang, the regional chief of the government’s Office of Civil Defense, said.

Three more bodies were found Friday, after the search was paused mid-afternoon Thursday due to the risk of another landslide.

DEATH TOLL IN ALASKA LANDSLIDE CLIMBS TO 3; 3 OTHERS STILL MISSING

"They were praying in the house when the landslide hit," Dayanghirang told The Associated Press by telephone Thursday night. "It’s sad but it’s the reality on the ground."

People living near the village were ordered to evacuate due to fears of more land- and mud-slides due to intermittent downpours, Monkayo Mayor Manuel Zamora said.

Days of heavy rains also flooded low-lying villages and displaced more than 36,000 people in Davao de Oro and three other provinces, the Office of Civil Defense said. The weather began to clear Friday in some areas.

US VOWS TO DEFEND PHILIPPINES AGAINST CHINA’S ‘DANGEROUS’ ACTIONS UNDER TRUMAN-ERA TREATY

The rains were sparked by what local forecasters call a shear line, a point where warm and cold air meet. At least 20 storms and typhoons lash the Philippine archipelago each year, especially during the rainy season that starts in June.

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest to hit on record, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages, swept ships inland and displaced more than 5 million in the central Philippines.

South Korea called on the divided U.N. Security Council on Thursday "to break the silence" over North Korea’s escalating missile tests and threats.

"It’s a big question," South Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Hwang Joonkook told reporters after an emergency closed meeting of the council on the North’s first ballistic missile test of 2024 on Sunday. South Korea is serving a two-year term on the council.

The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Korea’s first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and tightened them over the years in a total of 10 resolutions seeking — so far unsuccessfully — to cut funds and curb its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

US, SOUTH KOREA AND JAPAN UNITE IN MASSIVE NAVAL DRILL IN SHOW OF STRENGTH AGAINST NORTH KOREA

The last sanctions resolution was adopted by the council in 2017. China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution in May 2022 that would have imposed new sanctions over a spate of intercontinental ballistic missile launches. Since then, the two veto-wielding permanent council members have blocked any council action, including media statements.

North Korea’s escalating test-launches in violation of the existing U.N. sanctions — five ICBMs, more than 25 ballistic missiles and three satellite launches using ballistic missile technology in 2023 – coupled with new threats from the North’s leader Kim Jong Un have raised regional tensions to their highest point in years.

On Monday, Kim declared North Korea would abandon its commitment to a peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered a rewriting of its constitution to eliminate the idea of a shared statehood between the war-divided countries. He said South Koreans were "top-class stooges" of America who were obsessed with confrontation, and repeated a threat that the North would annihilate the South with its nukes if provoked.

Before Thursday’s council meeting, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood told reporters Kim’s provocations "are of great concern."

He said the 15 council members need to be reminded that North Korea is violating sanctions and its obligations to the council, "and we have to insist that they adhere to those obligations, and for all Security Council members to enforce those resolutions."

By contrast, China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun, whose country is a close ally of North Korea, called on all parties involved in the Korean Peninsula to stay calm and refrain from actions that would further raise tensions.

In a message clearly aimed at the United States and South Korea, Zhang expressed hope that while attention is mainly on North Korea, "other countries are also responsible to avoid further escalation."

France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere told reporters that North Korea’s actions are "getting worse and worse," with regular ballistic missile launches, continuing uranium enrichment, and advancement of its nuclear program.

NORTH KOREA ABOLISHES AGENCIES TASKED WITH SOUTH KOREAN RELATIONS

"Everyone is focused on missile launches, but I think the biggest threat is their nuclear program which continues to grow again and again," De Riviere said.

And he called it "a shame" that Russia is violating Security Council resolutions by "buying military stuff that they use in Ukraine" from North Korea. "It’s really bad," he said.

South Korea’s Hwang said all 15 members of the Council are worried that North Korea’s rhetoric and actions are "getting more and more serious."

But how to break the council’s silence and inaction?

"We will discuss and think about it, and how to move forward," he said. "It’s a big question."

As for Kim’s abandonment of peaceful reunification, Hwang called it "a big change" in their rhetoric, actions and policy. "The nuclear policy is highly, highly alarming," he said.

NATO will launch its biggest military exercises in decades next week with around 90,000 personnel set to take part in months of drills aimed at showing the alliance can defend all of its territory up to its border with Russia, top officers said Thursday.

The exercises come as Russia’s war on Ukraine bogs down. NATO as an organization is not directly involved in the conflict, except to supply Kyiv with non-lethal support, although many member countries send weapons and ammunition individually or in groups, and provide military training.

In the months before President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022, NATO began beefing up security on its eastern flank with Russia and Ukraine. It’s the alliance’s biggest buildup since the Cold War. The war games are meant to deter Russia from targeting a member country.

NATO NEEDS A 'WARFIGHTING TRANSFORMATION' AS 'ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN AT ANY TIME,' TOP MILITARY OFFICIAL SAYS

The exercises – dubbed Steadfast Defender 24 – "will show that NATO can conduct and sustain complex multi-domain operations over several months, across thousands of miles, from the High North to Central and Eastern Europe, and in any condition," the 31-nation organization said.

Troops will be moving to and through Europe until the end of May in what NATO describes as "a simulated emerging conflict scenario with a near-peer adversary." Under NATO’s new defense plans, its chief adversaries are Russia and terrorist organizations.

"The alliance will demonstrate its ability to reinforce the Euro-Atlantic area via transatlantic movement of forces from North America," NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, U.S. General Christopher Cavoli, told reporters.

UKRAINE TO RECEIVE NATO SUPPORT FOR 'AS LONG AS IT TAKES,' GAIN ALLIANCE MEMBERSHIP AFTER CONFLICT

Cavoli said it will demonstrate "our unity, our strength, and our determination to protect each other."

The chair of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, said that it’s "a record number of troops that we can bring to bear and have an exercise within that size, across the alliance, across the ocean from the U.S. to Europe."

Bauer described it as "a big change" compared to troop numbers exercising just a year ago. Sweden, which is expected to join NATO this year, will also take part.

U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps has said that the government in London would send 20,000 troops backed by advanced fighter jets, surveillance planes, warships and submarines, with many being deployed in eastern Europe from February to June.

Sri Lankan authorities have arrested tens of thousands of people in a monthlong crackdown on drugs, and vowed to continue despite U.N. criticism of possible human rights violations during the "heavy-handed" operation.

Since the operation began in December, heavily armed police and military personnel with sniffer dogs have made regular nighttimes raids on homes and search buses, seizing narcotics and arresting suspects who include drug users, local dealers and distributors, and people with records of drug-related arrests.

Acting police chief Deshabandu Tennakoon told The Associated Press on Thursday that more than 40,000 people have arrested and questioned during operations conducted jointly by the police and security forces, and 5,000 were ordered detained by the courts.

SRI LANKA PRESIDENT FLEES COUNTRY, PROTESTERS STORM PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE AS STATE OF EMERGENCY IS DECLARED

The country of 21 million has long been known as a hub for drug trafficking, but authorities have stepped up action against narcotics amid complaints that more schoolchildren are using drugs that drug-related crimes are on the rise.

Tennakoon said 65% of Sri Lanka's narcotics distribution network has been dismantled over the past month and police hope to eliminate it fully by the end of this month.

He added that intelligence operations are being conducted to identify people who import drugs into the country and those who may be planning to start dealing drugs.

The U.N. human rights council expressed concern last week over reports of unauthorized searches, arbitrary arrests, torture and even strip searches in public during the operations, code-named "yukthiya," or justice.

SRI LANKA TO JOIN US-LED RED SEA DEFENSE AGAINST HOUTHI REBELS

"While drug use presents a serious challenge to society, a heavy-handed law enforcement approach is not the solution. Abuse of drugs and the factors that lead to it are first and foremost public health and social issues," the U.N. body said.

But Public Security Minister Tiran Alles insisted that the searches will continue, saying the human rights body should identify specific instances of abuse.

"We will not stop this operation. We will go ahead and and we will do it the same way because we know that we are doing something good for the children of this country, for the women of this county and that is why the general public is whole-heartedly with us in these operations," Alles said.

Tennakoon said police have been ordered follow the law, and any violations can be reported to the police commission.

Shakya Nanayakkara, head of the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board said there are about 100,000 known heroin addicts in Sri Lanka, and another 50,000 people are known to be addicted to methamphetamines.

North Korea tested a nuclear-capable underwater attack drone designed to destroy naval vessels and ports, it said Friday.

North Korea’s military said it conducted the test in the country’s eastern waters in response to naval drills by the U.S., South Korea and Japan which ended Wednesday. The underwater drone is among a broad range of weapon systems North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un continues to test and develop as he expands his arsenal of nuclear-capable weapons.

"Our army’s underwater nuke-based countering posture is being further rounded off and its various maritime and underwater responsive actions will continue to deter the hostile military maneuvers of the navies of the U.S. and its allies," North Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

It added: "We strongly denounce the U.S. and its followers for their reckless acts of seriously threatening the security of (North Korea) from the outset of the year and sternly warn them of the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by them."

KIM JONG UN MOVES TO MODIFY NORTH KOREAN CONSTITUTION, WRITE IN SOUTH KOREA AS ‘NO. 1 ENEMY’

North Korea did not specify when the test occurred. It first tested the drone last year.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen to their highest point in years, with the test of the drone coming days after the North Korean dictator declared he would be scrapping the idea of a peaceful reunification with South Korea.

He also said his country would rewrite its constitution to define South Korea as its most hostile foreign adversary.

NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES SOLID-FUEL MISSILE TIPPED WITH HYPERSONIC WARHEAD, STATE MEDIA CLAIMS

North Korea conducted its first ballistic missile test of 2024 on Sunday. It was described as a new solid-fuel, intermediate-range missile tipped with a hypersonic warhead, potentially capable of striking U.S. military bases in Guam and Japan.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry has disputed the capabilities of the drone and has denounced North Korea’s recent tests as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The South has said Kim’s nuclear ambitions are a threat to "peace in the Korean Peninsula and the world." It also said the U.S. and South Korean militaries would remain firm against possible North Korean provocations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that two-thirds of Hamas’s fighting forces have been eliminated in the Gaza Strip. 

Netanyahu said during a news conference in Tel Aviv Thursday that "There are two stages to the fighting; The first is destroying the Hamas regiments, those are their organized combat frameworks," according to Reuters. 

"Up until now sixteen or seventeen out of twenty four have been destroyed. After that there is the [stage] of clearing the territory [of militants]," he reportedly continued. "The first action is usually shorter, the second usually takes longer." 

Netanyahu also said "Victory will take many more months but we are determined to achieve it," Reuters reports. 

FAMILY OF YOUNGEST HAMAS HOSTAGE ‘NOT GIVING UP’ HOPE AS BOY MARKS FIRST BIRTHDAY IN CAPTIVITY 

Yesterday, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters during a briefing that "The conflict in Gaza is going to end. It will end." 

When pressed about a timeline, Miller said "I am not going to make predictions about it. 

"But we do believe that this conflict as all conflicts do will end at some point and that there needs to be a political path forward for the establishment of a Palestinian state," he added. 

IDF RELEASES VIDEO, PHOTOS OF RAID UNCOVERING HAMAS TRAINING AREA IN SOUTHERN GAZA 

One of the Hamas officials taken out by the Israel Defense Forces this week was Bilal Nofal, who was "in charge of investigating suspects of espionage" against the terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. 

The IDF said in a statement Wednesday that Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency helped coordinate the elimination of Nofal, and the operation was conducted using an Air Force plane.

"Nofal took part in the development of the organization's research and learning methods," the IDF said. "His elimination constitutes an injury to the terrorist organization's learning and strengthening capabilities." 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Gang members have raided a key community in Haiti’s capital that is home to numerous police officers and has been under siege for four days in an ongoing attack, with residents fearful of the violence spreading throughout Port-au-Prince.

The pop of automatic weapons echoed throughout Solino on Thursday as thick columns of black smoke rose above the once peaceful neighborhood where frantic residents kept calling radio stations asking for help.

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP URGES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO HELP STOP GANG VIOLENCE IN HAITI

"If police don’t come, we are dying today!" said one unidentified caller.

Lita Saintil, a 52-year-old street vendor, told The Associated Press that she fled Solino on Thursday with her teenage nephew after being trapped in her house for hours by incessant gunfire.

The homes around hers were torched by gangs, and she recalled seeing at least six bodies as she fled.

"It’s very scary now," she said. "I don’t know where I’m going."

Another resident, Nenel Volme, told the AP that he was chatting with a friend near his house on Sunday when gunfire erupted and a bullet struck a bone in his right hand.

"I don’t have the means to go to the hospital," he said as he lifted his injured hand, which was wrapped in gauze.

It wasn’t immediately clear who organized and was participating in the attack on Solino. The community , which is home to thousands of people, was once infested by gangs before a U.N. peacekeeping mission drove them out in the mid-2000s.

The attack could mark a turning point for gangs, which are now estimated to control up to 80% of Port-au-Prince and have been suspected of killing nearly 4,000 people and kidnapping another 3,000 last year, overwhelming police in the country of nearly 12 million people.

If Solino falls, gangs would have easy access to neighborhoods such as Canape Vert that have so far remained peaceful and largely safe.

"Life in Port-au-Prince has become extremely crazy," Saintil said. "I never thought Port-au-Prince would turn out the way it is now."

On Thursday evening, Haiti's National Police released a statement saying officers were deployed to Solino "with the aim of tracking down and arresting armed individuals seeking to sow panic among the civilian population." Police also released a nearly three-minute video showing in part officers on a rooftop in Solino exchanging fire with unidentified gunmen who did not appear on screen.

Nearby communities spooked by the ongoing violence in Solino began erecting barricades on Thursday using rocks, trucks, tires and even banana trees to prevent gangs from entering.

One man near a barricade in Canape Vert said that he had been following the protests organized earlier this week by supporters of former rebel leader Guy Philippe, who has pledged a revolution to drive out gangs.

"It’s more misery," the man, who declined to identify himself, said of Haiti’s ongoing crisis. "We are suffering. The country is gangsterized."

Amid concerns that the violence in Solino could spill over into other neighborhoods, parents rushed to schools across Port-au-Prince to pick up their children.

"I don’t know if we’re going to be able to make it back home," said one mother who declined to provide her name out of fear. "There is no public transportation, and tires are burning everywhere. We don’t know what we’re going to do."

Haiti is awaiting the deployment of a foreign armed force led by Kenya to help quell gang violence that was approved by the U.N. Security Council in October.

A judge in Kenya is expected to issue a ruling on Jan 26 regarding an order currently blocking the deployment.

A second day of unrest in the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros on Thursday left one person dead and at least six others injured, a health official said.

The protests came after incumbent President Azali Assoumani was declared the winner in an election held over the weekend that was denounced by the country’s opposition parties as fraudulent.

The announcement late Tuesday that Assoumani had won a fourth term triggered violent protests that started Wednesday, when a government minister’s house was set on fire and a car at the home of another minister was burned.

AT LEAST 1 DEAD AS TROPICAL CYCLONE BELAL BATTERS MAURITIUS, RÉUNION

People also vandalized a national food depot. Several roads in and around the capital, Moroni, were barricaded by protesters who burned tires. Riot police clashed with the demonstrators.

The government ordered a curfew on Wednesday night, until 6 a.m. Thursday.

The person who died was a young man, said Dr. Djabir Ibrahim, the head of the emergency department at the El-Maarouf Hospital in Moroni. He said that the man likely died of a gunshot wound. One of the injured was in a serious condition, he said.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk appealed for calm and urged authorities to allow people to protest peacefully. His office said that it received reports of security forces firing tear gas at peaceful protesters, including on a march by a group of women earlier this week. Türk also said that he was concerned with repression in Comoros in recent years.

Opposition parties have claimed that Sunday's vote was fraudulent and say the national electoral commission is biased toward Assoumani, a former military officer who first came to power in a 1999 coup. The opposition has called for the election results to be canceled.

Comoros has a population of around 800,000 spread over three islands and has had a series of coups since independence from France in 1975.

Assoumani, 65, was reelected with 62.97% of the vote after changing the constitution in 2018 to allow him to sidestep term limits. He has been accused of cracking down on dissent and previously banned protests. He chairs the African Union, where his one-year largely ceremonial term will end next month.

The government said that a number of protesters were arrested, without offering specifics, and accused the opposition of finding "it difficult to accept defeat" and inciting the unrest.

"We know the instigators," government spokesperson Houmed Msaidie said. "Some of them are in the hands of law enforcement. We will continue to look for them, because there is no question of the state giving way to violence."

A coalition of opposition parties denied the accusations, saying the unrest shows that people are "fed up" with the government.

When Assoumani changed the constitution in 2018, the move triggered mass demonstrations across the nation and an armed uprising on one of the islands that was quelled by the army.

After taking power in a coup, Assoumani was first elected president in 2002. He stepped down in 2006, but returned to win a second term in 2016.

Slovenia will set up temporary facilities for handling migrant arrivals at the border with Croatia, citing a surge in arrivals, the government announced Thursday.

Authorities will put up a fence, two accommodation containers, tents and sanitary facilities at the former border crossing in Obrezje, state-owned STA news agency reported.

OFFICIAL FROM POLAND'S PREVIOUS RIGHT-WING GOVERNMENT CHARGED IN CASH-FOR-VISAS SCANDAL

The official border checkpoint with Croatia was removed last year when Slovenia’s eastern neighbor joined Europe’s free-travel Schengen area. But some border control has been reintroduced because of increased migration through the region.

Slovenia has reported a surge in crossings of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa looking for ways to reach Western Europe. Italy, Slovenia and Croatia have agreed to cooperate to curb migration through the three neighboring countries.

Slovenia’s government said the temporary facilities for migrants will be set up because local police stations in the area lack the capacity to deal with the influx of migrants.

The arrangement will last for no longer than three years, the government said.

Migrants come to Slovenia from Croatia after passing along the so-called Balkan land route that leads from Turkey to Greece or Bulgaria and then on toward North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia.

A donkey cart carrying a suspected improvised bomb blew up at a checkpoint on the Kenya-Somalia border Thursday, killing one Kenyan police officer and critically wounding four others, authorities said.

A Kenyan police report seen by The Associated Press said the cart pulled by two donkeys and ridden by one man passed the Somali checkpoint of Bula Hawa and entered Kenyan territory, where it was stopped by officers to check the load.

The rider jumped off and ran back into Somalia moments before the cart exploded, causing a huge fire at the border post in the northern county of Mandera, the report said.

The report said that the cart's driver was arrested by Somali police as he tried to flee, and that the Mandera county security team was negotiating with the Bula Hawa police to have him handed over to Kenyan authorities.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion immediately fell on al-Shabab, a Somalia-based extremist group linked to al-Qaida.

Al-Shabab has vowed retribution on Kenya for sending troops into Somalia in 2011 to fight the militants. The group had staged a string of kidnappings of Westerners inside Kenya that threatened the country's tourism; a key pillar of its economy.

The Kenyan forces became part of the African Union peacekeeping mission that has bolstered Somalia's weak government for more than 20 years against an al-Shabab insurgency. The AU mission last year began a drawdown of its troops under a U.N. Security Council resolution to return control to the Somali government.

In recent years, al-Shabab attacks in Kenya have been limited to roadside bombs mainly targeting the military and police. On Monday, five police officers were wounded when their truck was hit by a roadside bomb in Lafey Mandera county.

Karim Wade, the son of a former president of Senegal and a strong political figure in the country, has renounced his French nationality to pave the way for him to run in next month's presidential election.

Wade said Wednesday in a statement on X formerly known as Twitter, that France's interior minister confirmed his renunciation. His dual French and Senegalese nationalities have been a subject of debate because Senegal's constitution says candidates can run only if they are exclusively Senegalese.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO UPHOLDS PRESIDENT'S REELECTION, REJECTS OPPOSITION CANDIDATE'S ANNULMENT BID

The announcement comes days ahead of when the final list of candidates will be announced and weeks ahead of Senegal's presidential elections scheduled for the end of February.

Another candidate, Thierno Alassane Sall, launched an appeal with the Constitutional Council to invalidate Wade's candidacy.

Wade, seen as one of the main contenders, is part of the Senegalese Democratic Party. The party, under his father, former President Abdoulaye Wade, ran the country between 2000 and 2012.

In 2013 the younger Wade was charged with corruption and served three years in jail before going into exile in Qatar.

Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter being detained in a Russian prison, appeared resilient during a visit with U.S. officials on Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said.

Gershkovich is being held at Lefortovo Prison in Moscow after he was first detained in late March 2023 while reporting in Yekaterinburg, the fourth-largest city in Russia, and accused of espionage. 

"Today, US Ambassador to the Russian Federation Lynn Tracy visited the wrongfully detained @WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center," the U.S. Embassy in Moscow posted on X. "Evan remains resilient and is grateful for the support of friends, family, and supporters. We continue to call for Evan's immediate release."

Gershkovich has been considered wrongfully detained by the United States since he was first arrested.

EVAN GERSHKOVICH'S MOTHER SAYS HE'S KEEPING ‘SPIRITS UP’ IN RUSSIAN PRISON DESIGNED TO ‘BREAK YOU DOWN’

The Biden administration and The Wall Street Journal have called the spying charges against Gershkovich absurd and demanded his release while working behind the scenes to bring him home. 

The Journal reports that Gershkovich will be held in pre-trial detention through at least Jan. 30.

REPORTER EVAN GERSHKOVICH’S IMPRISONMENT IN RUSSIA A ‘BODY BLOW’ AS WALL STREET JOURNAL, US WORK TO FREE HIM

Since his detention, Gershkovich has captured international attention and become a symbol of the dangers of journalism in an authoritarian nation. 

An estimated 320 journalists around the world were imprisoned because of their work toward the end of 2023, according to a report issued Thursday by the Committee to Protect Journalists, which called it a disturbing attempt to smother independent voices.

Fox News’ Greg Norman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released footage of a ground operation in Gaza that uncovered a Hamas training area on Thursday.

Israeli soldiers eliminated dozens of Hamas members and seized a cache of weapons from the compound, known by Hamas as the "Martyr's Outpost." Located in Khan Younis, the outpost held the offices of the Battalion Commander of Hamas' Khan Younis Brigade and other Hamas military commanders, Israel said.

The operation involved close-quarters combat and with the assistance of tank fire and air support.

"The soldiers located numerous weapons and intelligence documents, including dozens of hand grenades, AK-47s, ammunition, excavation equipment, launchers, RPG missiles, explosives, and combat management documents," the IDF said in a statement.

WHITE HOUSE URGES ISRAEL TO SCALE BACK GROUND OPERATIONS IN GAZA AS WAR HITS 100 DAYS: 'IT'S THE RIGHT TIME'

Israel announced plans on Tuesday to scale back the fighting in southern Gaza in the near future, but combat remains intense in the region.

US-OWNED SHIP STRUCK BY MISSILE NEAR YEMEN, DEFENSE DEPARTMENT SAYS

The comment came a day after the White House urged Israel to ease its ground operations as the country’s war against Hamas in Gaza crossed the 100-day milestone on Sunday.

While Israel is in control of most of the territory in both northern and southern Gaza, Hamas remains able to operate thanks to its extensive network of tunnels and other infrastructure beneath the region's major population areas.

CENTCOM RELEASES STATEMENT AFTER LATEST HOUTHI ATTACK IN YEMEN: 'DESIGNED TO DEGRADE THE HOUTHI’S ABILITY'

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said during a public interview on Sunday that the U.S. has been speaking to Israel "about a transition to low-intensity operations" in Gaza.

"We believe it’s the right time for that transition. And we’re talking to them about doing that," he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the war will continue in some form for "many more months."

Fox News' Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.

A court of appeals in Thailand has handed a political activist what is believed to be a record sentence for the criminal offense of insulting the monarchy, giving him a 50-year prison term after finding him guilty of 25 violations of the law, a lawyers' group said Thursday.

Mongkhon Thirakot, 30, had originally been sentenced last year to 28 years in prison by the provincial court in the northern province of Chiang Rai for 14 of 27 posts on Facebook for which he was charged.

Mongkhon was found guilty by the Northern Region court of appeals in Chiang Rai on Thursday not just in the 14 cases, but also in 11 of the 13 cases for which the lower court had acquitted him, the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights announced.

FACTORY EXPLOSION KILLS AT LEAST 23 PEOPLE IN THAILAND, OFFICIALS SAY

The court of appeals sentenced him to an additional 22 years in prison, bringing his total to 50 years. Technically, he had been given a prison term of 75 years, but the sentence was cut by one-third in acknowledgment of his cooperation in the legal proceedings.

The law on insulting the monarchy, an offense known as lèse-majesté, carries a prison term of three to 15 years for each count. It's often referred to as Article 112 after its designation in Thailand’s Criminal Code.

Critics say the law is often wielded as a tool to quash political dissent. Student-led pro-democracy protests beginning in 2020 openly criticized the monarchy, previously a taboo subject, leading to vigorous prosecutions under the law, which had previously been infrequently employed.

Since those protests, more than 260 people have been charged with the offense, according to the lawyers' group.

The court of appeals reversed the lower court’s acquittals on the basis that the law applied in instances where it wasn't the current monarch or his immediate family who was being referred to, which had been the standard for many years. However, as lèse-majesté prosecutions became more common over the last decade, a court case set a precedent by finding that past rulers were also covered by the law.

THAILAND CORRECTION DEPARTMENT REJECTS 'INMATE' LABEL FOR FORMER PRIME MINISTER THAKSIN SHINAWATRA

Theerapon Khoomsap, a member of Mongkhon’s defense team, confirmed the account given by the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. He said that the verdict didn't come as a surprise to him, and his team will appeal the case to the Supreme Court. However, Mongkhon’s application to be allowed to continue to be free on bail was denied.

The previous record prison term for the offense belonged to a former civil servant identified by the lawyers’ group only by her first name, Anchan. She was found guilty in 2021 on 29 counts for audio clips on Facebook and YouTube with comments deemed critical of the monarchy. The court initially announced her sentence as 87 years, but cut it in half because she pleaded guilty.

On Wednesday, prominent human rights lawyer and political activist Arnon Nampa was sentenced to four years in prison for three Facebook posts that were considered to be a violation of the law. The sentence comes on top of another four-year term handed to him last year for the content of a speech he gave in 2020.

U.S. forces conducted strikes on two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were being prepared to launch, two U.S. defense officials confirmed to Fox News. 

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

President Biden said Thursday that U.S. military strikes against the Iran-backed Yemeni group will continue as long 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. 

"Since November, the Houthis have launched unprecedented attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, as well as military forces positioned in the area to defend the safety and security of commercial shipping," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. "These attacks against international shipping have endangered mariners, disrupted the free flow of commerce, and interfered with navigational rights and freedoms." 

Blinken added that the designation of the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group "seeks to promote accountability for the group’s terrorist activities" and "if the Houthis cease their attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the United States will reevaluate this designation." 

Fox News' Liz Friden, Fox News Digital's Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Police and soldiers in Mexico have discovered a small factory used to make drone bombs, grenade launchers and fake military uniforms in a region where the Jalisco cartel and gangs have been waging turf wars. 

The facility, found late Wednesday by police and soldiers in the town of La Huacana in the western Michoacan state, had a computer-controlled lathe and milling machine, suggesting the operators had considerable metalworking knowledge, according to The Associated Press. 

Authorities said the factory produced bombs usually dropped by drones, as well as under-barrel, 40mm grenade launchers designed to be attached to assault rifles. 

The Jalisco cartel and local gangs have been fighting in Michoacan for years, the AP reports.

DEADLY CARTEL ATTACK STRIKES REMOTE MEXICAN VILLAGE 

The warring gangs frequently use bomb-dropping drones, improvised explosive devices buried in roadways, .50 caliber sniper rifles, homemade armored vehicles and grenades. They also often establish checkpoints on highways and wear fake military uniforms. 

The U.S. State Department advises Americans not to travel to the Michoacan state due to crime and kidnapping. 

"Crime and violence are widespread in Michoacan state," it said in a travel advisory last year. "U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents have been victims of kidnapping." 

BRIDE ARRESTED FOR EXTORTION SCHEME IN MEXICO, HANDCUFFED IN HER WEDDING DRESS, PROSECUTORS SAY 

Last week, an alleged cartel drone attack in a remote community in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero -- which borders Michoacan state -- killed five people, prosecutors said. 

"Authorities found charred bone remains corresponding to 5 people from a burned vehicle," the Guerrero state prosecutor's office said in a statement. 

The attack is believed to have involved drones operated by cartel members, as well as gunmen, according to the religious and human rights organization Minerva Bello Center. 

Prosecutors attributed the attack to a "confrontation" between warring criminal groups La Familia Michoacana and Los Tlacos, "who maintain a dispute for control of the area." 

Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and The Associated Press contributed to this report.