World News

The Israeli government, which has been embroiled in a war against Hamas in Gaza and in skirmishes against other terror groups, now faces internal pressure with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lead opposition party filing a motion that could potentially remove him.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid filed a no-confidence motion against the coalition government on Wednesday, initiating the process that could result in the Israeli Knesset finding new leadership, Tazpit Press Service reported. This is the first no-confidence motion since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, which crossed 100 days on Sunday.

According to the report, the motion comes after the government passed a 55 billion shekel ($14.5 billion) budget on Monday that included a supplemental package of 9 billion shekels ($2.4 billion) for reservists, the regular army and their families.

"This government cannot continue to exist. It is a failure that costs human lives and the future of the country," Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party said, arguing the budget "favors unnecessary offices and coalition funds over aid to evacuees, reservists and to strengthening the sense of security."

IRANIAN PROXIES STEPPING UP THEIR DRONE ATTACKS IN WAR WITH ISRAEL

The Yesh Atid Party said that the "shameless" budget was the result of internal fighting and that petty politics was preventing the current coalition government from serving the needs of the Israeli people.

"While the members of the cabinet are busy with quarrels and politics instead of the management of the war, the government approved a shameless budget," it said, TPS reported.

The Labor Party, which has just a few members, announced it will also file a motion of no confidence as early as next week.

ISRAELI WAR CABINET DIVIDED OVER PLANS TO SCALE BACK GAZA WAR

"It’s been 103 days that our sons and daughters have been held captive by Hamas; 103 days that the State of Israel is torn between Israel and Gaza. And the government doesn’t care at all," the Labor Party said. "There is no trust in a government that doesn’t do everything to bring them back. There is no trust in a government that does not put the abducted as the first order of priority."

"This is a government that cares about its own corrupt interests and not those who give their lives for it. This is a government in which there is no confidence. It should be overthrown."

The no-confidence vote allows members to vote whether or not they have trust in the current leading coalition. Should this vote fail, the legislative body would enter negotiations to form a new coalition and potentially elect a new leader.

The votes come immediately after the ruling Likud Party announced Knesset members may again bring private bills, TPS reported.

Previously, this process was skirted by the war effort and the leading coalition’s effort to fast-track legislation to aid the war effort. The restriction was lifted on January 17.

Netanyahu survived a pair of no-confidence votes in March 2023.

The no-confidence motions were in protest over Netanyahu's judicial overhaul plan. One motion failed by a vote of 59-53, the second failed 60-51.

Fox News' Ben Evansky contributed to this report.

Russia’s top diplomat on Thursday dismissed a U.S. proposal to resume a dialogue on nuclear arms control, saying it’s impossible while Washington offers military support to Ukraine.

Speaking at his annual news conference, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of fueling global security risks by encouraging Ukraine to ramp up strikes on Russian territory and warned that Moscow will achieve its goals in the conflict despite Western assistance for Kyiv.

Commenting on a U.S. proposal to resume contacts in the sphere of nuclear arms control, Lavrov described it as "unacceptable," saying that Moscow has put forward its stance in a diplomatic letter last month. He argued that for such talks to be held, Washington first needs to revise its current hostile policy toward Russia.

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

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in June the Biden administration is ready to talk to Russia without conditions about nuclear arms control even as Russia-U.S. ties are at their lowest point since the Cold War, noting "it is in neither of our countries’ interest to embark on opening the competition in the strategic nuclear forces."

But Lavrov charged that Washington’s push for the revival of nuclear talks has been driven by a desire to resume inspections of Russia’s nuclear weapons sites. He described such U.S. demands as "indecent" and cynical in view of Ukraine’s attacks on Russian nuclear-capable bomber bases during the conflict.

He mocked the U.S. offer to resume nuclear arms dialogue, arguing that Washington's position amounts to saying, "we have declared you an enemy, but we’re ready to talk about how we could look at your strategic nuclear arsenal again, that’s something different."

Extensive mutual inspections of nuclear weapons sites were envisaged by the New START treaty, which then-Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed in 2010. The inspections were halted in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and never resumed.

In February 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Moscow’s participation in the treaty, saying Russia could not allow U.S. inspections of its nuclear sites at a time when Washington and its NATO allies have openly declared Moscow’s defeat in Ukraine as their goal. Moscow emphasized, however, that it wasn’t withdrawing from the pact altogether and would continue to respect the caps on nuclear weapons the treaty set.

The New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control pact between Russia and the United States, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. It's set to expire in 2026, and the lack of dialogue on anchoring a successor deal has worried arms control advocates.

"Amid a ‘hybrid war’ waged by Washington against Russia, we aren’t seeing any basis, not only for any additional joint measures in the sphere of arms control and reduction of strategic risks, but for any discussion of strategic stability issues with the U.S.," Lavrov said. "We firmly link such possibility to the West fully renouncing its malicious course aimed at undermining Russia’s security and interests."

The minister said Washington’s push for restarting nuclear arms talks is rooted in a desire to "try to establish control over our nuclear arsenal and minimize nuclear risks for itself," but added that "those risks are emerging as a result of forceful pressure on our country."

He accused the West of blocking any talks on ending the conflict and inciting the ramping up of attacks on Russia.

"Such encouragement and the transfer of relevant weapons shows that the West doesn’t want any constructive solution," Lavrov said. "The West is pushing toward the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis, and that raises new strategic risks."

Asked if tensions with the West over Ukraine could spiral into a showdown resembling the 1962 Cuban missile crisis – when the U.S. and the Soviet Union found themselves on the edge of nuclear war – Lavrov sternly warned against encouraging Ukraine to strike targets in Russia.

He specifically accused Britain of inciting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to order such attacks, although he didn't offer any proof to back the claim.

"London is literally egging on Zelenskyy to bomb any facilities anywhere in Russia," Lavrov said.

BRITISH DEFENSE CHIEF WARNS WAR POSSIBLE WITHIN 5 YEARS WITH RIVALS CHINA, RUSSIA, IRAN: 'INFLECTION POINT'

He reaffirmed that Russia will pursue what it calls the "special military operation" regardless of Western pressure.

"We will consistently and persistently press the goals of the special military operation and we will achieve them," he said. "They should have no hope that Russia could be defeated in any way. Those in the West who fantasize about it have failed to learn history lessons."

On other foreign policy issues, Lavrov talked at length about growing influence of the Global South and argued that Western sway in international affairs was waning.

He hailed Russia-China ties, saying they are going through their "best period in history" and are stronger than a conventional military union.

Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow's call for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, describing it as the only way to ensure security for both Palestinians and Israel. He also criticized the U.S.-led attacks on Yemen, saying that "the more the Americans and the British bomb, the less desire to talk the Houthis have."

U.K. Prime Minster Rishi Sunak is not backing down on his hardline approach in sending illegal immigrants to Rwanda, despite a rebellion by some of his Conservative lawmakers and warnings that his proposed policy could violate international law.

Sunak is trying to pass a bill into law that would give the government permission to send migrants who arrive without permission in Britain to Rwanda and he says he will ignore international law in order to see the migrants are deported.

The U.K. leader’s legislation, the "Safety of Rwanda Bill," passed the lower House of Commons on Wednesday by 320 votes to 276, with 11 right-wing Conservatives rebelling. 

RUSSIA WARNS UK THAT TROOP DEPLOYMENT IN UKRAINE WOULD BE 'DECLARATION OF WAR'

The essence of the bill is to override a decision by the U.K. Supreme Court in November that declared the policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda unlawful. 

Under the plan, migrants who arrive in Britain illegally face being sent to Rwanda, some 4,000 miles away, to have their asylum claims processed. The legislation declares Rwanda a safe country to deport asylum seekers.

The bill now passes to the unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, where Sunak does not command an automatic majority. Many peers could oppose a bill that critics say might lead to Britain breaching international law.

UK PRIME MINISTER RISHI SUNAK FACES PARLIAMENT OVER DECISION TO JOIN US STRIKES ON YEMEN'S HOUTHIS

"The treaty with Rwanda is signed and the legislation which deems Rwanda a safe country has been passed unamended in our elected chamber," Sunak said at a press briefing Thursday.

Sunak, who took office in late 2022, has promised to slash the number of illegal immigrants entering the country, including stopping people making the dangerous journey of about 20 miles across the English Channel from France in small boats. The U.K. government says it has detected at least 110,000 illegal immigrants crossing the channel in boats since 2018, with migrants mostly arriving from Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. 

Sunak's push to clamp down on illegal immigration has been dubbed "stop the boats."

The first planned flight to take migrants to Rwanda was blocked when the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued "interim measures" under its Rule 39 provision – effectively granting a temporary emergency injunction. The orders are issued on an exceptional basis when applicants would "otherwise face a real risk of serious and irreversible harm" and have been used to stop asylum seekers from being deported. 

"I've been crystal clear repeatedly that I won't let a foreign court stop us from getting flights off and getting this deterrent up and running," Sunak said, according to Sky News. 

"The bill specifically contains a power that makes clear that ministers are the ones that make these decisions. Parliament has supported that."

"[The bill also] makes it perfectly clear that the domestic courts should respect that decision. I would not have put that clause in the bill if I was not prepared to use it. So, look, if you're asking me are there circumstances in which I will ignore rule 39, then the answer is clearly yes."

Sunak has said previously he wants the first flights to take off in the spring. 

Around 60 Tory MPs defied the government by voting for amendments to beef up the law – including proposals to limit appeals and stop interventions against deportation flights from international courts, but none of the amendments were approved, Sky News reported.

"There is now only one question," Sunak said.

"Will the opposition in the appointed House of Lords try and frustrate the will of the people as expressed by the elected House? Or will they get on board and do the right thing?"

 Reuters contributed to this report.

A suspect was arrested in the brutal killing in Brazil of an American art dealer who was the co-owner of a prominent gallery in Manhattan, police said Thursday.

Brent Sikkema, 75, was found dead on Monday with 18 stab wounds in his Rio de Janeiro apartment.

Rio state police arrested a man who they identified as Alejandro Triana Trevez near the city of Uberaba, in the neighboring state of Minas Gerais. The man, who local media say is Cuban, was on the run and was found resting in a gas station.

NYC ART DEALER BRENT SIKKEMA FOUND DEAD IN BRAZIL IN SUSPECTED HOMICIDE: REPORT

Police said Trevez allegedly took $3,000 from Sikkema’s home. Detective Felipe Curi, who leads the state police homicide unit, told CBN Rio that the main line of investigation is theft leading to homicide.

"Initial findings of our investigation indicate that Alejandro (Trevez) came from Sao Paulo specifically to commit this crime," Curi said. He then returned to Sao Paulo, leading investigators to believe he had "some kind of privileged information."

Law enforcement obtained a 30-day prison warrant against Trevez, which Curi said would allow them to explore other leads and answer questions such as whether the two men knew each other.

GRANDFATHER KILLED ON NYC SUBWAY WAS TRYING TO BE PEACEMAKER IN DISPUTE: POLICE

Originally founded in 1991, Sikkema Jenkins & Co. shows works by Jeffrey Gibson, Arturo Herrera, Sheila Hicks, Vik Muniz, Kara Walker and other artists on 22nd Street in New York near the Chelsea Piers.

Sikkema began his career in 1971 at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York, where he worked as director of exhibitions. He opened his first gallery in 1976 in Boston.

In 2021, during a trip to the Swiss city of Zurich, Sikkema described himself on Instagram as a "chaos kind of guy" and said Brazil and Cuba were his preferred type of destination.

An Ecuadorian prosecutor who was spearheading the investigation into the on-air armed attack on a TV station last week has been shot and killed, the country's attorney general confirmed. 

César Suárez, who handled cases involving organized transnational crime in Guayas province, was fatally shot in the port city of Guayaquil, Ecuador Attorney General Diana Salazar said.

"I am going to be emphatic – the organized crime groups, the criminals, the terrorists, will not hold back our commitment to Ecuadorian society," Salazar said in a video statement on Wednesday. "We will continue with more force and commitment. We have to make it clear that this atrocity won't send a message in contrast to the work that we're accomplishing toward justice in Ecuador. We’re making a call to the forces of order to ensure the security of those carrying out their duties." 

"It is impossible not to be broken by the death of a colleague in the fight against organized crime. We will remain firm in his name: for him, for the country, for justice. Thank you for your work, César. Rest in peace. My solidarity with his family and friends," Salazar wrote in a post on X.

ARMED GUNMEN TAKE OVER ECUADOR TV STUDIO DURING LIVE BROADCAST, THREATEN STAFF: 'A TERRORIST ACT'

General Commander of the National Police of Ecuador Augusto Zapata Correa announced on Thursday morning that two suspects had been arrested in connection to Suárez's death. In a post on X, Correa shared photos blurring the faces of the two men in custody, as well as weapons and clothing also seized. 

The commander said a rifle, two pistols, feeders and two vehicles found during the investigation allegedly link the suspects to the prosecutor's slaying. 

Local reports said Suárez was shot and killed while driving near his office. 

The day before he was killed, Suárez told the newspaper El Universo that he had not been granted police protection despite interrogating the 13 people arrested in connection to the shocking attack on the TC television station in Guayas last week, when masked men burst into the studio during a live broadcast and threatened journalists at gunpoint, the BBC reported.

ECUADOR'S PRESIDENT DECLARES 'INTERNAL ARMED CONFLICT' AS US EMBASSY MONITORING THREATS TO SAFETY OF AMERICANS

Journalist Jose Luis Calderon was seen pleading with the assailants, while station employees were ordered to sit or lie on the studio floor. 

TC's deputy director of news said afterward that one cameraman was shot in the leg and another's arm was broken during the incident. 

The live broadcaster assault led President Daniel Noboa to declare that Ecuador is in an "internal armed conflict" amid a surge of killings and other crimes tied to drug trafficking.

Suárez was also in charge of the Metastasis case involving an Ecuadorian drug lord who allegedly received favorable treatment from judges, prosecutors, police officers and high officials.

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks, including the abductions of several police officers, in the wake of a notorious gang leader’s apparent weekend escape from prison.

José Adolfo Macías Villamar, leader of Los Choneros, one of the Ecuadorian gangs considered responsible for a spike in car bombings, kidnappings and slayings, was discovered missing from his prison cell where he was serving a sentence for drug trafficking.

His disappearance earlier this month led the government to declare a state of emergency that involved sending the military into prisons, which sparked a wave of at least 30 attacks around the South American country, including the assault at the television station in Guayaquil.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Multiple children and teachers reportedly have died in India on Thursday after a boat carrying around two dozen passengers – which was only meant to hold just 16 – capsized in a lake, officials say. 

The incident happened late afternoon at Harni Lake in Vadodara during a picnic event that was organized by a private school, according to The Indian Express. 

A local hospital told the newspaper that a boy and two girls, all 15 years old, had died after the boat capsized, as well as two 45-year-old teachers. 

"The children had arrived at the lake at 4:30 p.m. and accompanied by their teachers, they boarded the boat in the lake zone," local government official Sheetal Mistry told The Indian Express. "The children were wearing life jackets but the reports indicate that 24 persons were made to sit in one boat which otherwise has a capacity to carry just 16 passengers." 

INDIAN NAVY RESCUES CREW OF US-OWNED SHIP ATTACK BY HOUTHIS 

A rescue operation was launched following the sinking of the boat, with some locals managing to rescue children before first responders could reach the site, according to India TV.

The station reports that the boat was carrying as many as 27 people – 23 children and four teachers. 

"The incident of children drowning after the boat capsized in Vadodara's Harni lake is extremely heartbreaking. I pray for the peace of the souls of the innocent children who lost their lives," Bhupendra Patel, the chief minister of India's Gujarat state, wrote on X. "We all feel and pray that more and more lives can be saved."

The United Nations has scheduled a meeting of its principal security organ to consult on the growing threat of North Korean aggression and the issue of nuclear weapon development in the nation.

South Korea, the United States and Japan requested the meeting following several weeks of escalation in the East Asian region.

The U.N. Security Council added consultations regarding "non-proliferation" and "DPRK" to its schedule for Thursday, according to the international body's website.

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

"DPRK" stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the country's official name.

The reclusive East Asian regime has become a recurring subject of international headlines following a series of military escalations and threats of nuclear weapon capabilities.

Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un announced Tuesday that he ordered the disestablishment of all diplomatic and solidarity initiatives with South Korea, accusing the country of military aggression alongside the U.S.

The U.S., Japan, and South Korea conducted possibly their largest joint naval exercise on Wednesday off Jeju island in response.

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

Kim has threatened that even the slightest disregard for national boundaries was now grounds for war.

"As the southern border of our country has been clearly drawn, the illegal 'northern limit line' and any other boundary can never be tolerated, and if the ROK violates even 0.001 mm of our territorial land, air and waters, it will be considered a war provocation," the dictator said.

Last year, the North Korean government inscribed an official policy goal of increasing its nuclear capabilities into the national constitution. 

The 14th Supreme People's Assembly, the unicameral legislative body of the country, made the constitutional change in September 2023.

"The DPRK's nuclear force-building policy has been made permanent as the basic law of the state, which no one is allowed to flout with anything," Kim Jong Un said during the legislative session. "This is a historic event that provided a powerful political lever for remarkably strengthening the national defense capabilities."

Japan’s Defence Minister signed a contract on Thursday authorizing his military to purchase Tomahawk missiles from the United States, officials said.

Japanese Minister Minoru Kihara joined US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel in Tokyo, where the two officials signed a deal for Japan to purchase 400 US-made long-range Tomahawk missiles. The deal comes as Japan seeks to ramp up its military capabilities to counter regional security threats, including from China, North Korea, and Russia.

Japan will "strengthen its stand-off defense capabilities in order to disrupt and defeat the forces invading Japan early and from far away," the Japan Ministry of Defense/Japan Self-Defense Forces said in a press release on Wednesday. "In order to swiftly build this capability, JMOD / JSDF is, first of all, working towards the prompt procurement of indigenous stand-off missiles."

"In addition, as announced in October of last year, the Government of Japan has also decided to procure Tomahawk, which is complementary the indigenous stand-off missiles, one year ahead of schedule," the statement continued.

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

According to the statement, Japan will ultimately acquire the missile between fiscal years 2025 and 2027. 

"We are pleased to announce that we have concluded a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for the acquisition of Tomahawk missiles and related equipment with United States Government under a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreement, which was signed at the Ministry of Defense on Thursday, January 18, 2024, in the presence of Mr. KIHARA, Minister of Defense of Japan, and His Excellency Mr. Rahm EMANUEL, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Japan," the Ministry of Defense said.

JAPAN APPROVES MASSIVE MILITARY SPENDING GROWTH, LIFTS BAN ON LETHAL WEAPONS EXPORTS

It added: "We will continue to promote the procurement of various stand-off missiles and work for early building of stand-off defense capabilities based on the Defense Buildup Program."

The purchase comes as China’s aggressive maneuvers in the Indo-Pacific region have escalated tensions with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and other countries. These smaller countries have sought assistance from the U.S. via trade agreements and military technologies.

Separately, Japan has expressed concern over a developing relationship between Russia and North Korea, as the latter country continues to ramp up its pursuit of nuclear and ballistic weapons.

Top nuclear envoys from the U.S., Japan and South Korea met on Thursday for a trilateral meeting in Seoul. The officials criticized North Korea's military cooperation with Moscow after the North's Foreign Minister's meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin and as the hermit country continues to conduct missile tests.

Japan’s Defence Minister signed a contract on Thursday authorizing his military to purchase Tomahawk missiles from the United States, officials said.

Japanese Minister Minoru Kihara joined US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel in Tokyo, where the two officials signed a deal for Japan to purchase 400 US-made long-rage Tomahawk missiles. The deal comes as Japan seeks to ramp up its military capabilities to counter regional security threats, including from China, North Korea, and Russia.

Japan will "strengthen its stand-off defense capabilities in order to disrupt and defeat the forces invading Japan early and from far away," the Japan Ministry of Defense/Japan Self-Defense Forces said in a press release on Wednesday. "In order to swiftly build this capability, JMOD / JSDF is, first of all, working towards the prompt procurement of indigenous stand-off missiles."

"In addition, as announced in October of last year, the Government of Japan has also decided to procure Tomahawk, which is complementary the indigenous stand-off missiles, one year ahead of schedule," the statement continued.

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

According to the statement, Japan will ultimately acquire the missile between fiscal years 2025 and 2027.

"We are pleased to announce that we have concluded a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for the acquisition of Tomahawk missiles and related equipment with United States Government under a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreement, which was signed at the Ministry of Defense on Thursday, January 18, 2024, in the presence of Mr. KIHARA, Minister of Defense of Japan, and His Excellency Mr. Rahm EMANUEL, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Japan," the Ministry of Defense said.

JAPAN APPROVES MASSIVE MILITARY SPENDING GROWTH, LIFTS BAN ON LETHAL WEAPONS EXPORTS

It added: "We will continue to promote the procurement of various stand-off missiles and work for early building of stand-off defense capabilities based on the Defense Buildup Program."

The purchase comes as China’s aggressive maneuvers in the Indo-Pacific region have escalated tensions with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and other countries. These smaller countries have sought assistance from the U.S. via trade agreements and military technologies.

Separately, Japan has expressed concern over a developing relationship between Russia and North Korea, as the latter country continues to ramp up its pursuit of nuclear and ballistic weapons.

Top nuclear envoys from the U.S., Japan and South Korea met on Thursday for a trilateral meeting in Seoul. The officials criticized North Korea's military cooperation with Moscow after the North's Foreign Minister's meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin and as the hermit country continues to conduct missile tests.

The Indian Navy says one of its guided-missile destroyers on Thursday has rescued the crew of a U.S.-owned ship that was attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels near the Red Sea. 

The military branch wrote in a post on X that INS Visakhapatnam, which was in the region already for anti-piracy operations, responded to a distress call from the M/V Genco Picardy following an attack in the Gulf of Aden. 

All 22 crew members onboard the ship, which included nine Indians, were reported safe by the Indian Navy. It added that a fire onboard the M/V Genco Picardy was under control and an inspection of the vessel determined that it was safe to continue transiting to its next port of call. 

An image released by the Indian Navy showed extensive burn marks on one side of the ship. 

HOUTHIS STILL CONDUCTING ATTACKS BUT NEED TO ASK HOW MUCH OF CAPABILITY DO THEY WANT ‘DEGRADED’: PENTAGON 

U.S. Central Command said Wednesday that a one-way attack drone was launched from Houthi controlled areas in Yemen and struck the M/V Genco Picardy, which it described as a "Marshall Islands flagged, U.S.-owned and operated bulk carrier ship." 

The attack was the 34th on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since Nov. 19, and the second time a U.S. owned and operated ship has been hit by the Houthis over a 2-day period this week. 

The Houthis said its weaponry made a "direct hit" on the ship, according to Reuters. 

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION RELISTS HOUTHIS AS TERROR ORGANIZATION AFTER REVERSING TRUMP MOVE 

The incident happened on the same day that the U.S. State Department relisted the Iran-backed Houthis as a terrorist organization. 

"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 contributed to this report. 

Israel's top government officials are in disagreement about whether to scale back the war against Hamas in Gaza and focus on a more substantial hostage release deal.

War cabinet member Gadi Eisenkot, whose son was recently killed while fighting in Gaza, issued a public call for Israel to engage in serious hostage negotiations. He was joined by fellow cabinet member Benny Gantz, but other members insist that the war against Hamas must continue.

Israel's leaders must "show courage and to lead to a large deal which will bring home the hostages," Eisenkot said this week, according to Israeli media. "Your time is running out, and each day that passes endangers their lives."

Meanwhile, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has criticized even the partial withdrawal of troops Israel conducted earlier this month. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant likewise warned that "political indecision" could derail the IDF's efforts in Gaza, according to NBC News.

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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that the war against Hamas is expected to continue in some form for "many more months."

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

President Biden's administration has urged Israel to scale back its Gaza offensive, but a recent poll shows that Israeli citizens largely oppose listening to that advice. A huge majority of Israeli citizens, 66%, supported continued heavy bombing in Gaza, according to a January 2 poll from the Israel Democracy Institute.

According to the poll, 56% of Israelis believe that continuing intensive fighting in Gaza remains the most effective means of getting their hostages home.

The IDF announced plans to partially scale back its offensive in southern Gaza earlier this week.

Gallant said at a news conference Monday that Israel recently ended its intensive ground operation in northern Gaza after taking military control of the area and that he expected similar action would happen in the south as well.

"It will end soon. In both places we will reach the moment for the next stage," he said, referencing both northern and southern Gaza.

Gallant did not provide specifics as to when troops, tanks and other equipment would be removed from the territory. He also ruled out a cease-fire, saying military pressure on Hamas is the best way to secure the release of the more than 100 hostages still in Hamas captivity.

Fox News' Lawrence Richard contributed to this report

U.S. lawmakers have sent a letter of warning to the U.S. Navy saying the country could be wholly unprepared for a possible conflict should the military follow through with a plan to move fuel from Hawaii to storage facilities across the Indo-Pacific.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on China, said in a letter to Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro dated Jan. 17 that a plan to redistribute fuel from Hawaii's Red Hill underground bulk storage facility was a "strategic imperative," Reuters reported. He cautioned, however, that the Defense Department had yet to develop a long-term solution.

"It is unclear how exactly the Navy will replace and distribute the aggregate bulk fuel capacity of Red Hill," said Gallagher, R-Wis, noting that U.S. operations in the Pacific would "grind to a halt" without a logistics network to ship the oil then to ensure ease of access.

"The Navy appears to be short – by several dozen – ships that will be needed to transport and deliver fuel to our bases and forces operating across the Indo-Pacific," he continued. "We must address potential weaknesses in our logistical supply lines, while we still have the time to do so."

BRITISH DEFENSE CHIEF WARNS WAR POSSIBLE WITHIN 5 YEARS WITH RIVALS CHINA, RUSSIA, IRAN: 'INFLECTION POINT'

In October 2023, the Pentagon revealed the Red Hill storage facility at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam suffered a leak that contaminated the water systems. It then began draining the 1940s-era facility, saying the fuel would be loaded by ship and transported to existing support sites. This process is expected to take several years.

CHINA SAYS US STRIKES IN YEMEN 'UNLIKELY' TO REACH DESIRED GOALS: 'CONTRADICTORY AND IRRESPONSIBLE'

In Gallagher’s letter, the Republican lawmaker cited a 2016 Defense Department determination that it would need 86 tankers for moving such equipment. He requested that Del Toro explain to the committee whether the department had enough forward fuel storage facilities and would have access to refinery capacity for operations in the Indo-Pacific.

Gallagher also asked the secretary whether the Navy had identified secure locations to build replacement facilities for Red Hill, and whether it had plans to integrate facilities of allies and partners in redistributing fuel.

A Navy spokesperson affirmed the secretary would respond to the letter accordingly.

"As with all congressional correspondence, the Department of the Navy will respond, as appropriate. We have nothing additional to provide at this time," the spokesperson said, per Reuters.

U.S. military experts continue to warn that the U.S. is unprepared to respond to China’s hegemonic ambitions in the Indo-Pacific, which include seizing territories, facilitating trade negotiations and managing trade routes, and expanding its operational control over disputed waters.

These experts have warned of gaps in U.S. defenses as China, which now has more naval vessels than the United States, continues to dramatically expand its military.

Reuters contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM – Beginning Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists used remote controlled drones to disarm tanks and knock out surveillance cameras during its surprise attack on Israel, through to last week, when a Hezbollah drone from Lebanon landed directly in an army base in northern Israel, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly becoming part of the weapons arsenal used by Iranian-backed non-state players in their war against the Jewish state.

While Israel has in place what it calls "an aerial defense array" – used multiple times over the past three months to thwart "hostile aircraft" from Gaza and Lebanon – as UAVs become easier to obtain, manufacture, enhance and weaponize, Israel, as well as other countries around the world, are racing to contend with an ever more lethal form of combat that is already outpacing existing military defense systems.

"The Israeli – and the U.S. – militaries have been using drones for a long time, especially in counterterrorism, for intelligence gathering or for precision strikes in order to distinguish between civilians and fighters," Dr. Liran Antebi, program director of advanced technologies and national security at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, told Fox News Digital.

US IMPOSES NEW ROUND OF SANCTIONS ON NETWORK INVOLVED IN IRAN’S DRONE PRODUCTION

"However, what was once the silver bullet used by democracies in counterterrorism and to act in more ethical ways, is now in the hands of terrorists or non-democratic states and is being used in the opposite way," she said. 

According to Antebi, ISIS was already a huge fan of UAVs when it waged jihad in Iraq and Syria a decade ago. Now, more sophisticated, and much more lethal armed drones, are taking center stage in global conflicts, most recently in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. In some cases, Russian soldiers have used military grade UAVs, including those created by Iran, to strike right in the heart of civilian populations.

In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently declared a plan to produce a million drones this year to fight back against Russia. And Russia, according to reports, is also increasing its drone stocks, including stepping up purchase of the Iranian-designed Shahed 136 suicide drone, a move that could have direct impact and increase the capabilities of groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the Houthi terror group in Yemen, which is also considered a proxy of Tehran.

"While Israel is considered one of the world’s leaders in producing and using high-quality drones and UAVs, as well as a leading country in the field of counter systems to fight against those technologies, it has not been very effective at implementing those defense mechanisms," Antebi said, using Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack as an example.

IRAN PRAISES HOUTHI PROXY GROUP RAIDING US MILITARY ASSETS, ISRAEL: 'SUPPORT TO THE RESISTANCE FRONT'

She said that since the start of the current Gaza war, Hamas, Hezbollah and even the Houthis, had used all manner of UAVs to strike Israel, ranging from enhanced "off-the-shelf" drones to more sophisticated military-grade UAVs, capable of dropping bombs or of self-exploding.

"What we have not seen yet in our arena are the larger UAVs capable of launching missiles, which we know Iran is already producing," Antebi said. "We also haven't seen any FPV (first person view) drones yet, which we also know are being used in Ukraine."

Unlike ordinary drones, which are operated using a mobile phone or tablet and can be easily tracked using existing defensive technology, FPVs are operated with VR goggles and are much more difficult to detect and intercept.

Tal Mimran, from the Cyber Security Research Center in the Faculty of Law at Hebrew University, told Fox News Digital, that the use of armed drones, even the simplest ones, by non-state actors was a game-changer for Israel – as well as for other Western democracies with conventional armies bound by international law. 

"When we think of an army like the U.S., Israel, the U.K., a drone is a technical weapon that is used alongside more significant tools such as airplanes or helicopters, but when it comes to a weaker state, and specifically non-state actors, it is a strategic change," he said, adding that Iran’s training of terror groups in the art of drone warfare was "closing the gap between Israel and rogue groups such as Hamas or Hezbollah."

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR: IDF UNCOVERS EVIDENCE OF HAMAS DEVELOPING PRECISION MISSILE CAPABILITIES WITH IRAN'S HELP

While Israel has in place a multibillion-dollar rocket and missile air defense system designed to respond to attacks on multiple fronts and which can easily take down the relatively crude rockets lobbed by Hamas, the midrange rockets and missiles possessed by Hezbollah and even the longer-range ballistic missiles fired in recent weeks by the Houthis from Yemen, smaller, more nimble threats from armed or exploding drones are still a challenge.

"Israel deals very well with a missile spread and the Iron Dome can intercept some of the drones," said Mimran. "But there is no doubt this is a game changer." 

Already, the situation appears to be changing. Earlier this month, for the first time, the Israeli army said that it used an advanced drone in a precision strike against a Hamas target inside Gaza. Until now, Mimran said the military had refrained from using offensive drones to fight Hamas, even though they had been used on the northern front, in Lebanon and Syria. But that approach might change if the northern front opens up.

"We might see new things that we haven't seen until now," said Mimran, referring to Israel’s capability of sending a "swarm of drones" with technology developed by Israeli defense company Elbit. It is also very possible, he added, that Hezbollah too has the capacity of sending hundreds, if not thousands, of drones at one time "creating chaos like we have never seen before in these parts."

Aviv Shapira, co-founder and CEO of Xtend, a company developing drones for the defense market, said it was just a matter of time before the threat of drones became global. 

HEZBOLLAH CLAIMS IT DOESN'T WANT EXPANDED WAR WITH ISRAEL AFTER LAUNCHING DRONE ATTACK ON ISRAELI ARMY BASE

"It will happen all over the world and right now, no one knows how to deal with it," said Shapira, whose company began developing racing drones for the gaming industry but was soon commissioned for military purposes. "In the U.S. there are so many anti-terror measures in place, but now it is possible for anyone to suddenly take a drone, without a radio [and therefore not trackable] and use it in an attack."

He said that until now, defense companies were focused on developing advanced cyber measures to counter armed drones, but as tethered or pre-programmed UAVs become more common, there was a need for a new type of defense systems.

"The problem is that you don’t know where these drones are coming from because they are so small and they cannot be stopped with jamming devices," said Shapira, whose company worked with the Israeli army to tackle the previous Hamas threat of incendiary balloons and kites that were causing havoc a few years ago.

IRAN, RUSSIA, SLAM US-UK JOINT STRIKES ON YEMEN’S HOUTHIS, WARN OF ‘INSTABILITY IN THE REGION’

"These drones don’t have radio communications, so the only way to mitigate this problem is to physically intercept them," he said. "That means either shooting them down, using laser or technology like we have developed, which involves a high-speed drone that catches other drones with a net"

According to Shapira, Xtend’s Griffon Counter UAV, with speeds of up to 93 mph, flies faster than any other drone currently available and can be programmed to operate autonomously, using AI, to identify a "rogue drone and kill it." 

And, he added, the technology is so simple to use that it does not require a soldier or extensive training, but anyone can learn to operate it in less than 30 minutes.

However, Antebi, who is also a researcher of advanced technologies in warfare, warned that the development of all new technologies – defensive or offensive – ran the risk of having a "boomerang effect."

"There are a lot of startups and technology companies creating amazing technologies that can change the world for good, but we also have to be aware that the bad guys also want to use those technologies and they are capable of using them for bad," she said.

For Mimran, a broader concern, particularly in terms of drone warfare, is that currently there are no international guidelines, regulations or benchmarks.

"While there have been some global campaigns aimed at trying to ban the use of drones in wars," he said. "The ideological gaps between the West and the rest of the world are becoming so large that there is no way for the international community to sit together and think of appropriate regulation or rules of the game for this kind of weapon."

Pakistan conducted a series of military strikes Thursday morning against insurgents operating in Iran in response to a deadly bombing in the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan on Tuesday.

The Pakistan Armed Forces completed a "series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes" against Pakistani terrorists in Iran's Siestan-o-Baluchistan province as part of an intelligence-based operation named "Marg Bar Sarmachar," Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.

"Over the last several years, in our engagements with Iran, Pakistan has consistently shared its serious concerns about the safe havens and sanctuaries enjoyed by Pakistani-origin terrorists calling themselves *Sarmachars* on the ungoverned spaces inside Iran," the MoFA said, adding that it has shared "multiple dossiers with concrete evidence of the presence and activities of these terrorists."

PAKISTAN WARNS OF 'CONSEQUENCES' AFTER IRAN'S DEADLY BOMBING KILLED TWO CHILDREN

The strikes were described as successful and left a "number of terrorists" dead, the MoFA said.

"This action is a manifestation of Pakistan’s unflinching resolve to protect and defend its national security against all threats," the announcement read. "The successful execution of this highly complex operation is also a testimony to the professionalism of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Pakistan will continue to take all necessary steps to preserve the safety and security of its people which is sacrosanct, inviolable and sacred."

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs described Iran as a "brotherly country" and said the Pakistani people hold "great respect and affection for the Iranian people."

"We have always emphasized dialogue and cooperation in confronting common challenges including the menace of terrorism and will continue to endeavor to find joint solutions," the MoFA said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

A U.S. official told Fox News that the U.S. carried out strikes Wednesday evening on about a dozen Houthi missiles inside Yemen that were being staged to fire on commercial ships in the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden. 

This comes after U.S. forces struck a Houthi-owned cache of anti-ship ballistic missiles in Yemen on Tuesday, U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News Digital. The strike was reportedly in direct response to a missile launched against U.S. vessels in the Red Sea.

Houthi forces have taken credit for continued attacks on merchant vessels and threatened to expand their targets to include U.S. and British vessels — all in a campaign to support Hamas in its war against Israel.

US STRIKES HOUTHI MISSILE CACHE IN YEMEN, OFFICIALS CONFIRM

The attack by the Houthis was the first acknowledged by the U.S. since strikes on the rebels from the U.S. and allied nations began on Friday after weeks of assaults on shipping in the Red Sea.

This is a developing story. 

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A shipment of medicine for dozens of hostages held by Hamas arrived in Gaza on Wednesday, part of a France- and Qatar- mediated deal that marked the first agreement between Israel and the militant group since a weeklong cease-fire in November.

The deal could bring respite to some of the roughly 100 hostages who remain in captivity, as well as to Palestinians in Gaza in desperate need of additional aid. But fighting still rages in many parts of the beleaguered enclave, and an end to the war — or the release of the hostages — seems nowhere in sight.

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

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, announced late Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter, that the shipment had crossed into Gaza, without saying when or how the medicine would be distributed.

"Over the past few hours, medicine & aid entered the Gaza Strip, in implementation of the agreement announced yesterday for the benefit of civilians in the Strip, including hostages," he wrote.

A senior Hamas official said that for every box provided for the hostages, 1,000 boxes of medicine would be sent in for Palestinians. The deal also includes the delivery of humanitarian aid to residents of the besieged coastal enclave.

The agreement came 100 days into the conflict and as Palestinian militants are still putting up resistance across Gaza in the face of one of the deadliest military campaigns in recent history. More than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed. Some 85% of the narrow coastal territory’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, and the United Nations says a quarter of the population is starving.

Israel has vowed to dismantle Hamas to ensure it can never repeat an attack like the one on Oct. 7 that triggered the war. Militants burst through Israel’s border defenses and stormed through several communities that day, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing around 250.

Israel also has promised to win the return of more than 100 hostages still held inside Gaza.

Hamas has said it will not release any more hostages until there is a permanent cease-fire, something Israel and the United States, its top ally, have ruled out.

AID BOUND FOR HOSTAGES AND PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS

The last deal in late November between Israel and Hamas brought a temporary truce in exchange for the release of more than 100 hostages, mostly women and children, as well as freedom for dozens of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

A Qatari official said the medicine would be delivered to the hostages by the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. It was not immediately clear when the drugs would be delivered, or how the handover would be verified. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts.

France said it took months to organize the shipment of the medicines. Qatar, which has long served as a mediator with Hamas, helped broker the deal that will provide three months’ worth of medication for chronic illnesses for 45 of the hostages, as well as other medicine and vitamins. Several older men are among the remaining hostages held in Gaza.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official, said in a post on X that the International Committee of the Red Cross will deliver all the medicines, including the ones destined for the hostages, to hospitals serving all parts of Gaza. The ICRC declined to comment.

Senior U.N. officials have warned that Gaza faces widespread famine and disease if more aid is not allowed in.

Israel completely sealed off Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and only relented under U.S. pressure. It says there are now no limits on the entry of humanitarian aid and that U.N. agencies could reduce the delays by providing more workers and trucks.

But U.N. officials say aid delivery is hobbled by the opening of too few border crossings, a slow vetting process and continuing fighting throughout the territory — all of which is largely under Israel’s control.

HEAVY FIGHTING IN GAZA

Israel said at the start of the year that it had largely defeated Hamas in northern Gaza and would scale back operations there, focusing on dense urban areas in the center and south of the territory. Additional Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza on Monday, but there has been little apparent letup in strikes, with scores of Palestinians killed every day.

A strike on a home killed a woman and two children in the southernmost town of Rafah. An Associated Press reporter saw the bodies arrive at a nearby hospital. Tens of thousands of people who heeded Israeli evacuation orders have sought shelter in the town, which is home to the border crossing with Egypt.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that 163 bodies were brought to the territory’s remaining functioning hospitals in the past 24 hours, as well as 350 wounded people. The update brought the war’s overall death toll in Gaza to 24,448, with over 60,000 wounded. The ministry said many other dead and wounded are trapped under rubble or unreachable because of the fighting.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths but says around two-thirds of those killed were women and children.

Israel blames the high civilian death toll on Hamas because it fights in dense residential areas. Israel says its forces have killed roughly 9,000 militants, without providing evidence, and that 192 of its own soldiers have been killed since the Gaza ground offensive began.

Militants are still fighting in all parts of the territory, and Israel appears no closer to freeing the remaining hostages. The deaths of two more hostages were confirmed Tuesday after Hamas said they were killed in Israeli airstrikes.

TENSIONS ACROSS THE REGION

Tensions are also soaring in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have conducted near-daily arrest raids that often trigger shootouts with Palestinian militants.

Israeli forces killed at least 10 Palestinians Wednesday in the territory, including five in the urban Balata refugee camp in the north, the military said. Among that group was a senior militant whom the military said was responsible for militant infrastructure and was allegedly involved in recent attacks against Israelis.

Five Palestinians were also killed in an Israeli strike in Tulkarem, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The military said it targeted a group of militants who had opened fire and were throwing explosives at Israeli soldiers.

Over 360 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since Oct. 7.

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The Middle East has seen a dizzying array of strikes and counterstrikes in recent days from northern Iraq to the Red Sea and from southern Lebanon to Pakistan.

In the past few days, a U.S.-led coalition has carried out strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Iran has struck what it described as an Israeli spy headquarters in northern Iraq and anti-Iran militants in Pakistan and Syria. Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah have escalated the intensity of their fighting across the border, raising fears of another war.

After years of seeking to control its population growth with a one-child policy, China now faces the opposite problem with falling birth rates and an aging population posing long-term economic and societal challenges for the communist nation.

On Wednesday, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced China’s population fell by 2 million in 2023, its second straight annual decline.

It comes as births dropped for the seventh straight year while deaths jumped following the end of COVID-19 restrictions.

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New births fell 5.7% to 9.02 million. And the birth rate reached a record low 6.39 births per 1,000 people, down from a rate of 6.77 births in 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics said, according to Reuters.

The number of deaths rose by 690,000 to 11.1 million, more than double the previous year’s increase and the highest level since 1974 during the Cultural Revolution. Demographers said the rise was driven by the aging of the population and the widespread COVID-19 outbreaks that started in December 2022 and continued into February 2023.

The National Bureau of Statistics said the total number of people in China fell by 2.08 million, or 0.15%, to 1.409 billion in 2023.

That was well above the population decline of 850,000 in 2022, which had been the first since 1961 during the Great Famine of the Mao Zedong era.

The lower fertility rate, together with people living longer because of better health care, means China is slowly growing older, something that could slow economic growth over time and challenge the government’s finances and its ability to provide for a larger elderly population with fewer workers, according to The Associated Press.

CHINA ‘IN DISTRESS’: ECONOMY SUFFERING ‘RAPID’ SLOWDOWN AS ‘SYSTEMIC’ PROBLEMS SURFACE 

The government issued guidelines earlier this week on developing the "silver" economy and enhancing the well-being of older people. They included expanding geriatric hospital and nursing care, encouraging the development of clothing, food and other products suitable for older people, cracking down on scams that target the elderly and making it easier to operate a TV, according to the AP. 

Meanwhile, the country's retirement-age population — 60 and over — is expected to balloon from about 280 million people now to more than 400 million by 2035 and strain government coffers. That would mean China's retirement age population would be far greater than the population of the United States. 

The fresh data adds to concerns about the world’s second-biggest economy’s growth prospects as it loses workers and consumers.

According to Business Insider, approximately 21.3% of Chinese citizens aged 16-24 were unemployed in June, a record high. Social media users cited a lack of jobs and burnout, inspiring them to move back home rather than send out more job applications.

The government has sought to encourage births since gradually easing the one-child policy from 2014 to 2016 to allow a second child and then a third child in 2021. But, so far, it has had little success.

"Population decline will severely undercut the ability of the economy to grow," China expert Gordon Chang told FOX News in February. "China's demographic dividend was largely responsible for the growth of the Chinese economy in the ’80s and '90s. That was an extraordinary bulge in the workforce. Now, we are seeing the opposite of that."

Reuters, The Associated Press and Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report. 

Argentinian President Javier Milei went scorched earth on attendees of the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, telling them to reject socialism while painting a dire picture that Western values and systems are under threat.

Milei, who romped to the presidency late last year on a platform of "anarcho-capitalism" and promising to drastically reduce the size of government, stared down the business and political elites at the globalist confab and called on them to embrace "free enterprise capitalism" to end world poverty.

"Today, I’m here to tell you that the Western world is in danger," Milei said in a special address at the gathering in Davos, Switzerland, according to a translation.

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"And it is in danger because those who are supposed to have to defend the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism, and thereby to poverty," he added.

"Socialism is a phenomenon that creates poverty… free enterprise capitalism is the only tool we have to end hunger and poverty," he added, according to Reuters.

The Davos meeting is Milei’s first overseas trip since taking office and it marks a test for right-wing Milei, a relative political newcomer who took office after a rapid ascent from acid-tongued economist and TV pundit to the presidency. Often compared to former President Trump, he is keen to win backing for his economic ideas, which include shutting the central bank and adopting the dollar.

"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," Milei said.

"The main leaders of the Western world have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism. We are 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."

ARGENTINA'S NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT, LIBERTARIAN JAVIER MILEI, SWORN INTO OFFICE

"Do believe me, no one [is] better placed than us Argentines to testify to these two points," he added.

During his speech, Milei focused on the role of the state across a wide range of activities, which he said amounted to levers of control rather than allowing citizens the freedom to prosper through their own efforts. He told citizens to stand up to overreaching governments.

"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 said. "You are social benefactors, you are heroes, you are the creators of the most extraordinary period of prosperity we've ever seen."

At home, Milei is also pushing for major economic reforms, including spending cuts and deregulation, in a bid to improve the government's finances and boost the economy. But he faces poverty levels which are climbing above 40%, inflation at more than 211% and the threat of social unrest. Milei carried a chainsaw during the campaign trail to symbolize how he was going to cut the size of the government.

World Economic Forum founder and Chair Klaus Schwab introduced Milei to the stage by saying his "more radical methods" had "introduced a new spirit to Argentina."

In 2022, Schwab proclaimed that China was a "role model" for other nations. China is governed by the absolute rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which does not allow people to practice the religion or belief of their choice and has no tolerance for dissent or criticism.

Organizers of the WEF say it is an opportunity for elites to share ideas and cut business and political deals on pressing global issues. Critics say that it is a vehicle for globalization and collectivism where the working class ultimately loses out.

Ahead of the speech, Milei met British foreign minister David Cameron and was set for a head-to-head with IMF chief Georgieva, after Argentina struck a staff-level agreement last week to salvage its $44 billion loan program with the fund.

Fox News’ Bradford Betz and Reuters contributed to this report. 

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak quelled a Conservative Party rebellion and got his stalled plan to send some asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda through the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Lawmakers voted 320 to 276 to back a bill intended to overcome a U.K. Supreme Court block on the Rwanda plan. But the contentious immigration policy on which Sunak has staked his authority still faces political and legal hurdles. And Sunak remains at the helm of a divided and demoralized party that is lagging in the polls.

UK PRIME MINISTER RISHI SUNAK CONTINUES TO FACE HEAT OVER CONTROVERSIAL PLAN TO SEND MIGRANTS TO RWANDA

The vote came a day after some 60 members of Sunak’s governing Conservatives rebelled in an effort to make the legislation tougher. The dissent cost Sunak two party deputy chairmen, who quit in order to vote against the government.

But when it came to a vote on the bill as a whole, the rebellion melted away, and only 11 Conservatives voted against the legislation.

A larger rebellion Wednesday would have doomed the Safety of Rwanda Bill, and imperiled Sunak’s 15-month-old government.

"It’s this bill or no bill. It’s this bill or no chance," Conservative lawmaker Bob Seely told colleagues before the vote.

The bill now goes to the unelected House of Lords, Parliament’s upper chamber, where it faces more opposition.

With polls showing the Conservatives trailing far behind the Labour opposition in opinion polls, Sunak has made the controversial — and expensive — immigration policy central to his attempt to win an election this year.

He argues that deporting unauthorized asylum-seekers will deter people from making risky journeys across the English Channel and break the business model of people-smuggling gangs.

"We have a plan. It’s working," Sunak said Wednesday in the House of Commons.

He needs to convince fellow Conservatives, as well as voters, that it’s true. But the liberal and law-and-order wings of the Conservatives — always uneasy allies — are at loggerheads over the Rwanda plan.

Moderates worry the policy is too extreme, concerns underscored when the United Nations’ refugee agency said this week the Rwanda plan "is not compatible with international refugee law."

However, many on the party’s powerful right wing think the bill doesn’t go far enough in deterring migration to the U.K. Hard-liners’ attempts to toughen the bill on Wednesday failed as lawmakers rejected several amendments, including one that would have let British authorities routinely ignore emergency injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights.

Critics say that would breach international law, but Suella Braverman, a former interior minister and leading hard-liner, said the "foreign" European court was "currently controlling this country’s ability to stop the boats."

Many rebels grudgingly voted for the bill rather than risk sinking the whole policy, but they remain unhappy.

Sunak insists the bill goes as far as the government can because Rwanda will pull out of its agreement to rehouse asylum-seekers if the U.K. breaks international law.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said the Conservatives are tearing themselves apart over the plan, like "hundreds of bald men scrapping over a single broken comb."

The Rwanda policy is key to Sunak’s pledge to "stop the boats "bringing unauthorized migrants to the U.K. across the English Channel from France. More than 29,000 people made the perilous journey in 2023, down from 42,000 the year before. Five people died last week while trying to launch a boat from northern France in the dark and winter cold.

London and Kigali made a deal almost two years ago under which migrants who reach Britain across the Channel would be sent to Rwanda, where they would stay permanently. Britain has paid Rwanda at least 240 million pounds ($305 million) under the agreement, but no one has yet been sent to the East African country.

Human rights groups have criticized the plan as inhumane and unworkable. After it was challenged in British courts, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled in November that the policy was illegal because Rwanda isn’t a safe country for refugees.

In response to the court ruling, Britain and Rwanda signed a treaty pledging to strengthen protections for migrants. Sunak’s government argues the treaty allows it to pass a law declaring Rwanda a safe destination.

If approved by Parliament, the law would allow the government to "disapply" sections of U.K. human rights law when it comes to Rwanda-related asylum claims and make it harder to challenge the deportations in court.

The bill is sure to face more opposition in coming weeks in the House of Lords, where Sunak’s Conservatives do not have a majority. The Lords can delay and amend legislation but ultimately can’t overrule the elected House of Commons.

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Rwandan officials suggested they were growing tired of the British drama around the deal. President Paul Kagame said it was "the U.K.’s problem, not Rwanda’s problem" that no asylum-seekers have been sent to the country.

"If they don’t come, we can return the money," Kagame told the BBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

A deputy foreign minister in Poland’s previous right-wing government appeared before prosecutors Wednesday to hear charges connected to the alleged sale of visas and work permits to migrants for thousands of dollars, anti-corruption officials said.

The cash-for-visas scandal emerged last summer and undermined the tough-on-immigration stance of the ruling Law and Justice party, which went on to lose power in October parliamentary elections. An investigation was launched earlier last year.

The Central Anti-Corruption Bureau said in a statement Wednesday it had detained the former deputy foreign minister, who had been in charge of consular affairs and who was identified only as Piotr W. because of Polish privacy laws.

POLAND'S PRESIDENT BEGINS PROCESS TO PARDON 2 CONVICTED POLITICIANS

He was brought to the city of Lubin where prosecutors presented him with charges of having exceeded his authority in handling ministry documents, influencing the issuing of Polish visas and sharing classified information with an unauthorized person in 2022-23.

If convicted in a court trial, the defendant could be handed up to 10 years in prison.

The national prosecutor's office later said that the defendant protested his innocence and declined to testify.

He was released on bail. Eight other people have been charged in the case, the anti-corruption office said.

In August, Polish media reported allegations that Poland’s consular sections issued some 250,000 visas to migrants from Asia and Africa since 2021 in return for bribes. At the same time the deputy foreign minister was fired and the media linked him to the scandal.

He has denied any wrongdoing.