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The European Union imposed sanctions on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Tuesday for his role in planning the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.

The EU also added Sinwar to the EU terror list. The Israeli military has been attempting to capture or kill Sinwar since the Oct. 7 attack, but has so far found no success.

"[Yahya Sinwar] is subject to the freezing of his funds and other financial assets in EU member states. It is also prohibited for EU operators to make funds and economic resources available to him," the EU wrote in a statement.

Recent reports have suggested that Israel knows Sinwar's location, but cannot strike against him because he has surrounded himself with Israeli hostages. The IDF has refused to comment on reports that it knows the terrorist leader's location, however.

ISRAEL ANNOUNCES PARTIAL TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA IN NEW PHASE OF HAMAS WAR

Israel believes there are at least 133 Israeli and foreign hostages being held in Gaza, though it is unclear how many of them remain alive.

ISRAELI SOLDIERS TARGETED IN ‘EXTREMELY BLOODY AND INTENSE’ BATTLES AS GAZA STRIP TENSIONS RISE

Israeli forces took over Sinwar's private compound in Gaza weeks ago, but said the leader had long since fled the residence.

Sinwar is believed to have fled his home for the relative safety of Hamas' extensive network of tunnels that lie beneath Gaza's major cities.

ISRAEL TO DEFEND ITSELF AGAINST GENOCIDE ACCUSATIONS FILED BY SOUTH AFRICA AT INTERNATIONAL COURT

Reports from some hostages who have been released say Sinwar met with them a few days after they were taken from Israel into Gaza.

"Sinwar was with us three-four days after we got there," Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, told the Davar news outlet. "I asked him how he wasn’t ashamed, to do such a thing to people who for years support peace? He didn’t answer. He was quiet."

Chinese Premier Li Qiang is arriving in Ireland on Tuesday for talks with the Irish leader on China's relations with the European Union and other global and bilateral issues.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar will host a lunch and bilateral meeting with Li on Wednesday at Ireland's state guest house in Dublin.

"China is a very important political and economic power in the world and becoming bigger all the time in that sense. So it’s important that we have good relations with China but also some questions we will need to talk about as well," Varadkar said ahead of the visit.

CHINA CANCELS VISIT FROM TOP EUROPEAN OFFICIAL, OFFERS NO EXPLANATION AS RELATIONS GROW TENSE

Li, a close confidant of Chinese President Xi Jinping, was appointed last March as the country's No. 2 leader and top economic official. A former party secretary for Shanghai, he enforced a strict "zero-COVID" lockdown on Shanghai in 2022.

He made Europe the destination for his first trip abroad last summer, visiting Germany and France, Europe's leading economies, for talks on trade and global issues including climate change and the war in Ukraine.

At the time, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected the idea of "decoupling" from China and instead called for "de-risking" — avoiding overreliance on Chinese trade.

This is the first time a senior Chinese leader has visited Ireland since Li's predecessor, Li Keqiang, visited in 2015.

EUROPEAN UNION WANTS TO STEP UP NAVAL VISITS, ENGAGE IN JOINT MILITARY EXERCISES IN DISPUTED SOUTH CHINA SEA

He is set to arrive late Tuesday from the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, where he was the first senior Chinese official to attend since Xi attended the annual gathering in 2017.

Bilateral trade between Ireland and China has grown significantly in recent years, with China now Ireland's fourth largest trade partner and fifth largest export market.

Asia Matters, an Irish group focused on promoting business links with Asian countries, said one of the topics that could be on Wednesday's agenda is the resumption of Irish beef exports to China.

The exports were suspended in November after a case of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, was discovered by Irish veterinary officials.

Israelis released from captivity in Gaza reconvened in their ravaged border village on Tuesday to hold a solemn first-birthday ceremony for the infant of a family still held hostage.

Kfir Bibas was eight-months-old when Hamas-led Palestinian gunmen stormed Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7 as part of a cross-border killing spree in southern Israel, and became the youngest of some 240 people taken back to the Gaza Strip as captives.

Hamas has said that Kfir, his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri were killed in the Israeli offensive that ensued, while their father, Yarden, survived. But in the absence of Israeli corroboration, relatives and friends back home have refused to let hope die for the whole family's safe recovery.

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

A bower of ginger balloons - a nod to Kfir's hair color - stood in the abandoned Nir Oz kindergarten, and his pictures signaled places at a table where celebrants should have sat.

"We're marking a birthday to a kid who's not here. We make him a cake, we put balloons, pictures, and blessings and everything and he's not here," Shiri's cousin, Yosi Shnaider, told Reuters. "It's crazy."

Kfir would turn one-year-old on Thursday, at which point he would have spent a third of his life as a hostage. Meanwhile, Nir Oz has been frozen in time and trauma, with more than a quarter of residents either killed or taken captive, and survivors fleeing.

Israel recovered around half of the hostages in a November truce, among them Nir Oz resident Sharon Alony Cunio and her three-year-old twin daughters Emma and Julie. Cunio's husband remains incommunicado in Gaza, however, with 131 other hostages.

Worry for their fate grips a country that, after the worst attack in its history, has settled into the grim resolve of war - especially as Israeli officials, based on various sources of information, say at least 25 hostages have died in captivity.

"I can't sleep. I suffer from nightmares. The girls ask about their father constantly," said Cunio, who visited her now-burned out home in the formerly placid agricultural collective.

"I wake up in the morning with one purpose only - David made me promise him that I will fight for him. That I will scream his despair to the world as he is unable to do so."

Hamas on Monday aired video purporting to show the bodies of two other hostages who it said were killed in an Israeli strike. Without immediately confirming their deaths, Israel disputed the Hamas account in the video it deemed "psychological torture".

Qatari and Egyptian mediators have been trying to cobble together a new truce that might free some more hostages, even as Israel presses on with its devastating offensive to destroy Hamas and the Palestinian militants vow to fight on.

The United States military carried out a strike on Houthi targets in Yemen in retaliation against an attack on a Marshall Islands-flagged, U.S.-owned and operated container.

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.

"On Jan. 16 at approximately 1:45 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthi militants launched an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into international shipping lanes in the Southern Red Sea," a U.S. defense official told Fox News Digital. "M/V Zografia, a Maltese flagged bulk carrier, reported they were struck, but seaworthy, and were continuing their Red Sea transit. No injuries were reported."

HOUTHI CRUISE MISSILE FIRED FROM YEMEN TOWARD US WARSHIP SHOT DOWN BY FIGHTER JET: CENTCOM

"Additionally, following the Jan. 15 attack on the M/V Gibraltar Eagle, a Marshall Islands-flagged, U.S.-owned and operated container ship, on Jan. 16 at approximately 4:15 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Forces struck and destroyed four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles. These missiles were prepared to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and presented an imminent threat to both merchant and U.S. Navy ships in the region."

The missiles, reportedly provided by Iran, were being prepared for use against merchant vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. 

It is the first strike against Houthi infrastructure in Yemen confirmed by the U.S. military.

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.

Houthi rebels in Yemen fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward a U.S. warship in the Red Sea on Sunday, but it was shot down by a U.S. fighter jet.

WHO ARE THE HOUTHI REBELS ATTACKING COMMERCIAL SHIPS IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

An anti-ship cruise missile was fired at about 4:45 p.m. local time on Sunday from Iranian-backed Houthi militant areas of Yemen toward USS Laboon, which was operating in the Southern Red Sea, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). 

The U.S. said the missile came from near Hodeida, a Red Sea port city long held by the Houthis.

"The missile was shot down in [the] vicinity of the coast of Hudaydah by U.S. fighter aircraft. There were no injuries or damage reported," CENTCOM said in a statement.

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.

Shipping through the Red Sea has slowed because of the attacks. The U.S. Navy warned American-flagged vessels on Friday to avoid areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for 72 hours after the initial airstrikes.

The Houthis claimed, without providing evidence, that the U.S. struck a location near Hodeida on Sunday around the same time as the cruise missile attack. The U.S. and U.K. did not acknowledge conducting any strike, suggesting it may have been the result of a misfired Houthi missile.

Fox News Digital's Landon Mion and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

Scotland's ruling political group, the Scottish National Party (SNP), has proposed another series of laws that aim to shore up protection for transgendered people, including a ban on conversion therapy and jail time for parents who try to block their child’s transition. 

"We have grave concerns that these plans will criminalize loving parents, who could face years in jail simply for refusing to sign up to the gender ideology cult," Marion Calder, a director for the group For Women Scotland, said of the proposal. 

"They will also hand activists and social workers unprecedented powers to meddle in family life while having a chilling impact on therapists and counselors," Calder added. "If SNP and Greens insist on pushing this through, it is likely to go the same way as the toxic self-identification and named person laws and be blocked in the courts." 

People who try to "change or suppress" another individual’s gender identity – in the process, causing them physical or psychological harm – would face criminal charges under the new proposals put forward on Tuesday, The Daily Telegraph reported. 

WASHINGTON POST URGES GOVERNMENT TO UNDERSTAND ‘WHAT SOCIETY STANDS TO LOSE FROM LOCKDOWNS’

Such examples include preventing someone from "dressing in a way that reflects their sexual orientation or gender identity" and controlling a person’s activities. Complaints must provide proof of intent or demonstrated harm to incur punishment. 

The law applies even when a person argues they have acted out of a "desire to help or protect the person." 

The SNP launched a consultation period that will last until April 2: Voters and concerned parties can review the proposal and lodge complaints. The Catholic Church in Scotland has already raised concerns over a "worrying lack of clarity" in the proposals and announced it will prepare for legal action, The Guardian reported. 

SCHOOLYARD, SPORTS FIGHTS WOULD BE PUNISHABLE BY FELONY UNDER PROPOSED BILL IN DEMOCRAT-RUN STATE

The advocacy group Christian Action, Research and Education (CARE) accused the bill of laying the groundwork for "subjective policing of speech." 

"At CARE for Scotland, we recognize that abusive or coercive ‘practices,’ ‘treatments’ or ‘therapies’ aimed at changing a person’s identity are wrong and a source of deep hurt to those who experience them," the group wrote in a statement issued after the proposal's publication. "These things are rightly condemned, can already be reported to the police for investigation, and would already constitute a crime under existing provisions."

"The need for new legislation, and the wider impact of new laws must be carefully assessed," the group argued. "Senior legal professionals and others are concerned that the proposals in question risk being overbroad in their application, undermining human rights. In particular, the right to a private and family life, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and freedom of expression."

"Given these concerns, and the efficacy of existing, well-understood laws targeting harmful behavior, we question the need for the proposed ban," the group said. 

CALIFORNIA DISTRICT ORDERED TO REINSTATE CHRISTIAN TEACHERS PLACED ON LEAVE AMID GENDER POLICY LAWSUIT

Anyone breaching a civil order, such as the one proposed by the SNP, could see the offender face two years in jail, with the maximum punishment of up to seven years in jail or an "unlimited fine," according to the Telegraph. 

Scottish Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees Emma Roddick urged faith groups to engage with the government. No one will face punishment for "expressing concerns" and "advising a child against medical interventions" or "not actively supporting" a child’s decision to dress for the gender they wish to express. 

The Guardian noted that the upcoming general election makes it less likely for Westminster to veto the proposal, as it had with Scotland’s effort to pass the gender recognition reform bill. 

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The previous gender bill, put forward by former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in 2023, would have allowed children as young as 16 to change gender. 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shelved a planned ban in England on conversion therapy, with the Conservative party split over how to deal with the proposal, which former Prime Minister Theresa May had supported. 

Questions sent to the Scottish National Party for comment were not answered by press time.

The leaders of Hungary and Slovakia on Tuesday said they agree on the need to rework a European Union plan to provide financial assistance to Ukraine. It's a potential boon to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who last month derailed EU efforts to approve the funding for the war-ravaged country.

Following bilateral talks in Budapest, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said he agrees with Orbán's position that the EU should not finance a planned $54 billion aid package to Kyiv from the bloc's common budget, and echoed Orbán's assertions that the war in Ukraine cannot be resolved through military means.

"We have listened very carefully to the proposals that Prime Minister (Orbán) ... has already put forward in relation to the review of the budget and aid to Ukraine, and I will repeat that we consider them to be rational and sensible," Fico said.

EUROPEAN UNION MIGRATION CHIEF CALLS FOR 1 MILLION INCREASE IN LEGAL IMMIGRATION

Fico's comments come as the EU scrambles to salvage the funding package for Ukraine that Orbán blocked in December, a move that angered many of the bloc's leaders who were aiming to provide Kyiv with a consistent cash flow for the next four years.

Unanimity is required for decisions affecting the EU budget, and Orbán was the only one of the bloc's 27 leaders to vote against the funding.

"If we want to help Ukraine, which I think we need to do ... we must do so without damaging the EU budget," Orbán said on Tuesday.

EU leaders are expected to meet again on Feb. 1 to attempt a deal on the financial package, but Orbán's veto power remains a factor.

On Tuesday, Fico said he supports Orbán's recommendation that the funding be separated into four installments that could be reassessed, and potentially blocked, each year.

"I look forward to seeing you soon on Feb. 1 in Brussels, where we will watch with full understanding your legitimate fight for what you started at the last European Council," Fico told Orbán.

A populist whose party won September elections on a pro-Russian and anti-American platform, Fico is seen as a potential ally for Orbán in the latter's longstanding disputes with the EU.

UKRAINE’S A STEP CLOSER TO JOINING THE EU. HERE’S WHAT IT MEANS, AND WHY IT MATTERS

The bloc has withheld billions in funding from Budapest over concerns that Orbán's government has cracked down on judicial independence, media freedom and the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.

Some of Orbán's critics in the EU believe that he has used his veto power over assistance to Ukraine as leverage to gain access to the frozen funds. On Tuesday, Fico cited the withheld funds as a justification for Orbán's opposition to EU funding for Ukraine.

"They cannot expect a country from which funds have been withdrawn to give money to another country. That is simply not possible. It is not fair, it is not just," Fico said.

Last week, a cross-coalition group of 120 EU lawmakers signed a petition urging that Hungary be stripped of its voting rights in the bloc's decision making, arguing Orbán had repeatedly violated EU values by subverting democratic institutions since taking office in 2010.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday against Greece in the shooting of a Syrian man during a coast guard’s pursuit of a migrant smuggling boat near a Greek island about a decade ago.

In a ruling, the court, based in Strasbourg, France, ordered Greece to pay about $87,000 in damages to the wife and two children of Belal Tello, who died in December 2015, more than a year after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head after Greek coast guards chased the boat he had been traveling in.

The court said Greece had failed to provide an adequate legal framework concerning the potential lethal use of firearms during coast guard operations, and had violated the right to life under the European Convention on Human Rights.

EUROPEAN COURT CONDEMNS BOSNIA'S ETHNIC-BASED POLITICAL SYSTEM FOR UNDERMINING DEMOCRACY, AMPLIFYING DIVISIONS

Tello had been traveling in a motorboat carrying a total of 14 people that failed to stop when ordered to by a two-man Greek coast guard patrol boat as it arrived near the small eastern Aegean island of Pserimos on the morning of Sept. 22, 2014.

The court said the motorboat’s captain "began dangerous maneuvers," colliding with the coast guard patrol boat on two or three occasions and causing limited damage.

According to a report drawn up on the day of the incident and cited by the court, the coast guard fired seven warning shots and 13 shots at the outboard motor, attempting to stop it. Two Syrians on board were wounded; Tello in the head and another passenger in the shoulder. A Greek court tried and convicted two Turkish nationals found to have been in command of the motorboat used for migrant smuggling.

Tello remained in intensive care in a hospital on the nearby island of Rhodes until March 2015. He was then transported in August that year to Sweden, where his wife and children were living, for further treatment, but died in December.

The court found that the level of force used in an attempt to stop the motorboat and arrest its captain was "clearly disproportionate," adding that the coast guard officers "had not taken the necessary measures … to verify that no other passengers were on board" when they opened fire.

EUROPEAN COURT RULES TURKEY VIOLATED RIGHTS IN BYLOCK APP CASES

The European court also cited shortcomings in Greek authorities’ investigation of the incident,

Refugee Support Aegean, a rights organization that provides legal assistance for asylum seekers in Greece and was involved in Tello's relatives' lawsuit, said the case "demonstrates yet again well-documented, systemic deficiencies in the planning and implementation of coast guard operations and in the investigation of human rights violations at sea."

The short but often perilous trip from Turkey’s coast to nearby Greek islands has been one of the main routes taken into the European Union by people fleeing poverty and conflict in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Greece rejects accusations that its coast guard systematically carries out illegal summary deportations of recently arrived asylum seekers.

A Pakistani court on Tuesday indicted imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife on a charge that their 2018 marriage violated the Islamic law requirement that a woman wait three months before remarriage, his lawyer said.

Khan denied the charge, and his lawyer, Intisar Panjutha, called the case one of scores against the former prime minister that he sees as a politically motivated attempt to keep Khan out of Pakistan's general elections to be held next month.

Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, who is a spiritual healer, was previously married to a man named Khawar Maneka who has claimed that they divorced in November 2017, less than three months ahead of Khan's Jan. 1, 2018 marriage, which was announced in February of that year. But Bibi has said the divorce was in August of 2017.

FORMER PAKISTANI PM IMRAN KHAN INDICTED ON GRAFT CHARGES ALONGSIDE WIFE

Khan, who previously was married to socialite Jemima Goldsmith and journalist Reham Khan, and his current wife have both denied that they violated the three-month waiting period.

Khan pleaded not guilty Tuesday when charges were read out to him by a judge at Adiala prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Bibi was not present at the time of indictment, though she has previously denied the charge.

"Everyone knows he’s being charged and incarcerated in bogus cases to keep him out of electoral race, however people of Pakistan don’t seem to be giving up on him,'' Khan's lawyer, Panjutha, said.

FORMER PAKISTAN PRIME MINISTER IMRAN KHAN ORDERED TO BE RELEASED BY COUNTRY’S SUPREME COURT

Khan, who was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April 2022, is currently serving a prison term in a graft case. Khan has also been embroiled in more than 150 cases, which include inciting people to violence after his arrest in May 2023.

During nationwide riots in May, Khan’s supporters from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party attacked the military’s headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, stormed an air base in Mianwali in the eastern Punjab province and torched a building housing state-run Radio Pakistan in the northwest.

The violence subsided only when Khan was released at the time by the Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, police arrested Khan ally Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on charges of inciting people to violence in May in the city of Rawalpindi. Ahmed served as interior minister in Khan's government until his ouster.

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is serving a prison sentence after being convicted of wrongdoing in office, but he shouldn't be called an inmate, the country’s Correction Department declared Tuesday.

The agency felt it necessary to explain that it is not being deferential to the controversial former leader when it refers to him in public without using the term.

The department said its standard practice is not to call prisoners "inmates" in its public statements to avoid stigmatizing them. It said the term is only used internally among its officials.

THAILAND'S KING REDUCES PRISON SENTENCE OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER THAKSIN SHINAWATRA TO A SINGLE YEAR

It was responding to critics who charge that Thaksin, a billionaire populist and unofficial patron of the political party that returned to power last year, is being given special treatment while he serves his sentence in a private room in a state hospital instead of in a prison cell.

Thaksin, 74, was ousted in a 2006 military coup after being accused of corruption, abuse of power and disrespecting the monarchy. He fled into exile in 2008 ahead of a trial on corruption charges, declaring that he was being prosecuted for political reasons.

He returned to Thailand last year, and after being welcomed by supporters at Bangkok’s airport was taken immediately to prison to begin serving an eight-year term for a series of convictions.

Less than a day later, he was transferred from prison to the Police General Hospital. Corrections Department officials said he had high blood pressure and low oxygen, suffered from insomnia and felt tightness in his chest, and that doctors recommended he be transferred to avoid life-threatening risks.

EX-THAI PM THAKSIN SHINAWATRA, WHO RECENTLY BEGAN SERVING 8-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE, REQUESTS ROYAL PARDON

His return to Thailand came the same day that the Pheu Thai party -- the latest incarnation of the party that he originally led to power in 2001, and for which he is considered the de facto leader -- won a parliamentary vote to form a new government. The previous government was heavily influenced by the military, which continued its hostility to Thaksin and his allies long after ousting him in 2006.

About a week after Thaksin's return, King Maha Vajiralongkorn reduced his eight-year sentence to a single year. He will be able to apply for parole after serving one-third of his amended sentence, or four months.

Thaksin was a police lieutenant colonel before becoming a successful telecoms entrepreneur. The Corrections Department and the hospital have declined to reveal in detail what Thaksin is being treated for, citing his right to privacy, although officials have said he has undergone surgery twice.

His daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who now heads the Pheu Thai party and is seen as the heir apparent to his political ambitions, has said he suffered complications after contracting the coronavirus in 2020, and that she is most worried about a heart condition.

Josef Fritzl, an Austrian man who held his daughter captive in his basement as a sex slave for 24 years, fathering seven of her children, could be moved from prison to an elderly care home, according to global reports.

Fritzl, now 88, reportedly has dementia and is physically weak after several falls, meaning he is not expected to pose any future threats to the public, Austrian news outlet ORF reported.

An Austrian court will determine whether Fritzl's condition makes him eligible to be removed from a high-security prison and placed in a care home. 

Fritzl is also eligible for parole this year under Austrian law, which allows prisoners sentenced to life in prison to apply for parole after serving 15 years.

JOSEF FRITZL, WHO RAPED DAUGHTER AND KEPT HER CAPTIVE FOR 24 YEARS, COULD MOVE TO REGULAR PRISON

Fritzl's daughter, Elisabeth, disappeared in 1984 when she was 18 years old. She was found in 2008 after 24 years of captivity and brutal abuse in a windowless basement.

When asked about her whereabouts, Fritzl would reportedly say she ran away. Authorities charged Fritzl in 2008.

CELLAR WHERE JOSEF FRITZL HELD DAUGHTER AND FATHERED HER CHILDREN TO BE FILLED WITH CEMENT

Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison a year later for incest, rape, coercion, false imprisonment, enslavement and negligent homicide after he killed one of the sons he fathered with his captive daughter soon after the baby was born, as The Associated Press and Reuters previously reported.

Investigators said in 2009, when Fritzl was 73, the incestuous killer burned his son's body in a furnace.

DAUGHTER OF AUSTRIAN ‘HORROR DAD’ JOSEF FRITZL REPORTEDLY WAKES FROM COMA

"He forced Elisabeth into slave-like conditions... shut her away in the cellar and made her totally dependent on him, forcing her into sexual acts and treating her as if she was his own property," the St. Poelten provincial prosecutors’ office said in a 2009 statement, according to Reuters.

Prosecutors also alleged that Fritzl threatened to kill Elisabeth and gas their children to death.

Police in Estonia arrested a Russian professor teaching at the Baltic country’s most prestigious university on suspicions of spying for Moscow, officials said Tuesday.

Estonian Internal Security Service, or security police, said it launched an investigation into Vyacheslav Morozov, a Russian national and professor of international politics at the University of Tartu, for his alleged involvement in intelligence activity meant to undermine the country's national security.

Authorities didn’t provide details of Morozov’s alleged intelligence activities "as procedural steps are being taken to verify the accusation," ISS and prosecutors said in a joint statement.

US CITIZEN ARRESTED IN RUSSIA ON DRUG CHARGES, OFFICIALS SAY

"The current case is an addition to more than twenty previous ones and illustrates the desire of the Russian intelligence services to infiltrate various areas of Estonian life, including the scientific sector," Margo Palloson, ISS Director General said in the statement.

He added that Russia's "intelligence interest in Estonia remains high."

The Prosecutor’s Office said it issued an arrest warrant for Morozov, who has remained in custody since Jan. 3, to prevent him from evading criminal proceedings and continuing to "commit offenses at large."

AMERICAN FILMMAKER ARRESTED AND JAILED FOR SPREADING PRO-RUSSIA PROPAGANDA DIES IN UKRAINIAN PRISON

The University of Tartu is Estonia’s largest and oldest, established in 1632. Estonian media reported that Morozov worked there as a professor of European Union-Russia studies between 2016-2023 and as a professor of international political theory from Jan. 1, 2023 until his detention.

According to information on his Facebook page, Morozov is a former associate professor at Saint Petersburg State University, one of Russia’s renowned academic institutions.

Norway's top body for international adoptions on Tuesday recommended a halt to all adoptions from abroad for a two-year period pending an investigation into several allegedly illegal cases, while Denmark's sole overseas adoption agency announced it was stopping for the same concerns.

Norway's government has the final say, and Kjersti Toppe, minister for children and families, said she believes there is a need for further investigation and has asked the Norwegian directorate for children, youth and family affairs for that.

In Denmark, the privately-run DIA said it was stopping all adoptions from abroad after the Danish social affairs ministry, the top authority in the matter, announced a halt. The DIA handles adoptions from the Philippines, India, South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan and the Czech Republic. On Jan. 2, Denmark suspended adoptions from South Africa.

NORWAY MASS KILLER ATTEMPTS TO SUE STATE FOR SECOND TIME, ALLEGING INHUMANE ISOLATION IN PRISON

"Adoptions must be safe, sound and in the best interest of the child," said Hege Nilssen, head of Norwegian directorate for education and training, said in a statement. "Our assessment is that the risk of illegalities is real, and that it is at a level which means that we recommend a temporary halt until the committee delivers its report and makes recommendations on what a possible future adoption system should look like."

The Norwegian directorate for children, youth and family affairs said that families already assigned a child from the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, South Africa, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Colombia and Peru will be allowed to complete the adoption process, but only after an assessment by the agency. Couples who received approval to adopt from South Korea also will be permitted to proceed when matched with a child.

A majority of the children adopted in Norway come from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and Colombia, according to national statistics.

Earlier this month, the directorate said an examination of the adoption system was needed following media reports of allegedly illegal adoptions. Norway's VG newspaper reported that some children in the Philippines were sold and given false birth certificates.

"The risk of document forgery is so great that we cannot be sure that the children’s legal security is safeguarded,″ VG quoted the directorate as saying.

In November, the directorate also stopped adoptions from Madagascar, citing a lack of security to ensure they would "be carried out in accordance with international principles for adoption."

Norway has three private adoption agencies. Verdens Barn handles adoptions from Thailand, South Korea and South Africa; InorAdopt arranges adoptions of children from Hungary, Taiwan, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic; and Adoptionsforum facilitates adoptions of children from the Philippines, Colombia and Peru.

Sweden's only adoption agency said in November that was halting adoptions from South Korea following claims of falsified papers on the origins of children adopted from the Asian country.

A top Yemeni official accused the U.S. of having repeatedly ignored warnings about the threat Houthi rebels could pose to international trade.

Maj. Gen. Aidarus al-Zubaidi, who serves as vice president of Yemen's U.N.-acknowledged government, says he raised concerns with U.S. and British officials at the U.N. General Assembly in September.

"They wrote everything down," al-Zubaidi told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this weekend. "They didn’t do anything."

Specifically, al-Zubaidi says he warned that the Houthis were regrouping and rearming at the time and were capable of conducting major operations.

US CARRIES OUT ADDITIONAL STRIKE IN YEMEN, OFFICIAL SAYS

The U.S. military has struggled to handle Houthi attacks on international trade vessels in the Red Sea for months. Houthi missiles have targeted numerous vessels, including those owned by U.S., Israeli and U.K. companies.

Houthi small boats have also attempted to hijack multiple ships.

CENTCOM RELEASES STATEMENT AFTER HOUTHI ATTACK IN YEMEN: 'ILLEGAL AND DANGEROUS ACTIONS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED'

In response, the U.S. military and other allied countries have shot down dozens of Houthi missiles and drones over the Red Sea. The U.S. has also conducted airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

Many shipping companies have paused shipments through the Red Sea or even suspended them indefinitely as a result. Shell on Tuesday announced that it would no longer send its vessels through the region.

TOP BIDEN ADVISER VISITS BEIRUT AS ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH NEAR ALL-OUT WAR

Ships seeking an alternative must travel south around Africa to reach the Atlantic, a detour that adds weeks to trips.

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan are each scheduled to speak at the WEF regarding how to calm tensions in the Middle East.

Guinness World Records says it has suspended the title of oldest dog ever that was held by a Portuguese dog that died last year. The publication said it was reviewing the title after some veterinarians questioned his age.

Bobi, a reportedly 31-year-old guard dog, lived on a farm in the village of Conqueiros in Portugal with its owner, Leonel Costa. He was announced as the world’s oldest living dog and oldest dog ever last February. He was said to have been born on May 11, 1992. He died last October.

"While our review is ongoing we have decided to temporarily pause both the record titles for oldest dog living and ever just until all of our findings are in place," Guinness World Records told The Associated Press by email on Tuesday.

WORLD'S OLDEST DOG BOBI DIES AT 31

The group said it had received correspondence from some vets questioning the dog's age and took note of public commentary from vets and other professionals.

Bobi was a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, a breed that has an average life expectancy of some 10 to 14 years.

WORLD'S 'OLDEST DOG EVER' RECORD BROKEN BY 30-YEAR-OLD POOCH IN PORTUGAL: 'HONOR HIM IN EVERY WAY'

Calls to the dog's owner rang unanswered and he didn’t respond to text messages.

Kenya's director of public prosecutions on Tuesday ordered that 95 people from a doomsday cult be charged with murder, manslaughter, radicalization, cruelty and child torture, among other crimes, over the deaths of 429 people believed to be members of the church.

The director, Mulele Ingonga, was responding to pressure from a magistrate in the coastal county of Kilifi who told the prosecution to charge the suspects within two weeks or the court would release them.

For months since the arrests last April, prosecutors had asked the court for permission to keep holding church leader Paul Mackenzie and 28 others while they looked into the case that shocked Kenyans with the discovery of mass graves and allegations of starvation and strangulation.

KENYAN COURT GIVES PROSECUTORS ULTIMATUM IN CASE AGAINST ALLEGED STARVATION CULT LEADER

Principal Magistrate Yousuf Shikanda declined the latest request to hold the suspects for an additional 60 days, saying the prosecution had been given enough time complete investigations.

The case emerged when police rescued 15 emaciated parishioners from Mackenzie’s church in Kilifi county in Kenya’s southeast. Four died after the group was taken to a hospital.

Survivors told investigators the pastor had instructed them to fast to death before the world ends so they could meet Jesus.

KENYA STARVATION CULT: DOZENS OF BODIES RECOVERED ON CULT LEADER'S LAND

A search of the remote, forested area found dozens of mass graves, authorities have said. Autopsies on some bodies showed starvation, strangulation or suffocation.

Other charges that the suspects will face include assault causing grievous bodily harm and engaging in organized criminal activity.

Mackenzie is serving a separate one-year prison sentence after being found guilty of operating a film studio and producing films without a valid license.

Five people were killed in a drive-by shooting in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, forcing authorities to close a portion of a highway, police said Tuesday.

Three of the victims were found dead inside a pickup in the eastern coastal town of Ceiba, while a fourth was found on the pavement. A fifth victim died at a hospital while being treated for his wounds, according to a police statement.

POLICE IN PUERTO RICO RESCUE A RHESUS MACAQUE MONKEY CHASED BY A CROWD

One of the victims is a 16-year-old boy, Police Commissioner Antonio López told WKAQ radio station. He said weapons were found inside the bullet-riddled pickup, and that the victims had just left a cock-fighting establishment in the nearby town of Naguabo.

It wasn’t immediately clear what led to the shooting that occurred late Monday, although López said authorities believe it is related to drug trafficking.

At least 28 people have been reported killed so far this year on the island of 3.2 million people, compared with 30 in the same period last year.

A Korean Air plane carrying 289 people hit a parked Cathay Pacific aircraft while being pushed by a ground vehicle ahead of takeoff at northern Japan's New Chitose Airport on Tuesday but caused no fire or injuries, fire and airline officials said.

The incident happened only two weeks after a collision between a Japan Airlines airliner and a coast guard plane on a runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport which caused the passenger plane to catch fire. Passengers had to flee using emergency slides before the larger plane was gutted by fire. Five of the six crew members on the smaller plane were killed.

On Tuesday, the Korean Air plane had just started moving away from its parking spot to a runway for takeoff when its left wing came into contact with the vertical stabilizer of the empty Cathay Pacific plane parked next to it, according to the Chitose City Fire Department.

JAPAN AIRLINES PLANE BURSTS INTO FLAMES AFTER COLLISION AT TOKYO'S HANEDA AIRPORT, LEAVING 5 DEAD

KAL said in a statement that its Flight 766, an Airbus A330-300, which was scheduled to fly to Seoul's Inchon airport, came in contact with the Cathay aircraft "during a pushback" when a third-party "ground handler vehicle slipped due to heavy snow." The airline said it is cooperating with all relevant authorities in the case.

None of the KAL plane's 276 passengers and 13 crew members was injured, and no fire or fuel leaks were detected, the fire department said. KAL said a replacement plane was to arrive in New Chitose late Tuesday to pick up the passengers.

PASSENGERS OF JAPANESE PLANE SPEAK OUT AFTER FIERY COLLISION LEAVES 5 DEAD: 'IT WAS HELL'

NHK public television showed the broken tip of the Korean Air plane's left wing. Cathay Flight 584 was parked after arriving from Hong Kong, NHK said.

Aviation officials are investigating the causes of the crash.

Transportation officials are also still investigating the cause of the fatal Haneda Airport collision, focusing on the communication between air traffic controllers and the two planes.

A Turkish court on Tuesday convicted the son of Somalia’s president over the death of a motorcycle courier and sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison. The sentence, however, was immediately commuted to a fine.

Mohammed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was charged with "causing death by negligence" after a diplomatic car he was driving hit Yunus Emre Gocer on a highway in Istanbul on Nov. 30. An arrest warrant was issued for Mohamud after Gocer died six days later, but the president’s son had already left Turkey.

Mohamud reportedly returned to Turkey last week to testify about the accident. The arrest warrant and a travel ban imposed on Mohamud were revoked after he gave a statement to court officials, and was then released, the DHA news agency reported.

SOMALI PRESIDENT'S SON TESTIFIES IN TURKEY OVER FATAL MOTORCYCLE CRASH

On Tuesday, the Istanbul court convicted Mohamud, who was not present, of the charge of negligent death and ruled that he be fined 27,300 Turkish lira ($910). His driver’s license was revoked for six months.

Prosecutors had requested that Mohamud be sentenced to up to six years in prison.

Gocer's father was planning to appeal the decision to commute the sentence, his lawyer Tugba Aydin told reporters after the hearing.

An association fighting for the rights of motorized couriers also criticized the court's ruling.

The life of a motorcycle courier cannot be worth 27,000 Turkish lira when the other side is 75% at fault," said Mesut Ceki of the Courier Rights Association. "So what happened? Is this justice?"

SOMALIA'S PRESIDENT SAYS HIS SON DIDN'T FLEE FATAL ACCIDENT IN TURKEY AND SHOULD RETURN TO COURT

The motorcyclist’s death had threatened to sour friendly relations between Turkey and Somalia. Turkey launched an investigation into officials who conducted the initial crash investigation and reportedly allowed Mohamud to go free.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told The Associated Press last month that his 40-year-old son, who is a doctor, did not flee Turkey and said he had advised him to present himself to court.

"Turkey is a brotherly country," the president said. "We respect the laws and the justice and the judicial system. As a president of Somalia, I will never allow anybody to violate this country’s judicial system."

Turkish authorities have built close ties with Somalia since 2011, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — then prime minister — visited the East African nation that suffered from severe drought. Turkey has since provided humanitarian aid, built infrastructure and opened a military base in Somalia where it has trained officers and police.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with corporate executives and world leaders in a frenzied first full day of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, where top officials from the United States, European Union, China, the Middle East and beyond spoke Tuesday about tackling conflict and embracing technology like artificial intelligence.

Zelenskyy is endeavoring to keep his country's long and largely stalemated defense against Russia on the minds of political leaders, just as Israel's war with Hamas, which passed the 100-day mark this week, has siphoned off much of the world's attention and sparked concerns about a wider conflict in the Middle East.

"It is important that you stand with us, I thank you for your support. It is very important to be here, to boost investment in Ukraine and support our economy," Zelenskyy said at an invitation-only "CEOs for Ukraine" session, according to his office.

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

It is Zelenskyy’s first trip to Davos as president after speaking by video in previous years, and — while surrounded by a large security contingent — he’s drawing the attention of media and others trying to grab a word from him.

Conversations with the prime ministers of Qatar and Jordan will bookend the day's most visible events, with speeches by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan in between.

Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said the concentration on the attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi rebels — which have spurred retaliatory strikes by the U.S. and Britain — was "focusing on the symptoms and not treating the real issue" of Israel’s war on Hamas.

ZELENSKYY TELLS BRET BAIER FUNDING UKRAINE IS ABOUT 'MORALITY,' NOT ECONOMICS

"We should focus on the main conflict in Gaza. And as soon as it’s defused, I believe everything else will be defused," he said, adding that a two-state solution was required to end the conflict.

Sheikh Mohammed also warned a military confrontation "will not contain" the Houthi attacks.

"I think that what we have right now in the region is a recipe of escalation everywhere," he added.

Li, the Chinese premier, focused on pitching the country as a place to invest, noting that "we are opening wide our embrace." He said China’s economy is estimated to have grown about 5.2% last year, exceeding the target it had set of 5%.

China’s economy, for decades a leading engine of global expansion, has struggled since COVID-19 restrictions, with high youth unemployment and the implosion of its overbuilt property market.

Li gave veiled criticizism of U.S. restrictions on China’s ability to buy advanced computer chips used in everything from cellphones to washing machines.

"Technology’s achievements should be used to benefit all humankind and it should not be used as a method to limit, to suppress another country," Li said.

Von der Leyen reiterated that the EU doesn't want to break from Beijing — one of its most important trade partners — but ease the risks of relying too heavily on it because "we have issues when it comes to access to the market, when it comes to a level playing field, when it comes to economic security."

She noted China's export controls on metals used in computer chips, solar cells and more.

For the U.S., Sullivan said no when The Associated Press asked whether he would meet with China’s delegation as he headed into talks with Zelenskyy and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Zelenskyy, once reticent about leaving his war-torn country, has recently gone on a whirlwind tour to try to rally support for Ukraine's cause against Russia amid donor fatigue in the West and concerns that former U.S. President Donald Trump — who touted having good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin — might return to the White House next year following his commanding win Monday in the Iowa caucuses.

He hopes to parlay the high visibility of the event into a bully pulpit to showcase Ukraine’s pressing needs, and allies will be lining up: Corporate chiefs including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and officials like von der Leyen learned in multiple gatherings what support and investment was needed to help Ukraine rebuild.

"It’s time for us, for Ukrainian companies, for international companies to rebuild (the) Ukrainian economy," Maxim Timchenko, CEO of Ukrainian energy company DTEK said after the session. "To rely on ourselves. To build a future for Ukraine."

In her speech, Von der Leyen painted an optimistic view of the war in Ukraine despite the stalemate on the battlefield. She said Russia has "lost half of its military capabilities," while Ukraine regained half the ground it had originally lost early in the invasion.

A day earlier, Zelenskyy made a stop in Switzerland’s capital, Bern, where President Viola Amherd pledged her country would start working with Ukraine to help organize a "peace summit" for Ukraine.

UK TO INCREASE UKRAINE AID TO $3.2B, ITS LARGEST ANNUAL FUNDING SINCE RUSSIA'S INVASION

The theme of the meeting in Davos is "rebuilding trust," and it comes as that sentiment has been fraying globally: Wars in the Middle East and Europe have increasingly split the world into different camps.

While the geopolitical situation has oozed gloom, businesses appear more hopeful — in part from prospects that artificial intelligence can help boost productivity.

AI is a major topic at Davos, with a key talk by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella — whose company has invested billions in ChatGPT maker OpenAI — among the sessions Tuesday.

Nadella, speaking at a Bloomberg News event ahead of his talk, indicated that issues surrounding OpenAI's leadership have been resolved. The ChatGPT maker's governance and relationship with Microsoft came into question last year after the startup’s board suddenly fired CEO Sam Altman, who was then swiftly reinstated.

"I’m comfortable, I have no issues with any structure" of the operating model at OpenAI, Nadella said. "What I would like is good governance and real stability."

Lawmakers trying to get to the bottom of one of Britain’s gravest injustices were questioning bosses of the Post Office and Fujitsu on Tuesday as momentum grew to compensate and clear the names of more than 900 Post Office branch managers wrongly convicted of theft or fraud because of the Japanese company's faulty computer system.

The Commons’ Business and Trade Committee is trying to determine how to speed up compensation for the victims. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to introduce unprecedented legislation to reverse the convictions, following a television docudrama that created a huge surge of public support for the former postmasters.

"This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history," Sunak said. "People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own. The victims must get justice and compensation."

FORMER HEAD OF BRITAIN’S POST OFFICE SURRENDERS ROYAL HONOR AFTER HUNDREDS OF POSTMASTERS WRONGFULLY ACCUSED

In addition to the parliamentary committee, a public inquiry into the matter is underway. Police are also investigating possible charges related to the investigation and prosecution.

Some things to know about the scandal:

After the Post Office rolled out the Horizon information technology system, developed by Fujitsu, in 1999 to automate sales accounting, local Post Office managers began finding unexplained losses they were responsible to cover.

The state-owned Post Office maintained Horizon was reliable and accused branch managers of dishonesty. Between 2000 and 2014, around 900 postal workers were wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting, with some going to prison and others forced into bankruptcy.

In total, more than 2,000 people were affected by the scandal. Some killed themselves or attempted suicide. Others said their marriages fell apart and reported becoming community pariahs.

A group of postal workers took legal action against the Post Office in 2016. Three years later, the High Court in London ruled that Horizon contained a number of "bugs, errors and defects" and that the Post Office "knew there were serious issues about the reliability" of the system.

"Failures of investigation and disclosure were so egregious as to make the prosecution of any of the ‘Horizon cases’ an affront to the conscience of the court," Justice Timothy Holroyde said.

To date, just 95 convictions have been overturned, Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said.

The moment of reckoning was a long time in the making, but it was turbocharged by a four-part television docudrama that aired earlier this month and fueled public outrage that led to days of bruising headlines about the Post Office and sparked a swift response by lawmakers.

The ITV show, "Mr. Bates vs the Post Office," told the story of branch manager Alan Bates, played by Toby Jones, who has spent nearly two decades trying to expose the scandal and exonerate his peers.

Despite hundreds of news stories over the years about court hearings and the continuing public inquiry, the show seen by millions rapidly galvanized support for victims of the injustice.

More than 1 million people signed an online petition calling for former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells to lose her Commander of the Order of the British Empire title she received in 2018. She has said she would relinquish the honor.

New attention was paid last week as the public inquiry resumed on television with all eyes on Stephen Bradshaw, a Post Office investigator, who appeared rattled as he was accused of bullying and intimidating suspects who said he accused them of lying. Bradshaw denied the claims.

Post Office branch owners and employees typically lived in the communities where they operated, and many became outcasts when accused of stealing.

Lisa Brennan, a former clerk at a post office in Huyton, near Liverpool, told the inquiry that after being falsely accused of stealing 3,000 pounds ($3,800) in 2003, her marriage fell apart, she lost her house and she ended up homeless with a young daughter.

"It’s scandalous, it should never have happened," she told the inquiry in 2022. "I wasn’t the only one, but that’s what I was told: ‘It’s only you, you’re the only one.’"

Janine Powell, a former subpostmistress in Tiverton in Devon who was accused of stealing around 71,000 pounds ($90,000), said she felt broken by being sentenced to 18 months in prison after being convicted in 2008.

She had to leave her three children, who ranged in age from 10 to 18 at the time, and that strained their relationship. She harmed herself, considered suicide and struggled to get a job after her release.

"It had a big impact. You have to declare obviously that you’ve got a criminal record," Powell said. "When you try to explain (to employers), it’s a ‘no’ straight away, so I couldn’t work."

The government plans to set aside $1.28 billion to compensate the wrongly convicted and others whose lives were destroyed in the scandal.

To date, a total of nearly 150 million pounds has been paid to more than 2,500 victims, Sunak said.

The legislation envisioned would quash convictions and award those who have been cleared at least 600,000 pounds ($765,000), the government said. They could receive more if they go through a process to assess their claim.

Those who were not convicted but lost money would be offered at least ($95,000.

The government said there is a chance that some postal employees who did commit fraud or theft could end up being exonerated and receive compensation.

"The risk is that instead of unjust convictions, we shall end up with unjust acquittals and we just do not know how many," Hollinrake said. "But we cannot make the provision of compensation subject to a detailed examination of guilt."

In addition to the inquiry, a committee in Parliament is questioning the chief executives of the Post Office and Fujitsu on Tuesday.

UK TO OVERTURN CONVICTIONS FOR HUNDREDS OF POSTAL WORKERS WRONGLY ACCUSED OF FRAUD

Hollinrake said the inquiry will identify the organizations and individuals responsible for the scandal. Some members of Parliament have called for prosecuting those who allowed postmasters to take the blame for the faulty software.

"Will the government accelerate the investigations to convict those who are really guilty of causing this scandal by perverting the course of justice?" said David Davis, a Conservative member of the House of Commons.

Earlier this month, police in London said they were investigating potential fraud related to money the Post Office received as a result of prosecutions or civil actions against postal workers. They are also looking into possible perjury or perversion of justice charges over the Post Office’s investigation and prosecution of the cases.