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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.

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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.

Eight passengers were confirmed dead and an estimated 100 were missing after their overloaded boat capsized in north-central Nigeria, the emergency services said Tuesday.

It is the latest in a series of deadly boat accidents that increasingly point to regulatory failures.

The passengers were being conveyed from Niger state’s Borgu district to a market in the neighboring Kebbi state on Monday afternoon when the boat overturned in the Niger River, according to Niger State Emergency Management Agency spokesman Ibrahim Audu.

DEATH TOLL RISES TO 28 IN NIGERIAN BOAT ACCIDENT

"The boat was overloaded so the strong wind affected them," Audu said.

He said the boat's capacity is 100 passengers but it was estimated to be carrying a much higher number, in addition to bags of grain, making it difficult to control when it began to sink.

Villagers were helping local divers and emergency officials to search for the missing passengers, many of whom were women, Audu said. He could not say how many people had survived.

MORE SURVIVORS RESCUED 2 DAYS AFTER NIGERIA BOAT MISHAP, DEATH TOLL AT 106

Boat disasters have become rampant in remote communities across Nigeria, where locals desperate to get their farm products to market end up overcrowded in locally made boats in the absence of good and accessible roads.

There is no record of the total death toll in these accidents, though there have been at least five involving at least 100 passengers each in the past seven months.

Past accidents have been blamed on overloading, the condition of the boat or a hindrance of the boat’s movement along the water. And intervention measures announced in response by authorities — such as the provision of life jackets or enforcing of waterways regulations — are usually not carried out.

The North Korean government claims it is severing all ties with its southern neighbor and will end all programs seeking reunification or cooperation between the two Koreas.

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 US.

"We have formulated a new stand on the north-south relations and the policy of reunification and dismantled all the organizations we established as solidarity bodies for peaceful reunification at the current session of the Supreme People's Assembly which discusses the laws of the DPRK. It can be said this is an indispensable process that should take place without fail."

NORTH KOREA CEASES BROADCAST OF CODED MESSAGES TO SPIES IN SOUTH KOREA

Kim threatened that even the slightest disregard for national boundaries was now grounds for a 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 supreme leader even went so far as to suggest modifying the nation's constitution to explicitly write in South Korea as the country's "invariable, principal enemy."

KIM JONG UN HAS 'NO INTENTION OF AVOIDING WAR' WITH SOUTH KOREA AS BUFFER ZONE ENDS

"In this regard, I think it is necessary to revise some contents of the Constitution of the DPRK," he wrote. "I have already recalled at the recent plenary meeting that the so-called constitution of the ROK openly stipulates that ‘the territory of the ROK covers the Korean peninsula and its attached island.’"

"ROK" refers to South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. DPRK similarly refers to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"In my opinion, we can specify in our constitution the issue of completely occupying, subjugating and reclaiming the ROK and annex it as a part of the territory of our Republic in case of a war breaks out on the Korean peninsula."

The North Korean Constitution has been modified several times since 1992, when it raised Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, closer to the deified status of his grandfather and founder of the country, Kim Il Sung.

Since then, the constitution has been extensively edited to reinterpret the country's communist ideology, enshrine its militaristic development as a national virtue, and further cement the Kim lineage as its ruling dynasty.

Many rewrites of the constitution included such extensive edits that the approved drafts could be considered unique documents. 

Russia's top diplomat on Tuesday hosted his North Korean counterpart for talks on expanding ties between the two countries amid international concerns over an alleged arms cooperation deal between Pyongyang and Moscow.

At the start of the meeting, Sergei Lavrov said he and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui would discuss "active work" on implementing the agreements reached by the countries' leaders.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia in September to meet President Vladimir Putin and visit several military sites, sparking international concerns about an arms alliance that would help Moscow replenish its arsenals amid the fighting in Ukraine.

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Putin is set to host Choe later in the day. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian president will visit North Korea on Kim’s invitation "at a convenient time" and based "on mutual agreement."

Lavrov on Tuesday also mentioned "close and fruitful cooperation" between the two countries at the United Nations and other international organizations. He noted that Moscow's "highly appreciates" Pyongyang's support for Russia's military action in Ukraine.

"We will take every effort to develop our relations," Choe said.

FRENCH SURVEILLANCE FLIGHTS KEEP CLOSE WATCH ON RUSSIA AND UKRAINE, DRAWING BOUNDARY IN EUROPEAN SKIES

The United States and South Korea have accused North Korea of providing artillery munitions and missiles for Russia to use in Ukraine.

Earlier this month, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that Russia already had used ballistic missiles provided by North Korea to strike Ukraine.

Both Russia and North Korea have dismissed accusations of North Korean arms transfers to Russia.

Three armed drones were shot down in Iraq on Tuesday, near where U.S. and other international forces are stationed, officials said.

Iraqi Kurdistan's counter-terrorism service said its forces intercepted and shot down the drones over Erbil airport in northern Iraq at around 5:05 a.m. local time. It did not say if there were any casualties or damage to infrastructure.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Similar previous attacks have been claimed by a group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-aligned Iraqi militias.

Tuesday's attack came hours after Iran's Revolutionary Guards fired missiles at what it claimed were Israel's Mossad foreign intelligence "spy headquarters" near the U.S. Consulate in the northern Iraqi city.

IRAN ANNOUNCES STRIKES IN NORTHERN IRAQ, SYRIA

Four civilians were killed, and six people were injured after the Iranian missiles hit the upscale area near the consulate, according to the Kurdish regional government.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in addition to the strike in Iraq, it had fired several ballistic missiles at "terrorist operations," including Islamic State targets, in Syria and destroyed them.

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Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have launched near-daily drone attacks on bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7

The attacks have been prompted by U.S. support for Israel.

Conversely, Iran backs Hamas and its rule in the Gaza Strip. Iran also provides support to Hezbollah, a terror group that operates in Syria and Lebanon, which has also launched attacks against Israel in recent months.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

China’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Philippine ambassador Tuesday and denounced President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s congratulatory message to the winner of Taiwan’s presidential election, Lai Ching-te.

Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters that Marcos’s remarks "seriously violated the political commitments made by the Philippines to China and rudely interfered in China’s internal affairs."

China claims Taiwan as its own territory, to be recovered by force if necessary, and angrily condemns statements that appear to confer legitimacy on the island's government.

PHILIPPINES' PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES PRO-SOVEREIGNTY TAIWANESE ELECTION WINNER

"We would like to sternly tell the Philippines not to play with fire on the Taiwan issue ... (and) immediately stop making wrong words and deeds on Taiwan-related issues, and stop sending any wrong signals to Taiwan independence and separatist forces," Mao said.

She said Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Nong Rong summoned the Philippine Ambassador to China Tuesday morning and "made solemn representations, and urged the Philippines to give China a responsible explanation."

Marcos Jr. congratulated Taiwan's president-elect on Monday, saying in a statement shared on social media that he was looking "forward to close collaboration" and "strengthening mutual interests." Lai, who is detested by Beijing, has pledged to safeguard the island’s de-facto independence from China and further align it with other democracies.

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"On behalf of the Filipino people, I congratulate President-elect Lai Ching-te on his election as Taiwan’s next president," Marcos said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

After U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Lai on his victory, China’s Foreign Ministry said that Blinken's message "sends a gravely wrong signal to the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces." The ministry claimed the congratulations went against a U.S. commitment to maintain only unofficial ties with Taiwan.

Off in the distance, Ukraine, fighting for its survival. Seen from up here, in the cockpit of a French air force surveillance plane flying over neighboring Romania, the snow-dusted landscapes look deceptively peaceful.

The dead from Russia's war, the shattered Ukrainian towns and mangled battlefields, aren't visible to the naked eye through the clouds.

But French military technicians riding farther back in the aircraft, monitoring screens that display the word "secret" when idle, have a far more penetrating view. With a powerful radar that rotates six times every minute on the fuselage and a bellyful of surveillance gear, the plane can spot missile launches, airborne bombing runs and other military activity in the conflict.

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As the second anniversary of Russia's Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine nears, The Associated Press obtained rare and exclusive access aboard the giant Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS, aircraft. With 26 military personnel and an AP journalist aboard, it flew a 10-hour reconnaissance mission from central France to Romanian airspace and back, peering with electronic eyes across southern Ukraine and the Black Sea to Russian-occupied Crimea and beyond.

Circling on auto-pilot at 34,000 feet (10 kilometers), the plane with a proud cockerel painted on its tail fed intelligence in real time to ground-based commanders.

Its mission for NATO on the eastern flank of the 31-nation military alliance also, in effect, drew a do-not-cross line in European skies.

The plane's sustained presence high above eastern Romania — seeing and also being seen by Russian forces — signaled how intensely NATO is watching its borders and Russia, ready if necessary to act should Russian aggression threaten to extend beyond Ukraine.

Regular surveillance flights, together with fighter patrols, ground-based radar, missile batteries and other hardware at NATO's disposal, form what the commander of France’s AWACS squadron described as "a shield" against any potential spill-over.

The "ultimate goal is, of course, no conflict and deterrence," said the commander, a lieutenant colonel named Richard. Because of French security concerns, the AP was only able to identify him and other military personnel by their ranks and first names.

"We need to show that we have the shield, show to the other countries that NATO is collective defense," he continued. "We have the ability to detect everywhere. And we are not here for a conflict. We are here to show that we are present and ready."

France's four AWACS are among a variety of surveillance aircraft, including unmanned UAV drones, that gather intelligence for NATO and its member nations. Lt. Col. Richard said the French E-3F-type AWACS see for hundreds of kilometers (miles) with their distinctive black-and-white rooftop radar domes, although he wouldn't be precise.

E-3s are modified Boeing 707s. The 707 first flew in 1957 but stopped carrying passengers commercially in 2013, so E-3s are also flying examples of aviation history.

"We can detect aircraft, we can detect UAVs, we can detect missiles and we can detect ships. That’s true, for sure, in Ukraine, especially when we are at the border," Lt. Col. Richard said.

As the plane loitered and scanned, the crew detected a distant Russian AWACS above the Sea of Azov, many hundreds of kilometers away on the Crimean Peninsula's eastern side. The Russian aircraft also seemingly spotted the French AWACS: Sensors along the fuselage picked up Russian radar signals.

"We know that they see us, they know that we see them. Let’s say that it’s some kind of a dialogue between them and us," the French co-pilot, Major Romain, said.

NATO also has its own fleet of 14 AWACS, also E-3s. They can detect low-flying targets within 400 kilometers (250 miles) and higher-flying targets another 120 kilometers (75 miles) beyond that, the alliance says. It says one AWACS can surveil an area the size of Poland; three can cover all of central Europe.

Able to fly for 12 hours without refueling, French AWACS aren't limited to surveillance, communications and air-traffic control missions for NATO. They expect to be deployed as part of the massive security operation for the Paris Olympics, providing additional radar surveillance with what Lt. Col. Richard called their "God’s-eye view."

Russian pilots have at times made clear that they don't like being watched.

In 2022, a Russian fighter jet released a missile near a British air force RC-135 Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft that was flying in international airspace over the Black Sea, Britain's government said. The U.S. government released video in March 2023 of a Russian fighter jet dumping fuel on a U.S. Air Force surveillance drone. The drone crashed into the Black Sea.

Rivet Joints are particularly capable spy planes, and Russian authorities "really hate" their ability to snoop on the Ukraine war, said Justin Bronk, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute defense think tank in London.

As well as gathering "real-time intelligence that theoretically could be shared with Ukrainian partners," the planes also furnish "fantastic" insight about "how Russian forces actually operate in a real war," Bronk said in a phone interview.

"So of course, the Russians are furious," he said.

NATO also scrambles fighter jets to scope Russian flights. It says allied aircraft took to the skies more than 500 times in 2022 to intercept Russian aircraft that ventured close to NATO airspace. The number of such encounters dropped to more than 300 in 2023, according to the Brussels-headquartered alliance.

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The strengthening of Ukrainian air defenses with Western weaponry may partly explain the decrease, with shoot-downs seemingly making Russian pilots warier. NATO observed reduced activity by manned Russian flights over the western Black Sea last year. NATO says "the vast majority of aerial encounters between NATO and Russian jets were safe and professional" and that Russian incursions into NATO airspace were rare and generally short.

Aboard the French flight, the co-pilot, Major Romain, said Russian planes haven’t intercepted a French AWACS "for a long time" and that if they did, French pilots would try to defuse any tension.

"Our orders are to be, let’s say, passive," he said. "For a civilian, let’s say ‘polite.’"

A blast Tuesday at a Serbian factory that produces tires, protective gear and industrial explosives killed one person and injured four, police said.

The explosion occurred around 9a.m. at a fuel strip production unit of the Trayal Coorporation factory. 

The factory is located in the central city of Krusevac, according to a police statement.

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It was not immediately clear what caused the blast.

The explosion also resulted in a fire at the complex.

TENSIONS RISE AMID CLAIMS OF RUSSIA, SERBIA INTERFERENCE IN KOSOVO FOLLOWING RECENT BLOODSHED

Police said the injured have been transferred to the Krusevac hospital.

Israel will begin to scale down its military offensive in the southern Gaza Strip, according to its defense minister.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav 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," he said. "In both places we will reach the moment for the next stage."

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

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

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.

"Only from a position of strength can we ensure the release of hostages," he said.

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

Gallant also said Israel would continue targeting Hamas’ leaders, calling them the "head of the snake." Several of these leaders are believed to be hiding in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

On Sunday, the White House said "it’s the right time" for Israel to transition to "low-intensity operations" in Gaza.

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

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

Kirby recognized that Israel had taken some "precursory steps" toward scaling down its offensive but said there was more to do.

"We’re not saying let your foot up off the gas completely and don’t keep going after Hamas," he continued. "It’s just that we believe the time is coming here very, very soon for a transition to this lower intensity phase."

In response, Gallant said Israel would continue its war against Hamas.

"It’s been 100 days, yet we will not stop until we win," he said.

The war in Gaza has persisted since Israel declared war on Hamas after the terror group carried out an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on Oct. 7. In total, the war has killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians and displaced approximately 85% of the territory’s 2.3 million residents.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until Hamas is destroyed and all remaining hostages are freed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A group of Australian lawmakers wrote a letter to the U.K. government pleading with it to make an independent assessment of whether the safety and well-being of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could be ensured if he is extradited to the U.S. to face charges for publishing classified military cables.

The parliamentary letter to U.K. Home Secretary James Cleverly is signed by the co-convenors of the Australian Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group: Members of Parliament Andrew Wilkie, Independent; Bridget Archer, Liberal; Josh Wilson, Labor, and Sen. David Shoebridge, Greens.

The letter cited the 2023 U.K. Supreme Court decision in AAA v Secretary of State for the Home Department, which found that courts in the U.K. cannot solely rely on third-party assurances by foreign governments and must make independent assessments of the risk of persecution to people before an order is made to remove them from the U.K.

"This reasoning clearly has direct relevance to the extradition proceedings involving Julian Assange and the joint decision of Lord Justices Burnett and Holroyde in USA v Assange," the letter reads. "In that case their Lordships expressly relied on the 'assurances' of the United States as to Mr. Assange's safety and welfare should he be extradited to the United States for imprisonment and trial. These assurances were not tested, nor was there any evidence of independent assessment as to the basis on which they could be given and relied upon."

UK HIGH COURT SETS DATE FOR JULIAN ASSANGE'S FINAL APPEAL CHALLENGING US EXTRADITION

Assange is facing 17 charges by the U.S. government for allegedly receiving, possessing and communicating classified information to the public under the Espionage Act, and one charge alleging conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. His possible final legal challenge to block his extradition from Britain to the U.S. will be held Feb. 20 and 21 at the High Court in London.

If he is extradited to the U.S. after exhausting all his legal appeals, Assange would face trial in Alexandria, Virginia, and could be sentenced to up to 175 years in an American maximum-security prison.

"This is literally a do-or-die scenario for Julian," Assange's brother, Gabriel Shipton, told Fox News Digital. "If he loses at the U.K. courts next month, he could be extradited to the USA within 24 hours. [Expert] witness testimony and a U.K. magistrate have both found that would ultimately lead to his death. This prosecution isn't about justice, it's not about protecting U.S. interest, it's obvious to everyone that Julian's persecution is a sick revenge plot by the people whose criminal behavior his work exposed. It's time for cooler heads to prevail and put an end to this disastrous endeavor."

SQUAD AND MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE JOIN 16 LAWMAKERS CALLING ON BIDEN TO FREE JULIAN ASSANGE

Assange's lawyer in the U.K., Jennifer Robinson, has previously said she fears he "would not survive if extradited to the U.S."

The Australian journalist has been held at London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since he was removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy on April 11, 2019, for breaching bail conditions. He had sought asylum at the embassy since 2012 to avoid being sent to Sweden over allegations he raped two women because Sweden would not provide assurances it would protect him from extradition to the U.S. The investigations into the sexual assault allegations were eventually dropped.

"Mr. Assange is an Australian citizen who has been in HM Prison Belmarsh since April 2019. He has significant health issues, exacerbated to a dangerous degree by his prolonged incarceration, that are of very real concern to us as his elected representatives," the Australian lawmakers wrote.

British High Commissioner to Australia Vicki Treadell told Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio on Tuesday that "all parties would like to see a resolution." 

"We welcome this statement from the High Commissioner because it is exactly what the letter from Australian MPs to Home Secretary James Cleverly is asking him to do," Greg Barns SC, adviser to the Australian Assange Campaign, told Fox News Digital. "We urge the UK government to assist with that resolution by working with the Australian and US governments immediately to end the case against Julian Assange."

BIPARTISAN CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION CALLS ON US OFFICIALS TO DROP CHARGES AGAINST ASSANGE

The Trump administration brought the charges against Assange over WikiLeaks' 2010 publication of cables leaked by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning detailing war crimes committed by the U.S. government in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp. The materials also exposed instances of the CIA engaging in torture and rendition.

WikiLeaks' "Collateral Murder" video showing the U.S. military gunning down civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists, was also published 14 years ago.

The parliamentary letter comes after a cross-party delegation of Australian lawmakers visited Washington, D.C., last year and met with U.S. officials, members of Congress and civil rights groups to demand the charges against Assange be dropped. Multiple bipartisan efforts were also made last year by U.S. lawmakers demanding Assange's freedom.

JULIAN ASSANGE SUPPORTERS DEMAND CHARGES BE DROPPED IN VIGIL OUTSIDE MERRICK GARLAND’S HOME

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also repeatedly called on the U.S. in the last year to end the prosecution of Assange.

"Both the Australian Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have stated publicly that Mr. Assange's case has gone on for too long," the parliamentary letter reads. "This is a position with which we wholeheartedly concur."

No publisher had been charged under the Espionage Act until Assange, and many press freedom groups have said his prosecution sets a dangerous precedent intended to criminalize journalism. U.S. prosecutors and critics of Assange have argued WikiLeaks' publication of classified material put the lives of U.S. allies at risk, but there is no evidence that publishing the documents put anyone in danger.

The editors and publishers of the U.S. and European outlets that worked with Assange on the publication of excerpts from more than 250,000 documents he obtained in the Cablegate leak — The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País — wrote an open letter in 2022 calling for the U.S. to drop the charges against Assange.

The Obama administration decided not to indict Assange in 2013 over WikiLeaks' 2010 publication of the classified documents because it would have had to also indict journalists from major news outlets who published the same materials. Former President Obama also commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence for violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses to seven years in January 2017. Manning, who had been imprisoned since 2010, was released later that year.

AUSTRALIAN DELEGATION MEETS WITH US OFFICIALS, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO DEMAND JULIAN ASSANGE'S FREEDOM

Former President Trump's Justice Department later moved to indict Assange under the Espionage Act and the Biden administration has continued to pursue his prosecution.

"We are deeply concerned that the legal proceedings involving Mr. Assange will now continue, first in the United Kingdom and then in the United States, if extradition is ordered and consented to by you," the letter to the U.K. Home Secretary reads. "This would add yet more years to Mr. Assange's detention and further imperil his health."

"To this end we are requesting that you undertake an urgent, thorough and independent assessment of the risks to Mr. Assange’s health and welfare in the event he is extradited to the United States," it continues. "Consistent with the decision in AAA, it appears to us that such independent investigation should include a close review of the risks to Mr. Assange’s health, life and wellbeing through prolonged detention in one or more high security U.S. detention facilities."

Under the Trump administration, the CIA allegedly had plans to kill Assange over the publication of sensitive agency hacking tools known as "Vault 7," which the agency said represented "the largest data loss in CIA history," Yahoo reported in 2021. The agency was accused of having discussions "at the highest levels" of the administration about plans to assassinate Assange in London and allegedly acted upon orders from then-CIA director Mike Pompeo to draw up kill "sketches" and "options."

The CIA also had advanced plans to kidnap and rendition Assange, and had made a political decision to charge him, according to the Yahoo report.

WikiLeaks also published internal communications in 2016 between the Democratic National Committee and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign that revealed the DNC's attempts to boost Clinton in that year's Democratic primary.

A volcano that erupted in southwest Iceland for the second time in less than a month appeared to be significantly less active on Monday despite indications of magma still flowing underground.

"A black day" read the front page headline of Icelandic daily Morgunbladid across an image of bright-orange lava fountains and houses burning in the town of Grindavik, some 25 miles southwest of the capital Reykjavík.

Although volcanic activity has eased since Sunday, the eruption centres is a high-risk area and new fissures could open without warning, the Icelandic Metrological Office said.

ICELAND VOLCANO ERUPTION DESTROYS HOMES AS PRESIDENT SAYS REGION ENTERING 'A DAUNTING PERIOD OF UPHEAVAL'

"It is difficult to estimate how long this eruption will last," it said in a statement.

Molten lava flows reached the outskirts of Grindavik around noon on Sunday, setting three houses alight, although the town had been evacuated earlier and there was no immediate danger to people.

The crack in the earth's surface that opened close to Grindavik on Sunday was no longer active on Monday, and lava production from the larger fissure north of the town was decreasing, vulcanologist Rikke Pedersen told Reuters.

"Activity has dropped significantly overnight," she said.

GPS measurements showed that magma continued to move in a southern area of the corridor beneath the town, the Metrological Office said, adding that new cracks might appear within Grindavik in the next few days.

It was the second eruption on the peninsula of Reykjanes in four weeks and the fifth since 2021.

Live video footage on Monday showed glimpses of orange lava still flowing to the surface but in smaller volumes, and further away from the town.

"Unfortunately (the lava) went a little bit more south than we had hoped for," Vidir Reynisson, head of Iceland's Civil Protection and Emergency Management, told a press conference late on Sunday.

Nevertheless, defensive barriers built to the north of Grindavik had helped divert the flows of lava to the west, away from the town, Reynisson said.

Residents of Grindavik, a town of some 4,000 people before it was evacuated in November, said it was difficult to watch televised images of the fires.

"This is serious, it's basically as bad as it can possibly get. Although it might get even worse, who knows?" evacuated resident Jon Gauti Dagbjartsson said late on Sunday.

"I actually live in the house that I was born in and it's a tough thought to think that this town might be over, and I would have to start all over somewhere else. But if that's the case, then that's exactly what we'll do."

The Icelandic government was to meet on Monday to decide on support for the people of Grindavik. "We need to put a lot of extra efforts into finding more housing, suitable housing," Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir said.

German classified documents show Russia could expand its war on Ukraine by attacking NATO ally countries next year, according to reports.

German newspaper BILD published classified documents outlining how Germany plans to prepare for an offensive by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The outlet based its claims on information obtained from the German Ministry of Defense and said armed forces in Europe are preparing for an attack by Russia on Eastern Europe, which could include a cyber offensive.

The "Alliance Defense 2024" is one of the scenarios being watched that could start in February and include the mobilization of about 200,000 Russian soldiers, according to the report.

RIGHT-WING PARTY ALLEGEDLY DISCUSSED DEPORTING MILLIONS FROM GERMANY AT MEETING WITH IDENTITARIAN MOVEMENT

With troops in place, and funding from the west diminishing, Putin would reportedly have the troops attack Ukrainian forces in a "spring offensive."

BILD described a scenario that shows Russia, by July, could begin launching "severe cyberattacks" in the Baltics, drawing dissatisfaction from Russians living in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Then in September, clashes could escalate, according to the classified documents, and be used by Putin as a reason to launch the next phase called, "Zapad 2024," which is described as a large-scale military exercise involving about 50,000 Russian troops in Western Russia and Belarus.

According to the documents, Russia could then mobilize troops and mid-range missiles to Kaliningrad, which is a Russian territory located in between the NATO countries of Poland and Lithuania.

BILD also reported that by December, Russia could use the U.S. presidential election as an opportunity to disburse more propaganda of border conflict or riots with numerous deaths, to fuel violence in the Suwalki Gap, bringing on unrest.

The following month, in January 2025, Russia would then accuse Western allies of planning moves against Putin’s regime after the UN Security Council meeting, which the Russian leader could use to rally troops in the Baltics and Belarus by March 2025.

In the case of the scenario outlined, BILD reported, the leaked documents said Germany would deploy 30,000 troops for defense, as about 70,000 Russian troops are based in Belarus.

The document said NATO would take "measures for credible deterrence" by May 2025, in response to the buildup of Russian troops, and to prevent combat between Russian and Western troops.

BILD explained that the documents outline a potential scenario which was put together by German army generals and European allies taking Russia’s threat seriously.

Still, Russia and Putin have denied they would escalate the conflict with Ukraine beyond the country’s borders.

Iran announced late Monday that it had launched strikes against a "spy headquarters and the gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups" shortly after missiles hit an area near the U.S. consulate in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

Soon after, a statement from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on state media said it had struck "terrorist operations" including Islamic State targets in Syria "and destroyed them by firing a number of ballistic missiles." Another statement claimed that it had hit a headquarters of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

6 TURKISH SOLDIERS KILLED IN APPARENT MILITANT ATTACK IN KURDISH IRAQ

The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility earlier this month for two suicide bombings targeting a commemoration for an Iranian general slain in a 2020 U.S. drone strike. The attack in Kerman killed at least 84 people and wounded an additional 284 at a ceremony honoring Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

Last month, Iran accused Israel of killing a high-ranking Iranian general, Seyed Razi Mousavi, in an airstrike on a Damascus neighborhood.

In Iraqi security official said Irbil was targeted with "several" ballistic missiles but did not give further details. An official with an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia said 10 missiles fell in the area near the U.S. consulate. He said the missiles were launched by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.

U.S. officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the strike near the consulate.

The strikes come at a time of heightened tensions in the region and fears of a wider spillover of the ongoing war in Gaza.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have launched near-daily drone attacks on bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, which the groups have said was in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel, and in an attempt to force U.S. troops to leave the region.

North Korea has abolished key government organizations tasked with managing relations with South Korea, state media said Tuesday, as authoritarian leader Kim Jong-un said he would no longer pursue reconciliation with his rival.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the decision to abolish the agencies handling dialogue and cooperation with the South was made during a meeting of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament on Monday.

The Supreme People’s Assembly said in a statement that the two Koreas were now locked in an "acute confrontation" and that it would be a serious mistake for the North to regard the South as a partner in diplomacy.

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

"The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, the National Economic Cooperation Bureau and the (Mount Kumgang) International Tourism Administration, tools which existed for (North-South) dialogue, negotiations and cooperation, are abolished," the assembly said, adding that the North’s government will take "practical measures" to implement the decision.

During a speech at the assembly, Kim blamed South Korea and the United States for raising tensions in the region. He said it has become impossible for the North to pursue reconciliation and a peaceful reunification with the South.

He called for the assembly to rewrite the North’s Constitution in its next meeting to define South Korea as the North’s "No. 1 hostile country," KCNA said.

The National Committee for the Peaceful Reunification has been North Korea’s main agency handling inter-Korean affairs since its establishment in 1961.

The National Economic Cooperation Bureau and the Mount Kumgang International Tourism Administration had been set to handle joint economic and tourism projects between the Koreas during a brief period of reconciliation in the 2000s. Such projects have been halted for years as relations between the rivals worsened over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and are banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North that have tightened since 2016.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after Kim in recent months ramped up his weapons demonstrations. The United States and its allies Seoul and Tokyo responded by strengthening their combined military exercises, which Kim has condemned as invasion rehearsals, and sharpening their nuclear deterrence strategies.

Some experts say the North could try to further dial up pressure in an election year in South Korea and the United States.

North Korea earlier this month fired a barrage of artillery shells near the disputed western sea boundary with South Korea, prompting the South to conduct similar firing exercises in the area. Kim has also released verbal threats, using a political conference last week to define South Korea as the North’s "principal enemy" and threatened to annihilate it if provoked.

A tropical cyclone caused heavy flooding and at least one death in Mauritius on Monday as cars were washed away by surges of water in the Indian Ocean island's capital city and elsewhere. A motorcyclist died in an accident caused by the flooding, the government said and imposed a curfew.

The government issued an order that everyone except emergency and health workers, members of the security services and those requiring medical treatment must return home and remain there.

Some people were also being evacuated as the floodwaters caused by Tropical Cyclone Belal threatened houses and other buildings. Schools were closed and hospitals were told to only keep their emergency departments open.

SEYCHELLES DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY AMID DEADLY FLOODING, EXPLOSIVES DEPOT BLAST

The main airport was closed and flights into and out of the island nation of 1.2 million people were canceled until further notice, the government said.

The Mauritius newspaper L'Express published videos of cars floating down streets that looked more like raging rivers in the capital, Port Louis, and other parts of the island. Some people climbed onto the roof of their car and clung on, according to the images published by L'Express. Motorists who had escaped from cars were seen being pulled from the floodwaters and to safety by others.

Vehicles were left piled up, some of them overturned, after some of the floodwaters receded.

The water also entered buildings and flooded homes and the lobbies of offices. The Central Bank of Mauritius building was reportedly flooded.

Evacuations were being carried out, the government said in a statement.

Belal had earlier also battered the nearby French island of Reunion, where the intense rains and powerful winds left about a quarter of households without electricity after hitting Monday morning, according to the prefecture of Reunion.

Many people in Reunion had also lost internet and phone services, and water connections to tens of thousands of homes were cut. Authorities in the French outpost said a homeless person was found dead in Saint-Gilles on the island’s west coast. The circumstances of that death were unclear.

Reunion had declared the highest storm alert level on Sunday as Belal approached. But the alert was lifted after the worst of the storm passed Reunion on Monday afternoon and charged toward Mauritius, around 135 miles to the northeast.

Mauritius' National Crisis Committee ordered everyone to return home at 8 p.m. local time. The curfew would remain in effect until noon on Tuesday, it said.

Mauritius' national meteorological department said the eye of the storm was still expected to come closer to Mauritius and pass about 55 miles south of the island at its closest point early Tuesday morning, warning that the worst might still be ahead.

The island would feel the effects of the cyclone "for hours," the Mauritius Meteorological Services said.

Cyclones are common between January and March in the Indian Ocean near southern Africa as seas in the southern hemisphere reach their warmest temperatures. The hotter water is fuel for cyclones.

Scientists say human-caused climate change has intensified extreme weather, making cyclones more frequent and rainier when they hit. Some climate scientists have identified a direct link between global warming and the intensity of some cyclones in the region.

In 2019, Cyclone Idai ripped into Africa from the Indian Ocean, leaving more than 1,000 people dead in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe and causing a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations said it was one of the deadliest storms on record in the southern hemisphere.

Colombia’s government has extended a cease-fire with the FARC-EMC rebel group that was set to expire this week, as both sides hold peace talks in Bogotá in an effort to reduce violence in rural parts of the country.

The cease-fire will now last until July 15, according to a decree signed Sunday by President Gustavo Petro, and it requires that the rebels cease attacks on civilians in areas under their control – a crucial measure according to some analysts.

"The cease-fires we have seen (during the Petro administration) so far, have really only limited the clashes between the government and the rebel groups, but haven't had a real impact on the lives of communities" said Elizabeth Dickinson, a Colombia analyst at the International Crisis Group. "What we get to see now is whether this ceasefire can change that paradigm."

COLOMBIAN REBEL GROUP ANNOUNCES IT WILL STOP KIDNAPPING PEOPLE FOR RANSOM

Colombia’s government in October announced peace talks with the FARC-EMC splinter group after both sides agreed to a three-month-long cease-fire.

The group of around 3,500 fighters is led by rebel commanders who did not join a 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and the main FARC group that ended five decades of war.

While homicides in Colombia have gone down since the 2016 peace deal was signed, there has been an uptick in violence in some rural pockets of the country, where groups like the FARC-EMC, the National Liberation Army and the Gulf Clan are fighting over territory abandoned by the FARC.

Petro’s administration has attempted to hold simultaneous peace talks with these groups, as part of the president's "Total Peace" plan. But critics say that cease-fires with the nation’s remaining rebel groups have done little to stop attacks on the population, with the rebels using the cessation of hostilities with the military as an opportunity to recruit teenagers, extort local businesses and kidnap civilians for hefty ransom payments – including the father of a famous soccer player.

The new cease-fire with the government also requires that the rebels not threaten community leaders or control the movements of villagers in rural areas, who are sometimes confined to their villages by the rebel groups.

The FARC-EMC and the government have disclosed few details about their current round of talks, which are being held in the nation’s capital. But they have hinted that they will discuss the implementation of economic projects aimed at transforming rural areas, where impoverished farmers have opted to grow illegal crops to make a living.

Sustainable development projects aimed at decreasing deforestation are also being discussed, according to the government's lead negotiator, Camilo González Posso.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in early Monday as Guatemala’s new president.

Many doubted they would ever see the day as powerful interests aligned against his anti-corruption campaign and authorities threw various legal challenges at him and his party.

GUATEMALA SWEARS IN BERNARDO ARÉVALO AS PRESIDENT DESPITE LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO BLOCK ELECTION RESULTS

Arévalo is now president, but those disputes will continue and with little support in Congress he will be hard-pressed to deliver the deep changes in Guatemalan government and society that fueled his support and a surprise electoral victory.

He’s considered a political moderate with a background in conflict resolution, skills that should serve him well in Guatemala’s current polarization.

WHO IS GUATEMALA’S NEW PRESIDENT?

Arévalo is the 65-year-old son of former Guatemalan President Juan José Arévalo.

The elder Arévalo was credited with implementing fundamental protections for workers and spaces for the country’s Indigenous population. Bernardo Arévalo was born in Uruguay, where his father was in exile following the ouster in a 1954 CIA-backed coup of his successor, President Jacobo Árbenz, whom the U.S. saw as a threat during the Cold War.

He came to Guatemala as a teenager before leaving again to continue his studies overseas. Arévalo studied sociology and anthropology abroad in Israel and the Netherlands, served as Guatemala’s ambassador to Spain, and for years worked in Geneva for the nongovernmental organization Interpeace.

He held a variety of roles there, but among his contributions was pioneering the organization’s peacebuilding work in Central America.

Arévalo returned to Guatemala and eventually was part of the founding of the Seed Movement party. Those who know him — and it appears in his extensive academic writings — say Arévalo is a political moderate, though in Guatemala’s distorted political spectrum he was painted by opponents as a radical leftist. He was elected to Congress in 2019 for the Seed Movement party that eventually carried him to the presidency.

WHAT DOES HE WANT TO DO?

Following his second-place finish in the first round of voting last June, Arévalo seemed as surprised as everyone else.

He hadn't been polling among the top half-dozen candidates before the election, but his message of change, battling corruption and an optimism about Guatemala’s potential resonated among a portion of the disaffected population.

In an interview, after that vote, Arévalo said that if he eventually won the presidency in a runoff, the executive branch would cease to be the source of "that fundamental lubricant of the corrupt system." Instead, his administration would focus on battling corruption and recovering co-opted institutions.

Early Monday, Arévalo said in a speech that "the political crisis from which we are emerging offers us a singular opportunity to build an institution, a democratic, realist and healthy democratic unity on the rubble of this wall of corruption that we are beginning to take down brick by brick."

Arévalo also talked about the "historic debt" that Guatemala owes to its Indigenous peoples. He said he would expand Guatemalan’s access to health care and education, and work toward the country’s continued development.

"The most critical and urgent challenge without doubt is climate change," he said Monday.

WHAT STANDS IN HIS WAY?

Most immediately, the continued legal persecution by Attorney General Consuelo Porras will continue to draw Arévalo’s attention and energies.

Her office is pursuing multiple investigations of him — for allegedly encouraging the monthslong takeover of a public university by students — and his party — for how it gathered the signatures required to form years earlier.

Porras’ term extends to 2026. Arévalo has said he would ask her to resign, but he can't remove her from her position under Guatemala’s separation of powers.

Also unclear is what those who really hold the economic power in Guatemala and the increasingly powerful drug traffickers who control dozens of local and federal politicians will do when Arévalo tries to dismantle their corrupt networks.

Arévalo has said he wants to bring back the prosecutors and judges who had led the fight against corruption until Porras turned the justice system against them, forcing them into exile.

In the medium term, Guatemala has deep structural problems. Intense poverty and a lack of employment opportunities continue to drive high numbers of Guatemalans to emigrate to the United States. The poorest are also the most vulnerable to the intensifying drought and flood cycles made worse by climate change.

A pro-Putin Chilean-American filmmaker who was imprisoned in Ukraine over allegations of spreading Russian propaganda has died in jail.

Gonzalo Lira, a 55-year-old YouTuber and film director who was born in Burbank, California, and spent part of his childhood in the Los Angeles area, died in a Ukrainian jail on Friday, the State Department confirmed to Fox News Digital.

"We can confirm the death of U.S. citizen Gonzalo Lira in Ukraine," a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss."

UKRAINE'S SPY CHIEF SAYS ATTACKS ON RUSSIAN-OCCUPIED CRIMEA WILL ESCALATE IN 2024

The spokesperson added that the department stands "ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance," but would have no further comment "out of respect from the family during this difficult time."

Lira gained a following posting pro-Russian content that justified Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, according to a report from Newsweek, a criminal offense under Ukrainian law. He was initially jailed in May 2023 but was released on bail. He was jailed again after posting a video hinting that he was going to leave the country, being arrested again for allegedly breaching the conditions of his bail.

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

Newsweek also reported that Lira made many controversial posts before being picked up by Ukrainian authorities, including labeling Ukrainian President Volodymry Zelenskyy a "cokehead" and praising Putin's "special military operation" as "one of the most brilliant invasions in military history."

The Ukrainian government's Center for Stategic Communication and Information Security said Lira was arrested for "justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine," according to Newsweek, a violation of Article 463-2 of Ukrainian criminal law.

Turkey has carried out a wave of air strikes on electricity and oil infrastructure in Syria's Kurdish-held northeast that has put several power stations out of service, local sources and Syrian state media said on Monday.

Hogir Najar, a media official at the Kurdish-run autonomous administration, told Reuters that at least 40 sites had been hit in Turkish shelling in the last two days, including power stations, water pumping stations and oil infrastructure.

Najar said at least 10 border towns were without power or water as a result.

6 TURKISH SOLDIERS KILLED IN APPARENT MILITANT ATTACK IN KURDISH IRAQ

Syrian state television also reported the strikes on Monday, saying a Turkish drone had hit the Dirbasiyah power station and that Turkish air bombardment hit a power transfer station in the main town of Qamishli. Two water stations were also put out of service as Turkish strikes on Monday had cut off their electricity supply, Syria's state news agency SANA said.

Turkey has conducted military incursions and bombing campaigns in Syria against the Kurdish YPG, which it regards as a wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.

Turkeys defence ministry confirmed it conducted air strikes in northern Iraq and northern Syria over the weekend after nine Turkish soldiers were killed in a clash with the outlawed PKK in northern Iraq.

The air strikes destroyed targets consisting of caves, shelters and depots as well as a natural gas production facility, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Turkey's National Intelligence Agency (MIT) also mounted strikes on PKK and YPG targets in Syria, state-run Anadolu Agency said on Sunday. The strikes targeted military bases and critical infrastructure facilities including oil and natural gas facilities believed to be used for financing of the PKK, according to Anadolu.

"The power station hurt a few hundred meters away from my house was hit last year, last month, and today too," said Hussein Seifo, a resident of the city of Qamishli.

"Every time it's fixed, it gets bombed again. We're afraid for our children after the last two days," he told Reuters by phone.