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China is pushing back on the United States and the multilateral coalition that are launching strikes on Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, suggesting such operations are further escalation from the Israel-Hamas war. He also said they were "unlikely" to achieve their desired outcome of preventing the rebel group from attacking maritime vessels in the Red Sea.

Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, said Saturday that the two strikes in Yemen on Friday, Jan. 12, and Saturday, Jan. 13, were "regrettable" and only "causing infrastructure damage and civilian deaths." He also accused the U.S. of being "contradictory and irresponsible."

"It's regrettable to see some countries blatantly carry out military operations against Yemen, causing infrastructure damage and civilian deaths, as well as increasing security risks at Red Sea waters. This will not help protect the safety and navigation freedom of commercial ships. On the contrary, military operations will hinder political progress in Yemen," Zhang said. "It is highly unlikely that desired goals can be accomplished through such military measures."

He added: "The escalation of tensions in the Red Sea is one of the ripple effects stemming from the Palestine-Israel conflict. Hoping the conflict in Gaza will not spill over while passively indulging it to drag on is a naive illusion. It is contradictory and irresponsible to incite military confrontations and exacerbate tensions while simultaneously calling for an end to further spillover effects."

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

Zhang’s remarks come after the U.S. launched a singular strike on Saturday, hitting a Houthi-controlled radar facility in Yemen.

U.S. Central Command said the "follow-on action" early Saturday was carried out by the Navy destroyer USS Carney, which used Tomahawk land attack missiles. It was the second strike in two days against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

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

"At 3:45 a.m. (Sana’a time) on Jan 13., U.S. forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen," CENTCOM said on X.

On Friday, the U.S. military forces — together with the United Kingdom and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands — conducted "multilateral coalition strikes" in Yemen, using over 150 munitions to hit more than 60 targets.

Both strikes came in retaliation for dozens of Houthi attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea over recent months.

Fox News’ Liz Friden contributed to this report.

U.S. Central Command said "follow-on action" early Saturday local time against a Houthi radar site was conducted by the Navy destroyer USS Carney using Tomahawk land attack missiles. It was the second strike in two days against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

"At 3:45 a.m. (Sana’a time) on Jan 13., U.S. forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen," CENTCOM said on X.

It added: "This strike was conducted by the USS Carney (DDG 64) using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and was a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes taken on Jan. 12 designed to degrade the Houthi’s ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels."

The strike followed "multilateral coalition strikes" by the U.S. military forces — together with the United Kingdom and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands — which hit 28 locations and struck more than 60 targets on Friday, Jan. 12.

US CARRIES OUT ADDITIONAL STRIKE IN YEMEN, OFFICIAL SAYS

Friday’s early morning multilateral coalition strikes "targeted radar systems, air defense systems, and storage and launch sites for one way attack unmanned aerial systems, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles," CENTCOM said on X.

Both the initial retaliation and Saturday’s singular strike on the radar facility came after Houthi rebels have launched missiles and carried out attacks over several months on commercial shipping and trade vessels in the Red Sea.

CENTCOM said the Houthi rebels have attacked or attempted to harass vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at least 28 times since Nov. 19, 2023.

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

These attacks include the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and cruise missiles.

"These strikes have no association with and are separate from Operation Prosperity Guardian, a defensive coalition of over 20 countries operating in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and Gulf of Aden," the statement continued.

On Thursday, CENTCOM said dozens of countries have been impacted by the Houthi harassment.

"We hold the Houthi militants and their destabilizing Iranian sponsors responsible for the illegal, indiscriminate, and reckless attacks on international shipping that have impacted 55 nations so far, including endangering the lives of hundreds of mariners, including the United States," said General Michael Erik Kurilla, USCENTCOM Commander.

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"Their illegal and dangerous actions will not be tolerated, and they will be held accountable," Kurilla added.

President Biden has warned that the Houthis could face further strikes. 

Two U.S Navy sailors were reported missing while conducting operations Thursday off the coast of Somalia, the U.S. Central Command said.

Search and rescue operations are currently ongoing, the statement said.

Officials said that the two sailors were reported missing on Thursday evening.

The brief statement gave no additional information about what the pair had been doing when they went missing.

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

CENTCOM said that the sailors were forward-deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet (C5F) area of operations and supported a "wide variety of missions."

"Out of respect for the families affected, we will not release further information at this time," the statement said.

The U.S. has an estimated 450 military personnel in Somalia after President Biden reversed his predecessor Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces. 

US CARROES OUT ADDITIONAL STRIKE IN YEMEN, OFFICIALS SAY

The U.S. provides military assistance in the East African country as it continues to battle, what the U.S. has called, "the largest and most deadly al-Qaida network in the world."

In 2022, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared "total war" on the thousands of al-Shabab extremists who for more than a decade have controlled parts of the country and carried out devastating attacks while exploiting clan divisions and extorting millions of dollars a year in their quest to impose an Islamic state.

The U.S. supports Somali forces and a multinational African Union force with drone strikes, intelligence and training.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The United States was carrying out an addition strike in Yemen early Saturday, Fox News has learned. 

The strike came after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis fired a ballistic missile into international shipping lanes Friday. The strike was launched towards a single target at a radar facility used by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis, a U.S. official told Fox News. 

The second round of strikes occurred after the United States and Britain carried out a series of airstrikes on military locations belonging to Houthis in Yemen early Friday in response to the militant group's ongoing attacks on vessels traveling through the Red Sea. 

There were attacks on more than a dozen Houthi targets by air, surface, and subsurface platforms. The attacks were carried out with support from Australia, the Netherlands, Bahrain, and Canada. The United Kingdom contributed aircraft. 

This story is breaking. Please check back for updates. 

Police in Puerto Rico captured a rhesus macaque monkey on Friday that was being chased by a crowd of people at a public housing complex near the U.S. territory’s north coast.

The monkey was found injured and exhausted in the laundry room of an apartment within the Beautiful View complex in the coastal city of Arecibo, said Officer Joel Vidot Soto, who captured the animal.

"I rescue dogs and cats in general," he told The Associated Press, adding that it was his first time capturing a monkey.

FEDS INDICT 3 FOR ILLEGAL DUMPING ON PUERTO RICO WETLANDS

Vidot, who works at the animal welfare and protection police unit in Arecibo, said that he carries equipment in his patrol car to capture any type of animal, but that none of it was necessary on Friday.

"The monkey was being chased by some 25 people with cameras and video cameras," he said, adding that it was agitated but tired by the time he arrived.

Police shared pictures that show Vidot cradling the monkey, which had a catchpole around its neck for safety and was clutching the officer’s right hand as they emerged from the apartment.

Vidot said the monkey had an open wound on its back right paw that was still bleeding.

"That’s what has me a bit worried," he said, adding that he doesn’t differentiate between a monkey and other animals that he has previously rescued. "It’s still a life that must be protected, that must be cared for."

Vidot said that he took the injured monkey to the detention center of exotic animals run by Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural Resources.

Rhesus macaques are native to south, central and southeast Asia, but they have been found across Puerto Rico, where they are believed to be descendants from escapees from research projects. It's rare to find them in urban areas.

One monkey in particular caught the attention of many after it was spotted in a eucalyptus tree along a busy street in the capital of San Juan in November 2021. The monkey vanished before officials were able to catch it.

Hundreds of rhesus monkeys also roam free on Cayo Santiago, a tiny island off Puerto Rico’s southeast coast that is home to a research field station.

Macaques are omnivores, live between 20 to 40 years in captivity and share more than 90% of their DNA sequence with humans.

Widespread floods in the Republic of Congo have pushed hundreds of thousands of people to be in urgent need of assistance, said the United Nations Friday.

Unusually heavy rainfall has caused nine of the countries 12 departments to be affected with floods damaging health facilities and schools and submerging farmland, said the World Health Organization in a statement. More than 330,000 people have been impacted.

WINTER STORM HAMMERS EAST COAST, LEAVES HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS WITHOUT POWER

"WHO is committed to supporting the government to ramp up emergency response to save lives and ensure access to critical basic services," said Lucien Manga, a representative in the Republic of Congo for the organization.

The rainfall is twice the average of what was recorded between 2022 and 2023 and the floods have destroyed or damaged 34 health facilities, 120 schools and more than 64, 000 houses, it said.

The flooding occurred along Congo’s riverbanks around the Ubangi River with the United Nations warning it could lead to the outbreak of water-borne diseases such as cholera and impede access to healthcare.

River levels are at an all time high and it’s likely the waters will not recede in the immediate future, said government spokesman Thierry Moungalla. Since flooding began some two weeks ago it has killed at least 17 people, he said.

While flooding is not rare in Congo, residents in the capital, Brazzaville said they haven’t seen anything like this in decades.

"Not even the floods of 1961 were on the scale we’re seeing in Brazzaville today," said Antoine Okandza. The 78-year-old said his house was washed away by the water.

The government said it was giving more than $3 million to an emergency fund for disaster relief.

Aliens they are not. That’s what forensic experts in Peru said Friday about two doll-like figures and an alleged three-fingered hand that customs authorities in the South American country seized last year from a shipment heading to Mexico.

The forensic experts with Peru’s prosecutor’s office said the objects were made with paper, glue, metal and human and animal bones.

The findings quash some people’s belief that the figures come from an "alien center or come from another planet, all of which is totally false," said forensic archaeologist Flavio Estrada, who led the analysis.

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"The conclusion is simple: they are dolls assembled with bones of animals from this planet, with modern synthetic glues, therefore they were not assembled during pre-Hispanic times," Estrada told reporters. "They are not extraterrestrials; they are not aliens."

The prosecutor’s office has not yet determined who owns the objects. Officials on Friday would only say that a Mexican citizen was the intended recipient of the objects before they were seized by customs agents in October.

Mexican journalist José Jaime Maussan and some Mexican lawmakers became the subject of international ridicule in September when he went before the country's congress to present two boxes with supposed mummies found in Peru.

He along with others claimed they were "non-human beings that are not part of our terrestrial evolution."

ONLY 1 TYPE OF ALIEN LIFE-FORM COULD MAKE IT TO EARTH'S DOORSTEP: HARVARD EXPERT

In November, Maussan returned to Mexico’s congress with a group of Peruvian doctors and spent more than three hours pressing the case for "non-human beings" that he said were found in Peru, where he made similar claims in 2017. A report by the Peruvian prosecutor’s office that year found that alleged alien bodies were actually "recently manufactured dolls, which have been covered with a mixture of paper and synthetic glue to simulate the presence of skin."

"They are not the remains of ancestral aliens that they have tried to present," the 2017 report stated.

Experts on Friday showed reporters a couple of 2-foot-long dolls dressed in red, orange and green clothes. They said examinations showed the bones of birds, dogs and other animals were used to create the dolls.

Meanwhile, an alleged three-finger hand was subjected to X-ray examinations. Estrada said the "very poorly" built hand was created with human bones.

Six Turkish soldiers were killed Friday in an attack on a military base in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, the Turkish Defense Ministry said. Authorities blamed Kurdish militants.

Five died in the assault and another soldier succumbed to his wounds later. Another seven soldiers were wounded, two of them seriously, when the attackers attempted to infiltrate the base, the ministry said on social media. It said 12 militants had been "neutralized" and that operations were continuing in the area. The wounded troops were hospitalized for treatment.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan later expressed condolences for the families of the slain soldiers.

BLINKEN MEETS WITH TURKEY'S ERDOGAN AS MIDDLE EAST TENSIONS ESCALATE

"We will fight to the end against the PKK terrorist organization within and outside our borders," he said, referring to militants affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

The clashes follow a similar attack in northern Iraq three weeks ago that led to the deaths of 12 Turkish soldiers.

PKK-affiliated militants tried to break into a Turkish base in northern Iraq on Dec. 22, according to Turkish officials. Six soldiers died in the ensuing firefight. The following day, six more Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes with the Kurdish militants.

Turkey responded by launching strikes against sites that officials said were associated with the PKK in Iraq and Syria. Defense Minister Yasar Guler said at the time that dozens of Kurdish militants were killed in airstrikes and land assaults.

It wasn't immediately clear if Friday’s attack and the one three weeks earlier were at the same base or not.

The PKK, which maintains bases in northern Iraq, has led a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and is considered a terror organization by Turkey’s Western allies, including the U.S. Tens of thousands of people have died since the start of the conflict in 1984.

Turkey and the U.S., however, disagree on the status of the Syrian Kurdish groups, which have been allied with Washington in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.

China's exports likely grew more quickly and for a second month in December, a Reuters poll showed, adding to signs global trade is starting to recover thanks to an upturn in the electronics industry and expectations of lower borrowing costs in 2024.

Outbound shipments from the world's second-largest economy are expected to have risen 1.7% in December from a year earlier, after ending a six-month slump and growing 0.5% in November, according to the median forecast of 32 economists polled.

Global trade slowed in 2023 as higher interest rates in the United States, Europe and other major consumer markets crimped demand.

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The United Nations warned trade in goods likely contracted by nearly $2 trillion or 8% last year. But improving Chinese, South Korean and German export data suggests conditions are slowly turning a corner.

South Korea's exports, a closely watched indicator of global trade, rose for a third month in December, while the latest German export data for November surprised on the upside, increasing 3.7% month-on-month.

Analysts also anticipate that interest rates will drop at least 1.5 percentage points in the United States and Europe this year, which should improve demand for imported goods.

"There's increasing evidence that a cyclical upturn in the global electronics sector is driving a bottoming-out of global trade," said Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, noting better-than-expected growth in Taiwan's export data for December, buoyed by stronger demand for high-tech products from the United States.

"This gives us reason for optimism about a rosier trade picture in 2024," he added.

China's trade data, which will be released on Friday, is also expected to show imports grew by 0.3% last month, after dropping 0.6% in November.

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But South Korean exports to the Asian giant, a leading indicator of China's imports, declined 2.9% on the year in December, as did outbound shipments from Taiwan, which fell 6.4% year-on-year. German exports to China grew 3.1% in November compared with a month earlier.

In its December Global Trade Update, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said the forecast for global trade in 2024 remained "highly certain and generally pessimistic."

Global trade activities, represented by the Baltic Dry Index, fell 7.3% to its lowest since Nov. 23 on Tuesday, reflecting the challenges facing shipping companies, including attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi militants on container ships in the Red Sea.

The median estimate in the poll indicated that China's trade surplus would increase, with analysts predicting it will come in at $74.8 billion, compared with $68.4 billion in November.

A senior ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the U.K. that putting boots on the ground in Ukraine would amount to a declaration of war against Russia.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, took aim at the country in a post Friday on X as U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was arriving in Kyiv to announce a major funding package for Ukraine. 

The U.K. will provide around $3.2 billion of military aid to Ukraine over the coming year, its largest annual commitment since Russia's invasion nearly two years ago.

Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 and 2012, also posited a hypothetical situation where Sunak would come under military fire while in the Ukrainian capital. 

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"The British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has arrived in Kiev to sign a ‘historic UK-Ukraine Agreement on Security Cooperation,’" Medvedev wrote.

"What would [the] Western public say, if the British representatives happened to be bombarded with cluster ammunition in the center of Kiev, just as was the case with our innocent civilians in Belgorod?"

Medvedev was referring to a Dec. 30 attack on Russian civilians in the city of Belgorod, in southern Russia near the Ukrainian border, where at least 20 people were killed, including two children, and 111 injured in what it called an "indiscriminate" Ukrainian strike using cluster bombs.

Medvedev then went on to warn the U.K. about potentially deploying a military contingent in Ukraine. 

YEMEN'S HOUTHIS VOW US-UK JOINT AIRSTRIKES WILL 'NOT GO UNANSWERED OR UNPUNISHED'

"And I also hope that our archenemies, the impudent British understand that officially stationing their troops in Ukraine would mean declaration of war against our country," Medvedev wrote.

Ukrainian news outlet RBC-Ukraine quoted unnamed sources as saying Ukrainian forces had directed fire at military targets in Belgorod in response to the massive Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities the previous day.

On Friday, Sunak said that the U.K. "will not falter" in its commitment to help Ukraine forces stand up to Putin’s full-scale invasion.

"Today we are going further — increasing our military aid, delivering thousands of cutting-edge drones, and signing a historic new Security Agreement to provide Ukraine with the assurances it needs for the long term," Sunak said.

Ukraine and Russia are seeking to replenish their arsenals this year, military analysts say, in anticipation of possible major ground offensives in 2025.

On X, Sunak wrote that Britain is with Ukraine for "as long as it takes."

Reuters contributed to this report.

An unlikely refugee from the war in Ukraine — a rare black bear — arrived at his new home in Scotland on Friday and quickly took to a meal of cucumbers and watermelon.

The 12-year-old Yampil was named for a village in the Donetsk region where he was one of the few survivors found in the remains of a bombed-out private zoo by Ukrainian troops.

Yampil, who had previously been called Borya, was discovered by soldiers who recaptured the devastated city of Lyman during the Kharkiv counteroffensive in the fall of 2022, said Yegor Yakovlev of Save Wild, who was among the first of many people who led the bear to a new life.

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The bear was found in a menagerie that had long been abandoned by its owners. Almost all the other animals had died of hunger, thirst or were struck by bullets or shrapnel. Yampil had a near-miss himself and suffered a concussion from a projectile that landed nearby.

"The bear miraculously survived," said Yakovlev, also director of the White Rock Bear Shelter, where the bear recovered. "Our fighters did not know what ... to do with him, so they started looking for rescue."

What followed was an odyssey that your average bear rarely makes, as he was moved to Kyiv for veterinary care and rehab, then shipped to a zoo in Poland, then to an animal rescue in Belgium, where he spent the past seven months, before landing in the United Kingdom.

Brian Curran, owner of Five Sisters Zoo in West Calder, Scotland, said his heart broke when he learned of the plight of the threatened Asiatic black bear.

"He was in terrible condition; five more days and they wouldn’t have been able to save him," Curran said. "We were just so amazed he was still alive and well."

The bear was skinny but not malnourished when he was found, said Frederik Thoelen, a biologist at the Nature Help Center in Belgium. He now is estimated to weigh a healthy 440 pounds, Thoelen said.

The nature center in Belgium, which usually treats injured wildlife and returns them to their natural settings, has taken several animals rescued from the war in Ukraine, including a wolf, a caracal cat and four lions, though those animals had not experienced the ordeal Yampil endured.

It was remarkable how calm Yampil was when he arrived in Belgium, Thoelen said.

The bear was trained in the past two weeks to move from his enclosure to the crate that would transport him across Belgium to Calais, France, then across the English Channel on a ferry to Scotland. Pastries from a local bakery were used for good measure to lure him Thursday into the cage, where he was sedated for the journey.

"We want to use the food that he likes most, and for most bears — and for people also — it’s sweet, unhealthy foods," Thoelen said.

Thoelen had a sense of the bear's weight as he drove the crate to the port.

"Every time when we had a red light or a traffic jam, when the bear moved a little bit, you could feel the van moving also," he said. "You could feel it was a heavy animal in the back of the car."

Yampil arrived at the zoo about 15 miles west of Edinburgh and immediately made himself at home. He feasted on cukes — said to be his favorite food — and melon, said Adam Welsh, who works at Five Sisters.

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The Asian black bear is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species as vulnerable to extinction in the wild, where it can be found in central and southern Asia, Russia and Japan. It’s known for the distinctive white crescent patch on its chest that gives it the nickname moon bear. It can live for up to 30 years in zoos.

It's not clear if the bear will go into hibernation. The winter has been warmer than usual but colder days are on the horizon.

The zoo has other bears, but Yampil is the only Asian bear and unique in other ways.

"We’ve had circus bears, for example, that have been rescued," Welsh said. "We’ve had bears rescued from places like roadside restaurants where they’ve been used as kind of roadside attractions and been kept in subpar conditions. But this is the first time that we’ve worked with an animal that’s been rescued from a war zone."

Burma's military has reached a cease-fire agreement with an alliance of ethnic minority guerrilla groups it has been battling in the country's northeast, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Friday. Burma's military government confirmed the development.

The agreement was brokered at talks mediated by China on Wednesday and Thursday in Kunming, a Chinese provincial capital about 250 miles from the border with Burma, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.

"China hopes the relevant parties in Myanmar can conscientiously implement the agreement, exercise maximum restraint toward each other and solve the issues through dialogue and consultations," she said at a daily briefing in Beijing.

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Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson of Burma's ruling military council, said in an audio note to journalists that the two sides had met in Kunming and after talks, agreed on a temporary cease-fire agreement.

"We will continue discussions We will continue to work for the strengthening of the cease-fire." Zaw Min Tun said.

A previous cease-fire pact reached in mid-December was not honored by either side.

Chinese spokesperson Mao said the military and the Three Brotherhood Alliance — which comprises the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Arakan Army — agreed to an immediate cease-fire, the disengaging of military personnel and the settlement of their disputes through negotiations.

"The two sides promised not to undermine the safety of Chinese people living in the border area and Chinese projects and personnel in Myanmar," she said.

Independent Burmese media and foreign media with Burmese-language news services reported similar details, but there was no immediate direct word from the alliance about the cease-fire development.

The media reports said the military agreed to stop aerial bombing and artillery shelling in northern Shan state, which abuts China, and the Three Brotherhood Alliance agreed to halt its offensive and not seek to capture more towns and army encampments.

The reports said the cease-fire would not apply to fighting in other regions of Burma.

Burma has been wracked by violence that began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. The Three Brotherhood Alliance launched an offensive against the military in October and took control of Laukkaing, a key city on the border with China, last week.

Their attacks have posed the greatest battlefield challenge to Burma's military rulers since the army takeover.

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Much of the fighting is along Burma's border with China, blocking cross-border trade and threatening further political destabilization of Burma, a strategic ally of China that is already tangled in civil war in many parts of the country.

China is concerned about the rising violence and the safety of Chinese citizens in northern Burma. China has also been cracking down on cyberscam operations that have trafficked Chinese workers into Burma and forced them to work, including in Laukkaing.

The alliance has claimed widespread victories, including the seizure of more than 250 military posts, about a dozen towns and five major border crossing points controlling crucial trade with China.

Zaw Min Tun said Burma and China will continue to negotiate reopening the border trading gates, which were closed after combat began and most or all of which are now in the hands of the Three Brotherhood Alliance.

Deforestation has surged in Brazil's Cerrado, a vast tropical savanna region, by nearly 45% compared to 2022 levels, according to data released Friday by the government's monitoring agency.

The National Institute for Space Research reported that 3,000 square miles of vegetation had been torn down in the Cerrado biome between January and December 2023, especially in the states of Maranhao, Bahia and Tocantins.

This is the highest level since 2019, when the agency recorded its first full year of deforestation in the Cerrado, home of more than 800 species of birds and nearly 200 mammals, according to the non-profit WWF, or 30% of the nation's total biodiversity.

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Some of the most emblematic animals include jaguars, giant armadillos and anteaters, tapirs and maned wolves.

Since taking office a year ago, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has halved Amazon deforestation, which reached a 15-year high under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Even though results has been uneven, the leftist leader has promised to promote development in the region that makes sustainable use of its resources.

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The situation in the Cerrado comes in contrast with Lula's vow to end net deforestation by 2030 — two years beyond his current term.

Brazil is hiring new personnel for its understaffed environmental agencies and the nation also announced in September that it will provide financial support to municipalities that have most reduced deforestation. The measure, however, only applies to the Amazon region, not the Cerrado.

A Belarusian journalist went on trial Friday on charges linked to his professional work covering protests, the latest move in a relentless government crackdown on dissent.

Photojournalist Alyaksandr Zyankou faces up to six years in prison if convicted on charges of "participation in an extremist group" at Minsk City Court. Such accusations have been widely used by authorities to target opposition members, civil society activists and independent journalists.

Zyankou has been in custody since his arrest in June, and his health has deteriorated behind bars, according to the independent Belarusian Association of Journalists.

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"Zyankou was just taking pictures to chronicle brutal repressions in Belarus, but the authorities hate anyone speaking about or taking images of political terror in the country," said the association's head, Andrei Bastunets. "Belarus is the most repressive country in Europe, where an attempt at free speech is punished by prison."

A total of 33 Belarusian journalists are currently in prison, either awaiting trial or serving sentences.

Belarusian authorities have cracked down on opponents of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko after huge protests triggered by the August 2020 election that gave him a sixth term in office. The balloting was viewed by the opposition and the West as fraudulent.

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Protests swept the country for months, bringing hundreds of thousands into the streets. More than 35,000 people were arrested, thousands were beaten in police custody and hundreds of independent media outlets and nongovernmental organizations were shut down and outlawed.

More than 1,400 political prisoners remain behind bars, including leaders of opposition parties and renowned human rights advocate and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski.

Human Rights Watch strongly condemned the crackdown on dissent and free speech.

"Over the past year, Belarusian authorities doubled down to create an information vacuum around raging repressions by cutting political prisoners off from the outside world and bullying their lawyers and families into silence," Anastasiia Kruope, assistant Europe and Central Asia researcher at the group, said in a statement Thursday. "Widespread repression continues in an expanding information void."

Former Suriname dictator Desi Bouterse, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month for the killings of 15 political opponents, has vanished after not turning himself in to authorities on Friday as planned.

His wife, Ingrid Bouterse-Waldring, told reporters that she did not know where he was and firmly stated, "He's not going to jail!"

"I haven’t seen or spoken to him for a few days," she said as she lashed out at judicial authorities for the conviction, claiming it was politically motivated.

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Meanwhile, dozens of backers of Bouterse and the National Democratic Party he chairs arrived at his house to show their support as some yelled at journalists and played loud music, prompting government officials to tighten security measures.

"All necessary steps will be taken to ensure that the safety of both those involved and the wider society is guaranteed," the government said in a statement.

Spokesman Ricardo Panka said the party disagrees with the sentencing and noted that Bouterse will remain as chairman. But he said the crowd was ordered to remain calm.

"We are not going to create an angry mob to go against the authorities," he said.

Bouterse was sentenced on Dec. 20 after being found guilty in the 1982 killings, ending a historic 16-year legal process. He had previously been sentenced in 2019 and 2021 but appealed both rulings.

FORMER SURINAME MILITARY DICTATOR DESI BOUTERSE ELECTED PRESIDENT IN PARLIAMENTARY VOTE

A new team of lawyers filed an appeal Monday against the sentencing on grounds that an amnesty law Bouterse unsuccessfully tried to push through more than a decade ago would apply, but Suriname’s attorney general rejected the move on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, authorities ordered Bouterse and four others convicted in the case to report to various prisons by Friday. Only three have done so.

Bouterse led a bloodless coup to become dictator from 1980 to 1987. During that time, he and two dozen other suspects were accused of executing prominent people including lawyers, journalists and a university professor at a colonial fortress in the capital of Paramaribo.

Bouterse has accepted "political responsibility" for the 1982 killings but insists he was not present.

He was later democratically elected as president from 2010 to 2020.

A Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter patrolling the state's border with Mexico crashed Thursday night, according to a statement by a DPS spokesperson.

The single-engine helicopter with a pilot and co-pilot on board crashed about 7:20 p.m. near Spofford in Kinney County after "a total loss of power," according to the statement on X, formerly Twitter, by DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez.

The co-pilot suffered a minor hand injury and the helicopter was heavily damaged, Olivarez said.

SOUTHERN BORDER HIT BY RECORD NUMBER OF MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS IN A SINGLE DAY AS THOUSANDS FLOOD INTO TEXAS

He did not provide information about the pilot and did not immediately return phone calls seeking additional information early Friday.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday they are investigating the crash with the NTSB as the lead agency.

NTSB spokesperson Sarah Taylor Sulick said a preliminary report is expected in two to three weeks.

Olivarez said the helicopter was conducting a border patrol flight as part of Operation Lone Star, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's nearly $10 billion border mission that has tested the federal government’s authority over immigration.

TEXAS SEIZES CONTROL OF PARK, BLOCKS BORDER PATROL FROM ENTERING, AS PART OF ANTI-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION EFFORTS

The mission includes arresting those who enter the state illegally on trespassing charges, busing migrants to Democratic-led cities, installing razor wire on the border and installing buoy barriers on the Rio Grande.

Abbott recently sent a flight of 120 migrants to Chicago in an escalation of his busing operation.

The crash occurred in a rural area of Kinney County, about 15 miles northeast of the Texas-Mexico border, and about 120 miles southwest of San Antonio.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels are warning Friday that a series of joint airstrikes carried out against them by the U.S. and British militaries will "not go unanswered or unpunished." 

Houthis’ military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree issued the threat in a recording while the rebel group’s deputy foreign minister Hussein al-Ezzi added that "America and Britain will undoubtedly have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression," according to The Associated Press. 

Saree added that strikes on regions of Yemen under their control killed five and wounded six from the Houthis’ military forces.

The United Kingdom said strikes hit a site in Bani allegedly used by the Houthis to launch drones and an airfield in Abbs used to launch cruise missiles and drones, the AP reports. 

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

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Friday it imposed sanctions on two firms in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates for allegedly shipping Iranian commodities on behalf of Iran-based Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal. Four vessels owned by the firms were also identified as blocked property. 

President Biden said he had authorized the strikes "in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea -- including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history."

Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, the head of U.S Air Force Central Command, said there were "deliberate strikes on over 60 targets at 16 Iranian-backed Houthi militant locations, including command and control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems."

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ANTICIPATING RETALIATION AFTER US-UK JOINT STRIKES ON HOUTHIS 

In a statement, Grynkewich said, "Over 100 precision-guided munitions of various types were used in the strikes.

"These strikes were comprised of coalition air and maritime strike and support assets from across the region, including U.S. Naval Forces Central Command aircraft and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles launched from surface and sub-surface platforms," he also said.

The attacks were carried out with support from Australia, the Netherlands, Bahrain, and Canada. A U.S. defense official says the U.K. contributed aircraft. 

Biden said the strikes "are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes." 

Fox News’ Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Kenyan lawyers Friday demonstrated peacefully in Nairobi against what they say is judicial interference by President William Ruto, who has said he will disregard court orders from allegedly corrupt judges blocking his key development projects.

In recent days, Ruto has also repeatedly threatened to remove judges he accuses of teaming up with his political rivals to frustrate his attempts to address unemployment in Kenya and provide affordable housing and universal health care. But the head of state has not produced any evidence to back his claims that some judges are corrupt.

"As lawyers we will stand firm to tell the president that you are not above the law, you must respect the law," said lawyer Peter Wanyama, who was among some 200 lawyers who staged the march, blowing whistles and waving placards through the streets and ending up in the office of the president.

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

Ruto's projects have become unpopular partly due to the fact the government is levying more taxes to fund them at a time when Kenyans are experiencing increases in the cost of living. An increase in fuel taxes that Ruto says is necessary for the country not to default on paying public debt has been particularly painful.

"We want to tell parliament, the speaker and leader of majority that you can’t pass unconstitutional laws that burden Kenyans and then you want the judiciary to protect it," Wanyama said.

The High Court ruled that a housing fund meant to finance the building of 200,000 affordable homes a year is unconstitutional and stopped the government from charging 1.5% from each salaried worker to fund it.

The courts have also put on hold the Social Health Insurance Act the government planned to fund by taxing salaried employees 2.75%.

Ramadhan Abubakar, vice president of the East Africa Law Society, said Ruto's remarks about the credibility of judges have the unintended consequence of eroding confidence in the judicial system.

KENYA CHARGES EX-TOURISM MINISTER, 2 OTHERS IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR FRAUD CASE

On Wednesday, Ruto said that the previous regime of Uhuru Kenyatta, had a budget for bribing judges and that his government will not spend a single cent bribing judges.

The Law Society of Kenya has told Ruto to provide evidence of corruption on judges and use proper channels in removing them from office.

Since the institution of the 2010 Constitution, which strengthened its independence, the Kenyan judiciary has restored a lot of the public trust it had lost in successive governments since independence in 1963. Since 2010, the courts have settled disputes in three general elections. That reduced tensions and averted election violence similar to that which left more than 1,100 dead and displaced about 600,000 from their homes in 2007.

Ruto was elected last year after campaigning on a promise to respect the independence of the judiciary, unlike his predecessor Kenyatta, who reduced the institution's budget and refused to swear-in judges after the Supreme Court nullified his re-election in 2017.

The son of Somalia's president testified at an Istanbul court on Friday about the death of a motorcycle courier in the city, Turkish media reported.

An arrest warrant had been issued for Mohammed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud after a diplomatic car he was driving allegedly hit Yunus Emre Gocer, 38, on a highway in Istanbul on Nov. 30. Gocer died in a hospital six days later, by which time Mohamud had left Turkey.

Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said last month that he had discussed the case with his Somalian counterpart to arrange Mohamud’s return.

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

The private Demiroren News Agency reported that the arrest warrant and a travel ban were revoked after Mohamud gave a statement at Caglayan courthouse. He was then released by the court, the agency said.

Mohamud offered no plea, instead repeating the statement he gave immediately after the crash saying the courier was at fault, Demiroren reported.

An indictment prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office calls for a prison sentence of two to six years for "causing death by negligence." It was unclear when any future hearing would be held.

The death had threatened to sour friendly relations between Turkey and Somalia. Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and a prominent opposition politician, accused the government of "being too weak to defend the rights of its own citizens."

TURKEY FACES CALLS FOR ACTION AS SOMALI PRESIDENT'S SON ALLEGEDLY FLEES COUNTRY AFTER CAUSING FATAL CRASH

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."

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

The United States and Britain appeared to provide some advanced notice of its strikes against Houthi assets in Yemen to help build their case in the international community and strengthen coalition cooperation, experts told Fox News Digital. 

"I think a lot of it, in this case, had to do with trying to build international support for the forthcoming strike and to limit or assuage criticism that’s sure to follow from all the predictable quarters," James Anderson, who served as the deputy undersecretary of defense during the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital.

The coalition strike against Iran-backed Houthis struck over 60 targets in 16 locations with support from Australia, the Netherlands, Bahrain and Canada. President Biden said he authorized the strikes "in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea – including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history." 

Reports of the attack spread early Thursday, hours ahead of the execution of the strike, with Sky News reporting on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s cabinet meeting to discuss the late details of the imminent strike.

US FORCES ARE BEING ATTACKED BECAUSE OF ‘FAILED POLICY DECISIONS’: BRIG. GEN. ROB SPALDING

Anderson argued that the "late stage" notice was not likely an effort to deter further attacks, as "at this late date we’re really not going to convince the rebels to stop shooting" following weeks of repeated warnings. 

Matt McInnis, former member of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department and a senior fellow for the Institute for the Study of War, speculated that the U.S. aimed to minimize civilian casualties as the Houthis locate key military infrastructure in population centers – much like Hamas does in the Gaza Strip. 

However, he agreed that the overwhelming reason likely was to ensure coalition cooperation and make clear the international threat the Houthis posed. 

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

"Countries like the U.K. often need more visible political processes than the U.S. for approving military operations," McInnis told Fox News Digital. "I presume the U.S. understood that losing some operational surprise would be a tradeoff for having allied participation."

Michael Allen, former senior director at the National Security Council and staff director of the House Intel Committee, backed up the argument that the early notice resulted from involving multiple countries "moving multiple assets," but he worried that it could also play into the Biden administration’s general policy of appeasing Iran.

"I hope it wasn’t so Iran could move its personnel, in which case it was another move by the Biden Admin to prioritize de-escalation as in we have to do this, but we intend only to hit equipment," Allen told Fox News Digital.

Alan Mendoza, co-founder and executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak likely moved quickly and, therefore, did not want to recall the House of Commons to vote on the issue, but that the "slow awakening enabled the opposition Labour Party to be brought into the discussion in real-time." 

BIDEN ADMIN ANTICIPATING RETALIATION AFTER US-UK JOINT STRIKE ON HOUTHI TARGETS IN YEMEN

"The result was a consensus across both leaderships that this was the right action to take," Mendoza argued. 

The lack of discussion with Congress has proven a sticking point, with some Democrats arguing Biden needed Congressional approval before authorizing the strike, but the experts that spoke with Fox News Digital argued the president has power to authorize limited strikes, such as in the case of yesterday’s strike on the Houthis. 

"I do think he had the right to take this without going to Congress first," Anderson said. "Whether it's a Republican or Democrat, the president has to have the ability to order these types of strikes on very short notice and in response to imminent and ongoing threats." 

Allen noted that the debate about presidential war powers has continued for many administrations, arguing that "it’s wise for the executive to consult and notify congressional leadership but not absolutely required. Congress generally disagrees." 

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report.