World News

French President Emmanuel Macron was welcomed Tuesday with pomp and ceremony at the start of a two-day state visit to Sweden during which he will meet Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and the Scandinavian country’s monarch, King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Macron and his wife, Brigitte, were greeted by the king in the inner courtyard of the downtown Stockholm royal castle that is the official residence of the Swedish royals. There, Macron and Carl Gustaf reviewed members of the Grenadier Guards that had lined up.

Macron noted that it had been too long since a French president visited Sweden — the last time was in 2014, when François Hollande traveled to the Scandinavian country.

PROTESTING FRENCH FARMERS PLAN 'SIEGE OF THE CAPITAL' IN PARIS, REJECTING GOVERNMENT CONCESSIONS

Later Tuesday, Macron is to discuss the future of European security at a military academy in Stockholm, together with Kristersson and the king. Russia's war on Ukraine and Sweden’s NATO application are likely to be on the table.

After more than a year of delays, Turkey earlier this month completed its ratification of Sweden’s bid to join NATO, meaning Hungary is now the last member of the military alliance not to have given its approval. All NATO countries must agree before a new member can join the alliance.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Sweden and neighboring Finland abandoned their traditional positions of military nonalignment to seek protection under NATO’s security umbrella. Finland joined the alliance last year.

On Wednesday, Macron and his wife are to travel to Malmö, Sweden’s third-largest city, in southern Sweden, where they will visit a European multidisciplinary research facility under construction and visit a company to discuss green technologies.

At home, Macron's government faces angry farmers who have camped out around Paris. They demand better pay, fewer constraints and lower costs. On Monday, they encircled Paris with traffic-snarling barricades, using hundreds of tractors and hay bales to block highways leading to the capital.

The French president initially was to travel to Sweden in late October, but the visit was postponed due to the Gaza war that began with Hamas’ attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

A man reportedly armed with a crossbow was fatally shot by officers in London on Tuesday as he broke into a home where he had threatened the occupants, the Metropolitan Police said.

The suspect, believed to be in his 30s, was reportedly armed and threatened people in the home in the Southwark part of the city. He was trying to break into the house when officers arrived.

UK MAN WHO KILLED 2 COLLEGE STUDENTS, JANITOR SENTENCED TO HIGH-SECURITY HOSPITAL

When the man threatened officers who attempted to speak with him, armed police were called in. He was shot as he got inside the property. The man died at the scene after officers and paramedics tried to provide first aid.

Two of the people inside the building received minor injuries, police said but did not disclose how those people were injured.

Police said the Independent Office for Police Conduct, or IOPC, was conducting an independent investigation into the shooting.

"I understand the local community will be concerned at the events that have taken place this morning," Detective Chief Superintendent Seb Adjei-Addoh said. "We will fully support the IOPC investigation into the full circumstances of what happened."

Indonesian police said Tuesday they have arrested three Mexicans for alleged robbery on the resort island of Bali that left a tourist from Turkey badly wounded.

The arrests were made Saturday at a villa in Ungasan village of Badung district in Bali where the Mexican men had been staying since Dec. 7 as tourists, Bali Police spokesperson Jansen Avitus Panjaitan said.

SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS MEET TO DISCUSS BURMESE CIVIL WAR, SOUTH CHINA SEA CONFLICTS

The three men who were arrested and a fourth Mexican man broke into a villa near the popular tourist spot of Kuta last week after pointing their guns at a security guard and forcing him to surrender, Panjaitan said.

The four men armed with three guns sprayed bullets toward several guests who ran out of the villa for safety. The suspects stole U.S. dollars and Indonesian currency worth about $5,900 from the villa, and shot a 39-year-old Turkish man in his stomach, left hand and left back chest, police said.

The suspects planned the robbery by preparing guns and surveilling the targeted villa, police said.

Surveillance camera recordings and witness accounts led police to the four Mexican suspects, one who was still being sought and three who were paraded at the news conference wearing handcuffs and orange vests.

Rockets fired by separatist insurgents killed a police officer and wounded a dozen other people overnight in southwestern Pakistan, officials said Tuesday, in apparent retaliation for Pakistani strikes on what it said were insurgent hideouts in Iran earlier in January.

Six insurgents were also killed in the ensuing shootout, according to the government.

The outlawed Baluchistan Liberation Army quickly claimed the attacks, writing that two of its fighters were killed.

IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER HEADING TO PAKISTAN FOR TALKS ON EXCHANGED MISSILE STRIKES

Authorities initially said that the attacks, in the district of Mach in Baluchistan, were foiled without causalities, but two local security officials said at least one policeman was killed and 15 members of the Pakistani security forces were wounded in multiple rocket attacks. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

The BLA threatened to launch attacks on security forces in Baluchistan and elsewhere following Pakistan's Jan. 18 strikes on their camps in Iran, which killed at least nine people. Those strikes were made in response to an Iranian strike in Pakistan that appeared to target a different Baluch militant group with similar separatist goals.

Tuesday's attacks came hours after top Iranian diplomat Hossein Amirabdollahian held talks in Islamabad with his Pakistani counterpart, Jalil Abbas Jilani in an effort to resolve the diplomatic crisis that began with the exchange of cross-border strikes. The two countries vowed to work together against insurgents operating in their border areas.

There was no immediate comment from the military, but Jan Achakzai, a government spokesman in Baluchistan, wrote on social media that six insurgents were killed in a shootout and troops foiled the three coordinated attacks without casualties or damage.

Authorities sometimes downplay troop casualties in such attacks.

Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, as well as Iran’s neighboring Sistan and Baluchestan province, have faced a low-level insurgency by Baluch nationalists for more than two decades.

Although the government says it has quelled the insurgency, violence in the province has persisted.

Iran and Pakistan share a 560-mile, largely lawless, border, across which smugglers and militants freely roam. Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, where Baloch nationalists, Islamic militants and the Islamic State group have claimed responsibility for attacks on security forces in recent years.

Sri Lanka's police used tear gas and water cannons on Tuesday to disperse an opposition protest in the island nation facing its worst economic crisis while gearing up for a national election later this year.

Protesters from the main opposition United People’s Power party gathered in the capital, Colombo, and accused President Ranil Wickremesinghe's administration of overburdening citizens by increasing taxes, as well as hiking prices for electricity and fuel, causing a sharp spike in living costs.

"The government is not concerned with the people suffering and being unable to provide for themselves," said opposition lawmaker Sarath Fonseka who was at the protest. "People can no longer pay their bills or buy their children school supplies," he said.

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

Fonseka said that "people must rise" and vote against the current government in the coming election.

Earlier on Tuesday, at least two courts prohibited protesters from marching along roads leading to vital buildings including the president’s office, finance ministry and the central bank. Instead, two areas in the capital were assigned for the protest.

Police used tear gas and water canons twice to disperse the protesters as they tried to move out of the designated areas.

However, the opposition said it planned more protests across the country in the coming weeks.

US EXPRESSES CONCERNS OVER SRI LANKA'S CONTROVERSIAL INTERNET REGULATION LAW

Sri Lanka plunged into its worst-ever economic crisis in 2022. It had declared bankruptcy in April the same year with more than $83 billion in debt, leading to strident protests that caused the ouster of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa The International Monetary Fund approved a four-year bailout program last March to help the South Asian country.

The government defended the measures taken, saying they were necessary to meet the IMF targets, assure the country's debt was sustainable, and win over the trust of the international community again.

Sri Lanka's parliament elected current President Ranil Wickremesinghe in July 2022 and under him, shortages of essential goods have largely been abated.

But the opposition accuses him of stifling dissent by cracking down on protesters. Last week, the parliament, where the ruling coalition enjoys majority, overwhelmingly approved an internet regulation bill that was highly criticized for creating "a very oppressive environment."

Several U.S. Olympians will receive gold medals for their performance at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, officials announced Monday.

The U.S. Olympic figure skating team that competed more than 600 days ago will now be upgraded to gold medals after Russian skater Kamila Valieva, who initially won the gold medal, was disqualified over a positive test for a banned heart medicine.

Valieva, who was 15 when she won the gold medal, will end up empty-handed after the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned the Russian star for four years, dating back to the date she submitted the positive test, Dec. 25, 2021. The test was submitted six weeks before the Olympic Games. The sanction vacates any results after that date.

The Americans to receive the gold medals are Evan Bates, Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Madison Chock, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou.

RUSSIAN FIGURE SKATING PHENOM KAMILA VALIEVA LEARNS FATE IN OLYMPICS DOPING SCANDAL

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) received word that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would award the gold to the U.S. for the team competition after Valieva's positive test was revealed.

The IOC told the USOPC that it had "great sympathy with the athletes who have had to wait for two years to get the final results of their competition," according to a copy of an email obtained by The Associated Press. "The IOC will contact the respective (national Olympic committees) in order to organize a dignified Olympic medal ceremony."

It is not immediately clear how Valieva’s disqualification will affect the silver and bronze medals. Japan finished the competition third and could then move to second.

Despite the positive test, the Russian team could still earn a medal in the competition, depending on how a scoring rule is interpreted. Should the committee deduct Valieva’s points from the two events she skated — instead of disqualifying her team’s performance completely — Russia would finish third, ahead of Canada.

RUSSIAN OFFICIALS RULE 'NO FAULT' FOR FIGURE SKATER KAMILA VALIEVA IN DOPING PROBE

It has been a long two years for all involved since the Olympics, and Chock and Bates, who won their fifth U.S. title over the weekend, were asked about the pending decision.

"I think two years is too long for this decision to be made, and we may never know why it has taken this long," Bates said. "We’re just looking forward to getting some closure after a long waiting period."

There was no immediate word on where a medal ceremony might take place. The USOPC is tasked with finding a suitable time and place to award its skaters the gold.

The Skating World Championships are in Montreal in March.

Valieva’s sanction will end about two months before the next Winter Games in Italy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Authorities have arrested two people after finding a large weapons cache in their home in northern Greece, police said Tuesday.

HUMAN RIGHTS COURT CONDEMNS GREECE FOR IDING HIV-POSITIVE SEX WORKERS IN 2012 CRACKDOWN

The two – a 54-year-old man and a 57-year-old woman – face felony counts of weapons and explosives possession. Police searching their home in the city of Florina on Monday seized 29 weapons, 95 ammunition magazines, 11 hand grenades, five mortar rounds, over 158 pounds of gunpowder, more than 35,000 rifle cartridges of various calibers and an improvised bomb, authorities said.

The weapons included 14 assault rifles, three submachine guns, 11 handguns and one shotgun. Police also seized 910 pounds of empty cartridges, a rifle scope, three detonators, a bullet-proof vest and various flares. Such seizures are unusual in Greece.

Authorities are investigating how the couple acquired the military hardware and whether they have been involved in any crimes, police said.

China is closely watching the 2024 presidential race and could see a potential rematch between Republican frontrunner former President Trump and President Biden as having to choose from "two bowls of poison," an official said.

Neither candidate is particularly appealing to Beijing despite their respective foreign policy differences. Biden has looked for areas of cooperation with China, but Beijing has expressed concern over his efforts to unite Indo-Pacific allies against China and comments he has made about sending troops to Taiwan.

Conversely, Trump favors an isolationist approach to foreign policy and was tough on China economically. He encouraged U.S. businesses to remain in America, in exchange for tax, rather than allow them to relocate to China, where the cost to operate is significantly cheaper. He also offered tough, and sometimes unpredictable, rhetoric on China.  

"For China, no matter who won the U.S. presidential election, they would be two ‘bowls of poison,’" said Zhao Minghao, a professor of international relations at Fudan University in Shanghai.

SNOOP DOGG PRAISES DONALD TRUMP: 'NOTHING BUT LOVE AND RESPECT'

China’s woes in the presidential election also include the campaign itself, where the candidates are likely to talk tough on China.

Trump, who might be more hesitant to defend Taiwan, has repeatedly blamed China for the COVID-19 outbreak that tarnished the end of his term. It may have also contributed to costing him his 2020 re-election, as voters preferred Biden’s approach to handling the pandemic.

CHINA SENDS SEVERAL WARPLANES, NAVY SHIPS TOWARD TAIWAN AFTER US-CHINA TALKS

During Trump’s term as president, he angered China when he took a congratulatory call on his 2016 election victory from the president of Taiwan and when he imposed tariffs on Chinese imports in 2018. He also repeatedly blamed China for the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing rebukes from Beijing.

Despite the apparent frustrations from Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited then-President Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in April 2017. Six months later, he hosted Trump in Beijing for a dinner at the Forbidden City, the former imperial palace.

Once in office, Biden kept his predecessor's China trade policy, keeping the tariffs in place and limiting access by Chinese companies to advanced technologies by sanctioning Chinese officials over human rights violations. He also expanded restrictions on China-bound U.S. money.

Biden's Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called China the "most serious long-term challenge to the international order" in 2022. In early 2023, tensions spiked again when the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon.

Whoever ultimately wins the White House could have enormous consequences for the U.S.-China relationship as well as the rest of the Indo-Pacific region.

"No matter who takes office, it will not change the overall direction of America's strategic competition with China," predicted Sun Chenghao, a fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University. "China doesn't have any preference for who will win the presidential election because China has experience dealing with either of them for four years."

To get to the 2024 general election, Trump still has to win the Republican nomination, where he is currently in a contest with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Northern Ireland’s largest British unionist party has agreed to end a boycott that left the region’s people without a power-sharing administration for two years and rattled the foundations of the 25-year-old peace. The breakthrough could see the shuttered Belfast government restored within days.

After a marathon late-night meeting, Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson said Tuesday that the party’s executive had backed proposals to return to the government. He said agreements reached with the U.K. government in London "provide a basis for our party to nominate members to the Northern Ireland Executive, thus seeing the restoration of the locally elected institutions."

The breakthrough came after the U.K. government last week gave Northern Ireland politicians until Feb. 8 to restore the Northern Ireland Assembly and executive or face new elections.

UK GRANTS EXTENSION FOR NORTHERN IRELAND TO REVIVE ITS COLLAPSED GOVERNMENT

"All the conditions are in place for the Assembly to return," Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said. "The parties entitled to form an executive are meeting today to discuss these matters, and I hope to be able to finalize this deal with the political parties as soon as possible."

The DUP walked out in February 2022 in a dispute over post-Brexit trade rules. Ever since, it has refused to return to the government with the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein. Under power-sharing rules established as part of Northern Ireland’s peace process, the administration must include both British unionists and Irish nationalists.

The walkout left Northern Ireland’s 1.9 million people without a functioning administration to make key decisions as the cost of living soared and backlogs strained the creaking public health system. Amid mounting public frustration, teachers, nurses and other public sector workers staged a 24-hour strike this month calling on politicians to return to the government and give them a long-delayed pay raise.

The British government has agreed to give Northern Ireland more than 3 billion pounds ($3.8 billion) for its public services, but only if the executive in Belfast gets back up and running.

The political impasse in Northern Ireland stems from the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union and its borderless trading bloc after decades of membership. The DUP quit the government in opposition to new trade rules put in place after the U.K. left the EU in 2020 that imposed customs checks and other hurdles on goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K.

The checks were imposed to maintain an open border between the north and its EU neighbor, the Republic of Ireland, a key pillar of the peace process that ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland. The DUP, though, says the new east-west customs border undermines Northern Ireland’s place in the U.K.

In February 2023, the U.K. and the EU agreed on a deal to ease customs checks and other hurdles for goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. But it was not enough for the DUP, which continued its government boycott.

Donaldson said further measures agreed by the British government will "remove checks for goods moving within the U.K. and remaining in Northern Ireland and will end Northern Ireland automatically following future EU laws."

The DUP’s decision faces opposition from some hard-line unionists, who fiercely guard Northern Ireland’s place in the U.K. and say even light-touch post-Brexit checks create a de facto internal trade barrier. Dozens of protesters gathered outside the DUP meeting venue outside Belfast late Monday, waving placards saying, "Stop DUP sellout."

Details of the supposedly private five-hour meeting were live-tweeted by Jamie Bryson, editor of the Unionist Voice newsletter, who is opposed to Donaldson’s attempts at compromise.

Donaldson said last week that he had received threats over his attempts to negotiate a return to the government.

"I think my party has displayed far more courage than those who threaten or try to bully or try to misrepresent us," he said Tuesday. "We are determined to take our place in taking Northern Ireland forward."

IRISH SENATOR UNDER FIRE FOR ADVOCATING BILL TO RESTRICT FREE SPEECH

The situation has been complicated by Northern Ireland’s changing political landscape. Unionists were the largest force in the Northern Ireland Assembly from its establishment in 1998 until 2022, when Sinn Fein won the most seats in an election.

That gives the nationalist party, which seeks to take Northern Ireland out of the U.K. and unite it with the republic, the right to hold the post of first minister. The DUP would fill the post of deputy — a bitter pill for some unionists to swallow.

Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald said she was optimistic the Belfast government could return before the Feb. 8 deadline.

"It is vital there is political stability to address the scale of the crisis across our public services," she said. "Let’s now focus minds on the job at hand and to the solutions required to support workers and families who want and deserve functioning government."

Hong Kong began public consultation on a local National Security Law on Tuesday, more than three years after Beijing imposed a similar law that has all but wiped out dissent in the semi-autonomous city.

The new law could expand the government's ability to prosecute residents for offenses like collaborating with foreign forces to influence legislation or "publish misleading statements," and to close down civil society organizations. Some of its provisions threaten criminal prosecutions for acts committed anywhere in the world.

Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, calls for the city to enact a national security law, but it's been delayed for decades because of widespread public opposition based on fears it would erode civil liberties. In 2003, an attempt to pass a version of the law sparked street protests that drew half a million people, and the legislation was shelved.

HONG KONG COURT REFUSES TO BAN PROTEST SONG, GOVERNMENT NOW ALLOWED TO APPEAL DECISION

But the city's crackdown on political opposition likely clears the way for the bill to pass easily. Since 2020, many of the city’s leading pro-democracy activists have been arrested, silenced or forced into exile. Dozens of civil society groups have been disbanded, and outspoken media outlets like Apple Daily and Stand News have been shut down.

The draft text will be written later based on input from public consultation, which will begin Tuesday and will end Feb. 28. But the city released a 110-page document Tuesday outlining its plans for the legislation.

City leader John Lee called the legislation a "constitutional responsibility."

"We shouldn’t wait any longer," he said during a news conference. "The threats to national security, they are real. We have experienced all these threats. We have suffered from them badly."

HONG KONG EYES STRONGER TIES WITH THAILAND TO BOOST ITS ECONOMIC GROWTH IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Both the Hong Kong and Beijing governments have hailed the previous National Security Law for restoring stability after the massive pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Lee said a local version is still necessary to keep Hong Kong safe against "potential sabotage" and "undercurrents that try to create troubles," in particular surviving ideas about Hong Kong independence. Lee also said that some foreign agents may still be active in Hong Kong.

He said other countries, including the U.S., U.K. and Singapore, have similar laws to safeguard security and Hong Kong would draw from them.

Critics worry authorities will use a domestic national security law as another tool to crack down on dissidents, further eroding freedoms that were promised to the former British colony when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

The Beijing-imposed security law criminalized subversion, advocating secession, and collusion with foreign forces to intervene in the city’s affairs as well as terrorism, but did not cover all the offenses authorities wanted to target.

Eric Lai, a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said that the one-month public consultation was shorter than the three months typical for important laws, saying it appeared to be "window dressing."

Highlights of the package include a ban on "threatening national security by collaborating with external forces to interfere in the affairs of our country or the HKSAR through improper means." The document also suggested that colluding with an "external force" to publish a misleading statement with the intent of endangering national security could be considered an espionage offence.

It also bans inciting public officials to abandon the Basic Law or their allegiance to Hong Kong and China, expanding an existing law that only covered members of the police and other security forces.

Lee promised that people could still criticize the Hong Kong government and express opinions, as long as they do not intend to endanger national security.

The government has already muzzled most dissent using existing laws. Hundreds of people have been arrested under the 2020 law.

Some 47 people were charged under the 2020 law for participating in an unofficial primary election, and two were convicted during the same time under an older sedition law for clapping in court and insulting a judge during a trial.

Lee said that the law will not provide for suspects to be transferred to mainland China for trial, unlike the 2020 law.

Security chief Chris Tang said the legislation would cover the use of computers and electronic systems to endanger national security, as well as disclosing state secrets and espionage, treason and sedition. The proposal includes an expanded definition of state secrets that covers the "economic and social development of Hong Kong," as well as defense and diplomatic activities.

The leader of the city’s largest pro-democracy party called for clarification about how the law will define state secrets. Democratic Party Chairman Lo Kin-hei asked if journalists could be liable when reporting on inside information from the government in the public interest.

The proposal also seeks to revise and update several existing laws covering treason, theft of state secrets and espionage. Parts of the proposed law are to be applied beyond Hong Kong’s borders.

The government suggested it may use the new law to cancel the passports of fugitives overseas, citing a similar U.S. law.

Such laws could affect the many activists who went into exile fearing arrest. The Hong Kong police have offered bounties of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($128,000) on at least 13 activists abroad, including former lawmakers Nathan Law and Ted Hui, who they accuse of colluding with external forces to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China.

The new law could also make it harder for civil society groups to operate in Hong Kong. The city's security chief would gain new powers to shut down such organizations in order to safeguard security.

HONG KONG MEDIA MOGUL JIMMY LAI PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO SEDITION AND COLLUSION CHARGES

Following the consultation period, the proposed legislation will be drafted as a bill that will be scrutinized by the Legislative Council. Once the proposed law reaches the legislature, lawmakers are expected to pass the domestic national security law without much opposition in the three readings given a lack of opposition lawmakers following an overhaul of Hong Kong's electoral system.

Lee did not give a timeline for enacting the law, other than that it should be done "as soon as possible."

Under Hong Kong's constitution, the city is required to enact laws "on its own" to prohibit seven types of acts: treason, secession, sedition, subversion against China's central government, theft of state secrets, foreign political organizations conducting political activities in the city, and local political organizations establishing ties with foreign political groups.

The Israeli military expects the war against Hamas to continue through the end of 2024 and possibly even into 2025, an Israeli intelligence official told reporters on Tuesday.

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are currently engaged in the heaviest fighting around the city of Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza. The Israeli intelligence officer briefing reporters on Tuesday said the IDF has killed "at least a quarter" of Hamas' estimated fighting force of 35,000, and at least another quarter are wounded, according to Bloomberg.

Hamas' vast network of tunnels have allowed many of its troops and leaders to operate despite Israeli control of much of the territory.

The Israeli official said Israel remains far away from achieving its stated goals of capturing Hamas' leaders and ammunition reserves and rendering Hamas military bases and tunnels inoperative, Bloomberg reported.

AUSTRIA SUSPENDS PAYMENTS TO UNRWA AMID ISRAELI ALLEGATIONS UN WORKERS HELPED, CELEBRATED HAMAS

The city's network of tunnels is even more expansive than that of Gaza City to the north. Israeli operations have also gathered extensive intelligence on how Hamas operates, particularly in how it coordinates rocket attacks against Israel.

For weeks, Hamas has remained capable of launching barrages into Israel even from areas largely under Israeli control. The intelligence officer stated that Hamas terrorists, once given the order, will bring a timed detonator to a pre-prepared launch site, prime the rockets, and then leave. Some time later, the battery of rockets will fire, according to Bloomberg.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated at the beginning of January that the war will last "many more months," and vowed that Israel would not relent until Hamas is destroyed.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar remains at large, though he is believed to be somewhere within Khan Younis.

The IDF also detailed an operation on Monday in which it blew up a Hamas tunnel underneath a cemetery.

ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY CALLS FOR UNRWA COMMISSIONER TO RESIGN AMID ALLEGATIONS ITS WORKERS ASSISTED HAMAS

Israeli soldiers raided the tunnel system in the Bani Suheila neighborhood in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, finding explosives, sliding doors and blast-proof doors, the IDF said. Terrorists were still inside, according to the Israeli military, and were killed.

The tunnels housed the office of a Hamas commander, an operations room, and living quarters for senior members of Hamas, according to the IDF. It said the tunnel was used to plan attacks against the military, as well as the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

ISRAEL TO BAN REBUILDING OF ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS IN GAZA FOLLOWING CONCERNS FROM BIDEN ADMIN

As Israel moves forward with a ground and air campaign in Gaza, Hamas officials in the besieged enclave say over 26,000 Palestinians have been killed.

Fox News' Stephen Sorace contributed to this report

An Australian woman has suffered a "serious injury" to her right leg after being attacked by a suspected bull shark in Sydney Harbor, authorities say. 

The victim, identified in Australian media reports as 29-year-old Lauren O’Neill, was bitten on Monday night while swimming in the eastern Sydney suburb of Elizabeth Bay. Her neighbors reportedly dialed emergency services and came to her aid. 

"I looked outside and Lauren was sort of pulling herself off the side of the harbor and [was] trying to get to [safety]," one neighbor, Michael Porter, told Nine News, describing how he heard screaming in the area. "Her leg was trailing behind her and the water behind her was all red with blood." 

Another neighbor, veterinarian Fiona Crago, applied a tourniquet to O’Neill’s wounds, the station also reported. 

10-YEAR-OLD MARYLAND BOY ATTACKED BY SHARK IN BAHAMAS, POLICE SAY 

"She was severely mauled on her right leg and losing a lot of blood. I just focused what I had to do... which was stem the blood flow and bandaged the leg," Crago told Nine News. 

O’Neill lives in the area and witnesses say she was swimming close to moored boats but outside of a private, netted harbor pool near her apartment block, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. 

New South Wales police said in a statement that the victim suffered a "serious injury" to her right leg, Reuters reports. Authorities believe she was attacked by a bull shark and has since been taken to a hospital in stable condition, according to The Associated Press. 

SURFER KILLED IN HAWAII AFTER ENCOUNTER WITH SHARK 

Shark attacks in Sydney Harbor are rare but the area is known to be an important habitat for bull sharks and their young, the news agency says. 

In 2009, an Australian navy clearance diver was mauled by a bull shark during a training exercise in the harbor. The attack tore off his arm and part of his leg. 

In February 2022, a swimmer at a Sydney beach died after being attacked by what witnesses described as a 15-foot great white shark. It was Sydney's first fatal shark attack since 1963. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A court sentenced former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday to 10 years in prison for revealing state secrets.

Khan, a former cricket star turned politician, is currently serving a three-year prison sentence in a graft case. He has been held in the garrison city of Rawalpindi since he was arrested in May 2023.

The verdict was announced by a special court set up at the prison, according to Zulfiqar Bukhari, chief spokesman for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI.

Authorities said Khan and his party deputy Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who also received a 10-year sentence, have the right to appeal Tuesday’s ruling in the case. Khan’s legal team was planning to appeal the conviction before the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday.

PAKISTAN AND IRAN VOW COLLABORATION TO IMPROVE SECURITY AFTER FATAL AIRSTRIKES

Khan’s party said in a statement that it stands with Khan and Qureshi, "who defended Pakistan and stood for real independence."

This case against Khan, known commonly as the Cipher case, is one of more than 150 cases that he faces since he was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April 2022. Other charges range from contempt of court to terrorism and inciting violence.

PAKISTAN CONDUCTS RETALIATORY MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST PAKISTANI TERRORISTS OPERATING IN IRAN

In the Cipher case, Khan is alleged to have waved a confidential document – a classified cable – at a rally after he was removed from office.

The document has not been made public by either the government or Khan’s lawyers, but was apparently diplomatic correspondence between the Pakistani ambassador to Washington and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad.

Khan has maintained his innocence and says he didn’t disclose the exact contents of the cable. The PTI feared Khan could be sentenced to death for treason.

The ruling comes ahead of the Feb. 8 parliamentary elections in Pakistan.

Although Khan is not on the ballot, as his criminal conviction bars him from running, he maintains tremendous sway over the country’s current political landscape and remains a potent political force because of his grassroots following and anti-establishment rhetoric.

Political analyst Muhammad Ali said the latest verdict was expected, for both Khan and his deputy. The two men, in his opinion, had "indeed damaged Pakistan’s diplomatic ties with the United States, and they also embarrassed the then-Pakistani Ambassador Asad Majeed to the United States," Ali said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.