World News
Almost 12,000 houses flooded along Russia's Kazakh border
Nearly 12,000 houses have been flooded in a Russian region bordering Kazakhstan as water levels in the Ural River keep rising and threatening more deluge, authorities said Thursday.
The floods sparked evacuations of thousands in the Orenburg region, located some 745 miles, southeast of the capital of Moscow after a dam on the river burst last week under the pressure of surging waters. Local authorities have declared a state of emergency in the region.
In a televised videoconference with President Vladimir Putin, Orenburg governor Denis Pasler reported that a total of 11,972 houses are flooded, as well as 16 state medical facilities. Additionally, 3,600 houses — home to some 20,000 people — are in danger of imminent flooding as water levels continue to rise.
RUSSIANS STAGE A RARE PROTEST AFTER A DAM BURSTS AND HOMES FLOOD NEAR THE KAZAKH BORDER
The situation is most dire in the city of Orenburg, the administrative capital of the region, Pasler said, where the water level in the Ural River reached a historical peak of about 36 feet.
A total of 7,800 people have been evacuated from the flooded areas so far, he added. The overall damage from the floods is estimated to exceed 40 billion rubles ($428 million).
Further east along the Kazakhstan border, authorities in the regions of Kurgan and Tyumen are also preparing for possible floods as water levels rise in local rivers.
Floods have also hit Kazakhstan, where authorities have declared a state of emergency in 10 out of 17 regions of the country, according to Russia's state news agency Tass. As of Thursday, the state of emergency was still in place in eight regions, Tass reported. Since March, more than 98,000 people have been evacuated from the affected areas there.
Footage from the flooded regions in Kazakhstan showed water gushing down streets, vast fields covered with water and dozens of houses partially submerged. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has called the floods "a natural disaster ... the likes of which have not been seen for many years."
"This is, perhaps, the biggest disaster in terms of its scale and consequences in over 80 years," he said last week.
Portuguese Catholic Church announces it will compensate victims of sex abuse
MADRID (AP) — The Portuguese Catholic Church said Thursday it has unanimously agreed to pay some form of compensation to victims of sex abuse by clergy.
The country's Bishops Conference said after a four-day general assembly meeting at the Fatima shrine that it will set up a fund with contributions from all the Portuguese dioceses to meet the eventual payments.
HISTORIC CHILD SEX ABUSE AT PORTUGUESE CATHOLIC CHURCH WAS 'TRULY ENDEMIC'
"In communion with the suffering of the victims, the Portuguese Bishops reaffirm their total commitment to do everything in their power to make reparations, and express their hope that this process of welcoming, accompanying and preventing will be a contribution to the actions of society," the Bishops’ Conference said.
Church officials have said 20 victims so far have asked for compensation.
A 2023 report by the Independent Committee for the Study of Child Abuse in the Catholic Church said more than 4,800 people may have been victims of child sex abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church. More than 500 alleged victims have come forward with their stories.
The Committee, set up by Portuguese bishops, looked into alleged cases from 1950 onwards. In most of the alleged cases, the statute of limitations has expired.
The Portuguese church has softened its position on possible payments in recent years. Previously it said it would pay victims only if obliged to do by courts.
Victims will have to submit their requests to the independent VITA Group for victims, or the Diocesan Commission for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults, between June and December. An evaluation commission will then decide how much money the victims will receive.
Poland has a strict abortion law — and many abortions. Lawmakers are now tackling the legislation
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s parliament held a long-awaited debate Thursday on liberalizing the country's strict abortion law. The traditionally Catholic nation has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe, but many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad.
Lawmakers in the lower house of parliament considered four proposals and will vote Friday on whether to send them for further work.
POLAND IMPLEMENTS NEW RULES AGAINST HOMEWORK, SPARKING MIXED REACTIONS AMONG STUDENTS AND PARENTS
Abortion is regulated by a 1993 law that was heavily influenced by the Catholic church, and was further restricted following a 2020 constitutional court ruling preventing abortion in case of fetal abnormalities.
"The abortion ban does not work," left-wing lawmaker Katarzyna Ueberhan said during the debate. "One in three women in Poland has had an abortion. One in three. I am one of them, and I think I am not alone here today."
Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who came to power in December after eight years of rule by a conservative party that restricted abortion rights, wants to legalize abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy. But his three-party governing coalition is torn on the issue, and conservatives in his alliance had pushed to keep the issue off the agenda until last weekend's local elections were over.
Surveys show public support for a more liberal law, but those fighting for a total ban are also mobilized.
A conservative lawmaker, Dariusz Matecki, played the sound of a child’s heartbeat through a microphone at one point in the debate and held a poster showing a fetus and the words "10th week after conception."
Władysław Kurowski with the main conservative opposition party, Law and Justice, argued that lawmakers should instead deal with the country's falling birth rate, and said "we must resolutely oppose this crime against the Polish people."
Meanwhile, an anti-abortion group held a demonstration outside showing graphic images.
"Even if these criminal and murderous laws are pushed through, the voice of the pro-life community will still rise very strongly and defend the unborn," said Marcin Perlowski, one of the campaigners.
Crucially, conservative politicians hold key political positions with the power to block change.
One is President Andrzej Duda, who holds veto power over legislation and who last month vetoed a law that would have allowed over-the-counter access to the morning-after pill for girls and women ages 15 and above.
The other is the parliament speaker, Szymon Hołownia, who had once considered becoming a Dominican friar. Abortion rights advocates accuse him of violating the will of voters by keeping the issue off the agenda for months.
"He is a Christian fundamentalist abusing his power as the speaker of parliament," said Marta Lempart, head of the Women's Strike, a group that organized mass protests in recent years while the previous right-wing government pushed to restrict abortion rights.
Under the current law, doctors in Poland can only provide abortions if a woman's health or life is at risk or if the pregnancy results from a crime. However, doctors often will not perform abortions even when they are permissible under the law, citing their conscience.
There have been cases in recent years of women with troubled pregnancies who died after doctors prioritized keeping the fetuses alive.
Women with pregnancies resulting from rape have the right to an abortion if they report the crime to the prosecutor’s office. But in practice, no woman has done so for the past 10 years due to the double stigma of acknowledging the rape publicly and seeking an abortion, said Natalia Broniarczyk, an activist with Abortion Dream Team, one of several groups that helps Polish women obtain abortion pills from abroad or travel abroad for the procedure.
"There is no trust in the official system," she said.
Broniarczyk estimated that about 120,000 abortions occur per year among women in Poland — some 50,000 provided by her group alone.
Another Polish activist who helps provide abortions is activist Kinga Jelińska with the group Women Help Women. She runs a helpline from the Netherlands and sends pills to Poland.
Jelińska, in parliament Thursday, said the network of groups helping women have abortions at home are the only ones in Poland who follow World Health Organization guidelines on abortion care, which stress the use of pills as the safest abortion method.
"It’s not the state, it’s not the doctors, but feminists like myself and my colleagues ... that do the most abortions in this country," she said, holding up a packet of pills.
Under the law, it's not a crime for women to end their pregnancies, but assisting a woman in terminating her pregnancy is a crime punishable by three years in prison.
A bill proposed by the left would decriminalize such assistance. Two other bills, one drafted by the left and the other by Tusk's Civic Coalition, propose legalizing abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy.
A fourth bill, introduced by the parliament speaker's conservative political grouping, the Third Way, would return Poland to the pre-2020 situation, meaning women could once again terminate pregnancies on the basis of fetal defects but most restrictions on abortions would remain.
Man accused of insulting Lukashenko online dies in Belarus jail
A Belarusian man who was in jail awaiting trial on charges of insulting the authoritarian president has died in custody, the country's leading human rights group said Thursday.
Aliaksandr Kulinich, 51, died Tuesday in a detention center in the western city of Brest that is notorious for harsh treatment of opposition activists, the Viasna human rights center said.
His death is officially listed as coronary heart disease, but exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called for an investigation and for international pressure on Belarus to halt abuse of political prisoners.
Kulinich was arrested on Feb. 29 after making social media posts opposing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and criticizing President Alexander Lukashenko, who has stifled opposition and independent media since taking office in 1994.
The crackdown on dissent sharply intensified after the wave of massive protests that arose following the August 2020 presidential election whose disputed results gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office. About 35,000 people were detained in connection with the protest wave, many of them reportedly tortured in custody.
Viasna says there are now nearly 1,400 political prisoners in Belarus, including group founder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski.
Italian coast guard rescues 22 shipwrecked people, recovers 9 bodies. Some 15 reported missing
MILAN (AP) — The Italian Coast Guard rescued 22 people and recovered nine bodies after a smugglers’ boat capsized in a storm about 50 kilometers ( about 30 miles) south of the island of Lampedusa, authorities said Thursday.
Survivors indicated that the steel bottom boat had departed from Sfax, Tunisia overnight Sunday carrying 46 people from Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali and Ivory Coast. The boat capsized Wednesday morning as waves reached up to five meters (16 feet) and "the group became very agitated when the engine broke down and they were left adrift,’’ the U.N. refugee agency said.
The victims included a six-month-old child, along with eight men, UNHCR said. Six of the survivors were treated for severe hypothermia and dehydration; two remain hospitalized.
After the rescue in rough seas with waves reaching more than 2 1/2 meters (eight feet), the Coast Guard said it continued the air surveillance of the area, which is under Malta’s search-and-rescue area.
The number of crossing attempts generally increase as summer approaches, raising concerns about more shipwrecks, especially as Italian port rules are restricting operations of charity rescue boats. Italy’s far-right-led government has recently been instructing charity boats to go to northern ports after each rescue, reducing their operations, and has been impounding boats that it says violates its rules.
"With the arrival of the summer season, we can expect more incidents at sea, as more and more people are leaving with completely unseaworthy metal boats, as we are seeing in these weeks,’’ said Federico Fossi, a spokesman for the UNHCR in Italy.
The International Organization for Migration put the number of migrants missing along the deadly central Mediterranean route from northern Africa to Italy at 385 so far this year and 23,109 since they launched the missing migrants project in 2014.
Steelworkers at the UK's largest production plant vote to strike over job losses
LONDON (AP) — Steelworkers at Britain's largest steel production plant voted to strike for the first time in around 40 years to protest the planned loss of 2,800 jobs by Indian owner Tata Steel, union officials said Thursday.
The Unite trade union said 1,500 of its members at the south Wales plant and the nearby smaller Newport Llanwern processing plant backed the strike action.
ONE UK STEEL TOWN, ONE CRISIS THAT AFFECTS THE NATION
In January, Tata said it would close both blast furnaces at Port Talbot as part of plans to make its unprofitable U.K. operation leaner and greener, replacing them with more environmentally friendly electric arc furnaces.
Unite said Tata has other choices after the union secured a commitment from the main Labour Party opposition that it will invest 3 billion pounds ($3.8 billion) in U.K. steel, compared with the 500 million pounds pledged by the current Conservative government. That potentially matters as Labour is way ahead of the Conservatives in opinion polls ahead of a general election that is expected to take place by the fall.
"In the U.K., Tata’s plans and those of the government reflect the short-term thinking of a clapped-out disinterested government marking time to a general election," said Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham.
She said the vote in favor of striking happened despite threats from Tata that enhanced redundancy packages would be withdrawn if workers went on strike.
Tata has said that its plans to switch from coal-fired blast furnaces to an electric arc furnace, which produces steel from scrap metal, needs fewer workers and that 2,500 jobs will go by the middle of next year, with a further 300 at longer-term risk. Both blast furnaces are due to be shut this year, with the new electric furnace installed by 2027.
Tata said after the vote that its plan remains in place.
"Our ambition remains to move forward at pace with a just transition, and to become the center of a future green sustainable industrial ecosystem in the U.K.," a spokesperson for the company said.
The news of the closure of the blast furnaces is a major blow to Port Talbot, a town of about 35,000 people whose economy has been built on the steel industry since the early 1900s. Fewer than 1,000 people are expected to be employed at the plant if the restructuring takes place.
At its height in the 1960s, the Port Talbot steelworks employed around 20,000 people, before cheaper offerings from China and other countries hit production. More than 300,000 people worked in Britain’s steel industry in 1971; by 2021 it was about 26,000.
The steel industry now accounts for 0.1% of the British economy and 2.4% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to research by the House of Commons Library.
Ukraine's parliament passes a controversial law to boost much-needed conscripts as war drags on
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s parliament passed a controversial law Thursday that will govern how the country calls up new soldiers at a time when it needs to replenish depleted forces who are increasingly struggling to fend off Russia's advance.
The law was passed against a backdrop of an escalating Russian campaign that has devastated Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks. Authorities said overnight missile and drone attacks completely destroyed the Trypilska thermal power plant, the largest power-generating facility in the capital region.
UKRAINE LOWERS MILITARY DRAFT AGE IN EFFORT TO BOLSTER TROOP NUMBERS IN WAR AGAINST RUSSIA
Two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion captured nearly a quarter of the country, the stakes could not be higher for Kyiv. After a string of victories in the first year of the war, fortunes have turned for the Ukrainian military, which is dug in, outgunned and outnumbered.
The country desperately needs more troops — and they need more ammunition — at a time when doubts about the supply of Western aid are increasing.
The mobilization law was first envisioned after Ukraine's summer counteroffensive failed to gain significant ground last year — and authorities realized the country was in for a longer fight.
In December, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s military wanted to mobilize up to 500,000 more troops. Army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi has since revised that figure down because soldiers can be rotated from the rear. But officials haven't said how many are needed.
The law — which was watered down from its original form — will make it easier to identify every draft-eligible man in the country, where many have dodged conscription by avoiding contact with authorities.
Under the law, men aged 18 to 60 will be required to carry documents showing they have registered with the military and present them when asked, according to Oksana Zabolotna, an analyst for the watchdog group Center for United Actions. Also, any man who applies for a state service at a consulate abroad will be registered for military service.
However, it remains unclear how the measure will ensure all draft-eligible men are registered. In that way, it "does not fulfill the main declared goal," she said.
The law also provides incentives to soldiers, such as cash bonuses or money toward buying a house or car — perks that Zabolotna said Ukraine can not afford.
It's not clear how many conscripts the law might lead to — and it's also unclear that Ukraine, with its ongoing ammunition shortages, has the ability to arm large numbers of new soldiers without a fresh injection of Western aid.
In total, 1 million Ukrainians are in uniform, including about 300,000 who are serving on front lines.
Lawmakers dragged their feet for months over the mobilization law, and it is expected to be unpopular. It comes about a week after Ukraine lowered the draft-eligible age for men from 27 to 25.
The law will become effective a month after Zelenskyy signs it — and it was not clear when he would. It took him months to sign the law reducing conscription age.
Earlier this month, Volodymyr Fesenko, an analyst at the Center for Applied Political Studies "Penta," said the law is crucial for Ukraine’s ability to keep up the fight against Russia, even though it is painful for Ukrainian society.
"A large part of the people do not want their loved ones to go to the front, but at the same time they want Ukraine to win," he said.
Thursday's vote came after the parliamentary defense committee removed a key provision from the bill that would rotate out troops who served 36 months of combat. Lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko said in a Telegram post that he was shocked by the move.
The committee instructed the Defense Ministry to draft a bill on demobilization within several months, news reports cited ministry spokesperson Dmytro Lazutkin as saying.
Exhausted soldiers, on the front lines since Russia invaded in February 2022, have no means of rotating out for rest. But considering the scale and intensity of the war, devising a system of rest will prove difficult.
A soldier taken off the front lines because of injury told The Associated Press his comrades badly need respite.
"Of course, I want the boys to be released, at least after 36 months. There are no more thoughts, I want the boys to have some rest," said the soldier, who gave his name only as Kostyantyn for security reasons.
Ukraine already suffers from a lack of trained soldiers capable of fighting, and demobilizing soldiers on the front lines now would deprive Ukrainian forces of their most capable fighters.
Meanwhile, in what private energy operator DTEK described as one of the most powerful attacks this year, missiles and drones struck infrastructure and power facilities across several regions overnight.
Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko told reporters that it was a "large scale, enormous, missile attack that affected our energy sector very badly."
The Trypilska plant, which was the biggest energy supplier for the Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Zhytomyr regions, was completely knocked out and unable to supply electricity.
At least 10 of the strikes damaged energy infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said more than 200,000 people in the region were without power and Russia "is trying to destroy Kharkiv's infrastructure and leave the city in darkness."
Energy facilities were also hit in the Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions.
Ukraine’s leaders have pleaded for more air defense systems — aid that has been slow in coming.
Four people were killed and five injured in an attack on the city of Mykolaiv on Thursday, said regional governor, Vitalii Kim. In the Odesa region, four people were killed and 14 injured in Russian missile strikes Wednesday evening, said governor Oleh Kiper.
Zelenskyy blasts allies who turn 'blind eye' to Ukraine struggles as ammunition dwindles, Russia advances
Russia has started to make steady progress against Ukraine as Kyiv's forces face dwindling ammunition supplies, much to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s frustration.
"There can be no question, Ukraine could be quickly overwhelmed by both men and arms by odds as great as 10 to 1 within weeks without additional U.S. assistance," Kenneth Braithwaite, a former ambassador and former Navy secretary during the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital.
"This is a critical juncture in the war and time is of the essence for Congress to act on a comprehensive package," Braithwaite said. "The fact remains that Putin’s only chance to win in Ukraine is if the West loses our resolve."
"Therefore, the math is pretty easy, we can pay now or we pay later – and if we pay later, the costs will be astronomically higher for our security and economic interests," he added. "In our Navy we ‘Don’t Give Up The Ship’: That’s never been more true than now when it comes to our nation's support for Ukraine."
Ukraine has made some gains over the past year by shifting their strategy from broad land offensives to focused drone attacks, including some assassination attempts, but continues to seek progress against the staunch and dug-in Russian defenses.
"All of our European neighbors and other partners see Ukraine's critical need for air defense systems," Zelenskyy wrote in a post on social media platform X. "Right now, with our ability to overcome Russian terror, the world can demonstrate that all terror is treated equally as a crime."
"However, if Russia is allowed to continue doing so, if Russian missiles and 'Shahed' drones continue to strike not only Ukraine but also the resolve of our allies, this will amount to a global license for terror," he added. "We need air defense systems and other defense assistance, not just turning a blind eye and having lengthy discussions."
"Let’s remember that Russian forces are getting help from countries like Iran and North Korea. Ukrainian soldiers are having to ration their bullets and supplies. They’re fighting valiantly and will succeed if we simply give them additional resources," Ambassador Mark Green, president, director and CEO of the Wilson Center told Fox News Digital.
In an interview with German outlet BILD, Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukraine has managed to continue to produce many drones domestically, but other systems, including air defense systems, long-range missiles and other types of artillery, remain in high demand and low supply.
US SENDS SEIZED IRANIAN WEAPONS TO UKRAINE, GREENLIGHTS $138M IN HAWK MISSILE SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Zelenskyy said Kharkiv could face a major offensive in the summer, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin "naturally wanted to take Kharkiv because it is a big symbol for him," but insisting that "Ukraine is ready to thwart Russia’s plans to conquer: We do everything we can to prevent this from happening."
He also warned that Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure have proven successful and continue to have a "big impact" on the war as they "cause great pain to the population and cities."
"He will destroy everything," Zelenskyy said, referring to Putin. "He will kill a lot of people… most people won’t run away, so he will kill many of them. What will it look like? There will be a lot of blood. There will be many victims, many losses. We speak of hundreds of thousands."
The U.S. has met internal resistance over continued and seemingly unending funding for the Ukrainians against Russia: The Senate passed a $95 billion aid package that includes support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but the House has yet to schedule a vote as some noted Republican holdouts in both chambers seek to derail efforts to pass it.
UK'S CAMERON MEETS TRUMP AHEAD OF PUSH FOR MORE US UKRAINE FUNDING
Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., told Fox News Digital that Ukraine appears to be "another forever war that will bankrupt future generations – all while disregarding our own security as our southern border remains open."
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has revealed his intent to take action on the aid package once lawmakers return to Washington next week, including a proposal to liquidate seized Russian assets and re-purpose those funds as assistance for Ukraine. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel, R-Ky., declared that he’s committed to opposing Russia’s invasion for the remainder of his term.
President Biden urged the House to pass the aid package, arguing that "the majority of Democrats and Republicans" have shown "overwhelming" support for Ukraine: "There should be a vote now," Biden said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told lawmakers earlier this week that aid for Ukraine is vital to national and global security.
MCCONNELL LOOKS TO CEMENT LEGACY AS ‘REAGAN REPUBLICAN’ WITH CRUSADE FOR UKRAINE SUPPORT
"Our security in these turbulent times relies on American strength of purpose," Austin said. He argued that Putin "is betting that the United States will falter and abandon our friends and leave Ukraine in mortal danger. If the Kremlin prevails in Ukraine, it will embolden would-be aggressors around the globe and the United States would be far less secure if Putin got his way in Ukraine."
"If America walked away, we would put the free world in peril and risk unimaginable costs and dangers, and we know that China and others are watching and learning from what Putin does and how we respond," he added.
The lagging U.S. support has frustrated Zelenskyy, forcing him to seek aid from other sources: Zelenskyy traveled to NATO ally Lithuania to participate in a regional security summit on Thursday, where he continued to press the broader threat Putin poses for NATO and Europe.
The Ukrainian president said Russian "evil" is a threat "to every nation bordering Russia and to everyone who values international law," Al Jazeera reported. He secured a 10-year bilateral security agreement with Latvia, which Zelenskyy proclaimed "envisages" the support Ukraine needs.
UKRAINE DENIES RUSSIAN CLAIM OF DRONE STRIKES ON EUROPE'S LARGEST NUCLEAR PLANT
Rebekah Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst and the author of "Putin's Playbook," told Fox News Digital that the seeming shift in momentum is unsurprising, claiming that Ukraine’s victory was "unattainable from the very start" and that the war become a "tragedy of epic proportions" as the U.S. and Europeans used Ukraine "effectively… as human shields to protect the Europeans."
"Thousands of Ukrainian men are being thrown as meat into Putin’s meat grinder, in order to weaken the Russian military, so that Europeans can feel safer," Koffler said. "And hence, the country of Ukraine is being de-populated and devastated by Putin, who would have never accepted the perceived risk of having Ukraine being part of NATO, an adversarial alliance close to Russia’s borders."
Koffler argued that continuing to fund Ukraine remained untenable as "U.S. resources are not limitless, the patience of U.S. taxpayers isn’t either."
"The writing for Ukraine is on the wall, and yet the Biden administration, the Pentagon and Western defense establishments are pretending not to see it. It’s not convenient for them to see it," she said.
Fox News Digital's Julia Johnson and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Poland implements new rules against homework, sparking mixed reactions among students and parents
Ola Kozak is celebrating. The 11-year-old, who loves music and drawing, expects to have more free time for her hobbies after Poland’s government ordered strict limits on the amount of homework in the lower grades.
"I am happy," said the fifth grader, who lives in a Warsaw suburb with her parents and younger siblings. The lilac-colored walls in her bedroom are covered in her art, and on her desk she keeps a framed picture she drew of Kurt Cobain.
"Most people in my class in the morning would copy the work off someone who had done the homework or would copy it from the internet. So it didn’t make sense," she said.
11-YEAR-OLD DENIED PERMISSION TO START INTERFAITH PRAYER CLUB AT SCHOOL
The government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk enacted the ban against required homework this month amid a broad discussion about the need to modernize Poland's education system, which critics say puts too much emphasis on rote learning and homework, and not enough on critical thinking and creativity.
Under the decree, teachers are no longer to give required homework to kids in the first to third grades. In grades four to eight, homework is now optional and doesn't count towards a grade.
Not everyone likes the change – and even Ola’s parents are divided.
"If there is something that will make students enjoy school more, then it will probably be good both for the students and for the school," said her father, Pawel Kozak.
His wife, Magda Kozak, was skeptical. "I am not pleased, because (homework) is a way to consolidate what was learned," she said. "It helps stay on top of what the child has really learned and what’s going on at school."
(Ola's brother Julian, a third grader, says he sees both sides.)
Debates over the proper amount of homework are common around the globe. While some studies have shown little benefit to homework for young learners, other experts say it can help them learn how to develop study habits and academic concepts.
Poland's educational system has undergone a number of controversial overhauls. Almost every new government has tried to make changes — something many teachers and parents say has left them confused and discouraged. For example, after communism was thrown off, middle schools were introduced. Then under the last government, the previous system was brought back. More controversy came in recent years when ultra-conservative views were pushed in new textbooks.
For years, teachers have been fleeing the system due to low wages and political pressure. The current government is trying to increase teacher salaries and has promised other changes that teachers approve of.
But Sławomir Broniarz, the head of the Polish Teachers' Union, said that while he recognized the need to ease burdens on students, the new homework rules are another case of change imposed from above without adequate consultation with educators.
"In general, the teachers think that this happened too quickly, too hastily," he said.
He argued that removing homework could widen the educational gaps between kids who have strong support at home and those from poorer families with less support and lower expectations. Instead, he urged wider changes to the entire curriculum.
The homework rules gained impetus in the runup to parliamentary elections last year, when a 14-year-old boy, Maciek Matuszewski, stood up at a campaign rally and told Tusk before a national audience that children "had no time to rest." The boy said their rights were being violated with so much homework on weekends and so many tests on Mondays.
Tusk has since featured Matuszewski in social media videos and made him the face of the sudden change.
Education Minister Barbara Nowacka said she was prompted by research on children’s mental health. Of the various stresses children face, she said, "the one that could be removed fastest was the burden of homework."
Pasi Sahlberg, a prominent Finnish educator and author, said the value of homework depends on what it is and how it is linked to overall learning. The need for homework can be "very individual and contextual."
"We need to trust our teachers to decide what is good for each child," Sahlberg said.
In South Korea, homework limits were set for elementary schools in 2017 amid concerns that kids were under too much pressure. However, teenagers in the education-obsessed country often cram long into the night and get tutoring to meet the requirements of demanding school and university admission tests.
In the U.S., teachers and parents decide for themselves how much homework to assign. Some elementary schools have done away with homework entirely to give children more time to play, participate in activities and spend time with families.
A guideline circulated by teachers unions in the U.S. recommends about 10 minutes of homework per grade. So, 10 minutes in first grade, 20 minutes in second grade and so on.
The COVID-19 pandemic and a crisis around youth mental health have complicated debates around homework. In the U.S., extended school closures in some places were accompanied by steep losses in learning, which were often addressed with tutoring and other interventions paid for with federal pandemic relief money. At the same time, increased attention to student wellbeing led some teachers to consider alternate approaches including reduced or optional homework.
It's important for children to learn that mastering something "usually requires practice, a lot of practice," said Sahlberg, in Finland. If reducing homework leads kids and parents to think school expectations for excellence will be lowered, "things will go wrong."
Kim Jong Un promises 'death blow' to potential enemies, ignores Biden's request for cooperation
Kim Jong Un told a meeting of military officials this week that North Korea will mobilize an overwhelming assault on any hypothetical enemy, ignoring President Biden's requests for cooperation.
Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un made the remarks Wednesday while speaking at the Kim Jong-il University of Military and Politics, according to Yonhap News Agency, which reported that the leader was poised to make a "death blow" to enemies.
"[Kim Jong Un] said that now is the time to be more thoroughly prepared for a war than ever before and that the DPRK should be more firmly and perfectly prepared for a war, which should be won without fail, not just for a possible war," North Korean state media reported.
BIDEN RELIES ON REPORTER LIST, NOTES DURING WHITE HOUSE JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE WITH JAPANESE PM
"DPRK" stands for "Democratic People's Republic of Korea," the country's official name.
"It is an immutable law of war victory to neutralize the numerical and military and technical superiority of the enemy by means of superiority in ideology and war methods," Kim Jong Un said, according to state media.
He reportedly added that "now is the time to be more thoroughly prepared for a war than ever before and that the DPRK should be more firmly and perfectly prepared for a war, which should be won without fail, not just for a possible war."
NORTH KOREA CLAIMS SUCCESS IN TESTING OF NEW HYPERSONIC MISSILE AS IT EXPANDS NUCLEAR PROGRAM
The dictator's aggressive tone shoots down any prospect of cooling tensions growing between North Korea, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S.
President Biden made an appeal Wednesday from the White House for Kim Jong Un to accept a Japanese proposal for international talks.
"We welcome the opportunity of our allies to initiate dialogue with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea," Biden said during a joint press conference with Kishida. "As I’ve said many times, we’re open to dialogue ourselves without preconditions with the DPRK."
"The window of a discussion with North Korea is open," Kishida said at the same conference. "The establishment of a meaningful relationship between Japan and North Korea is in the interests of both Japan and North Korea and it could be hugely beneficial to the peace and stability of the region."
North Korea has taken an even more caustic international posture than usual in recent months, abandoning its symbolic goal of reunification with South Korea and declaring the southern neighbor as its "primary foe" and "principal enemy."
Japanese PM Kishida to address Congress, discuss Asia-Pacific tension
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will head to Capitol Hill on Thursday for an address to U.S. lawmakers meant to underscore the importance of keeping a strong partnership between the two countries at a time of tension in the Asia-Pacific and skepticism in Congress about U.S. involvement abroad.
Kishida was in Washington this week visiting President Joe Biden as the White House completed hosting each leader of the Quad — an informal partnership between the U.S. Japan, Australia and India that is seen as important to countering China's growing military strength in the region. Kishida is expected to talk about the future of the relationship between Japan and the U.S.
He will be addressing many Republicans who have pushed for the U.S. to take a less active role in global affairs as they follow the "America First" ethos of Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. The Republican-controlled House has sat for months on a $95 billion package that would send wartime funding to Ukraine and Israel, as well as aid to allies in the Indo-Pacific like Taiwan and humanitarian help to civilians in Gaza and Ukraine.
CHINA WARNED AS PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT PROPOSES COUNTERMEASURES AGAINST BEIJING'S AGGRESSION
While the package does not include any direct funding for Japan, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier this week that he hoped Kishida's visit would underscore "that we’re in a worldwide situation here against the enemies of democracy — led by China, Russia and Iran."
Japan has taken a strong role in supporting Ukraine's defense against Moscow as well as helping humanitarian aid get to Gaza. It is also seen as a key U.S. partner in a fraught region where China is asserting its strength and North Korea is developing a nuclear program.
"Japan is a close ally — critical to both our national and economic security," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in a statement. "This visit will continue to deepen the diplomatic and security relationship between our two countries and build on the strength of decades of cooperation."
Kishida was also attending a U.S.-Japan-Philippines summit on Thursday in another effort to bolster regional cooperation in the face of China's aggression.
In Congress, House Speaker Mike Johnson has held up the foreign security package since its Senate passage in February but is now working to advance it in the coming weeks. It will be a difficult task to navigate the deep divides on support for Kyiv among Republicans. Making matters worse for the Republican speaker, he is already facing the threat of being ousted from the speaker's office.
Kishida, who was elected in 2021, arrives in Washington while facing political problems of his own in Japan. Polls show his support has plunged as he deals with a political funds corruption scandal within his ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The nation's economy has also slipped to the world's fourth-largest last year, falling behind Germany.
It will be the first time a Japanese prime minister addresses Congress since former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe traveled to Capitol Hill in 2015. Kishida will also be the sixth foreign leader to address Congress during Biden's presidency.
Horse running wild on train platform caught on video
A bizarre video has captured a horse running around on a train platform in an incident that officials are describing as a "bit of horseplay."
Surveillance footage shared this week by Transport for NSW shows the horse following proper etiquette and staying behind the yellow line as it galloped up and down the platform at the Warwick Farm Railway Station outside of Sydney, Australia, on Friday.
"He appeared to pursue an informant along the platform before unsuccessfully attempting to board a train service," it wrote on Instagram. "The individual then moved to the carpark area where he was taken in by his owner and he was returned to his residence in a stable condition."
"No one involved in the incident is intending to take any further action as the individual was only horsing around!" Transport for NSW added.
WOMAN IN OREGON REELS IN RECORD-BREAKING FISH
The video shows a woman who is waiting for a train appearing to be startled as the horse runs by her on the platform.
A train then rolls into the station with the horse running alongside it.
FLORIDA WOMAN SHOCKED TO FIND LARGE ALLIGATOR CRAWLING THROUGH HER HOME: ‘I WAS SHAKING’
The surveillance footage ends with a man leading the horse away from the platform and onto a trailer in the train station’s parking lot.
"He was reported to be wearing only a rug and demonstrating a bit of horseplay," Transport for NSW said. "As the train pulled into the station, the horse patiently watched and waited for it to stop. The horse had planned its journey but got colt feet and decided to hoof it."
Officials say transit security was alerted to the incident and trains in the area were advised to run at reduced speeds.
South Korea's prime minister and top presidential officials resign en masse
South Korea’s prime minister and senior presidential officials have offered to resign en masse following Wednesday’s parliamentary elections.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and all senior presidential advisers to conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol submitted their resignations, according to Yoon’s office, after Wednesday’s elections dealt a huge blow to Yeol’s party. The elections secured the liberal opposition forces’ control of parliament until after Yoon completes his single five-year term in 2027.
The results will likely set back Yoon's domestic agenda and weaken his grip on the party. He will also have to face the opposition's intensifying political offensive during his remaining three years, experts say.
Yoon’s office did not immediately say whether Yoon would accept their resignations.
HERE'S WHAT SOUTH KOREANS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT AS THEY VOTE FOR PARLIAMENT THIS WEEK
With most of the votes counted, the main opposition Democratic Party and its satellite party appeared to have won a combined 175 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, according to South Korean media tallies.
Yoon’s ruling People Power Party was projected to have obtained 108 seats.
The final official results were expected later Thursday.
The final voter turnout for South Korea’s 44 million eligible voters was the highest for a parliamentary election since 1992, according to the National Election Commission.
HOW SOUTH KOREA'S ELECTION OF YOON SUK YEOL MAY AFFECT RELATIONSHIP WITH US
In a news conference, ruling People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon announced he was stepping down to take responsibility for the election defeat.
"I apologize to the people on behalf of our party, which wasn't good enough to win the people's choices," he said.
Yoon, a former top prosecutor who took office in 2022, will stay in power and his major foreign policies will likely be unchanged.
Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, who lost the 2022 presidential election to Yoon, praised Wednesday’s results.
"The results of the parliamentary elections are not the victory by the Democratic Party, but the great victory by our people," Lee said Thursday. "Now, the elections are over. Both the ruling and opposition political parties must pull together all their strength to resolve economic and public livelihood problems."
In South Korea, executive power is mostly wielded by the president, but the prime minister is the country’s No. 2 official and would take power if the president becomes incapacitated.
The incoming parliament is to begin meeting on May 30 for a four-year term.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Netanyahu not consulted on strike that killed Hamas leader's 3 sons, Israeli media reports
Israel's senior commanders and political leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were not consulted before a military strike killed three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, Israeli media reported Thursday.
Neither Netanyahu nor Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had been told in advance of the airstrike, which was coordinated by the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet intelligence service, Walla news agency reported, citing senior Israeli officials.
The report said Amir, Mohammad and Hazem Haniyey were targeted as fighters, not because they were sons of the Hamas leader. Ismail Haniyeh, who is originally from Shati, has 13 children and has been living in exile in Qatar. The Israeli military has not commented on reports that four of Haniyeh's grandchildren were also killed.
3 OF HAMAS LEADER ISMAIL HANIYEH'S ‘TERRORIST’ SONS KILLED BY ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE, IDF SAYS
Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV station reported the deaths on Thursday, noting that the airstrike hit near the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, per The Associated Press.
Al-Aqsa TV station aired footage of Haniyeh purportedly receiving the news of the deaths while visiting wounded Palestinians who had been transported to a hospital in Doha. As an aide received the news on his phone, Haniyeh nodded, looked down at the ground and slowly walked out of the room.
IRAN’S LEADER SAYS 4 THREATENING WORDS TO ISRAEL, BLASTS THE US AND WEST FOR ‘DISASTER’ IN GAZA
The killing of Haniyeh's relatives has added a potential complication to negotiations aimed at securing a halt in the fighting in Gaza in exchange for the return of the 133 Israeli hostages still believed to be held in the besieged enclave.
Haniyeh said Hamas had "clear and specific" demands for agreeing to any pause in the fighting.
"The enemy will be delusional if it thinks that targeting my sons, at the climax of the negotiations and before the movement sends its response, will push Hamas to change its position," Haniyeh said on Wednesday.
Hamas is demanding an immediate end to the Israeli offensive, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and permission for displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.
The strike that killed Haniyeh's sons happened after Iran’s leader on Wednesday threatened to take action against Israel during a prayer ceremony. He also criticized the U.S. and the West for their involvement amid tensions in the region.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed Israel "will be punished" as he spoke at a prayer ceremony celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Iran has promised retribution for a reported Israeli airstrike that demolished Iran's consulate in Syria last month.
Fox News Digital's Greg Norman and Reuters contributed to this report.
Talk of low Houthi weapon supply is ‘premature,’ expert warns
A top U.S. Air Force commander believes Houthi rebels in Yemen may be low on weapon supplies as American and allied strikes on the group have eroded their capabilities.
U.S. Forces Central Command Commander Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich told reporters last week that American retaliatory strikes on the Iran-backed Houthi military group have "certainly affected their behavior" and possibly helped to deplete their weapon supplies, according to a report in the Associated Press.
"The challenge for us is understanding what the denominator was at the beginning. In other words, what did they have on hand to start with? We obviously know how much we have struck and we have assessments of how successful those strikes were," Grynkewich said.
US, COALITION FORCES DEFEAT HOUTHIS' 'LARGE-SCALE ATTACK' IN RED SEA, SHOOT DOWN AT LEAST 28 DRONES
Grynkewich also cited the group’s "pace of operations" in recent weeks, noting that it "is not what it once was" while cautioning that potential "Iranian resupply" could complicate evaluations of just how low the group is on weapons.
The Iranian-backed Houthis have conducted almost daily attacks on both commercial and military shipping in the Red Seas and Gulf of Aden in recent months, typically using drones and missiles launched from areas in Yemen under rebel control.
Those attacks, which have slowed in recent weeks, have disrupted commercial shipping routes in the region, leading to a U.S. and allied response that has included increased military ship patrols and a wider array of retaliatory strikes on weapons and ammunition facilities. U.S. fighter jets have also bombed Houthi drones and missiles as they were being put in place for launch.
Howerver, Dr. Sumatra Maitra, the director of research and outreach and the conservative American Ideas Institute, cautioned against such an optimistic assessment of the group’s capabilities.
BIDEN TO HAVE US MILITARY BUILD A PORT IN GAZA
"I don’t think they are low on weapons, I think that’s a premature opinion," Maitra told Fox News Digital.
Maitra pointed out that the Houthis rely on "a lot of dumb weapons that don’t need targeting," which also includes "low grade drones" that are inexpensive to produce and replenish.
Instead, Maitra pointed to the increased patrols by U.S. and allied militaries as being one of the primary drivers of the recent slowdown in Houthi activity. Another potential reason for the slowed pace could be because of instructions from Tehran, Iran, where the Iranian government is involved in negotiations between the Biden administration, Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
"The Iranians have probably told them – because they are their main suppliers – ‘you need to hold your horses, we are negotiating with these people,’" Maitra said.
YEMEN'S HOUTHIS HAVE A HYPERSONIC MISSILE, REPORT CLAIMS
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
According to the AP report, the U.S. military believes that the Houthis had dozens of anti-ship ballistic missiles when they started their campaign, which the group has defended as an effort to pressure Israel into ending its war in Gaza.
While attacks on U.S. forces by other Iranian-backed militias in countries such as Iraq and Syria have largely decreased since U.S. retaliatory strikes in February, Grynkewich noted that the Houthis are more independent of Iran and might not always be "responsive" to instructions from Tehran.
Maitra echoed a similar sentiment, arguing that the group can "decide on their own" strategy and can be "far more fanatic."
"They have a very different way of looking at global politics," Maitra said.
That reality could lead to an uptick in attacks with little warning, with Maitra arguing that the group does not have as big of a stake in the Iranian talks with the White House.
"The Houthis don’t really care about who’s ruling in Iraq or what kind of negotiations Iran and the Biden administration are having," Maitra said. "Their calculation is very different from ours."
Police crack down on leftist anti-Milei protests in Argentina
A confrontation between Argentine authorities and anti-government protesters angered by President Javier Milei's spending cuts escalated on Wednesday, as protesters blocking the capital's key thoroughfare were forcibly dispersed and eight of the movement’s participants arrested.
In a rare move, riot police officers deployed powerful water cannons, drenching demonstrators. Argentines demanding more food for soup kitchens hurled sticks and stones, set garbage cans alight and paralyzed the main street of Buenos Aires in defiance of new legal changes banning roadblocks.
DENGUE FEVER OUTBREAK IN ARGENTINA LEADS TO SHORTAGE OF A MUST-HAVE ITEM: MOSQUITO REPELLENT
Strikes and protests have gripped the country in recent weeks as Argentines, struggling to cope with Milei's painful austerity measures amid soaring inflation, vent their anger and despair on the streets. Bus drivers plan to strike on Thursday.
Burnishing a tough-on-crime image, Milei's right-wing government passed new measures last December empowering security forces to arrest and disperse protesters who block roads. Milei has also threatened to withdraw social assistance from those accused of disrupting traffic. Critics — including a team of United Nations human rights experts — have criticized the restrictions as civil liberties violations.
"We are finishing liberating Julio de 9," said Waldo Wolff, Buenos Aires' minister of security, referring to the traffic-clogged thoroughfare Wednesday. "We are restoring order in the center of Buenos Aires."
Wolff told local media that eight protesters had been charged with vandalism.
"LAW AND ORDER," Security Minister Patricia Bullrich wrote on social media platform X, praising police and posting televised photos of the forces clamping down.
Protesters gathered at the Ministry of Human Capital, the embattled agency overseeing Argentina's social benefits. In a radical effort to stabilize Argentina's long-troubled economy, Milei has drastically slashed government spending — laying off public workers, reducing energy and transport subsidies, canceling public works and reducing transfers to provinces.
As annual inflation tops 276% and Argentines slip deeper into poverty, they have increasingly flocked to soup kitchens run by left-wing parties or social groups to tide them over. But Milei's austerity measures have also hurt food pantries — locally known as "comedores" — halting food deliveries and cutting their funding.
"The only thing this government proposes for the people is planned misery," the workers' union leading the protest said in a statement.
Iran state media removes report about closing airspace over Tehran after warnings of possible strike on Israel
Iran state media on Wednesday removed a report that authorities were closing airspace over Tehran following warnings from American and Israeli sources that an attack on Israel was imminent.
Iran’s Mehr news agency took down the report from its official channel on X that had said Iran was closing its airspace over the capital and denied it ever published the report, according to Reuters.
The original report cited the Iranian defense minister as saying that all air traffic had been suspended over Tehran "due to military drills."
The unpublished report comes after reports that the U.S. and its allies believe either Iran or its proxies are planning to strike Israel in retaliation for its airstrike in Damascus earlier this month.
The strike killed 12 people, including Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior figure in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard who led the group's elite Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016.
Earlier Wednesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated a promise to retaliate against Israel over the attack on its consulate in Damascus. Israel has not acknowledged its involvement, though it has been bracing for an Iranian response to the attack, a significant escalation in their long-running shadow war.
Khamenei made the remarks at a prayer ceremony celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, saying the strike on its consular was akin to an attack on Iranian territory.
IRAN'S FOREIGN MINISTER ACCUSES U.S. OF GIVING ISRAEL ‘GREEN LIGHT’ TO ATTACK CONSULATE IN SYRIA
"When they attacked our consulate area, it was like they attacked our territory," Khamenei said, in remarks broadcast by Iranian state TV. "The evil regime must be punished, and it will be punished."
Neither Katz nor the Ayatollah elaborated on the way they would retaliate.
Khamenei also criticized the West, particularly the U.S. and Britain, for supporting Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
"It was expected they (would) prevent (Israel) in this disaster. They did not. They did not fulfill their duties, the Western governments," he said.
Earlier Wednesday Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that anyone who attacks Israel "will be met with a strong defense."
IRAN'S LEADER SAYS 4 THREATENING WORDS TO ISRAEL, BLASTS THE US AND WEST FOR ‘DISASTER’ IN GAZA
"We know how to respond quickly and decisively to the territory of whoever attacks our territory – no matter where that may be in the Middle East," he said. "Over the years, we have been known to prepare surprises for our enemies."
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz issued similar warnings Wednesday, saying his country's forces would strike Iran directly if the Islamic Republic launched an attack from its territory against Israel.
"If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran," Katz said in a post on X in both Farsi and Hebrew.
Gallant’s comments come days after the war between Israel and Hamas entered its seventh month. Israeli forces have been fighting Hamas after the terrorist group stormed Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 more hostages.
Per the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, Israel is responsible for the deaths of more than 33,000 Palestinians, though the ministry does not distinguish between civilians and enemy combatants. Israel has disputed these figures.
Mom of 2 ghosted by celebrity chef husband turns to internet for help, is found within hours: report
After a Massachusetts mother asked for help on Facebook finding her aloof celebrity chef British husband, who allegedly ghosted her while she was pregnant, the internet rallied — finding the man who "disappeared without a trace" within hours.
A thread on X, posted by @OKAYYYWOWWW, describes Ashley McGuire and her husband — a British chef named Charles Withers — sordid tale.
McGuire wrote in a since deleted Facebook post that Withers "disappeared without a trace" while she was pregnant with the then-couple's second child.
"This is my husband, Charles Withers. He loves to be the center of attention, but I’m not sure how much he’s going to like this," McGuire wrote to the popular Facebook group "Are We Dating the Same Guy" on Saturday. "Last year, when I was pregnant with our youngest baby, he decided being a husband and a dad wasn’t the lifestyle he wanted anymore, and he ghosted, like gone without a trace."
SOUTH CAROLINA MAN VANISHES FROM CRUISE AFTER GETTING OFF AT POPULAR PORT OF COZUMEL, MEXICO
The mom of two said that Withers had never met his second daughter, had moved out of state, and changed his name and phone number.
"He has one baby he hasn't seen in over a year, and one he's never met. He's moved somewhere out of state and changed his phone number," McGuire wrote. "Divorcing someone who's completely unreachable is really tough and drawn out, so I'm trying to track him down to get his signature on a few papers, so I can finally close this chapter and move on with my life."
McGuire said that her husband was "British and charming AF."
"He's British and charming AF," she wrote. "He's a chef and probably working in the hospitality industry somewhere. He's probably never mentioned having a wife or kids back in Massachusetts."
Withers, who was born in London, previously appeared on the Food Network's competition cooking TV show "Chopped" in 2022.
McGuire concluded her plea by asking for the Facebook group to collect intel on her missing spouse.
"If you know him, if you're working with him, if you're dating him or friends with him, can you please have him get in touch with me or let me know where I can find him?" she asked.
Fewer than 24 hours later, McGuire wrote that she received "hundreds of messages" with information about Wither's whereabouts.
"Guys… This is absolutely insane. I figured maybe someone in my area was still in touch with him but l absolutely did not expect this," McGuire wrote in an updated post to Facebook, according to @OKAYYYWOWWW. "I've gotten more than enough information to locate him. I have literally hundreds of messages to sort through, some with information and some with support, and I appreciate all of them."
McGuire praised single moms, calling them a "special breed," and asked for people to be kind to Withers.
"Single moms are a special breed, and I know a lot of you have gone through the same situation I have," McGuire said. "Please know I truly do not wish him any type of ill will. I sincerely appreciate all of your support, but please do not make threats, spread hate, or try to go out and locate him."
"Truly, I only want to see this situation resolved so me and my children can restart our lives and fix the damage done," she said.
McGuire said that she "wins" from the abandonment from her husband.
"At the end of the day, I get to come home to my babies and be their mom, so I think I win regardless," she said.
On Monday, McGuire had her first public interview on a Boston radio show, "JAM’N Morning Show."
She said that her estranged husband had reached out through an old phone number that she assumed was inactive.
She said that she took down the viral Facebook post because Withers got in touch.
"I did not intentionally make him the most hated man out there by any means," she said. "I hope he’s good. For somebody to turn their life this upside down, there’s obviously some internal struggles there, there’s a lot going on. But at the same time, to just walk away from all responsibility, just walk away like it never happened is just, you can’t do that."
McGuire did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
What to know about the latest trial involving Amanda Knox
FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Amanda Knox is again defending herself in an Italian court in a slander case that has the potential to remove the last legal stain against her, following her exoneration nine years ago in the 2007 murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher.
Despite a murder conviction against a man whose DNA and footprints were found at the scene, and a 2015 high court verdict definitively clearing Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, doubt about her role persists, particularly in Italy, and among members of Kercher's family.
AMANDA KNOX FACES A NEW SLANDER TRIAL IN ITALY THAT COULD REMOVE THE LAST LEGAL STAIN AGAINST HER
A slander case against Knox for wrongly pinning the murder on the owner of a bar where she worked is part of the reason for this.
Here is a glance at the key details in the case:
WHO IS AMANDA KNOX?
Knox was a 20-year-old student who had recently arrived in the university town of Perugia when her British roommate, Kercher, was found dead in her room in the apartment they shared with two others on Nov. 2, 2007. The murder grabbed worldwide attention as suspicion fell on Knox and Sollecito, with whom she had been involved at the time for just about a week. Knox and Sollecito were convicted in their first trial but were ultimately exonerated by Italy’s highest court in 2015.
WHAT IS THE SLANDER CASE?
Knox was accused of slandering the Congolese bar owner who employed her part-time, based on two statements typed by police that she signed during a long night of questioning just days after the murder. She recanted in a four-page handwritten note the next afternoon, but the memo showed her confusion as she attempted to reconcile the signed statements with her own conflicting recollections. The slander conviction and three-year sentence remained until the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Knox’s rights had been violated during questioning without a lawyer or qualified translator. Based on that ruling, Italy’s highest court threw out the conviction last November and ruled the two statements typed by police were inadmissible. It ordered a new trial.
HOW DID KNOX REBUILD HER LIFE?
Knox returned to the United States after an appeals court threw out her first conviction in 2011, following four years behind bars. While she hoped to resume her life as a college student, she was dogged by public scrutiny as her legal cases continued in Italy. Now 36 and the mother of two small children, Knox campaigns for criminal justice reform and against forced confessions, drawing on her experience. She has a podcast and a new limited series in development for Hulu that includes Monica Lewinsky among the executive producers. She also has recorded a series on resilience for a meditation app.
WHAT HAPPENED IN WEDNESDAY'S HEARING?
An appeals court panel of two judges and eight civilian jurors heard arguments from the prosecution and the lawyer for the wrongly accused man — the bar owner — maintaining their position that Knox committed slander. Her defense attorneys stressed her overturned murder conviction and the interrogation techniques that were strongly censured by Europe’s human rights court. The trial will continue on June 5, when a verdict is expected.
Former Colombian president slams move to make him stand trial: 'political vengeance'
Colombia's influential former President Álvaro Uribe on Wednesday denounced as "political vengeance" a move by national prosecutors to bring him to trial in a case of witness tampering that has shadowed his legacy.
Uribe insisted in a video message that there was no evidence against him, a day after prosecutors announced their intention to formally charge Uribe with bribery of witnesses in criminal proceedings and procedural fraud.
That would make Uribe the first former president to face trial in Colombia.
FORMER VENEZUELAN OIL CZAR ARRESTED IN CORRUPTION PROBE
The case against Uribe derives from allegations made a decade ago by an opposition senator that Uribe was tied to the creation of a paramilitary group. The former president was accused of bribing former paramilitaries to change their testimonies.
Uribe accused the senator of slander, but that case was dismissed, and the Supreme Court instead opened a criminal case against Uribe on allegations of manipulating witnesses.
"This trial is being carried out due to political presumptions, personal animosities, political vengeance, without evidence to infer that I was trying to bribe witnesses or deceive justice," said Uribe, who served as president from 2002 to 2010.
Uribe was under house arrest in the case for two months in 2020.
Uribe could face up to 12 years in prison on the charge of bribing witnesses and eight years in prison on the charge of procedural fraud.
Under previous administrations, Colombian prosecutors tried twice to close the case after saying they had failed to find "criminal responsibility of the defendant." Those requests were rejected by criminal judges.