World News

A song that praises North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has gone viral on TikTok. 

"Let’s sing Kim Jong Un, the great leader," the song called "Friendly Father" says, according to BBC News. "Let’s brag about Kim Jong Un, our friendly father."

"Is this a single or where can I get the whole album," one TikToker joked. Another said, "It’s so dystopian in the catchiest way."

"I don't really like Kim Jong Un but he was really cooking on this song," another said.

KIM JONG-UN PROMISES ‘DEATH BLOW’ TO POTENTIAL ENEMIES, IGNORES BIDEN'S REQUEST FOR COOPERATION

South Korean pop, or K-pop, and Western music are banned inside North Korea, and some defectors have cited illegally listening to outside music as a factor in their decision to defect. 

"When you listen to North Korean music, you have no emotions," North Korean defector Ryu Hee-Jin told The Washington Post in 2019. "But when you listen to American or South Korean music, it literally gives you the chills. The lyrics are so fresh, so relatable. When kids listen to this music, their facial expressions just change." 

NORTH KOREA'S KIM PUTS WEST ON NOTICE BY OPERATING 'WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL' TANK DURING LIVE FIRE EXERCISES

Of "Friendly Father," Peter Moody, a North Korea expert at Korea University, told BBC News, "The song has Abba written all over it.  It's upbeat, it could not be more catchy and a rich set of orchestral-sounding sequences could not be more prominent." 

Alexandra Leonzini of Cambridge University told the outlet North Korean authorities would have sought to make an "earworm" song with simple lyrics that’s easy to sing.

"All artistic output in North Korea must serve the class education of citizens and more specifically educate them as to why they should feel a sense of gratitude, a sense of loyalty to the party," she said. 

Defectors have said the government plays propaganda songs every morning throughout the country, citizens are taught choreographed dances to the songs and the lyrics are printed in newspapers.

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"By the time the song has sort of been taken into the body, it’s become part of the person," Keith Howard, a professor at the London School of African and Oriental Studies, said. "So, they know the lyrics so well, even if they're just doing the actions, even if they're just listening to it. A good ideological song does that. It needs to embed the message."

A fourth body has reportedly been discovered in a popular Mexican tourist area, where an American and two Australians vanished last week while on an apparent camping and surfing trip, the local prosecutor's office said in a statement late on Friday.

American Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, as well as Australian brothers Callum Robinson, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, were last seen on April 27, the Baja California state prosecutor's office previously announced. They did not show up at their planned accommodation last weekend.

Investigators discovered three bodies dumped in a pit while searching for the trio on Friday, although officials have not confirmed if the bodies are those of the missing men.

The fourth body was found nearby, the New York Post and other outlets reported. It's unclear if it's connected to the other three. 

2 AMERICANS FOUND DEAD IN HOTEL ROOM IN MEXICO'S BAJA CALIFORNIA

Forensic tests on the remains will be conducted by a state laboratory, which will allow for positive identification of the bodies, the prosecutor's office said in its statement.

Investigators continue to search the rugged area where the bodies were found for additional evidence, the statement added. 

The bodies were found in a rugged hillside area in the Mexican state of Baja California near the popular tourist town of Ensenada, about 90 minutes south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Video from the scene shows rescuers installing ropes to enter the pit where the bodies were discovered. The site is cordoned off by police, while a navy boat was also visible in the sea nearby.

The site where the bodies were discovered near the township of Santo Tomás, was near the remote seaside area where the missing men’s tents and the burned-out Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck were found Thursday on a remote stretch of coast.

It is unclear what types of injuries the victims suffered or how they died.

"There is a lot of important information that we can’t make public," María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the chief state prosecutor said.

Baja California prosecutors said Friday that three people had been arrested and charged with a crime equivalent to kidnapping. It was unclear if they might face more charges.

Ensenada Mayor Carlos Ibarra Aguiar said in a news release that a 23-year-old woman had been detained with drugs and a cellphone that had a wallpaper photo of one of the missing men, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Officials didn’t specify how the three people were connected to the investigation, saying only that some were directly involved and others indirectly.

LUXURY RESORT SHUTTERS IN MEXICO'S BAJA CALIFORNIA AFTER MYSTERIOUS DEATHS OF 2 AMERICANS

Investigators said that a missing persons report was filed 48 hours after the men were last seen, although the prosecutor’s office began investigating as soon as posts began circulating on social media.

María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the chief state prosecutor, said that while drug cartels are active in the area, she said, "all lines of investigation are open at this time. We cannot rule anything out until we find them."

The Baja California Attorney General’s Office has said that it has maintained contact with the FBI and relatives of the victims, through consular agencies.

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On Wednesday, the missing Australians' mother, Debra Robinson, posted on a local community Facebook page an appeal for help in finding her sons and noted that Callum is diabetic.

The Australian media reports that Jake is a doctor, while Callum lives in San Diego and is a member of Australia’s national lacrosse team.

The State Department’s travel advisory lists Baja California under its "reconsider travel" category due to crime and kidnapping.

In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California — also known as the Sea of Cortez— from the Baja peninsula. Authorities say they were victims of highway bandits. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Three bodies have been discovered in a popular Mexican tourist area where an American and two Australians suddenly vanished last week having been on an apparent camping and surfing trip, the local prosecutor's office said in a statement late on Friday.

American Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, as well as Australian brothers Callum Robinson, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, were last seen on April 27, the Baja California state prosecutor's office previously announced. They did not show up at their planned accommodation last weekend.

Investigators discovered three bodies dumped in a pit while searching for the trio on Friday, although officials have not confirmed if the bodies are those of the missing men.

2 AMERICANS FOUND DEAD IN HOTEL ROOM IN MEXICO'S BAJA CALIFORNIA

Forensic tests on the remains will be conducted by a state laboratory, which will allow for positive identification of the bodies, the prosecutor's office said in its statement.

Investigators continue to search the rugged area where the bodies were found for additional evidence, the statement added. 

The bodies were found in a rugged hillside area in Baja California near the popular tourist town of Ensenada, about 90 minutes south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Video from the scene shows rescuers installing ropes to enter the pit where the bodies were discovered. The site is seen cordoned off by police while a navy boat was also visible in the sea nearby.

The site where the bodies were discovered near the township of Santo Tomás was near the remote seaside area where the missing men’s tents and the burned-out Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck were found Thursday on a remote stretch of coast.

It is unclear what types of injuries the victims suffered or how they died.

"There is a lot of important information that we can’t make public," María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the chief state prosecutor said.

Baja California prosecutors said Friday that three people had been arrested and charged with a crime equivalent to kidnapping. It was unclear if they might face more charges.

Ensenada Mayor Carlos Ibarra Aguiar said in a news release that a 23-year-old woman had been detained with drugs and a cellphone that had a wallpaper photo of one of the missing men, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Officials didn’t specify how the three people were connected to the investigation, saying only that some were directly involved and others indirectly.

LUXURY RESORT SHUTTERS IN MEXICO'S BAJA CALIFORNIA AFTER MYSTERIOUS DEATHS OF 2 AMERICANS

Investigators said that a missing persons report was filed 48 hours after the men were last seen, although the prosecutor’s office began investigating as soon as posts began circulating on social media.

María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the chief state prosecutor, said that while drug cartels are active in the area, she said, "all lines of investigation are open at this time. We cannot rule anything out until we find them."

The Baja California Attorney General’s Office has said that it has maintained contact with the FBI and relatives of the victims, through consular agencies.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

On Wednesday, the missing Australians' mother, Debra Robinson, posted on a local community Facebook page an appeal for help in finding her sons and noted that Callum is diabetic.

The Australian media reports that Jake is a doctor, while Callum lives in San Diego and is a member of Australia’s national lacrosse team.

The State Department’s travel advisory lists Baja California under its "reconsider travel" category due to crime and kidnapping.

In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California — also known as the Sea of Cortez— from the Baja peninsula. Authorities say they were victims of highway bandits. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

KAOHSIUNG — Virtually every day, the People’s Republic of China does something unprecedented — its coast guard briefly boarding a Taiwanese tourist boat, flying military aircraft ever closer to Taiwan or increasing harassment of Taiwanese fishing boats in the South China Sea. 

"This is a problem," says Dean Karalekas, author of "Civil-Military Relations in Taiwan: Identity and Transformation." "Because these unprecedented actions are creating a new normal. Beijing hopes that we (the West) will sit by and watch as they take over Taiwan, just as we did when they used these same salami-slicing tactics to take over the South China Sea." 

The world began noticing more of China’s hostile actions following the visit to Taiwan by former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2023, but the strategy has been in place for some time. 

"China’s plan to ‘normalize’ military encroachments was planned long before Pelosi’s visit," Taipei Times columnist and political commentator C. Donovan Smith told Fox News Digital. "The military exercises were far too complex and logistically complicated to have been planned in the short span of time between the announcement of her trip and her arrival in Taiwan." 

TAIWAN ELECTION: RULING PARTY CANDIDATE WINS TIGHTLY CONTESTED PRESIDENTIAL RACE, UPSETTING CHINA'S AMBITIONS

Surrounding Taiwan in a mock "quarantine" and performing missile "tests" in 2023 was also intended to push Taiwanese voters toward politicians and parties more friendly to China. But, as has been the case in the last three elections here, Beijing’s ploys were ineffectual. Taiwan in January elected the incumbent vice president, William Lai, to take over from two-term President Tsai Ing-wen. Both Tsai and Lai are members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).   

The incoming Taiwan president has repeatedly pledged to make no changes to policies in place over the last eight years. Beijing, however, sees William Lai (Lai Ching-te) as a "splittist" and a supporter of Taiwan independence. Lai previously did voice support for independence but has tried to walk that back. China, however, does not forgive nor forget. Many political experts believe Beijing will ratchet up pressure as Lai enters office later this month. 

A recent example of China’s attempts to establish this "new normal" is changes to airspace rules. China is close to finishing a massive new airport serving Xiamen in Fujian Province. Just 6.2 miles away, however, sits the island of Kinmen, which has remained a part of the Republic of China (ROC), better known as Taiwan, since 1949.

Kinmen Airport is strategically important for Taiwan. In 2015, the two sides worked out a deal to change a flight path that was a bit too close for Taiwan’s comfort. But in February, Beijing unilaterally backed out of the deal, announcing that, from May 16, new air routes would begin operating to "further optimize airspace" around the area. 

FOR CHINA'S MILITARY PLANNERS, TAIWAN IS NOT AN EASY ISLAND TO INVADE

Few China watchers think China picked the day arbitrarily, says Karalekas. 

"Beijing has a pattern of testing new leaders of enemy states. They tested Bush with the EP-3E spy plane incident. They tested (then-Japanese prime minister) Naoto Kan with the Senkaku boat collision. We can expect them to test Lai by creating some sort of mini-crisis around the time he takes office on May 20." 

"I think China is really ramping up threats," Eric Hsu told Fox News Digital. Hsu lives in southern Taiwan’s biggest city, Kaohsiung, has worked on historical restoration projects and hosts a podcast on Taiwan history.

He says he isn’t only worried about military hardware, but also what he termed, "brainwashing videos and moves by KOLs," (Key Opinion Leaders, a term used to describe internet influencers).

Hsu places much of the blame at the feet of local opposition parties seen by many as more friendly to Beijing. Describing the current domestic political situation, he said Taiwan faces "not just an enemy at the gate, but also enemies within." South Taiwan is a DPP stronghold, but not everyone in the south agrees that the opposition parties are the problem. 

Another resident of Kaohsiung, a self-employed businessperson and mother, Ms. Lin, thinks the DPP hasn’t been sincere in reaching out to China. 

"They’ve had eight years, and now they will get at least another four," Lin told Fox News Digital. "What Taiwan needs are brave leaders, people willing to try new solutions, and I don’t see any such people in the current DPP leadership."   

TAIWAN PRESIDENT-ELECT CHOOSES NEW FOREIGN, DEFENSE MINISTERS AS CHINA ANNEXATION THREATS INTENSIFY 

The main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), denies it is "China-friendly" and instead says it is "peace-friendly." Chinese dictator Xi Jinping has met with the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou twice, first in Singapore in 2015 when Ma was in office as ROC (Taiwan) president. It was the first time since the end of WWII top leaders from China and Taiwan sat in the same room. Each side in 2015 chose to ignore official titles and address each other as "Mr. Xi" and "Mr. Ma." On April 10,, "Mr. Xi" and former Taiwan president "Mr. Ma" met again, this time in Beijing. 

Some experts see such meetings between the KMT and China favorably, arguing that any dialogue is good and – if nothing else – provides a way for China to save face as it continues its policy of mandatory "reunification," which China now says may need to be achieved by force. Others in Taiwan and abroad see Ma’s meetings as straying far too close to an acceptance of the idea that Taiwan is a part of China. 

As it stands, the ruling DPP says it’s content with the status quo, including keeping Taiwan’s official name, the Republic of China. The KMT is generally more in favor of talks with Beijing under a mutual respect "consensus" idea that boils down to agreeing that both sides are "China," but each side is free to interpret what this "one China" means.  

The problem with the KMT’s thinking, central Taiwan-based newspaper columnist and political commentator Michael Turton told Fox News Digital, is that "Xi’s goal is the complete subjugation of Taiwan, just like Hong Kong. Two of China’s ambassadors abroad have already indicated that Taiwanese opposed to Beijing rule will be shipped off to concentration camps. Given this goal, how can there ever be dialogue with mutual respect?"

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday welcomed Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on his first visit to the country, with the two meeting in the capital of Brasilia and the South American leader pushing his counterpart to buy his country's beef.

Brazil had wished to seize on the bilateral meeting to push forward an agreement to open Japanese markets to Brazilian beef, a goal the Latin American country has pursued since 2005. In an appeal to the prime minister, Lula insisted he should eat at a steakhouse during his trip.

BRAZIL REASSURES FOREIGN COUNTRIES AFTER MEAT SCANDAL

"I don’t know what you had for dinner last night," Lula said during the press conference, looking at Kishida and the Japanese delegation, then turning his attention to Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, who is also Minister of Industry, Commerce, Development and Trade. "Please, take Prime Minister Fumio to eat steak at the best restaurant in Sao Paulo so that, the following week, he starts importing our beef."

Under Lula, Brazil has boosted efforts to export beef to international markets. Since the beginning of 2023 when Lula took office, 50 countries have lifted restrictions, mostly in Asia. According to Brazilian officials, about 70% of the beef consumed in Japan is imported, while 80% of the imports come from the U.S. and Australia.

"Our meat is cheaper and of better quality than the meat you buy. I don’t even know the price, but I’m sure ours is cheaper, and of extreme quality," Lula added.

Brazil exported more than 2 million pounds of beef in 2023, barely breaking the record set the prior year, according to official trade data. The nation is the world's largest beef exporter, shipping to over 90 countries. The sanitary conditions of the cattle industry are now "much better than in 2005, particularly regarding recognition of areas free from foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination," Eduardo Paes Saboia, the secretary for Asia and Pacific at Brazil’s foreign affairs ministry, told reporters in Brasilia.

The cattle industry is also a major driver of the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and the Cerrado, a vast tropical savanna region. Japan and Brazil agreed to Japanese support for restoration initiatives of the Cerrado’s degraded areas. Additional cooperation agreements pertained to cooperation in cybersecurity and investment promotion, among other areas.

"There is great potential in bilateral cooperation to address global challenges," Kishida said at a press conference after their bilateral meeting.

He added that he expected to enhance Japanese and Brazilian cooperation in environmental protection measures, climate change and sustainable development, mentioning his country's recent $3 million contribution to the Brazilian government’s fund to protect the Amazon rainforest. He also noted that 150 Japanese executives had joined him on the trip.

Kishida's first words to Lula, according to the Brazilian president, were to express solidarity with the victims of the floods in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul that have killed 37 people as of Friday morning, with dozens more still missing.

Brazil is home to the world’s largest Japanese community outside Japan, with over 2.7 million Japanese citizens and their descendants. The first ships from the Asian country arrived to Brazil in 1908, and immigration peaked between World War I and II.

Prime Minister Kishida will travel to Asuncion, Paraguay in the afternoon to attend a business summit, meet the Japanese community and have dinner with President Santiago Peña. On Saturday morning, he is expected to fly back to Brazil to meet the Japanese community in Sao Paulo, deliver a speech at the University of Sao Paulo and attend a business meeting.

At least 13 people died in northern Haiti following two days of heavy rains, officials said.

The majority of the deaths were caused by a landslide in the southeastern region of the coastal city of Cap-Haitien, according to a Thursday statement by Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency.

GANGS IN HAITI LAUNCH FRESH ATTACKS, DAYS AFTER A NEW PRIME MINISTER IS ANNOUNCED

More than 2,200 homes also were flooded, and there were significant losses in livestock swept away by the Haut-Cap river, authorities said.

Crews were clearing roads across northern Haiti, with additional rain expected in upcoming days.

Heavy rains also were reported in neighboring Puerto Rico, forcing at least a dozen flights scheduled to land in the capital of San Juan to reroute to the Dominican Republic and elsewhere, officials said Friday.

Widespread flooding also was reported in the U.S. territory.

A military court in eastern Congo on Friday sentenced eight soldiers to death for cowardice and other crimes linked to fleeing the battlefield, as the government struggles to contain violence and attacks in the mineral-rich area where many armed groups operate.

In March, Congo lifted a more than 20-year moratorium on the death penalty, stating that those guilty of treason and espionage were able to get away without proper punishment. Human rights organizations criticized the decision.

BOMBING AT REFUGEE CAMP KILLS 5 PEOPLE, INCLUDING CHILDREN, IN EASTERN CONGO

Alexis Olenga, a lawyer for Paluku Olenga, one of the soldiers sentenced to death, said his client had not fled the battlefield because he was arrested in the area of his assignment.

"This is a monstrous decision, I believe we must immediately challenge it before the high military court," he told The Associated Press.

The military court in Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, acquitted three other soldiers of all charges and released them.

Moïse Hangi, a civil society activist, told the AP that "instead of repairing our security apparatus, these kinds of decisions will increasingly weaken our army and make those on the lines of defense more fearful."

The decades-long conflict in eastern Congo has produced one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with over 100 armed groups fighting in the region, most for land and control of mines with valuable minerals. Some are fighting to try to protect their communities.

Many groups are accused of carrying out mass killings, rapes and other human rights violations. The violence has displaced about 7 million people, many beyond the reach of aid.

Just like the Olympic athletes, the cyberwarriors that will be crucial for the success of the Paris Games are deep into training for the big event.

They have turned to friendly hackers to probe their cyberdefenses, like boxers who use sparring partners to ready them for a championship fight. They have studied and analyzed the strengths, tactics and weaknesses of their opponents. Those could be anyone from teenage showoffs and ransomware gangs to Russian military hackers with a track record of malicious cyberattacks.

PARIS IMPLEMENTS MASSIVE WATER STORAGE BASIN TO CLEAN UP THE RIVER SEINE FOR OLYMPIC SWIMMING

But unlike the 10,500 Olympians who will converge on France’s capital in July, the cybersecurity engineers behind the Games are hoping to stay out of the spotlight. For them, the equivalent of a medal will be getting through the Olympics – and Paralympics – without a major incident. It would mean that their layers of digital defenses stand up to attempts to paralyze computer and information systems vital for the Games.

"My dream for the Olympics is that technology and cybersecurity aren't talked about, because that will mean it was a non-issue," said Jérémy Couture, who heads the Paris Games organizers' cybersecurity hub. Its job of spotting, analyzing and responding to cyberthreats is so sensitive and critical to the Games’ success that event organizers keep its location secret.

While those in charge of fending off cyberattacks during the Games aren’t willing to divulge much detail about their work, they have no doubt malicious hackers are going to keep them busy this summer. Those could range from cybercriminals to thrill-seeking teenage troublemakers to Russian military intelligence operatives with a track record of damaging cyberattacks.

Targets are not limited to the Games themselves but also infrastructure essential for them, such as transport networks or supply chains.

Attackers could include "hacktivists" seeking to make a political statement and cyberextortionists bent on lucre. And often these days, it can be difficult to distinguish a hacktivist from a state-sponsored cyber operator posing as one.

Among the most threatening cyberadversaries are countries who might want to embarrass and exact costs on France and the International Olympic Committee with proven offensive hacking chops. Russia tops the list of suspects.

Because of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, Olympic organizers have barred it from competing in team events at the Paris Games and will only allow some individual Russians to compete as neutrals. Russia also has beef with France for supplying Ukraine with weapons and military training and because it has become one of Moscow’s fiercest critics in Europe.

Vincent Strubel, who heads France’s national cybersecurity agency, known by its French initials, ANSSI, called the cyberthreats level facing the Games unprecedented.

"There will be cyberattacks during the Games and the Paralympics," Strubel said at a briefing Friday. "Some won’t be serious. Some will be serious but won’t have an impact on the Games. And perhaps there will be some that are serious and liable to have an impact on the Games."

He said the agency has trained "enormously" and more than ever before, so things will go well. "I think we have managed to stay a step ahead of the attackers."

While Strubel named Russia as among the actors who attack France "a bit recurrently," he said it makes no sense to focus on one actor in particular. "We are preparing for everything."

An especially aggressive unit of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency dubbed Sandworm is blamed by Western nations for using malware dubbed "Olympic Destroyer" to disrupt the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. It’s the same unit accused of so-called wiper attacks on Ukraine’s power grid and the 2017 NotPetya virus that caused over $10 billion in damage worldwide.

Paris’ cybersecurity teams have sought to learn from those experiences, consulting technicians who also worked in Pyeongchang.

Sweden-based cybersecurity firm Outpost24 gave a broad thumbs-up to Paris’ preparations in a report this week, but said its research still found gaps in the Games’ online infrastructure. The rating it gave was "not quite a gold medal, but certainly a silver."

"Just as pickpockets and ticket touts target groups of tourists, cybercriminals will be conscious of increased online traffic towards the Paris 2024 games and will hope to capitalize," the report said.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian police said Friday that have made three arrests in the slaying of a Sikh separatist leader last June in suburban Vancouver that become the center of a diplomatic spat with India.

INDIA PROTESTS AGAINST SEPARATIST SLOGANS AT CANADIAN EVENT FOLLOWING KILLING OF SIKH LEADER A YEAR AGO

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner David Teboul said three suspects have been arrested and charged in the slaying of 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar by masked gunmen in Surrey outside Vancouver.

But he said police could not comment on nature of the evidence or the motive. "This matter is very much under active investigation," Teboul said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparked a diplomatic feud with India when he said in September that there were "credible allegations" of Indian involvement in the slaying of Nijjar.

India angrily denied involvement.

The U.S. Department of Justice has told Iowa's top officials it plans to sue the state over a new law making it a crime for a person to be in Iowa if they've previously been denied admission to the U.S.

The statute interferes with the federal government's authority to enforce immigration law, according to the DOJ, which already sued Texas to block a similar measure.

GOP GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL ALLOWING LOCAL AUTHORITIES TO ARREST CERTAIN MIGRANTS, 'ENFORCE IMMIGRATION LAWS'

The DOJ informed Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and state Attorney General Brenna Bird that it intends to sue unless the state agrees by May 7 not to enforce the law, according to a letter sent Thursday and first reported on by the Des Moines Register.

Bird indicated Friday that the state is unlikely to agree to the federal terms.

"Iowa will not back down and stand by as our state’s safety hangs in the balance," she said in a statement.

The similar Texas law is on hold due to the Justice Department's court challenge. Legal experts and some law enforcement officials have said the Iowa law poses the same questions raised in the Texas case because enforcing immigration law has historically fallen to federal authorities.

The Iowa law violates the U.S. Constitution because it "effectively creates a separate state immigration scheme," the Justice Department said in its letter.

The law, which goes into effect on July 1, would allow criminal charges to be brought against people who have outstanding deportation orders or who previously have been removed from or denied admission to the U.S. Once in custody, migrants could either agree to a judge’s order to leave the U.S. or be prosecuted.

The law has elevated anxiety in Iowa’s immigrant communities, leading to protests in Des Moines and other cities Wednesday.

Republicans across the country have accused President Joe Biden of neglecting his duty to enforce federal immigration law.

"The only reason we had to pass this law is because the Biden Administration refuses to enforce the laws already on the books," Reynolds said in a statement Friday.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The families of four Americans charged in Turks and Caicos for carrying ammunition insisted on Thursday that their loved ones were "unjustly detained" on the island awaiting legal proceedings.

Last week, the government of the Turks and Caicos confirmed that they had charged four American men for collectively carrying 33 rounds of ammunition. It identified the four men as Michael Lee Evans, Bryan Hagerich, Tyler Scott Wenrich and Ryan Tyler Watson.

AMERICANS ARRESTED IN TURKS AND CAICOS FACE 12 YEARS IN PRISON OVER 'INNOCENT MISTAKE': 'NEVER DAWNED ON US'

In a statement published on social media last week, the government said their islands "have clear laws against the possession of firearms and/or ammunition and strict penalties in order to serve and protect the community."

As of last week, Hagerich and Evans had both pled guilty to charges.

It is illegal to transport firearms or ammunition to or from any of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries – including Turks and Caicos – without a license, according to the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which warns travelers repeatedly on its site.

Following a big jump in gun violence and weapons trafficking in Turks and Caicos, the government significantly tightened their gun laws in 2022. Violating the law could result in a minimum 12 year prison sentence, though the government said that can be lowered in "exceptional circumstances."

According to a post by relatives on the fundraising site GoFundMe, the four men were on vacation on the islands celebrating a friend's birthday and when they tried to return home security found "ammunition unknowingly left in a duffel bag from a deer hunting trip" which went unnoticed by authorities when leaving the United States.

Turks and Caicos said in its statement that it is "the travelers' responsibility to ensure their baggage is free of" weapons and ammunition, which is "strictly forbidden" without prior permission. ATF also warns it is the "responsibility of the traveler to research local laws."

The families called for help in paying for mounting legal fees and living expenses, and as of Friday had raised more than $220,000. Authorities and the post say the men have been released on bail, but the families allege that Hagerich "has been unjustly detained in Turks for 81 days now" others have spent weeks stuck on the island awaiting legal proceedings separated from their children and families.

"They are facing a legal system that is unfamiliar, daunting, and expensive that operates differently than the American Justice System," read the post.

On Thursday, Jessica Byrd, organizer of the funding campaign and Watson's older sister, said Hagerich, who pled guilty to possession of twenty rounds of rifle ammunition, was set to go on trial on Friday. She added he was was likely to be sentenced that same day or next week.

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia has been engulfed by huge protests triggered by a proposed law that critics see as a threat to media freedom and the country’s aspirations to join the European Union.

Here is a look at the bill and the protests it has ignited:

FORMER SOVIET REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA SEES RULING PARTY CAVE TO MASSIVE STREET PROTESTS AS IT SEEKS CLOSER EU TIES

WHAT IS THE NEW BILL?

The bill would require media and nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofits to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if they receive more than 20% of funding from abroad.

The legislature approved a second reading of the bill Wednesday, and the third and final reading is expected later this month.

The proposed legislation is nearly identical to the one that the governing Georgian Dream party was pressured to withdraw last year after street protests.

WHAT DO THE BILL'S SUPPORTERS AND OPPONENTS SAY?

The governing party says the bill is necessary to stem what it deems as harmful foreign influence over the country’s political scene and to prevent unidentified foreign actors from trying to destabilize the country’s political scene.

The opposition denounces the bill as "the Russian law" because Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatize independent news media and organizations critical of the Kremlin. Opponents of the bill say the fact that it is now before parliament is a sign of Moscow’s purported influence over Georgia. They fear it will become an impediment to the country’s long-sought prospects of joining the European Union.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who is increasingly at odds with the governing party, has vowed to veto the law, but Georgian Dream has a majority sufficient to override a presidential veto.

WHAT IS THE STATE OF RUSSIA-GEORGIA TIES?

Russia-Georgia relations have been strained and turbulent since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

In August 2008, Russia fought a brief war with Georgia, which had made a botched attempt to regain control over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Moscow then recognized South Ossetia and another separatist province, Abkhazia, as independent states and beefed up its military presence there. Most of the world considers both breakaway regions to be parts of Georgia, a former Soviet republic.

Tbilisi has ruptured diplomatic ties with Moscow, and the separatist regions’ status remains a key irritant, even as Russia-Georgia relations have improved in recent years.

The opposition United National Movement accuses Georgian Dream, which was founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, of serving Moscow’s interests — an accusation the governing party vehemently denies.

HOW DID THE PROTESTS GO?

For several successive days, thousands of demonstrators besieged the parliament building in a bid to block the bill’s passage and scuffled with police.

Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds. Over 60 protesters have been arrested and several people have been injured. Levan Khabeishvili, chairman of the United National Movement, was among those injured.

On Thursday, parliament canceled its scheduled session, saying the move was because of damage to the building during Wednesday’s protests.

WHAT IS THE EU'S POSITION?

"This law is not in line with EU core norms and values," Borrell said in a statement last month. "The proposed legislation would limit the capacity of civil society and media organizations to operate freely, could limit freedom of expression and unfairly stigmatize organizations that deliver benefits to the citizens of Georgia."

Hundreds of people laid flowers and lit candles on Friday to commemorate the victims of Serbia's first-ever school shooting a year ago that left nine children and a school guard dead and six people wounded.

A somber, silent queue formed on a rainy day outside the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School in central Belgrade where a 13-year-old boy is accused of opening fire at his schoolmates with his father's guns last year.

SCHOOL SHOOTING IN SERBIA KILLS AT LEAST 9 AFTER YOUNG BOY TAKES FATHER’S GUN

The shooting stunned Serbia. The Balkan nation was no stranger to violent crime, but mass shootings are rare, and none had taken place at a school before.

Just a day later, a shooting rampage outside the capital further shocked the country. A 20-year-old man was accused of killing nine and wounding 12 others, mostly young people.

Friday's vigil formally started at 8:41 a.m., the time of the school shooting last year. Serbian television stations interrupted their broadcasts, showing the text "We remember" on a black screen.

The all-day event near the school also included art installations, a panel discussion and short films about the victims. The street where the school is located is closed to traffic.

The event was titled "Awakening," a call for introspection in a nation that is yet to come to terms with its role in multiple wars in the 1990s and the culture of violence that has prevailed ever since.

Ninela Radicevic, a mother of a victim, told The Associated Press ahead of the anniversary that society and the government had "rushed to forget" the tragedy. Radicevic, who lost her 11-year-old daughter Ana Bozovic in the shooting, said she hoped Serbia can prevent such a horrific crime from happening again.

"We have missed many chances to react better... (but) I think it is never too late to pause ... and to try not to make the same mistakes in the future," said psychology professor Aleksandar Baucal, who is part of a team behind the commemoration.

The slain children’s parents have fought to have the school closed and turned into a memorial center. They've organized protests, remembrance events and testified about their ordeal to promote awareness among the public.

Serbia’s populist government launched a gun crackdown after the shooting, collecting about 80,000 weapons and rounds of ammunition. State-backed support teams offered counseling and police officers were deployed outside schools for security.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Instagram after paying respects Friday that the "unthinkable tragedy has left a permanent scar on the soul of our entire nation."

Suspects in both of the shootings were apprehended. The alleged school shooter's parents went on trial in January, charged with teaching their underage son to shoot and with not securing the weapons at the family home. The trial is continuing. The boy has been held in an institution since the attack.

The trial of the other suspect and his father is to start later this month in the central town of Smederevo.

Shock and anger because of the shootings triggered months of street protests demanding the resignations of top officials and a ban on media that spew hate speech and intolerance.

The son of Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah Burhan, has died in hospital on Friday two months after he was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in the Turkish capital, Ankara, Turkey's state-run news agency reported.

Mohammed Fattah Burhan Rahman was being treated at an Ankara hospital since the March 6 accident in which his motorbike crashed into a vehicle in the outskirts of the city, Anadolu Agency said.

SUDAN’S ARMY CHIEF TRAVELS TO QATAR FOR TALKS AS CONFLICT CONTINUES TO RAGE IN THE AFRICAN COUNTRY

The private DHA news agency said he was thrown several meters (yards) from his motorbike due to the impact of the collision and was being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Burhan, Sudan’s de-facto leader, and other family members were informed about the death, DHA reported.

There was no immediate statement from the Turkish authorities. Sudanese embassy officials could not be reached for comment.

Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military, led by Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo broke out into street battles in the capital, Khartoum. Fighting has spread to other parts of the country, especially urban areas and the western Darfur region.

Earlier this year, the son of Somalia’s president was convicted of "causing death by negligence" by a Turkish court after a diplomatic car he was driving hit a motorcycle courier on a highway in Istanbul. The court sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison but later commuted the sentence to a fine.

Colombia has become the latest Latin American country to announce that it will break diplomatic relations with Israel over its military campaign in Gaza, but the repercussions for the South American nation could be broader than for other countries because of longstanding bilateral agreements over security matters.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday described Israel’s actions in Gaza as "genocide," and announced his government would end diplomatic relations with Israel effective Thursday. But he didn't address how his decision could affect Colombia’s military, which uses Israeli-built warplanes and machine guns to fight drug cartels and rebel groups, and a free trade agreement between both countries that went into effect in 2020.

Also in the region, Bolivia and Belize have severed diplomatic relations with Israel over the Israel-Hamas war.

COLOMBIA'S PRESIDENT SAYS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PIECES OF AMMUNITION HAVE GONE MISSING FROM MILITARY BASES

Here’s a look at Colombia's close Israel ties and fallout:

Colombia and Israel have signed dozens of agreements on wide-ranging issues, including education and trade, since they established diplomatic relations in 1957. But nothing links them closer than military contracts.

Colombia’s fighter jets are all Israeli-built. The more than 20 Kfir Israeli-made fighter jets were used by its air force in numerous attacks on remote guerrilla camps that debilitated the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The attacks helped push the rebel group into peace talks that resulted in its disarmament in 2016.

But the fleet, purchased in the late 1980s, is aging and requires maintenance, which can only be carried out by an Israeli firm. Manufacturers in France, Sweden and the United States have approached Colombia’s government with replacement options, but the spending priorities of Petro’s administration are elsewhere.

Colombia’s military also uses Galil rifles, which were designed in Israel and for which Colombia acquired the rights to manufacture and sell. Israel also assists the South American country with its cybersecurity needs.

It remains unclear.

Colombia's Foreign Ministry said Thursday in a statement that "all communications related to this announcement will be made through established official channels and will not be public." The ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press, while the Israeli Embassy in Bogota declined to address the issue.

However, a day before Petro announced his decision, Colombian Defense Minister Iván Velásquez told lawmakers that no new contracts will be signed with Israel, though existing ones will be fulfilled, including those for maintenance for the Kfir fighters and one for missile systems.

Velásquez said the government has established a "transition" committee that would seek to "diversify" suppliers to avoid depending on Israel. He added that one of the possibilities under consideration is the development of a rifle by the Colombian military industry to replace the Galil.

Security cooperation has been at the center of tensions between the two countries. Israel said in October that it would halt security exports to Colombia after Petro refused to condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war and compared Israel’s actions in Gaza to those of Nazi Germany. In February, Petro announced the suspension of arms purchases from Israel.

For retired Gen. Guillermo León, former commander of the Colombian air force, the country's military capabilities will be affected if Petro's administration breaks its contract obligations or even if it complies with them but refuses to sign new ones.

"At the end of the year, maintenance and spare parts run out, and from then on, the fleet would rapidly enter a condition where we would no longer have the means to sustain it," he told the AP. "This year, three aircraft were withdrawn from service due to compliance with their useful life cycle."

A free trade agreement between Colombia and Israel went into effect in August 2020. Israel now buys 1% of Colombia’s total exports, which include coal, coffee and flowers.

According to Colombia’s Ministry of Commerce, exports to Israel last year totaled $499 million, which represents a drop of 53% from 2022.

Colombia’s imports from Israel include electrical equipment, plastics and fertilizers.

Neither government has explained whether the diplomatic feud will affect the trade agreement.

For the first time, China has publicized what it claims is an unwritten 2016 agreement with the Philippines over access to South China Sea islands.

The move threatens to further raise tensions in the disputed waterway, through which much of the world's trade passes and which China claims virtually in its entirety.

A statement from the Chinese Embassy in Manila said the "temporary special arrangement" agreed to during a visit to Beijing by former president Rodrigo Duterte allowed small-scale fishing around the islands but restricted access by military, coast guard and other official planes and ships to the 12 nautical mile limit of territorial waters.

US, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN AND PHILIPPINES VOW TO DEEPEN DEFENSE COOPERATION AMID SOUTH CHINA SEA TENSIONS

The Philippines respected the agreement over the past seven years but has since reneged on it to "fulfill its own political agenda," forcing China to take action, the statement said.

"This is the basic reason for the ceaseless disputes at sea between China and the Philippines over the past year and more," said the statement posted to the embassy's website Thursday, referring to the actions of the Philippines.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Duterte have denied forging any agreements that would have supposedly surrendered Philippine sovereignty or sovereign rights to China. Any such action, if proven, would be an impeachable offense under the country’s 1987 Constitution.

However, after his visit to Beijing, Duterte hinted at such an agreement without offering details, said Collin Koh, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies based in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and an expert on naval affairs in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly Southeast Asia.

"He boasted then that he not only got Chinese investment and trade pledges, but also that he secured Philippine fishermen access to Scarborough Shoal," Koh said, referring to one of the maritime features in dispute.

Beijing's deliberate wording in the statement "is noteworthy in showing that Beijing has no official document to prove its case and thus could only rely mainly on Duterte’s verbal claim," Koh said.

Marcos, who took office in June 2022, told reporters last month that China has insisted that there was such a secret agreement but said he was not aware of any.

"The Chinese are insisting that there is a secret agreement and, perhaps, there is, and, I said I didn’t, I don’t know anything about the secret agreement," said Marcos, who has drawn the Philippines closer to its treaty partner the U.S. "Should there be such a secret agreement, I am now rescinding it."

Duterte, who nurtured cozy relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his six-year presidency while openly being hostile to the United States for its strong criticism of his deadly campaign against illegal drugs.

While he took an almost virulently anti-American stance during his 2016 visit to Washington's chief rival, he has said he also did not enter into any agreement with Beijing that would have compromised Philippine territory. He acknowledged, however, that he and Xi agreed to maintain "the status quo" in the disputed waters to avoid war.

"Aside from the fact of having a handshake with President Xi Jinping, the only thing I remember was that status quo, that’s the word. There would be no contact, no movement, no armed patrols there, as is where is, so there won’t be any confrontation," Duterte said.

Asked if he agreed that the Philippines would not bring construction materials to strengthen a Philippine military ship outpost at the Second Thomas Shoal, Duterte said that was part of maintaining the status quo but added there was no written agreement.

"That’s what I remember. If it were a gentleman’s agreement, it would always have been an agreement to keep the peace in the South China Sea," Duterte said.

House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Marcos’s cousin and political ally, has ordered an investigation into what some are calling a "gentleman’s agreement."

China has also claimed that Philippine officials have promised to tow away the navy ship that was deliberately grounded in the shallows of the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to serve as Manila’s territorial outpost. Philippine officials under Marcos say they were not aware of any such agreement and would not remove the now dilapidated and rust-encrusted warship manned by a small contingent of Filipino sailors and marines.

China has long accused Manila of "violating its commitments" and "acting illegally" in the South China Sea, without being explicit.

Apart from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the sea that is rich in fishing stocks, gas and oil. Beijing has refused to recognize a 2016 international arbitration ruling by a U.N.-affiliated court in the Hauge that invalidated its expansive claims on historical grounds.

Skirmishes between Beijing and Manila have flared since last year, with massive Chinese coast guard cutters firing high-pressure water cannons at Philippine patrol vessels, most recently off Scarborough Shoal late last month, damaging both. They have also accused each other of dangerous maneuvering, leading to minor scrapes.

The U.S. lays no claims to the South China Sea, but has deployed Navy ships and fighter jets in what it calls freedom of navigation operations that have challenged China’s claims.

The U.S. has warned repeatedly that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines — its oldest treaty ally in Asia — if Filipino forces, ships or aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

Heavy rains battering Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul have killed 31 people, local authorities said on Friday, and the death toll is expected to rise as dozens still have not been accounted for.

More than 70 people were still missing and at least 17,000 were displaced in the state bordering Uruguay and Argentina, which had nearly half of its 497 cities affected, according to Rio Grande do Sul's civil defense.

In several towns, streets essentially turned into rivers, with roads and bridges destroyed. The storm also triggered landslides and the partial collapse of a dam structure at a small hydroelectric power plant.

DEATH TOLL FROM HEAVY RAINS, FLOODING RISES TO 13 IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL

A second dam in the city of Bento Goncalves is also at risk of collapsing, authorities said, ordering people who live nearby to evacuate.

"It's not just another critical situation; it's probably the most critical case the state has ever recorded," Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite said in a live broadcast on social media on Thursday.

He added that the death toll will likely climb further as authorities have not been able to access certain locations.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva traveled to the state on Thursday to visit affected locations and discuss rescue efforts with the governor.

Berlin’s government is offering to give away a villa once owned by Adolf Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, hoping to end a decades-long debate on whether to repurpose or bulldoze a sprawling disused site in the countryside north of the German capital.

"I offer to anyone who would like to take over the site, to take it over as a gift from the state of Berlin," Berlin’s finance minister, Stefan Evers, told the state parliament on Thursday, dpa reported.

Berlin has repeatedly tried to hand off the site to federal authorities or the state of Brandenburg, where the villa lies, rather than continue to pay for maintenance and security at the complex, which has become overgrown and fallen into disrepair.

BIDEN COMPARES TRUMP TO NAZI PROPAGANDIST JOSEPH GOEBBELS

Evers renewed that offer on Thursday, calling for proposals that reflected the site’s history. He didn’t say if proposals from private individuals would also be considered.

"If we fail again, as in the past decades, then Berlin has no other option but to carry out the demolition that we have already prepared for," Evers said.

Goebbels, one of Hitler’s closest allies, had the luxury villa built in 1939 on a wooded site overlooking the Bogensee lake near the town of Wandlitz, about 25 miles north of Berlin.

A retreat from Berlin, where he lived with his wife and six children, Goebbels used the villa and an earlier house on the site to entertain Nazi leaders, artists and actors — and reputedly as a love-nest for secret affairs.

After the war, the 42-acre site was used briefly as a hospital, then taken over by the youth wing of the East German communist party, which constructed a training center, including several large accommodation blocks.

After German reunification in 1990, ownership of the site returned to the state of Berlin. However, the city found no use for it. The site has since become an attraction for day-trippers who can pick their way through the overgrown grounds and peer through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the villa.

Goebbels moved back to Berlin in the final phase of the Second World War. He and his wife killed themselves and their children with cyanide capsules in Hitler’s bunker as Soviet troops closed in.

The family’s opulent home on an island in Berlin was sold at auction in 2011.

A High Court judge ruled Friday that the U.K. government acted unlawfully when it approved a plan to meet climate targets without evidence that it could be delivered.

It was the second time in two years that the government's main climate action plan was found to be unlawful and insufficient in meeting legally-binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Justice Clive Sheldon sided Friday with three environmental groups that brought the case, ruling that the government's decision to approve its Carbon Budget Delivery Plan last year was "simply not justified by the evidence."

UK PRIME MINISTER RISHI SUNAK MAKES CLIMATE ACTIVISTS SEETHE IN BOLD MOVE FOR ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

The plan outlined how the U.K. aims to achieve its climate targets, including pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about two-thirds of 1990 levels by 2030 and to reach net zero by 2050.

The judge said the details in the draft plan were "vague and unquantified," and didn't provide officials with enough information on whether the plan should be approved.

Lawyers acting for the environmental organizations told the court that the government failed to share "risk tables," or information about whether its policies could be implemented, with Parliament and others, meaning the plan couldn't be properly scrutinized.

"The courts have now told the U.K. government not once, but twice, that its climate strategy is not fit for purpose," said Sam Hunter Jones, a lawyer for the group ClientEarth. "This judgment means the government must now take credible action to address the climate crisis with a plan that can actually be trusted to deliver and with numbers that can be relied on."

The government defended its record on climate change, saying it has set out "more detail than any other G20 country on how we will reach our ambitious carbon budgets," referring to the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations.

"The claims in this case were largely about process and the judgment contains no criticism of the detailed plans we have in place. We do not believe a court case about process represents the best way of driving progress towards our shared goal of reaching net zero," it said in a statement.

Officials said they would publish a new report within 12 months following the judge's ruling.

Last year, the U.K. government's own climate advisers, which tracks the country's decarbonization efforts, said that it was losing confidence in the government's ability to meet its emission targets, and slammed officials for backtracking on fossil fuel commitments.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze rejected on Friday U.S. criticism of a draft "foreign agents" law, saying Washington's statements on the issue were false and reminiscent of earlier meddling which had fuelled violence.

The draft legislation, which is winding its way through the Georgian parliament, would require organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence, a requirement opponents attack as authoritarian and Kremlin-inspired.

Protesters have taken to the streets of Tbilisi for weeks to show their opposition. The European Union and the United States have urged Tbilisi to drop the legislation or risk harming its chances of European Union membership and a broader Euro-Atlantic future.

GEORGIA PARLIAMENT DESCENDS INTO CHAOS AS LAWMAKERS THROW PUNCHES OVER PUTIN-STYLE ‘FOREIGN AGENT’ BILL

The standoff is seen as part of a wider struggle that could determine whether Georgia, a country of 3.7 million people that has experienced war and revolution since the fall of the Soviet Union, moves closer to Europe or back under Moscow's influence.

"I explained to (senior U.S. diplomat Derek) Chollet that false statements made by the officials of the U.S. State Department about the transparency bill and street rallies remind us of similar false statements made by the former U.S. Ambassador in 2020-2023," Kobakhidze said in a statement on X.

He said the previous U.S. statements had encouraged violence from what he called foreign-funded actors and had supported "revolutionary processes" which he said had been unsuccessful.

"I clarified to Mr. Chollet that it requires a special effort to restart the relations (between Georgia and the United States) against this background, which is impossible without a fair and honest approach."

Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party and a former prime minister, has said he will fight for what he called "the full restoration of the sovereignty of Georgia", and has suggested that the West is trying to meddle and drag his country into conflict.