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Greenland's prime minister said Sunday that the U.S. "will not get" the resource-rich island in the Atlantic.

President Donald Trump wants to annex the self-governing territory of Denmark, a NATO ally of the United States, claiming it is needed for national security purposes.

"President Trump says that the United States ‘will get Greenland.’ Let me be clear: The United States will not get it. We do not belong to anyone else. We decide our own future," Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post.

Vice President JD Vance, second lady Usha Vance, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee visited Pituffik Space Base, the Department of Defense’s northernmost military installation, in Greenland on Friday. 

TRUMP RELEASES POWERFUL VIDEO HIGHLIGHTING US-GREENLAND BOND AFTER DEADLY NAZI ATTACK

In a Saturday interview with NBC, Trump said that military force wasn’t off the table in regards to acquiring Greenland, according to the Associated Press.

"I think there’s a good possibility that we could do it without military force," Trump said. "This is world peace, this is international security," he said, but added: "I don’t take anything off the table."

WHY TRUMP'S PUSH FOR FRIGID GREENLAND IS ABOUT ICING OUT US ADVERSARIES

Although the Danish territory has said it is seeking independence from Copenhagen but isn’t interested in becoming part of the U.S., Trump has repeatedly floated, dating back to his first administration, a desire to secure Greenland for the U.S. as Russian and Chinese presence grows in the Arctic. 

Polls have shown that nearly all Greenlanders oppose becoming part of the United States. Anti-American protesters, some wearing "Make America Go Away" caps and holding "Yankees Go Home" banners, have staged some of the largest demonstrations ever seen in Greenland.

Fox News Digital's Michael Dorgan, Diana Stancy and The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. 

French politician Marine Le Pen and eight other members of her right-wing party were found guilty of embezzling public funds on Monday, and she herself was barred from running for public office.

The French court did not immediately announce how long Le Penn will be ineligible for office, and she stormed out of the courtroom before he finished reading her sentence. She is a top candidate to run for president in 2027, and Le Pen has said that prohibiting her from running in that election would be "political death."

Le Pen has argued that such a sentence would also effectively disenfranchise her voters. She came in second place to French President Emmanuel Macron in both the 2017 and 2022 elections, and her National Rally party has grown massively in support in recent years.

"There are 11 million people who voted for the movement I represent. So tomorrow, potentially, millions and millions of French people would see themselves deprived of their candidate in the election," Le Pen told the court prior to her sentencing.

​TRUMP, PUTIN AGREE TO BEGIN CEASEFIRE NEGOTIATIONS IN MIDDLE EAST, WHITE HOUSE SAYS

The facts of her case relate to the spending of funds from the European Parliament to support aspects of the National Rally party. Prosecutors established in court that EU parliament funds were used to pay Le Pen's bodyguard as well as her personal assistant. The other defendants were convicted of similar uses of the funding.

Prosecutors requested a 2-year prison sentence as well as a 5-year period of political ineligibility for Le Pen.

Le Pen said she felt they were "only interested" in preventing her from running for president.

TRUMP HOLDS 'VERY GOOD' CALL WITH ZELENSKYY FOLLOWING DEAL WITH PUTIN

Le Pen and other right-wing figures have risen in Europe thanks in large part to a surge in anti-mass immigration sentiment.

Her court ruling comes as Macron has struggled to come to grips with President Donald Trump's return in the U.S., leading to conflict between Europe and the U.S. over economic policies and the defense of Ukraine.

RUSSIA, UKRAINE AGREE TO BLACK SEA CEASEFIRE FOLLOWING US TALKS

Last week, the Trump administration touted its negotiations with Ukraine and Russia and said both nations had agreed to "eliminate the use of force" in the Black Sea – but the Kremlin later confirmed this was only contingent on the removal of international economic restrictions.

"Russia shall have no right of say regarding the support we are providing and will provide Ukraine, nor shall they set the conditions," Macron reportedly said in response.

Macron also shot down Trump's call for Europe to consider ending sanctions on Moscow.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reportedly called for the destruction of Israel during Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Çamlıca Mosque in Istanbul on Sunday.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Erdoğan said "May Allah, for the sake of his name ‘Al-Qahhar,’ destroy and devastate Zionist Israel." His call for the annihilation of the Jewish state has drawn fierce condemnation, particularly from Israeli officials.

In response to his remarks, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar stated on X, "The dictator Erdogan revealed his antisemitic face," adding that "Erdogan is dangerous to the region, as well as to his own people, as has been proven in recent days," Sa’ar referred to the widespread protests in Turkey and added, "Let's hope NATO members understand how dangerous he is, and not before it's too late." 

Following his comments, Turkey's foreign ministry issued a statement that read, in part, "We categorically reject the outrageous statement made by the Foreign Minister of the Netanyahu government.

TURKEY'S ERDOGAN CONTINUES CRACKDOWN ON PROTESTERS FOLLOWING ARREST OF MAIN RIVAL ON CORRUPTION CHARGES 

"These disrespectful and baseless allegations are part of an effort to cover up the crimes committed by Netanyahu and his associates," adding, "We will continue to stand by the innocent civilians targeted by Israel and to defend their rights."

In a social media post, Israel’s foreign ministry demanded clarity on whether Erdoğan denies his antisemitic views, emphasizing the president’s problematic actions both domestically and internationally. 

"What bothered the Turkish Foreign Ministry? Here’s a way to clarify the dictator’s words: Clearly state that Erdogan is not an antisemite, that he is not an obsessive hater of the Jewish state." 

The post underscores the growing concern over Erdoğan’s intentions toward Israel.

The tensions between Turkey and Israel go beyond Erdoğan’s support for Hamas, although that remains a central issue. Hamas, which carried out the brutal massacre of more than 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, has long had Turkish backing. Erdoğan’s refusal to denounce Hamas, describing them as a legitimate political party, has angered Israel and much of the international community.

The diplomatic relationship between Turkey and the U.S. has also been under scrutiny. While Turkey’s domestic actions, like cracking down on political opponents, including the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem İmamoglu, have sparked unprecedented protests, U.S. officials are attempting to stabilize relations. On March 26, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, discussing Turkey’s potential support for a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire and other geopolitical issues, despite recent internal turmoil.

"Turkey’s strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing the worst domestic political crisis of his career. The streets are flooded now with protesters who are outraged over the arrest of opposition leader Ekrem Imamoglu, restrictions on the internet, and other authoritarian maneuvers," Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP UNIQUELY PLACED TO ‘WHISPER’ IN ERDOGAN’S EAR OVER TURKISH REGIONAL AMBITIONS: GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER

"To deflect, Erdogan has engaged in blistering rhetoric against Israel. This comes amidst Erdoğan’s unflinching financial and political support for Hamas since the October 7 war erupted, not to mention Erdoğan’s support for the al-Qaeda government in Syria, which also poses a threat to Israel," Schanzer said.

The tensions between Turkey and Israel are not limited to Hamas support. Erdoğan’s actions in Syria, where Turkey has backed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, who overthrew the Assad regime and gained control over parts of the country, have further strained relations with Israel, leading to growing concerns over Ankara’s role in fostering instability on Israel’s borders.

Before Erdoğan's most recent threats against Israel, Trump administration officials had indicated that they may lift restrictions on defense contracts with Turkey, including the potential reinstatement of Turkey’s F-35 program participation. This comes after a phone call between Presidents Trump and Erdoğan on March 21, which may pave the way for a change in policy that could potentially allow the sale of the F-35s to Ankara.

As a NATO member, Turkey plays a pivotal role in the alliance’s security framework. 

The Taliban's supreme leader said Sunday there is "no need" for Western laws in Afghanistan, noting that democracy is dead as long as sharia laws are in place.

Hibatullah Akhundzada was speaking during a sermon marking Eid al-Fitr, an Islamic holiday, at the Eidgah Mosque in the southern city of Kandahar.

"There is no need for laws that originate from the West. We will create our own laws," Akhundzada said as he emphasized the importance for Islamic laws, according to audio of his message that was published on X by the Taliban government’s chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

FAYE HALL, AMERICAN DETAINED BY TALIBAN, HAS BEEN RELEASED

The Taliban’s interpretation of sharia has resulted in restrictions for Afghan women and girls, who have been denied an education, working roles in many job fields and from appearing in most public spaces.

These laws have isolated the Taliban in the international community, but they have still been able to establish diplomatic ties with some countries, including China and the United Arab Emirates.

Akhundzada has taken a stronger approach on policy since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 2021 during the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from the region, despite some officials initially promising a more moderate government.

TALIBAN FREES AMERICAN HOSTAGE GEORGE GLEZMANN FOLLOWING NEGOTIATIONS WITH US, QATAR

The terror group's supreme leader criticized the West in his remarks on Sunday by saying non-believers were unified against Muslims and that the U.S. and other countries were united in their hostility toward Islam, pointing to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Akhundzada said democracy had come to an end in Afghanistan and sharia was in effect. He also argued that supporters of democracy were attempting to separate the people from the Taliban government.

The Taliban have no credible opposition inside or outside the country, although some senior figures within the government have criticized the leadership’s decision-making process and concentration of power in Akhundzada’s circle.

Some Taliban members want greater engagement on the world stage and to eliminate harsher policies to attract more support from outsiders.

In recent months, there has been increased engagement between the Taliban and the U.S. under President Donald Trump, mostly due to prisoner exchanges and releases.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Israeli military issued evacuation orders on Monday for most of Rafah and suggested it may soon launch another ground operation in the city after its ceasefire with Hamas ended.

The evacuation orders appeared to cover almost all the city and nearby areas. The military ordered civilians to head to Mawasi, where tent camps were set up along the coast.

"The IDF is returning to intense operations to dismantle the capabilities of the terrorist organizations in these areas," a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces wrote on X. "For your safety, move immediately to the shelters in Al Mawasi."

Earlier this month, Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas and renewed its air and ground attacks against the terror group. In early March, Israel cut off all supplies and humanitarian aid to Gaza to pressure Hamas to accept changes to the ceasefire agreement.

ISRAEL STRIKES BEIRUT FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE A CEASEFIRE ENDED THE LATEST ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH WAR

Israel launched a major operation in Rafah in May, decimating large parts of the area. The military seized a strategic corridor along the border and the Rafah crossing with Egypt, which is Gaza's only path to the outside world that was not controlled by Israel.

Israel was expected to withdraw from the corridor under the ceasefire before later refusing, citing the need to block weapons smuggling.

Israel has said it would intensify its military operations until Hamas releases the remaining 59 hostages in its custody, including 24 who are believed to be alive. Israel has also called on the terror group to disarm and leave the territory, conditions that were not in the ceasefire agreement. Hamas has rejected those demands.

LANDMARK UK REPORT ON HAMAS EXPOSES WORST ATTACK ON JEWS SINCE HOLOCAUST

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his country would take control of security in Gaza after the war and would impose President Donald Trump's controversial proposal to resettle the territory's civilians in other countries.

The proposal has been universally rejected by Palestinians, who view it as forcible displacement from their homeland. Human rights experts also say the plan would likely violate international law.

Hamas has insisted on moving forward with the signed ceasefire deal, which called for the remainder of the hostages to be released in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and Israel pulling its troops out of Gaza. Negotiations over those parts of the agreement were supposed to have begun in February after some hostages were freed in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.

The war began when Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing roughly 1,200 people and kidnapping another 251, most of whom have since been released in ceasefires or other deals.

More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military's retaliation, according to the Hamas-run government's Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.

At the height of the war, roughly 90% of Gaza's population had been displaced, and many had fled.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Pope Francis publicly acknowledged that this Lenten season is a time of healing for his soul and body.

On Sunday, the Vatican released the text of Francis' prepared Sunday Angelus prayer. It is the seventh straight Sunday that his illness has prevented him from delivering the blessing from a window over St. Peter's Square as usual. 

"Dearest friends, let us live this Lent as a time of healing, all the more as it is the Jubilee," Francis said. "I too am experiencing it this way, in my soul and in my body."

"That is why I give heartfelt thanks to all those who, in the image of the Saviour, are instruments of healing for their neighbour with their word and their knowledge, with kindness and with prayer," he continued. "Frailty and illness are experiences we all have in common; all the more, however, we are brothers in the salvation Christ has given us."

POPE FRANCIS' DOCTORS CONSIDERED ENDING TREATMENT, SAID 'THERE WAS A REAL RISK HE MIGHT NOT MAKE IT': REPORT

His remarks then turned to world conflicts, with a focus on South Sudan, where he said "the war continues to claim innocent victims."

"I urge the parties concerned in the conflict to put the safeguarding of the lives of their civilian brothers and sisters first; and I hope that new negotiations will begin as soon as possible, capable of securing a lasting solution to the crisis," he said. "May the international community increase its efforts to address the appalling humanitarian catastrophe."

POPE FRANCIS MAKES FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE IN FIVE WEEKS 

The 88-year-old pontiff is still recovering from a respiratory infection, according to the Holy See Press Office. He continues to be weaned off oxygen support during the day and night, and his blood levels are normal. However, his medical team has ordered a strict convalescence period of at least two months following his hospital release last week. 

Francis has shown "a truly surprising improvement," the doctor who coordinated the pontiff’s five-week hospitalization said Saturday.

"I find him very lively," Dr. Sergio Alfieri said, after visiting the pope at his apartment in the Santa Marta Domus on Wednesday, three days after his release from Rome’s Gemelli hospital. "I believe that he will return if not to 100%, 90% of where he was before."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM—President Donald Trump’s overtures via a letter to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to jump-start talks on dismantling Tehran’s illicit nuclear weapons program, were met with rejection by the theocratic state on Sunday, following Trump's latest threat to the regime.

Trump told NBC on Saturday that "If they don't make a deal, there will be bombing," he said. "But there's a chance that if they don't make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago."

Trump added the U.S. and officials from the Islamic Republic are "talking."

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday "We don’t avoid talks; it’s the breach of promises that has caused issues for us so far," according to the Associated Press. He added, "They must prove that they can build trust." The White House did not immediately respond to Iran's rejection of the talks, the AP reported. 

Pezeshkian still noted that in Iran's response to the letter that indirect negotiations with the Trump administration were still possible.

WALTZ TELLS IRAN TO GIVE UP NUCLEAR PROGRAM OR 'THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES'

The apparent return of Iran’s regime to its standard playbook of opaque indirect talks between the U.S. and Tehran’s rulers raises questions about whether Trump would greenlight military strikes to eradicate Iran’s vast nuclear weapons program. 

After Iran launched two massive missile and drone attacks on Israel last year, Trump could also aid the Jewish state in knocking out Iran’s nuclear weapons apparatus. 

Indirect talks between the U.S. and the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism, according to Democratic and Republican administrations, have not compelled Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital that the Iranians "do not want to provide President Trump with a casus belli to strike Iran’s nuclear program. There may be indirect and non-public responses through various intermediaries. I think some Iranian officials perceive a fissure among President Trump’s national security team on Iran. This explains Iran’s foreign minister’s comment in recent days that President Trump’s letter to the supreme leader poses challenges as well as opportunities."

TRUMP VINDICATED AS EXPLOSIVE REPORT CONFIRMS IRAN SUPERVISES HOUTHI ‘POLITICAL AND MILITARY AFFAIRS’

Brodsky said, "These Iranian officials seek to bypass experienced hands like President Trump’s national security advisor and secretary of state, who have been demanding the dismantlement of Iran’s entire nuclear program in keeping with President Trump’s long-standing and rightful position on this issue, and cultivate individuals around President Trump who do not have experience with Iran or are considered non-traditional conservatives who would be more receptive to their entrees."

Trump promised that "bad things" would happen to Iran if the regime does not come to the table for nuclear negotiations.  "My big preference is that we work it out with Iran, but if we don’t work it out, bad things are gonna happen to Iran," he said on Friday. 

Iran is enriching uranium to 60%, just shy of the 90% weapons-grade. Experts say it could have a nuclear weapon within weeks if it were to take the final steps to building one. Fox News Digital reported in late March that Iran’s regime has enriched enough uranium to manufacture six nuclear weapons, according to a U.N. atomic agency report.

Alireza Nader, an Iranian-American expert on Iran, told Fox News Digital, "Khamenei may be signaling that he’s not interested in negotiations, but his regime desperately needs economic relief. Otherwise, another popular uprising against him could start. Khamenei doesn’t have the cards."

There is widespread discontent among Iranians against the rule of 85-year-old Khamenei.

TRUMP REINSTATES ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN 

Iran’s has upped the ante ever since Trump told FOX Business he sent a letter to Khamenei. Iran has disclosed video footage of its underground "missile city."

Trump also told FOX Business, "I would rather negotiate a deal."

He continued, "I'm not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily. But the time is happening now, the time is coming up.

"Something is going to happen one way or the other. I hope that Iran, and I've written them a letter, saying I hope you're going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it's going to be a terrible thing for them."

Brodsky said, "That means the Islamic Republic may dangle a JCPOA-like deal, with minor modifications from the previous 2015 agreement. Iranian media has been hyping such an arrangement."

In 2018, Trump withdrew from the Obama-negotiated Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action deal because, he argued, that the agreement failed to ensure Iran would not build nuclear weapons and did not codify restrictions against Tehran’s missile program and sponsorship of Islamist terrorism.

IRAN'S LEADER WARNS US COULD RECEIVE ‘SEVERE SLAPS’ FOLLOWING TRUMP'S THREATS TO HOUTHIS

Brodsky said, "These Iranian officials believe they can lure the Trump administration into this arrangement and then President Trump will wave a magic wand and bring the entire Republican Party along with Democrats to support the deal and make it more politically durable than the 2015 JCPOA. This is all despite President Trump’s consistent and strong record in rejecting the JCPOA framework. It reflects desperation in Tehran and a desire to buy time with another failed diplomatic gambit. But it's important to have eyes wide open here as to the games the Iranians will (and are already) playing."

While Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, testified on Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee that the intelligence community "continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamanei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003," she did note that Iran increased its enriched uranium stockpile.

In sharp contrast to U.S. intelligence since 2003, Fox News Digital has previously reported that European intelligence agencies believe Iran is working toward testing an atomic weapon, and sought illicit technology for its nuclear weapons program. 

Counter-proliferation experts, like the prominent physicist and nuclear specialist David Albright, have told Fox News that European intelligence institutions use an updated definition of construction of weapons of mass destruction to assess Iran’s progress in contrast to America’s alleged obsolete definition.

Fox News Digital sent press queries to the U.S. State Department and the National Security Council.

Fox News Digital's Morgan Phillips and the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Denmark hit back at the Trump administration’s "tone" regarding Greenland on Friday, saying "this is not how you speak to your close allies."

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen released the message in a recorded video just hours after Vice President JD Vance visited an American military base in Greenland, where the vice president criticized Denmark.

"I have a message for our American friends and all others who are listening," Rasmussen said. "Much is being said these days. Many accusations and many allegations have been made. And of course we are open to criticism. But let me be completely honest: we do not appreciate the tone in which it is being delivered. This is not how you speak to your close allies. And I still consider Denmark and the United States to be close allies."

The Trump administration has argued that Denmark is failing to protect Greenland from Russian and Chinese aggression, with Vance telling American soldiers at the U.S.’s Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland that "Denmark hasn't done a good job at keeping Greenland safe."

DENMARK IN TRUMP'S CROSSHAIRS AS VANCE MAKES AMBITIOUS APPEAL TO GREENLAND

"Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland," Vance said. "You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change."

Trump has made it a mission to take over Greenland from Denmark in his second administration.

Rasmussen said that "we respect" the need for the U.S. to have a greater military presence in Greenland, and believes that "much more" can be done within the existing framework of the 1951 defense agreement with the U.S.

"Let us make use of that and let us do it together," the foreign minister said.

US ACCUSES DENMARK OF TREATING GREENLANDERS AS ‘SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS’ DURING VANCE VISIT TO ARCTIC BASE

Rasmussen noted that Vance said that both Denmark and the U.S. have done little in the Arctic. In his message, Rasmussen said both countries have been "harvesting the peace dividend" and acting on the assumption that the Arctic should be "a low-changing area."

"But that time is over," he said. "Status quo is not an option. And that is why we have stepped up as well."

Rasmussen detailed how Copenhagen invested a billion dollars in Arctic security a few weeks ago to provide more drones, ships and personnel in the area. 

The foreign minister also noted that Greenland is a part of NATO and welcomed all allies to play "a greater role in the Arctic," though said Copenhagen would step up to do its part.

"We will shoulder our share of the responsibility. No one should doubt that," Rasmussen said.

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

Two people were killed and 35 others were injured after a Russian drone attack struck a military hospital and shopping center in Ukraine late Saturday night, Ukrainian officials say.

Regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov condemned the attack on Kharkiv in a statement on Sunday, saying a 67-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman were killed. The attack comes as Russia's aggression in Ukraine shows no signs of stopping despite efforts by President Donald Trump's administration to speed along peace talks.

Ukraine says that many of the casualties were servicemen undergoing treatment at the military hospital.

Ukraine's air force says the attack consisted of 111 Russian drones, 65 of which were shot down and another 35 of which were disabled electronically or failed of their own accord.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy predicted late last week that Russian forces would ramp up their attacks in the coming weeks in an effort to bolster their negotiating position for peace talks.

"They’re dragging out the talks and trying to get the U.S. stuck in endless and pointless discussions about fake ‘conditions’ just to buy time and then try to grab more land," Zelenskyy said in a Thursday visit to Paris.

Saturday night's attack came after four people died and 24 were injured Friday evening after Russian drones struck Dnipro in the country’s east, according to regional Gov. Serhii Lysak and Ukraine’s emergency service. At least eight more people were injured when a Russian ballistic missile struck nearby Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown, Gov. Lysak reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin himself praised the "strategic initiative" of his forces on Thursday.

"Our troops, our guys are moving forward and liberating one territory after another, one settlement after another, every day," he said at a public forum.

Zelenskyy has pleaded with Trump's administration not to give in to Putin's demands at the negotiating table.

On Thursday, Zelenskyy met with French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of a summit in Paris of some 30 nations about how to strengthen Kyiv’s hand and its military as it pushes for a ceasefire with Russia. Proposals to deploy European troops in the country in tandem with any peace deal are also being discussed.

Fox News' Michael Dorgan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

A Holocaust survivor murdered at age 91 and a baby killed just 14 hours after birth are among the victims named in the U.K.'s October 7 Parliamentary Commission Report, the most detailed Western investigation to date into the Hamas-led attack on Israel. 

The 318-page report, chaired by British historian and peer Lord Andrew Roberts, documents the deaths of 1,182 people in a 48-hour period and provides extensive evidence of atrocities committed against civilians.

The report describes the assault as "a meticulously planned operation designed not only to kill but to terrorize through extreme brutality, looting and humiliation." It includes testimonies of group rapes of women and girls, some of whom were murdered, as well as evidence of sexual violence committed against corpses. It details the targeting of children, including infants shot in strollers or burned alive.

REPORT EXPOSES HAMAS TERRORIST CRIMES AGAINST FAMILIES DURING OCT 7 MASSACRE: 'KINOCIDE'

Roberts, one of Britain’s leading historians and a member of the House of Lords, said that meeting Mandy Damari, the mother of hostage Emily Damari, "reduced me to tears." Speaking in an interview with Fox News Digital, Lord Roberts recalled visiting Kibbutz Kfar Aza and hearing from families of victims while the fate of their loved ones was still unknown.

"At that time, of course, she didn’t know whether her 27-year-old daughter, Emily, was going to be released or not, or whether she was going to die in Gaza," he said. "And I have a 25-year-old daughter, and so it was brought home incredibly powerfully to me."

Despite the graphic nature of the material, Roberts emphasized that the report was deliberately limited to verified facts. "We actually made the report much less than it could have been, because we insisted on only putting things in that could be double-checked," he said. "If we had put in things that we truly believe happened but couldn't prove happened, we kept them out."

When asked what motivated him to take on the project, Roberts said, "The denialism that has already cropped up," including attempts to downplay or question the events of October 7. "It’s quite ironic that as well as celebrating and indulging in their most sort of disgusting fantasies by wearing GoPro cameras, they also seek to deny that the whole thing ever happened," he said of Hamas.

HAMAS' OCT 7 MASSACRE HAS LEGAL SCHOLARS CREATING NEW WAR CRIME CATEGORY

"October 7 denial," as the report refers to it, emerged almost immediately after the attacks and mirrors historical patterns of atrocity denial, despite the overwhelming evidence.

"I thought it was really important to get a big, thick, well-documented, irrefutable, fully footnoted document out there that will stand the test of time," Roberts said.

The report includes accounts of mass looting, arson and mutilation. It states that terrorists used victims’ phones to send images to their families, booby-trapped corpses with grenades, and dragged bodies through Gaza. It confirms that "acts of sexual violence" occurred "across all sites" during the attack, and references forensic findings of partially or fully naked bodies.

'I WILL BE HAUNTED FOREVER’: ISRAEL’S HORRIFIC VIDEO OF HAMAS ATROCITIES LEAVES VIEWERS SHOCKED AND SICKENED

Roberts said the attack was "not just spontaneous — it was a premeditated bloodlust." He compared it to historical atrocities like the Rape of Nanjing in 1937. "Once Hamas got into a bloodlust, they were going out of their way to murder and kill absolutely anybody who came anywhere near them," he said.

Despite the horrors, Roberts said the report also includes examples of heroism. For example, of Netta Epstein — a young man who "threw himself on a grenade to save his fiancée's life" — Roberts said such acts "stand up with the great acts of heroism of any age."

"We have the names in it of everybody who was killed ... mostly with the circumstances of their deaths as well," Roberts added: "Speaking as a historian, there are moments when one thinks of 9/11, or Pearl Harbor, various other attacks like this. They become part of history very quickly, but the actual individuals involved tend to get forgotten."

Asked what role democracies should play in countering denialism, Roberts answered, "The first is properly to memorialize the victims," he said. "The second ... is to see this appalling act of barbarism for what it is, which is a complete denial of democracy, a blow struck deliberately against civilization, and ... the most appalling act of racism."

"Britain should be doing everything in its power to help Israel protect itself forever against such another attack," Roberts clarified that he was expressing a personal view: "At the moment, it seems [the British government] is not doing that at all."

In the report’s conclusion, Roberts and his colleagues wrote: "Our report will hopefully permit people to see such denials and justifications for what they really are: a perversion of and rejection of human decency. We owe it to the victims and their grieving families to set down the ghastly unvarnished truth about the sheer barbarism that Hamas and its terrorist allies unleashed on October 7, 2023."

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Sunday a plan to upgrade the U.S. military command in Japan, a country he described as indispensable in combating Chinese aggression.

"We share a warrior ethos that defines our forces," Hegseth told Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in Tokyo, adding that Japan is "our indispensable partner" in "deterring communist Chinese military aggression," including across the Taiwan Strait.

Hegseth said Japan is a "cornerstone of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific" and that the Trump administration would continue to work closely with the Asian country.

HEGSETH SAYS US TO BOOST TIES WITH PHILIPPINES AS DETERRENCE AGAINST CHINA: 'PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH'

Last year, then-President Joe Biden's administration announced a major restructuring of the U.S. military command in Japan to deepen coordination with the country's forces, as the two allied countries called China their "greatest strategic challenge."

The change will place a combined operational commander in Japan, who would be a counterpart to the head of a joint operations command established last week by Japan's Self-Defense Forces.

Hegseth's high praise for Japan contrasts with his criticism of European allies in February, telling them they should not assume the U.S. presence in the region would last forever.

U.S. President Donald Trump has complained that the bilateral defense treaty in which the U.S. government vows to defend Japan is not reciprocal. In his first term, Trump said Japan should fork over more money to host U.S. troops.

Japan hosts 50,000 U.S. military personnel, squadrons of fighter jets and America's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier strike group along a 1,900-mile East Asian archipelago that hems in Chinese military power.

This comes as Japan doubles military spending, including money to purchase longer-range missiles. But the operational scope of its forces is limited by its U.S.-authored constitution – adopted after its defeat in World War Two – which renounces the right to start war.

REPORTERS SAY THEY FOUND WALTZ, GABBARD, HEGSETH PRIVATE INFO ONLINE

Hegseth and Nakatani agreed to accelerate a plan to jointly produce beyond-visual-range air-to-air AMRAAM missiles and to consider working together on the production of SM-6 surface-to-air defense missiles to support a shortage of munitions, Nakatani said.

The Pentagon chief said he asked Nakatani for greater access to Japan's strategic southwest islands, along the edge of the contested East China Sea near Taiwan.

In his first official visit to Asia, Hegseth traveled to Japan from the Philippines.

On Saturday, he attended a memorial service on Iwo Jima, the site of fighting between U.S. and Japanese forces 80 years ago.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is facing allegations that he copied parts of his 1995 doctoral thesis at Oxford University without proper credit. The report comes as he's seeking election to remain the country's PM next month, when Canadian voters head to the polls on April 28.

The National Post reviewed Carney’s thesis, "The Dynamic Advantage of Competition," with three university experts, who found at least 10 instances of apparent plagiarism. 

The experts told the National Post that Carney copied full quotes, paraphrased ideas, and slightly modified sentences from four different sources without giving proper credit.

CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER MARK CARNEY SAYS 'OLD RELATIONSHIP' WITH US 'IS OVER' AMID TENSION OVER TRUMP TARIFFS

"He's just directly repeating without quotations. That’s plagiarism," said Geoffrey Sigalet, a professor at the University of British Columbia who helps handle academic misconduct cases, told the National Post.

Carney’s campaign responded to the National Post with a statement from his former Oxford supervisor, Margaret Meyer, who dismissed the allegations. "I see no evidence of plagiarism in the thesis," she said. "Mark’s work was thoroughly researched and approved by a faculty committee."

Meyer also told the National Post that "it is typical that overlapping language appears" if sources are regularly referenced.

Oxford University defines plagiarism as "presenting work or ideas from another source as your own without full acknowledgment." Another professor, speaking anonymously to the National Post, said Carney’s thesis appears to meet that definition.

Carney’s campaign spokesperson, Isabella Orozco-Madison, called the accusations an "irresponsible mischaracterization" of his work.

CANADA’S NEW PM AND TRUMP CRITIC MARK CARNEY ACCUSED OF BEING OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE 'COMMON MAN’

One of the key examples from the National Post’s report shows Carney closely copying a passage from economist Michael E. Porter’s 1990 book, "The Competitive Advantage of Nations." On page 206 of his thesis, Carney wrote: "First, government intervention can impede international competition and artificially support domestic profits." This is nearly identical to Porter’s original wording.

Carney also reportedly copied sections from Jeremy C. Stein’s 1989 article in The Quarterly Journal of Economics and H.S. Shin’s 1994 article in The RAND Journal of Economics, with only minor wording changes.

The possible plagiarism appears throughout the thesis. "It’s all over the dissertation, not just one part," said Sigalet. Even small wording changes without proper citation are still considered plagiarism.

Oxford University warns that plagiarism is a serious offense that can lead to penalties, including expulsion. "Even when you reword something, you still need to cite the source," Sigalet added.

Carney, a former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor, has had a high-profile career, including top roles at Goldman Sachs and Brookfield Asset Management. He has faced criticism for his elite background and globalist tendencies.

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However, plagiarism allegations have led to resignations and revoked degrees for politicians and academics in the past.

Last year, Harvard University’s president Claudine Gay stepped down amid plagiarism claims, though she denied wrongdoing.

Carney is an outspoken critic of President Trump amid ongoing tariff battles between Canada and the U.S.

An American woman who had been detained by the Taliban since February has been freed, a source with knowledge of the release told Fox News on Saturday.

American citizen Faye Hall was released on Thursday and received at the Qatari embassy in Kabul. She has been confirmed to be in good health after undergoing a series of medical checks, the source said. Arrangements are currently underway for her return to the United States.

The Taliban agreed to release Hall after President Donald Trump removed multimillion-dollar bounties on senior members of the militant group, according to a report by the Telegraph.

TALIBAN FREES AMERICAN HOSTAGE GEORGE GLEZMANN FOLLOWING NEGOTIATIONS WITH US, QATAR

Trump agreed to remove millions of dollars of bounties on three senior members of the Haqqani network, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban government’s interior minister, the outlet reported, noting that Washington was offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Fox News Digital wasn't immediately able to confirm the nature of the agreement and has reached out to the White House and the State Department for comment.

Her release was initiated following a court order and with logistical support from Qatar serving in its role as the United States' protecting power in Afghanistan, the Fox News source said. 

Hall, along with the British couple, Peter Reynolds, 79, his wife Barbie, 75, and their interpreter were arrested on Feb. 1, the outlet reported. 

FAMILY OF THIRD AMERICAN HELD BY TALIBAN CALLS FOR HIS IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 'WE ARE CONCERNED'

The Associated Press previously reported that the British couple ran education programs in Afghanistan via Rebuild, an organization that provides education and training programs for businesses, government agencies, educational organizations and nongovernmental groups. 

The Sunday Times said one project was for mothers and children. The Taliban severely restricts women’s education and activities in the country.

It is unclear what relationship Hall had with the couple or their group.

The couple’s detention was not based on any violations of local laws or religious customs, but was a political move by a faction to increase international pressure on the government and Haibatullah Akhundzada, its supreme leader, the Telegraph reported. 

The couple’s children wrote a letter to the Taliban pleading for their release, saying that the couple respected and obeyed the laws.

"They have chosen Afghanistan as their home, rather than with family in England, and they wish to spend the rest of their lives in Afghanistan," the letter reads in part, according to the Associated Press.

Hall’s release comes after the Taliban released American hostage George Glezmann, 65, last week after holding him for more than two years. That deal was also struck after negotiations between the Trump administration and Qatari officials. Glezmann was abducted while visiting Kabul as a tourist on Dec. 5, 2022.

Two other Americans, Ryan Corbett and William McKenty, were released earlier this year in exchange for a Taliban member in U.S. custody in a final-hour deal struck by the Biden administration.

Fox News' Caitlin McFall and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The death toll from the devastating earthquake that rocked Burma and Thailand on Friday has risen sharply to more than 1,650 victims. 

The earthquake's epicenter was in central Burma, where 1,644 have been confirmed dead with nearly 140 people still missing, the nation’s ruling military said Saturday.

The 7.7 magnitude quake knocked down scores of buildings as well as destroyed bridges and highways in what was the deadliest natural disaster to hit the impoverished, war-torn country in years. Burma is also known as Myanmar. 

Survivors in Mandalay, Burma's second-biggest city, dug with their bare hands on Friday in desperate attempts to save those still trapped, lacking heavy machinery and with authorities absent. Burma's military rulers let in hundreds of foreign rescue personnel on Saturday.

AMERICA'S MOST EXPENSIVE NATURAL DISASTERS IN RECENT DECADES

The quake struck during Friday prayers across the country, causing the collapse of at least 50 mosques across the country, killing nearly 300 people, the Yangon Khit Thit News Agency reported. 

An initial assessment by Burma's opposition National Unity Government said at least 2,900 buildings, 30 roads and seven bridges had been damaged by the quake.

The quake comes amid a raging civil war that has wrecked the economy and displaced millions. It makes movement around the country both difficult and dangerous, complicating relief efforts and raising fears that the death toll could still rise precipitously.

Airports too have been damaged, further hindering rescue efforts. For instance, satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC show the earthquake toppled the air traffic control tower at Naypyitaw International Airport as if sheered from its base, according to The Associated Press.

The country sits on the Sagaing Fault, a major north-south fault that separates the India plate and the Sunda plate.

IS THE EAST COAST ON THE BRINK OF A MAJOR EARTHQUAKE — AND ARE WE PREPARED?

President Donald Trump said the earthquake was "terrible" on Friday and assured that the United States would assist in relief efforts.

"It's a real bad one, and we will be helping. We've already spoken with the country," Trump said.

In neighboring Thailand, where the quake shook buildings and brought down a skyscraper under construction in the capital Bangkok, at least ten people were killed.

Dramatic footage captured in Bangkok midday Friday showed a 33-story apartment building that was under construction falling down, scattering dust and debris throughout the city's streets. Bangkok city authorities said earlier Friday that 10 people were killed, 16 were injured. 

Water from a separate high-rise building with rooftop pools in Bangkok spilled over the side as they shook and debris fell from many buildings.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said the country has now "returned to normalcy."

Aftershocks were reportedly felt in India and China. 

Photos and video from Burma showed two hard-hit cities with extensive damage. 

In Mandalay, Burma's second-largest city and close to the epicenter, the earthquake damaged part of the former royal palace and buildings, according to videos and photos released on Facebook social media.

In the Sagaing region just southwest of Mandalay, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and some sections of the highway connecting Mandalay and the city of Yangon were also damaged.

In the capital Naypyitaw, the quake damaged religious shrines, sending parts toppling to the ground and some homes.

 Christina Shaw, Greg Norman, Bradford Betz Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Brits have until Aug. 1 to get rid of all their ninja swords as the U.K.’s Labour government looks to crack down on knife crime.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Thursday that "ninja swords" specifically will be banned this summer after the 2022 murder of 16-year-old Ronan Kanda, who was stabbed to death by a ninja sword just outside his home. 

"Confirmed: Ninja swords will be banned by this summer," Starmer said in a post on X. "When we promise action we take it."

UK STABBING SUSPECT IN DEATHS OF 3 GIRLS FOUND WITH RICIN, AL QAEDA MATERIAL AND CHARGED UNDER TERRORISM ACT

The new ban, "Ronan's Law," will now make it illegal to possess, sell, make or import ninja swords.

"Since losing our beautiful boy Ronan, we have relentlessly campaigned for a ban on ninja swords, the lethal weapon which took his life," Pooja Kanda, the mother to the 16-year-old boy, said, according to a government readout. "We believe ninja swords have no place in our society other than to seriously harm and kill.

"Each step towards tackling knife crime is a step towards getting justice for our boy Ronan." 

UK STABBING SPREE LEAVES 2 KIDS DEAD, 9 OTHERS INJURED AT TAYLOR SWIFT-THEMED EVENT: 'DEEPLY SHOCKING'

The British government has set up a surrender process for any owner of a ninja sword, defined as a blade between 14 inches and 24 inches "with one straight cutting edge with a tanto-style point."

"From 1 August, anyone caught in possession of a ninja sword in private could face 6 months in prison, and this will later increase to 2 years under new measures in the Crime and Policing Bill," the government said in a statement. "There is already a penalty of up to 4 years in prison for carrying any weapon in public."  

Knife crime has long plagued the U.K. and though offenses involving a "sharp instrument" committed last year across England and Wales were down from a 15-year peak in 2019, they were still substantially higher than crimes reported in 2010, when 33,800 crimes were reported, versus the 50,500 cases in 2024.

A sharp instrument, according to the U.K., could include knives, but it could also include the use of a broken bottle to commit an offense.

The U.K. saw a significant drop from the 52,000 cases involving a "sharp instrument" reported in 2019 by the following year with 41,700 cases reported.

But these incidents have continued to increase each year since. 

Nearly two dozen different types of knives are already banned in the UK, including swords that are not a part of a national uniform, switch blades, zombie knives, belt buckle knives or butterfly knives, to name a few. 

Knives that are permitted are those used for cooking or while working and have a cutting edge of no more than three inches. 

Though the government states that "it’s illegal to use any knife or weapon in a threatening way."

Under Ronan’s Law, jail sentences were also increased for selling knives to minors and the illegal sale of banned knives.

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"Knife crime is destroying young lives as too many teenagers are being drawn into violence, and it is far too easy for them to get hold of dangerous weapons," Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement. "Ronan Kanda was just 16 when he was ruthlessly killed by two boys only a year older than him.

"We are acting with urgency to bring forward measures to prevent deadly weapons from getting into the wrong hands and will continue to do whatever is needed to prevent young people being killed on our streets as part of our mission to halve knife crime over the next decade." 

President Donald Trump's continued criticism of Germany’s failure to pay its defense bills looks to have pushed one of Europe's wealthiest nations into action. 

The president's criticism of Berlin has compelled Germany to increase funding for its military forces and infrastructure, which critics say are in a bad state of affairs.

Richard Grenell, U.S. Ambassador to Germany during the first Trump administration, told Fox News Digital "multiple German leaders ignored the warnings from President Trump that Russia was using energy as a weapon against them. 

US BRISTLES AT GERMANY'S DEFENSE BUDGET PLANS AFTER IT FALLS SHORT

"The war in Ukraine and the invasion of Putin showed the new German leadership that Donald Trump was absolutely right about Germany feeding the beast that ultimately turned on them."

Trump appointed Grenell as presidential envoy for "special missions" in December.

In 2018, Trump rebuked Germany’s addiction to Russian gas, according to observers of German-U.S. relations. He told the U.N. General Assembly that "Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course. Here in the Western Hemisphere, we are committed to maintaining our independence from the encroachment of expansionist foreign powers."

During his remarks, the camera panned to Germany’s delegation to the U.N. in 2018, including its then-U.N. Ambassador, Christoph Heusgen, and former Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who all seemingly laughed and smiled at Trump. 

‘MAKE NATO GREAT AGAIN’: HEGSETH PUSHES EUROPEAN ALLIES TO STEP UP DEFENSE EFFORTS 

However, those smirks soon turned into raw anxiety, when four years later, in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and Germany scrambled for a way to wean itself off Russian gas to avoid helping reward Putin.

Matthew Kroenig, director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, told Fox News Digital, "Every U.S. presidential administration since Eisenhower has complained about European free riding, but asking "pretty please" has not worked. Trump’s tough rhetoric is achieving results that eluded his predecessors.

"The Trump effect is in part due to Trump raising NATO burden sharing to the very top of the transatlantic security agenda and in part due to genuine fears that Washington could abandon NATO and Europe would need to fend for itself."

After Trump and Grenell helped to cajole the Germans out of their security slumber, Berllin reached the NATO goal of spending 2% of gross domestic product spending in 2024. This was the first time Berlin reached 2% since 1991, the end of the Cold War. 

Trump, however, called for Germany to spend 5% on defense because, he argues, the U.S. is contributing significant resources to protect the central European country.

The frustration with Germany and other European allies was captured in text messages reported between Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance. 

TRUMP WATCHES STRIKE ON IRAN-BACKED HOUTHIS IN YEMEN IN NEW WHITE HOUSE PICS AS LARGE-SCALE OP CONTINUES

"I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC," Hegseth said in response to Vance, who questioned U.S. leadership in advancing security policies in the Red Sea to counter Houthi aggression and reopen shipping lanes. 

Germany’s export trade greatly benefits from free navigation in the Middle East, but it refuses to aid the U.S. in stopping the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist movement via military strikes. Europe and Germany are unwilling to follow Trump’s lead and sanction the Houthis as a terrorist entity.

The so-called Trump Effect has also affected the German parliament’s decision to relax restrictions on debt so it can pump funds into its military superstructure.  

The likely new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz of the conservative Christian Democratic Union party, said he would do "whatever it takes" to rebuild Germany’s frail military. Berlin’s mainstream parties aim to invest hundreds of billions of euros in defense and infrastructure. Germany’s armed forces (Bundeswehr) are, according to reports, in a state of disarray, with a mere 181,174 soldiers at the end of last year. Germany’s Defense Ministry seeks to expand its armed forces to 203,000 by 2031.

Recruitment remains an ongoing challenge within a population raised on pacifism. After Germany started two World Wars in the last century, Germany's power politics stressed the role of multilateral institutions like the U.N. and diplomacy in remedying conflicts.

The Associated Press recently reported that Germany's parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, Eva Högl, said, "The biggest problem is boredom. She added "If young people have nothing to do, if there isn’t enough equipment and there aren’t enough trainers, if the rooms aren’t reasonably clean and orderly, that deters people, and it makes the Bundeswehr unattractive."

In an interview earlier this month with German news outlet WELT, the German historian Michael Wolffsohn, who taught at the Bundeswehr University Munich, said of Germany and Western Europe’s failure over the decades to address its severe defense deficits, "Now we get the receipt for everything we neglected."

Fox News Digital sent a detailed press query to the German Foreign Ministry about Trump’s criticism that Berlin has chronically underinvested in defense and remained wedded to Putin’s gas supply after his warnings.

Fox News' Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.

The United Kingdom could be the first G7 nation not to manufacture its own steel, with a major steel firm blaming President Donald Trump's tariffs for the planned closure of its two blast furnaces. 

British Steel, which is owned by Jingye, the Chinese steel group, announced plans to close its two blast furnaces in England, The Telegraph reported. The closures put 2,700 jobs at risk and the end of steel production in the United Kingdom after 150 years. Jingye bought British Steel in 2020. 

Jingye said the "imposition of tariffs" had made the blast furnaces and steel-making operations "no longer financially sustainable". 

THE LEFT THINKS TRUMP’S TARIFFS ARE A DECLARATION OF WAR. BUT THEY’RE CLUELESS ABOUT THE BATTLEFIELD

Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the United States that went into effect earlier this month.

Jingye said it has invested billions of dollars to maintain operations since 2020 but that losses have ballooned to around hundred of thousands of dollars daily.

The closures could have national security implications. 

"There is a reason why Russia bombed all the blast furnaces in Ukraine pretty much straight away; because countries need steel not just for defense but to build the roads and the infrastructure," said Sarah Jones, the energy minister. 

Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the Community union, said: "We urge Jingye and the government to get back around the table to resume negotiations before it is too late."

TRUMP’S 25% TARIFF INCREASE ON ALL STEEL, ALUMINUM IMPORTS TAKES EFFECT, PROMPTING RETALIATION FROM EUROPE

"Given that we are now on the cusp of becoming the only G7 country without domestic primary steelmaking capacity, it is no exaggeration to say that our national security is gravely threatened," he added.

Trump has fought to keep U.S. Steel in American hands. Nippon Steel, a Japanese company, said it was willing to increase investment in U.S. Steel facilities to $7 billion as it tries to convince Trump thah the Pittsburgh steelmaker would be in good hands with foreign ownership. 

"We are also going to keep U.S. Steel right here in America," Trump said during a September 2024 campaign rally. 

Trump first opposed the deal in February 2024, but said earlier this year that Nippon would negotiate an investment in U.S. Steel, rather than a purchase, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. 

Israel on Friday launched an attack on Lebanon's capital for the first time since a ceasefire ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November.

Associated Press reporters in Beirut heard a loud boom and witnessed smoke rising from an area in the city's southern suburbs that Israel's military had vowed to strike.

EXCLUSIVE: A LOOK AT HEZBOLLAH'S PLAN TO TERRORIZE AND INVADE NORTHERN ISRAEL

It marked Israel's first strike on Beirut since a ceasefire took hold last November between it and the Hezbollah militant group, though Israel has attacked targets in southern Lebanon almost daily since then.

Israel’s army said it hit a Hezbollah drone storage facility in Dahiyeh, which it called a militant stronghold. The strike came after Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields, warned residents to evacuate the area.

The area struck is a residential and commercial area and is close to at least two schools.

Israeli officials said the attack was retaliation for rockets it said were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel. They promised strikes on Beirut would continue unless Lebanon's government worked to ensure such attacks ceased.

"We will not allow firing at our communities, not even a trickle," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "We will attack everywhere in Lebanon, against any threat to the State of Israel."

Hezbollah denied firing the rockets, and accused Israel of seeking a pretext to continue attacking Lebanon.

Lebanon’s government ordered all schools and universities in Beirut’s southern suburb of Hadath to close for the day. Residents were seen fleeing the area in cars and on foot ahead of the strike.

Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel by its Hamas allies ignited the war in Gaza. Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 in Israel and abducted 251 others during the 2023 attack.

The Israel-Hezbollah conflict exploded into all-out war last September when Israel carried out waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant group’s senior leaders. The fighting killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis.

Under the ceasefire, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January. The deadline was extended to Feb. 18, but Israel has remained in five border locations while carrying out dozens of strikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets in southern and eastern Lebanon. Last week, Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Lebanon killed six people.

Speaking in Paris, Lebanon’s President, Joseph Aoun, said the Beirut area strike was a continuation "of Israel’s violations of the agreement" sponsored by France and the U.S.

During a joint news conference with Aoun, French President Emmanuel Macron called the attack "unacceptable," and promised to address it with Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump. Macron said that the U.S. can exert pressure on Israel.

A U.S. State Department spokeswoman called on Lebanon's government to act.

"Israel is defending its people and interests by responding to rocket attacks from terrorists in Lebanon," the spokeswoman, Tammy Bruce, said Friday. "We expect the Lebanese Armed Forces to disarm these terrorists to prevent further hostilities."

The U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said the escalation had created "a critical period for Lebanon and the wider region."

Israeli strikes in other parts of Lebanon on Friday killed three people and wounded 18, including children and women, in the southern village of Kfar Tibnit, said Lebanon's health ministry.

The strikes comes less than two weeks after Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas with surprise strikes that killed hundreds of people in Gaza. Earlier this month, Israel halted deliveries of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid to Gaza's roughly 2 million Palestinians.

Israel has vowed to escalate the war until Hamas returns 59 hostages it still holds — 24 of them believed to be alive. Israel is demanding that the group give up power, disarm and send its leaders into exile.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Israel's offensive in the Strip has killed over 50,000 people and wounded 114,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants.

The ministry said Friday that nearly 900 have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire ended in mid-March, including more than 40 over the past 24 hours.

Denmark on Friday found itself in President Donald Trump’s crosshairs. Trump appears to be honing in on what his administration is now arguing is a failure by Copenhagen to protect Greenland from Russian and Chinese aggression.   

Speaking to American soldiers from the U.S.’s Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland, Vice President Vance said, "Denmark hasn't done a good job at keeping Greenland safe."

"What we think is going to happen is that the Greenlanders are going to choose, through self-determination, to become independent of Denmark," Vance explained in a more toned-down approach from Trump’s previous statements. "And then we're going to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there."

PUTIN SAYS TRUMP PLANS FOR GREENLAND 'HAS NOTHING TO DO' WITH RUSSIA

The vice president’s answer was in response to questions from reporters as to what lengths Trump would go to, to acquire Greenland despite strong resistance within the arctic nation to become a part of the U.S. as the president has previously signaled is his ambition.

"We do not think that military force is ever going to be necessary," Vance continued. "And because we think the people of Greenland are rational and good, we think we're going to be able to cut a deal, Donald Trump-style, to ensure the security of this territory, but also the United States of America."

Vance said that Russia and China have been largely running unchecked in the area and "encroaching" on Greenland without proper protection from Denmark. 

Though Greenland is an autonomous nation, it is still a territory of Denmark, which means Copenhagen oversees its security needs. 

Greenland does not currently have its own military and would no longer be protected by NATO if it left Denmark, as it would need to formally apply for NATO membership as an independent nation. 

"There has been an expansion of the security footprint in the security interests of Russia and China. They're doing what they believe is in their interest," Vance said. "The United States must do what I know is in our interest -- which is to make sure that Greenland is safe. 

"If Greenland doesn't have self-determination, if the people of Greenland have their future controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, it's not going to make their lives better off, and most importantly, it's going to make American and world…security much, much weaker," he added.

TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON ACQUIRING GREENLAND FOR ‘WORLD PEACE’ AMID VANCE VISIT

Vance said he wants Greenland to have American weapons, not Chinese weapons, and that he believes a partnership could be secured once the arctic nation votes for independence from Denmark.

While some in Greenland have said they would be interested in securing a partnership with Washington that could include access to fishing lanes in exchange for defense guarantees, Trump has signaled that he may be more interested in the nation’s rare earth minerals and energy opportunities. 

However, Greenland, which is environmentally conscious, has previously blocked the EU from making deals to access those coveted resources. 

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"When the President says we've got to have Greenland, he's saying this island is not safe," Vance said. "A lot of people are interested in it. A lot of people are making a play. 

"Our message is very simple: Yes, the people of Greenland are going to have self-determination," he continued. "We hope that they choose to partner with the United States.

"We're the only nation on earth that will respect their sovereignty and respect their security, because their security is very much our security," Vance said. 

Speaking from the Arctic as Vice President JD Vance prepared for his trip to Greenland to assess U.S. security concerns, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Washington’s ambitions for the Arctic nation had "nothing to do" with Russia. 

"In short, America's plans in relation to Greenland are serious," Putin said Thursday during an address to Russia's Arctic Forum in Murmansk. 

"These plans have deep historical roots," he continued, according to a BBC report. "And it's clear that the US will continue to systematically pursue its geo-strategic, military-political and economic interests in the Arctic.

"As for Greenland, this is a matter for two specific countries," he added. "It has nothing to do with us."

TRUMP SAYS 'WE NEED GREENLAND FOR INTERNATIONAL SAFETY AND SECURITY' AHEAD OF VANCE TRIP

Putin’s comments coincided with remarks by President Donald Trump, who on Thursday doubled down on his ambitions for the Arctic nation despite international rebuke, and said, "We need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it."

"It’s [an] island from a defensive posture and even offensive posture is something we need," he told radio host Vince Coglianese. "When you look at the ships going up their shore by the hundreds, it’s a busy place."

Trump acknowledged he was unsure if the people of Greenland wanted to become U.S. citizens, but he said it was important to "convince them."

Greenland's citizens and leadership have repeatedly made clear they are not interested in becoming a part of the U.S. and are seeking full independence from Denmark. 

It is unclear if the vice president will be advancing Trump’s message while visiting the U.S.’ Pituffik Space Force base in northwest Greenland, but Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, quickly changed their itinerary earlier this week upon announcing the planned trip after Greenland’s leaders made clear the Vance's were not issued an invitation – sparking a diplomatic uproar.

GREENLAND PM SLAMS UPCOMING VISIT FROM USHA VANCE AS 'VERY AGGRESSIVE' PROVOCATION: REPORT

However, as Trump claims the Arctic nation is needed for U.S. security, Russian officials are now touting the idea that Washington and Moscow could expand economic cooperation in the Arctic. 

"We are open to considering different investment opportunities that we can do jointly with the U.S., in certain sectors approved by the Russian government," Putin's envoy for foreign investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, said according to the BBC report, which also noted the Kremlin official has already been in "direct talks" with the U.S.

"We are open for investment cooperation in the Arctic. That could be in logistics, or other areas beneficial to Russia and to the U.S.," Dmitriev added. "But before deals can be done, the war in Ukraine needs to end."

Russia has stalled U.S. attempts to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine by laying out conditions European nations have made clear they will not agree to, like lifting sanctions and booting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from office – which security experts have long warned is Putin’s chief aim to cement control over the former Soviet nation.

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Putin reiterated this goal during his address from the Arctic and said, "We could, of course, discuss with the United States, even with European countries, and of course with our partners and friends, under the auspices of the UN, the possibility of establishing a transitional administration in Ukraine."

It remains highly unlikely Ukraine or its European partners, including France and the U.K. who sit on the UN Security Council, will agree to Putin’s conditions. 

Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.