News And Current Events

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article313261442.html

Gunman remains at large after targeting banquet hall where 15 people were shot, investigators say

https://www.foxnews.com/us/mass-shooting-stockton-california-banquet-hall-leaves-multiple-dead-wounded

The shooting allegedly occurred close to Farragut Metro Station; DC police say suspect in custody

https://www.foxnews.com/us/law-enforcement-responding-2-national-guard-members-shot-near-white-house

Five others were injured, three of them critically, in the fire at Wang Fuk Court in the northern district of Tai Po, the Fire Services Department said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/hong-kong-fire-high-rise-housing-estate-wang-fuk-court-tai-po-bamboo-rcna246020

cross-posted from: https://hilariouschaos.com/post/7166870

The leap in violent crime has been almost exclusively felt by Israel’s Arabs, who make up about a fifth of the population but are some 14 times more likely than Jewish Israelis to be homicide victims, according to a recent study.

While Israel’s overall murder rate is around 1.6 per 100,000, among Arabs the rate is around 12 per 100,000, higher than El Salvador’s and on par with Venezuela’s.

Community members have pointed fingers at a host of problems, from a lack of policing to government policies that have allowed organized crime to fester and grow.

Residents’ deep frustration with law enforcement, alongside rampant mistrust of police, bubbled to the surface again and again in speeches and conversations at both memorials. Many mentioned National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a Jewish nationalist who oversees law enforcement and has become something of a symbol for the perceived desertion of Arab towns.

Relatives of Masadeh and Hejazi said that no suspects had been named or apprehended in either killing. Police did not respond to requests for updates in either case.

“What police? What are the police doing? They aren’t doing anything,” Emad Hejazi replied with indignation when asked about law enforcement efforts in his brother’s case.

He claimed that officers ignored him when he showed up at his brother’s house following the shooting.

“They sat, muttering to one another. They didn’t speak to me at all,” he said. Police at that point had not yet reached out to anyone in the family, he said.

Many feel that authorities aren’t just failing to quell violent crime in their towns, but are pursuing a policy of intentional neglect. The sense of complete abandonment has become particularly prevalent since Ben Gvir took office some three years ago.

https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/11/scotustoday-for-tuesday-november-25/

Latest incidents follow previous on-campus imagery showing ICE agents being shot in the head

https://www.foxnews.com/us/students-find-more-violent-imagery-near-university-wisconsin-campus-after-anti-ice-displays-probed

WASHINGTON — New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani doubled down Sunday on his claim that President Trump is a “fascist” and “despot” — but says he can still work with him.

“That’s something that I’ve said in the past. I say it today,” Mamdani told NBC’s “Meet the Press” when asked whether he still views Trump as a fascist.

The socialist pol said he’s eager to work with Trump because they agreed that the Big Apple needs to be more affordable at their surprisingly chummy meeting Friday.

“What I appreciated about the conversation that I had with the president was that we were not shy about the places of disagreement,” he said. “We also wanted to focus on what it could look like to deliver on a shared analysis of an affordable crisis for New Yorkers.”

During their press conference afterward in the Oval Office, Mamdani was put on the spot by a reporter who asked whether he still believes Trump is a fascist, something the Democratic Socialist has said repeatedly in the past.

“That’s OK. You can just say yes,” Trump interjected as Mamdani geared up to sidestep the question. “It’s easier than explaining it. I don’t mind.”

Despite their political differences, Mamdani said, he told Trump that both he and the president won their respective elections because of voters’ concerns over the high cost of living — affordability.

He said he had interviewed voters on Fordham Road in The Bronx and Hillside Avenue in Queens — Democratic strongholds — about why they voted for the Republican leader last year.

“I shared with the president that when I asked those New Yorkers why did they vote for the president, they told me again and again it was cost of living, cost of living, cost of living,” the mayor-elect said.

Mamdani said he was heartened that he and Trump — a former real-estate developer who is familiar with New York City’s labyrinthine bureaucracy — had a granular discussion about the difficulty of building new housing and the higher costs involved in the Big Apple.

They discussed some of the city”s restrictive zoning regulations hindering more development and the lengthy Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP, in order to build, the socialist said.

“We spoke about the need to change so many of those situations such that a developer doesn’t tell you the thing more expensive than labor or materials is waiting,” Mamdani said.

Mamdani said he stands behind his proposals to hike the income tax on millionaires and increase the corporate tax — which require the approval of Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature — to support his agenda of free child care, free buses and providing more affordable housing.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky thanked President Trump for his ongoing support after Trump blasted him for expressing “zero gratitude” — but Zelensky also appeared to reject the new US peace plan.

“Ukraine is grateful to the United States, to every American heart, and personally to President Trump for the assistance that – starting with the Javelins – has been saving Ukrainian lives,” Zelensky said on X, referencing the American missiles.

While he heaped praise to Trump in a series of posts Sunday morning, Zelensky hesitated to endorse the White House’s controversial 28-point peace deal, which calls on Ukraine to make major concessions like giving up the Donbas region while having Russia give up very little.

Zelensky stressed the need for a “dignified peace” that deterred future Russian aggression.

Under the US proposal, Ukraine would have to give up the entire Donbas region, shrink its military by about a third, commit to never joining NATO, and give amnesty to everyone involved in the war.

Meanwhile, Russia would only have to concede small pockets of land it currently occupies in Ukraine and vow not to invade its neighbors, with Moscow also expected to be rewarded with reintegration into the global economy.

Following Sunday’s meetings with US and European leaders on Trump’s peace proposal, Zelensky said that a deal cannot reward Russia for invading Ukraine and starting the war, which is approaching its fourth year.

The commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has rejected a plan presented by the US to end the country’s civil war, describing it as the “worst” proposal yet.

In a statement published on Sunday, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said the proposal – presented through Massad Boulos, a senior adviser to US President Donald Trump on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs – would effectively abolish the armed forces’ role, dissolve the security services, and leave the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in control of their current areas.

The Northeast African nation has been engulfed in a brutal conflict for more than two years.

Al-Burhan claimed that if the mediation continued along its current path, it would be seen as biased. The commander also accused the US envoy as speaking as if he wanted to impose conditions on the SAF, adding that “we fear that Massad Boulos will be an obstacle to the peace that all the people of Sudan seek.”

The statement came shortly after Trump announced on Wednesday that he would personally join efforts to resolve the conflict. The US president stated that Washington, with his involvement, had already helped settle several global disputes, including between India and Pakistan.

On September 12, the ‘Quartet’ of the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt unveiled a proposal outlining a three-month humanitarian pause in Sudan, followed by a ceasefire, and a nine-month transition toward civilian rule.

Al-Burhan also stated that he had told Boulos that the proposal is “unacceptable,” stressing the importance of adopting a roadmap put forward by the Sudanese government. “No one in Sudan will accept the presence of these rebels or their inclusion as part of any future solution,” he added.

Iran’s intelligence chief has accused the US and Israel of plotting to kill Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an effort to destabilize the country, the ISNA news agency has reported.

According to the outlet, Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib said on Saturday that “the enemy seeks to target the supreme leader, sometimes with assassination attempts, sometimes with hostile attacks,” referring to the US and Israel.

It was unclear whether the minister was alluding to a specific plot. Public claims of threats to Khamenei’s life had been rare before the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June. Israeli strikes killed several senior Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists before a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the attacks to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a campaign backed by Washington, which joined Israeli raids on Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22. Tehran, which denies seeking a nuclear weapon, condemned the strikes as unprovoked.

Khatib reportedly warned that “those who act in this direction, knowingly or unknowingly, are the infiltrating agents of the enemy.”

He added that Israel was grappling with “an epidemic of infiltration and espionage for Iran within its own institutions,” citing the recent arrest of an Israeli Air Force officer accused of spying for Tehran. Khatib reportedly claimed that Iran had obtained secret nuclear information and other highly sensitive security documents.

According to Khatib, the intelligence breach, coupled with what he described as Iran’s firm posture during the 12-day war, pointed to shifting regional power dynamics.

Earlier this year, Netanyahu brushed off reports that US President Donald Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s supreme leader during the war, while adding that such a strike would “end the conflict.”

Reports that Hamas is ready to resume military operations in Gaza are fake, a member of the movement’s political bureau said on Saturday. He went on to accuse Israel of fabricating the claims.

According to earlier media reports, the Palestinian militant group told US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner that the ceasefire agreement in Gaza had ended, citing repeated violations by Israel.

“Reports from Israeli sources that Hamas informed Witkoff the agreement had ended are false,” Izzat Al-Rishq said, according to several Middle East media outlets.

“Israel is reportedly manufacturing pretexts to evade the agreement and return to a campaign of destruction. It is the party that systematically breaches the ceasefire on a daily basis,” the official claimed.

The agreement, signed in Sharm el-Sheikh by Trump and mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Türkiye, is aimed at halting hostilities in Gaza following months of intense fighting. The peace deal called for Israel to withdraw from parts of the enclave and for Hamas to release 20 Israeli hostages in exchange for 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Saturday that West Jerusalem had conducted strikes in Gaza, killing five Hamas officials. He claimed that the strikes were in response to a breach of the truce by Hamas – a claim the group has denied.

In its latest statement, Hamas reportedly called on mediators and the US administration to intervene and ensure that Israel abides by the terms of the agreement.

At least 342 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza since the ceasefire came into force, according to local officials.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s chief of staff Andrey Yermak has ordered prosecutors to prepare charges against the head of the anti-corruption agency SAPO, the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported on Monday, citing sources in law enforcement. The report comes as the explosive graft scandal implicating Zelensky’s inner circle continues to reverberate across the cash-strapped country.

Earlier this month, SAPO and its sister agency NABU alleged that Timur Mindich, Zelensky’s close associate and former long-time business partner, was the ringleader of a $100 million kickback scheme in the energy sector, which heavily depends on Western aid. Mindich fled the country to evade arrest. The scandal led to the resignation of two government ministers, prompting calls for further scrutiny of Zelensky’s team, including Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who had at one point negotiated a defense contract with Mindich.

According to Ukrainska Pravda, following the scandal Yermak had “once again tasked investigators to prepare charges” against SAPO chief Aleksandr Klimenko.

The newspaper cited a source close to Zelensky’s office as saying that Zelensky had earlier summoned the heads of NABU and SAPO, but “the conversation didn’t go anywhere.”

The Ukrainian Security Service and the Prosecutor General’s Office have denied Ukrainska Pravda’s report as “completely false.”

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/investigation-military-idf/2025/11/24/id/1235791/

https://apnews.com/article/comey-james-justice-department-5ec1a59d152bc1fd000ade15e20745b5

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/north-south-korea-very-dangerous-standoff-yonhap-quotes-lee-saying-2025-11-24/

Ukraine plans to effectively dismantle one of the main structures that has brought foreign volunteers into its ranks, the International Legion under the Ground Forces, according to sources, leaving legionnaires worried they will lose the unit's hard-won identity and be scattered into unfamiliar structures in a way they say could cost lives.

“Our biggest worry is just that we'll be moved around and units will be pulled apart, and we'll basically be funneled into where they feel like they need to put us in order to make this work,” a soldier who has fought with the Legion for a year and a half told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.

“This is (about a thousand soldiers) being moved into different areas, falling under their command, and with that kind of change will come mistakes. Mistakes that could have been prevented by just keeping the structure that we have now," he added.

The Ground Forces, which the Legion is subordinate to, has not responded to the Kyiv Independent’s request for reasons or more details about the expected structural change by publication time. The plan does not impact the other International Legion under the Defense Ministry’s military intelligence (HUR).

Founded in February 2022 at the request of President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Legion allowed foreigners to fight alongside the Ukrainian army, and has had both battlefield and political impact throughout the war.

The current plan involves the Legion’s three combat battalions being transferred separately to an assault regiment or brigade, an officer familiar with the matter told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity. The officer, along with several legionnaires interviewed, said they are speaking out in an effort to preserve the Legion in its current form, arguing there is no need for a change.

It is unclear whether the assault regiment or brigade to which the legionnaires would be transferred will be under the command of Ground Forces or the newly created Assault Forces, according to the officer. The transfer is expected to be completed by the end of the year, the officer said, adding that the units would cease to exist under an independent umbrella of the Legion.

A Korean spa in New Jersey, where nudity is compulsory, has been ordered to allow transgender individuals who have not undergone genital surgeries access to female-only areas after a biological male customer sued the establishment.

King Spa, located in Palisades Park, will now have to implement 'gender identity-friendly' policies, including getting rid of sex-segregated facilities so people of any gender can use all amenities in the spa even if their bodies do not align with 'stereotypical expectations,' according to a consent order reviewed by Reduxx.

This decision comes after Alexandra 'Allie' Goebert, a 35-year-old transgender woman, launched a discrimination lawsuit against the spa in 2022 after visiting the location in August of that year with a female friend.

The spa is known as a wellness facility that requires nudity in some areas, including in male and female bathing areas like tubs, pools, and showers where swimsuits are not permitted.

It is modeled on Jjimjilbang - sex-segregated bath houses in Korea - and offers both monthly and day passes to customers.

But in the Garden State transgender people are allowed to use all spas and the facilities that align with their gender without question.

Goebert, who uses she/her pronouns, was granted entry to the spa after receiving a wristband that gave her access to the men's locker room despite presenting a driver's license identifying her as female, according to the lawsuit obtained by the Daily Mail.

The US Army Veteran and law school graduate from New York immediately complained, telling spa staffers she was a 'transgender woman,' leading to an employee giving Goebert access to a restricted women's area.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/20/whistleblower-fbi-top-brass-shielded-scrutiny-bureaus-internal/

Voters so far have been undeterred by her alleged crimes; the House Ethics Committee began investigating her in 2023.

https://thefederalist.com/2025/11/20/democrat-congresswoman-indicted-for-using-fema-funds-to-bankroll-her-campaign/

The border raids are the latest in a series amid escalating tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/20/pakistani-forces-kill-23-fighters-in-wave-of-afghan-border-raids?traffic_source=rss