Police in New York City are asking for the public's assistance in identifying three people wanted in connection with three separate assaults on Saturday. All three attacks took place within an hour and were located in the vicinity of East 15th Street and East 18th Street. The first victim, a 40-year-old man, was attacked at approximately 3:25 p.m. while walking home from the Synagogue in the vicinity of East 15th Street and Avenue L, according to NYPD. He was approached by three strangers who punched him multiple times before fleeing on a scooter in an unknown direction. Police said the man sustained minor injuries, but refused medical attention. NYC CARJACKING SUSPECT LIES IN FRONT OF BUS, STANDS ON SUV: 'HE ALMOST KILLED LIKE 4 PEOPLE' The second attack took place about 30 minutes later at around 3:59 p.m. near Avenue J and East 17th Street. In similar fashion to the first attack, the victim, a 15-year-old boy, was approached by three strangers who punched and kicked him before they fled on foot in an unknown direction.  The boy also suffered minor injuries, but refused medical attention. NYC PALESTINIAN MAN SENTENCED IN BRUTAL ANTISEMITIC BEATING BEFORE JUDGE EJECTS ANGRY SUPPORTERS FROM COURT A few minutes later at 4:04 p.m., a 27-year-old man was walking near East 18th Street and Avenue L when three strangers approached him. He was kicked by the suspects before they fled on foot in an unknown direction. The third victim also refused medical attention after sustaining minor injuries. The victims have not been identified in any way by police. It's unclear if the victims shared similar characteristics, but the NYPD said its Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating all three attacks. Anyone with information related to the attacks or the alleged suspects pictured above can contact the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477 or for Spanish, 1-888-577-4782. Tips can also be submitted online on the CrimeStoppers website or to @NYPDTips on X, formerly Twitter.

'80s supermodel Carol Alt is diving in to aging and sharing her biggest tips on how to not "break down like an old car." In an interview with Fox News Digital, Alt, 62, pointed out that people's mental health correlates with their physical health and that it's important to take care of both. "I want to run like a Ferrari, and so I put Ferrari-type fuel in my body," Alt said. "Some of that fuel includes raw food, lots of water and green tea." CAROL ALT SHARES 91-YEAR-OLD MOM'S REACTION TO HER JOINING ONLYFANS: ‘YOU GOTTA ROLL WITH THE TIMES’ Looking back at her successful career, Alt says she would have done some things differently. "I wish when I was 18, 19 years old and somebody said to me, ‘You should eat your vegetables raw,'" she said. WATCH: '80s supermodel Carol Alt on aging, how not to 'break down like an old car' "I suffered through my modeling career because I was always tired, I was always malnourished. I was always trying to keep my weight down. I didn't eat, and when I ate, I ate garbage because I really did not know what to eat," she continued. "I didn't know what to eat in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, how much and what would keep my energy going, and there were so many times I suffered," Alt noted. Alt – who recently launched an OnlyFans account – revealed that her lifestyle and eating habits led to a "health breakdown" when she approached her 40s. She praised Dr. Timothy Brantley, who works with nutritional healing, for helping the former supermodel get her health back on track. WATCH: Carol Alt says 'raw foods' is her biggest beauty tip "He was my guru. I watched him deal with people. He was amazing, and I changed everything, and all of a sudden I had a new lease on life," Alt said. "So much so that my mother, who was 68 at the time, looked at me and said, ‘What did you do differently?’ I'm like, 'What do you mean?' She's like, 'You're just like – look at you.'" Alt said that she informed her mother, who is now 91, that she was eating raw food, which prompted her to start taking "her enzymes, her greens" and she still does to this day. Alt said that if she had changed how she ate earlier, her modeling career would have been "immensely" different. "I just had no energy left to be cool and groovy," she said. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER As Alt branches into OnlyFans, she shared her advice for aspiring models, and it involves using social media to their advantage. WATCH: Carol Alt tells aspiring models to 'get an Instagram account' "Get an Instagram account," she said. "You have to understand the entire business has changed." LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS Alt recalled a time when she was approached by a parent who asked her for help in promoting her daughter's modeling career. Alt obliged, reached out to her agent, who asked, "What does she have on Instagram?" "They don't want to build somebody's Instagram account and people are hiring people who have huge followings on Instagram. So, it's really changed a lot," Alt said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who died Wednesday at age 100, exerted far-reaching influence on global affairs under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford between 1969 and 1977, earning both vilification and the Nobel Peace Prize. FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE HENRY KISSINGER DEAD AT 100 Here are five things to know about his life in government and beyond: For eight restless years — first as national security adviser, later as secretary of state, and for a time as both — Kissinger played a dominant role in foreign policy.  He conducted the first "shuttle diplomacy" in the quest for Middle East peace. He used secret negotiations to restore ties between the United States and China. He initiated the Paris talks that ultimately provided a face-saving means to get the United States out of war in Vietnam. And he pursued detente with the Soviet Union that led to arms-control agreements. Kissinger’s power grew during the turmoil of the Watergate scandal, when the politically attuned diplomat took on a role akin to co-president to the weakened Nixon. "No doubt my vanity was piqued," Kissinger later wrote of his expanding influence during Watergate. "But the dominant emotion was a premonition of catastrophe."  Kissinger told colleagues at the White House that he was the one person who kept Nixon, "that drunken lunatic," from doing things that would "blow up the world," according to Walter Isaacson, who wrote the 1992 biography "Kissinger." Pudgy and messy, Kissinger acquired a reputation as a ladies’ man in the staid Nixon administration. Kissinger called women "a diversion, a hobby." Isaacson wrote that Hollywood executives were eager to set him up with starlets, whom Kissinger squired to premieres and showy restaurants. His companions included Jill St. John, Shirley MacLaine, Marlo Thomas, Candice Bergen and Liv Ullmann.  In a poll of Playboy Club Bunnies in 1972, the man dubbed "Super-K" by Newsweek finished first as "the man I would most like to go out on a date with." Kissinger’s explanation: "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac." Kissinger for decades battled the notion that he and Nixon had settled in 1972 for peace terms in Vietnam that had been available in 1969 and thus had needlessly prolonged the war at the cost of tens of thousands of American lives.  He was castigated for authorizing telephone wiretaps of reporters and his own National Security Council staff to plug news leaks in Nixon’s White House. He was denounced on college campuses for the bombing and allied invasion of Cambodia in April 1970, intended to destroy North Vietnamese supply lines to communist forces in South Vietnam.  That "incursion," as Nixon and Kissinger called it, was blamed by some for contributing to Cambodia’s fall into the hands of Khmer Rouge insurgents. KISSINGER SAYS IT WAS 'GRAVE MISTAKE' FOR GERMANY TO TAKE IN SO MANY MIGRANTS AMID PRO-HAMAS PROTESTS Kissinger cultivated the reputation of respected elder statesman, giving speeches, offering advice to Republican and Democratic presidents alike and managing a lucrative global consulting business as he traveled the world.  But records from the Nixon era, released over the years, brought with them revelations that sometimes cast him in a harsh light. Kissinger was dogged by critics at home and abroad who argued that he should be called to account for his policies on Southeast Asia and support of repressive regimes in Latin America.  He had to think twice before traveling to certain countries to be sure that he would not be summoned by judges seeking to question him about Nixon-era actions.

The San Francisco woman believed to have partied with Cash App founder Bob Lee at her luxury Millennium Tower apartment the night of his death has been arrested on DUI and hit-and-run charges. Khazar Momeni, the wife of plastic surgeon Dino Elyassnia and whose brother is charged in Lee's death, crashed her car shortly after 11 a.m. Monday at the intersection of Geary and Larkin Streets in the Tenderloin District, according to San Francisco Police. Responding officers say they found probable cause to charge her with driving under the influence.  They also filed two hit-and-run charges and accused her of failing to provide proof of insurance and failing to drive within her lane, according to San Francisco Police. CASH APP'S BOB LEE VISITED SUSPECT'S SISTER HOURS BEFORE MURDER. ARGUED WITH ALLEGED KILLER, COURT DOCS REVEAL A department spokesperson declined to comment further, citing the open investigation, and did not provide specifics of the hit-and-run allegations despite responding officers arresting Momeni, 38. She posted bail earlier this week but has not yet appeared in court. Her attorneys did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Her brother, Silicon Valley outsourcing entrepreneur Nima Momeni, is due in court today in Lee's April stabbing. The stabbing rocked the city after surveillance video showed the victim stumbling down a sidewalk, clutching at his wounds and begging passersby for help before he collapsed outside a hotel lobby in the waterfront Rincon Hill neighborhood. According to San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins' office, Nima Momeni led Lee out of his sister's apartment building, drove him to a parking lot and allegedly stabbed him while the Miami transplant was visiting on a business trip.  Nima Momeni has pleaded not guilty to murder charges. The alleged murder weapon, a knife police say was covered in both Lee’s blood and Nima Momeni’s DNA, came from Khazar Momeni's kitchen, according to police. Court documents say investigators recovered text messages exchanged between Lee and Khazar Momeni. In one conversation, she told the tech titan he "handled himself with class" after her brother allegedly "came wayyyyyy down hard" on him. "[Momeni] drove [Lee] to a dark and secluded area the opposite direction of his hotel," the filing alleges. "We know through a text message from Defendant's sister to Victim, Defendant was previously upset with Victim." A witness also told police Lee was drinking with his suspected killer's sister the afternoon before his murder and that the two may have been involved in an "intimate relationship," according to the filing. "Female was married, but the relationship had possibly been in jeopardy," it states. The night of the murder, the witness told police Momeni was grilling Lee in his hotel room about "whether his sister was doing drugs or anything inappropriate." Lee tried to assuage Momeni's concerns, the witness said, and left his hotel room after midnight. CASH APP FOUNDER BOB LEE DIED WITH DRUGS AND ALCOHOL IN SYSTEM AFTER SAN FRANCISCO STABBING When Lee was still gone the following morning, the witness told police he reached out to the sister, who said Lee visited her that night "for a second." "She fell asleep and didn't know when he left," the filing states. Lee was a father of two. A Wall Street Journal report in May alleged that Lee and Khazar Momeni traveled in the same social circles engaging in drug use and casual sex, and it identified her brother as a hanger-on outside the group. Both Lee's supporters and attorneys for Khazar Momeni have disputed the allegations, and a Lee family friend told Fox News Digital the claims were "highly inaccurate" but declined to comment further.  Lee's autopsy revealed he had cocaine, ketamine and alcohol in his system when he died, as well as the anti-allergy drug levocetirizine. According to the Mayo Clinic, that drug can have bad reactions with alcohol and ketamine. Fox News' Michael Lundin contributed to this report.

The final season of "The Crown" is in full swing, and audiences are wondering what’s fact and what’s fiction. The first four episodes of the final season, which premiered on Netflix Nov. 16, have focused on the final days of Princess Diana and the impact of her death on the royal family. Some royal experts have taken issue with this season’s approach to dramatizing events. "I think ‘The Crown’ missed the boat this time," Christopher Andersen, author of "The Day Diana Died," told Fox News Digital. "Why invent dialogue and situations that didn't happen when the truth is stunningly dramatic enough?" For example, there is one scene where Diana turns down Dodi Fayed's marriage proposal. We don't know if he even ever proposed to her." BUCKINGHAM PALACE WILL ‘DEVISE A PLAN’ TO PROTECT KING CHARLES AGAINST ‘THE CROWN,' ROYAL EXPERT SAYS The third episode, "Dis-moi Oui," contains the scene Andersen refers to, Diana turning down Dodi Fayed’s proposal shortly before their fatal car crash.  According to The Guardian, Dodi Fayed did purchase a ring the day before the crash, Aug. 30, 1997, but never had a chance to present it to her before their deaths.  The Washington Post reported that, according to an Operation Paget report, an engagement ring was never found at the crash site. In the fourth episode, Prince William is shown taking an extended walk on the family’s Balmoral estate and not returning for 14 hours, prompting a frantic search for the young prince. PRINCESS DIANA TRIED TO SHIELD PRINCE HARRY FROM ‘SPARE’ LABEL, JAMES PATTERSON SAYS: ‘SHE WAS TROUBLED BY IT’ According to Andersen, there is "no evidence" of the incident happening.  Prince William did say in 2021 at the opening ceremony of the General Assembly of The Church of Scotland that he "found comfort and solace in the Scottish outdoors," according to Harper's Bazaar. Details of Princess Diana’s relationship with Fayed have also been adjusted to maximize drama. Another scene shows Diana being grilled about photos of her and Fayed kissing during a press conference in Bosnia to promote landmine awareness. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER Royal expert Hilary Fordwich notes that the chain of events happened differently. "Those who were [there] deny any media obsession relating to her relationship with Dodi," Fordwich said. "She wasn’t barraged with incessant questions regarding that nascent relationship since, at that juncture, it wasn’t yet widely publicized. The infamous photo of their embrace was only published a day or so later."  The images, as shown in the episode, prompted Charles’ publicist to suggest he take a wholesome photo with William and Harry on the Balmoral estate.  According to The Times, the photos were taken by several royal photographers in a planned shoot to allow the family privacy during the rest of their stay. PRINCE WILLIAM HONORS KING CHARLES AT CORONATION CONCERT WITH HEARTFELT SPEECH: ‘WE ARE ALL SO PROUD OF YOU’ Charles' relationship with Camilla also gets fictional treatment. In the first episode of the season, Charles throws a 50th birthday party for Camilla, begging Queen Elizabeth II to attend. The only member of the royal family who does end up attending is Princess Margaret.  Per The Times, that never happened, and Charles wasn’t seeking the queen’s approval at the time. He had divorced Diana the previous year. However, some of the most surprising moments on the show are not fictionalized. In the first episode, Fayed’s fiancée Kelly Fisher visits him on his yacht in the Mediterranean, where he is also romancing Diana. KING CHARLES’ RELATIONSHIP WITH QUEEN ELIZABETH WAS NEARLY DESTROYED BY CAMILLA AFFAIR: AUTHOR That actually happened, and according to The Times, Fisher later said she was "livid" because "they basically kept me hidden." The show's depiction of the public’s reaction and outcry over Queen Elizabeth II’s seeming lack of response and emotion following Princess Diana’s death divided experts. "There was real anger throughout the world when the queen initially refused to interrupt her vacation at Balmoral or fly the Union Jack at half-staff over Buckingham Palace," Andersen said. "Those days really shook the monarchy to its foundations; the public rage was palpable." In his opinion, "none of that … is really conveyed in ‘The Crown,’" and he feels the speech, as delivered by Imelda Staunton in the role of Queen Elizabeth II, "which she more or less had to make to save the monarchy, is a watered-down, soulless version of the original." LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS In…

You've seen us on screen, but have you ever wondered what we're like off-camera?  For the last few months, I’ve enjoyed checking in with some of your favorite Fox personalities to learn more about who they are behind the scenes.  What's the one thing Jesse Watters couldn’t live without? What's Bill Hemmer’s favorite Halloween costume? And what's sitting on Greg Gutfeld’s nightstand?  But that's not all! The fun is just getting started. This week, we're excited to shine the spotlight on New York-based FOX reporter Nate Foy, who joined the network in Feb. 2022. He's been contributing to FNC’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war and the recent hostage negotiations. He's also reported on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has provided live reporting on the mass shooting that took place in Buffalo, New York, where 10 people were killed. P.S. We have so much more in store for you. Stay tuned each week for new editions of "Short Questions with Dana Perino" — and if there’s a question you want answers to or a suggestion for the person I should interview next, leave a note in the comments section below.  NF: I grew up with my three brothers in Westborough, Massachusetts, a relatively small town about 35 miles west of Boston.  After 18 years of competing with, and often losing to, my brothers in sports, I decided to turn my attention to studying sports broadcasting at the University of Miami. My first job out of college was in St. Joseph, Missouri, one of the smallest registered television markets in the country, before my career brought me to Fort Myers, Florida, where I transitioned from sports to news journalism.  I worked in Fort Myers for about six years before arriving at Fox News in February of last year.  NF: My face wash. I’m always washing my face with hand soap in hotels!  NF: The level of competition. I believe living in New York, and all the challenges that come with it, will help me unlock my potential personally and professionally. Ironically, the competition level is also what had me the most nervous before moving here! It was quite a surreal experience transitioning from a mid-level market local television job to being office neighbors with Dana Perino in New York City!  NF: Instagram, unfortunately.  NF: Oh, boy. If I had to pick three, they would be "The Prestige,"" Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and "The Dark Knight." I’d serve extra toasty Cheez-Its and pizza.  NF: This is a tough one. I’m going to go with Eli Whitney’s invention of interchangeable parts — although I am biased, because we are from the same hometown! My elementary school was on Eli Whitney Street.  The atomic bomb is another one that comes to mind. In my lifetime, I would say the invention of social media has had the greatest impact on society and not in a good way.  NF: I think nostalgia plays a factor here, but I’m going to go with Boston’s North End Italian food. New York has incredible food, too, but I haven’t found an area that competes with the North End. Whether its pizza, pasta or seafood, the North End is full of can’t-miss spots!  NF: "The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment" by Eckhart Tolle. I’m now reading "The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.  NF: Getting to experience history in real time. Reporting on the stories that matter most to our country and the world is a blessing I do not take for granted.  NF: Absolutely.  NF: I honestly don’t have one right now. My favorite all-time shows are "The OC" and "Game of Thrones."  NF: The war in Ukraine. It feels weird saying that it’s my favorite, but it was certainly my most meaningful assignment.  Interacting with the Ukrainian people during such a difficult and dangerous time provided me with so much perspective and inspiration, not to mention experience that will be valuable while reporting during future conflicts.  NF: I play a mediocre guitar and have written about 10 original songs.  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER To read all of Dana Perino's earlier "Short Questions" interviews for Fox News Digital, check out this (long) list! For her interview with Laura Ingraham, click here.  For her interview with five New York FOX reporters, click here.  For her interview with Katie Pavlich, click here. For her interview with Guy Benson, click here.  For her interview with Pete Hegseth, click here.  For her interview with Sandra Smith, click here.  For her interview…

A Chinese official who has praised the CCP and denied China's persecution against the Uyghurs has appeared at another high profile event in the United States, this time meeting with leaders of one of the nation's top universities.  "Paid a visit to the prestigious Princeton University and had fruitful discussions with Madame Provost Jennifer Rexford and fellow colleagues today," Huang Ping, consul General of the People’s Republic of China in New York, posted on X this week along with a photo of Ping with Princeton Provost Jennifer Rexford. "Exciting plans are underway to expand partnerships between PU and Chinese universities, fostering high-level academic exchanges and cooperation," his post continued. Huang Ping, who's been the consul general of China's New York Consulate since 2018, previously called the CCP a "great party" and has denied that China is targeting the Muslim Uyghur population in China.  PROMINENT NYC VENUES REPEATEDLY HOST CHINESE OFFICIAL WHO PRAISED CCP, DENIED UYGHUR GENOCIDE "There are lots of lies here, fabricated by some people with their own political agenda," Huang said in an August 2021 interview, denying the existence of genocide and internment camps targeting Uyghurs. "As I said, there's no genocide, not a single evidence to prove that there's a genocide or something there. It's just a slandering." The Princeton visit comes weeks after Ping visited one of the largest media companies in the United States. "Chinese Consul General Huang Ping visits Condé Nast and meets with Chief Executive Officer Roger Lynch and Global Chief Revenue Officer Pam Drucker Mann to talk about the growth of the Chinese market," a post on the website of Condé Nast, a U.S. mass media company that owns brands such as Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ, and Glamour, stated on Nov. 2. HARVARD HOSTS CHINESE OFFICIAL WHO SAID COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA IS 'GREAT PARTY' Shortly before visiting Conde Naste, Ping was in Pennsylvania meeting with Democratic lawmakers, business leaders, and University of Pennsylvania scholars. The Pennsylvania visit wasn't the first time Ping has met with Democratic lawmakers. Fox News Digital previously reported that Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Ping met in April 2019 when she was the lieutenant governor to discuss cooperation between New York and China. The post includes a picture of them standing beside each other and smiling while holding a certificate that she presented to him for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. In early 2021, he called her an "old friend" in a Facebook post, featuring a video of her, and has attended other events with her.  He also stood onstage beside New York City's Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, earlier this month at the China Day Celebration Parade Festival in New York, according to a press release. Ping's many trips and visits with prominent American figures come at a time when many are concerned about China's increased influence in the United States which includes alleged spying at universities, buying up farmland, and encroaching on intellectual property.  Princeton declined to comment when contacted by Fox News Digital on the nature of the meeting and whether the school was aware of Ping's previous comments. Fox News Digital's Cameron Cawthorne and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report

A married Texas businessman and father of two was entangled with a Nashville, Tennessee, escort and then blackmailed by her on-and-off-again lover. Erik Charles Maund, the heir to a lucrative Austin-based car company, received anonymous, threatening texts about a month after his extramarital escapade with 33-year-old Holly Williams, demanding $25,000. Over the next 11 days, the situation spiraled out of control. Maund's privately funded investigation into who sent the extortion demands became a murder-for-hire plot involving a retired Israeli Defense Force (IDF) member and two retired U.S. Marines. On March 12, 2020, a day after Maund was supposed to pay up, Williams and her then-boyfriend William Lanway, who sent the blackmail texts, were found dead in a Nashville construction site with bullet holes in their heads. SURGE OF RANDOM VIOLENCE ‘IS NEVER RANDOM,’ SAYS EXPERT ON HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF Three years later, a federal jury found Maund guilty of orchestrating their murders after an 11-day trial. Maund's lawyer did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment. The former Marines – Bryon Brockway and Adam Carey – were also convicted on Nov. 17 for their roles in the conspiracy. Former IDF member Gilad Peled pleaded guilty before the trial and became the prosecution's star witness.  Peled's lawyers declined to comment before sentencing, and Brockway's and Carey's lawyers didn't return Fox News Digital's request for comment. POLICE RESCUE WOMAN FROM SERIAL KIDNAPPED IN SHOCKING BODYCAM VIDEO "This investigation began with the discovery of two murder victims, Holly Williams and William Lanway, inside a vehicle off a construction road in West Nashville on Good Friday 2020," Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said in a statement after the conviction.  "Months of outstanding investigative work … provided multiple leads that drew our attention to other states. Realizing that this elaborate criminal case reached far outside of Nashville, our team enlisted the help of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office." Maund, Brockway and Carey each face life in prison or the death penalty and will be sentenced separately in 2024. The judge will take Peled's cooperation into account when handing down his sentence. Maund texted Williams that he was "looking forward" to seeing her when he reached Nashville in February 2020, according to court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital. "Good day beautiful! Looking forward too [sic] later. I’m in Nashville. I’ll meet you in the bar like last time. Text me when you arrive," he texted the escort on Feb. 5, 2020, the federal indictment says. REAL-LIFE 'CONJURING' CRIMINAL CASE 'SCARED US S---LESS': LAWYER Maund told his wife he was visiting their son in college, Peled said, according to the transcript of his testimony.  The two hooked up about a year earlier, according to court documents. Early February 2020 was round two.  When the calendar turned to March, the threatening texts started. Lanway "sent a series of texts" on March 1, 2020, demanding "monetary payment" or he was going to expose Maund's relations with Williams, the indictment says. The texts came from Williams' phone, and Maund did not know the sender at the time. The next morning, Maund called Peled and agreed to pay him $60,000 to "start an investigation" into who was sending the texts. SHOOTINGS AROUND COLLEGE CAMPUSES LEAVE STUDENTS, FAMILIES ON EDGE: ‘EVERYONE IS AT RISK’ "He told me that he went to visit his son in Nashville, Tennessee, where he goes to college, and while he was there, he was using escort services," Peled testified, according to the transcripts.  "When he came back he got a text message – a text message that was demanding money … and if he would not pay them, they will contact his family and out the fact that he was using escort services." Peled said there were not any discussions about killing Lanway or Williams; it was an investigation into who sent the texts. Peled then told Maund that he wanted to bring the case to law enforcement.  The prosecutor asked what Maund's reaction was.  BODYCAM CAPTURES DRAMATIC SHOOT-OUT WITH MAN ACCUSED OF SLAUGHTERING FAMILY BEFORE VANISHING "He was reluctant (to go to the police)," Peled said, according to the transcript. "He didn't want information to come out, says it's going to hurt his marriage.  "He didn't want his kids to know about it. He said it's going to devastate him if his kids are going to find out." From there, Peled recruited a family friend, Brockway, who introduced Carey into the fold. Both are retired Marines.  They set up a…

Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., is hitting back at professors at Indiana University who criticized him for raising the alarm about antisemitism on campus. Banks had written a letter to university president Dr. Pamela Whitten earlier this month over the recent resignation of two students from the Indiana University Student Government (IUSG). The letter quotes the students as calling the IUSG body president "blatantly antisemitic" who "does not want to work with Jewish students." The IUSG since announced it has started an internal investigation into allegations of antisemitism. An open letter signed by more than 200 people, many of them IU faculty and staff, responded to Banks’ letter and called it "threatening" and "inappropriate." "These professors are proving my original point. Nowhere in their response do they address my main concern in the letter: IU student leaders feel antisemitism on campus is being ignored," Banks told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS DISRUPT BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING TO CALL FOR PALESTINIAN UPRISING: ‘INTIFADA REVOLUTION’ "When students speak out, it is unacceptable to dismiss their concerns because it doesn’t align with woke political views. IU has a duty to ensure every student feels safe on campus, and I have full confidence in President Whitten’s commitment to that duty," he said. In his Nov. 15 letter, Banks requested a briefing from the school by the start of December and suggested that its federal dollars may take a hit if officials failed to find an adequate remedy. FORMER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL CHARGED WITH HATE CRIME AFTER CONFRONTATION WITH NYC FOOD CART VENDOR "As an IU graduate, allegations of antisemitism at my alma mater are personal and extremely concerning to me," Banks wrote at the time. "As a lawmaker, I would note that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits anti-Jewish and antisemitic discrimination. If IU administrators condone or tolerate campus antisemitism, the university could lose access to federal funding." The Nov. 21 letter condemning him read, "We are alarmed by the threatening tone of the letter, the way in which it injects ideology into the proper governance of the university, and the way it conflates academic leadership with the policing of controversial ideas. We understand that antisemitism is a form of hate that has no place in a diverse and inclusive university. We feel the same way about all forms of bigotry, including anti-Arab and Islamophobic discrimination and hostility." SNL ALUM UNLEASHES ON ‘DISGUSTING’ BERNIE SANDERS, ‘HORRIBLY ANTISEMITIC’ DEM SQUAD OVER ISRAEL OPPOSITION A petition led by the Jewish American Affairs Committee of Indiana, which includes IU faculty and students, has over 700 signatures in support of Banks. The petition reads, "Criticism over the fact that Rep. Banks did not mention Islamophobia in his letter simply demonstrates that the professors were not genuine in their professed concern about the welfare of Jewish students at IU. Not only is there no documented spike in anti-Muslim behavior at IU or college campuses in general, but many of the perpetrators of anti-Jewish behavior on college campuses are themselves Muslim." "We are deeply appreciative of Rep. Banks’ concern over Jew hatred at IU and hope that his efforts will motivate IU’s administration to begin to protect its Jewish students by enforcing existing policies," they wrote. Fox News Digital has reached out to the university for comment.

Washington, D.C., police have recorded 250 homicides so far this year — the highest number of murders that the nation's capital has seen in two decades — with a month left until the year's end. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) recorded 248 homicides in 2003, after which homicides began to steadily drop to a low of 88 in 2012 and then picked back up again, according to citywide crime statistics.  "It's perverse, and it represents a brazen return to lawlessness," Kathy Henderson, commissioner for the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in Ward 5, told Fox News Digital. "We need to really reassert lawful boundaries and protect our residents and our visitors to the city. And there's no legitimate reason why the nation's capital should be leading the nation in homicides and, I believe, in carjackings." Last year, the MPD recorded 189 homicides, meaning there has been more than a 32% increase in killings in D.C. since 2022. DC MAYOR TRAVELS TO DUBAI FOR CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE, PROMOTE TOURISM AMID SPIRALING CRIME MPD has its own carjacking crime statistics web page that shows 908 carjackings so far this year, 77% of which have involved firearms. Police reported 429 carjackings over the same period in 2022. The majority (65%) of carjacking arrests involve juveniles, with 15 being the most common age for offenders. There has also been a 93% increase in motor vehicle thefts, with 6,345 incidents reported this year compared to 3,291 last year. Violent crime has risen 40% on average across the nation's capital, MPD statistics show. DC MAYOR REFUSES TO WATCH VIRAL VIDEO OF KIDS DEBATING WHICH CRIMES THEY'D 'RATHER' COMMIT: 'WASTING MY TIME' Just last month, Texas Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar was targeted by three armed carjackers in D.C.'s Navy Yard. "I was just coming into my place. Three guys came out of nowhere, and they pointed guns at me," Cuellar said at the time. "I do have a black belt, but I recognize when you got three … guns – I looked at one with a gun and another with a gun, a third one behind me. So, they said they wanted my car. I said, 'Sure.' You've got to keep calm under those situations. And then they took off." Henderson, who says she has never supported the "defund the police" movement and has advocated for "lawful, credible and conscientious policing," said one particular city leader is to blame for D.C.'s crime wave. VIDEO ALLEGEDLY SHOWS DC TEENS WEIGHING CHARGES OF CRIMES THEY PLANNED ON COMMITTING "We didn't have a problem here. And then we had people on the city council – who should be singularly focused on making the best legislative decisions to protect our residents and our visitors and to move our city forward – decide to rewrite the criminal code and to weaken a lot of the protections that citizens had," said Henderson, who has lived in the capital for 40 years. "And all hell broke loose, and crime continues to rise. There are people that commit crimes here that think, ‘Who's going to stop us?'" The commissioner went on to name Charles Allen, Ward 6 councilman and former head of D.C.'s Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, who advocated for a $15 million budget cut to the MPD in 2020 and helped overhaul D.C.'s criminal code, as a driver behind the city's rising violent crime. Fox News Digital has reached out to Allen's office for comment. DC PRE-TEEN ALLEGEDLY ATTEMPTS TO CARJACK ARMED, OFF-DUTY FEDERAL OFFICER; 13-YEAR-OLD KILLED IN GUNFIRE "It's a number of factors, but it started with a member of the city council, the former chair of the committee on the judiciary, Mr. Charles Allen. This starts and stops with him," Henderson said. "He convened one circus of a hearing after another where he invited people from all over the country to talk about how horrible D.C. police are and [how] they need to stop killing Black people." After the MPD budget cut was approved, Allen said the D.C. City Council was "grappling with undoing centuries of layered and systemic racism and its permutations throughout our society," according to the Washington Post. "This budget reflects significant action and aligns with other sweeping reform this committee has undertaken, but it’s also one piece of a movement. ... Every level of government, including among executive branch agencies, must make change." Henderson said the changes to D.C.'s justice system over the last several years have made it difficult for officers "to enforce the law," pointing to the city's…

Police in New York City are asking for the public's assistance in identifying three people wanted in connection with three separate assaults on Saturday. All three attacks took place within an hour and were located in the vicinity of East 15th Street and East 18th Street. The first victim, a 40-year-old man, was attacked at approximately 3:25 p.m. while walking home from the Synagogue in the vicinity of East 15th Street and Avenue L, according to NYPD. He was approached by three strangers who punched him multiple times before fleeing on a scooter in an unknown direction. Police said the man sustained minor injuries, but refused medical attention. NYC CARJACKING SUSPECT LIES IN FRONT OF BUS, STANDS ON SUV: 'HE ALMOST KILLED LIKE 4 PEOPLE' The second attack took place about 30 minutes later at around 3:59 p.m. near Avenue J and East 17th Street. In similar fashion to the first attack, the victim, a 15-year-old boy, was approached by three strangers who punched and kicked him before they fled on foot in an unknown direction.  The boy also suffered minor injuries, but refused medical attention. NYC PALESTINIAN MAN SENTENCED IN BRUTAL ANTISEMITIC BEATING BEFORE JUDGE EJECTS ANGRY SUPPORTERS FROM COURT A few minutes later at 4:04 p.m., a 27-year-old man was walking near East 18th Street and Avenue L when three strangers approached him. He was kicked by the suspects before they fled on foot in an unknown direction. The third victim also refused medical attention after sustaining minor injuries. The victims have not been identified in any way by police. It's unclear if the victims shared similar characteristics, but the NYPD said its Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating all three attacks. Anyone with information related to the attacks or the alleged suspects pictured above can contact the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477 or for Spanish, 1-888-577-4782. Tips can also be submitted online on the CrimeStoppers website or to @NYPDTips on X, formerly Twitter.

The San Francisco woman believed to have partied with Cash App founder Bob Lee at her luxury Millennium Tower apartment the night of his death has been arrested on DUI and hit-and-run charges. Khazar Momeni, the wife of plastic surgeon Dino Elyassnia and whose brother is charged in Lee's death, crashed her car shortly after 11 a.m. Monday at the intersection of Geary and Larkin Streets in the Tenderloin District, according to San Francisco Police. Responding officers say they found probable cause to charge her with driving under the influence.  They also filed two hit-and-run charges and accused her of failing to provide proof of insurance and failing to drive within her lane, according to San Francisco Police. CASH APP'S BOB LEE VISITED SUSPECT'S SISTER HOURS BEFORE MURDER. ARGUED WITH ALLEGED KILLER, COURT DOCS REVEAL A department spokesperson declined to comment further, citing the open investigation, and did not provide specifics of the hit-and-run allegations despite responding officers arresting Momeni, 38. She posted bail earlier this week but has not yet appeared in court. Her attorneys did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Her brother, Silicon Valley outsourcing entrepreneur Nima Momeni, is due in court today in Lee's April stabbing. The stabbing rocked the city after surveillance video showed the victim stumbling down a sidewalk, clutching at his wounds and begging passersby for help before he collapsed outside a hotel lobby in the waterfront Rincon Hill neighborhood. According to San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins' office, Nima Momeni led Lee out of his sister's apartment building, drove him to a parking lot and allegedly stabbed him while the Miami transplant was visiting on a business trip.  Nima Momeni has pleaded not guilty to murder charges. The alleged murder weapon, a knife police say was covered in both Lee’s blood and Nima Momeni’s DNA, came from Khazar Momeni's kitchen, according to police. Court documents say investigators recovered text messages exchanged between Lee and Khazar Momeni. In one conversation, she told the tech titan he "handled himself with class" after her brother allegedly "came wayyyyyy down hard" on him. "[Momeni] drove [Lee] to a dark and secluded area the opposite direction of his hotel," the filing alleges. "We know through a text message from Defendant's sister to Victim, Defendant was previously upset with Victim." A witness also told police Lee was drinking with his suspected killer's sister the afternoon before his murder and that the two may have been involved in an "intimate relationship," according to the filing. "Female was married, but the relationship had possibly been in jeopardy," it states. The night of the murder, the witness told police Momeni was grilling Lee in his hotel room about "whether his sister was doing drugs or anything inappropriate." Lee tried to assuage Momeni's concerns, the witness said, and left his hotel room after midnight. CASH APP FOUNDER BOB LEE DIED WITH DRUGS AND ALCOHOL IN SYSTEM AFTER SAN FRANCISCO STABBING When Lee was still gone the following morning, the witness told police he reached out to the sister, who said Lee visited her that night "for a second." "She fell asleep and didn't know when he left," the filing states. Lee was a father of two. A Wall Street Journal report in May alleged that Lee and Khazar Momeni traveled in the same social circles engaging in drug use and casual sex, and it identified her brother as a hanger-on outside the group. Both Lee's supporters and attorneys for Khazar Momeni have disputed the allegations, and a Lee family friend told Fox News Digital the claims were "highly inaccurate" but declined to comment further.  Lee's autopsy revealed he had cocaine, ketamine and alcohol in his system when he died, as well as the anti-allergy drug levocetirizine. According to the Mayo Clinic, that drug can have bad reactions with alcohol and ketamine. Fox News' Michael Lundin contributed to this report.

A married Texas businessman and father of two was entangled with a Nashville, Tennessee, escort and then blackmailed by her on-and-off-again lover. Erik Charles Maund, the heir to a lucrative Austin-based car company, received anonymous, threatening texts about a month after his extramarital escapade with 33-year-old Holly Williams, demanding $25,000. Over the next 11 days, the situation spiraled out of control. Maund's privately funded investigation into who sent the extortion demands became a murder-for-hire plot involving a retired Israeli Defense Force (IDF) member and two retired U.S. Marines. On March 12, 2020, a day after Maund was supposed to pay up, Williams and her then-boyfriend William Lanway, who sent the blackmail texts, were found dead in a Nashville construction site with bullet holes in their heads. SURGE OF RANDOM VIOLENCE ‘IS NEVER RANDOM,’ SAYS EXPERT ON HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF Three years later, a federal jury found Maund guilty of orchestrating their murders after an 11-day trial. Maund's lawyer did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment. The former Marines – Bryon Brockway and Adam Carey – were also convicted on Nov. 17 for their roles in the conspiracy. Former IDF member Gilad Peled pleaded guilty before the trial and became the prosecution's star witness.  Peled's lawyers declined to comment before sentencing, and Brockway's and Carey's lawyers didn't return Fox News Digital's request for comment. POLICE RESCUE WOMAN FROM SERIAL KIDNAPPED IN SHOCKING BODYCAM VIDEO "This investigation began with the discovery of two murder victims, Holly Williams and William Lanway, inside a vehicle off a construction road in West Nashville on Good Friday 2020," Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said in a statement after the conviction.  "Months of outstanding investigative work … provided multiple leads that drew our attention to other states. Realizing that this elaborate criminal case reached far outside of Nashville, our team enlisted the help of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office." Maund, Brockway and Carey each face life in prison or the death penalty and will be sentenced separately in 2024. The judge will take Peled's cooperation into account when handing down his sentence. Maund texted Williams that he was "looking forward" to seeing her when he reached Nashville in February 2020, according to court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital. "Good day beautiful! Looking forward too [sic] later. I’m in Nashville. I’ll meet you in the bar like last time. Text me when you arrive," he texted the escort on Feb. 5, 2020, the federal indictment says. REAL-LIFE 'CONJURING' CRIMINAL CASE 'SCARED US S---LESS': LAWYER Maund told his wife he was visiting their son in college, Peled said, according to the transcript of his testimony.  The two hooked up about a year earlier, according to court documents. Early February 2020 was round two.  When the calendar turned to March, the threatening texts started. Lanway "sent a series of texts" on March 1, 2020, demanding "monetary payment" or he was going to expose Maund's relations with Williams, the indictment says. The texts came from Williams' phone, and Maund did not know the sender at the time. The next morning, Maund called Peled and agreed to pay him $60,000 to "start an investigation" into who was sending the texts. SHOOTINGS AROUND COLLEGE CAMPUSES LEAVE STUDENTS, FAMILIES ON EDGE: ‘EVERYONE IS AT RISK’ "He told me that he went to visit his son in Nashville, Tennessee, where he goes to college, and while he was there, he was using escort services," Peled testified, according to the transcripts.  "When he came back he got a text message – a text message that was demanding money … and if he would not pay them, they will contact his family and out the fact that he was using escort services." Peled said there were not any discussions about killing Lanway or Williams; it was an investigation into who sent the texts. Peled then told Maund that he wanted to bring the case to law enforcement.  The prosecutor asked what Maund's reaction was.  BODYCAM CAPTURES DRAMATIC SHOOT-OUT WITH MAN ACCUSED OF SLAUGHTERING FAMILY BEFORE VANISHING "He was reluctant (to go to the police)," Peled said, according to the transcript. "He didn't want information to come out, says it's going to hurt his marriage.  "He didn't want his kids to know about it. He said it's going to devastate him if his kids are going to find out." From there, Peled recruited a family friend, Brockway, who introduced Carey into the fold. Both are retired Marines.  They set up a…

Washington, D.C., police have recorded 250 homicides so far this year — the highest number of murders that the nation's capital has seen in two decades — with a month left until the year's end. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) recorded 248 homicides in 2003, after which homicides began to steadily drop to a low of 88 in 2012 and then picked back up again, according to citywide crime statistics.  "It's perverse, and it represents a brazen return to lawlessness," Kathy Henderson, commissioner for the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in Ward 5, told Fox News Digital. "We need to really reassert lawful boundaries and protect our residents and our visitors to the city. And there's no legitimate reason why the nation's capital should be leading the nation in homicides and, I believe, in carjackings." Last year, the MPD recorded 189 homicides, meaning there has been more than a 32% increase in killings in D.C. since 2022. DC MAYOR TRAVELS TO DUBAI FOR CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE, PROMOTE TOURISM AMID SPIRALING CRIME MPD has its own carjacking crime statistics web page that shows 908 carjackings so far this year, 77% of which have involved firearms. Police reported 429 carjackings over the same period in 2022. The majority (65%) of carjacking arrests involve juveniles, with 15 being the most common age for offenders. There has also been a 93% increase in motor vehicle thefts, with 6,345 incidents reported this year compared to 3,291 last year. Violent crime has risen 40% on average across the nation's capital, MPD statistics show. DC MAYOR REFUSES TO WATCH VIRAL VIDEO OF KIDS DEBATING WHICH CRIMES THEY'D 'RATHER' COMMIT: 'WASTING MY TIME' Just last month, Texas Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar was targeted by three armed carjackers in D.C.'s Navy Yard. "I was just coming into my place. Three guys came out of nowhere, and they pointed guns at me," Cuellar said at the time. "I do have a black belt, but I recognize when you got three … guns – I looked at one with a gun and another with a gun, a third one behind me. So, they said they wanted my car. I said, 'Sure.' You've got to keep calm under those situations. And then they took off." Henderson, who says she has never supported the "defund the police" movement and has advocated for "lawful, credible and conscientious policing," said one particular city leader is to blame for D.C.'s crime wave. VIDEO ALLEGEDLY SHOWS DC TEENS WEIGHING CHARGES OF CRIMES THEY PLANNED ON COMMITTING "We didn't have a problem here. And then we had people on the city council – who should be singularly focused on making the best legislative decisions to protect our residents and our visitors and to move our city forward – decide to rewrite the criminal code and to weaken a lot of the protections that citizens had," said Henderson, who has lived in the capital for 40 years. "And all hell broke loose, and crime continues to rise. There are people that commit crimes here that think, ‘Who's going to stop us?'" The commissioner went on to name Charles Allen, Ward 6 councilman and former head of D.C.'s Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, who advocated for a $15 million budget cut to the MPD in 2020 and helped overhaul D.C.'s criminal code, as a driver behind the city's rising violent crime. Fox News Digital has reached out to Allen's office for comment. DC PRE-TEEN ALLEGEDLY ATTEMPTS TO CARJACK ARMED, OFF-DUTY FEDERAL OFFICER; 13-YEAR-OLD KILLED IN GUNFIRE "It's a number of factors, but it started with a member of the city council, the former chair of the committee on the judiciary, Mr. Charles Allen. This starts and stops with him," Henderson said. "He convened one circus of a hearing after another where he invited people from all over the country to talk about how horrible D.C. police are and [how] they need to stop killing Black people." After the MPD budget cut was approved, Allen said the D.C. City Council was "grappling with undoing centuries of layered and systemic racism and its permutations throughout our society," according to the Washington Post. "This budget reflects significant action and aligns with other sweeping reform this committee has undertaken, but it’s also one piece of a movement. ... Every level of government, including among executive branch agencies, must make change." Henderson said the changes to D.C.'s justice system over the last several years have made it difficult for officers "to enforce the law," pointing to the city's…

FIRST ON FOX: The number of concealed carry permit holders in the U.S. dropped slightly this year, but the number of Americans carrying a concealed firearm has likely increased overall due to more than half of U.S. states enacting laws that do not require eligible residents to obtain a permit, according to the author of a new study examining gun data. "I've been tracking the number of concealed carry permits since 1998," said John Lott, founder and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC). "And what you find is that this is the first year that there's actually been a drop in the number of concealed carry permits. It's not very much, but you basically see two different types of states. In the constitutional carry states, there was a drop. In all the other states, there was an increase." Fox News Digital exclusively obtained CPRC’s study that examines data on concealed carry permits, which found a 0.5% decrease in concealed carry holders across the U.S. this year. The study relies on concealed carry permit data as opposed to gun ownership surveys, which Lott said can be unreliable if gun owners are unwilling to share their personal information with a surveyor. A concealed carry weapon (CCW) is the practice of Americans carrying firearms in a public space but in a way that is not visible to others. MORE AMERICANS LEGALLY CARRYING GUNS DESPITE SLOWEST INCREASE IN CCW PERMITS ON RECORD, EXPERT SAYS "The main reason for the drop is that the number of permits declines gradually in the Constitutional Carry states even though it is clear that more people are legally carrying," the study, authored by Lott, College of William & Mary economics professor Carlisle E. Moody, and CPRC research associate Rujun Wang, states.  As of September, 27 states in the U.S. have constitutional carry laws on the books, which allow legal residents to carry a concealed firearm without a permit from the government. Residents of those states can still obtain permits, and frequently do, in order to carry in other states that have reciprocity agreements.  DESANTIS’ SIGNATURE TIPS US INTO MAJORITY 'CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY' NATION WITH NEW FLORIDA GUN RIGHTS LAW The U.S. became a constitutional carry-majority nation just this year, after Alabama, Florida and Nebraska enacted permitless carry laws. Constitutional carry law states account for 65% of the land in the U.S. and 44% of the population, according to the study.  The 23 states that do not have constitutional carry laws saw an increase in concealed carry permits, according to the study, but "permits fell even more in the Constitutional Carry ones even though more people are clearly carrying in those states."  All in, there are 21,846,557 active concealed carry permits in the U.S., according to the study. CPRC, which has been tracking CCW data since 2011, found there were 22 million concealed carry permit holders in 2022.  Out of the U.S. adult population, 8.4% hold concealed carry permits, which increases to 10.1% of the adult population when removing New York and California, which have strict gun laws. In 17 states, more than 10% of the adult population have CCWs, including in Oregon and Michigan as of this year. MURDERS ARE BECOMING EVEN MORE CONCENTRATED IN A HANDFUL OF URBAN COUNTIES, REPORT SHOWS Florida has issued the most concealed carry permits, at 2.56 million, followed by Texas at 1.63 million, and Pennsylvania at 1.6 million, the data found. Alabama had the highest percentage of residents with CCWs, at 27.75% of the state’s adult population, followed by Indiana at 22.95% and Colorado at 16.55%.  Lott said that obtaining a concealed carry permit can be an expensive endeavor, pointing to cities such as Chicago or states such as California that require people to spend hundreds of dollars to obtain the permit and get the required gun safety training. In states where permits and their costs have been eliminated, more people are inclined to purchase a handgun and conceal carry. "There's strong evidence that when you lower the cost of people being able to go and carry – not making them have to pay the fees and not making them have to wait periods of time to go and carry – you're going to see more people carrying, and we've seen that in terms of more people getting training, for example," Lott told Fox News Digital. WHY GUN OWNERSHIP IS SPIKING AMONG THIS DEMOGRAPHIC Lowering costs also changes the "mix of people who get permits" and leads to "a lot more permits issued…

The U.S. and U.K. joined more than a dozen countries to unveil a new artifical intelligence agreement aimed at preventing rogue actors from abusing the technology, though not all experts are sold on how useful the pact will be. "This is really more of an agreement of intent than actual substance," Phil Siegel, founder of the Center for Advanced Preparedness and Threat Response Simulation, told Fox News Digital. Siegel's comments come after what a U.S. official described as the first ever detailed agreement on AI safety was unveiled Sunday, according to a report from Reuters, putting measures in place that are meant to create AI systems that are "secure by design." MULTI-NATION AGREEMENT SEEKS COOPERATION ON DEVELOPMENT OF 'FRONTIER' AI TECH The 20-page document that was signed by 18 countries acknowledged the need to develop ways to keep the public safe from potential abuses of AI technology. But the agreement is non-binding and will serve more as a guide on how to monitor AI systems for abuse, Reuters reported. "There needs to be some specifics behind this – a set of procedures and regulations – before anyone can give a reaction beyond 'it’s a good start,'" Siegel said. "Examples of actions might include the watermarking initiatives on algorithms and/or outputs, asking vendors to perform a KYC (know your customer) procedure like banks do to prevent money laundering, or algorithmic stress tests to make sure they can’t easily be manipulated by bad actors." Christopher Alexander, chief analytics officer of Pioneer Development Group, called the new agreement nothing more than a "feel-good measure." "The only potential value of an agreement like this is if it paves the way for regulations that governments can use to punish people who misuse AI," Alexander told Fox News Digtial. "Provide governments with enforceable rules and industry with guidelines to follow that actually matter. Otherwise it is the typical 'admiration of the problem' rather than solving anything." EXPERT SAYS BIDEN ADMIN'S AI SAFETY INSTITUTE NOT ‘SUFFICIENT’ TO HANDLE PITFALLS The deal comes as the Biden administration has pushed for more regulation of AI, including signing an executive order last month that was hailed as the first step toward safer development of AI. But experts are also skeptical that order will carry much weight, something the administration has acknowledged while pushing Congress for more action. Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Australia, Chile, Israel, Nigeria and Singapore were among the countries to sign the latest international agreement, something U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly said was an important step toward AI safety across the globe. "This is the first time that we have seen an affirmation that these capabilities should not just be about cool features and how quickly we can get them to market or how we can compete to drive down costs," Easterly told Reuters, adding that the pact's guidelines represent "an agreement that the most important thing that needs to be done at the design phase is security." Nevertheless, experts remain skeptical, with Bull Moose Project Policy Director Ziven Havens arguing the pact is "bland" and lacks "seriousness." WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)? "Eighteen countries came together to work on this paper and the best they could come up with was to remind AI developers about securing their supply chains and monitoring model security," Havens told Fox News Digital. Havens also points out the lack of enforcement mechanisms in the deal, arguing that it read more like "an op-ed than a serious policy proposal." "Instead, Congress should take the leap and propose serious legislation on AI, including on generative AI and minor safety," Havens said. That concern was shared by Samuel Mangold-Lenett, a staff editor at The Federalist, who argued for more effort on AI regulation in the U.S. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "This agreement will likely have little, if any, impact. It's ‘non-binding’ and lacks enforcement mechanisms," Mangold-Lenett told Fox News Digital. "We want to encourage AI developers to create secure products that protect user data and intellectual property, but we need action on the home front, not empty gestures abroad."

A Florida man has been arrested after he allegedly stabbed a woman several times with a knife "because he wanted to" after following her out of a Naples Walgreens, according to the Collier County Sheriff's Office.  Kenneth Bryan, 34, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after Sunday's incident in the Walgreen's parking lot, according to arrest records.  Shortly after 2 p.m., deputies were called to Walgreens for reports of a woman being stabbed several times with a knife after being followed by a man into the parking lot.  Authorities told FOX 35 Orlando that the woman noticed Bryan following her, and she tried to speed up to get away, but was unsuccessful.  FLORIDA WOMAN ATTEMPTED TO EAT COUNTERFEIT CASH AFTER BEING BUSTED FOR WALMART THEFT: REPORT Bryan allegedly stabbed the woman twice in the back. The victim told officials that she originally thought she was being punched until she saw blood coming from one of the wounds. She was treated on the scene and declined to be transported to the hospital, according to officials. When questioned by deputies about the motive for the stabbing, Bryan gave a disturbing answer, according to the arrest affidavit.  FLORIDA WOMAN ALLEGEDLY STABS BOYFRIEND IN EYE WITH RABIES NEEDLES FOR LOOKING AT OTHER WOMEN "I asked him why he did that. [Bryan] stated, ‘Because I wanted to,’" the affidavit said.  Bryan was placed in police custody and transported to the Naples Jail Center.  FLORIDA PEST CONTROL WORKER ARRESTED FOR 'DISGUSTING' ACT TOWARD WOMEN, INCLUDING 76-YEAR-OLD: AUTHORITIES "The safety of our patients, customers and team members is our priority. We are cooperating with law enforcement regarding this incident," a Walgreens spokesperson told Fox News Digital.  According to jail records, Bryan had several prior arrests, including charges for aggravated battery, aggravated assault and battery dating back to 2014.

A man in Pennsylvania is accused of hitting his wife to death during an argument over money for their cat's vet bill. The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said in a press release that Lower Pottsgrove Township Police responded to a 911 call placed by Barton Seltmann, 84, on Tuesday at 2:26 p.m. related to an unresponsive female. Once officers arrived, they found Barton Seltmann on the house's back porch "with blood on his hands, face and clothing," the district attorney's office wrote. Hif wife Margaret Seltmann, 85, was found inside the home and described by officials as "obviously deceased." FBI AGENT CARJACKED IN WASHINGTON, DC: POLICE Detectives would find out through an investigation that the couple were in an argument about money for their cat's veterinary care when Barton Seltmann allegedly struck his wife several times in the head while she was lying on the kitchen floor. NYPD WARNS OF POSSIBLE ROCKEFELLER CENTER TREE LIGHTING DISRUPTIONS BY PRO-PALESTINIAN ACTIVISTS: REPORT The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office determined Margaret Seltmann's cause of death was blunt force injuries to the head, with the manner of death being homicide. Barton Seltmann was charged with first-degree murder and third-degree murder. He's being held with no bail at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.  The defendant is due in court for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 5.

A Texas man has been arrested and charged with murdering his girlfriend, after her body was found in the trunk of her car several hours after she was reported missing, according to police. The Houston Police Department said 19-year-old Ariel Cruz was at the scene with the family of his 21-year-old girlfriend when her body was discovered. During the morning hours Tuesday, the victim’s family learned she did not arrive at school when she was expected to be there. TEXAS MAN GETS 99 YEARS IN PRISON AFTER SEVENTH DWI CONVICTION After learning that her last known location was near the 5400 block of Indigo Street in Houston, family members went to the area and found her black Honda Civic parked on the street. The family conducted a search for the victim, and after finding no sign of her, they contacted police to report her missing. Hours later, at about 5:40 p.m., a family member forced their way into the victim’s Honda Civic, opened the trunk and found her in an unresponsive state. 6 INMATES MURDER FELLOW PRISONER AT TEXAS JAIL, OFFICIALS CONCERNED OVER POTENTIAL RETALIATION: SHERIFF EMS responded to the scene, where they pronounced the victim dead. Police said the female victim had signs of trauma to her face. TEXAS MAN SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON FOR HATE CRIME, ARSON ATTACK ON AUSTIN SYNAGOGUE As the investigation unfolded, detectives identified Cruz as a suspect. Cruz was on the scene with the family as they searched for the victim, whose identity has been withheld pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. Cruz was apprehended at the scene by detectives, and upon questioning, police said, he allegedly confessed to his role in his girlfriend’s death. He was subsequently charged with murder, police added.

A Texas man faces charges after initially claiming he was a victim of a hate crime when his rental house burned to the ground.  According to authorities, 50-year-old Mario Roberson of Huntsville was charged with arson after the bodies of two people were found inside what was left of the home destroyed in June. FOX 26 Houston spoke with the attorney of Mario Roberson, who had originally claimed the fire was arson and a hate crime. Roberson said he was being targeted and that racist graffiti was sprayed on the house before the fire. IOWA FIREFIGHTER CHARGED WITH SEVERAL COUNTS OF ARSON AFTER SETTING, RESPONDING, EXTINGUISHING FLAMES: POLICE Roberson also claimed he was nearly shot in the same neighborhood two weeks after the graffiti was painted on the property, according to reports.  WOMAN CHARGED IN ARSON DEATH OF POPULAR MICHIGAN MEAT VENDOR On Monday, a grand jury issued a "true bill" for Roberson, which would allow him to be charged with first-degree felony arson. The indictment comes after a months-long investigation by the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office, according to records.  WOMAN SET HOUSE ABLAZE WITH MAN INSIDE, NOW FACES ARSON, ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGES: AUTHORITIES Roberson faces anywhere from five to 99 years behind bars. The Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office and San Jacinto County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Emirati president-designate for the upcoming United Nations COP28 climate talks forcefully denied Wednesday a report alleging his nation planned to use the summit to strike oil and gas deals. Sultan al-Jaber, who also leads the massive state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., called the allegations from a BBC report "an attempt to undermine the work of the COP28 presidency" before the talks were set to begin on Thursday. The report cited what it described as "leaked briefing documents" the broadcaster said showed the Emirates planned to discuss oil, gas and renewable energy deals with several nations. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES CREATES FEDERAL AUTHORITY FOR ‘COMMERCIAL GAMING’ INDUSTRY "These allegations are false, not true, incorrect and not accurate," al-Jaber told a small group of journalists gathered for a news conference that also was aired live. "I promise you never ever did I see these talking points that they refer to or that I ever even used such talking points in my discussions." He added: "So please for once, respect who we are, respect what we have achieved over the years and respect the fact that we have been clear open and clean and honest and transparent on how we want to conduct this COP process." Asked for comment, the BBC said: "The investigation was rigorously researched according to the highest editorial standards." The broadcaster did not elaborate regarding the report, which it published with the Center for Climate Reporting. Immediately after the remarks, a faked news release sent to The Associated Press described al-Jaber as having agreed to resign. COP28 organizers with the UAE delegation later confirmed it was false and al-Jaber would continue in his role. Each year, the country hosting the U.N. negotiations known as the Conference of the Parties — where COP gets its name — nominates a person to chair the talks. Hosts typically pick a veteran diplomat as the talks can be difficult to steer between competing nations and their interests. The nominee’s position as "COP president" is confirmed by delegates at the start of the talks, usually without objections. However, activists’ ire over al-Jaber’s selection could still see a turbulent start to the negotiations. ADNOC, the state oil company, has plans to increase its production of crude oil from 4 million barrels a day up to 5 million, boosting its production of carbon-emitting crude oil and natural gas. Al-Jaber, a 50-year-old longtime climate envoy, is a trusted confidant of UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He’s been behind tens of billions of dollars spent or pledged toward renewable energy in the federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Jaber escorted Sheikh Mohammed through the COP28 site on Wednesday ahead of his remarks. But the fact that al-Jaber repeatedly defended himself and the country from activists’ criticism is telling in the Emirates, an autocratic nation that while a key U.S. business and military ally still tightly controls speech, bans political parties and criminalizes labor strikes. U.S President Joe Biden, who has attended the last two COP meetings in Scotland and Egypt, will not attend this summit amid the Israel-Hamas war. Vice President Kamala Harris will attend in his place.

Hamas on Wednesday handed over 16 more hostages — including 12 Israelis — on the last day of an extended cease-fire with Israel. The latest round of hostages included a group of 10 Israeli women and children, and four Thai nationals. Hamas handed over the hostages to the Israeli military late Wednesday. Their release was expected to be followed by Israel freeing 30 Palestinian prisoners. Two Russian-Israeli women were also freed earlier Wednesday evening after being held captive by Hamas, and have arrived back in Israel. The names of Wednesday's hostages are as follows: Liat Beinin Atzili, 49; Raaya Rotem, 54; Raz Ben Ami, 57; Yarden Roman Gat, 36; Moran Stela Yanai, 40; Liam Or, 18; Ofir Engel, 18; Amit Shani, 16; Gali Tarshansky, 13; and Itay Regev, 18.  The Russian-Israeli women are Irena Tatti, 73, and Elena Trufanova, 50.  As of Wednesday, Hamas has released 60 Israeli women and children 21 people of other nationalities. There are believed to be 159 hostages still in the custody of Hamas or other terrorist groups.  FREED ISRAELI HOSTAGE CLAIMS HAMAS' GAZA LEADER WAS SILENT AFTER CONFRONTING HIM IN TUNNEL The latest released hostages were expected to undergo an initial medical assessment. IDF soldiers were to stay with them until they could be reunited with their families.  The cease-fire, which began Friday, was expected to expire Monday, but was extended two more days. International mediators are working to extend the cease-fire again before it expires once again.  Israel has agreed to extend the truce by one day for every 10 militant-held hostages who are freed. However, Israel has vowed to resume the war in an effort to end Hamas' 16-year rule of Gaza, but it's facing mounting international pressure to extend the truce and spare southern Gaza a devastating ground offensive like the one that has demolished much of the north. Roughly 240 hostages were captured by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that ignited the war. More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza. About 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initial incursion by Hamas. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Panama (AP) — In a historic ruling, Panama’s Supreme Court this week declared that legislation granting a Canadian copper mine a 20-year concession was unconstitutional, a decision celebrated by thousands of Panamanians activists who had argued the project would damage a forested coastal area and threaten water supplies. The mine, which is now in the process of shutting down, has been an important economic engine for the country, employing thousands. But it also triggered massive protests that paralyzed the Central American nation for over a month, mobilizing a broad swath of Panamanian society, including Indigenous communities, who said the mine was destroying key ecosystems they depend on. PANAMA TO RAMP UP DEPORTATIONS AMID RECORD MIGRATION THROUGH TREACHEROUS DARIEN GAP In its decision, the high court highlighted those environmental and human rights concerns, and ruled the contract violated 25 articles of Panama’s constitution. Those include the right to live in a pollution-free environment, the obligation of the state to protect the health of minors and its commitment to promote the economic and political engagement of Indigenous and rural communities. WHAT IS THE FALLOUT OF THE COURT’S RULING? The ruling would lead to the closure of Minera Panama, the local subsidiary of Canada’s First Quantum Minerals and the largest open-pit copper mine in Central America, according to jurists and environmental activists. The court said the government should no longer recognize the existence of the mine's concession and Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo said "the transition process for an orderly and safe closure of the mine will begin." Analysts say it appears highly unlikely that Panama's government and the mining company will pursue a new agreement based on the resounding rejection by Panamanians. "There are sectors in the country that would like a new contract, but the population itself does not want more open-pit mining, the message was clear," said Rolando Gordón, dean of the economics faculty at the state-run University of Panama. "What remains now is to reach an agreement to close the mine." COULD PANAMA BE THE SUBJECT OF INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION? Analysts say the mining company is free to pursue international arbitration to seek compensation for the closure based on commercial treaties signed between Panama and Canada. Before the ruling, the company said it had the right to take steps to protect its investment. With the ruling, the Panamanian government and the mining company are headed for arbitration at the World Bank’s international center for arbitration of investment disputes, in Washington D.C., said Rodrigo Noriega, a Panamanian jurist. Marta Cornejo, one of the plaintiffs, said "we are not afraid of any arbitration claim" and that they are "capable of proving that the corrupt tried to sell our nation and that a transnational company went ahead, knowing that it violated all constitutional norms." In a statement after the verdict, the mining company said it had "operated consistently with transparency and strict adherence to Panamanian legislation." It emphasized that the contract was the result of "a long and transparent negotiation process, with the objective of promoting mutual economic benefits, guaranteeing the protection of the environment." WHAT WILL HAPPEN WITH THE THOUSANDS OF JOBS CREATED BY THE MINE? President Cortizo, who had defended the contract arguing it would keep 9,387 direct jobs, more than what the mine reports, said that the closing of the mine must take place in a "responsible and participative" manner due to the impact it would have. The company has said the mine generates 40,000 jobs, including 7,000 direct jobs, and that it contributes the equivalent of 5% of Panama’s GDP. The court verdict and the eventual closure of the mine prompted more protests, this time by mine workers. "We will not allow our jobs, which are the livelihood of our families, to be put at risk," the Union of Panamanian Mining Workers said in a statement. WHAT WILL BE THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE EVENTUAL MINE CLOSURE? Panama two weeks ago received a first payment of $567 million from First Quantum, as stipulated in their contract. Due to the legal dispute, the amount went directly to a restricted account. The contract also stipulated that Panama would receive at least $375 million annually from the mining company, an amount that critics considered meager. Minera Panama published a scathing statement on Wednesday saying the Supreme Court decision will likely have a negative economic impact and warned that lack of maintenance of drainage systems in the mines could have "catastrophic consequences." The move, the company said, "puts at risk" all of Panama’s other…

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Top diplomats from more than 50 countries arrived in North Macedonia on Wednesday for a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, while others boycotted the event due to the presence of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had said they would not attend the talks due to Lavrov's participation and Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. RUSSIAN FM SAYS HE PLANS TO ATTEND OSCE MEETING IN NORTH MACEDONIA U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a brief stop in North Macedonia's capital, Skopje, for the meeting but left for Israel hours later. He did not encounter Lavrov, who arrived in Skopje late Wednesday. Blinken accused Russia of "flagrant violations of every single core principle" of Cold War efforts to ease East-West tensions that led to the creation of the OSCE, and "relentless efforts to obstruct the OSCE’s work." Speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels earlier Wednesday, Blinken said that the other OSCE member nations "are showing determination to make sure the organization continues to fulfill its purpose to advance European security." North Macedonia, a NATO member who holds the OSCE's rotating chairmanship until Dec. 31, briefly suspended its ban on flights from Russia for Lavrov to fly in. Russia's top diplomat is making a rare visit to a NATO member country during the war that started with his country's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Lavrov also has visited NATO ally Turkey, which has no ban on Russian flights. In September, he was in New York to attend the U.N. gathering of world leaders. In remarks with Blinken, North Macedonia’s foreign minister, Bujar Osmani, said his country's chairmanship had sought to turn the OSCE into "a platform for political and legal accountability of (Russia) for its atrocities in Ukraine." The OSCE meeting started with a working dinner on Wednesday. Formal talks over the next two days will discuss the future of the organization and the challenges it faces. The participating ministers are expected to decide whether Malta will be elected chair for next year. Other decisions include the OSCE budget and filling key positions. In a joint statement Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said Lavrov's presence at the meetings "will only provide Russia with yet another propaganda opportunity." Separately, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry claimed that Russia "systematically blocked the consensus on key issues," citing its opposition to Estonia’s candidacy for chair of the organization in 2024. Security will be high in Skopje. Police sealed off a sports venue where the talks are taking place. The government declared Thursday a public sector and school holiday to reduce traffic.

PARIS (AP) — Stay, enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime show. That was the message from organizers of the Paris Olympics on Wednesday as they sought to reassure the French capital's residents that security measures and traffic restrictions won't make their lives nightmarish during the July 26-Aug. 11 event and the Paralympic Games that follow. PARIS OLYMPICS OPERATING BUDGET IS ‘UNDER CONTROL’ ACCORDING TO ORGANIZING COMMITTEE PRESIDENT But critics, including some in the Senate, were displeased by plans to require motorists to apply online for a QR code to access traffic-restricted zones of Paris during the Games. Senators complained that lawmakers had not been consulted. Nathalie Goulet, a senator from Normandy, likened the proposal to ID papers that France's Nazi occupiers imposed in World War II. The Senate announced that Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez would appear before senators on Thursday and be asked to explain the security measures around the event. Nuñez, speaking to journalists, defended the planned QR code as legal and justified. He insisted that traffic restrictions would be kept to the necessary minimum and suggested that he'd been expecting criticism. "One can always be the little ugly duckling who sulks in the corner. We know we'll have lots of those," the police chief said. The traffic restrictions and other security measures detailed Wednesday by Nuñez in a newspaper interview and a subsequent news conference will be concentrated on Olympic competition routes and venues, some of them installed in the heart of Paris, and won't be generalized across the capital. Pedestrians and cyclists won't need the QR code to get around, but motor vehicles and motorbikes will need it to get past some police checkpoints. Some Metro stations will be closed. But Nuñez said the general aim is to create as little economic impact as possible and for shops, restaurants and museums to remain accessible. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the security shouldn't cause Parisians to flee and described the city's first Olympic Games in a century as a gift for its residents. "Should people leave Paris? Well no," she said. "At a time when the whole world is a bit depressed, with wars and conflicts, we will be the place that hosts the first big fraternal event, thanks to sport, after the COVID (pandemic)," she said. "We are giving ourselves a collective present."

An expensive private high school in Mexico said Wednesday it has suspended and may expel a student who was caught on video beating a parking lot attendant at his housing complex. It was the latest in a decade-long string of beatings of working-class Mexicans by wealthy people that have caused anger in a country riven by stark income disparities. The incident happened in the central state of Puebla, where income inequality is particularly sharp. The state governor said that racism and classism may have been behind the incident, which he said occurred Tuesday. Gov. Salomón Céspedes called on prosecutors to consider bringing criminal charges in the case. MEXICO CONFIRMS 5 JOURNALISTS SHOT IN 1 DAY The high school student, whose name authorities have not yet confirmed, was seen on security camera footage that went viral this week. He is seen rushing into the guard shack and punching the smaller employee ruthlessly and repeatedly. The student was reportedly angry because his automatic parking pass wouldn’t work. "I condemn classism. I condemn the elitism that separates people based on their social standing, race, religion, physical condition or preferences," Gov. Céspedes wrote in his social media accounts. "I call on the Puebla prosecutors' office to conduct an exhaustive investigation, so that justice can be done and a precedent set," he wrote. The student's high school said it had suspended him pending possible expulsion, even though the incident did not happen on campus. "We have decided to take immediate action by suspending the student ... taking into account that under our regulations, what happened was a serious offense," the Anahuac private prep school wrote in a statement. "We emphatically condemn any serious offense against the principles of respect and responsibilities that we promote," according to the statement. The parking guard was darker-skinned, slight of build and had more indigenous features than his light-skinned attacker. The was no immediate comment from prosecutors on whether the youth might face charges. The incident occurred earlier this week at the entrance to a luxury housing development on the outskirts of the central city of Puebla, which has developed a reputation for misbehaving, privileged youths. A gang of such young men were involved in the savage beating of another youth in September. 2 DEAD, 1 INJURED IN MEXICO CITY-AREA GRAVEYARD SHOOTING ON DAY OF THE DEAD The most notorious incident occurred in 2012, when a wealthy Mexican man was caught on video beating a parking attendant who refused to show him where to find the jack in his car. Ademar Gonzalez, the lawyer for parking attendant Hugo Enrique Vera, said at the time that Miguel Sacal, the man who beat his client at a luxury apartment building, agreed to apologize and pay damages for the beating. Around the same time, two upper middle-class women drew widespread anger when they were caught on video insulting, shoving and slapping a Mexico City cop, insulting his mother and calling him a "crappy wage slave." The women were later charged with resisting officers, insulting authorities and discrimination.

The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Carney has shot down an Iranian-made Houthi drone launched from Yemen, a military official confirms to Fox News.  There was no damage to the Carney or any injuries to the U.S. personnel onboard. The warship had been sailing near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the time of the attack.  "Although its intentions are not known, the UAV was heading toward the warship," U.S. Central Command told Fox News Digital.  "At the time of the shoot-down, the USS Carney was escorting the USNS SUPPLY (Oiler) and another U.S.-flagged and -crewed ship carrying military equipment to the region. There were no injuries to U.S. personnel and no damage to U.S. vessels." The USS Carney shot down 15 drones and four cruise missiles fired from Yemen in the northern Red Sea last month during a nine-hour span, using its SM-2 surface-to-air missiles. Unlike Wednesday’s drone — an Iranian-made KAS-04 — it did not shoot down the missiles in self-defense, as the projectiles were headed toward Eilat in Israel.  FREED ISRAELI HOSTAGE CLAIMS HAMAS' GAZA LEADER WAS SILENT AFTER CONFRONTING HIM IN TUNNEL Wednesday’s attempted drone strike is the latest in a string of threats from Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. It comes a day after an Iranian drone flew within 1,500 yards of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier as it was conducting flight operations in international waters in the Arabian Gulf. Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said the drone "violated safety precautions" by not staying more than 10 nautical miles from the ship. The drone ignored multiple warnings but eventually turned away. Earlier this month, another Navy destroyer, the USS Thomas Hudner, shot down a drone that was heading toward the ship as it sailed in the southern Red Sea. It also was near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and it shot down the drone over the water. The Red Sea, stretching from Egypt's Suez Canal to the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait separating the Arabian Peninsula from Africa, is a key trade route for global shipping and energy supplies.  The U.S. Navy has stationed multiple ships in the sea since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, which has heightened tensions in the region. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

PARIS (AP) — A special court cleared France’s justice minister of conflict of interest on Wednesday, ruling that he was not guilty of having used his office to settle personal scores, the first such trial of a French government minister while still in office. Eric Dupond-Moretti had denied wrongdoing and refused to resign before or during his two-week trial, defying what had been an unwritten rule until recent years that members of government quit when put under investigation. FRANCE TO IMPOSE COMPLETE SMOKING BAN AT BEACHES, OTHER PUBLIC PROPERTIES Wednesday's verdict was a political victory for him and his allies. Dupond-Moretti, speaking on France 2 television, said "this trial was an ordeal for me and at the same time a relief because I’d been waiting ... for over 3 years to explain myself." "I want to turn the page ... and resume the ordinary course of my work," he added. "It’s a good thing I wasn’t forced to resign, since I’m innocent tonight." Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she was happy to say that Dupond-Moretti would stay on in his role. "The justice minister will now be able to continue his work as part of the government team ... I am delighted," she said on X, formerly Twitter. A high-profile lawyer before his time in government, Dupond-Moretti had been accused of abusing his position to order probes targeting magistrates who investigated him, his friends and his former clients. He was tried in a special court for alleged wrongdoing by the government created in 1993, the Court of Justice of the Republic. Three professional magistrates joined by 12 members of parliament — six from the lower house and six from the Senate — heard the case, and a majority of eight votes was required to decide on the question of guilt. The proceedings marked the first time in modern France that a government minister was put on trial while still in office for actions taken as a minister, according to legal historians. The court previously tried 11 former government members, and convicted seven of them, over the past three decades. Dupond-Moretti left the court a few minutes after the verdict without speaking. Defense lawyer Jacqueline Laffont expressed "satisfaction" and "huge emotion" at the decision, which she said showed her client "for three years had been unjustly accused." "It is the victory of law … also the victory of the separation of powers," Laffont said, adding: "Law triumphed and justice triumphed." Remi Lorrain, also a defense lawyer, added that the verdict is a "surprise only for those who misunderstood." He said the ruling shows Dupond-Moretti "never wanted to take revenge on anyone." Dupond-Moretti was appointed justice minister in the government of President Emmanuel Macron in July 2020. A few months later, two magistrates' unions and an anti-corruption association, Anticor, filed complaints against him. The lawyer for magistrates' unions, Christophe Clerc, said the verdict represented "imperfect justice," but said that the group believes that the prosecution could deter conflicts of interest in the future. Anticor posted a statement on its X account noting with regret that the ruling was made by a special court for government ministers. "Justice for ministers is unfortunately a political justice, in clear violation of the principle of equality before the law," the group said. Anti-corruption group Transparency International France called in a statement for "reinforced ethical vigilance," especially when newly appointed government members are making their "first steps."

The ruling emir of oil-rich Kuwait was hospitalized Wednesday "due to an emergency health problem" but later reported to be in stable condition, renewing longstanding concerns over his health since he became ruler in 2020. The report by the state-run KUNA news agency did not elaborate on the problem faced by 86-year-old Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah. However, Sheikh Nawaf has handed over power several times during his rule to his crown prince, his half brother Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber, while facing medical checks and other issues. Given Sheikh Nawaf’s age, the emergency renews concerns about his health. State-run news previously reported that he traveled to the United States for unspecified medical checks in March 2021. KUWAIT EXECUTES 5, INCLUDING PERPETRATOR OF 2015 MOSQUE BOMBING CLAIMED BY ISLAMIC STATE The health of Kuwait’s leaders remains a sensitive matter in the tiny Mideast nation bordering Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which has seen internal power struggles behind palace doors. Wednesday night, authorities put out a new statement urging the public to only take information from "official sources" about Sheikh Nawaf's health. They also added he was receiving the medication he needed, again without specifying what illness he faced. Sheikh Nawaf was sworn in as emir following the 2020 death of his predecessor, the late Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. The breadth and depth of emotion over the loss of Sheikh Sabah, known for his diplomacy and peacemaking, was felt across the wider Middle East. Sheikh Nawaf previously served as Kuwait's interior and defense ministers, but he wasn't seen as particularly active in government outside those terms. However, he largely was an uncontroversial choice for emir, though his advancing age led analysts to suggest his tenure could be short. Sheikh Meshal, now 83, is believed to be the world's oldest crown prince. Sheikh Nawaf's term has largely been focused on domestic issues as Kuwait struggles through political disputes — including the overhaul of Kuwait’s welfare system — which prevented the sheikhdom from taking on debt. That's left it with little in its coffers to pay bloated public sector salaries, even as Kuwait generates immense wealth from its oil reserves. In 2021, Sheikh Nawaf issued a long-awaited amnesty decree, pardoning and reducing the sentences of nearly three dozen Kuwaiti dissidents in a move aimed at defusing a major government standoff. He issued another in recent days, aiming to resolve that political impasse in a nation with the Gulf's freest parliament that comparatively allows for dissent. LEBANON, KUWAIT MOVE TO BAN ‘BARBIE’ OVER GENDER, SEXUALITY THEMES AHEAD OF MIDDLE EAST DEBUT Meanwhile, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have restored ties after years of a boycott of Doha. That has eased regional tensions and allowed Sheikh Nawaf to focus on issues at home. They include the need to repair roads and fix other long-lingering problems as the ruling Al Sabah family determine how succession will begin with a younger generation, said Bader al-Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University. "It’s been three years and if one were to speak about those three years, we could say it’s a transformational period to see how to move from one generation to another," al-Saif said. Kuwait, a nation home to some 4.2 million people that’s slightly smaller than the U.S. state of New Jersey, has the world’s sixth-largest known oil reserves. It has been a staunch U.S. ally since the 1991 Gulf War expelled the occupying Iraqi forces of Saddam Hussein. Kuwait hosts some 13,500 American troops in the country, as well as the forward headquarters of the U.S. Army in the Middle East.

A British foster child who told police "Looks like I got my first kill" after he ran over the 60-year-old woman caring for him with her own car was sentenced Wednesday to two years in custody. The boy, who was 12 at the time, fatally struck Marcia Grant when she tried to stop him from taking her car and fled the scene on April 5. When he was arrested about an hour later, he used a series of expletives and threatened to kill the family of a police woman, prosecutors said. "Is she dead?" he asked officers, according to prosecutor Gary Crothers at an earlier hearing. "Looks like I got my first kill." He then swore it had been an accident. MOTHER CHARGED WITH MURDER FOR ALLEGEDLY DROWNING DISABLED, NON-VERBAL 9-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER The boy, now 13, cannot be named because of his age. He previously pleaded guilty in Sheffield Crown Court to causing death by dangerous driving. Prosecutors dropped a murder charge. Grant had been a foster mother since 2016 and was considered a pillar of the community in the Greenhill area of Sheffield in Northern England, police said. Her daughter, Gemma Grant, told the court through tears that her mother "wanted to pull the world into a hug" and would lift up anyone facing adversity. "It floors me that the boy that killed her was greeted by a massive hug, given lots of assurance and her trademark warmth," Grant said. "We will never forgive him and will carry this trauma with us always." The boy was planning on taking the car to visit his family when he stole Grant's keys, he told police in a statement. He said he grabbed a kitchen knife to protect himself if he was attacked while traveling alone. He slipped out of the house and started the car. "Someone’s taking the car," Marcia Grant shouted and ran outside, her husband Delroy Grant said. She didn't initially realize the child they were caring for was driving. She stood behind the vehicle to block it but the boy shifted into reverse, knocking her over. As his wife lay with her legs under the car, Delroy Grant smashed the driver's side window and pleaded with the boy to stop. But the car lurched backward "at some speed, causing the catastrophic injuries," Crothers said. The boy, who later claimed he had been a "gangster" since he was 9, said "sorry" as he ran away, prosecutor Mark McKone said Wednesday. MASS PROTESTS ERUPT ACROSS ITALY AFTER EXTRADITION OF COLLEGE STUDENT'S SUSPECTED KILLER "I was in a state of panic, I didn’t know Marcia was behind the car," the boy told police in his statement. "I never intended to hit her or cause her any harm. I’m very sorry for what has happened." Prosecutors said there was no evidence he intended to harm Grant. Grant's family disputed that in a statement criticizing prosecutors, saying they were "completely heartbroken that our mother will not get the justice she deserves." "We strongly believe that the evidence on hand shows a complete disregard for human life and clear premeditation to do serious harm," they wrote in the statement posted on the South Yorkshire Police website. Because of his age, the boy will be held in a secure youth center rather than an adult prison. He was also disqualified from driving for six years.