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Hamas officials accused Israel of violating a ceasefire agreement Monday and threatened to delay releasing more hostages, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to say “all hell is going to break out” if all the remaining hostages are not turned over by Saturday.

The next exchange was set for Saturday, with three more Israelis set to be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners jailed by Israel.

A spokesperson for Hamas’ armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement the militants remain committed to the ceasefire terms “as long as the occupation adheres to them.”

Hamas accused Israel of delaying the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza, although hundreds of thousands have returned. The group said Palestinians were targeted “with airstrikes and gunfire across various areas” and Israel has failed “to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid as agreed.”

However, a United Nations official said 12,600 humanitarian aid trucks have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began and the immediate threat of famine has dissipated.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said any delay by Hamas would be “a complete violation” of the ceasefire agreement. He placed the Israeli military on the highest level of alert.

In Washington Monday, Trump said he would propose canceling the ceasefire agreement if all the remaining hostages being held in Gaza were not released by 12 o’clock Saturday, but he did not specify whether that was noon or midnight, and he did not indicate a time zone. 

He also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they don’t take Palestinian refugees being relocated from Gaza.

Since the ceasefire took effect last month, Hamas has freed 21 hostages while Israel has released more than 730 prisoners.

Trump has proposed moving Palestinians living in Gaza to an unspecified location outside the territory. Under his plan for the enclave, they would have no right to return.

In an interview with Fox News released Monday, he called his plan for the narrow territory along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea a “real estate development for the future.”

“I would own it,” he said, adding that the 2.3 million Palestinians now living in war-ravaged Gaza would be moved to as many as six different sites outside Gaza under a plan that the Arab world, as well as U.S. allies and adversaries alike, have already rejected.

Trump, a billionaire New York real estate magnate before entering politics in 2015, did not say where the Palestinians would be relocated. But when asked by Fox anchor Bret Baier if they would be allowed to return home to Gaza, Trump said, “No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing.”

“In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever — it’s not habitable,” Trump said of Gaza, decimated by 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

In the Fox interview, Trump said he would build “beautiful communities” for the Palestinians.

“Could be five, six, could be two. But we’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” Trump said.

On Sunday, Israeli troops withdrew from the Netzarim corridor, a narrow strip of land that bisects the territory. It allowed more Palestinians to return to the northern sector where they once lived, but much of the land has been leveled by fighting.

Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said the withdrawal showed Hamas had “forced the enemy to submit to our demands” and that it thwarted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “Illusion of achieving total victory.”

Israeli officials did not disclose how many soldiers withdrew or to where. Troops currently remain along Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt and a full withdrawal is expected to be negotiated in a later stage of the initial 42-day ceasefire.

During the first six-week phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel in exchange for a pause in fighting, freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a flood of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The deal also stipulated that Israeli troops would pull back from populated areas of Gaza as well as the Netzarim corridor.

In the second phase, all remaining living hostages would be released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a “sustainable calm.” But details are unclear and yet to be negotiated.

The war in Gaza was triggered by the shock October 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of 250 hostages. Israel’s counteroffensive killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities. Israel says the death toll includes 17,000 militants it has killed.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

 
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RICHMOND, VIRGINIA — The lowly penny, the forgotten mainstay of coin jars and car cupholders everywhere, may soon be no more.

President Donald Trump announced Sunday he’s ordered his administration to cease production of the 1-cent coin, whose buying power is long past its prime.

Advocates for ditching the penny cite its high production cost — currently almost 4 cents per penny, according to the U.S. Mint — and limited utility. Fans of the penny cite its usefulness in charity drives and relative bargain in production costs compared with the nickel, which costs almost 14 cents to mint.

Trump’s surprise order comes after decades of unsuccessful efforts to pitch the penny.

“Only tradition explains our stubborn attachment to the penny. But sometimes traditions get ridiculous,” the Farmers’ Almanac said in its 1989 edition.

Here’s a look at some questions surrounding Trump’s order.

Can Trump really order the Treasury to stop minting pennies without Congress’ approval?

Yes, according to legal scholar Laurence H. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus at Harvard University.

U.S. code gives the Treasury Secretary the authority to mint and issue coins “in amounts the secretary decides are necessary to meet the needs of the United States.”

If Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent decides the amount necessary for the penny is zero, he’s within his legal rights, Tribe said.

“Unlike a lot of what the new administration has been doing pursuant to the flood of executive orders since January 20, this action seems to me entirely lawful and fully constitutional,” Tribe said, referring to the aggressive executive action Trump’s taken on other issues since taking office.

Congress, which dictates currency specifications like the size and metal content of coins, could make Trump’s order permanent through law. But past congressional efforts to ditch the penny have failed.

Pennies are mostly made of zinc, and the American zinc lobby has been a major opponent to suggestions that the penny be eliminated.

How many pennies are in circulation?

It depends on what you mean by circulation.

Pennies are the most popular coin made by the U.S. Mint, which reported making 3.2 billion of them last year. That’s more than half of all the new coins it made last year.

MIT Professor Jeff Gore, who founded Citizens to Retire the Penny, said coins are supposed to stay in circulation for about 30 years and that in the last three decades the U.S. Mint has made about 250 billion pennies.

But, he says, “because nobody wants to use pennies, they fall out of active circulation much faster than other coins.”

If pennies sit in drawer for a decade, Gore asks, “Does that qualify as being in circulation?”

Will Americans miss pennies?

Experience in other countries suggests no.

Canada started phasing out its penny a dozen years ago and urged store owners to round prices to the nearest nickel for cash transactions. Electronic purchases were still billed to the nearest cent. The move came after New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands and others dropped their lowest-denomination coins.

After dropping the penny or its equivalent, those countries have not looked back.

What comes next?

Trump’s order, which he announced in a social media post as he was departing New Orleans after watching the first half of the Super Bowl, was the latest in his administration’s rapid-fire efforts to cut government costs.

“Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” Trump wrote in his post, which was light on details about plans for a post-penny future.

After Canada stopped minting new pennies, it began recycling them for their “valuable” copper and zinc, according to a 2022 report from the Canadian Mint.
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Boston — A jury found a Boston man not guilty on Monday of U.S. charges that he acted as an unlawful agent of China’s government by supplying officials information about individuals, dissidents and groups in the local Chinese community. 

Litang Liang, 65, was acquitted in federal court of charges that he acted as an unregistered Chinese agent in a case brought in 2023 that U.S. authorities had portrayed as part of their commitment to counter efforts by China’s government ato silence its critics abroad. 

Liang, a China-born U.S. citizen, had denied the charges and pleaded not guilty. His lawyer during the trial called the charges “ridiculous” and called them an effort to chill the free speech of a local community activist who advocated for the “reunification” of democratically governed Taiwan with mainland China — a view in harmony with China’s leaders. 

“Justice has finally arrived,” Liang told reporters through a translator following the verdict. 

U.S. Attorney Leah Foley, whose office pursued the case, said in a statement that while prosecutors “respect the jury’s decision, we are disappointed in (Monday’s) verdict.” 

Liang had worked at a hotel and for years had been an active member in his union as well as a community organizer and activist in the Chinese-American community in Boston, according to his lawyer, Derege Demissie. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Kistner told jurors on Friday during closing arguments in the case that China’s government sought out Liang because it “wanted someone already involved in the community who knew the people who were there.” 

Prosecutors said Liang from 2018 to 2022 provided Chinese officials with information on individuals and shared details about dissidents and groups with pro-Taiwan leanings. 

Prosecutors said that in 2018, after traveling to Beijing for meetings with an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, Liang founded the New England Alliance for the Peaceful Unification of China, which focused on promoting China’s goals with Taiwan. 

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future. 

Prosecutors said Liang, also at the direction of Chinese officials, in 2019 organized a counter-demonstration against pro-democracy protesters, and in 2022 provided an official with a Chinese agency, tasked with investigating political dissidents, information on two potential local recruits. 

Demissie in his closing argument to the jury countered that Liang made no secret of his activism and that his prosecution infringed on Liang’s right to free speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. 

“This case would have meant nothing if it did not involve China,” Demissie said. “That’s what this is about. And it had the purpose of scaring people, and it achieved that purpose.”
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Mayville, New York — Lawyers began delivering opening statements Monday at the trial of the man charged with trying to fatally stab author Salman Rushdie in front of a lecture audience in western New York.  

Rushdie, 77, is expected to testify during the trial of Hadi Matar, bringing the writer face-to-face with his knife-wielding attacker for the first time in more than two years.  

Rushdie, the Booker Prize-winning author, had been about to speak about keeping writers safe from harm in August 2022 when Matar ran toward him on the stage at the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater. Matar stabbed Rushdie more than a dozen times in the neck, stomach, chest, hand and right eye, leaving him partially blind and with permanent damage to one hand. 

The Indian-born British-American author detailed the attack and his long, painful recovery in a memoir, “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” released last year. Rushdie had worried for his safety since his 1989 novel “The Satanic Verses” was denounced as blasphemous by many Muslims and led to Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issuing a fatwa calling for his death.  

Rushdie spent years in hiding, but had traveled freely over the past quarter century after Iran announced it would not enforce the decree.  

The trial is taking place as the 36th anniversary of the fatwa — Feb. 14, 1989 — approaches.  

Matar, 27, of Fairview, New Jersey, is charged with attempted murder and assault. He has pleaded not guilty.  

A jury was selected last week. Matar was in court throughout the three-day process, taking notes and consulting with his attorneys. He calmly said, “Free Palestine” while being led in to court Monday past members of the media taking photographs and video.  

Matar’s defense faced a challenging start after it was announced that his lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, was hospitalized with an undisclosed illness and would not attend the start of the trial.  

Judge David Foley refused a defense request to postpone opening statements, instead instructing an associate of Barone to deliver the defense’s opening statement in his place.

Once testimony is underway, the trial is expected to last a week to 10 days. Jurors will be shown video and photos from the day of the attack, which ended when onlookers rushed Matar and held him until police arrived.  

The event’s moderator, Henry Reese, co-founder of City of Asylum in Pittsburgh, was also wounded. Matar told investigators he traveled by bus to Chautauqua, about 120 kilometers south of Buffalo. He is believed to have slept in the grounds of the arts and academic retreat the night before the attack.  

Matar’s attorney has not indicated what his defense will be. In a separate indictment, federal authorities allege Matar was motivated by a terrorist organization’s endorsement of a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.  

A later trial on the federal charges — terrorism transcending national boundaries, providing material support to terrorists and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization — will be scheduled in U.S. District Court in Buffalo.  

Rushdie has been one of the world’s most celebrated authors since the 1981 publication of “Midnight’s Children,” winner of the Booker Prize. His other works include the novels “Shame” and “Victory City,” which he had completed shortly before the 2022 stabbing, and the 2012 memoir “Joseph Anton,” in which he wrote about his time in hiding.

In the federal indictment, authorities allege Matar believed the edict was backed by the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah and endorsed in a 2006 speech by the group’s then-leader, Hassan Nasrallah. 
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Concord, New Hampshire — A third federal judge on Monday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of people who are in the U.S. illegally.  

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Joseph N. Laplante in New Hampshire comes after two similar rulings by judges in Seattle and Maryland last week. A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union contends that Trump’s order violates the Constitution and “attempts to upend one of the most fundamental American constitutional values.”  

Trump’s Republican administration has asserted that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.  

The administration is appealing the Seattle judge’s block on Trump’s executive order.  

At the heart of the lawsuits in the three cases is the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War and the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, which held that Scott, an enslaved man, wasn’t a citizen despite having lived in a state where slavery was outlawed.  

In 1898, in a case known as United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the U.S. Supreme Court found the only children who did not automatically receive U.S. citizenship upon being born on U.S. soil were children of diplomats, who have allegiance to another government; enemies present in the U.S. during hostile occupation; those born on foreign ships; and those born to members of sovereign Native American tribes.  

The U.S. is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship — the principle of jus soli, or “right of the soil” — is applied. Most are in the Americas and Canada and Mexico are among them.
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В офісі уповноваженого пояснили, що такі зміни відображають як вплив нового законодавства, так і зміну запитів глядацької аудиторії, яка потребує більш різноманітного контенту в умовах тривалої війни
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«Зараз всі почуваються незахищеними і тому ми об’єдналися, щоб цього разу не програти»
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«На Покровському напрямку наші захисники зупинили 33 штурми агресора»
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За оцінкою командування, напередодні російські війська втратили близько 1 170 людей особового складу
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A federal court on Sunday blocked the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan immigrants held in New Mexico to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba as part of the president’s immigration crackdown.

In a legal filing earlier in the day, lawyers for the men said the detainees “fit the profile of those the administration has prioritized for detention in Guantanamo, i.e. Venezuelan men detained in the El Paso area with (false) charges of connections with the Tren de Aragua gang.”

It asked a U.S. District Court in New Mexico for a temporary restraining order blocking their transfer, adding that “the mere uncertainty the government has created surrounding the availability of legal process and counsel access is sufficient to authorize the modest injunction.”

During a brief hearing, Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales granted the temporary order, which was opposed by the government, said Jessica Vosburgh, an attorney for the three men.

“It’s short term. This will get revisited and further fleshed out in the weeks to come,” Vosburgh told The Associated Press.

A message seeking comment was left for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.

The filing came as part of a lawsuit on behalf of the three men filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, and Las Americas Immigrant Advisory Center.

The Tren de Aragua gang originated in a lawless prison in the central Venezuelan state of Aragua more than a decade ago and has expanded in recent years as millions of desperate Venezuelans fled President President Nicolás Maduro ‘s rule and migrated to other parts of Latin America or the U.S.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last week that flights of detainees had landed at Guantanamo. Immigrant rights groups sent a letter Friday demanding access to people who have been sent there, saying the base should not be used as a “legal black hole.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that more than 8,000 people have been arrested in immigration enforcement actions since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

Trump has vowed to deport millions of the estimated 11.7 million people in the U.S. illegally.
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Також Інститут повідомив про просування Сил оборони поблизу Вовчанська на тлі російського наступу на цьому напрямку
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The Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Kansas City Chief in this year’s Super Bowl, defeating the reigning champions by a score of 40-22.

The Chiefs had been slightly favored to win the game, going into the American football showdown with hopes of winning their third consecutive National Football League title.

But the Eagles held the Chiefs scoreless until late in the third quarter. By that time, the Philadelphia team already had 34 points on the board at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was named the game’s MVP.

President Donald Trump attended the matchup, the first sitting U.S. president to do so. Before the game, the president issued a press release stating that “football is America’s most popular sport—for good reason—it fosters a sense of national unity, bringing families, friends, and fans together and strengthening communities.”

“This annual tradition transcends our differences and personifies our shared patriotic values of family, faith, and freedom heroically defended by our military service members, law enforcement officers, and first responders,” he noted.

The Super Bowl was estimated to attract more than 120 million viewers, with 30-second advertisements costing a record $8 million. 

Before the kickoff, a ceremony honored those killed and wounded in a truck-ramming New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans on Bourbon Street, as well as first responders.
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Climate change is rapidly altering the Arctic region, creating environmental danger, economic opportunity and geopolitical tension as the world’s major powers scramble to control newly accessible shipping lanes and resource deposits.
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New Orleans, Louisiana — The Kansas City Chiefs aim for a historic hat-trick of Super Bowl titles on Sunday when they take on the Philadelphia Eagles in front of a star-studded crowd in New Orleans headed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump will become the first sitting president ever to attend the NFL showpiece when he takes his seat among a sell-out crowd of around 74,000 fans at the Superdome for the biggest annual event in the American sporting calendar, which kicks off at 5:30pm local time (2330 GMT).

Pop superstar Taylor Swift will also be in the VIP seats to watch as her boyfriend Travis Kelce and his fellow Chiefs bid to become the first team in history to lift three consecutive Vince Lombardi Trophies.

Trump’s presence at the NFL showpiece will mean even tighter security than normal around an event which was already bolstered by a heavy police presence following a New Year’s Day attack which left 14 people dead and many more injured on the Big Easy’s famous Bourbon Street.

Trump has had a strained relationship with the NFL stretching back several decades, and triggered uproar during his first time in 2017 when he attacked the patriotism of players who kneeled during the playing of the U.S. national anthem in a protest against racial injustice.

Speaking in a pre-game interview aired on Fox News, Trump said his decision to attend this year’s Super Bowl was for the good of the country.

“I thought it would be a good thing for the country to have the President be at the game,” Trump told Fox.

“It’s an iconic day. It’s going to be a great game, two great teams, and let’s see what happens,” Trump added, revealing that he was tipping Kansas City for victory, citing the record of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who is eyeing his fourth Super Bowl win.

“When a quarterback wins as much as he’s won, I have to go with Kansas City,” Trump said. “I have to go with Kansas City.”

Trump was due to fly into New Orleans from Florida, where he reportedly played a round of golf with Tiger Woods earlier Sunday. A schedule released by the White House said he is expected to leave the Superdome at around 8.05pm local time, well before the game reaches its conclusion.

Super Bowl fans on Sunday welcomed Trump’s attendance at the game.

“I think it is awesome, congratulations to him for being the first President to make it,” Bob Benderovich, a Philadelphia Eagles fan from Fort Myers, Florida, told AFP.

Chiefs favorites

As always, the Super Bowl crosses over into popular culture and the half-time show this year will feature hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar, who had a clean sweep at last Sunday’s Grammys, winning in all five categories for which he received nominations.

Bookmakers and casinos meanwhile are taking odds on whether Chiefs star Kelce will propose to pop icon Swift after what might be his final game in the NFL.

For the more serious punters, the oddsmakers have the Chiefs as slight favorite for the game, a rematch of the Super Bowl from two years ago which the Chiefs won by three points.

They defended their title last year, beating the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas and putting them one win away from an unprecedented “three-peat.”

The 29-year-old Mahomes will become one of just four quarterbacks in National Football League history to have won more than three Super Bowls should he triumph again, having first led the Chiefs to Super Bowl glory in 2020.

But the Eagles have added serious offensive firepower since their defeat two years ago with mobile quarterback Jalen Hurts joined by the game-changing speed and power of running back Saquon Barkley.

The Chiefs put the finishing touches to their game preparations Saturday with a 30-minute walkthrough of a mock game.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid saluted his team’s attitude to training over the whole week since arriving in Louisiana.

“I thought the guys worked hard, they got done what they needed to get done,” Reid said.

The Eagles had a similarly relaxed final session before going to the Superdome on Saturday for a team photo.

Head coach Nick Sirianni said his Eagles were “hungry” and “ready to roll.”

“We’re ready for the challenge against a really good team,” Sirianni said.
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