Author: Tage

New York — Critics lambasted it and audiences didn’t grade it much better. But despite the turbulence, Mel Gibson’s “Flight Risk” managed to open No. 1 at the box office with a modest $12 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.  On a quiet weekend, even for the typically frigid movie-going month of January, the top spot went to the Lionsgate thriller starring Mark Wahlberg as a pilot flying an Air Marshal (Michelle Dockery) and fugitive (Topher Grace) across Alaska. But it wasn’t a particularly triumphant result for Gibson’s directorial follow-up to 2016’s “Hacksaw Ridge.” Reviews (21% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and audience scores (a “C” CinemaScore) were terrible.  President Donald Trump recently named Gibson a “special ambassador” to Hollywood, along with Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone.  Going into the weekend, Hollywood’s attention was more focused on the Sundance Film Festival and on Thursday’s Oscar nominations, which were twice postponed by the wildfires in the Los Angeles region.  The weekend was also a small test as to whether the once more common Oscar “bump” that can sometimes follow nominations still exists. Most contenders have by now completed the bulk of their theatrical runs and are more likely to see an uptick on VOD or streaming.  But the weekend’s most daring gambit was A24 pushing Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” a three–and-a-half-hour epic nominated for 10 Academy Awards, into wide release. Though some executives initially greeted “The Brutalist,” which is running with an intermission, as “un-distributable,” Corbet has said, A24 acquired the film out of the Venice Film Festival and it’s managed solid business, collecting $6 million in limited release.  In wide release, it earned $2.9 million — a far from blockbuster sum but the best weekend yet for “The Brutalist.”  The audience was downright miniscule for another best-picture nominee: RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys.” Innovatively shot almost entirely in first-person POV, the Amazon MGM Studios release gathered just $340,171 in 540 locations after expanding by 300 theaters.  Coming off one of the lowest Martin Luther King Jr. weekends in years, no new releases made a major impact.  Steven Soderbergh’s “Presence,” a well-reviewed horror film shot from the perspective of a ghost inside a suburban home, debuted with $3.4 million in 1,750 locations. The film, released by Neon and acquired out of last year’s Sundance, was made for just $2 million.  The top spots otherwise went to holdovers. The Walt Disney Co.’s “Mufasa: The Lion … “Mel Gibson’s ‘Flight Risk’ is No. 1 at box office, ‘The Brutalist’ expands “ →

Washington — When Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth starts his first official day on Monday morning, he will face a daunting array of issues to tackle — from global conflicts and border security to administrative tasks.  At the top of his list is addressing President Donald Trump’s priority to strengthen the U.S. military presence along the southern border and reviewing whether active-duty forces should be used for law enforcement — something done rarely.  Dozens of other issues will compete for his attention, including developing the Pentagon’s massive budget, decisions about aid to Ukraine, support for the ceasefire in Gaza, troop deployments in the Middle East. Not to mention Trump directives to rid the federal government of diversity programs and personnel as well as moves to cut waste and remove any lingering Biden administration backers.  In a message to the force shortly after he was sworn in Saturday, Hegseth cited the challenges he sees ahead. Some are ones his predecessors also faced, such as reorienting the military from decades of a Middle East focus and better deterring China. Continued conflict in the region, including the October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, has made that shift impossible to execute.  Hegseth also told service members about other priorities, including strengthening the defense industrial base and getting the Pentagon to pass an audit, while ensuring that the United States remains “the strongest and most lethal force in the world.”  He made an unannounced stop to the Pentagon on Saturday after the swearing-in ceremony at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. There was no media coverage of his arrival. The Pentagon later released an official photo saying Hegseth was “ready to get to work on behalf of America’s warriors.”  Already, support staff have been meeting with military leaders, including Gen. CQ Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But Hegseth will get to experience what many describe as “drinking from a firehose” as he works to quickly get up to speed on what his 2.1 million service members and 780,000 civilians in the department are doing. Among them are tens of thousands serving overseas, including in combat zones.  Then there are the cultural issues that Hegseth railed on as a media personality that did not make it into Hegseth’s message to the military. Many expect they will surface in the coming days.  Here are some key issues that Hegseth, who was confirmed in a tiebreaking … “As Hegseth takes charge at Pentagon, here are what changes could be in store” →

Cairo — Tens of thousands of Palestinians waited, blocked on the road, to return to their homes in northern Gaza on Sunday, voicing frustration after Israel accused Hamas of breaching a ceasefire agreement and refused to open crossing points.  A day after a second exchange of Israeli hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the holdup underlined the risks hanging over the truce between the militant group and Israel, longtime adversaries in a series of Gaza wars.  In central areas of Gaza, columns of people were waiting along the main roads leading north, some in vehicles and some on foot, witnesses said.  “A sea of people is waiting for a signal to move back to Gaza City and the north, people are fed up and they want to go home,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a displaced person from Gaza City. “This is the deal that was signed, isn’t it?”  “Many of those people have no idea whether their houses back home are still standing. But they want to go regardless, they want to put up the tents next to the rubble of their houses, they want to feel home,” he told Reuters via a chat app.  On Sunday, witnesses said many people had slept overnight on the Salahuddin Road, the main thoroughfare running north to south and on the coastal road leading north, waiting to go past the Israeli military positions in the Netzarim corridor running across the center of the Gaza Strip.  Vehicles, trucks and rickshaws were overloaded with mattresses, food, and with the tents that used to shelter them for over a year in the central and southern areas of the enclave, and volunteers were distributing water and food.  Under the agreement worked out with Egyptian and Qatari mediators and backed by the United States, Israel was meant to allow Palestinians displaced from the homes in the north to return to their homes.  But Israel said that Hamas’ failure to hand over a list detailing which of the hostages scheduled for release is alive or to hand over Arbel Yehud, an Israeli woman taken hostage during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 meant it had violated the agreement.  As a result, checkpoints in the central Gaza Strip would not be opened to allow crossings into the northern Gaza Strip, it said in a statement. Hamas issued a statement accusing Israel of stalling and holding … “Thousands wait to return to northern Gaza, Trump urges Jordan, Egypt to take Palestinians “ →

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was in talks with multiple people over buying TikTok and would likely have a decision on the popular app’s future in the next 30 days. “I have spoken to many people about TikTok and there is great interest in TikTok,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One during a flight to Florida. Earlier in the day, Reuters reported two people with knowledge of the discussions said Trump’s administration is working on a plan to save TikTok that involves tapping software company Oracle and a group of outside investors to effectively take control of the app’s operations. Under the deal being negotiated by the White House, TikTok’s China-based owner, ByteDance, would retain a stake in the company, but data collection and software updates would be overseen by Oracle, which already provides the foundation of TikTok’s Web infrastructure, one of the sources told Reuters. However, in his comments to reporters on the flight, Trump said he had not spoken to Oracle’s Larry Ellison about buying the app. Asked if he was putting together a deal with Oracle and other investors to save TikTok, Trump said: “No, not with Oracle. Numerous people are talking to me, very substantial people, about buying it and I will make that decision probably over the next 30 days. Congress has given 90 days. If we can save TikTok, I think it would be a good thing.” The sources did say the terms of any potential deal with Oracle were fluid and likely to change. One source said the full scope of the discussions was not yet set and could include the U.S. operations as well as other regions. National Public Radio on Saturday reported the deal talks for TikTok’s global operations, citing two people with knowledge of the negotiations. Oracle had no immediate comment. The deal being negotiated anticipates participation from ByteDance’s current U.S. investors, according to the sources. Jeff Yass’s Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Sequoia Capital are among ByteDance’s U.S. backers. Representatives for TikTok, ByteDance investors General Atlantic, KKR, Sequoia and Susquehanna could not immediately be reached for comment. Others vying to acquire TikTok, including the investor group led by billionaire Frank McCourt and another involving Jimmy Donaldson, better known as the YouTube star Mr. Beast, are not part of the Oracle negotiation, one of the sources said. Oracle … “Trump discussing TikTok purchase with multiple people; decision in 30 days” →

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday threatened bounties on the heads of Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders, sharply escalating the tone as he said more Americans may be detained in the country than previously thought. The threat comes days after the Afghan Taliban government and the United States swapped prisoners in one of the final acts of former U.S. President Joe Biden. The new top U.S. diplomat issued the harsh warning via social media, in a rhetorical style strikingly similar to his boss, President Donald Trump. “Just hearing the Taliban is holding more American hostages than has been reported,” Rubio wrote on X. “If this is true, we will have to immediately place a VERY BIG bounty on their top leaders, maybe even bigger than the one we had on bin Laden,” he said, referring to the al-Qaida leader killed by U.S. forces in 2011. Rubio did not describe who the other Americans may be, but there have long been accounts of missing Americans whose cases were not formally taken up by the U.S. government as wrongful detentions. In the deal with the Biden administration, the Taliban freed the best-known American detained in Afghanistan, Ryan Corbett, who had been living with his family in the country and was seized in August 2022. Also freed was William McKenty, an American about whom little information has been released. The United States in turn freed Khan Mohammed, who was serving a life sentence in a California prison. Mohammed was convicted of trafficking heroin and opium into the United States and was accused of seeking rockets to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The United States offered a bounty of $25 million for information leading to the capture or killing of Osama bin Laden shortly after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, with Congress later authorizing the secretary of state to offer up to $50 million. No one is believed to have collected the bounty for bin Laden, who was killed in a U.S. raid in Pakistan. Harder line on Taliban? Trump is known for brandishing threats in his speeches and on social media. But he is also a critic of U.S. military interventions overseas and in his second inaugural address Monday said he aspired to be a “peacemaker.” In his first term, the Trump administration broke a then-taboo and negotiated directly with the Taliban — with Trump even proposing a summit with the … “Rubio threatens bounties on Taliban leaders over detained Americans” →

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Donald Trump said Saturday he’d like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they are accepting from the Gaza Strip — potentially moving out enough of the population to “just clean out” the war-torn area to create a virtual clean slate. During a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump also said he’s ended his predecessor’s hold on sending 907-kilogram bombs to Israel. That lifts a pressure point that had been meant to reduce civilian casualties during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza that is now halted by a tenuous ceasefire. “We released them today,” Trump said of the bombs. “They’ve been waiting for them for a long time.” Asked why he lifted the ban on those bombs, Trump responded, “Because they bought them.” Trump has built his political career around being unapologetically pro-Israel. On his larger vision for Gaza, Trump said he had call earlier in the day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and would speak Sunday with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt. “I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’” Trump said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king, “I’d love for you to take on more, ‘cause I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.” He said of such a mass movement of Palestinians, “it could be temporary or long term,” adding that the area of the world that encompasses Gaza, has “had many, many conflicts” over centuries. “Something has to happen,” Trump said. “But it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there.” He added: “So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.” There was no immediate comment from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. Trump has offered nontraditional views on the future of Gaza in the past. He suggested after he was inaugurated on Monday that Gaza has “really got to be rebuilt in a different way.” The new president added then, “Gaza is interesting. It’s a phenomenal location, … “Trump wants Jordan and Egypt to accept more refugees” →

WASHINGTON — The CIA now believes the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment released Saturday that points the finger at China even while acknowledging that the spy agency has “low confidence” in its own conclusion. The finding is not the result of any new intelligence, and the report was completed at the behest of the Biden administration and former CIA Director William Burns. It was declassified and released Saturday on the orders of President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in Thursday as director. The nuanced finding suggests the agency believes the totality of evidence makes a lab origin more likely than a natural origin. But the agency’s assessment assigns a low degree of confidence to this conclusion, suggesting the evidence is deficient, inconclusive or contradictory. Earlier reports on the origins of COVID-19 have split over whether the coronavirus emerged from a Chinese lab, potentially by mistake, or whether it arose naturally. The new assessment is not likely to settle the debate. In fact, intelligence officials say it may never be resolved, due to a lack of cooperation from Chinese authorities. The CIA “continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible,” the agency wrote in a statement about its new assessment. Instead of new evidence, the conclusion was based on fresh analyses of intelligence about the spread of the virus, its scientific properties and the work and conditions of China’s virology labs. Lawmakers have pressured America’s spy agencies for more information about the origins of the virus, which led to lockdowns, economic upheaval and millions of deaths. It’s a question with significant domestic and geopolitical implications as the world continues to grapple with the pandemic’s legacy. Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Saturday he was “pleased the CIA concluded in the final days of the Biden administration that the lab-leak theory is the most plausible explanation,” and he commended Ratcliffe for declassifying the assessment. “Now, the most important thing is to make China pay for unleashing a plague on the world,” Cotton said in a statement. China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Chinese authorities have in the past dismissed speculation about COVID’s origins as unhelpful and motivated by politics. While the origin of the virus … “CIA: COVID likely originated in a lab, but agency has ‘low confidence’ in report” →

ROME — The president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council said the Trump administration’s decisions to freeze aid programs, deport migrants and block refugees will be “catastrophic” for Haiti. Leslie Voltaire made the comment in an interview with The Associated Press in Rome on Saturday following a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican. He visited the pope to ask for help for Haiti. “I’m knocking on the doors of people who love Haiti. The pope loves Haiti, and he is eager to help,” Haiti’s interim president said. The pontiff and Voltaire discussed the dire situation in Haiti where gangs have killed civilians and operate across the Caribbean nation with impunity. Half of Haiti’s 11.4 million people are already hungry, according to Voltaire, and losing humanitarian assistance will make the situation dramatically worse. “Trump said that Haiti is a ‘shithole,’ so I don’t think he will care about Haiti,” Voltaire said, noting that thousands of people are already being repatriated from the Dominican Republic every week and gangs are terrorizing the populace. With the new U.S. policies, “the situation will be catastrophic.” During his first administration, President Donald Trump used blunt language to question why the U.S. would accept immigrants from Haiti and other countries in Africa. At the time, the White House did not deny his remark but issued a statement saying Trump supports immigration policies that welcome “those who can contribute to our society.” Voltaire said there are roughly 1.5 million Haitians in the United States and roughly 150,000 who were accepted under a program called the “Temporary Protection System.” “Trump says that he will expel all of them,” Voltaire said, adding that Haiti, which is already struggling with hunger and internally displaced people, cannot handle the influx. In a report released this month, the U.N. migration agency said internal displacement within Haiti has tripled over the last year and now surpasses 1 million people. The situation has been largely caused by gang violence in the Caribbean country. The new figure provided by the International Organization for Migration represents a record for Haiti. IOM said that “relentless gang violence” in Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince has fueled a near-doubling of displacement in the city and a collapse of health care and other services and worsening food insecurity. About 200,000 people have been forcibly returned to Haiti over the last year mostly from the Dominican Republic. Voltaire and his transitional government have … “Haitian leader: Trump administration’s deportation plans will be ‘catastrophic’” →

GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA — U.S. military planes carrying dozens of expelled migrants arrived in Guatemala, authorities said Friday, as President Donald Trump moved to crack down on illegal immigration.  A total of 265 Guatemalans arrived on three flights — two operated by the military, and one a charter, the Central American country’s migration institute said, updating earlier figures.  Washington also sent four deportation flights to Mexico on Thursday, the White House press secretary said on X, despite multiple U.S. media reports that authorities there had turned at least one plane back.  The Mexican government has not confirmed either the arrival of flights or any agreement to receive a specific number of planes with deportees.  But Mexico’s foreign ministry said Friday it was ready to work with Washington over the deportation of its citizens, saying the country would “always accept the arrival of Mexicans to our territory with open arms.”  The flights came as the White House said it had arrested more than 1,000 people in two days with hundreds deported by military aircraft, saying that “the largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway.”  Some 538 illegal immigrant “criminals” were arrested Thursday, it said, followed by another 593 on Friday.   By comparison, under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden deportation flights were carried out regularly, with a total of 270,000 deportations in 2024 — a 10-year record — and 113,400 arrests, making an average of 310 per day.  ‘Bad, hard criminals’  The Guatemalan government did not confirm whether any of the migrants arrested this week were among the deportees that arrived Friday.  “These are flights that took place after Trump took office,” an official in the Guatemalan vice president’s office told AFP.  A Pentagon source told AFP that “overnight, two DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft conducted repatriation flights from the U.S. to Guatemala.”  Early Friday the White House posted an image on X of men in shackles being marched into a military aircraft, with the caption: “Deportation flights have begun.”  Trump told reporters that the flights were to get “the bad, hard criminals out.”  “Murderers, people that have been as bad as you get. As bad as anybody you’ve seen,” he said.  Friday’s deportees were taken to a reception center at an air force base in Guatemala’s capital, away from the media.  Crackdown a campaign promise Trump promised a crackdown on illegal immigration during the election campaign and began his second … “US migrant deportation flights arrive in Latin America” →

WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary Saturday, putting the South Dakota governor in charge of a sprawling agency that is essential to national security and President Donald Trump’s plans to clamp down on illegal immigration.  Republicans kept the Senate working Saturday to install the latest member of Trump’s national security team. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was confirmed in a dramatic tie-breaking vote Friday night, joining Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. The Senate will next vote Monday evening on Scott Bessent’s confirmation as treasury secretary.  Noem, a Trump ally who is in her second term as governor, received some support from Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee when it voted 13-2 to advance her nomination earlier in the week. Republicans, who already hold the votes necessary to confirm her, have also expressed confidence in her determination to lead border security and immigration enforcement.  “Fixing this crisis and restoring respect for the rule of law is one of President Trump and Republicans’ top priorities,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican from South Dakota, said Friday. “And it’s going to require a decisive and committed leader at the Department of Homeland Security. I believe Kristi has everything it takes to undertake this task.”  Democrats are split on how to handle border enforcement and immigration under Trump, with some warming to his hard-line stand.  Still, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said he would vote against Noem. He pointed to “bipartisan solutions to fix the mess at our border,” adding that Noem “seems headed in the wrong direction.”  The homeland security secretary oversees U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Citizenship and Immigration Services. Beyond those agencies, the department is also responsible for securing airline transportation, protecting dignitaries, responding to natural disasters and more.  Trump is planning major changes to how the department functions, including involving the military in immigration enforcement and reshaping the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Those plans could immediately put Noem in the spotlight after the new president visited recent disaster sites in North Carolina and California on Friday.  During her Senate hearing, Noem was repeatedly asked by Democratic senators whether she would administer disaster aid to states even if Trump asked her not to.  Noem avoided saying she would defy the president, but she told lawmakers, “I will deliver the programs according … “US Senate confirms Noem as homeland security secretary” →

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LOS ANGELES — U.S. President Donald Trump surveyed disaster zones in California and North Carolina on Friday and said he was considering “getting rid of” the Federal Emergency Management Agency, offering the latest sign of how he is weighing sweeping changes to the nation’s central organization for responding to disasters. In fire-ravaged California, the state’s Democratic leaders pressed Trump for federal assistance that he’s threatened to hold up, some setting aside their past differences to shower him with praise. Trump, in turn, pressured local officials to waive permitting requirements so people can immediately rebuild, pledging that federal permits would be granted promptly. Instead of having federal financial assistance flow through FEMA, the Republican president said Washington could provide money directly to the states. He made the comments while visiting North Carolina, which is still recovering months after Hurricane Helene, on the first trip of his second term. “FEMA has been a very big disappointment,” the Republican president said. “It’s very bureaucratic. And it’s very slow.” Trump was greeted in California by Governor Gavin Newsom, a Trump critic whom the president frequently disparages. The duo chatted amiably and gestured toward cooperation despite their history. “We’re going to need your support. We’re going to need your help,” Newsom told Trump. “You were there for us during COVID. I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations we’ll be able to work together to get a speedy recovery.” Newsom has praised Trump before when looking for help from the federal government. In the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, he called Trump “thoughtful” and “collaborative.” Trump flew over several devastated neighborhoods in Marine One, the presidential helicopter, before landing in Pacific Palisades, a hard-hit community that’s home to some of Southern California’s rich and famous. Accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, he walked a street where all the houses have burned, chatting with residents and police officers. It takes seeing the damage firsthand to grasp its enormity, Trump said after. The fires, which continue to burn, could end up being the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. “It is devastation. It really is an incineration,” Trump said. Trump’s brief but friendly interaction with Newsom belied the confrontational stance he signaled toward California earlier in the day. Even on the plane en route to Los Angeles, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was using Trump’s disparaging nickname for the governor, “Newscum,” and telling reporters, … “Trump proposes ‘getting rid of FEMA’ while touring disaster areas” →

In 2016, Herschel Hepler was browsing Google Images to practice his paleography — the study of historical writing systems — when he stumbled upon an eerily familiar photo that would lead to a groundbreaking discovery. “I recognized it immediately and said, ‘That’s a manuscript in our collection,’” Hepler, a curator at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, recalls. The museum had recently acquired the manuscript — a rare Jewish prayer book — believing it to be part of the famous Cairo Geniza, a trove of ancient Jewish documents uncovered in a Cairo synagogue in the late 19th century. But the black and white picture in Tablet magazine described the manuscript as a “16th to 17th century Hebrew book of Psalms, said to be from the Bamiyan area” of central Afghanistan. Stunned by the revelation, Hepler set out to verify it. Tracking down the author of the Tablet article, British historian and archaeologist Jonathan Lee, Hepler confirmed that Lee had in fact found the book in an Afghan warlord’s possession in 1998 and photographed the cover and two inside pages. “Without Jonathan’s documentation from his trip to Bamiyan in 1998, we would still be assuming this is probably from the Cairo Geniza,” Hepler said. But if Hepler was surprised to learn about the book’s origin in the remote mountains of Afghanistan, Lee was equally stunned when Hepler revealed that the manuscript had been carbon-dated to at least the 9th century. “At that point, I realized that the discovery was of major importance,” Lee said via email. Recognizing their combined expertise — Hepler in Hebrew manuscripts and Lee in Afghan history — the duo joined forces and invited in other experts. Their yearslong research not only established the manuscript as the oldest-known Hebrew book but also unearthed evidence that Jews had lived in Afghanistan — and along the ancient Silk Roads — for longer than historians previously believed. But the thrill of discovery was dampened by the realization that the manuscript had probably been smuggled out of war-torn Afghanistan and bought on the antiquities market. At the time, the museum, founded by the Green family, owners of the Hobby Lobby arts and craft company, was still reeling from its acquisition of artifacts smuggled from Iraq and Egypt. The museum faced a significant challenge: Before it could showcase it to the world, it needed to legitimize its ownership of the manuscript. This … “How the oldest known Hebrew book landed in a Washington museum” →

TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN/WASHINGTON — Uzbekistan is expected to push to deepen relations with the United States in the coming year, a position that is broadly popular among Uzbeks across the country, VOA found during a recent reporting trip. With more than 37 million people, Uzbekistan, Washington’s strategic partner in Central Asia, accounts for more than half of the population of the region, which includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. “I understand that the U.S. prefers dealing with us in the C5+1 format — five republics plus Uncle Sam — but we want more bilateral attention, at least for now,” said Sherbek Artikov, a young Uzbek hoping to study political science in America. Artikov is aware that many of his fellow Uzbeks are often denied U.S. visas and that hundreds of them have been deported since 2019 as undocumented immigrants. Yet, he remains optimistic: “I believe over time, Washington will see that Uzbeks are not only reliable strategic partners but also hardworking, compassionate people — both as migrants and visitors.” In recent conversations with a VOA reporter traveling across Tashkent, Ferghana, Bukhara, Samarkand, and Surkhandarya, most Uzbeks expressed enthusiasm about U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. They hoped his administration would foster stronger connections with the people of Uzbekistan, not just its government. From journalists and activists to entrepreneurs and educators, they want Trump to fulfill his promises to end the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. “We are a peaceful region, despite the continuous turmoil in neighboring Afghanistan, but these conflicts deeply trouble us,” said Zuhra Amonova, an English teacher in Bukhara. Calls for new approach As relations between Washington and Central Asian nations have evolved, there have been some calls by American experts for creating a new diplomatic approach, shifting the U.S. government away from grouping the countries with South Asian nations and instead aligning them more with the Caucasus. Veteran bureaucrats who have worked with these regions at the State Department and the Pentagon told VOA that Washington’s view of this part of the world has increasingly been seen through a Russian lens since the U.S. exit from Afghanistan. Ikboljon Qoraboyev, a professor at Maqsut Narikbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, says the Central Asia-Caucasus proposal reflects the region’s crucial role between China and Russia and the growing significance of the Middle Corridor, a transit route across the Caspian Sea that carries goods westward to European markets. … “Buoyed by Trump’s promises, Uzbeks seek closer ties to US” →

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — From his home in northern California, Nick Russell, a former farm manager, is monitoring the Los Angeles-area fires. He knows that about 600 kilometers south, people in Los Angeles are relying on his team’s live neighborhood-by-neighborhood updates on fire outbreaks, smoke direction, surface wind predictions and evacuation routes. Russell is vice president of operations at Watch Duty, a free app that tracks fires and other natural disasters. It relies on a variety of data sources such as cameras and sensors throughout the state, government agencies, first responders, a core of volunteers, and its own team of reporters. An emergency at his house, for example, would be “much different” from one at his neighbor’s house .4 kilometers away, Russell said. “That is true for communities everywhere, and that’s where technology really comes in.” Watch Duty’s delivery of detailed localized information is one reason for its success with its 7 million users, many of whom downloaded the app in recent weeks. It acts as a virtual emergency operations center, culling and verifying data points. Watch Duty’s success points to the promise that technologies such as artificial intelligence and sensors will give residents and first responders the real-time information they need to survive and fight natural disasters. Google and other firms have invested in technology to track fires. Several startup firms are also looking for ways to use AI, sensors and other technologies in natural disasters. Utility firms work with Gridware, a company that places AI-enhanced sensors on power lines to detect a tree branch touching the line or any other vibrations that could indicate a problem. Among Watch Duty’s technology partners is ALERTCalifornia, run by the University of San Diego, which has a network of more than 1,000 AI-enhanced cameras throughout the state looking for smoke. The cameras often detect fires before people call emergency lines, Russell said. Together with ALERTCalifornia’s information, Russell said, “we have become the eyes and ears” of fires. Another Watch Duty partner is N-5 Sensors, a Maryland-based firm. Its sensors, which are placed in the ground, detect smoke, heat and other signs of fire. “They’re like a nose, if you will, so they detect smoke anomalies and different chemical patterns in the air,” Russell said. Watch Duty is available in 22 states, mostly in the western U.S., and plans to expand to all states. While fire has been its focus, Watch Duty also plans to … “App provides immediate fire information to Los Angeles residents” →

U.S. President Donald Trump said the federal government is standing behind California 100% in the aftermath of devastating wildfires and said during a visit to the state on Friday that he would come back as much as needed. “The first lady and I are in California to express a great love for the people of California,” Trump told a gathering of local leaders at a fire station in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood. The neighborhood was one of the worst hit by the recent fires, with rows of homes left in ashes. Trump participated in a walking tour of the area earlier in the day and also surveyed recovery efforts from a helicopter as firefighters in the Los Angeles area continued to confront multiple blazes amid high winds and dry conditions. “I don’t think you can realize how rough it is, how devastating it is, until you see it,” Trump said after the tour. The Palisades Fire is about 77% contained and has burned through nearly 9,500 hectares of land, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Trump has criticized California leaders for water policies that he says have exacerbated the recent wildfires. He said before traveling to California that he would “take a look at a fire that could have been put out if they let the water flow, but they didn’t let the water flow.” California Governor Gavin Newsom has rejected the president’s assertion, and other state legislators have said the fierce wildfires placed extreme demand on a municipal system not designed to battle such blazes. Newsom greeted Trump as he arrived on the tarmac in Los Angeles on Friday. The two were cordial and shook hands. “I have all the expectations we’re going to be able to work together,” Newsom said. Trump responded: “We’re going to get it fixed.” During the gathering with community leaders, Trump said that Los Angeles residents who lost homes should be allowed back onto their properties immediately, challenging Mayor Karen Bass to speed up the cleanup process. “People are willing to get a dumpster and do it themselves and clean it up. There is not that much left, it is all incinerated,” Trump said. Bass said, “the most important thing is for people to be safe,” but promised residents should be able to return home within the week. Trump promised that federal permits to rebuild would be granted promptly … “Trump says US government is behind California during visit to fire-stricken state” →

WASHINGTON — The Sultani family was nearing the final stages of their case to resettle in the U.S., though their plan was disrupted after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 suspending the relocation of refugees to the U.S. “My family and I couldn’t sleep at night” since the executive order was signed, said 50-year-old Ahmad Zahir Sultani, who fled to Pakistan alongside his wife and four children a few months after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021. “We are very worried … as we face an uncertain future,” said Sultani, who worked with U.S.-run projects in Afghanistan before the U.S. pulled out of the country in 2021. Just hours after his swearing-in as the 47th President of the U.S., Trump signed the executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program beginning Jan. 27. The Sultani family was identified as a Priority 1 case for resettlement under that program. “This order suspends the USRAP until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligned with the interest of the United States,” stated the order. The order calls on the secretary of the Homeland Security Department, in consultation with the secretary of state, to report to the president within 90 days if the program “would be in the interests of the United States.” The order added that every 90 days, a report would be submitted to the president until he “determine[s] that resumption of the USRAP is in the interests of the United States.” Sultani and other Afghan refugees who have been waiting in Pakistan for resettlement in the U.S. told VOA that staying in Pakistan would be “very difficult” for them as the crackdown on Afghan refugees continues in Islamabad, where the Sultanis currently reside. “We are facing harassment and arrests by the police [in Pakistan]. And we can’t go back to Afghanistan as we fled because of the threats there,” Sultani said. According to Pakistan’s Foreign Office in July, among more than 44,000 Afghans living in Pakistan to be relocated to third countries, about 25,000 Afghan refugees are waiting to be resettled in the U.S. Fahimi Zahid, an Afghan activist living in Islamabad, told VOA that after the suspension of their relocation program to the U.S., Afghan refugees in Pakistan are “very concerned” about their future in Pakistan. “In the past, refugees had a hope that the U.S. was in … “Afghan refugees in Pakistan worry as US suspends resettlement program” →

Now that President Bashar al-Assad’s long rule in Syria has ended, family members and hostage aid groups are taking the search for missing journalist Austin Tice to Damascus, checking abandoned prisons for signs of the American. Cristina Caicedo Smit has more. Camera: Hasan Aljani and Yan Boechat …

President Donald Trump has declared that a national emergency exists at the United States’ southern border, and he is sending more troops to help secure it. VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb has the details. …

Some countries have laws that refuse entry to convicted felons. They can still allow entry to a felon with a valid reason. Canada, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom have already invited Trump. …

Days after a winter storm dropped ice and record-breaking snow, cleanup efforts were underway Thursday in several major Southern U.S. cities such as New Orleans, Louisiana, where crews were removing snow the same way they remove trash, drink cups and plastic beads after Mardi Gras celebrations.  Temperatures were gradually rising across the U.S. South, bringing hopes that remaining snow and ice would melt away.  “We have to be honest with ourselves — we’re from Louisiana, we know crawfish, we know football, but we don’t really know snow and ice and that’s okay,” said Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development spokesperson Daniel Gitlin. “It’s going to go away and we’re better off letting Mother Nature do what she needs to do right now.”  Up to 320 kilometers (200 miles) of interstate highways were expected to remain closed until Friday due to treacherous patches of black ice, Gitlin said. Louisiana has nearly run out of its salt supply after treating roads, he added.  In New Orleans, a private waste management firm has been contracted to repurpose equipment that’s typically used to clean up Mardi Gras beads and cups to clear snow from the streets.  IV Waste President Sidney Torres said his company has deployed a 15,000-liter (4,000-gallon) “flusher” truck to spray water on the ground to soften the ice for removal in the historic and festive French Quarter. The truck normally sprays lemon-scented fragrance “to get rid of that funky liquor, urine, puke smell from the night before,” Torres said. “We’re finding new solutions and better techniques to dealing with this.”  Arkansas sent Louisiana snowplows, dump trucks, salt spreaders and other equipment, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said.  Snow likely breaks records The snowfall likely broke several records across the region, including in Florida where a preliminary report of 25 centimeters (10 inches) in one town would set a record for the state, if confirmed.  Snow totals reached 8 centimeters (3 inches) this week in Savannah, Georgia, the most that the state’s oldest city has recorded since December 1989.  The snow was lighter in metro Atlanta, Georgia, where the southern suburbs saw more snow and ice than areas north of the city. In Covington, southeast of Atlanta, Jesse Gentes used a flame thrower to de-ice the roads in his subdivision. In better weather, he typically uses the flame thrower for brush removal, he told television station WSB-TV.  Light freezing rain was forecast Thursday … “US cities get creative clearing snow, ice after rare winter storm” →

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Friday barred Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes from entering Washington without the court’s approval after U.S. President Donald Trump commuted the far-right extremist group leader’s 18-year prison sentence for orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Capitol four years ago. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta issued the order two days after Rhodes visited the Capitol, where he met with at least one lawmaker, chatted with others and defended his actions during a mob’s attack on Jan. 6, 2021. Rhodes was released from a Maryland prison a day earlier. Mehta’s order also applies to other Oath Keepers members who were convicted of charges that they participated in a violent plot to attack the Capitol. …

WASHINGTON — U.S. immigration agents rounded up undocumented migrants as well as American citizens in a raid of a Newark, New Jersey, worksite on Thursday that the city’s mayor said involved detaining a military veteran and violations of the people’s rights. The raid in New Jersey’s most populous city, hailed in the past by Mayor Ras Baraka for its “sanctuary” policies protecting migrants, follows President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. Trump issued a raft of executive orders after taking office on Monday that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration. He has taken steps to punish officials who resist enforcement of his sweeping crackdown. In a raid of a business establishment in Newark, outside New York City, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents failed to produce a warrant as they detained “undocumented residents as well as citizens,” Baraka said in a statement. “One of the detainees is a U.S. military veteran who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned,” Baraka said. In a statement, an ICE spokesperson said that agents “may encounter U.S. citizens while conducting field work and may request identification to establish an individual’s identity as was the case during a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite today in Newark.” The spokesperson said that ICE was investigating the incident. Baraka said the raid had violated the citizens’ rights under the U.S. Constitution. “Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized,” he said. Neither Baraka nor ICE identified the business raided by name. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on X that the Trump administration arrested 538 people Thursday, describing all of them as “illegal immigrant criminals.” She said they included members of a Venezuelan prison gang and people convicted of sex crimes. Leavitt did not provide more details. A range of studies by academics and think tanks have shown that immigrants do not commit crime at a higher rate than native-born Americans. Other studies find that immigrants in the U.S. illegally also do not commit crimes at a higher rate. Sanctuary cities Baraka, the Newark mayor, is one of the first local officials in the U.S. to issue a statement on a specific raid following the start of Trump’s immigration crackdown. In 2017, he signed an executive order cementing Newark’s sanctuary status and was a vocal opponent of Trump’s immigration policies … “US agents raid New Jersey worksite as Trump escalates immigration crackdown” →

NICOSIA, CYPRUS — Experts from the U.S. Air Force are looking at ways to upgrade Cyprus’ premier air base for use as a humanitarian staging post in future operations in the Middle East, a Cypriot official told The Associated Press on Thursday. Cyprus, which is only 184 kilometers from the Lebanese capital, Beirut, has acted as a transit point for the repatriation of foreign nationals fleeing conflict in the Middle East and beyond on numerous occasions in the past. It has also served as a transit point for humanitarian aid to Gaza. Experts from the 435th Contingency Response Group based out of Ramstein, Germany, will spend the next few days at Andreas Papandreou Air Force Base to assess the upgrade needed to accommodate a wide array of U.S. air assets and other forces. A key priority is to ensure air traffic safety in and around the base, which abuts the island’s second-largest civilian airport, the official said. The base’s location makes it easy to transfer evacuees onto civilian aircraft at the adjacent airport for their trip home. The official spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to speak publicly about the details of the experts’ visit. Air traffic safety would need to be enhanced through new high-tech installations, including state-of-the-art radar, to ensure the independent operation of civilian and military aircraft at safe distances. “The Americans are very specific on safety issues and want to make some upgrades to further improve the base’s safety,” the official said. Other essential upgrades include expanding both the base itself and the runway to accommodate more transport and fighter aircraft. Hardened shelters to protect those air assets are also envisioned. The Cyprus government agreed to the air base upgrade assessment following the recent deployment of a U.S. Marine contingent at the base. The Marines, who were equipped with V-22 Osprey tiltrotor military transport and cargo aircraft, were on stand-by in the event of a swift evacuation of US citizens from nearby Lebanon during Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah targets late last year. Deputy government spokesman Yannis Antoniou told the state broadcaster Thursday that any use of the base by the forces of the U.S. or other nations would require prior Cyprus government approval. He insisted the air base would not act as a forward base for military strike operations against targets in the region. “We’ve shown interest in working with … “US Air Force looks to upgrade Cyprus airbase as humanitarian staging post for the Middle East” →

After U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, appointments scheduled for the asylum process through the CBP One application were canceled.   Click here for the full story in Spanish. …

Italy’s highest court on Thursday upheld the slander conviction of American defendant Amanda Knox in a case related to the sensationalized 2007 murder of her British roommate.   Knox was convicted of slandering her former boss, Congolese bar owner Patrick Lumumba, by falsely accusing him of murdering Meredith Kercher.   A 21-year-old exchange student, Kercher was found stabbed to death in 2007 in the Perugia apartment she shared with Knox.   While being interrogated, Knox, who was 20 at the time, signed two statements prepared by police regarding her accusation against Lumumba. Knox later wrote a handwritten note questioning her false accusation.  Last year, an appeals court in Florence handed Knox a three-year sentence for wrongly accusing Lumumba.   Knox, now 37 years old, had already served nearly four years during the investigation, initial murder trial and first appeal. She was convicted twice before Italy’s highest court finally exonerated her of the crime in 2015. She is not at risk of any more jail time.   Knox had appealed the slander conviction based on a European Court of Human Rights ruling that said her rights had been violated by police failure to provide a lawyer and adequate translator during a lengthy night of questioning just days after Kercher was killed.   With the appeal, Knox was aiming to clear her name in Rome’s Court of Cassation in the last remaining legal case against her following a nearly two-decades-long legal saga.   But on Thursday, Judge Monica Boni confirmed the slander conviction.   Knox, who did not attend the court, maintained her innocence in a post on X.   “It’s a surreal day,” Knox said. “I’ve just been found guilty yet again of a crime I didn’t commit.”  Knox’s lawyer, Carlo Dalla Vedova, said he was surprised by the conviction.  “We cannot believe it. A totally unjust decision for Amanda and unexpected in our eyes,” he said. “We are incredulous.”  But Lumumba said he was satisfied with the verdict.   “Amanda was wrong. This verdict has to accompany her for the rest of her life,” he told The Associated Press.   Rudy Guede, originally from the Ivory Coast, was eventually found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in prison for killing Kercher. He was released in 2021 after serving most of his sentence. He denied killing Kercher.   Knox’s lengthy legal saga was fodder for tabloids around the world and spawned … “Italy’s highest court upholds slander conviction of Amanda Knox” →