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Footage of four, rarely-seen snow leopards clambering up snowy cliffs in northern Pakistan has created a frenzy of excitement among conservationists.

Snow leopards are among the world’s most elusive creatures in the wild and it is hard to catch even one on camera, let alone four, with the sighting being celebrated as a success story for Pakistan’s conservation efforts.

Sakhawat Ali, a gamekeeper and photography enthusiast from the remote village of Hushe, captured the footage on March 13 after what he described as “two weeks of tracking their pawprints” through the snow-covered Central Karakoram National Park – close to K2, the world’s second highest mountain.

“In the village we are used to seeing snow leopards but, nobody, not even the elders that I spoke to, have ever seen four snow leopards in one go,” he said.

He spotted the mother first, then started noting additional pawprints. He later “got lucky” sighting the animals together while observing a nearby cliff, through binoculars, from the rooftop of his house. He them scampered out with his camera to film them, from a distance of 200 meters.

Ali said neighbors from his village are celebrating the sighting – even though they have some concerns that their livestock could be in danger.

Snow leopards are currently listed as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Known locally as the “ghost of the mountains,” they camouflage easily in their natural habitat of the Karakoram Mountain range in Pakistan’s Gilgit Baltistan region.

Environmental anthropologist Shafqat Hussain says the rocky terrain in the north of Pakistan is perhaps the “best snow leopard habitat in the world.”

They only inhabit high alpine areas of the Himalayas and while their habitat spreads over 12 nations, including China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Russia, and Mongolia, sightings are exceedingly rare.

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature, Pakistan, said it was optimistic about the sighting but stressed snow leopards remain an endangered species still facing “numerous threats.”

In a statement, it said it’s crucial that local communities “work together to protect and conserve these incredible big cats, ensuring future generations can witness their splendor in the wild.”

According to the United Nation’s Environment Program “human activities and growing livestock herds in some areas have led to the degradation of pastureland and wildlife habitats,” affecting the snow leopards food supplies.

Other threats according to the UNEP include poaching and the fragmentation of the animal’s habitat due to massive new infrastructure projects in addition to climate change – which is “expected to aggravate these existing threats.”

In 2023, Pakistan was ranked as the 5th most vulnerable country to climate change according to the World Bank’s Global Climate Risk Index.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s book, ‘Antisemitism in America: A Warning,’ is slated for release on Tuesday, but promotional events for the long-serving lawmaker’s book that were scheduled for this week are being called off.

‘Due to security concerns, Senator Schumer’s book events are being rescheduled,’ a statement to Fox from a book tour spokesperson noted.

The senator had been scheduled for multiple events this week.

Schumer irked some Democrats last week by voting to overcome a procedural hurdle and advance a Trump-backed government funding measure to a vote as the nation faced the prospect of a partial government shutdown.

He and a number of other Senate Democratic caucus members voted to invoke cloture, but then voted against passing the measure.

Two members of the Senate Democratic caucus – Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. – voted to both invoke cloture and to pass the measure. 

Shaheen announced last week that she will not seek re-election in 2026.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the only Senate Republican who voted against passing the funding measure last week.

Ahead of the vote, Schumer said that while the ‘bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse.’

Fox News’ Kelly Phares contributed to this report

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Americans like the idea of downsizing the federal government but are far from thrilled with how billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are carrying out cuts to the federal bureaucracy, according to new national polling.

President Donald Trump, after winning back the White House in last November’s election, created DOGE with marching orders to overhaul and downsize the federal government.

Trump named Musk, the world’s richest person and the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, to steer the organization.

DOGE has swept through federal agencies during the first two months of the Trump administration, rooting out what the White House argues was billions in wasteful federal spending. Additionally, it has taken a meat cleaver to the federal workforce, resulting in a massive downsizing of employees. The moves by DOGE grabbed tons of national attention and have triggered a slew of lawsuits in response.

American voters, by a 46%-40% margin in an NBC News poll conducted March 7-11 and released on Sunday, said creating DOGE was a good idea rather than a bad idea. 

However, when asked about their feelings towards DOGE, 47% of respondents held negative views, with 41% saying they saw DOGE in a positive light.

It is a similar story in a Reuters/IPSOS survey conducted March 11-12.

By a 59%-39% margin, Americans questioned in the poll said they supported downsizing the federal government.

However, 59% opposed the firing of tens of thousands of federal workers, with 38% supporting the moves by the Trump administration, and by a 50%-38% margin, they said Trump and Musk had gone too far in cutting federal spending.

Trump has repeatedly praised Musk for his efforts with DOGE, including during a primetime address earlier this month to a joint-session of Congress.

During an interview a week ago on Fox News’ ‘Sunday Morning Futures,’ Trump called Musk a ‘real patriot’ whose efforts have ‘opened a lot of eyes.’

However, Americans do not hold such rosy views of Musk, according to the surveys. Only 39% of those questioned in the NBC News poll had a positive view of Musk, with 51% holding a negative view.

He was underwater at 38% favorable and 59% unfavorable in the Reuters/Ipsos survey.

According to a Quinnipiac University national poll conducted March 6-10, 60% disapproved of the way Musk and DOGE are dealing with workers employed by the federal government, with only 36% approving.

The survey’s release noted that ‘54% of voters think Elon Musk and DOGE are hurting the country, while 40% think they are helping the country.’

A CNN poll conducted March 6-9 indicated that more than six in 10 thought the cuts by DOGE would go too far and that important federal programs would be shut down, with 37% saying the cuts wouldn’t go far enough in eliminating fraud and waste in the government.

It appears Trump is well aware of the negative reviews for Musk and DOGE.

Two weeks ago, Trump told the Cabinet secretaries that they, rather than Musk, would be in charge of department downsizing at their agencies.

In a social media post, Trump said they would use a ‘scalpel’ rather than a ‘hatchet’ in making government staffing cuts.

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Ukraine now has a cruise missile that can travel over 600 miles, far enough to reach Moscow, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy boasted over the weekend. 

‘We have significant results,’ Zelenskyy said Saturday. ‘Long Neptune has been tested and successfully used in combat. A new Ukrainian missile, an accurate strike. The range is a thousand kilometers,’ or 620 miles. 

That puts Moscow within striking range. 

The missile has been in development for years. Battle watchers believe the combat success Zelenskyy referred to was a Friday strike on an oil refinery in Tuapse, Russia, some 300 miles from the front line. 

The refinery is under 60 miles from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sprawling cliffside palace on the Black Sea in Gelendzhik. 

The Neptune cruise missile was used in April 2022 to take out a flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. 

Zelenskyy recently pledged that Ukraine would produce 100,000 long-range munitions in 2025.

Russia intercepted and destroyed several Ukrainian drones flying over Moscow on Friday, with some coming as close as just two miles away from the Kremlin, according to Russian officials. White House envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow last week.

The fresh attacks and new offensive weapons contradict the delicate ceasefire negotiations that will culminate in a phone call between President Donald Trump and Putin on Tuesday. 

Zelenskyy has already agreed to the terms of a 30-day ceasefire after meetings with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia. 

‘We’ll be talking about land, we’ll be talking about power plants, that’s a big question. But I think we have a lot of it already discussed, very much, by both sides, Ukraine and Russia,’ Trump said of his call. 

Russia has not accepted the terms of the ceasefire and accelerated attacks on Ukraine after Zelenskyy said he would agree to it. 

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State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Monday that ‘the ball is now in Russia’s court’ to accept a U.S.-proposed ceasefire deal that Ukraine agreed to last week.

The U.S.-backed proposal, which includes an immediate 30-day ceasefire and guaranteed resumption of U.S. military aid and intelligence to Ukraine, was finalized during diplomatic talks in Saudi Arabia last week.

‘Ukraine expressed readiness to accept the U.S. proposal to enact an immediate interim 30-day ceasefire to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The ball is now in Russia’s court,’ Bruce said during the State Department’s second briefing of Trump’s second term. ‘Following this historic meeting, Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio traveled to the G7 in Canada, where our partners expressed support for a swift and a durable end to this conflict.’

After President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, Putin said during a news conference that he agreed with the truce in principle, noting, ‘The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it.’ Meanwhile, Trump’s national security advisor, Michael Waltz, said following the meeting that there is ‘cautious optimism’ a ceasefire could be close at hand.

While a ceasefire appears imminent, Russia and Ukraine still need to resolve key disagreements before finalizing the deal.

These include negotiations related to Ukraine’s entrance into NATO — which Russia has said is a non-starter — territorial integrity disputes and security guarantees, such as whether NATO peacekeeping troops will be allowed in Ukraine to maintain the ceasefire. Potential prisoner swaps will also need to be ironed out between the two warring nations.

Trump has also signaled that control of certain land and power plants in Ukraine would also be part of the negotiations.

While Trump and his team have expressed optimism about the deal, GOP South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds said only ‘time will tell’ whether Putin plans on ‘deceiving us.’

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Nationwide injunctions ordered against the first Trump administration account for more than half of the total injunctions ordered against the federal government since 1963, data show. 

Nationwide injunctions are court orders that prevent the federal government from implementing a policy or law that has a cascading effect impacting the entire country, not just the parties involved in the court case. 

Trump’s first administration faced 64 injunctions out of the total 127 nationwide injunctions issued since 1963. There were 32 injunctions issued against the Bush, Obama and Biden administrations collectively since 2001, meaning the first Trump administration was on the receiving end of double the amount of nationwide injunctions than his two predecessors and successor combined, according to the April 2024 edition of the Harvard Law Review. 

The Harvard Law Review found there were six injunctions issued against the Bush administration, 12 against the Obama administration and 14 against the Biden administration. 

Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January has brought with it more than 120 lawsuits from activists, government employees and others targeting his executive orders and actions. The lawsuits have resulted in nationwide injunctions in some cases, including 15 in February alone, according to Trump’s acting solicitor general, Sarah Harris.

Trump filed an emergency appeal Thursday asking the Supreme Court to narrow three injunctions that were issued to halt Trump’s nullification of birthright citizenship. The emergency appeal requests the injunction only cover individuals directly impacted by the relevant courts. 

Harris argued in the emergency appeal that nationwide injunctions have hit ‘epidemic proportions’ under the second Trump administration, noting that the federal government faced 14 universal injunctions in the first three years of the Biden administration compared to 15 leveled against the Trump admin in one month alone. 

‘Years of experience have shown that the Executive Branch cannot properly perform its functions if any judge anywhere can enjoin every presidential action everywhere,’ Harris wrote.

Officials in the first Trump administration also railed against the flow of injunctions ordered against the 45th president’s policies and laws, including the former chiefs of the Department of Justice. 

‘Courts issued an average of only 1.5 nationwide injunctions per year against the Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush administrations, and 2.5 per year against the Obama administration,’ former Assistant Attorney General Beth Williams said in February 2019.  

‘In President Trump’s first year in office, however, judges issued a whopping 20 nationwide injunctions – an eightfold increase. This matches the entire eight-year total of such injunctions issued against President Obama during his two terms. We are now at 30, matching the total number of injunctions issued against the first 42 presidents combined.’

Former Trump administration Attorney General Bill Barr added in remarks later in 2019 that there were ‘only 27 nationwide injunctions­ in all of the 20th century’ compared to 37, at the time, against the first Trump administration. 

‘Since President Trump took office, federal district courts have issued 37 nationwide injunctions against the Executive Branch. That’s more than one a month. By comparison, during President Obama’s first two years, district courts issued two nationwide injunctions against the Executive Branch, both of which were vacated by the Ninth Circuit. And according to the Department’s best estimates, courts issued only 27 nationwide injunctions­ in all of the 20th century,’ the former AG said in May 2019. 

Harvard Law Review found that the judges who issued the injunctions against the first Trump administration were overwhelmingly ordered by judges who were appointed by a Democrat. 

Democratic-appointed judges ordered 92.2% of the injunctions against the Trump administration, meaning just five of the 64 injunctions were ordered by Republican-appointed judges. 

Republican-appointed judges ordered all 14 of the nationwide injunctions against the federal government under the Biden administration. 

Injunctions under the Bush and Obama eras were much more bipartisan, with 50% of the injunctions in the Bush era issued by Democratic-appointed judges, and Republican-appointed judges ordering 58.3% of the 12 injunctions in the Obama era. 

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report. 

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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been ordered to pay more than $54,000 for violating the state’s open records laws in relation to the prosecution of President Donald Trump.

The county’s Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause formalized her ruling Friday and ordered Willis to pay $54,264 in attorneys’ fees and litigation costs after ‘intentionally’ failing to provide records requested by Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney who filed the motion to disqualify Willis from prosecuting Trump on charges of allegedly interfering with the 2020 presidential election.

Krause stated that Willis’ office failed to provide documents related to the employment of Nathan Wade, the former special assistant district attorney forced to resign from the Trump case due to his romantic relationship with Willis. 

Merchant believed that Willis and Wade may have financially benefited from Wade’s appointment as the special prosecutor in the case.

‘Defendants — through the Open Records custodian, Dexter Bond — were openly hostile to counsel for Plaintiff, Ms. Merchant, and testified that Ms. Merchant’s requests were handled differently than other requests,’ the court order said.

Bond, who testified that his usual practice was to call a requestor to receive additional information to fulfill requests, indicated that he refused to communicate with Merchant by telephone, the court order stated.

‘While there is no requirement under the ORA for Mr. Bond to call any requestor about a particular request, Mr. Bond’s handling of Ms. Merchant’s requests in this manner indicates a lack of good faith,’ the order said. ‘Defendants’ failures were intentional, not done in good faith, and were substantially groundless and vexatious.’

Merchant, who reacted to the ruling in a post on X Friday, said she was ‘proud that we have judges willing to hold people in power accountable when they ignore the law!!!!’

Fox News Digital reached out to Merchant and Willis’ office for additional statements but did not immediately receive a response.

The DA’s office has 30 days from the court’s order to pay the penalty. The plaintiff also received injunctive relief directing Willis to finally provide the requested documents.

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Americans once again donned their green beads and shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day, celebrating the largest Irish diaspora in the world. St. Patrick’s Day has become an opportunity for Ireland and the United States to celebrate their rich cultural and political connections. 

New York City is hosting its 264th St. Patrick’s Day Parade today – marking the oldest and longest standing St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world. The first parade was held in 1762, predating America’s Declaration of Independence. 

Major cities across the United States hosted their own St. Patrick’s Day parades this weekend – including Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago. Chicago even dyes the Chicago River green each year to mark the celebration. 

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson kicked off the Irish celebrations last week by welcoming ​Taoiseach Micheál Martin to the White House. 

‘America’s truly been blessed by the courage and unstoppable spirit of the Irish,’ Trump said at the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon on Wednesday. ‘Over the generations, Americans of Irish ancestry have helped build our railroads and raise our cities and man our factories, enrich our culture with art and music and literature – we see that all over – and protect our communities by joining the proud tradition of Irish-American police officers and firefighters. And few have done more for the Stars and Stripes than the sons and daughters of the Emerald Isle.’

While the first wave of Irish immigrants arrived in the United States in the 1700s, immigration reports reveal the Great Famine in the 1800s nearly doubled the population of Irish in the United States – as over a million Irish died from starvation while another million immigrated to the United States. 

Trump, a native New Yorker, spoke with pride of New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, watching ‘hundreds of citizens decked in Irish green’ marching up Fifth Avenue and past ‘the most beautiful cathedral in the world,’ St. Patrick’s Cathedral. 

The Taoiseach’s trip to Washington, D.C., began with a breakfast at the vice president’s residence, followed by the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon and a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office answering questions from reporters. 

‘Irish America has been at the heart of shaping this great nation. The ideals of liberty, democracy and equality of opportunity forged in this country did much to inspire Irish independence. Our histories are interconnected because our people are interconnected. Today, as the president has said, more than 30 million people claim Irish ancestry in the United States,’ Martin said. 

The celebratory events were not without some political tension when Trump said the United States has a ‘massive deficit’ with Ireland because they ‘took our pharmaceutical companies away from presidents who didn’t know what they were doing.’ Trump said the European Union, which includes Ireland, ‘treats us very badly.’ 

Martin countered Trump’s comments, saying,It’s a two-way street to where we are investing a lot more in America now.’ However, Trump maintained that reciprocal tariffs were only fair. 

Martin presented Trump with a crystal bowl filled with shamrocks, a tradition that dates back to 1952 to symbolize the long-standing friendship between Ireland and the United States. Martin said the Shamrock Bowl ceremony is ‘an important moment to reflect upon the relationship between our two countries.’

Speakerof the HouseTip O’Neill, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and fellow Irish-American lawmakers began the Friends of Ireland Caucus and Luncheon in 1981, during ‘The Troubles.’

‘The Troubles’ were a period of political and sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s and 1998. Irish Republicans, who were predominately Catholic, sought a united Ireland, while Unionists, who were mostly Protestant, wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. 

When Britain tried to enforce military conscription in Ireland during World War I, Irish nationalists, labor unions and the Catholic Church united in opposition. As support for Irish independence grew, Sinn Féin, an Irish nationalist party, gained popularity following the 1916 Easter Rising.

After winning a majority in the general election in 1918, Sinn Féin declared Irish independence and established the First Dáil, or the Irish Parliament. But Britain refused to recognize Irish independence, leading the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to launch the Irish War of Independence in 1919. 

The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 ended the war and created the Irish Free State, which became the Republic of Ireland in 1949 and allowed the six counties of Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom. Catholics in Northern Ireland faced discrimination from the unionist government, who favored Protestants. Inspired by the Civil Rights movement, Catholics began peaceful protests demanding equal rights in Northern Ireland in the 1960s. 

Conflicts between the unionist government and nationalist protesters escalated into ‘The Troubles’ – 30 years of violence between British soldiers and the IRA. The United States was instrumental in ending ‘The Troubles’ in 1998. 

Former President Bill Clinton helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which largely ended the violence in Ireland by establishing a power-sharing agreement between unionists and nationalists – strengthening the relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. 

Martin on Wednesday said former President Ronald Reagan initiated the United States’ role in the peace process, as the first U.S. president to visit Ireland. The Reagan administration helped develop the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, which laid the groundwork for the Good Friday Agreement. 

‘Nowhere is the strength of the U.S.-Irish relationship more in evident than in our own peace process. 44 years ago, President Reagan called for a just and peaceful solution to the conflict that has for so long devastated lives on our island. Politicians from both sides of the aisle rose to the occasion, and the lasting peace we enjoyed today on our island is a signature achievement of U.S. foreign policy, and this story of peace is one that we both wrote together,’ Martin said. 

Martin commended Trump for leading peace negotiations in Ukraine and the Middle East during his visit to Washington, following Trump’s contentious meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last month. 

‘We are ready to play our part in supporting work, to end conflict and to secure peace in the Ukraine, or in the Middle East or wherever. We welcome very much the unrelenting focus and effort that President Trump and his administration has brought to this task from his very first days in office,’ Martin added. 

Yet, there were Irish officials who disagreed with Martin’s sentiment and boycotted the events at the White House last week. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill skipped St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the U.S. this year to protest Trump’s calling for the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.

Trump said during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. would ‘take over the Gaza Strip.’ Trump also suggested relocating Palestinians to rebuild Gaza as the ‘Riviera of the Middle East.’ 

When reporters asked Trump about the boycott during the press conference in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said, ‘I really haven’t heard that.’ However, Trump also seemed to walk back his Gaza comments, telling a reporter:’Nobody’s expelling any Palestinians.’

Ireland is a long-time supporter of Palestinian independence, as many Irish draw parallels with the British occupation of Ireland. Ireland has advocated for full Palestinian statehood and a two-state solution throughout the war in Gaza. Irish citizens have vocally opposed the war in Gaza and consistently protested in support of Palestinians since the war began. 

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The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is over as Israeli fighter jets began striking the Gaza Strip after Hamas refused repeated hostage deal offers, officials said. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began striking Hamas terrorist targets across Gaza ‘in order to achieve the war objectives set by the political leadership, including the release of all our hostages—both the living and the fallen,’ the office of Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a letter. 

‘This decision comes after Hamas repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all proposals presented by U.S. President’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, as well as the mediators,’ the letter states. 

Israel will intensify its military actions against Hamas moving forward, authorities said.

‘Under the direction of the political echelon, the IDF and Shin Bet are widely attacking terrorist targets of the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip, more details below,’ the IDF and Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, said in a joint statement. 

Netanyahu’s office said Hamas ‘rejected all offers it received’ from the Trump administration’s special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff and the other mediators, the Times of Israel reported. 

‘Tonight, we returned to fighting in Gaza due to Hamas’ refusal to release the hostages and threats to harm IDF soldiers and Israeli communities,’ Katz said. ‘If Hamas does not release all the hostages, the gates of hell will open in Gaza, and Hamas’ murderers and rapists will meet the IDF with forces they have never known before.’

He noted that Israel ‘will not stop fighting until all the hostages return home and all the war’s goals are achieved.’

In a statement, Hamas blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘and the Nazi Zionist occupation fully responsible for the repercussions of the treacherous aggression on Gaza, and for the defenseless civilians and our besieged Palestinian people, who are subjected to a brutal war and a systematic policy of starvation.’

The terror group called for the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council to urgently convene to adopt a resolution demanding Israel halt military operations and fully withdraw from Gaza. 

Hamas has insisted on sticking with the original terms of the deal, with Israel fully withdrawing from Gaza and agreeing to permanently end the war in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages. 

Netanyahu has long insisted that Israel will not end the war until Hamas’s governing and military capabilities have been destroyed.

The strikes come after nearly two months of a ceasefire to pause the 17-month-long war where dozens of hostages were released for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

On Monday, Israeli forces launched airstrikes in Gaza, southern Lebanon and southern Syria. The IDF said it was targeting terrorists plotting attacks. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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President Donald Trump said he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday about the final points of a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said many ‘elements’ of the Final Agreement’ have been agreed to ‘but much remains.’

‘Thousands of young soldiers, and others, are being killed. Each week brings 2,500 soldier deaths, from both sides, and it must end NOW,’ Trump wrote. ‘I look very much forward to the call with President Putin.’

Some points of discussion could involed territorial concessions by Kyiv and control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The Trump administration has been working on a deal to end the three-year war. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko reportedly said that the Kremlin wants an ‘ironclad’ guarantee that Ukraine will be prohibited from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Last week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that ‘we have never been closer to peace,’ as the U.S. waits for Russia’s answer on a 30-day ceasefire agreement. 

Ukraine accepted the deal earlier in the week after a meeting with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia, on the condition that Moscow commits to the plan.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for tougher sanctions on Russia and accused Putin of trying to drag out the peace talks to prolong the war.

‘It’s clear to everyone in the world—even to those who refused to acknowledge the truth for the past three years—that it is Putin who continues to drag out this war,’ the Ukrainian leader wrote Monday on X. ‘For a week now, Putin has been unable to squeeze out ‘yes’ to the ceasefire proposal. He’s saying whatever he wants, but not what the whole world wants to hear.’

He called for world leaders to pressure Moscow into ending the conflict.

‘The unconditional ceasefire proposal is essentially about saving lives, allowing diplomats to work on ensuring security and a lasting peace—the proposal that Russia is ignoring,’ he said. ‘Pressure is needed to finally make Moscow accept that their war must be brought to an end.’

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