This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Hamas submits names of hostages and their condition ahead of potential prisoner swap, including U.S. citizens

The Hamas terrorist group has submitted a list of hostages it proposes to free in the first stage of a ceasefire deal with Israel in addition to a list of Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel that it wants released, the London-based pan-Arab news site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Citing a source close to the talks, the report claims Israel is evaluating the list and could send a delegation to Cairo later today (Monday).

Saar: IAF hit Syrian chemical weapons, missile production sites

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar confirms Israel struck suspected chemical weapons sites and long-range rockets in Syria in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile actors.

Sa'ar says that "the only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens."

"That's why we attacked strategic weapons systems, like, for example, remaining chemical weapons, or long-range missiles and rockets, in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists.

U.S.-Israeli intelligence services surprised at speed of Assad's fall

Israeli and U.S. intelligence arrays failed to predict Assad's downfall. Even after the rebel offensive started two weeks ago, the assumption in Washington and Jerusalem was that even if the opposition forces managed to advance, Assad would somehow manage to cling to power.

But on Thursday, the tide began to turn. "We are seeing early signs of the collapse of the Syrian army," Israeli officials told JNS. These signs intensified over the weekend, until the fall of Damascus.

UAV fired from Yemen strikes residential building in central Israel

Residents in the central city of Yavne reported a loud explosion Monday morning followed by smoke rising from a building in the city.

Witnesses in the affected building, where a fire had broken out, claimed they saw a drone in the sky before the explosion.

"I heard a strange buzzing sound and then a loud noise," one neighbor recounted. Authorities are investigating the incident, especially as incoming warning alerts did not sound.

IDF special forces seize Syrian side of Mt. Hermon, secure key southern Syria border area

Following the fall of Syria's long-standing dictator Bashar al-Assad, and a lightning advance from Turkish and Qatari-backed Islamist insurgents, the Israel Defense Force moved to quickly secure – without opposition – the Syrian side of Mt. Hermon. The part that is in Israel is the highest point in the entire country and provides excellent visibility to the fertile valleys in the Galilee below, providing it with a crucial strategic importance.

Reports of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's demise in a supposedly mysterious plane crash proved premature, as it was revealed Sunday, Russia's President Vladimir Putin granted him, and his family, political asylum. Assad was due to have given a televised address acknowledging his resignation as president, but events quickly overtook that plan, and now stateless, he fled the country.

An Israeli civilian from the northern city of Nof Hagalil was arrested for carrying out missions on behalf of Iran, the Shin Bet security agency and police say, the latest in a series of espionage cases.

The suspect, Artyom Zolotarev, 33, was detained in November over suspicions he was "committing security offenses related to contact with Iranian intelligence officials and carrying out security missions in Israel under their direction, for financial gain," according to the Shin Bet.

The IDF on Monday named four reservists of the 226th Brigade's 9263rd Battalion killed when an underground compound collapsed during operational activity in southern Lebanon.

They were named as Maj. (res.) Evgeny Zinershain, 43, from Zichron Yaakov, a company commander; Capt. (res.) Sagi Ya'akov Rubinshtein, 31, from Lavie, a platoon commander; Master Sgt. (res.) Binyamin Destaw Negose, 28, from Beit Shemesh; and Sgt. 1st Class (res.) Erez Ben Efraim, 25, from Ramat Gan.

Sheikh Loai, the commander of the Syrian Druze force that liberated Sweida, a province with a considerable Druze population, spoke with Ynet on Sunday amid celebrations following the fall of President Bashar Assad's regime.

"As soon as the rebels began liberating northern Syria, we realized we had to act and remove all symbols of the tyrant Assad's rule, from police stations to military bases," he recounted.

Sweida, located in southern Syria, is the largest Druze stronghold in the Middle East, covering 5,550 square kilometers (2,142 square miles) and home to around 300,000 residents. Assad made significant efforts to limit the independence of the Druze community within his territory.

Australian police said on Monday they are hunting for three suspects over an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue, which has been designated as a terrorist act. Mask-wearing attackers set the Adass Israel Synagogue ablaze before dawn on Friday, police said, gutting much of the building. Some congregants were inside the single-story building at the time but no serious injuries were reported.

Recent excavations at the Church of St. Nicholas in Demre, Antalya, Turkey, have revealed a limestone sarcophagus that may be the burial site of Saint Nicholas, the Greek bishop whose life and deeds inspired the legend of Santa Claus.

This discovery is part of the ongoing "Legacy for the Future Project," led by Associate Professor Ebru Fatma Findik from Hatay Mustafa Kemal University and initiated by Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The sarcophagus, found within the church's two-story annex, is believed to be the original burial site of Saint Nicholas, who lived in the ancient city of Myra during the 4th century A.D. Measuring approximately two meters in length and buried at a depth of 1.5 to 2 meters, the sarcophagus features a raised lid and a pitched roof consistent with burial styles of the region. Its proximity to the church – constructed in the 5th century by order of Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II – adds credibility to the theory that this was the saint's original resting place.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Yelp, the online social media operation that lists and reviews various business operations, is insisting it deserves an exemption from a federal court standard that precludes review there when the same people and their issues are being addressed in state court.

The fight is over Yelp's decision to attach negative information to listings for crisis pregnancy centers, those locations that offer counseling but not abortions.

Yelp created those warnings specifically for those centers after 2022 when Texas adopted abortion limits following the demise, in the U.S. Supreme Court, of the faulty Roe v. Wade opinion that created out of thin air a federal "right" to abortion.

Courthouse News explains that Yelp's fight now is pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where judges heard arguments this week.

The company sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, claiming a First Amendment dispute, when he threatened, and later did, take Yelp to state court over its warnings.

Yelp has claimed that it watches for when "consumers may be deceived" and then attaches warnings, claiming that the pregnancy counseling centers "were leading users seeking abortion care away from medical providers to anti-abortion counseling services."

A federal judge previously dismissed Yelp's complaint, citing a 1971 precedent that found federal courts can't hear civil rights tort claims when the same players and issues are in state court.

Paxton had sued Yelp about the same time Yelp sued him, and while that case was dismissed it is pending at an appeals court.

Yelp lawyer James Sigel told the judges that Yelp deserves an exemption to that precedent, claiming Paxton's case was "meritless."

He said Yelp would look for "bad faith" on the part of Paxton if the case is allowed to continue.

The report, however, said the judges appeared to doubt Yelp's claims.

"You want the federal court to enjoin the attorney general from prosecuting that case or pursuing that case," said U.S. Circuit Judge Daniel Bress, a Donald Trump appointee. "That's a difficult one. It seems to me if you win on this, we're gonna have cases filed every week in federal court saying, 'I don't like what that the attorney general is doing in that state.'"

Two other judges expressed similar doubts.

A lawyer for the state of Texas said the fight should be handled in Texas courts.

The state had charged that the Yelp "warning labels" were misleading and overbroad in that they didn't apply the same to all centers.

Paxton had said Yelp cannot lie about the centers.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Political analyst Bill Maher says he "may quit" his "Real Time" show due to the return of Donald Trump to the presidency.

The celebrity pundit recently hosted leftist actress Jane Fonda on his "Club Random" podcast and explained it would be impossible to avoid talking about Trump because politics are central to the HBO broadcast.

MAHER: I'm sh***ing my pants.

FONDA: It's hard to believe.

MAHER: I mean, I may quit because I don't want to do another … I did all the Trump stuff before anybody.

I called him a con man before anyone else; he's a mafia boss. I said he wasn't going to concede the election.

I've seen this f***ing …

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

There are multiple ways the nation could get relief from the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris extremism of electric vehicles.

The Democrat regime in Washington has insisted on destroying what it can of America's fossil fuels industry and instead pushes consumers to rely on electricity for everything, despite the fact Americans simply don't want and don't trust electric vehicles – and the nation's grid never could support widespread demand those cars would impose.

Experts recently told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump could make one change that would negate Biden's work: To determine that regulatory agencies do not have the legal authority to push the electrification of vehicles.

"The Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could decide that the EPA has no authority under the Clean Air Act to mandate – to force – the electrification of the U.S. automobile fleet," Marlo Lewis, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the DCNF.

The EVs come with their problems for consumers: Heavy vehicles that can be dangerous in minor crashes, intense fires from burning batteries when accidents happen, poor travel range, especially in cold weather, and stupendous battery replacement costs after a few years.

But now a report in the Washington Examiner confirms that automobile companies are "revving up" to ask the Trump administration to hang on to Biden's rules and regulations.

"According to a report from the New York Times, the Biden administration's actions to boost domestic EV manufacturing may have already set the auto industry past the point of no return," the report said. "Following Biden's initiatives, automakers have already invested billions of dollars in transitioning to electric vehicles. If Trump were to scrap the initiative, major automakers fear they could be undercut by smaller manufacturers producing cheaper, internal combustion engine cars."

So, the report said, "Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis are lobbying to keep the mandates."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The U.S. temporarily shutters Kyiv embassy over airstrike fears, which turned out to be a Russian psyop

The U.S. embassy in Kyiv has received information of a potential significant air attack on Wednesday and will be closed, the U.S. Department of State Consular Affairs said in a statement.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the embassy will be closed, and embassy employees are being instructed to shelter in place," the department said in a statement published on the website of the US embassy in Kyiv.

Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels in defiance of international demands, according to a confidential report by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA.

Sgt. First Class (res.) Roi Sasson, 21, from Mevaseret Zion, a soldier in the Nachshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade fell Tuesday in an encounter with terrorists in Jabaliya, the IDF announced on Wednesday morning. Since the outbreak of the war, 800 IDF soldiers have died in battles, 28 of them in the current operation in Jabaliya.

Turkish strikes on Syrian Kurds cuts off water supply for 1 million people

According to the BBC investigation, accompanied by a full-length documentary, Turkey has conducted over 100 attacks on Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria between October 2019 and January 2024. These strikes targeted oil and gas facilities and power stations vital to civilians in the region.

Hezbollah rocket strikes UNIFIL position in southern Lebanon, four Ghanaian peacekeepers wounded

The Israel Defense Forces said that two UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) posts were hit by Hezbollah attacks, which wounded peacekeepers and did damage to the posts.

The first rocket attack was launched at 9:50 a.m. from Deir Aames, which hit the UNIFIL base near Ramyeh in southern Lebanon. Later, at 1:30 p.m., another barrage of rockets hit and damaged a post in the area of Chamaa, which Hezbollah launched from Maaliyeh in southern Lebanon.

Argentina removes troops from UNIFIL 'peacekeeping' force

Buenos Aires announced it would be pulling its troops out of the 10,000-strong UNIFIL peacekeeping force, which is supposed to enforce U.N. Resolution 1701. The move by Argentina appeared to represent the first sign of cracks in the unity of the mission, which has been caught in the crossfire as Israel battles against the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.

Iran warns Western states over imposing IAEA sanctions on its nuclear program

Western countries on Wednesday formally submitted a new resolution critical of Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency ahead of its board meeting, diplomatic sources said, pushing ahead despite Iran's warnings against the move.

Is Israel about to attack Iranian-backed militias in Iraq?

Some two weeks ago, the U.S. warned Iraq that permitting Iranian-backed militias to use its territory to attack Israel, could lead Jerusalem to decide to retaliate militarily. There has been no let up in the interim, and several missiles and drones have been fired from Iraqi territory at the Jewish state, and Israel might be preparing air strikes at various targets.

U.N. Security Council to vote on no-strings Gaza ceasefire

The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution that demands an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza neither tying it to the release of the hostages nor mentioning Hamas as the war's architect, according to Israeli media.

The ceasefire proposal was developed by 10 non-permanent council members, with the U.S. at the center of the decision, and it is uncertain whether it will exercise its veto power. Not doing so would be reminiscent of one of the final acts of the Obama administration, which backed a resolution criticizing Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria.

Jerusalem court orders P.A. to pay $12 million in damages to second intifada victims

In a precedent-setting decision, the Jerusalem District Court has ordered the Palestinian Authority to pay approximately 46 million shekels ($12.3 million) in compensation to three siblings whose family members were killed in the 2001 Sbarro restaurant bombing in Jerusalem. The ruling marks the first implementation of a new Israeli law mandating punitive damages for terrorism victims.

Former Hamas hostage confronts UCLA protest leader in campus debate

A survivor of Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack in Israel delivered powerful testimony about her 54 days in captivity as she faced off with a student protest leader at a campus debate in Southern California.

The confrontation, captured in a video segment released Monday by The Gr8 Debate and filmed by Trusted Confidential Coverage (TCC), brought together former hostage Moran Stella Yanai, UCLA encampment leader Aidan Doyle, and Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A lawsuit has been filed against the University of Maine for a plan that ultimately granted a Christian church the right to negotiate for the purchase of an unused school building before officials reneged on their deal.

The state officials broke their agreement because "local curmudgeons" including a state senator who was on the board of one of the losing bidders coordinated to create a campaign of "religious animosity and religious hostility" against the Christian faith and demand the agreement be voided.

"These purportedly 'inclusive' and 'tolerant' community members, along with the two disappointed bidders, unlawfully conspired together to pressure UMS's officials to rescind the church's award because of the church's Christian beliefs," the filing in federal court in Maine by Liberty Counsel on behalf of Calvary Chapel Belfast, charges.

Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver said, "The University of Maine System violated the First Amendment by discrimination against a church because of its Christian beliefs. Such discrimination is unlawful. Calvary Chapel Belfast participated in the bidding processes in good faith, but the university unlawfully discriminated against the church's religious beliefs. It is a sad day when government officials violate the constitutional rights of its citizens. This is a costly mistake for the University of Maine System."

Named as defendants are the university system and a list of its officials, including Ryan Low, Rachel Piper, Robin Cyr, and Derek Houtman.

"The conspirators and disappointed bidders did not hide their animus towards the Christian church receiving the bid award, going so far as to say that the church must not receive the property because its 'very design' as a Christian church with biblical views was discriminatory and had no place in the community. Some disappointed bidders went so far as to assert that a church cannot even operate in 'good faith' concerning alleged nondiscrimination because the church's website espoused biblical teachings and quoted Scripture. And, to make matters worse, the disappointed bidders and their co-conspirators were joined in their religious animosity and hostility towards the church and its efforts to purchase the Hutchinson Center by elected officials in Maine. Specifically, Senator Chip Curry—the elected state senator in Belfast where the Hutchinson Center is located—said it was completely inappropriate to have a religious organization own the Hutchinson Center," the filing charges.

Liberty Counsel said its legal action charges religious discrimination.

It is seeking a preliminary injunction to preserve the status quo until the lawsuit can be resolved.

The background is that Calvary Chapel Belfast outscored two other competitors and "rightfully earned" the winning bid to solely negotiate the purchase of UMS's Hutchinson Center, a building no longer in use by the university.

However, the legal team charged, "UMS officials conspired with one of the competing, secular bidders, Waldo Community Action Partners (WCAP), to rescind the award over the church's scriptural beliefs on marriage and sexuality, and subsequently rigged a second bidding process awarding WCAP with the winning bid."

The filing points out, "The Supreme Court has declared that excluding a religious organization 'from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution.'"

That, the filing contends, prevents state officials from acting "in hostile ways" to churches.

"This action therefore seeks to vindicate the church's constitutional rights and restore the church's rightfully earned opportunity to negotiate the purchase of the Hutchinson Center," the filing states.

Last August, "Calvary Chapel Belfast submitted its bid to UMS for the Hutchinson Center, a building where it had previously rented space, to expand its congregation and community outreach. In addition to WCAP, the other competing bidder was Future of the Hutchinson Center Steering Committee and Waterfall Arts (FHC-WA). Once UMS announced the church as the winning bidder, both competing bidders sent a series of protest letters to the university attacking the church's religious beliefs," the federal court was told.

It was Low, being paid to be the school's executive for finance and administration, who "summarily" canceled the church's opportunity.

The report said the pretext used was that the university had an internet hub in the building, an issue the church already had addressed with the university. The church had offered the university free space for the machinery.

This time, however, the school accepted a bid from WCAP, which nearly tripled its financial offer.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

During President-elect Donald Trump's first term in the White house, Iran was reduced to a shell of its old terror power because his sanctions decimated the cash available for those agendas, and more.

During Joe Biden's four years in office, the rogue terror regime regained access to billions in cash and the result was events like the Oct. 7, 2023, atrocity on Israel by terrorists in Hamas, who killed some 1,200 civilians and kidnapped hundreds more.

Now that Trump is returning to office, even though his campaign has made no point of calling for a regime change there, that move soon may become evident.

That's according to Con Coughlin, the Telegraph's defense and foreign affairs editor, who also is a distinguished fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

"Trump may not be thinking about regime change in Iran as he prepares to take office, but it may become an option he simply cannot ignore if the dramatic collapse in the Islamic Republic's fortunes means that its survival can no longer be guaranteed," he explained.

"Trump may come to see as well that, unfortunately, due to the deep-seated commitment of Iran's regime in exporting its brand of Islam, as enshrined in its constitution, there can be no real long-term peace in the Middle East without regime change, especially if Iran has nuclear weapons – not to mention the global arms race that would follow such an event."

Coughlin explained that it was Trump's "no-nonsense approach to confronting the ayatollahs' malign influence in the region" that was "one of the defining characteristics during his first term in the White House."

Citing its major defects, Trump said at that time, too, he was applying "maximum pressure" on Tehran.

"Trump also demonstrated during his first term that he was not afraid of a direct confrontation with Tehran. His decision to authorize the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the master terrorist who headed the elite Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in a drone strike in January 2020 dealt a devastating blow to Tehran's terrorist infrastructure," he explained.

It was, he reported, because of Trump that Iran had to scale down its terrorism.

"It was only after Joe Biden replaced Trump in the White House in 2021 that Tehran revived its terrorist network, a development that was greatly facilitated by Biden's policy of appeasement towards Tehran, which saw the ayatollahs gifted billions of dollars in a misguided attempt by the Biden administration to revive Obama's nuclear deal," he explained.

That also prompted Iran to respond with renewed attempts to gain nuclear weaponry.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Taxpayers in Colorado are being stuck with a bill that will total in the millions of dollars because a forensic lab tech for the state's bureau of investigation "cut corners" with DNA tests that now have undermined the results in hundreds of criminal cases.

Colorado Public Radio reported the next step in the disaster is for the CBI to reach a contract deal with a Wisconsin company that is to assess the state's forensics lab and its operations.

That comes after former forensic tech Yvonne "Missy" Wood was found "to have manipulated DNA test results of more than 800 cases."

"CBI told lawmakers that it will cost almost $7.5 million to retest DNA sample tests and potentially retry cases affected," the report said.

The disaster resulted after Woods' 29 years with the CBI, and her involvement in multiple high-profile cases, including the 2003 investigation of the late NBA star Kobe Bryant on accusations of rape.

An internal affairs investigation at the CBI was opened in 2023 and Woods was placed on leave. She then retired before the investigation was finished but the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, which was helping, opened a criminal investigation of her just days ago.

The alleged failures surfaced when an intern reviewing DNA testing and reports found some data was missing, the report said.

State authorities have identified 809 cases going back to 2014 in which Woods was involved.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

President-elect Donald Trump announced that the "great public servant, governor, and leader in faith for many years" and "highly respected" Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, will be the U.S. ambassador to Israel during the next administration.

U.S. government employee charged under Espionage Act on suspicion of leading top secret documents on Israel

A CIA official has been charged with disclosing classified documents that appeared to show Israel's plans to retaliate against Iran for a missile attack earlier this year, according to court documents and people familiar with the matter.

Two Israelis killed in Hezbollah missile strike on Nahariya

Two people were killed when a rocket exploded in the building in which they were working in the northern coastal city of Nahariya on Tuesday as the Hezbollah terror group fired dozens of rockets and drones at northern and central Israel.

Biden administration won't issue arms embargo against Israel

The U.S. State Department will not withhold arms from Israel, according to State Department officials, a month after the White House sent a letter to Israel stating the Jewish state had 30 days to improve the humanitarian conditions for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip or be subject to an arms embargo.

Netanyahu calls on Iranian people to 'not lose hope'

In the second message within months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Islamic Republic's regime fears its own citizens more than Israel; and looks to the future of blossoming ties, freedom, and prosperity for Iranians.

Islamic Jihad releases video of Israel-Russian hostage Sasha Trufanov

Palestinian Islamic Jihad released a proof-of-life video on Wednesday of Russian-Israeli hostage Alexander ("Sasha") Troufanov, who was abducted from his family home during the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and has been held captive in the Gaza Strip for 404 days.

Mossad issues warning to Israelis in Thailand over feared attack

Israel's Mossad intelligence agency warned Israeli tourists in Thailand to avoid a world-famous outdoor party this weekend, saying that the event may be targeted by terrorists attempting to murder Israelis.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A New York judge who heard a lawfare case against President Donald Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has ordered a delay on all proceedings, even though sentencing was scheduled just days away, instead telling prosecutors to file comments with the court for "appropriate steps going forward."

The case that was heard by Judge Juan Merchan, whose daughter was making money promoting Democrat talking points while her father was ruling against Trump in a courtroom, stems from business actions that would have been misdemeanors had they been filed before the statute of limitations expired.

But Bragg claimed they still could be prosecuted, and even that they were felonies, because of some other unspecified crime to which they contributed.

The jury, which was astonishingly told by the judge that their decision didn't have to be unanimous, was from the leftist enclave of Manhattan and returned a guilty verdict to 34 counts.

The trial reached the level of tabloid headlines because former porn star Stormy Daniels testified about payments made to her by Trump's former legal representative.

The case is one of multiple lawfare cases brought against Trump by Democrats in order to try to prevent him from running for president in 2024 or winning.

Those cases are disintegrating now at various paces, as federal practices do not allow the prosecution of a sitting president, and Trump is to be inaugurated on Jan. 20.

Merchan earlier had delayed the sentencing in the case until after the election, just won by Trump in a landslide.

At that time, constitutional expert and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said that the delay likely was because Trump's popularity rose with each development in the courtroom.

At the time, Turley said, "Any sentencing that Merchan would have come down with, I think, would have not been particularly welcome by most of the public. It would have reminded them of this campaign against the former president."

Turley pointed out that Merchant had taken steps that made him appear one-sided, including an "excessive" gag order on Trump.

The jury claimed Trump falsified business records relating to reimbursing his then-attorney Michael Cohen for a nondisclosure agreement with Daniels.

Democrats have demanded that Merchan imprison Trump in the case, as part of their lawfare against him.

The judge also has a confirmed record of donating money to Democrat ideologues.

Trump's lawyers have called for dismissing the case entirely.