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Makeup artist is one of the US deportees sent from El Salvador to Venezuela, congressman says

Makeup artist is one of the US deportees sent from El Salvador to Venezuela, congressman says

Washington Post6 days ago
WASHINGTON — Andry Hernández Romero, a makeup artist from Venezuela who was deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration and held in a notorious mega-prison, was among the scores of migrants sent back to Venezuela in a three-nation exchange Friday, a California congressman said.
Rep. Robert Garcia posted on social media Friday night: 'We have been in touch with Andry Hernández Romero's legal team and they have confirmed he is out of CECOT and back in Venezuela. We are grateful he is alive and are engaged with both the State Department and his team.'
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Grieving parents of American terror victim plead with top criminal prosecutor for justice
Grieving parents of American terror victim plead with top criminal prosecutor for justice

Fox News

time6 minutes ago

  • Fox News

Grieving parents of American terror victim plead with top criminal prosecutor for justice

JERUSALEM— The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is under growing pressure to extradite the self-confessed female Hamas terrorist Ahlam Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi, who engineered the terrorist bombing at a Jerusalem pizzeria in 2001 that murdered three Americans among 16 people, half of whom were children. Frimet and Arnold Roth, the parents of Malki Roth, a 15-year-old U.S. citizen murdered in the 2001 Sbarro pizzeria bombing, held a virtual meeting on July 17, 2025 with Jeanine F. Pirro, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. The U.S. State Department has a $5 million reward for information leading to al-Tamimi's capture, even as reports claim Jordan's King Abdullah II has played hardball, refusing to extradite the accused mass murderer. "You have the capacity to push for her extradition, to ensure that the 1995 treaty is honored, to show Jordan and its population along with the watching world that harboring terrorists has consequences," Arnold Roth told Pirro during the meeting, according to a family press release following the meeting. The 24th anniversary of the Aug. 9, 2001 bombing is next month. Roth added, "We're here today to implore you to act. Jordan needs to know the U.S. cannot tolerate the protection of a murderer of American citizens. U.S. justice needs to be respected by the world and, without hammering this point too hard, by America's lawmakers and senior officials." The Roths said that the meeting focused on the need for "concrete steps" to advance the long-delayed extradition of al-Tamimi. Al-Tamimi's terrorist bombing also killed Judith Shoshana Greenberg and Chana Nachenberg in the 2001 attack. "All the victims deserve justice," Arnold Roth said, stressing that Tamimi's extradition should become a "true priority" for the U.S. Department of Justice. When asked if the extradition of al-Tamimi was raised by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in his Wednesday meeting with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "The United States has continually emphasized to the Government of Jordan the importance of holding Ahlam al-Tamimi, the convicted terrorist released by Israel in a 2011 prisoner swap, accountable in a U.S. court for her admitted role in a 2001 bombing in Jerusalem that killed 15 people, including Americans Malka Chana Roth, Judith Shoshana Greenbaum, and Chana Nachenberg. The United States continues to impress upon the Government of Jordan that Tamimi is a brutal murderer who should be brought to justice." The State Department referred Fox News Digital to the Department of Justice for more information about the U.S. criminal case against al-Tamimi. The Justice Department and Pirro's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital press queries. Al-Tamimi is on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list. She is the second female to appear on the terrorism list. Frimet Roth told U.S. Attorney Pirro that "We cannot carry this fight alone any longer. Judge Pirro, please, be the voice for Malki and the other American victims. Be the advocate for justice that has been denied for too long. We beg you to act—not for our sake alone, but for the integrity of American law and the sanctity of every life lost to terror." The Roths also delivered a petition to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee in May 2025, with some 30,000 signatures urging the Trump administration to press Jordan for al-Tamimi's extradition. Arnold Roth told Fox News Digital that "No senior figure from State has ever, in all the years of our fight for justice, agreed to speak with us. Their treatment of us and of the Tamimi case is deplorable. Victoria Nuland, then one of the top-ranking figures in the State Department. Nuland wrote to us in the names of President Biden and then-Sec of State Antony Blinken, and told us that the Tamimi case was quote 'a foremost priority' for the U.S. And that they would keep us informed. She then [they] ignored every follow-up letter that I sent her, and of course so said Biden and Blinken." Jordan's government is a major recipient of U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF). According to a January 2025 U.S. State Department fact sheet, "Since 2015, the Department of State has provided Jordan with $2.155 billion in FMF, which makes Jordan the third-largest global recipient of FMF funds over that time period. In addition, the Department of Defense (DoD) has provided $327 million to the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) under its 333 authority since 2018, making Jordan one of the largest recipients of this funding." Al-Tamimi reportedly boasted about her terrorist operation in the Arab media and called for more terrorism against Israel. "Of course. I do not regret what happened. Absolutely not. This is the path. I dedicated myself to jihad for the sake of Allah, and Allah granted me success. You know how many casualties there were [in the 2001 attack on the Sbarro pizzeria]. This was made possible by Allah. Do you want me to denounce what I did? That's out of the question. I would do it again today, and in the same manner," she said in 2011, according to a MEMRI translation. In 2017, the U.S. Justice Department publicly announced that it had charged her with the Jerusalem suicide bombing. Fox News Digital sent multiple press queries to Jordan's government and its embassies in Washington, D.C., and Tel Aviv.

Trump's envoy blames Hamas as Gaza ceasefire talks stall again, with Palestinian children "starving to death"
Trump's envoy blames Hamas as Gaza ceasefire talks stall again, with Palestinian children "starving to death"

CBS News

time2 hours ago

  • CBS News

Trump's envoy blames Hamas as Gaza ceasefire talks stall again, with Palestinian children "starving to death"

President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday the U.S. was cutting short the latest round of Gaza ceasefire talks and bringing home its negotiating team from Qatar for consultations, after he said Hamas had issued a response that "shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire." The talks have been bogged down over conflicting demands on terms to end the 21-month war. Hamas says it will only release all of the hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal and an end to the war. Israel says it will not agree to end the war until Hamas frees the hostages, gives up power and disarms — a condition the U.S.- and Israeli-designated terrorist group rejects. "While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith," Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said in a statement. "We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza." It was unclear what "alternative options" the U.S. was considering. The White House had no immediate comment, and the State Department did not immediately respond to messages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recalled the Israeli negotiating team to Israel in light of Hamas' response on Thursday morning. In a brief statement, the prime minister's office expressed its appreciation for the efforts of Witkoff and mediators Qatar and Egypt, but gave no further details. In a statement sent to CBS News on Thursday evening, a Hamas official said the group had "always behaved with high responsibility to conclude a comprehensive, viable and practical deal that can grant a permanent ceasefire and put an end to the suffering of our people, and I wonder how can someone consider this as selfishness." The official said he was "really surprised" by the "out of context statement by the U.S. envoy and the overarching attitude that reflects a preprepared, irresponsible and negative response" by the U.S. The official stressed that Hamas was "still involved in the ceasefire talks" and expected the mediators and the international community to "carry their responsibility" to alleviate the dire circumstances in Gaza. Earlier Thursday, an Israeli official had told The Associated Press that Hamas' latest response was "workable." Another official, with knowledge of the ceasefire talks, told the AP Hamas had submitted a "positive response" through Qatari mediators. Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and saw 251 others taken hostage. Most of the captives have been released or rescued, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says 50 remain in Gaza, including 20 still believed to be alive. The war has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but says more than half of the dead are women and children. As Israel's blockade and military offensive in Gaza grinds on, four major news organizations said Thursday that their journalists in the Palestinian enclave were facing the threat of starvation. The joint statement by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters and the BBC called on Israel to allow journalists in and out of Gaza and to allow adequate food supplies into the territory. The United Nations backed the call by the media organizations for Israel to let adequate food supplies into Gaza and allow journalists to enter and exit freely. U.N. staff in Gaza are hungry, too, deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Thursday. People are starving "because we're just not getting in," he said, reiterating that obstacles imposed by Israel were inhibiting the delivery of U.N. aid. "If this does not get better soon and more aid goes through all the various checkpoints, people will die," Haq said. "We've been saying this for months, and now we're at the point where, in fact, people are dying." UNICEF, the U.N.'s Children's Fund, said in a statement on Thursday that 798 Palestinian civilians, including children, were killed near aid distribution sites in Gaza between May 27 and July 7 while seeking food. More than 100 people have died in Gaza from malnutrition since the war started, UNICEF said, and 80% were children. The charity said screening in the Palestinian enclave had found 6,000 children in a state of acute malnourishment in June alone, marking a 180% increase since February. "Children in the Gaza Strip are starving to death. Severe malnutrition is spreading among children faster than aid can reach them, and the world is watching it happen," UNICEF Regional Director for the Mideast Edouard Beigbeder said in the group's statement. Israel says it is allowing enough aid into Gaza and it blames U.N. agencies for failing to distribute it. But those agencies say it's nearly impossible to safely deliver aid because of Israeli restrictions and a breakdown of law and order in Gaza, with crowds of thousands swarming around food trucks as soon as they move into the territory. UNICEF said that From May 19 to July 2, an average of 30 U.N. aid trucks entered Gaza per day, compared to the average of 500 trucks per day that were entering before the wary. The charity said current food supplies in Gaza amounted to about 6% of the normal, pre-war levels. In greater numbers than ever, children hollowed up by hunger are overwhelming the Patient's Friends Hospital, the main emergency center for malnourished kids in northern Gaza. Staff at the facility said five young children who died last weekend of malnutrition marked a change: they were the first deaths seen at the center in children who had no preexisting conditions. Symptoms are getting worse, with children too weak to cry or move, said Dr. Rana Soboh, a nutritionist. In past months, most children brought in malnourished improved with treatment, despite supply shortages, but now patients stay longer and don't get better, she said. The lack of basic health care and sanitation is also enabling deadly diseases to spread in Gaza, the charity OXFAM warned on Friday. "Water-borne diseases that are both preventable and readily treatable have increased by almost 150% inside Gaza over the past three months as Israel continues to deliberately block aid," the group said. "Available multi-agency health data shows that the numbers of Palestinians presenting to health facilities with acute watery diarrhea have increased by 150 percent, bloody diarrhea by 302 percent, and acute jaundice cases by 101 percent." OXFAM said the figures were likely "grossly under-reported because most of the two million people trapped by Israel's continuing siege have little access to the few healthcare facilities that have managed to keep operating."

Why these two Asian neighbors just launched the world's latest armed conflict
Why these two Asian neighbors just launched the world's latest armed conflict

NBC News

time2 hours ago

  • NBC News

Why these two Asian neighbors just launched the world's latest armed conflict

At least 16 people have been killed in armed clashes between Thailand and Cambodia, as tensions over a century-old border dispute spiral into the worst fighting between the two Southeast Asian nations in over a decade. Since fighting began Thursday, the two sides have been progressively involving heavier weapons, including artillery and rocket systems, with clashes expanding to 12 locations from six. Both blame the other side for starting the conflict, which Thailand's acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, warned Friday 'could escalate into a state of war.' At least 14 civilians and one member of the military have been killed on the Thai side, the Thai health ministry said Friday, and more than 130,000 Thai residents have been evacuated to temporary shelters. Cambodia reported one civilian death in the border area. Thailand has accused Cambodia of deliberately targeting civilians, while Cambodia accuses Thailand of using widely prohibited cluster munitions. On Thursday, Thailand, which has a far superior military, used a U.S.-made F-16 fighter jet to carry out an airstrike on a Cambodian military target. The U.S., a longtime treaty ally of Thailand, has called for an 'immediate cessation' of attacks. 'We are particularly alarmed by reports of harm to innocent civilians,' the State Department said Thursday. A simmering conflict The conflict has its roots in the disputed 500-mile border drawn largely by France, Cambodia's colonial ruler until 1953. Cambodia and Thailand have fought several deadly skirmishes since the border was delineated in 1907, particularly in the area surrounding the ancient 11th-century Hindu temple of Preah Vihear, which both sides claim as their own but was affirmed as Cambodian by the International Court of Justice in 1962 and again in 2013. Thailand rejects the court's jurisdiction. The temple's listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008 prompted another flare-up. Tensions have been building again since May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed after both sides opened fire in another contested area where the two meet with Laos, called the Emerald Triangle. Then on Wednesday, five Thai soldiers were injured in a landmine explosion along the border, which kicked off the latest clash. Cambodia denies placing landmines. A series of tit-for-tat moves followed, including both countries expelling each other's diplomats. 'The two sides are now at the point of almost no return,' Pou Sothirak, a former Cambodian ambassador to Japan and a Distinguished Senior Adviser to the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies in Phnom Penh, told NBC News. 'They've locked into this 'we're the victim and you're the aggressor' narrative,' he said. Political fallout The dispute has set off political turmoil in Thailand, where Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was suspended early this month after an extraordinary leak of her phone call with Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia for almost four decades as effectively a one-party state before handing power to his son Hun Manet two years ago. The father still maintains his grip over Cambodian affairs, which apparently prompted the call by Paetongtarn, 38, whose father, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was known to be close to the 72-year-old Hun Sen. She has said she was trying to defuse the border dispute in the call, during which she referred to Hun Sen as 'uncle.' The conversation, recorded and released by Hun Sen himself, prompted outrage in Thailand, where there was already widespread dissatisfaction with her handling of the border dispute. Paetongtarn also blasted a Thai army commander during the call, angering an institution that has frequently intervened in the country's politics, experts said. 'We have a situation today in which the Thai military is making its own foreign policy against Cambodia. The Thai civilian government has no control over the army at all,' said Paul Wesley Chambers, a visiting fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. 'It's free for all and really out of control,' he said of the situation this week, adding that the conflict could topple Phumtham as Thailand's acting prime minister. Cambodia said it had urged the United Nations Security Council to intervene in Thailand's 'unprovoked and premeditated military aggression.' Thailand says it wants to resolve the conflict bilaterally, but only after Cambodia ceases its attacks. Neighboring China has offered mediation, but it is seen as closer to the government in Phnom Penh than Bangkok. Negotiating an end is going to be a challenge for both sides, Pou said, as the Thai military's effective self-governance has created a diplomatic hole between Thailand and Cambodia, which in the past has undermined the possibility of a permanent end to the border dispute. 'The Thai military preemptively pressures conflicts,' he said.

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