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On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk said that the White House supports “humanitarian pauses irrespective of a hostage deal” but President Joe Biden realized the only way to get a humanitarian pause was to have an agreement to bring hostages home.

Israelis are weighing the pros and cons of a hostage deal with Hamas that the government approved late Tuesday night, and which will go into effect at 10:00 a.m. local time (3:00 a.m. EST) on Thursday morning. Under the deal, Hamas will release fifty female, child, and/or elderly hostages over the course of four days, during which time Israel will halt its military offensive in Gaza. Israel will also release 150 female and/or teenage Palestinian prisoners, and deliver additional food and fuel to the Gaza Strip.

In a sad development amidst the Israel-Hamas war, the body of 65-year-old hostage Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by terrorists during the October 7 attacks, was found near the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Thursday. Weiss was a resident of kibbutz Be’eri, and her family has been notified and her remains returned to Israel.The kibbutz came under intense assault during the attacks, and Hamas terrorists murdered more than 120 of its residents, including children, while kidnapping others.The official account of the State of Israel mourned:Heartbreaking 💔We are devastated to share that the body...

An Israeli-Canadian peace advocate, feared to have been taken hostage in Gaza, has been confirmed killed. Vivian Silver, 74, lived close to Israel's border with Gaza in kibbutz Be'eri - which was attacked by Hamas during the 7 October attacks. Remains had been found earlier at her house, but they were only formally identified as hers five weeks later. Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly described Ms Silver as a "lifelong advocate for peace".

The New York Police Department (NYPD) arrested two 18-year-old men — one using the name “Charlotte” and he/him pronouns — on Wendesday for allegedly tearing down posters of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 terror attack. By 23rd and 3rd Ave in NYC . People who were caught ripping down posters of kids who were either killed or kidnapped by hamas terrorists, were arrested by the NYPD . pic.twitter.com/dlP88Iry2X — Viral News NYC (@ViralNewsNYC) November 9, 2023

The knife-wielding woman accused of ripping down posters of Israeli hostages and pepper-spraying a Jewish safety volunteer in Brooklyn last week seethed “I’ll kill you Jews” before attacking, the victim told The Post. Melissa Ugur, 20, was allegedly slicing up the flyers Saturday afternoon in Midwood when Shmira Public Safety volunteer Mark Pomerantz confronted her and asked why she was taking the posters down. “Because it’s not true, it never happened,” Ugur replied about the approximately 240 hostages whom Hamas terrorists kidnapped in their surprise attack last month, according to Pomerantz.

The release of American hostages Judith and Natalie Raanan by Hamas has sparked a dispute between their family and controversial activist Shaun King, who claimed on social media that he “worked frantically behind the scenes to help make this possible.” Relatives of the Raanans, who were visiting Israel from Illinois when Hamas attacked on Oct. 7, disavowed King in a statement. “First and foremost, we make it clear that he is lying! Our family does not and did not have anything to do with him, neither directly nor indirectly. Not to him and not to anything he claims to represent,”...

President Biden plans to meet via Zoom with the families of Americans held captive by Hamas terrorists Friday, telling CBS’ “60 Minutes” that he wants to show his administration will do all they can to get hostages back home — if they can locate them. “I think they have to know that the president of the United States of America cares deeply about what’s happening. Deeply,” Biden, 80, told anchor Scott Pelley in an interview that was recorded Thursday and will air in full Sunday evening.

Well, well, well. Looks like this wasn’t a done deal after all, eh?What took them so long?The United States and Qatar have agreed to block Iran’s access to $6 billion in funds recently transferred to the nation as part of a deal between Washington and Tehran that led to the release of five imprisoned Americans from Iran last month.Wally Adeyemo, the deputy Treasury secretary, told House Democrats on Thursday that Iran would no longer have access to the funds, according to a person familiar with the matter. The money was under close supervision and strict conditions that it be used...

The news out of Israel since Hamas launched unprecedented vicious attacks early Saturday morning has been horrific. Latest reports place the Israeli death toll at more than 600, with thousands injured and dozens of people held hostage. Now, there are reports that Americans are among those killed and held hostage. Israel's UN Ambassador, Gilad Erdan, told Will Cain on Fox & Friends Sunday that there are dozens of American citizens among those being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. @Will Cain via X, formerly known as Twitter: Was just told by Israel’s Ambassador to the UN that there are dozens...

On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby responded to a question on whether the Iranian prisoner swap will make Iran more likely to take Americans hostage by stating that Iran has taken American hostages for a long time and “I can’t perfectly predict whether they’ll do it again or not.” Co-host Kate Bolduan asked, “Lingering question remains, is Iran more or less likely to wrongfully detain another American citizen, take them hostage because of this deal?”

-Harrison Floyd, a co-defendant in former President Donald Trump’s election interference case in Georgia, is still in custody after surrendering at an Atlanta jail a day earlier. -Court records Friday showed a hearing being set for Floyd, but a judge told reporters that nothing was happening at the courthouse today. -Unlike Trump and his 17 other co-defendants, Floyd has been kept in custody because he didn’t previously negotiate a bond agreement, according to the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office.Court records Friday showed a hearing being set for Harrison Floyd, a co-defendant in former President Donald Trump’s election interference case in Georgia...

After it was reported on Thursday that Iran had transferred five Iranian Americans from prison to house arrest, it became clear that a deal between the Biden administration and the radical Islamist state had been reached — which would include billions of dollars of frozen Iranian assets in exchange for the Americans.This again raises the question — which we’ll tackle later in the article: Should the United States pay ransom to rogue states and others for the release of captured Americans?Anyway, sure enough, the United States and Iran have reached an agreement in which the Islamist regime will free the...

Florida authorities on Monday released video footage of a deadly police shooting that left a suspect with a lengthy criminal background dead and his hostage injured over the weekend. The shooting happened Sunday night when bondsmen were looking for 53-year-old Ronnie Clark for a warrant over his failure to appear in court on drug charges, Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons told reporters during a news conference. Clark had a long criminal history, with 58 felony convictions, and he was incarcerated three times.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A federal appeals court has ruled police can shoot hostages — even intentionally — if they fear for their lives or to stop a fleeing felon. The case is more than just a legal footnote to Don Davis. The Georgia truck driver was shot nine times by troopers and deputies who were trying to stop a murder suspect holding Davis hostage in his truck. While the shooting occurred in 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court just this week let stand a federal court ruling that police owe the hostage nothing for his medical bills or...

An American businessman arrested in Communist China over a decade on apparently flimsy charges of drug trafficking will be put to death, Chinese government officials have announced. Mark Swidan, a Houston, Texas businessman, was arrested in November 2012 and sentenced to death in 2018 on charges he was in China to smuggle illegal drugs. John Kamm, chairman of the Dui Hua human rights foundation, tells Newsweek “the only ‘evidence’ against him is that Swidan once visited a factory where Chinese authorities allege the meth was manufactured, and that he had been in a room rented by another person where drugs...

More than two years after the alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was foiled, criminal cases against alleged perpetrators are still working their way through the court system. The Antrim County County Circuit Court has approved two motions from the state in the trial of five alleged co-conspirators charged with providing material support in the plot to kidnap Whitmer. Judge Kevin A. Elsenheimer approved the motions on Wednesday, which asked that the cases be joined for trial and that the court allow the admission of co-conspirator statements. The federal government foiled the plot in October 2020, calling it the...

It was once a symbol of hope. Haiti: the first black republic and first Caribbean state to declare independence. Now, it symbolises only death and despair. The poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, devastated by disasters both natural and man-made, plagued by disease, stalked by hunger, and now over-run by gangs. There has effectively been no government here since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated last year, a crime which continues to go unpunished. Into that power vacuum have moved hundreds of highly organised and extremely violent criminal groups which often have links to politicians and police - meaning they are...

Contact your Sheriff immediately! Understand this: 1. Sheriff’s have the authority to arrest federal agents. 2. Sheriffs have the power to deputize citizens, that means you and me. 3. Sheriffs have the authority to have deputies armed. 4. Sheriffs can launch investigations and have you as deputy, badged and armed, stand watch. You can have authority, a badge, a gun in the next hours. No need to take up arms without authority. Sheriffs are elected, need to hear from you starting right now. Aug 08, 2022, 22:22

There was a time when a family faced medical emergencies that they met their personal physician at the hospital emergency room and, together, the doctor and family made critical medical decisions based on the medical opinion of the doctor and the informed decisions of the patient. While radical changes have occurred in the medical field in the past 25 years, the true transformation of health care from a benevolent service to a profit making business truly came into focus in the midst of the COVID pandemic.Government public health mandates and financial incentives paved the way for hospitals to make a...