Israeli forces kill two in Lebanon, ahead of truce monitors meeting
Representatives from France, Israel, Lebanon, the US and UN tracking the ceasefire are due to meet amid Israeli attacks. Israeli forces have killed two people in southern Lebanon a day before a committee monitoring a yearlong ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was due to hold its next meeting. Lebanon’s NNA news agency said two people were killed in the Israeli attack on a house in south Lebanon’s Kfar Dunin in Bint Jbeil on Tuesday. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The Israeli military said in a statement that it struck two Hezbollah operatives in the area, accusing one of being “an engineering terrorist in a structure that facilitated the organisation’s reestablishment efforts”. The attacks come as the committee monitoring the ceasefire, which includes representatives from France, Israel, Lebanon, the United States, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) prepared to meet on Wednesday. Israeli attacks have killed more than 300 people in Lebanon since the November 2024 ceasefire, including at least 127 civilians. Israeli forces bombarded several parts of Lebanon, killing at least two other people earlier this week, and ordered the forced evacuation of at least four villages in the south and east of the country. Another overnight attack reduced a multistorey building to rubble in an industrial area of Ghaziyeh town, near the coastal city of Sidon, according to a video verified by Al Jazeera and a photographer from the AFP news agency. In a statement earlier on Tuesday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said, “Israel’s continued attacks aim to thwart all efforts made locally, regionally and internationally to stop the ongoing Israeli escalation, despite the response shown by Lebanon to these efforts at various levels”. Advertisement Beirut-based security affairs analyst Ali Rizk told Al Jazeera the recent attacks come as no surprise following last week’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “There had been reports that Israel got a green light to escalate against Hezbollah,” Rizk told Al Jazeera. ‘Difficult and dangerous conditions’ The spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, told a media briefing in New York on Tuesday that Israeli attacks are continuing in close proximity to UNIFIL peacekeepers stationed along the Blue Line, which demarcates the de facto border between Israel, Lebanon, and the occupied Golan Heights. “We are aware that Israeli strikes carried out late Monday night following evacuation orders on targets, reportedly linked to Hezbollah and Hamas,” Dujarric said. “The strikes occurred in areas north of the Litani River, including in western Bekaa, in Lebanese territory in southern Lebanon.” Dujarric added that the UNIFIL peacekeepers detected “three air strikes in their areas of operations” on Monday as well as “several fighter aircraft activities above UNIFIL.” “In addition, our peacekeepers reported multiple instances of direct fire originating from [Israeli army] positions south of the Blue Line, including small arms fire impacting the Kfar Shouba area, a Merkava tank fire near Shab’a, and a small arms fire impacting near a UN position near Kfar Shouba,” Dujarric said. UN Undersecretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, who is visiting Lebanon currently, said on X that he met with UNIFIL peacekeepers who are “carrying out their mandated tasks under increasingly difficult and dangerous conditions”. Lacroix is set to meet Lebanese officials on Wednesday. Later this week, Lebanon’s cabinet will convene to discuss the army’s progress in disarming Hezbollah, a plan launched under heavy US pressure and amid fears of expanded Israeli strikes. The army was expected to complete the disarmament south of the Litani River, about 30km (20 miles) from the border with Israel, by the end of 2025, before tackling the rest of the country. In his statement, Aoun said the government’s plan to “extend its authority over the south of the Litani” has been “implemented by the Lebanese army with professionalism, commitment and precision”. Adblock test (Why?)
Who is Banojyotsna Lahiri? Jailed student activist and JNU alumni Umar Khalid’s partner; shared his response over SC ruling
Student activist and JNU alumni Umar Khalid was denied bail by the Supreme Court in the 2020 Delhi riots CAA protest case on Monday. Hours after the SC decision, Umar Khalid’s girlfriend Banojyotsna Lahiri shared a brief and private conversation between them. She is Khalid’s long-term partner.
Haridwar to be linked with Delhi-Dehradun economic corridor, work on railway over bridge accelerates, check details
The link expressway, stretching 50.70 kilometers, will provide much-needed relief to residents of Haridwar. Once completed, it will significantly reduce travel time between Delhi and Dehradun, bringing the two cities within a mere two-and-a-half hours of each other.
JNU to take BIG action on students over raising provocative ‘Modi, Shah ki kabr’ slogans, says, ‘expulsion, debarment…’
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is set to take a strict action against students chanting ‘objectional’ slogans against PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in a protest inside the premises. JNU administration vowed to take action and said that universities cannot be converted into hate lab
MCD demolition drive near Delhi mosque turns violent, stone pelting, tear gas fired, 5 cops injured
The operation took place early Wednesday morning, with approximately 17 bulldozers used to clear the encroachments. Officials from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said that the demolition at 1 am.
Delhi-NCR shivers as cold wave peaks, schools closed, AQI slips to ‘very poor’ category; IMD predicts North India to witness…
According to the weather deaprtment, minimum temperatures are likely to fall slightly over the next two days before rising by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius thereafter. Visibility dropped sharply across Delhi-NCR, and the Air Quality Index (AQI) remained firmly in the ‘very poor’ category.
TribCast: 10 questions that will shape Texas politics in 2026
Matthew and Eleanor look ahead in the new year to Gov. Greg Abbott’s power, Democrats chances and the issues that will dominate election season.
Officer did nothing until it was too late during Uvalde school shooting, prosecutor says
During opening arguments Wednesday, attorneys for ex-officer Adrian Gonzales said he did what he could during a chaotic scene.
Wyoming Supreme Court rules laws restricting abortion violate state constitution
The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a pair of laws restricting abortion access violate the state constitution, including the country’s first explicit ban on abortion pills. The court, in a 4-1 ruling, sided with the state’s only abortion clinic and others who had sued over the abortion bans passed since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, which returned the power to make laws on abortion back to the states. Despite Wyoming being one of the most conservative states, the ruling handed down by justices who were all appointed by Republican governors upheld every previous lower court ruling that the abortion bans violated the state constitution. Wellspring Health Access in Casper, the abortion access advocacy group Chelsea’s Fund and four women, including two obstetricians, argued that the laws violated a state constitutional amendment affirming that competent adults have the right to make their own health care decisions. TRUMP URGES GOP TO BE ‘FLEXIBLE’ ON HYDE AMENDMENT, IGNITING BACKLASH FROM PRO-LIFE ALLIES Voters approved the constitutional amendment in 2012 in response to the federal Affordable Care Act, which is also known as Obamacare. The justices in Wyoming found that the amendment was not written to apply to abortion but noted that it is not their job to “add words” to the state constitution. “But lawmakers could ask Wyoming voters to consider a constitutional amendment that would more clearly address this issue,” the justices wrote. Wellspring Health Access President Julie Burkhart said in a statement that the ruling upholds abortion as “essential health care” that should not be met with government interference. “Our clinic will remain open and ready to provide compassionate reproductive health care, including abortions, and our patients in Wyoming will be able to obtain this care without having to travel out of state,” Burkhart said. Wellspring Health Access opened as the only clinic in the state to offer surgical abortions in 2023, a year after a firebombing stopped construction and delayed its opening. A woman is serving a five-year prison sentence after she admitted to breaking in and lighting gasoline that she poured over the clinic floors. Attorneys representing the state had argued that abortion cannot violate the Wyoming constitution because it is not a form of health care. Republican Gov. Mark Gordon expressed disappointment in the ruling and called on state lawmakers meeting later this winter to pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting abortion that residents could vote on this fall. An amendment like that would require a two-thirds vote to be introduced as a nonbudget matter in the monthlong legislative session that will primarily address the state budget, although it would have significant support in the Republican-dominated legislature. “This ruling may settle, for now, a legal question, but it does not settle the moral one, nor does it reflect where many Wyoming citizens stand, including myself. It is time for this issue to go before the people for a vote,” Gordon said in a statement. APPEALS COURT SIDES WITH TRUMP ON BUDGET PROVISION CUTTING PLANNED PARENTHOOD FUNDS One of the laws overturned by the state’s high court attempted to ban abortion, but with exceptions in cases where it is needed to protect a pregnant woman’s life or in cases of rape or incest. The other law would have made Wyoming the only state to explicitly ban abortion pills, although other states have implemented de facto bans on abortion medication by broadly restricting abortion. Abortion has remained legal in the state since Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens blocked the bans while the lawsuit challenging the restrictions moved forward. Owens struck down the laws as unconstitutional in 2024. Last year, Wyoming passed additional laws requiring abortion clinics to be licensed surgical centers and women to receive ultrasounds before having medication abortions. A judge in a separate lawsuit blocked those laws from taking effect while that case moves forward. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Trump admin expands visa bond requirement to 38 countries, with fees up to $15K
The Trump administration is dramatically expanding a policy requiring some foreign travelers to post bonds of up to $15,000 before entering the United States. The State Department on Tuesday added 25 countries to its visa bond list, nearly tripling the total shortly after adding seven more as part of the Trump administration’s moves to tighten immigration enforcement. There are now 38 countries subject to the requirement, most of them in Africa with others in Latin America and Asia, a move that could make obtaining a U.S. visa unaffordable for many travelers. The bond requirement for the latest additions, including Venezuela, will take effect Jan. 21. TRUMP STATE DEPARTMENT ORDERS GLOBAL VISA CRACKDOWN UNDER REVIVED ‘PUBLIC CHARGE’ RULE Travelers eligible for a B1/B2 visa from countries on the list must post a bond of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, with the amount set during the visa interview, according to a notice posted on the State Department’s website. Paying the bond will not guarantee a visa’s approval, but the amount will be refunded should the visa be denied, or when a visa holder demonstrates compliance with the terms of the visa. The expansion follows a pilot program launched by the State Department in August that requires certain visa applicants from countries with high overstay rates and deficient document security controls to post a bond. HOMELAND SECURITY MOVES TOWARD SCRUTINIZING FOREIGN TOURISTS’ SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS BEFORE ENTRY The Trump administration rolled out numerous immigration policy changes last year, impacting the way people travel, obtain visas and become citizens in the United States, with some measures scheduled to take effect in 2026. The Trump administration requires citizens from all countries that require visas to sit for in-person interviews and disclose years of social media history, along with information about their families’ previous travel and living arrangements. STATE DEPARTMENT YANKS VISAS FROM MEXICAN EXECUTIVES IN MIGRANT SMUGGLING CRACKDOWN The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) implemented a new rule on Dec. 26, 2025, expanding facial recognition for non-citizens entering and leaving the United States. President Donald Trump also recently announced the launch of the much-anticipated “Trump Gold Card,” an immigration initiative designed to provide a new, streamlined path to U.S. citizenship, which he has said could generate billions of dollars. The new countries added to the visa bond requirement beginning Jan. 21 are Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Fiji, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Tajikistan, Togo, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Countries already on the list include Bhutan, Botswana, the Central African Republic, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mauritania, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Tanzania, Turkmenistan and Zambia. Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department for comment. Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman, Greg Wehner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.