Trump makes formal request to Israeli president to pardon Netanyahu
President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning made a formal request to Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption and fraud charges. Trump asked Herzog to consider fully pardoning Netanyahu in a letter that Herzog’s office shared. Trump wrote that Netanyahu has been a “formidable and decisive” leader for Israel in a time of war and has led Israel “into a time of peace.” “Prime Minister Netanyahu has stood tall for Israel in the face of strong adversaries and long odds, and his attention cannot be unnecessarily diverted,” reads the letter. Trump wrote that while he “absolutely” respects the independence of the Israeli judicial system, he believes the case against Netanyahu is a “political, unjustified prosecution.” INSIDE TRUMP’S ULTIMATUM THAT FORCED NETANYAHU TO THE TABLE: ‘YOU CAN’T FIGHT THE WORLD’ Netanyahu is currently standing trial on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three separate corruption cases. The trial, which began in 2020, marked the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister testified as a criminal defendant. Trump wrote that “it is time to let Bibi unite Israel by pardoning him, and ending that lawfare once and for all.” NYC LAWMAKER DARES MAMDANI TO MAKE GOOD ON ‘PIPE DREAM’ PLEDGE BY INVITING NETANYAHU Herzog declined to take a position on the matter, with his office issuing its own statement that a presidential pardon request must go through the proper channels, which includes the person who wants a pardon making a formal request. The statement said that Herzog holds Trump in the “highest regard” and “continues to express his deep appreciation” for Trump’s support of Israel and his “tremendous” role in the return of hostages from Gaza. Trump previously urged Herzog to pardon Netanyahu during a speech in the Israeli Knesset last month. Fox News’ Yonat Friling contributed to this report.
Scalise reveals post-shutdown GOP battle plan as House readies for intense new schedule
FIRST ON FOX: House GOP leaders are looking to kick off next week in high gear to make up for the six weeks they spent out of session during the government shutdown. With the end of Congress’ 42-day fiscal standoff in sight, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital that House lawmakers will be faced with an accelerated schedule to accomplish the GOP’s priorities for this term. “I wanted to rework the schedule to create more time to make up for what happened during the shutdown, and the fact that there were a lot of bills that stacked up that we planned to bring to the floor in October that weren’t able to go,” he said in an interview on Tuesday night. Priorities for next week include legislation to help reduce federal restrictions on liquefied natural gas (LNG), and a bill aimed at expanding refining capacity in a bid to reduce soaring energy costs. MIKE JOHNSON SPEAKS OUT AFTER SENATE BREAKTHROUGH ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN Measures aimed at D.C. are also expected to see votes, including a bill that D.C.’s pretrial release and detention processes require mandatory pretrial detention for defendants charged with violent crimes. Another bill expected to get a vote next week would undo local ordinances that Republicans say place burdensome barriers on the Metropolitan Police Department. A largely symbolic measure to denounce socialism in the U.S. is also on next week’s schedule. Lawmakers will be expected to work long into the night in a departure from their traditional day-to-day in D.C. Votes will be scheduled in the evenings when lawmakers have normally departed Capitol Hill for other events. THE 5 LONGEST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS IN HISTORY: WHAT HAPPENED, HOW THEY ENDED Scalise also noted the House would have a five-day legislative week from Monday through Friday, rather than the more traditional four days in D.C. More time will also be allotted during the day for House committees to conduct hearings and advance their legislation, something that has not been done on Capitol Hill since Sept. 19. “We’re going to do that for the next few weeks until we catch up on the time that we missed when everybody was back in their districts,” Scalise said. The latter point is critical considering Congress will be reckoning with several key priorities in the coming months. The bill to end the government shutdown, expected to pass the House on Wednesday, kicks the majority of fiscal year (FY) 2026 federal spending to a Jan. 30 deadline. It would also authorize funding for three of Congress’ 12 annual spending bills for FY 2026. However, it will be an uphill battle for both the Senate and House appropriations committees to strike their remaining spending deals by then. “There are nine remaining bills, and we’d like to get all of those done in the next few weeks. And so, [House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.] and his appropriators will be working overtime as well,” Scalise said. Congress also still has to find a bipartisan compromise on the federal government’s annual defense policy bill, called the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). “There have been a lot of negotiations ongoing. I think we’re getting close on the NDAA,” Scalise said. Scalise said Republicans would also be busy at work on a new Farm Bill, legislation that sets agricultural priorities as well as federal food policies for urban, suburban and rural areas across the country, as well as a highway bill — legislation that authorizes policy for surface infrastructure like roads, bridges and rail lines nationwide. “A lot of those bills have been very active in the committee process. They just haven’t gotten a lot of attention nationally during the shutdown. But the committees have been working, especially the chairman, to try to get those bills ready to move,” he said. “And so we will have a lot of big ticket items that are important to our America First agenda ready to go. And that’s why we’re going to just add more floor time to be able to get all of it done by the end of this year.” But in order to get all those “big-ticket items” done, the House will first need to pass the Senate’s bipartisan bill to end the government shutdown. Asked if his chamber had the votes to do so, Scalise said, “I’m very hopeful we will.” “I’m very confident our members are really eager to get back to a full House schedule. Many of them have been working overtime in their districts to mop up the mess Democrats created during the shutdown,” he said.
Kennedy grandson launches campaign to replace longtime Democrat in Congress
John F. Kennedy’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, announced on Tuesday that he’s launching a campaign for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to replace longtime New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, who is set to retire. Schlossberg, 32, a Democrat, told supporters in an email that he would officially launch his campaign Wednesday, though he made his case to constituents in a campaign video he posted to social media late Tuesday. “This district should have a representative who can harness the creativity, energy and drive of this district and translate that into political power in Washington,” Schlossberg said in the video. Schlossberg blasted President Donald Trump in the campaign video, accusing Trump of corruption and creating what he called a “constitutional crisis.” TRUMP TRASHES NADLER ON HEELS OF DEM’S HOUSE RETIREMENT ANNOUNCEMENT: ‘ONE OF THE MOST DISGUSTING CONGRESSMEN’ “It’s a corruption crisis,” he said. “The president has made almost a billion dollars this year. He’s picking winners and losers from inside the Oval Office. It’s cronyism, not capitalism.” “It’s a constitutional crisis with one dangerous man in control of all three branches of government,” he continued. “He’s stripping citizens of their civil rights and silencing his critics.” Schlossberg is no stranger to criticisms of the Trump administration, having drummed up a large following on social media with frequent posts weighing in on national issues, including taking aim at his cousin, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. JFK’S GRANDSON SAYS THERE IS ‘NOTHING HEROIC’ ABOUT TRUMP’S DECLASSIFICATION ORDER Last month, he posted on Instagram an image of a Halloween costume for “MAHA Man,” in reference to Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again message, and described it as including such things as measles. Nadler, who currently represents New York’s 12th District, is serving his 17th term in Congress. He announced in September that he will not run for re-election next year, suggesting to The New York Times that a younger Democratic lawmaker in his seat “can maybe do better, can maybe help us more.” The district includes Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Upper East Side and Midtown. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
UK sentences Chinese scammer after record-breaking Bitcoin seizure
Police seized 61,000 Bitcoin from Zhimin Qian, 47, as part of a years-long money laundering investigation. The United Kingdom has sentenced a Chinese woman to 11 years and eight months in prison for a years-long scheme to launder investment scam proceeds into Bitcoin, luxury property, and other assets now worth about 4.8 billion British pounds ($6.3bn). Zhimin Qian, 47, was sentenced by the Southwark Crown Court in London on Tuesday, in a case that saw UK police seize a record-breaking 61,000 Bitcoin as part of their investigation. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Qian, who is also known by the alias Yadi Zhang, was found guilty of money laundering and possessing illegally obtained cryptocurrency. Will Lyne, the Metropolitan Police’s head of Economic and Cybercrime Command, described the case as “one of the largest and most complex economic crime investigations ever undertaken by the Met”. “This is currently the largest cryptocurrency seizure by law enforcement in the UK and is the largest money laundering case in UK history by value,” he said in a statement. UK authorities allege that Qian helped mastermind an investment scam in China between 2014 and 2017 that defrauded 128,000 people out of roughly £4.6bn, according to sentencing remarks from Judge Sally-Ann Hales. Much of the funds were later recovered by police in China, but Hales said that a “sizeable amount was siphoned off and used by” Qian, and transferred into 70,000 Bitcoin stored on a laptop wallet. Qian fled China in 2017, spending the next seven years on the run, and travelling between the UK and other countries without an extradition agreement with China. Advertisement Qian and an accomplice, who has since been sentenced, came to the attention of UK authorities in 2018, when Qian tried to buy three London properties worth 40.5 million pounds ($53.2m) but failed “know your customer” regulations, according to the Crown Prosecution Service. Qian disappeared from the UK in 2020, but not before police seized items from a safe deposit box, including a laptop smuggled from China. Hales said that documents found during the search “give an indication of the level of the defendant’s monthly expenditure, and the grandiose ambitions she held for her future using the proceeds of her criminal conduct”. Qian returned to police attention last year, when she began to use a dormant wallet with the help of a second accomplice, Senghok Ling, 47, a Malaysian national based in the UK. When police arrested Ling and Qian in April 2024, the pair was living a “lavish” lifestyle in the UK, according to Hales. At the time, Qian was found in possession of 62 million pounds ($81.4m) worth of cryptocurrency, a large quantity of cash, and two false passports. Ling was separately sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison. Richard Hermer, Attorney General for the UK and Wales, on Tuesday praised the sentencing of “two prolific fraudsters”, who together “caused misery upon thousands of victims to fund their lavish lifestyles”. Adblock test (Why?)
Ukrainian forces pull back under fierce Russian pressure in Zaporizhia
Ukrainian Army reports thousands of artillery shells fired as Russians advance in southeastern Zaporizhia region. Published On 12 Nov 202512 Nov 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Ukraine’s top military commander has conceded that the army’s situation has “significantly worsened” in parts of the southern Zaporizhia region, where Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from five villages after intense fighting against Russian troops. News of the setback in Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine comes as Russia said earlier on Tuesday that its forces had pushed deeper into the eastern Ukrainian cities of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Video footage published by Russian war bloggers shows Moscow’s troops riding motorcycles, travelling in battered cars and sitting on top of military vehicles as they poured into Pokrovsk, which Russian media has dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk” due to its strategic location. “Using its numerical superiority in personnel and materiel, the enemy advanced in fierce fighting and captured three settlements,” the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskii, said of the fighting in Zaporizhia on Tuesday. “The situation has significantly worsened in the Oleksandrivka and Huliapole directions,” Syrskii said in a statement. The Ukrainian Army said earlier that orders to withdraw from five villages in Zaporizhia were given after the “de facto destruction of all shelters and fortifications” following intensive Russian artillery strikes. An estimated 2,000 shells were launched at the Ukrainian positions. Control of three other villages is also being hotly contested between Russian and Ukrainian forces northeast of the town of Huliapole in Zaporizhia, according to the Ukrainian Army. Advertisement Syrskii said that Russian forces in Zaporizhia had used poor weather conditions to their advantage, advancing under heavy fog to infiltrate between Ukrainian positions in the region. But he added that Russian forces suffered heavy losses during their attacks. “Every metre of our land costs Russia hundreds of military lives,” he said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was visiting the parts of the southern Kherson region not occupied by Russia on Tuesday, described the situation in Pokrovsk and Zaporizhia as “difficult, in part because of weather conditions that favour the attacks”. The battlefield situation in Kupiansk was “somewhat easier”, he said, adding that Ukrainian forces had “achieved results there”. Russia has been threatening Pokrovsk for more than a year, using a pincer movement to attempt to encircle it and threaten supply lines. Syrskii told US media that Russia has concentrated an estimated 150,000 troops in a drive to take Pokrovsk. Russia and Ukraine have given conflicting accounts of the battle in recent days, with Moscow claiming for days that it had encircled Pokrovsk, while Kyiv has denied the claims and asserted that it still had supply lines to neighbouring Myrnohrad. Russia also said its forces have taken full control of the eastern part of Kupiansk in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, located to the northeast of Zaporizhia and Pokrovsk. A Russian commander, who gave his call sign as Hunter, said his forces had taken control of an oil depot on Kupiansk’s eastern edge. In a video statement issued by Russia’s Ministry of Defence, the commander said his forces had also taken control of a series of train stops south of Kupiansk. Military observers have noted a thinning of Ukraine’s front lines due to a severe shortage of soldiers and massive Russian drone superiority, which has led to advances in several locations along the front line in the more than three and a half years of war. Adblock test (Why?)
Indigenous activists storm COP30 climate summit in Brazil, demanding action
Hundreds of people have joined an Indigenous-led protest on the second day of the UN climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belem, highlighting tensions with the Brazilian government’s claim that the meeting is open to Indigenous voices. Dozens of Indigenous protesters forced their way into the 30th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) on Tuesday evening after hundreds of people participated in a march to the venue. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “We can’t eat money,” said Gilmar, an Indigenous leader from the Tupinamba community near the lower reaches of the Tapajos River in Brazil, who uses only one name, referring to the emphasis on climate finance at many of the meetings during the ongoing summit. “We want our lands free from agribusiness, oil exploration, illegal miners and illegal loggers.” A spokesperson from the UN, which is responsible for security inside the venue, said in a statement that “a group of protesters breached security barriers at the main entrance to the COP, causing minor injuries to two security staff, and minor damage to the venue”. The protest came as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has highlighted Indigenous communities as key players in this year’s COP30 negotiations, even as several industries continue to further encroach on the Amazon rainforest during his presidency. Lula told a leaders summit last week that participants at the COP30 would be “inspired by Indigenous peoples and traditional communities – for whom sustainability has always been synonymous with their way of life”. Advertisement However, Indigenous participants taking part in rolling protests in and around the climate change meeting say that more needs to be done, both by Lula’s left-leaning government at home and around the world. A joint statement ahead of the summit from Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon Basin and all Biomes of Brazil emphasised the importance of protecting Indigenous territories in the Amazon. As “a carbon sink of approximately 340 million tons” of carbon dioxide, the world’s largest rainforest, “represents one of the most effective mitigation and adaptation strategies”, the statement said. Protesters, including Indigenous people, participate in a demonstration on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30), in Belém, Brazil, on Tuesday [Anderson Coelho/Reuters] The statement also called for Indigenous territories to be excluded from mining and other activities, including “in particular, the Amazon, Congo, and Borneo-Mekong-Southeast Asia basins”. Leo Cerda, one of the organisers of the Yaku Mama protest flotilla, which arrived at the summit after sailing 3,000km (1,864 miles) down the Amazon river, told Al Jazeera that Indigenous peoples are trying to secure nature not just for themselves but for humanity. “Most states want our resources, but they don’t want to guarantee the rights of Indigenous peoples,” Cerda said. As the flotilla sailed towards COP30, Brazil’s state-run oil company, Petrobras, received a licence to begin exploratory offshore oil drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River. “You cannot make climate policies without indigenous people at the negotiation table.” This Indigenous activist flotilla just sailed the entire length of the Amazon River to take their message to the #COP30 climate conference. pic.twitter.com/55YjlZgJct — AJ+ (@ajplus) November 11, 2025 Cerda also said it was important for Indigenous people to be present at the conference, considering the fossil fuel industry has also participated in the meetings for several decades. According to The Guardian newspaper, some 5,350 fossil fuel lobbyists participated in UN climate summits over the past four years. Representatives from 195 countries are participating in this year’s summit, with the notable absence of the United States. Under President Donald Trump, the US has fought against action on climate change, further cementing its role as the world’s largest historical emitter of fossil fuels. Most recently, Trump has torpedoed negotiations to address emissions from the shipping industry. Advertisement Notably, this year’s meeting is the first to take place since the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ruled that countries must meet their climate obligations and that failing to do so could violate international law. Adblock test (Why?)
Bihar Exit Poll 2025: Who will win 5 key Assembly seats, including Mahua? Exit polls predict…
The exit poll results have predicted a massive win for the BJP led NDA while Mahagathbandhan trails second and Prashant Kishore’s Jan Suraaj Party trailing far behind them. Amid these predictions, various pollsters have predicted Mahagathbandhan’s lead on many key assembly seats including Mahua.
India slams Pakistan after it blames India for car blast in Islamabad: ‘Predictable tactic’
Pakistani PM Shehbaz accused groups ‘active with Indian support’ of being involved in the attack
UIDAI launches new Aadhar app, with biometric locks, face ID, check built-in features, steps to download
The UIDAI has launched Aadhaar app in a move to make the digital identity card more accessible, safe and secure. The app is free to download on Google Play Store and Apple App Store. It has various security features like biometric locks, and QR code-based sharing and accessibility without internet.
EAM Jaishankar to visit Canada, attend G7 meeting as countries rebuilt ties
Jaishankar is also expected to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the statement added. The G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting is taking place in Niagara, a picturesque area in Canada known for its iconic Falls, on November 11 and 12.