Hear me out: maybe we should have just let Y2K happen?
Donald Trump is returning to the world stage. So is his trollingMark Few likes No. 3 Gonzaga's toughness after win over future Pac-12 'partner' SDSU
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UBS Announces Call Settlement Amounts for Seven ETNsProtect yourself on the slopes with these top ski helmetsletters@hindustantimes.com Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday directed state government departments to implement an action plan to generate employment effectively. He also asked officials to seek the cooperation of experts to accelerate efforts towards achieving the objective of making Uttar Pradesh a trillion-dollar economy. Chairing a meeting at his official residence here to discuss employment generation in the state, he said the state government’s initiative would enable the “New Uttar Pradesh” to play a pivotal role in fostering economic growth while creating abundant employment opportunities in line with the vision of “New India.” At this meeting, officials of various departments and institutional representatives presented potential opportunities and plans for creating jobs. He emphasised that providing timely employment to the state’s youth, based on their qualifications and skills, is a top priority for the government. Calling for the creation of maximum employment opportunities by leveraging local resources, he directed officials to enhance effectiveness of skill development programmes to encourage youth toward entrepreneurship. He also highlighted that the state government is working sector-wise to achieve its goal of transforming Uttar Pradesh into a trillion-dollar economy. Notably, to achieve this goal, work is being carried out across 10 sectors, with all state departments integrated into these sectors. He reviews the progress every three months, while the ministers concerned conduct monthly reviews. Additionally, the administrative heads of departments are required to review the work every 15 days. Adityanath said the work of making U.P. a trillion-dollar economy is being monitored by the CM dashboard. He urged representatives of various institutions to inspect the CM dashboard so that they can be made aware of the working style of the state government. He said the sectors offering the most employment opportunities are medical, education, tourism, construction, and manufacturing, urging special focus on these areas. He also highlighted that the Prayagraj Mahakumbh-2025 presents an excellent opportunity to showcase the state’s image to the nation and the world. The Prayagraj Mahakumbh-2025, a confluence of religion, spirituality, and culture, attracts global attention. Discussions during the Mahakumbh should focus on employment, skill development, knowledge, and technology, he added. He instructed officials to increase the number of UPSRTC buses and develop new routes to enhance connectivity.
A new report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) secretly obtained the phone call and text message records of 43 congressional staffers, two members of Congress in 2017 and 2018 and members of the news media. DOJ prosecutors obtained call and text logs from telecommunications companies and third-party providers including Apple through subpoenas, search warrants and court orders. It’s already known that President Trump’s DOJ tried to obtain communication records from Apple as part of an investigation into press leaks about stories that Trump associates made contact with Russian officials. The New York Times reported in 2021 that one of the subpoenas filed in 2018 demanded to see the accounts of 109 identifiers including Democratic Representatives Adam B. Schiff and Eric Swalwell of California, congressional aides and family members including one who was a minor. Now it appears that the scope of those subpoenas was much larger. The IG’s report says prosecutors attached gag orders to the subpoenas to prevent Apple and other companies from notifying their customers about the information orders. Most of the non-disclosure agreements were extended at least once, some of which stretched up to four years. The communication logs only showed the names of the parties involved in the calls and text messages. Even though the OIG’s report found no political motivation for prosecutors’ requests, he noted the subpoenas and other legal means of obtaining communication logs “risks chilling Congress’s ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch.” The report also says the DOH failed to convene the News Media Review Committee , a Justice Department advisory committee formed as part of an overhaul of its news media policies in 2014, to review its information requests calling its actions “troubling,” according to the report. Apple also took steps to limit the scope of legal requests following news of the subpoenas filed on Reps. Schiff and Swalwell. The tech company placed a limit of 25 identifiers per legal request on customers’ communication information in 2021.
Red Wings hire former Sharks head coach McLellan after firing LalondeIsrael carried out large-scale air strikes on the main airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on December 26 as it steps up attacks on the Iranian-backed Huthi rebels in what Tehran called a “violation” of peace and security. Huthi rebels said three people were killed and 14 were injured or missing following the Israeli attacks on the airport and other sites in Yemen, including port facilities. "Fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Huthi terrorist regime on the western coast and inland Yemen," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The attacks followed recent rocket launches by the Huthi fighters against the Tel Aviv area, although little damage was reported. The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli strikes on Yemen, calling them "aggressions" that it claimed were "a clear violation of international peace and security." It said they represented "an undeniable crime against the heroic and noble people of Yemen," who had "not spared any effort to support the oppressed people of Palestine." The Israeli military has said air strikes in Yemen are targeting Huthi sites that have been used to receive Iranian weapons, which are then often transported to other Tehran-linked groups in the Mideast -- mainly Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hamas has been designated a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union, while Hezbollah has also been deemed a terrorist group by Washington. The EU blacklists its military arm but not its political wing. The U.S. State Department designated the Huthis as a terrorist group at the start of this year. Hamas and Hezbollah have been severely weakened following massive Israeli military strikes on their respective sites in Gaza and Lebanon, and most of their leaders have been killed in Israel's military response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes would continue against the Huthi rebels, who have also targeted shipping in the Red Sea, claiming they are in solidarity of Hamas fighters in Gaza. "We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil. We will continue until the job is done," Netanyahu said in a video statement. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus -- head of the World Health Organization who was at the Sanaa airport during the Israeli attack -- said he was safe but that "one of our plane's crew members was injured.” Iran’s council on safeguarding the Internet has voted to lift bans on the WhatsApp messenger and the Google Play apps, state media reported. The Supreme Cyberspace Council voted unanimously in favor of lifting restrictions on some foreign-owned applications, including WhatsApp and Google Play, during a meeting on December 24, state news agency IRNA said. "Today, we took the first step toward lifting Internet restrictions with unanimity and consensus," Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi said on X. It was not immediately clear when the decision would come into force. The Supreme Cyberspace Council holds its meetings behind closed doors and its members' votes are not made public. IRNA reported that the members of the council voted to lift restrictions while at the same time " emphasizing the importance of rule-of-law governance in cyberspace." The two apps were restricted in 2022 following the Woman, Life, Freedom protests that were severely suppressed. The Supreme Cyberspace Council, which was established by order of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has also emphasized "supporting domestic platforms." On the eve of the council’s meeting, Mehr News Agency published a document indicating that, based on a Supreme Cyberspace Council plan, an "advertising support package" is to be allocated to domestic messaging services. The document states that the “first phase” of the council’s plan will include “building infrastructure” for domestic content platforms. While the bans on WhatsApp and Google Play were lifted by the council, other popular social media platforms including Facebook, X, Telegram, and YouTube remain blocked in Iran. Critics of the restrictions have argued that the controls have been costly for the country. "The restrictions have achieved nothing but anger and added costs to people's lives," social and political activist Ali Rabiei said on X on December 24. Vice President Mohammad Javad Zarif added that President Masud Pezeshkian believes in removing restrictions and does not consider the bans to be in the interest of the people and the country. “All experts also believe that this issue is not beneficial to the country's security," Zarif said on December 24. Others, however, warned against lifting the restrictions. The reformist Shargh daily reported on December 24 that 136 lawmakers in Iran's 290-member parliament sent a letter to the council saying the move would be a "gift” to Iran's enemies. The lawmakers called for allowing access to restricted online platforms only "if they are committed to the values of Islamic society and comply with the laws of" Iran. The fall of Bashar al-Assad's government at the hands of rebels, including Ankara-backed factions, has effectively made Turkey the dominant foreign actor in Syria at the expense of Iran and its ally Russia . Turkey and Iran have competed for years for influence in the South Caucasus, and this rivalry appears to have now extended to the Levant. "The Islamic republic has had significant misgivings about Turkish influence in Syria, be it economic, political, or military, long before the fall of Assad. But with the loss of Iran's sole state ally in the region, these concerns are set to be magnified exponentially," said Behnam Taleblu, an Iran analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Still, experts say Turkey's rising profile in Syria to the detriment of Iran does not necessarily mean Ankara-Tehran relations will be significantly impacted. What Is Turkey After? Since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Iran and Russia backed Assad while Turkey supported rebel groups opposed to his rule. Iran needed Assad to remain in power so that it could use Syria as a staging ground to fund and arm its proxies and partners, especially the Lebanese group Hezbollah. For Russia, Assad's rule meant Moscow could maintain its Hmeimim air base and naval base in Tartus, which gave it easier access to the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean Sea. Ankara wanted a government in Syria more aligned with its regional vision and policies, especially those that would restrain Kurdish groups in northeastern Syria. A coalition of Kurdish parties, including the Democratic Union Party (PYD), heads the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. PYD's armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), leads the U.S-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). "Turkey has had three core concerns in Syria: fighting the YPG/PYD, enabling the return of Syrian refugees to Syria, and preventing further refugee flows into Turkey," said Daria Isachenko, a Turkey expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. Assad's downfall on December 8 has stemmed the influx of refugees into Turkey, but the "first two concerns remain," Isachenko added. Syria is now effectively ruled by the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies -- some of whom are linked with Turkey , Iran's rival. Isachenko says Turkey's growing influence in Syria could further strengthen its position in the Mediterranean Sea if Ankara signs a Libya-style maritime deal with the new authorities in Damascus. The Road Ahead Turkey's growth in stature and Iran's weakened position in Syria could have ramifications for developments in the South Caucasus, where Iran, Russia, and Turkey vie for influence. Experts say while the Astana talks -- a format sponsored by the three countries to end the conflict in Syria -- may be dead, it still served as a platform for managing different interests. "Coordination and consultation on conflict management between Turkey and Iran as well as Russia on the Middle East and the South Caucasus should not be ruled out," Isachenko said. She adds that even in Syria, Turkey and Iran may find some of their interests aligned, such as finding a common adversary in Israel, which has moved into Syrian territory since the fall of Assad. Still, some argue that Tehran will seek to undermine Turkey in Syria in the hopes of returning the country into its so-called axis of resistance -- Iran's loose network of regional allies and proxies. "The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps will look for ways to claw back influence in Syria," said Taleblu of FDD. "Downtrodden, disposed, and spurned local actors are easy to co-opt, particularly in states where central authority is weak." The Kurdish Question U.S. support for the Kurdish-led SDF has weakened in recent years due to a combination of factors, including the withdrawal of a majority of U.S. troops in 2018 and 2019 and pressure from Washington's NATO ally, Turkey. Ankara, which launched an incursion into northern Syria in 2019 against Kurdish forces, is now in a strong position to further challenge the Kurds, experts say. Since Assad's fall, Ankara-backed rebel groups have clashed with Kurdish forces and seized the previously Kurdish-controlled cities of Manbij and Tarafat near the border with Turkey. Wladimir van Wilgenburg, an Iraqi Kurdistan-based analyst who has co-authored books on Syrian Kurds, says the presence of the 900 remaining U.S. troops might offer some protection to the Kurds but the situation remains precarious. "The new administration in Damascus likely will prefer relations with Turkey over the SDF," he said. "The situation is difficult for the Kurds unless they reach an agreement with HTS." HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa , previously known by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, wants to unify all armed groups in Syria under one banner. But if the SDF were to join, it would effectively end Kurdish autonomy in Syria, Wilgenburg says. The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called on Syrians to resist the emerging rebel-led government after the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad, saying the uprising was orchestrated by the West. Speaking in an address on December 22, Khamenei said Syrians, especially the country's youth, "should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity." Assad left the country in the late hours of December 8 after the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies -- some of whom are linked with Turkey -- overran government forces in a blitz offensive. While Assad was granted political asylum in Russia by President Vladimir Putin after more than five decades of iron-fisted rule by his family, the HTS has since moved quickly to establish an interim government, and its leader, Riad al-Asaad, has said he is confident the factions that helped topple Assad will unite as one force. HTS and the transitional government have insisted the rights of all Syrians will be protected, but Khamenei said he believes a group aligned with the Islamic republic's government would end up prevailing in Syria. However, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on December 22. Details of the meeting were not immediately released, but Turkey has long been seen as a backer of HTS as it looked to remove Assad. The toppling of Assad was seen by many as another blow to Tehran, which has seen regional groups aligned with it -- parts of the so-called axis of resistance -- suffer major setbacks in the past 14 months. Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, has been decimated by Israel, which launched a war against the group in the Gaza Strip and Hamas fighters in October 2023 crossed into Israel and killed 1,200 people while taking another 250 hostage. That conflict spread to Lebanon, home of the Tehran-backed Hezbollah, a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the EU blacklists its armed wing but not its political party. Hezbollah’s political party has seats in the Lebanese parliament. Israel has severely weakened Hezbollah -- killing its longtime leader and many of its top officials -- after the group launched attacks on Israel that it said was in support of Hamas. A U.S.-brokered deal to end hostilities in Lebanon took effect last month. Khamenei downplayed the links to Iran, saying they have fought against Israel on their own beliefs. "They keep saying that the Islamic republic lost its proxy forces in the region. This is another mistake. The Islamic republic does not have a proxy forces," he said. “If one day we plan to take action, we do not need proxy force,” he added. Despite sitting atop the world's second-largest natural gas reserves, energy shortages have become a feature of winters in Iran. Iran grapples with air pollution all year, but air quality significantly worsens during winter when power plants are forced to burn low-quality heavy fuel oil -- mazut -- to compensate for the lack of gas. A rare cold snap in recent weeks has exposed the extent of Iran's struggles to meet the rising demand for gas, with school classes forced to go online and government offices ordered shut to conserve energy. Highlighting the severity of the crisis, President Masud Pezeshkian last week appealed to the public to turn their thermostats down by 2 degrees Celsius to help address the energy deficit. Other government officials have followed suit with similar pleas, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi telling his staff to wear warmer clothes at work. Temperatures have plunged as low as -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Iran in recent days. "The situation is bad due to very cold weather, especially in Tehran and the northern provinces, but it's exacerbated by the structural trend toward runaway consumption over the last two to three years without an accompanying increase in production," said Gregory Brew, an Iran and energy analyst at the U.S.-based Eurasia Group. Old Infrastructure, Poor Management Energy subsidies in Iran mean energy bills are generally low, which has promoted overconsumption. But making matters worse is a devastating combination of mismanagement and outdated infrastructure that has significantly contributed to Iran's inability to meet the rising demand for gas. Gas flaring -- the burning of gas that comes out of the ground when drilling for oil -- is a major problem. Iran does not have the technology to collect it, so it is wastefully burned. World Bank data shows that Iran ranked second globally in 2023 in terms of the volume of gas flaring, burning around 21 billion cubic meters. That is more than double that of the United States, which ranked fourth, and enough to supply 40 percent of the gas demand in neighboring Turkey, which has a population similar to Iran's. Iran's major gas reserves are in the south, southwest, and offshore, so an expansive and powerful grid is needed to transport gas to the north. To do that, Iran needs to invest heavily both in expanding its aging infrastructure and increasing production, said Brew. "But that's difficult to do without investment constrained by both a weak economy and international sanctions," he added. The United States has imposed sweeping sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear and missile programs. The sanctions have crippled the Iranian economy and dented Tehran's ability to sell oil and gas, its key exports. They have also prevented Iran from accessing foreign investment and technology. The South Pars Field in the Persian Gulf is the world's largest natural gas field, and Iran shares it with Qatar, where it is referred to as the North Dome. While Qatar has signed lucrative deals with international energy companies to develop its section of the gas field, Iran has had to rely on lackluster domestic capabilities to exploit it. Iran's seemingly never-ending struggle with gas shortages in winter has led many to question the rationale behind exporting gas to neighboring Iraq and Turkey. "Given how constrained it is by sanctions, Iran has to find and exploit any means of increasing exports, which increases pressure on supply at home," Brew said. The stand-off with the West over Iran's nuclear program means the odds of sanctions being lifted are slim, and with Donald Trump returning to the White House in January, the pressure will increase even further, experts said. The U.S. State Department condemned the 10-year sentence handed down by Iranian authorities against Reza Valizadeh , a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen and former journalist for RFE/RL's Radio Farda. "We strongly condemn this sentencing and call for his immediate release and the release of all political prisoners in Iran," a spokesperson told Radio Farda on December 17. "The Iranian government has repeatedly suppressed press freedom through threats, intimidation, detentions, forced confessions, and the use of violence against journalists in Iran," the spokesperson added. According to court documents sent to the journalist's lawyer on December 10 and subsequently reviewed by RFE/RL, Valizadeh was sentenced by Tehran's Revolutionary Court on charges of "collaborating with a hostile government." In addition to the prison term, Valizadeh was banned for two years from living in Tehran and adjacent provinces, from leaving the country, and from joining political or social organizations following the completion of his sentence. Valizadeh resigned from Radio Farda in November 2022 after a decade of work. He returned to Iran in early 2024 to visit his family but was arrested on September 22. His two court sessions, held on November 20 and December 7, reportedly lacked a prosecution representative, with the judge assuming that role. Sources close to the journalist claim he fell into a "security trap" despite receiving unofficial assurances from Iranian security officials that he would not face legal troubles upon returning to Iran. The State Department earlier condemned Valizadeh's detention, calling it "unjust" and inconsistent with international legal standards. Press freedom organizations, including Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, urged Iranian authorities to release Valizadeh immediately. RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus also called for Valizadeh to be released, saying the charges against him, his conviction, and sentence were unjust. "Time and again, the Iranian regime has attempted to spread its malign influence around the world, trampling on human rights at every opportunity," Capus said in a statement. "Clearly, this regime feels threatened by the forces of freedom, including independent journalism." Iran is routinely accused of arresting dual nationals and Western citizens on false charges to use them to pressure Western countries. In September 2023, Iran released five Americans jailed in Iran in a prisoner swap. Valizadeh is the first U.S. citizen known to have been arrested since that deal. Iran is also among the most repressive countries in terms of freedom of the press. Reporters Without Borders ranked Iran 176th out of 180 countries in its 2024 World Press Freedom Index. The Paris-based media watchdog says Iran is now also one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists. Iran closed government offices and shifted school classes online on December 16 due to freezing temperatures and a severe gas shortage. Northern provinces have experienced temperatures plunging to -20°C (-4°F) in recent days, accompanied by widespread gas supply disruptions. President Masud Pezeshkian called on citizens last week to lower their thermostats by 2 degrees Celsius to conserve energy. Other government officials have made similar pleas online. Despite sitting on the world’s second-largest proven gas reserves, Iran’s aging infrastructure has struggled to meet increasing demand during winter. To read the full story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here . Iranian police released singer Parastoo Ahmadi in the early hours of December 15 following a brief detention after she performed without the mandatory head scarf, her lawyer has confirmed. Ahmadi caused a stir on social media earlier this week after recording a performance with her hair uncovered and wearing a dress. The performance, recorded with a crew of male musicians, was uploaded to YouTube. The police on December 14 claimed she was released after a "briefing session" but a source close to the family told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that she remained in custody. Her lawyer Milad Panahipur also denied the police claim, writing on X that the authorities were "lying" about her release. The following day, Panahipur confirmed Ahmadi, who had been detained in her home province of Mazandaran, was released at 3 in the morning. Two of her bandmates, Soheil Faqih-Nasri and Ehsan Beyraqdar, were also detained briefly. Ahmadi’s Instagram account is no longer accessible, but her YouTube account remains active. The video of her performance, dubbed "an imaginary concert" because female performers cannot sing solo in front of an audience, has received around 1.6 million views on YouTube since it was uploaded on December 11. On December 12, the authorities said legal proceedings had been launched against Ahmadi and her bandmates for the "illegal concert." Ahmadi, who gained prominence during the 2022 nationwide protests after singing a song in support of demonstrators, has been widely praised for her performance. On social media, many have hailed her for fighting "gender apartheid" and showing "bravery, resilience, and love." A rising number of women have been flouting the mandatory hijab in public since the 2022 protests, which gave rise to the Women, Life, Freedom movement. The authorities have tried to crack down and recently passed a law enhancing the enforcement of the hijab by introducing hefty fines, restricting access to basic services, and lengthy prison sentences. The new hijab and chastity law, which has been widely criticized by even conservative figures, is scheduled to go into effect this month, but at least two lawmakers have said its implementation has been postponed by the Supreme National Security Council. An Iranian court has sentenced Reza Valizadeh , a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen and former journalist for RFE/RL's Radio Farda, to 10 years in prison on charges of "collaborating with a hostile government." According to court documents sent to the journalist’s lawyer on December 10 and subsequently reviewed by RFE/RL, Valizadeh was sentenced by Judge Iman Afshari of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, Branch 26. In addition to the prison term, Valizadeh was banned for two years following the completion of his sentence from living in Tehran and adjacent provinces, from leaving the country, and from joining political or social organizations. Valizadeh resigned from Radio Farda in November 2022 after a decade of work. He returned to Iran in early 2024 to visit his family but was arrested on September 22 . His two court sessions, held on November 20 and December 7, reportedly lacked a prosecution representative, with the judge assuming that role. Sources close to the journalist claim he fell into a "security trap" despite receiving unofficial assurances from Iranian security officials that he would not face legal troubles upon returning to Iran. The U.S. State Department earlier condemned Valizadeh’s detention, calling it "unjust" and inconsistent with international legal standards. Press freedom organizations, including Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, urged Iranian authorities to release Valizadeh immediately. RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus also called for Valizadeh to be released, saying the charges against him, his conviction, and sentence were unjust. "Time and again, the Iranian regime has attempted to spread its malign influence around the world, trampling on human rights at every opportunity," Capus said in a staetment. "Clearly, this regime feels threatened by the forces of freedom, including independent journalism." Valizadeh remains in Tehran’s Evin prison under severe restrictions, with limited access to legal representation and family. Iran is routinely accused of arresting dual nationals and Western citizens on false charges to use them to pressure Western countries. In September 2023, Iran released five Americans jailed in Iran in a prisoner swap. Valizadeh is the first U.S. citizen known to have been arrested since that deal. Iran is also among the most repressive countries in terms of freedom of the press. Reporters Without Borders ranked Iran 176th out of 180 countries in its 2024 World Press Freedom Index. The Paris-based media watchdog says Iran is now also one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists. The husband of prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been detained by security forces, according to their daughter. Mehraveh Khandan said on Instagram that her father, Reza Khandan, was arrested on December 13 at her home in Tehran. The circumstances of Khandan's arrest and the charges against him were not known. Mohammad Moghimi, a lawyer, said on X that the reason for the arrest was likely related to a six-year prison sentence in a case in which he represented Reza Khandan and activist Farhad Meysami. The sentence against Reza Khandan was handed down in February 2019 by Tehran's Revolutionary Court. Meysami also faced a similar sentence in the case. Reza Khandan had been charged with "assembly and collusion against national security," "propaganda against the state," and "spreading and promoting unveiling in society." The sentence against Reza Khandan also banned him from membership in political parties and groups, leaving the country, and using the Internet and other media and press activities. Sotoudeh, a vocal advocate for numerous activists, has been arrested several times since 2010. Her detention has included periods of solitary confinement, highlighting the challenges faced by human rights defenders in Iran. Sotoudeh was arrested last year during the funeral of 17-year-old Armita Garavand, who died of injuries suffered in an alleged confrontation with Iran's morality police in the Tehran subway over a violation of Iran’s compulsory head scarf law. Reza Khandan said at the time of his wife's arrest in October 2023 that she started a hunger and medication strike after she was severely beaten when she was taken into custody. Sotoudeh was released about two weeks later. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in his first public comments since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ousted , accused the United States and Israel of orchestrating the rebel uprising that toppled the regime over the weekend. Khamenei on December 11 also implicitly blamed Turkey for the lightning push of Syrian rebels who reached Damascus from their strongholds in the northwest with little resistance. "It should not be doubted that what happened in Syria was the product of a joint American and Zionist plot," he said. "Yes, a neighboring government of Syria plays, played, and is playing a clear role...but the main conspirator, mastermind, and command center are in America and the Zionist regime," Khamenei added. The U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies -- some of whom are linked with Turkey -- ousted Assad on December 8, less than two weeks after launching their offensive. Syria under Assad served as a crucial part of a land corridor connecting Iran to the Levant, which was considered the logistical backbone of the so-called axis of resistance -- Iran's loose network of regional proxies and allies. Iran spent billions of dollars and sent military advisers to Syria to ensure Assad remained in power when civil war broke out in 2011. Russia -- where the ousted Syrian leader has been granted political asylum -- also backed Assad, while Turkey has supported rebel groups who aimed to topple the regime. A Khamenei adviser once described Syria as the "golden ring" in the chain connecting Iran to its Lebanese partner, Hezbollah. With the ring broken and Hezbollah's capabilities degraded after a devastating war with Israel, experts say the axis has become severely weak. Khamenei said only "ignorant and uninformed analysts" would assess that the axis has become weak and vowed that its reach "will expand across the region more than before." Reza Alijani, an Iranian political analyst based in France, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that Khamenei's comments were more "trash talk" than anything else. "The axis may not have been defeated, but it has suffered a serious blow and the Islamic republics arms in the region have been deal major hits," he said. Alijani argued that factions within the Islamic republic's core support base may be starting to question Khamenei's policies and vision after the recent setbacks, which he said is a cause for concern among the clerical establishment's top brass. Welcome back to the China In Eurasia briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter tracking China's resurgent influence from Eastern Europe to Central Asia. I'm RFE/RL correspondent Reid Standish and I'm back after a reporting trip in Taiwan. I'm off again for the holidays but will be back here with another newsletter at the end of the year. Here's what I'm following right now. Beijing Watches Assad Fall The full effects from the swift collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria is still playing out on the ground, but his sudden fall is set to shake up the Middle East and beyond. Here's what it means for China. Finding Perspective: China has been aligned with Assad since Syria's civil war began in 2011 but largely through its close ties to Russia and Iran, which backed the Syrian leader. At the United Nations, Beijing has often voted with Moscow, blocking condemnations of Assad as well as cross-border aid. Beijing supported the Assad regime with eight vetoes at the UN, which is half the total vetoes China has ever used. Beijing significantly reduced its presence in Syria amid the conflict, though it kept building close ties with Assad, eventually culminating in his state visit to China in 2023. Chinese investment in Syria was scarce, and beyond a strategic partnership agreement and a pledge to join the Belt and Road Initiative there has been essentially no Chinese investment in Syria and no major contracts with Chinese firms in the country since 2010. So why did Beijing throw its weight behind Assad? Revisiting The Arab Spring: For Beijing, the biggest issue was the symbolism and appearance of stability that Assad represented, especially given he was first threatened by a popular uprising that then set the Syrian civil war in motion. The spread of revolutions in the Arab world in 2011 was alarming for the Chinese Communist Party. Inside China at the time, popular grumbling with corruption at various levels of government was common, and the party was concerned the protests across the Middle East could inspire its own population, especially given simmering tensions in Tibet and Xinjiang at the time. Added to that was the rise of the Islamic State in Syria. The war led to thousands of Uyghurs, the predominantly Muslim group from western China, traveling to Syria to fight against the Syrian government. Many of those fighters said they were there to learn how to use weapons and then return to China, and fears over the return of battle-hardened fighters to Xinjiang was one of the pretexts Xi expressed to top party brass to launch the crackdown and camp system in western China that targeted the Uyghur population, according to a set of leaked internal government documents obtained by the New York Times. Why It Matters: From this logic, Beijing's support for Assad makes sense, but it's a big bet that hasn't paid off. The fall of Assad is also a reflection of the weakened regional power of two of its main partners: Iran and Russia. Their inability to prop up Assad indicates they've been consumed by the wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and Ukraine, which may be a concern for Beijing looking ahead. The rapid collapse of the Syrian government is also an unwelcome message at home for Beijing, which was reflected in the way Chinese media covered the events for Chinese viewers. As images circulated around the world of jubilant crowds and the toppling of statues, Chinese state media's coverage on CCTV mostly centered around a fixed live shot of Damascus without a crowd in sight. Three More Stories From Eurasia 1. China Flexes Its Muscles Around Taiwan Beijing said it is taking "necessary measures" to defend the country's sovereignty and will not tolerate "separatist" activities, as Taiwan reported another rise in Chinese warplanes and ships near the island. The Details: Taiwan's Defense Ministry said China was deploying its largest navy fleet in regional waters in nearly three decades, posing a threat to Taiwan that is more pronounced than previous Chinese war games. China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, had been expected to launch drills to express its anger at President Lai Ching-te's tour of the Pacific that ended last week, which included stopovers in Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam. Without any announcement from China on military drills, Taiwan officials are calling the ongoing activity a training exercise and warned it could be used to further violate Taiwan's territorial boundaries. China, which views Lai as a separatist, held major military exercises around Taiwan following his inauguration in May and his National Day speech in October. It also held a major drill after Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, visited Taiwan in 2022. 2. The California Connection A Chinese company that owns a California electronics distributor has sent hundreds of shipments of restricted dual-use technology to Russia since the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, including to sanctioned companies with ties to the Russian military, my colleagues Mike Eckel and Mark Krutov report . What You Need To Know: The findings further highlight the difficulty Western countries have had in trying to choke off the Russian military's access to Western technology for use in its weapons and operations as its war on Ukraine continues. At least one component manufactured by the company, Yangzhou Yangjie Electronic Technology Company Limited, was found in a Russian weapons guidance system recovered from the battlefield in Ukraine, according to a public database maintained by the Ukrainian military. Yangjie Technology, located in the city of Yangzhou northwest of Shanghai, has sent more than 200 shipments of specific goods to Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to customs records obtained by C4ADS, a Washington-based, nonprofit data-analysis and global-research organization. The listed contents of those shipments -- totaling at least 238 -- included electronic components categorized as "high-priority" by the United States due to their potential use in Russian weapons systems, according to the data obtained by C4ADS and shared with RFE/RL, which independently corroborated more than 150 such shipments. 3. China And Serbia Eye New Cooperation On Extraditions Serbia has extradited five Chinese citizens in the past five years, according to data obtained by my colleague Mila Manojlovic from RFE/RL's Balkan Service. What It Means: The data shows extraditions are already taking place. That cooperation is also set to grow as Serbia's Justice Ministry prepares to submit to parliament a draft extradition law with China that, if passed, would expand the scope of cooperation between Beijing and Belgrade. That extradition deal, which would regulate the bilateral extradition of citizens charged with crimes, is seen by experts as a response to the influx of tourists and Chinese nationals to Serbia that have corresponded with high-profile Chinese investments and loans for projects through the BRI. According to data from Serbia's National Employment Service, more than 45,000 work permits have been issued to Chinese citizens since 2016, the year the ruling Serbian Progressive Party started intensifying relations with Beijing and expanding BRI projects. Serbia's Interior Ministry told RFE/RL there are currently 3,433 Chinese citizens registered in the country. Across The Supercontinent Looking at 2025: Here's my look at what's on Taiwan's agenda as we prepare to enter 2025, as part of a wider lookahead from across RFE/RL coverage region. My segment begins at 7:25. Train Links: The first train carrying goods from China to Afghanistan arrived in Mazar-e Sharif on November 23 after crossing through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The Taliban said 55 containers arrived in Afghanistan after a 22-day journey, marking the inauguration of the first direct train link between China and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The New Normal: From attacks in Pakistan to new episodes in Tajikistan, my colleagues Bashir Ahmad Gwakh and Frud Bezhan look at how new violence in South and Central Asia could affect Chinese investment projects across the region. A Late Warning: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on December 2 warned her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Beijing's support for Russia would "impact" ties with Europe. One Thing To Watch According to a draft sanctions package obtaind by RFE/RL, the European Union has proposed for the first time to target Chinese companies and individuals with visa bans and asset freezes over their dealings with Russian firms linked to Moscow's war effort in Ukraine. The draft version of the sanctions package was first shared with EU countries on November 22 and would still need to be approved before the end of the year by all 27 member states in order to come into effect. That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you might have. Until next time, Reid Standish If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here . It will be sent to your inbox every Wednesday. Syria's interim prime minister took power with the support of the rebels who ousted President Bashar al-Assad as outside powers -- including Russia, Turkey, the United States, and Israel -- maneuvered to protect their geopolitical interests in the war-torn Middle East nation. In an address on recently captured state TV, Muhammad al-Bashir said he would lead Syria's interim authority through March 1 as the new rulers, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants, looked to solidify control after deposing Assad over the weekend. Little-known Bashir, born in Idlib Province in 1982 and an engineering graduate, had once worked for Syria's state gas entity and has served as head of the rebel's so-called Salvation Government for the past year. HTS has been designated a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union. In recent years, the group severed ties with Al-Qaeda and sought to remake itself as a pragmatic alternative to the Syrian government, although Western powers and rights groups remain cautious. Meanwhile, Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, on December 10 told NBC News that Moscow is providing sanctuary to Assad after transporting him there "in the most secure way possible." He didn't provide further details. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on December 9 that President Vladimir Putin made the decision personally to grant asylum to Assad and his family. Earlier on December 10, loud explosions were heard amid reports Israel has been systematically striking Syrian military installations following the ouster of Assad’s brutal regime. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that the military had struck several Syrian sites and had hit its naval vessels in overnight strikes. "The [military] has been operating in Syria in recent days to strike and destroy strategic capabilities that threaten the State of Israel. The navy operated last night to destroy the Syrian fleet with great success," Katz said. Katz said Israel’s military has been ordered to create a weapons-free zone in southern Syria "to prevent the establishment and organization of terrorism] in the country. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said Israel had "destroyed the most important military sites in Syria," including “airports and their warehouses, aircraft squadrons, radars, military signal stations, and many weapons and ammunition depots in various locations in most Syrian governorates." The reports came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is "transforming the face of the Middle East" and defeating its enemies "step by step" in what he called an "existential war that has been imposed upon us." Netanyahu said Assad's regime had been a "central element of Iran's axis of evil," accusing it of facilitating a "weapons pipeline" between Iran and the Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, which has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States. Israel has launched a monthslong air campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah. Washington has also conducted some 75 air strikes on Islamic State (IS) militants, who still have a presence in Syria, in recent days to prevent the group from taking advantage of the turmoil that followed Assad's fall. "You can expect that kind of activity will continue. We don't want to give [IS] an opportunity to exploit what is going on," White House national-security spokesman John Kirby said on December 10. The United States has about 900 troops in Syria as part of its decade-long fight against IS. "[IS] will try to use this period to reestablish its capabilities, to create safe havens," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on December 9. "As our precision strikes over the weekend demonstrate, we are determined not to let that happen." Washington said it is seeking ways to engage with Syrian rebel groups and is reaching out to partners in the region, including Turkey, to initiate informal contacts. "We have the ability to communicate with the opposition groups, and we'll continue to do that," Kirby said in his briefing. The Syrian Observatory also said IS militants killed at least 54 government soldiers who were fleeing advancing rebels "during the collapse of the regime" in the Sukhna area of Homs Province. The report could not immediately be verified. Meanwhile, satellite imagery by Planet Labs showed Russian naval ships have left their Syrian base at Tartus, with some dropping anchor offshore. Imagery showed at least three vessels -- including two guided missile frigates -- some 13 kilometers off the coast. Russia has an estimated 7,500 troops and multiple military sites in Syria, including an air base at Hmeimim along with the strategic naval facilities at Tartus, which are also used to support the Kremlin's actions in North and sub-Saharan Africa. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government has ties to many of the rebel groups involved in the takeover, said Ankara will act against anyone seeking to compromise its Syrian territory. "From now on, we cannot allow Syria to be divided again.... Any attack on the freedom of the Syrian people, the stability of the new administration, and the integrity of its lands will find us standing against it," he said. Turkey has claimed U.S.-backed Syrian-Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria to be "terrorists" linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been designated as a terrorist group by Ankara, as well as by Washington. Tehran, which was also a long-standing backer of Assad, on December 10 said some 4,000 Iranian citizens have left Syria over the past three days. Iranian proxies are thought to have multiple military sites inside Syria, some of which have been hit by Israeli air attacks, but the government has so far been relatively muted in its response to Assad's fall. On December 9, the UN Security Council held a closed-door meeting on the situation in Syria called by Russia, which together with Iran, has been a main backer of Assad's regime. "The Council, I think, was more or less united on the need to preserve the territorial integrity and unity of Syria, to ensure the protection of civilians, to ensure that humanitarian aid is coming to the population in need," said Russia's UN ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, in a statement released after the meeting. The HTS-led rebels announced on December 9 that they were granting amnesty to all military personnel conscripted during Assad's rule, which began in 2000 following the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had seized power in 1970. Ahmad al-Sharaa, 42, previously known by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, has become the public face of HTS, which itself was formerly known as the Al Nusra Front, among other names. Several European states on December 9 announced they were suspending the granting of asylum requests from Syrians as they awaited developments. The flood of Syrian refugees during the country's 14-year civil war has often been used by far-right politicians in Europe to inflame passions and bolster their support among voters. The EU has urged a peaceful political transition in Syria, saying that "it is imperative that all stakeholders engage in an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned dialogue on all key issues." But EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said the bloc was "not currently engaging with HTS or its leaders, full stop." The Syrian civil war began after Assad's regime unleashed a brutal crackdown in March 2011 against peaceful demonstrators inspired by the wave of protests known as the Arab Spring that were sweeping the Middle East at the time. Beginning in 2015, Russia intervened in the civil war on Assad's side, unleashing a massive bombing campaign against the rebel groups, including Islamist militants, causing numerous civilian casualties and prompting tens of thousands to flee. The fall of the Assad regime marks a major geopolitical setback for the Kremlin, which, along with Iran, has propped up his government, experts say. Iran spent decades building the so-called axis of resistance, its network of regional armed proxies, Tehran-backed militant groups, and allied state actors. The network was the lynchpin of Tehran's efforts to deter Israel and the United States and exert its influence across the Middle East. But the fall of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Tehran, has done irreparable damage to the network, analysts say. For Iran, Syria provided a crucial land corridor to the Levant that was considered the logistical backbone of the axis. The corridor, also known as the Shi'ite Crescent, connected Tehran to the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, a key ally and an integral part of the axis. "There is no axis without access," said Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. "The resistance is not done, but losing the ability to logistically support Hezbollah means the loss of Iran's strategic depth." Broken Corridor Underscoring Syria's importance, Iran spent billions of dollars to keep Assad in power. Tehran intervened militarily in Syria's civil war in 2013 and played a key role in shoring up Assad's forces. It deployed hundreds of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) officers to recruit and train tens of thousands of local and foreign Shi'ite fighters. After the loss of the land corridor connecting axis members from Iran to Lebanon, "we are likely to see a much-diminished resistance in the coming months and years," said Farzan Sabet, senior research associate at the Geneva Graduate Institute. The axis, he said, will have "a considerably lower capacity to rebuild or conduct military operations in the future." At its height, the axis was active in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, and was meant to give Iran the ability to hit its enemies outside its own borders while allowing it to maintain a position of plausible deniability. But the axis has suffered a series of debilitating setbacks in recent months. Syria is now effectively ruled by the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies -- some of whom are linked with Turkey, Iran's rival. The HTS seized power in Damascus on December 8. Hezbollah has been severely weakened after a bruising, yearlong war with Israel, which killed the group's longtime leader , Hassan Nasrallah. Meanwhile, Israel's devastating war in the Gaza Strip has diminished the capabilities of U.S.-designated Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, another axis member. Events in Syria "will certainly place significantly more restraints on Iran’s ability to maintain its regional influence," said Raz Zimmt, senior researcher at the Israeli-based Institute for National Security Studies. Iran's 'Very Bad' Options Weakened regionally, Iran now has tough decisions to make, including reconsidering its deterrence strategy and possibly developing a nuclear bomb, experts say. Zimmt says Iran has two "very bad options" -- to do nothing and recognize that its deterrence against Israel has been compromised, or weaponize its nuclear program and expose itself to the possibility of an Israeli attack. Things look equally grim for Iran’s axis of resistance, according to Sabet, who says Tehran will be under pressure to pull back its regional activities. Sabet says Iran will seek to exploit any potential chaos in the region, including in post-Assad Syria, to reassert its influence. "If the civil war in Syria is not quickly settled and a new order created, it might become precisely the type of environment where the Islamic republic has historically thrived," Sabet said. The collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime sparked nationwide celebrations, as scenes of jubilation and chaos unfolded across the country. In the early hours of December 8, videos emerged on social media showing groups of people gathering on Umayyad Square in Damascus, a key landmark in the capital. Thousands more joined them throughout the day, with some participants climbing atop a tank. Social media footage verified by RFE/RL showed people exiting the central bank building in Damascus carrying bags and boxes. Looting was reported in the capital and in other cities across the country, according to multiple eyewitness accounts. At the gates of the presidential palace in Damascus, video footage captured jubilant men cheering and firing weapons into the air. People were seen entering the palace freely throughout the day after Assad fled the country. Russian state media reported later on December 8 that he and his family had arrived in Moscow and been granted asylum. Video footage from inside the palace showed crowds milling around, as well as people carrying out furniture and valuables, leaving trashed rooms behind them. Verified video footage obtained by RFE/RL also showed the building of the Syrian Interior Ministry's immigration and passport department ablaze in Damascus. Statues of Assad's late father, Hafez al-Assad, who created the authoritarian system his son inherited, were dismantled nationwide after a lightning-fast rebel offensive. On Arwad Island, off the coast of Tartus and around 10 kilometers from a Russian naval base, jubilant crowds toppled a statue of the elder Assad, who died in 2000, and climbed onto the monument in celebration. In Latakia, a coastal town that was a stronghold of the Assad family, another statue of Hafez al-Assad was torn down and dragged through the streets behind a truck as revelers rode atop it. Images also showed the aftermath of the storming of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, which appeared to have been abandoned earlier on December 8. Iranian media reported that diplomats had already evacuated the premises. President-elect Donald Trump said Russia and Iran are in a "weakened state" and called on Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to end the nearly three-year war in Ukraine. Trump made the comments in a post on Truth Social on December 8 as Syrian rebels captured Damascus , ending the half-century rule of the Russia- and Iran-backed Assad family. The incoming U.S. president said Russia and Iran couldn't come to the support of Syrian dictator Assad because they were in a "weakened state right now, one because of Ukraine and a bad economy, the other because of Israel and its fighting success." Russia has lost about 600,000 soldiers since invading Ukraine in February 2022, Trump said, adding that Ukraine has lost about 400,000 defending its territory. "There should be an immediate cease-fire and negotiations should begin," Trump said. "I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The world is waiting!" The Kremlin did not immediately respond to Trump's comment. Paris Meeting Trump said in the post that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy "would like to make a deal." Trump held talks with Zelenskiy and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on December 7 to discuss the war. Zelenskiy called the trilateral talks "good and productive" and said the leaders discussed the potential for "a just peace." Trump and Zelenskiy were among world leaders who gathered in Paris on December 7 to mark the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. "We talked about our people, the situation on the battlefield, and a just peace for Ukraine. We all want to end this war as quickly and fairly as possible," Zelenskiy said in a December 7 post on Telegram . "President Trump, as always, is determined. We are thankful for that," he added. Macron said , "Let us continue joint efforts for peace, security." Trump , who will take office on January 20, has criticized the tens of billions of dollars the United States has poured into Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion. He has claimed he could end the war within 24 hours of retaking the White House, a statement that has been interpreted as meaning that Ukraine would have to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. Experts say it will be difficult to hammer out a peace deal quickly because there are so many aspects, including security guarantees for Ukraine and sanctions relief for Russia. In the meantime, the outgoing Biden administration has been accelerating weapons shipments to Ukraine ahead of the transfer of power to Trump to bolster its defenses. Washington said on December 7 that it is preparing a $988 million package of arms and equipment to Ukraine, funds taken from the remaining $2.21 billion available in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The funds will be used to buy precision missiles for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), and for drones, the Pentagon said. European countries are also stepping up aid in case the Trump administration ends U.S. support for Kyiv. Zelenskiy announced on December 7 that Ukraine had received a second shipment of sophisticated F-16 fighter jets from Denmark. Copenhagen announced last year it would deliver a total of 19 aircraft to Ukraine. "The second batch of F-16s for Ukraine from Denmark is already in Ukraine. This is the leadership in protecting life that distinguishes Denmark," he wrote on Telegram . Syrian rebels led by Islamist militants have entered the central city of Homs as they close in on Damascus while the country’s main allies -- Russia and Iran -- scrambled to protect the regime of authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad and their own assets in the country. Abu Mohammad al-Golani, a leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group, said late on December 7 that the insurgent fighters were "in the final moments of liberating" Homs, a city of 775,000 people. HTS is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Britain, Canada, and the European Union. Experts said the future of the Assad regime was hanging in the balance -- and that, if it fell, it would also represent a major geopolitical setback for the Kremlin which, along with Tehran, has supported the Syrian government through many years of civil war. Media reports said many residents of Damascus were stocking up on supplies as thousands were attempting to leave the country through the border with Lebanon -- itself a war-torn nation in the increasingly chaotic Middle East. As fighting on the ground and rebel gains intensified, the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, and Turkey held emergency talks in Doha, Qatar, on December 7 calling for an end to hostilities in the most serious challenge to Assad’s rule in years. The U.S. State Department told RFE/RL that Washington was closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Syria. A spokesperson said the United States and its partners and allies urged that civilians, including members of minority groups, be protected. The spokesperson said it was time to negotiate an end to the Syrian conflict consistent with principals established in UN Security Council Resolution 2254. The spokesperson added that the refusal of the Assad regime to engage in the process has directly led to the current situation. The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War ( ISW ) said that “Assad regime forces have collapsed and Assad’s backers do not appear willing to bolster the Syrian Arab Army by rapidly deploying additional forces.” Russia has multiple military sites in Syria, including an air base at Hmeimim and strategic naval facilities at Tartus, which are also used to support the Kremlin’s actions in Africa. The ISW said that Moscow had not yet begun to evacuate the base, “but it remains unclear whether Russia will keep its vessels at the port as Syrian rebels continue to advance swiftly across regime-held territory.” The American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats blog said the Assad regime “faces an existential threat given the widespread collapse of regime forces and lack of sufficient external backing to bolster these forces.” It added that “Russia will face logistic challenges that will undermine its Africa operations if it loses its footprint in Syria.” Mark Katz, a professor emeritus at George Mason University who focuses on Russia and the Middle East, told RFE/RL that the Kremlin risks losing its air assets in Syria if it can’t agree with Turkey on the use of its airspace. “In one sense, the Turkish government might be happy to grant permission as the more the Russian Air Force is out of Syria, the happier Ankara will be,” he said. "Russia would also face difficulties relocating its warships because they would need Turkey's permission to get into the Black Sea. They would have to go through NATO waters," he added. Meanwhile, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said the United States “should have nothing to do” with the war in Syria, where a small contingent of U.S. forces remain deployed in some areas. "Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT,” he wrote on the Truth Social platform. “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!” Fast-moving developments on the ground were difficult to confirm, but media outlets quoted witnesses as well as rebel and Syrian army sources as saying militant fighters were continuing to make large gains on December 7 in their effort to topple Assad. Some reported signs of panic in Damascus, with shortages of critical supplies, although the government said Assad was at work as usual in the capital. Government forces and their Russian allies appear to have failed in their attempt to halt the rebel push toward Homs, which stands at an important intersection between the capital, Damascus, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus. Homs is 140 kilometers from the capital. Witnesses and army sources told Reuters and other news agencies that rebels had entered Homs amid reports that government forces had pulled out. Celebrations were reported in some areas of the city. Homs Province is Syria’s largest in size and borders Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan. The city is also home to one of Syria’s two state-run oil refineries. The AFP news agency quoted security sources as saying hundreds of Syrian government troops, some injured, had fled across the border into Iraq. The surprising offensive was launched last week by a coalition of rebel groups led by the Islamist HTS faction. Besides HTS, the fighters include forces of an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Turkey has denied backing the offensive, though experts say insurgents would not have launched it without the country's consent. The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said civilians were fleeing from Homs toward the Mediterranean coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, strongholds of the government and the site of the Russian air and naval bases. Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declined to comment on the fate of the Russian bases, saying he “wasn’t in the business of guessing.” The United Nations said on December 6 that almost 300,000 people in Syria had already been displaced since late November by the fighting, and that up to 1.5 million could be forced to flee as the rebels advance and inflict losses on Assad, as well as his Russian and Iranian allies. Assad has relied on Iran and Russia to remain in power since the conflict erupted in 2011. Following the foreign ministers' meeting in Doha, Lavrov said -- referring to HTS rebels -- that it was "inadmissible to allow terrorist groups" to take control of Syrian territory and that Russia would oppose them with all means possible. Since the rebels seized control of Aleppo a week ago, they have moved on to capture other major cities with Assad’s forces providing little resistance. Besides capturing Aleppo in the north, Hama in the center, and Deir al-Zor in the east, rebels rose up in southern Suweida and Deraa, saying on December 6 they had taken control of the two cities and posting videos showing insurgent celebrations there. Taking Deraa and Suweida in the south could allow a concerted assault on the capital, Damascus, the seat of Assad's power, military sources said. Video posted online showed protesters in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana chanting and tearing down a statue of Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000, when his son took power. Golani, the HTS leader, told CNN in an exclusive interview on December 5 from Syria that Assad’s government was bound to fall, propped up only by Russia and Iran. “The seeds of the regime’s defeat have always been within it,” he said. “But the truth remains, this regime is dead.” Iran is poised to significantly increase the production rate of highly enriched uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned in a confidential report. The IAEA report said the effect of the change "would be to significantly increase the rate of production of uranium enriched up to 60 percent," according to news agencies quoting the report on December 6. This means the rate of production will jump to more than 34 kilograms of highly enriched uranium per month at its Fordow facility alone, compared to 4.7 kilograms previously, the report to the IAEA's board of governors says. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi, who spoke to reporters about the report on the sidelines of an international conference in Bahrain, said the increase would represent “seven or eight times or even more," calling the development very concerning. “They were preparing, and they have all of these facilities sort of in abeyance and now they are activating that. So we are going to see,” he said, adding that it would be a “huge jump” if Iran begins increasing its enrichment. The report also said Iran must implement tougher safeguard measures such as inspections to ensure Fordow is not being "misused to produce uranium of an enrichment level higher than that declared by Iran, and that there is no diversion of declared nuclear material." Iran's decision to accelerate production of enriched uranium is in response to recent censure by the IAEA, Grossi told the AFP news agency. "This is a message. This is a clear message that they are responding to what they feel is pressure," the UN nuclear watchdog's head said. Tehran was angered by a resolution last month put forward by Britain, Germany, and France, known as the E3, and the United States that faulted Iran's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog. Britain, Germany, and France have adopted a tougher stance on Iran in recent months, in particular since Tehran ramped up its military support to Russia. In addition, there was little progress last week when European and Iranian officials met to determine whether they could enter serious talks on the nuclear program before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January. Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and is now appointing hawks on Iran to his planned administration. While Iran maintains its program is peaceful, Iranian officials increasingly threaten to potentially seek a nuclear bomb and an intercontinental ballistic missile. But experts war that the enrichment of uranium at 60 percent is just a short step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent, and they say there is no justification for enriching uranium to such a high level under any civilian program. The news of Iran's decision to increase uranium enrichment came just hours after Tehran claimed it had conducted a successful space launch with its heaviest payload ever. Official media reported that the launch of the Simorgh rocket took place at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Semnan Province located about 220 kilometers east of Tehran. Western governments have expressed concern that the Tehran’s ballistic missile program is coming closer to having the ability to launch a weapon against distant foes like the United States. The Simorgh carried what Iran described as an “orbital propulsion system” and two research systems to a 400-kilometer orbit above the Earth. It also carried the Fakhr-1 satellite for Iran’s military, the first time Iran’s civilian program is known to have carried a military payload. Iran has said its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes. Russian forces bombed a key bridge and highway to try and slow a lightning advance by rebels toward the Syrian city of Homs as thousands fled the area. The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said civilians were fleeing from Homs towards the Mediterranean coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, strongholds of the government and the site of Russian air and naval bases. The United Nations said on December 6 that almost 300,000 people in Syria had already been displaced since late November by the fighting, and that up to 1.5 million could be forced to flee as the rebels advance and deal losses to the country's president, Bashar al-Assad, as well as his allies in Russia and Iran. Assad has relied on Iran and Russia to remain in power since the conflict erupted in 2011. A Syrian Army officer was quoted by Reuters as saying that Russian bombing overnight had destroyed the Rastan bridge along the key M5 highway linking Homs to Hama, another city the rebels captured a day earlier. The rebels, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have made major advances over the past several days, including the capture of Aleppo, the country's largest city, as well as 14 central villages and towns, and gotten as close as 35 kilometers from the Russian-operated Khmeimim air base. HTS is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Britain, Canada, and the European Union. Hama, Syria's fourth-largest city, is key to the defense of Damascus and the gateway to the coastal cities of Tartus and Latakia, the former being home to a strategic Russian naval base. In his first media interview in several years, Abu Muhammad al-Julani, the group's leader, told CNN the goal "remains to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime, and it is our right to use all available means to achieve this goal." Besides HTS, the rebels also include an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. The foreign ministers of Iraq, Syria, and Iran were to meet on December 6 to discuss the situation, while Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the top diplomats from Moscow, Tehran, and Ankara will meet in Qatar on December 7. The state news agency TASS reported on December 6 that Russia's embassy in Syria had urged Russian nationals to leave the country due to the situation. Lengthy prison terms, hefty fines, and travel bans. Those are among the punishments facing women who violate Iran's new hijab law. Approved on November 30, the Hijab And Chastity law has triggered uproar in the Islamic republic, where even senior clerics have criticized it. The 74-article law also calls on the public to report alleged violators to the police and penalizes businesses and taxi drivers who refuse to do so. "You cannot even call this a law," Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent activist and human rights lawyer based in Iran, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda. Laws are meant to protect citizens, she said, but the new legislation "robs women of their security on the streets." A growing number of Iranian women have refused to wear the mandatory head scarf -- a key pillar of Iran's Islamic system. The hijab was central to the unprecedented protests that erupted across Iran in 2022. The demonstrations were triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was arrested for allegedly violating the hijab law. During the protests, women and girls removed and burned their head scarves. The authorities waged a brutal crackdown on protesters, killing hundreds and arresting thousands. Sotoudeh said many Iranians want those responsible for the deaths to be "punished." Instead, she said, "lawmakers passed a bill in a vengeful act against women and men." She warned that critics "will take steps" if the law is not repealed, suggesting that protests may be planned. Sotoudeh has been in and out of prison for years for her activism and taking up sensitive legal cases, including women detained for peacefully protesting the mandatory hijab. 'Unimplementable' Law In recent years, the authorities have doubled down on their enforcement of the hijab. They have reintroduced patrols by the so-called morality police that were suspended in the wake of the 2022 protests. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has also established a new unit in Tehran to enforce the hijab. Its members are called "ambassadors of kindness." In November, the Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced the creation of a "clinic" to offer "scientific and psychological treatment" to women who refuse to follow the Islamic dress code. In response, Iranian psychologists raised the alarm about the consequences of "labeling healthy people as sick." Sotoudeh and Sedigheh Vasmaghi, a rights activist and Islamic scholar, slammed the new hijab law as "shameful" and "medieval" in a joint statement issued on December 1. The new legislation has proved so controversial that President Masud Pezeshkian said on live television on December 2 that "it cannot be easily implemented." He also questioned the new penalties for convicted hijab violators. Even several senior clerics have warned against enforcing the new law. "Not only are large parts of this law unimplementable...but it defeats its purpose and will lead to the youth hating religious teachings," Ayatollah Mostafa Mohaqeq Damad wrote in an open letter to top clerics on December 2. In a joint statement on December 4, three prominent guilds representing the entertainment industry said any law that "turns your homeland into a big prison is meaningless" and urged the authorities to repeal it. Britain’s counterterrorism police say they are awaiting the extradition of two Romanian men who are suspects in the stabbing in March of a journalist working for a Persian-language media organization in London. Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on December 5 that Nandito Badea, 19, and George Stana, 23, had been arrested in Romania and charged in the attack on Pouria Zeraati, a London-based TV host for the Iran International news network. Badea and Stana appeared in a Romanian court after their arrest on December 4 for the start of extradition proceedings," a CPS spokesperson was quoted by Reuters as saying. "We continue to work closely with Romanian authorities, to ensure that our extradition request is progressed through the courts." British authorities have authorized charges against both of "wounding and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm," according to a statement issued by the London Metropolitan Police. Zeraati, a British-Iranian journalist, suffered injuries after being stabbed near his home on March 29 in southwestern London. Counterterrorism police have led the investigation into the attack over concerns he had been targeted because of his job at Iran International, which is critical of Iran's government. “We now await the extradition process to progress so that the men can face prosecution here in the U.K.,” Acting Commander Helen Flanagan of the Counter Terrorism Command said in the statement. Flanagan said the command planned no further comments on the investigation and urged others not to speculate about the case, given criminal proceedings are now pending. Officials had previously said that the Romanians were suspected of being associates of an Eastern European crime network hired to carry out an attack directed by Iran’s security services. The suspects were likely hired to carry out the attack and had arrived in Britain shortly before the incident, according to British police sources quoted by The Guardian newspaper. British police, security officials, and politicians have issued a number of warnings about what they say is Iran's growing use of criminal proxies to carry out attacks abroad. The U.S. Justice Department last month unsealed criminal charges that included details of a plot allegedly backed by Iran to kill President-elect Donald Trump before the November 5 election. FBI Director Christopher Wray said at the time that the charges exposed Iran's “continued brazen attempts to target U.S. citizens” and dissidents who criticize the Iranian regime, which has rejected accusations that it is involved. One of the targets of the alleged plot was dissident journalist Masih Alinejad, who said on X that she was shocked to have learned of the conspiracy from the FBI. Alinejad, who has criticized Iran's laws requiring women to wear a hijab, was the target of a kidnapping plot in 2021 according to U.S. prosecutors, and in 2022 a man was arrested with a rifle outside her home. Britain and the United States have imposed sanctions on Iranian officials who they say have been involved in threats to kill journalists on their soil. Iran International said the network is pleased that the police investigation has made progress. “It is reassuring for our journalists, as for others in organizations under similar threat," said Adam Baillie, a spokesman for the network, according to Reuters. Authorities initially believed three suspects were involved in the attack on Zeraati. The three men abandoned their vehicle shortly after the incident and left the country by air within hours, police said. A third person was detained in Romania on December 4, but was later released, according to individuals familiar with the case quoted by The Washington Post. The London Metropolitan Police statement did not mention the third person or specifically accuse those arrested of acting on behalf of Tehran. Zeraati did not comment directly on the developments but posted links on his X account to news stories about the arrests made in Romania. The Syrian Army said it was redeploying troops "to preserve civilians lives and prevent urban combat" after Islamist-led rebels entered the key city of Hama, another loss for the country's president, Bashar al-Assad, as well as his allies in Russia and Iran. "Over the past few hours, with the intensification of confrontations between our soldiers and terrorist groups...these groups were able to breach a number of axes in the city and entered it," a Syrian Army statement said on December 5. Hama, Syria's fourth-largest city, is key to the defense of Damascus and the gateway to the coastal cities of Tartus and Latakia, the former being home to a strategic Russian naval base. Syrian and Russian forces had shelled the rebels a day earlier and used air strikes to try and stop their advance. "With that (advance in Hama), Assad's in real trouble. Homs is next & its countryside is FAR more amenable to facilitating an opposition advance," Charles Lister, a senior fellow and the director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute, wrote on X. The rebels, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have made major advances over the past several days, including the capture of Aleppo, the country's largest city, as well as 14 central villages and towns, and gotten as close as 35 kilometers from the Russian-operated Khmeimim air base. Syria turned over the air base to Russia in 2015 as Moscow moved in to help Damascus turn the tide of a four-year civil war in its favor. Besides HTS, the rebels also include an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. The United Nations has said tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the fighting.OTTAWA - A Liberal MP says his committee colleagues are wasting time by launching a third inquiry into the former employment minister instead of focusing on important legislation for Indigenous Peoples. Jaime Battiste, who is Mi’kmaq, said there has been an “attack” on fellow Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault, who left his position as employment minister on Wednesday after allegations of shifting claims of Indigenous identity and questions around his past business dealings. Boissonnault has been the subject of two ethics committee probes, and Battiste said a third one by the Indigenous and northern affairs committee is “a waste of time, and it seems to be the Conservatives’ way of ensuring that nothing gets done in the House of Commons.” The Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Québécois all supported pushing ahead with the third study, even after Boissonnault left cabinet. Though Liberal MPs did not object to the motion Thursday, Battiste said the committee’s time would be better spent studying legislation on important issues such as First Nations policing, a modern treaty commissioner and clean water for First Nations. “It’s very much my fear and frustration that politics is now becoming more important at the Indigenous and northern affairs committee than actually Indigenous Peoples that we’re there every day to try to make life better for,” he said. NDP MP Lori Idlout, who is a member of the committee, said Canadians deserve answers and she doesn’t expect the probe to cut into the committee’s other work. “It’s not a waste of time to have MP Boissonnault answer for why his identity kept changing. Pretending to be Indigenous is a serious matter and we need to have him be transparent to all Canadians.” Boissonnault came under intense scrutiny after the National Post reported that a company he previously co-owned described itself as wholly Indigenous-owned in order to apply for government contracts set aside for Indigenous businesses. He has been described as Indigenous multiple times in communications from the Liberal party, and in 2018 referred to himself as “non-status adopted Cree” — a statement he has repeated on other occasions. He also said his great-grandmother was a “full-blooded Cree woman.” He has since clarified that his adoptive mother and brother are Métis, and he apologized for his shifting claims last Friday. The House ethics committee has separately investigated Boissonnault’s past business dealings after media reports alleged he remained involved in the company he co-founded after he was re-elected in 2021 and joined the federal cabinet. Opposition MPs passed a motion in the House of Commons on Tuesday — a day before Boissonnault left cabinet — for the employment minister to appear as a witness to discuss his claims to Indigenous identity. But because Boissonnault is no longer in cabinet, the Liberal chair of the committee ruled Thursday that newly minted Employment Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor is technically the person the motion called to testify. “I figured this might happen,” said Conservative MP and committee member Jamie Schmale. “If there are games to be played here and we have Minister Petitpas Taylor attend, I don’t think that goes to the spirit of the House order. I don’t think it would be very responsible to go against that ... It’s Randy Boissonault that the House determined it needs and is ordered to appear along with several other witnesses. That’s who we expect to be in that seat.” A new motion from the Conservatives calls directly for Boissonnault to appear at the committee. One of the key concerns raised about Boissonnault in recent weeks is related to the government’s Indigenous business procurement strategy. A directory provides the federal government with names of businesses it could consider using to meet its Indigenous procurement target, which states a minimum five per cent of the total value of government contracts should be held by Indigenous-owned businesses. Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu told a House of Commons committee on Tuesday that the company Boissonnault founded was not listed on that directory. Battiste suggested the committee will now be in a position of determining who is eligible for Indigenous programming and determining who is Indigenous, and as a First Nations person he does not agree with that. “I have a lot of concern because no First Nations, Métis or Inuit in this country are asking committees — who are filled with non-Indigenous Peoples — to determine our identity, who we are.” Schmale and Bloc MP Sebastian Lemire, who is also a member of the committee, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024. Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version stated that MPs on the Indigenous and Northern affairs committee passed a motion to have the employment minister appear as a witness at the committee.Roslindale, MA (CommonWealth Beacon) Adrian Ventura, executive director of the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores (CCT), prepares for a meeting in early December. Ventura co-founded the CCT after the 2007 Michael Bianco Inc. raid in which 361 undocumented workers were arrested. Credit: Sophie Park for CommonWealth Beacon. Credit: Sophie Park for CommonWealth Beacon On a chilly November evening, the first after a string of 70-degree days, people made their way to a former storefront on Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford's North End. Some of the 50 or so gathered made small talk with friends, mainly in Spanish and K"iche", a language spoken by over a million people in rural Mayan communities of Guatemala. Voters had elected Donald Trump to the presidency a second time just two weeks before, and this fact sat heavily in the air among those in attendance -- primarily immigrants from Central America, many of them undocumented -- at the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores (CCT), or Worker's Community Center. During the campaign, Trump promised voters mass deportations, pledging at points to declare a national emergency and involve the military in rounding up immigrants. He has publicly mused about changing the Constitution to end birthright citizenship. In an appearance on "Meet the Press," Trump said he'd consider deporting US citizen children of deportees to avoid separating families, and his pick for border czar, Tom Homan, said the largest deportation operation in history would start on January 21, the day after Trump's inauguration. The first speaker of the evening was New Bedford Police Chief Paul Oliveira, who was peppered with questions in Spanish about how Trump's deportation plans might affect the work of the local police. If we suffer a hate crime, can we still report it? If Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issues a detainer, do police act on it? "We have nothing to do with ICE," Oliveira reassured the crowd through an interpreter. "Nothing changes between the police and how we interact with the community." After Oliveira, Jennifer Velarde, a New Bedford immigration attorney, stood in the front of the room and began listing ways to prepare for a dramatic shift in immigration policy: Don't open the door to anyone you don't know unless they have a warrant. You have a right to remain silent. Abstain from -- and seek treatment for disorders related to -- alcohol and other mind-altering substances to avoid legal problems. Velarde also advised people to draw up documents granting custody of their children to a trusted person and to ensure their passports are ready to visit parents abroad. "If you know there's a chance you could be deported, now's the time to talk about it with your family," she said. All the advice she had to offer could be summed up in two words: brace yourselves. "There is much about what will happen that we don't know about," Velarde said. "What I do know is much of what I know about immigration [law] is going to change, and it's not going to be pretty." For two centuries, immigrants have sought refuge in New Bedford and have become the backbone of the city's main economic driver -- the fishing industry -- which generates $11.1 billion annually in economic activity, according to a 2019 study commissioned by the Port of New Bedford. Their presence in this city -- extending back to the heydays of the whaling and textile industries -- continues to grow. More than one-fifth of New Bedford's more than 100,000 residents were foreign-born as of the 2023 American Community Survey One-Year Estimate, almost 55 percent of them non-citizens. Immigrant advocates have good reason to think New Bedford may figure prominently on a list of places that will be targeted under an aggressive deportation campaign by the new administration. Activists here founded CCT in the aftermath of the March 2007 Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid -- the largest in US history at the time -- on the Michael Bianco Inc. textile plant in New Bedford's South End, which resulted from a tip from a worker. Agents detained 361 undocumented workers from Cabo Verde, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Portugal, and other countries. One activist with the group, an undocumented Guatemalan man who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fears of deportation, said CCT was born of struggle and will continue to fight for local workers and the immigrant community under the second Trump administration. Mass deportations on the scale Trump is promising would, many experts say, mean families ripped apart, livelihoods lost, and a drain on the social safety net as undocumented immigrants pay billions into Social Security and Medicare through payroll taxes without being able to access payments or services from the programs themselves. It would not only upend New Bedford's fishing houses but also affect state tax coffers and potentially force many residents to leave in search of jobs. Having lived through the Bianco raid, New Bedford already has more first-hand experience than most communities with deportations at scale. In 2007, more than half of those deported were from Guatemala, and most were indigenous Maya from the district of El Quiché in the nation's northwest. Families were split apart as social services, city agencies, and even schools attempted to navigate the chaos. The raid also made it impossible to ignore how large swaths of the US economy quietly rely on undocumented immigrants. The lack of details about Trump's plans leaves officials, activists, and civilians apprehensive and anxious about the scale, tactics, and impacts of such an operation. Nonetheless, activists in New Bedford say they are sure the city won't escape the consequences. "I'm confident [Trump] will follow through," said a CCT activist who also works with Pescando Justicia (Fishing for Justice), an organization focused on labor conditions in fish houses in New Bedford and the surrounding areas. He asked to remain anonymous due to fears of deportation related to his undocumented status. "Our community is not ready for what's coming." Though a small segment of the Massachusetts economy, fishing and seafood processing dominate New Bedford. City officials tout its status as the largest fishing port in the country when measured by the value of the catch. In 2023, the port's landings were valued at more than $363 million, National Marine Fisheries Service data show. (The second-place port, Dutch Harbor in Alaska, had a catch value of $224.5 million.) Much of this is due to the price of the Atlantic sea scallop, which makes up 80 percent of the New Bedford catch. The city's maritime heritage is key to its identity, with deep roots reaching at least to the 19th century, when it was a world leader in whaling and processed whale products. A history of whaling ships stopping in the Azores and Cabo Verde islands to rest, recrew and resupply planted those communities' roots in the city. Both groups have become an integral part of New Bedford's identity. Those immigrants were vital to the city's maritime industries then and remain so now, whether in the US legally or not, said Helena DaSilva Hughes, president of the Immigrants' Assistance Center (IAC) -- a local social services nonprofit. "You can't talk about how New Bedford is the number one [fishing] port in the country for 20 years without talking about who's doing the work. [The fish houses] are the economic engine of New Bedford," Hughes said, and without immigrant labor "they would cease to function." About 10,000 undocumented people reside in New Bedford, according to the most recent estimate provided by the IAC, a conservative one in Hughes's eyes. She added that her organization is arranging clinics to help families prepare for the worst. "It's not just going to be undocumented immigrants who are deported; legal permanent residents are not citizens yet, and they can be deported as well," she said. "There are a lot of people who are perceived as undocumented but really are not," said Corinn Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts (CEDC), another local social services nonprofit that works extensively with immigrant populations. "They are under precarious circumstances because a lot of the programs they are here under need to be periodically renewed." Programs such as deferred action for enforcement purposes, childhood arrivals, and Temporary Protected Status have enabled many to stay in the country and work legally in the US, as have asylum policies. Their continuation under a new Trump administration remains an open question. Yet that uncertainty is, to an extent, the point, said Williams, even if deportations do not happen in as flashy a manner as the Bianco raid. "The purpose is to terrorize communities and instill fear," she added. Immigration happens more at an individual level, she added, as each case has its own context and nuance that makes legal processes difficult to navigate. Overwhelm the system, and not only do processes slow, but the resources to help maneuver through the system disappear altogether. "That was the tragedy of the Bianco raid," she said. "It was a big sweep, and people didn't get access to legal counsel. But who has the bandwidth to stand beside every single case?" The Central American presence in New Bedford began in the 1980s due to the confluence of two significant events. The first was the Guatemalan Genocide, a part of that nation's almost 36-year civil war, when the US-backed military regime killed or "disappeared" around 200,000 mostly indigenous Maya. The violence launched a wave of Guatemalan migrants north, many without documentation. The second was a series of strikes by fishermen and fish house workers in the 1980s over earnings, pensions, and hiring practices. The Seafarers International Union of North America strike in December 1985 was broken when non-union workers were brought in to keep the boats in operation. Shortly thereafter, the union dissolved and became one of the many destroyed amid the anti-union sentiment ushered in by the Reagan administration, creating vacancies for new arrivals willing to work at lower rates. As a result of the unions' dissolution, many hiring restrictions were lifted on boats and in New Bedford's more than 45 fish houses and processors. Undocumented workers, initially led by Guatemalan K"iche" and hired through temporary placement agencies, began to stream into New Bedford via Providence, with friends and family often following. That's how the Pescando Justicia activist -- who labored in multiple fish houses for 17 years -- found work. "[Fish houses] would regularly give work to undocumented people," he said in Spanish, adding that he was only aware of two among 50 coworkers at his last job with proper documentation. "They definitely know it, too." His former employer -- Atlantic Red Crab Co. -- has been under investigation by the US Department of Labor for "possible violations of child labor, overtime pay, and anti-retaliation laws," The Public's Radio, Rhode Island's NPR station, reported in September 2023. A year before that, Pescando Justicia began circulating a Code of Conduct for fish house operators and local officials to sign, asking them to respect the rights of all workers regardless of their citizenship status. Around this time, the activist said the company began cutting hours. "They'd hire us because they knew we wouldn't complain because of worries about our status," he said. "When we started [organizing], that's when they came after us." Atlantic Red Crab Co. officials did not respond to a request for comment. But in an interview with The Public's Radio, owner Jon Williams said a 16-year-old found to be working at his plant came through a staffing agency. "It isn't like I hired this person, but the staffing agency sent that person to my building," he said in the interview. "And yes, that person worked in my building. I can't deny that. But sometimes I have 150 people working in my building, and they all wear hairnets and face masks. So it's pretty hard to tell an 18-year-old from a 16-year-old." The most recent census data show that 1,500 Guatemalans now live in New Bedford, though that figure is likely low because many undocumented residents don't respond to the census for fear of being deported. Many familiar with the community say 6,000 is a more accurate estimate. (By 2022, their presence was strong enough for New Bedford Public Schools to enter into an agreement with the Department of Justice to improve interpretation services in K"iche", an indigenous language.) The flow of migrants from Guatemala never stopped as decades of war shattered society and institutions. Immigrants from El Salvador and Honduras -- nations dealing with similarly tumultuous histories and politics -- soon followed. "The processing sector couldn't survive [mass deportations]. It's low wage, hard work." - Daniel Georgianna, a fisheries resource economist Many of those immigrants work on fishing boats and in processing houses, but the actual numbers are difficult to calculate, said Daniel Georgianna, a fisheries resource economist and chancellor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. "They don't count undocumented people," he said. "They just don't." Whatever the exact number, Georgianna said undocumented workers are essential to the operation of New Bedford's fish houses. "The processing sector couldn't survive [mass deportations]," he added. "It's low wage, hard work." Representatives from the Port of New Bedford, the National Marine Fisheries Institute, a business group, and multiple seafood processing plants did not respond to requests for comment. Jobs in the fish houses are often monotonous and physically demanding, requiring long hours on one's feet in low-temperature environments with hands submerged in water for long periods, swiftly fileting marine products with sharp tools. "If you ever saw a fish cutter at work, you just wouldn't believe it," Georgianna said. "They filet a fish in 20 seconds and get a better yield than a machine." Should mass deportations begin on the new administration's first day, as Trump frequently says they will, Georgianna conceded wages might increase to attract citizen labor. But with the rise of technology, he suspects most companies would simply freeze the products and ship them overseas for processing before returning to American markets, much like what happened with the textile and garment industries. Once there, transportation costs and the potential impact of tariffs proposed by the president-elect would impact prices in stores and restaurants. He said that is where most Massachusetts residents would feel the effect. "It would cause a large shift, not only immediately but longer term," he said. "Quality would decline, and prices would go up because immigrants do food production. Period." State Rep. Christopher Hendricks, a New Bedford Democrat whose district includes the North End and much of the city's port, concurred. "It could potentially be devastating for New Bedford," Hendricks said of Trump's mass deportation threat. "Especially the fishing fleet in New Bedford. When fish comes off the boat, it gets processed, chances are, by an immigrant from Central America." "I don't know anybody who's not from that community who's gotten a job in fish processing in the last 20 years," he continued. "I hope those companies are vocal about their workforce and their true needs and how it's going to be disruptive." Despite the widespread knowledge of immigrant labor's role in their industry, support for Trump is high among fishermen here. Many were drawn by hopes that he'd lift fishing restrictions and take their concerns about the effects of offshore wind farms on marine habitats seriously. Tyler Miranda, a captain of four scalloping boats docked in New Bedford who voted for Trump in November, said the local impacts of such deportations would be short-term and evolve over time. "I don't think [fish houses] will shut down," he said. "He can't just come through and take everybody; that's just unrealistic." Miranda added that he thinks border crossings need to be brought under control, and not deporting people incentivizes more migrants to come to the United States. "It is not that they've committed any crimes or anything while they're here, but they are here illegally," he said. "Our workforce shouldn't be made up of illegal immigrants." Trump has not released specifics about deportation plans beyond saying he would declare a national emergency and use the military to round people up. (In a December interview with NBC News, Trump said he would like to work with Democrats to figure out a legislative solution to help undocumented immigrants who came to America as children stay in the country legally.) Miranda acknowledges the contributions of immigrants -- with or without documentation -- to the industry. Nonetheless, he said they should face consequences for entering the country illegally. "Unfortunately, there will be some economic ramifications because we're in this position," he said. "Most of them are good, hard-working people. But there's a process for coming to this country." Recent history may have lessons as to what those ramifications may be. Georgianna pointed to the textile and apparel industries that once employed thousands. In the 1920s, there were 70 textile and fabric mills in New Bedford before those began to close and move south to states like Alabama and Virginia where wages were lower. Apparel and stitching mills began employing many immigrants, especially women -- a trend that continued into the 1990s. When the US signed the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which became effective in 1994, companies moved millions of jobs to Mexico. According to the Executive Office of Labor and Development, there were 14 textile and fabric mills in New Bedford in 2001. Today, only three remain. The apparel mills, more prominent in the city by the 1990s, dropped from 28 to 13 over the same time period. "I came in [19]77, and there were still a lot of stitching shops in the city," Georgianna said. "They're pretty much gone now." That meant paychecks disappeared, and spending and tax revenues were severely diminished -- a trend made worse by more people leaving the area to find work. According to one city analysis, New Bedford's population dropped by 6 percent in the 1990s. It also led to a 6 percent drop in median household income, from $29,441 in 1989 to $27,569 in 1999. Significant as the effects of the garment and textile industry collapse were, sudden mass deportations could have a far bigger impact given the truncated timescale. The adverse effects would be felt swiftly and widely, activists say. "Southeastern Mass. in general is vulnerable because we haven't enjoyed the boom that happened in the Boston area and we depend on sectors like fishing, manufacturing, construction," Williams, of the Southeastern Massachusetts CEDC, said. Massachusetts has taken center stage in the immigration debate on multiple occasions in recent years. In September 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida airlifted 50, mostly Venezuelan, asylum seekers to Martha's Vineyard. The ensuing media storm generated widespread public sympathy for their plight. However, many red state governors followed suit, and a steady stream of migrants, most notably 14,000 Haitians, many seeking asylum and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections, arrived in the two years since. Stories swamped the local media about the new migrants sleeping in Logan Airport and overwhelming the Massachusetts shelter system, prompting Gov. Maura Healey to declare a state of emergency last year. Consequently, sympathy among sectors of the general public ebbed and gave way to hostility toward the new arrivals. It was against this backdrop that Trump promised to "launch the largest deportation program in American history" on day one of his second term and to deport people "as fast as possible." What that looks like in practice remains to be seen. The logistics of deporting millions of people -- some estimates put the number of undocumented residents as high as 11 million nationwide -- would be costly and have ripple effects across the economy. Massachusetts is home to an estimated 130,300 undocumented immigrants, with a total spending power of $3.7 billion. They tend to work in cleaning, construction, food service, and manufacturing jobs. Nonetheless, several prominent politicians statewide -- including Healey -- have said they will not allow the use of state or municipal resources to assist ICE with enforcement actions. "I think it's absolutely appropriate that there be enforcement and deportation of individuals who commit crime, including violent crime. That's very, very important," Healey told NBC Boston shortly after Trump's victory. "We recognize it would be devastating if there were mass raids, here and across the country, that took out people who've been working in this country for a long time, who have families and kids here." Healey's office declined requests for an interview from CommonWealth Beacon. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has also gone on record to say that the city will be relying on the Boston Trust Act, an ordinance that prohibits Boston police from asking people their immigration status and making arrests on administrative ICE warrants, to resist pressure from the Trump administration to assist in deportations. "The Boston Trust Act puts strict prohibitions on local law enforcement from being pulled into becoming the enforcement arm for the whims of whatever the sort of approach of the federal immigration law might be," Wu said in November on "Boston Public Radio." "Our charge here is to take care of the residents of Boston and to use the resources that we have from all the sources that are available to get things done on the issues that matter." Neither Massachusetts nor New Bedford has sanctuary legislation on the books prohibiting police cooperation with ICE. But a 2017 Supreme Judicial Court ruling declared that police officers in the Commonwealth lack the authority to arrest or hold an individual solely based on an ICE detainer. When asked for comment from New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, city spokesman Jonathan Darling said municipal authorities are waiting to see how the situation evolves. "The City will monitor potential changes in federal policy on immigration and other areas and will continue to advocate for the interests of New Bedford residents and businesses," he said in an email. "Are we going to break up families like [what] happened in the Bianco case? Little kids, US citizens, who expected to see their mother or father after school and that didn't happen. That's devastating and I think there are better ways of dealing with the issue." - State Rep. Antonio Cabral In the reigning confusion and panic following the Bianco raid, families were separated, and many began their journeys through immigration court. State Rep. Antonio Cabral, a Democrat whose district contains New Bedford's South End and portions of the port, said he remembers the moment vividly. "Are we going to break up families like [what] happened in the Bianco case?" he said. "Little kids, US citizens, who expected to see their mother or father after school and that didn't happen. That's devastating and I think there are better ways of dealing with the issue." He did not feel comfortable speaking about possible actions to navigate such a situation in the coming years until it is clear how Trump's mass deportation plan plays out. "At this point, we don't even know what mass deportation means," Cabral said. Corinn Williams said state and local leaders should be exploring how best to support communities now, though she knows it's difficult when so much is uncertain. Still, she hopes they take these concerns seriously since the mere threat of mass deportation is enough to hamper local activities. "There are certain vulnerabilities we have as a community, and many have told us they don't want to even ride the bus or take their kids to school," she said. "People are going to retrench, and it's creating the kind of terror that stops people from circulating in the community and the economy." Police Chief Oliveira told Commonwealth Beacon that the city's police will continue to serve all members of the community, regardless of their immigration status. "I'm going to continue coming and continue to be an advocate for what they do here in our city," he said. "They're a vital piece of our city. I'm proud of that, and I know they're proud of that." "They're a big part of our workforce here in New Bedford," he continued. "[Mass deportation] would definitely take a toll on our city, and that's why I don't even like speculating on it." The Pescando Justicia activist noted that low wages and the struggle for survival mean that many in the community are unaware of the political situation and the chaos he foresees. "They're only thinking of work and getting their daily bread," he said. "They don't stop to think beyond that." He added that the Bianco raid taught the community a lot and gave many firsthand experiences with family separation. Even though he worries about the potential scale of the coming immigration enforcement, the threat is something he's grown accustomed to. "It's not the first time we've faced massive deportations," he said, noting that millions were deported under the Obama administration. We've lived through them before. It's just that no one talked about it then." He said he and his wife, who is also undocumented, have two US citizen children, aged 15 and 17. The family has made contingency plans and spoken about the possibility of their removal. "My family is psychologically prepared as well," he said. "These are things that our community still needs to do." Williams said it looks like the message is starting to hit home and that people are bracing for the worst even amid the daily struggles for survival. "The day after the election a woman called from St. Luke's Hospital," she recalled. "She just had a daughter and wanted to know how to get her passport so she could come with her parents to Guatemala." The best activists say they can do now is to take Trump at his word and prepare their communities for the worst. That's work that Adrian Ventura, CCT's founder and director, takes on every day. "Look at all we have accomplished," Ventura said to a gathering of 350 mostly K"iche" and Spanish speakers in mid-December, trying to strike a hopeful tone. "We're not going to stop fighting just because Trump won." CCT had once again convened a meeting to help immigrants -- many in attendance had obtained deferred action permits, but many more remained undocumented -- navigate the incoming administration. Oliveira again pledged local police support for the community and immigration attorneys went through the list of actions people could take now to protect themselves. But then the talk turned to the Code of Conduct pledge Pescando Justicia began circulating two years ago, asking the fish houses to agree to advise workers of their schedules with 12 hours' notice, give regular breaks, and refrain from using deportation as a threat. CCT organizers along with Justice at Work, a Boston-based non-profit that helps workers in low-wage jobs, were hoping to get the crowd motivated to stand up for their rights and advocate for better working conditions, despite the changing federal landscape. "Who's going to sign the petition?" asked Ventura, who obtained US citizenship earlier this year. Everyone's hand went up. This story is provided as a service of the Institute for Nonprofit News’ On the Ground news wire. The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) is a network of more than 475 independent, nonprofit newsrooms serving communities throughout the US, Canada, and globally. On the Ground is a service of INN, which aggregates the best of its members’ elections and political content, and provides it free for republication. Read more about INN here: . Please coordinate with should you want to publish photos for this piece. This content cannot be modified, apart from rewriting the headline. To view the original version, visit:
By JILL COLVIN NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump wants to turn the lights out on daylight saving time. In a post on his social media site Friday, Trump said his party would try to end the practice when he returns to office. “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation,” he wrote. Setting clocks forward one hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall is intended to maximize daylight during summer months, but has long been subject to scrutiny. Daylight saving time was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942. Lawmakers have occasionally proposed getting rid of the time change altogether. The most prominent recent attempt, a now-stalled bipartisan bill named the Sunshine Protection Act , had proposed making daylight saving time permanent. The measure was sponsored by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio , whom Trump has tapped to helm the State Department. Related Articles National Politics | Trump’s lawyers rebuff DA’s idea for upholding his hush money conviction, calling it ‘absurd’ National Politics | Ruling by a conservative Supreme Court could help blue states resist Trump policies National Politics | A nonprofit leader, a social worker: Here are the stories of the people on Biden’s clemency list National Politics | Nancy Pelosi hospitalized after she ‘sustained an injury’ on official trip to Luxembourg National Politics | Veteran Daniel Penny, acquitted in NYC subway chokehold, will join Trump’s suite at football game “Changing the clock twice a year is outdated and unnecessary,” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said as the Senate voted in favor of the measure. Health experts have said that lawmakers have it backward and that standard time should be made permanent. Some health groups , including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have said that it’s time to do away with time switches and that sticking with standard time aligns better with the sun — and human biology. Most countries do not observe daylight saving time. For those that do, the date that clocks are changed varies, creating a complicated tapestry of changing time differences. Arizona and Hawaii don’t change their clocks at all.
Billionaire Mark Cuban doesn't want to spoil his children. In November, Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson hosted The Steam Room Podcast, where billionaire Mark Cuban offered some frank observations about parenting. ET Year-end Special Reads Corporate Kalesh: Top family disputes of India Inc in 2024 The world of business lost these eminent people in 2024 Fast, faster, fastest: How 2024 put more speed into your shopping Cuban's response to Barkley's question about how he manages to avoid spoiling his children in spite of his enormous wealth is as incisive as it is straightforward: "It's my money, not yours,” as quoted in a report by Benzinga. Bill and Melinda Gates, who stressed a middle-class upbringing for their children, and Shaquille O'Neal, who famously remarked, "We ain't rich, I'm rich," share this sentiment. However, Cuban's discussion of his three children makes his perspective seem particularly intimate. Cuban said you think your kids are going to be like you and your wife, but they end up being their own little humans. One takes advantage, the other two don't, he said, describing the distinct personalities of his kids. When the middle one protests, my youngest son, who knows he'll give in, uses a little technology to his advantage. 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They still have to wash dishes; they still have to clean up after themselves – most of the time, he stated. Although he admits that it's difficult, they're getting on a private plane most of the time, and it's not like they can hide it from them. He is adamant about avoiding the pitfalls of offering them material goods as a remedy. "Are you upset with me? I'll buy you something. Are you depressed? I'll buy you something. It simply does not operate that way. Teaching Life Lessons Beyond Wealth Coming from someone whose life appears to be anything but normal, the conversation feels surprisingly human. Talking about discipline when your children are flying coaches is one thing, but Cuban's viewpoint demonstrates that there are difficulties in raising grateful and great human beings, as Barkley described them, at every level. Other well-known people who share this mentality include Shaq, who demands that his children obtain two degrees before they can access his wealth. The fundamental idea? Your children should be challenged to find their own paths rather than being defined by their wealth. Cuban's honesty about his parenting style, balancing privilege with responsibility, might not be a one-size-fits-all solution, but it's clear he's trying to do more than just raise rich kids; he's raising adults. FAQs How does Mark Cuban ensure that his children remain grounded despite his wealth? Mark Cuban involves his children in household chores such as dishwashing and avoids using material gifts to solve problems, instead teaching them the value of hard work and responsibility. What is Mark Cuban's parenting philosophy ? Cuban believes his wealth is his, not his children's, and focuses on raising independent, respectful adults who don’t rely on privilege for their sense of worth. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
Anti-fraud efforts meet real-world test during ACA enrollment periodAP Sports SummaryBrief at 4:50 p.m. EST
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Sports San Diego announced Thursday that DirecTV has extended its agreement as title sponsor of the Holiday Bowl. Neither side would say how long the agreement is for. DirecTV began sponsoring the Holiday Bowl last year. After two editions at Petco Park, the downtown home of the San Diego Padres, the Holiday Bowl is moving to Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley. It will be played Dec. 27 and match a top team from the Atlantic Coast Conference against current and former teams from the Pac-12. This story removes an incorrect reference to DirecTV sponsoring the last two Holiday Bowls. It began sponsoring the game last year.The Latest: UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect contests his extradition back to New York
Fox News Flash top sports headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. The New York Yankees are going big game hunting after missing out on Juan Soto. The Yankees acquired all-star closer Devin Williams from the Milwaukee Brewers, the teams announced Friday. The Brewers are receiving starting pitcher Nestor Cortes and prospect Caleb Durbin in exchange for Williams. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Devin Williams reacts after pitching in the ninth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at American Family Field. (Benny Sieu/Imagn Images) Williams, 30, is a two-time All-Star and two-time Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year. Last season, in 22 games, Williams was 1-0 with a 1.25 ERA with 14 saves in 212⁄3 innings after missing the first four months of the season with a stress fracture in his back. Williams has a 1.83 ERA in 2352⁄3 career innings with 68 career saves. Williams is nicknamed "The Airbender" because of a wipeout changeup that strikes out over 14 hitters per nine innings. Williams will become the Yankees' new closer, and Luke Weaver will move back into a setup role. METS' JUAN SOTO REVEALS HE HASN'T TALKED TO ANY OF HIS FORMER YANKEES TEAMMATES SINCE WORLD SERIES LOSS Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Devin Williams pitches against the San Francisco Giants during the ninth inning at Oracle Park. (Kelley L Cox/Imagn Images) Cortes will immediately join the Brewers' starting rotation. Last season, Cortes was solid with a 3.77 ERA over 174.1 innings with a 9-10 record. Cortes sustained a flexor strain at the end of the regular season and appeared out of the bullpen during the World Series in a limited role. The Yankees parted with Cortes due to a wealth of starting pitching the team had after signing Max Fried to the most lucrative contract given to a left-handed starting pitcher in MLB history . CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP New York Yankees starting pitcher Nestor Cortes throws against the Seattle Mariners during the fifth inning at T-Mobile Park. (John Froschauer/Imagn Images) Durbin is a prospect who can play all over the diamond for the Brewers — second base, shortstop, third base and center field. The 24-year-old hit .269 with 110 stolen bases in four minor league seasons. Durbin struck out just 111 times in 1,216 minor league plate appearances. The Yankees don’t appear to be done making moves yet and reportedly have interest in trading for outfielders Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger to replace Soto. Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X , and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter . Ryan Canfield is a digital production assistant for Fox News Digital.
