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List of countries Putin can visit without fear just got smaller

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List of countries Putin can visit without fear just got smaller

Armenia joined the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Saturday, adding to a growing list of countries where Russian President Vladimir Putin can’t visit freely.

Armenian officials made it clear that their decision to join the ICC was not meant to be a jab at Russia, an ally to the country, claiming that Azerbaijan’s aggression towards Armenia was the catalyst for its decision, the Associated Press reported.

Last month, Azerbaijan said it took full control over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an enclave that has been occupied by Armenian separatists for over 30 years. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that pro-Armenian forces surrendered after a two-day fight in the mountainous region. “Karabakh is Azerbaijan,” he said in an address to his country at the time.

Armenia’s parliament, meanwhile, voted to ratify the Rome Statute (60-22), which would in effect make it a member of the ICC, and on Saturday, Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan approved the decision.

However, Armenia told Moscow last month that Putin would not be arrested if he entered the country after Russia called Yerevan’s decision an “unfriendly step,” according to the AP.

Over 100 countries have joined the ICC, since its creation over 20 years ago. Armenia, along with the other countries that have signed and ratified the Rome Statute, are expected to arrest Putin upon entry after the Russian leader was charged with war crimes in Ukraine in March.

The ICC alleges that Putin is responsible for the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia during his invasion of the Eastern European country that began in February 2022. Moscow, however, has denied the ICC’s allegations and called the warrant for the Russian leader’s arrest “outrageous.” Investigators in The Hague had gathered evidence against Putin over the past year, but an ICC prosecution remains a challenging task since the Kremlin does not recognize the court or its jurisdiction.

Other countries where Putin is not welcome includes every member of the European Union (EU), most African states, all Latin and South American states, besides Cuba and Nicaragua, and even Russian ally Tajikistan, according to the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).

Hungary, another ally to Russia, signed the Rome Statute and ratified it in 2001. However, Gergely Gulyas, chief of staff to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, said in March that there is no basis in his country’s law for arresting Putin if he were to visit.

Newsweek has reached out to the Armenian parliament via email for comment.

Hamas Uses Western Morality as a Weapon Against Israel

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Hamas Uses Western Morality as a Weapon Against Israel

Israel has declared northern Gaza a war zone. They have given its civilians the opportunity to move several miles south in order to protect themselves from Israeli bombing of legitimate military targets, including Gaza City. Hamas has told the civilians to stay and serve as human shields. It is actually blocking the egress roads to safety so as to assure that civilians who want to leave cannot do so.

The feckless United Nations, instead of helping with evacuation, has told the civilians that evacuation is “impossible.”

No, it isn’t.

It may be logistically difficult and imperfect, but many civilian lives could be saved if the U.N. and other groups, such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent, were to try to help families to move out of harm’s way. But Hamas wants these human shields—especially children, women, and the elderly—to remain in harm’s way. It is not enough for them that the more than 100 Israeli hostages already serve the same purpose.

Using the most vulnerable of civilians in this way is a Hamas tactic that goes back many years. As one of its leaders boasted in 2008: “For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry… The elderly excel at this, and so do… the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women and children.”

This boast has been repeated over the years in the form of the Hamas slogan, “We love death as our enemy loves life,” as has the use of children as human shields to protect legitimate military targets against lawful Israeli bombing. In giving civilians sufficient warning to leave, Israel has gone further than other Western nations at war. In World War II, the U.S. did not warn the civilians of

Japanese cities (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) that were about to be nuclear targets or were firebombed (Tokyo). Great Britain did not give the civilians of Dresden the opportunity to leave. In more recent wars—such as Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan—advance warnings were not provided before bombs were dropped.

Israel is generally held to a higher standard of morality by other governments, the media, and academia. Hamas knows this and exploits it as a weapon of war. Hamas understands that the killing of civilians—whether deliberate or collateral to legitimate military actions—is seen as wrong. But when dead children are shown on TV, many viewers fail to distinguish between deliberate targeting of civilians and unintentional collateral deaths. Hamas takes advantage of this psychological reality. Hamas has even come up with a name—”The CNN strategy”—for this misuse of morality.

I described It several years ago: “The strategy is as simple as it is cynical: Provoke Israel by playing Russian roulette with its children, firing rockets at kindergartens, playgrounds and hospitals; hide behind its own civilians when firing at Israeli civilians; refuse to build bunkers for its own civilians; have TV cameras ready to transmit every image of dead Palestinians, especially children; exaggerate the number of civilians killed by including as “children” Hamas fighters who are 16 or 17 years old and as “women,” female terrorists.”

Israel must not permit itself to be limited in its preventive military actions by the double standard of morality imposed upon it by many and taken advantage of by Hamas. It is an all-out war against Hamas-controlled Gaza, and Israel is entitled, by any fair reading of international law, to do to Gaza City what the U.S. did to Berlin and Tokyo in 1945. It has warned civilians to leave, and if they choose to remain, as many have, or if they are prevented from leaving by Hamas, this cannot be allowed to stop Israel from accomplishing its legitimate preventive goals. The collateral deaths of Palestinian civilians, caused directly by the Hamas decision to use them as human shields, would be the moral, political, and legal responsibility of Hamas.

For far too long, Israel has been deterred from taking necessary military action by their concern about violating the double standards imposed on it by friends and foes alike. Indeed, Israeli reluctance to violate those standards allowed Hamas to re-arm and re-coordinate its military to facilitate the recent horrible massacres.

These brutal attacks against Israeli civilians must change all that. Israel should apply its own very high standards of morality in deciding how to balance the collateral deaths of Palestinian civilians against the need to prevent the intended deaths of its own civilians at the hands of Hamas. It should resolve doubts in favor of its civilians, as all nations throughout history have.

Follow Alan Dershowitz on Twitter @AlanDersh and Facebook @AlanMDershowitz.His new podcast, “The Dershow,” is on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTubeDersh.Substack.com. He is the author of Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.

COVID map shows states with highest positive tests

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COVID map shows states with highest positive tests

States in the New England, Central, Northern and Pacific regions are still the areas with the highest rates of COVID-19 infections in the country, according to the latest data produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Every week, the CDC produces a map tracking the virus positivity—how many patients tested positive for COVID-19, one of the most-reliable indicators of the impact of the disease in the community. The latest, which shows test positivity during the week ending on October 7, shows a general reduction in infections.

Across the country, positivity was on average 10.1 percent—a 0.8 percent drop compared to the previous week ending on September 30. That week, too, the positivity rate, at 10.9 percent, had dropped from previous consecutive weeks.

This would suggest that infections have largely stabilized, but the CDC has said that cases could pick up over the winter as other seasonal illnesses—including colds and the flu—increase, weakening people’s immune systems.

The most-affected states in the country were Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming, where the positivity rate was 13.4 percent, the highest in the nation.

New Jersey and New York followed with an 11.9 percent positivity rate, while Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington had a rate of 11.2 percent.

Other states with a positivity rate between 10 percent and 14.9 percent were Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska (11 percent); Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin (10.6 percent); Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont (10.2 percent).

Southern and East Coast states, from New Mexico to Pennsylvania, had the lowest prevalence of antigen tests returning positive results in the week to October 7, ranging between 5 and 9.9 percent.

Newsweek contacted the CDC for comment via email on Saturday.

COVID-19 has returned to the attention of both U.S. authorities and the American public after a sudden surge in infections since late summer. This has brought up the number of hospital admissions across the country.

“While hospitalizations are increasing, the current levels are still far lower than what was seen in 2022 during the summer peak, when there was an average of 1,287 COVID patients hospitalized each day,” officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Health said in August.

In response to a possible new wave of infection and in light of the emergence of two new variants, EG.5 and BA.2.86, new mask mandates—generally dropped earlier this year after the health emergency was officially declared over by the Biden administration—were introduced in health-care facilities and other public places in at least three states last month.

Florida’s insurance crisis is about to get even worse

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Florida’s insurance crisis is about to get even worse

Florida’s skyrocketing property insurance premiums are expected to continue rising, according to a new report, despite already being among the highest in the country.

Residents of the Sunshine State currently pay on average more than $4,200 per year for home insurance, triple the national average of $1,700, according to data from the Insurance Information Institute (Triple I).

Research by Karen Clark & Co. (KCC), a Boston-based risk assessment and management firm, found that extreme weather events like hurricanes, which are frequent in Florida and are expected to become more severe with climate change, will continue to bring up the cost of reinsurance in the state.

This will also happen because construction costs—which are taken into consideration when determining how expensive it would be to rebuild a home once destroyed—have risen by a staggering 40 percent since 2017.

But that’s not all. Another factor causing insurance premiums in Florida to climb is the excess litigation going on in the state.

While the state represents about 7 percent of the U.S. homeowners’ insurance market, Florida produces 75 percent of all litigation from homeowners, Charles Nyce, department chair and a Dr. William T. Hold associate professor of risk management and insurance at Florida State University, told Newsweek.

According to the KCC report, this is the only aspect of the unfolding insurance crisis the Florida legislature can directly address, and one that policies in the state are already targeting.

“The Florida legislature cannot control the hurricane and severe weather risk any more than it can control the ever-increasing costs of construction,” the report read. “These factors will continue to influence future homeowners premiums, and it is unlikely these costs will go down.”

On the other hand, the company added that “already enacted legislation should have a major impact on excess litigation in Florida, and therefore, significantly mitigate future premium increases.”

This means that premiums could have been even higher—and possibly justify Florida lawmakers’ declared intentions of not addressing the ongoing insurance crisis.

Senate Banking and Insurance Chairman Jim Boyd, a Republican, recently said that lawmakers “got a lot done” already and he does not expect them to make major property-insurance changes during the 2024 legislative session.

Nyce told Newsweek that he agrees in the short term—the next 12 to 18 months—Floridians are going to see higher premiums.

“So premiums go up when rates increase—which is what was happening in the last few years—and when inflation hits rebuilding costs—which we are seeing a lot of right now,” he said.

Yanjun (Penny) Liao, an economist and researcher at Resources for the Future (RFF), told Newsweek that she also generally agrees “with the report’s basic conclusion and the contributing factors it cites.”

“I think reinsurance is likely to be the most important because of Florida’s insurance market structure,” she said.

Florida’s insurers “tend to be small and local, which means that they don’t diversify across states, they don’t hold a lot of capital, and have to rely heavily on reinsurance to pay claims in catastrophic loss events,” Liao explained.

That’s why reinsurance costs have been increasing dramatically in Florida, rising by 30 to 40 percent from January to July this year, according to a Gallagher Re’s report.

“These increases will most likely be passed on to consumers,” said Liao. “On the other factors—while construction cost is going up quite fast in recent years, I am not sure it’s uniquely a Florida story; and yes, litigation cost is likely to go down and might help offset some of the increase.”

According to Liao, there is no immediate solution to lower the impact of the reinsurance cost increase.

“Reinsurance is a global industry not subject to any state’s regulation,” she said. “The potential solution would be to find alternative and possibly cheaper ways for insurers to transfer the risk than private reinsurance.”

This, Liao said, could mean a stronger backstop provided by the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF)—the public reinsurance program in the state—”but with the caveat that the FHCF is not perfect because it pools correlated risk in a single state.”

Other potential solutions, which have not been fully tested, are new financial instruments such as catastrophe bonds, reinsurance sidecars, collateralized reinsurance that transfer the risk to the broader capital market, or a public reinsurer on a national scale.

“Any policy intervention will take time to have an effect on the market, just like the overhaul in the last two legislative sessions are taking time to be seen in the marketplace,” Nyce said.

“The good news is that insurer losses are getting better—still seeing losses, but not nearly what they saw over the last few years,” he added. “New insurers are forming, and Citizens may be shedding some policies. All of that points toward a stabilization of the market. That needs to happen before consumers start to see competition leading to some premium relief.”

Americans sour on uncertain economy heading into next year

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Americans sour on uncertain economy heading into next year

Americans are pessimistic about their livelihoods as concerns over high prices and fears over a decline in their personal finances weigh down their expectations about where the U.S. economy is headed over the next year.

Consumers expect inflation over the next year will hit 3.8 percent, which was more negative than last month when they anticipated it to be at 3.2 percent, a new survey of consumer sentiment showed on Friday. It’s the highest percentage since May and way above the 2.3 to 3 percent range pre-COVID.

Over the long run, Americans feel that they may have to live with higher prices for longer. Consumers in the United States expect inflations to be at 3 percent over the next year, a slight uptick from the 2.8 percent number they gave last month.

“Nearly all demographic groups posted setbacks in sentiment, reflecting the continued weight of high prices,” Joanne Hsu, Surveys of Consumers Director at the University of Michigan, said in a statement.

Americans’ feelings of where their personal finances will be in the next year fell by 15 percent over fears of persistently high prices. They also feel like business conditions will deteriorate over that span.

“However, long-run expected business conditions are little changed, suggesting that consumers believe the current worsening in economic conditions will not persist,” Hsu said.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a snarl of supply chains and delivery of goods and services as the global economy shut down when countries instituted lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus. The stifled supply led to a jump in prices that continued after the re-opening of the economies as companies competed for workers, paying high wages to match the increased demand for goods and services from consumers with pent-up cash they saved during the pandemic.

These dynamics shot up prices that at one point hit 40-year highs, which while have since declined to 3.7 percent, remain stubbornly high hurting pocketbooks across the country. The Federal Reserve’s target for inflation is 2 percent.

Uncertain Times for Americans

For communities across the country, these are uncertain times. The Federal Reserve’s attempted remedy to bring down inflation to its target has been to raise rates that are now at a two-decade-high range of 5.25 to 5.5 percent. This has helped push up the cost of borrowing for everything, making it more expensive to buy homes and cars and invest in businesses.

In Washington, D.C., the House of Representatives is without a speaker and a government shutdown looms on the horizon, which economists say could be highly disruptive to the economy. Add to that an escalating conflict in the Middle East that could potentially cause a spike in oil prices.

Added costs are re-emerging as the stimulus support designed to support Americans from the COVID-induced economic crisis is coming to an end. Millions of Americans who had their student loans paused have had to start making payments again beginning with interest on the debt in September.

Parents across the country who had help with their childcare saw that support disappear at the end of last month. Research shows that households spend nearly a third of their income on childcare.

This may explain why a large of Americans are feeling gloomy about the economy.

“Consumer sentiment fell back about 7% this October following two consecutive months of very little change,” Hsu said.

Will Jim Jordan be indicted by Jack Smith? What we know

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Will Jim Jordan be indicted by Jack Smith? What we know

Jim Jordan is moving closer to becoming House speaker, even as a former federal prosecutor said that Jordan is “an accessory after the fact” to former President Donald Trump‘s alleged election-rigging attempts.

Several legal experts told Newsweek that prosecutors would have to show that Jordan’s claims about the 2020 election were part of a wider conspiracy.

On Thursday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise withdrew from the House race. That has put Jordan in a very strong position to take the role, even as controversy about his role in the 2020 election continues to amplify.

Several legal experts told Newsweek that Jordan may claim he was simply exercising his free-speech rights under the constitution’s First Amendment.

Peter Shane, adjunct professor of law at New York University, said that the First Amendment does not cover all intentionally false statements. “Laws against fraud, perjury, and defamation, for example, are not unconstitutional,” he added.

However, Shane said that the first amendment may protect Jordan if he was simply raising questions within the political arena.

“The first amendment would make it difficult to uphold a prosecution of Jordan based solely on his speech unless it could be shown to be part and parcel of some larger criminal act,” Shane added.

That larger criminal act led prosecutors to use Trump’s words against him when indicting him for his 2020 presidential election claims.

“If it could be shown that Jordan was part of a conspiracy to defraud the United States of the sort charged against Trump in his D.C. indictment, and his false statements were made in furtherance of that conspiracy, the First Amendment would not preclude using his statements as evidence,” Shane said.

Stephen Gillers, an NYU School of Law professor, agreed that Jordan may be shielded by the First Amendment’s robust protection of political speech.

“Politicians lie. Surprise! These comments, even if knowingly false, are protected speech. The only way they can possibly be criminal is if Jordan had joined a conspiracy to commit a crime, and his speech was intended to further the criminal objectives of that conspiracy,” Gillers said.

With so many people around Trump now indicted, “Smith has to be careful not to overplay his hand and lose credibility with the public and the courts,” Gillers added.

Newsweek sought email comment from Jim Jordan and Jack Smith‘s office.

However, former prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, now an MSNBC legal analyst, told SiriusXM radio host Dean Obeidallah last week that Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith should launch a “scorched earth” investigation into Jordan’s role in the election.

Kirschner said only Smith and his team know for sure whether there is enough evidence to charge Jordan.

“I’m quite sure they’ve been investigating the insurrectionists in Congress… Jack Smith can’t turn a blind eye to all of that. So, you know, the other thing that Jim Jordan has absolutely been doing is trying to cover up and prevent Donald Trump from being held accountable for his crimes. In a very real sense, he’s been an accessory after the fact to Donald Trump’s crimes,” he said. The former president has denied any wrongdoing concerning the 2020 election indictment and has repeatedly called Smith’s investigation a witch hunt.

Last Monday, CNN‘s website published its own investigation into Jordan. It said that “in the months leading up to and following the 2020 presidential election, potential House speaker and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan prolifically pushed false stolen-election rhetoric.”

“After then-President Donald Trump lost the election to Joe Biden, Jordan urged Trump not to concede, spread conspiracy theories, supported lawsuits attempting to disqualify the legitimate results and discussed plans to object to the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021,” it added.

“In the lead-up to the election, Jordan baselessly suggested numerous times that Democrats were orchestrating a plan to steal the election, implying that COVID-19 rule changes for voting in states were part of a Democratic plot,” CNN said.

“Jim Jordan was deeply involved in Donald Trump’s antidemocratic efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election,” Thomas Joscelyn, one of the authors of the final report from the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol told CNN. “Jordan also helped organize congressional opposition to counting Biden’s certified electoral votes. None of Jordan’s efforts were rooted in legitimate objections. He simply sought to keep Donald Trump in power, contrary to the will of the American people.”

Kevin McCarthy confident Jim Jordan will become speaker: "He’ll get there"

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Kevin McCarthy confident Jim Jordan will become speaker: "He’ll get there"

Republican Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio was chosen Friday as the new nominee for House speaker following a secret ballot, and the most recent speaker voiced his confidence in Jordan’s chances of gaining the position.

Representative Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who served as House speaker from January until October 3, said he believes Jordan will eventually receive enough votes to become the new speaker.

McCarthy was voted out of the speakership after Republican Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida spearheaded an effort to remove him. On Wednesday, Republican Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana beat out Jordan in a closed-door ballot among House Republicans to become the nominee, but he withdrew from consideration the following day.

CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju spoke with McCarthy in a hallway of the U.S. Capitol after Jordan’s nomination was announced and asked if the Ohio representative can continue to run for speaker after only receiving 152 votes on the nominating ballot. (To secure the speaker position, a candidate is required to receive at least 217 votes among the House in its entirety.)

“Yeah, but he’ll get there. I don’t see a problem with him not getting there,” McCarthy said of Jordan.

McCarthy continued by saying he feels Jordan will be able to win over more House members after they take a break to be with their families.

Raju followed up by asking how McCarthy can be so confident about Jordan’s chances when he needs to convince more than 50 people to vote for him.

“I’ve been through this many times,” the California congressman said before listing other speakers who eventually reached the position after being behind in votes when nominated.

Newsweek reached out to representatives for McCarthy and Jordan via email for comment on Friday night.

Jordan already has the support of some prominent Republicans, including Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who voiced her preference for Jordan even after Scalise’s nomination.

Former President Donald Trump also endorsed Jordan last week.

“Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR long before making his very successful journey to Washington, D.C., representing Ohio’s 4th Congressional District,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on October 6. “He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!”

While Jordan works to win over members of his own party in the House, he seemingly won’t be able to count on bipartisanship support from Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

“House Republicans have just elected a speaker nominee who in 16 years in Congress hasn’t passed a single bill, because his focus has not been on the American people, his focus has been on peddling lies and conspiracy theories and division,” Jeffries said to reporters on Friday.

Russian train blown up by Ukrainian partisans, cutting supplies from Crimea

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Russian train blown up by Ukrainian partisans, cutting supplies from Crimea

The National Resistance Center of Ukraine reported Ukrainian partisans blew up a Russian train on Friday, causing a disruption of ammunition and fuel for Moscow’s military fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region.

The center, which operates as an information outlet under the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said in a Telegram post that supporters of Kyiv in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol sabotaged a Russian train that is used to bring daily supplies from Crimea to Melitopol and Dniprorudne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The result of the attack was an explosion that reportedly damaged a locomotive and 150 meters of railway.

The incident is the latest in a series of attacks this year that have targeted Russian railways. Other high-profile rail sabotage acts include an explosion on a railway line in Crimea’s Feodosia region in June and a May explosion that led to a derailment suspended rail traffic between Simferopol, Crimea’s capital, and Sevastopol.

According to the National Resistance Center of Ukraine, Friday’s incident was the 10th successful sabotage on Russian railways carried out by partisans in the Zaporizhzhia region this year.

Newsweek reached out to the National Resistance Center of Ukraine and the Russian Ministry of Defense via email for comment on Friday.

The Ukrainian center said the train targeted on Friday not only brings supplies to Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s military personnel in Zaporizhzhia, but it also carries damaged equipment and stolen goods—such as iron ore, grain and other property—from Ukraine back to Crimea.

The center’s Telegram message said Russian troops surrounded the site of the attack after the explosion in an effort to conceal the sabotage took place while also searching for the guerrillas behind the attack.

The National Resistance Center of Ukraine indicated the partisans behind the attack are safe and that they have promised to carry out more acts of sabotage in the future.

Ukrainian partisans have been credited with key attacks throughout the war that Putin launched in February 2022. In August 2022, The Washington Post reported partisans were likely behind an attack on Russia’s Saky air base in Crimea that triggered at least 12 explosions at the facility.

Supporters of Ukraine within Russia also claimed responsibility for a wave of attacks in Russia’s border regions, including several in Belgorod.

In late-July, partisans were also said to be behind a mass poisoning during a Russian military celebration in the occupied city of Mariupol. According to a Ukrainian official, two Russian officers were killed and 15 other troops were hospitalized after partisans poisoned Kremlin forces as they celebrated Navy Day, a popular national holiday in Russia that honors members of the nation’s naval forces.

MAGA tells Americans to "arm yourselves" on "day of Jihad"

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MAGA tells Americans to "arm yourselves" on "day of Jihad"

A number of MAGA and conservative figures have suggested American citizens should arm themselves and stock up on ammunition ahead of a so-called “day of Jihad” on Friday.

In the wake of the surprise attack launched by the Palestinian militant group Hamas against Israel, Khaled Mashaal, the former leader of the group’s political wing, called for Muslim protests across the world on Friday, October 13, in order to show support for the Palestinian people.

On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza. As of Friday, at least 1,300 people in Israel had been killed, according to the Associated Press citing the Israeli military. At least 1,500 people were killed in Gaza, the AP reported citing authorities there.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country is “at war” and has cut off supplies of food, fuel, electricity and medicine into Gaza. Israel has called up 360,000 army reservists as it prepares for a likely ground offensive into the territory, which has an estimated population of around 2.3 million.

According to a transcript of the recorded message revealed by Reuters on Wednesday , Mashaal, who now leads Hamas’ diaspora office in Qatar, said “scholars who teach jihad…to all who teach and learn, this is a moment for the application [of theories].” The call, which some have referred to as a “Day of Jihad,” has sparked concerns that attacks could be carried out as part of protests.

Law enforcement in major U.S. cities New York, Los Angeles and in Washington D.C. have stepped up security measures on Friday while stating there have so far been no credible threats of violence associated with the so-called “day of Jihad.” Both the FBI and the White House have told people to remain “vigilant” and report anything suspicious.

Salam Al-Marayati, president of U.S. nonprofit the Muslim Public Affairs Council, told previously told Newsweek: “Hamas is a terrorist organization and this is what you expect from them. We denounce their terrorist activities and definitely don’t even consider their calls for more fighting to be heeded by any Muslim because the [number] one thing you must abide by in Islam is if you are in any fight, you should not target civilians.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was one of those who suggested she would be stockpiling in case of any extremist attacks while suggesting the GOP’s attempts to elect a new House speaker should be delayed amid the threats.

“With tomorrow declared a global day of jihad by Hamas, heightened security around the Capitol, and a dozen protests planned in DC with only one of them being Pro-Israel, if we are not going to vote today for a Speaker, why don’t we just go home and regroup next week? I’ll buy ammo while I’m home,” Greene posted on X, formerly Twitter.

While noting disorder that broke out during pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Paris on Thursday, military veteran Brian Davis, a Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporter, wrote: “IT’S BEGINNING. Muslims riot in the streets of France after Hamas Leader Khaled Mashal calls Friday a ‘Day of Jihad’ after slaughtering 1,000 Jews. Protect yourselves, and keep your head on a swivel.” Davis included a picture of a handgun in his X post.

Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse a demonstration in Paris on Thursday after France declared a ban all pro-Palestinian protests across the country in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel.

Actor James Wood, who has been a vocal Donald Trump supporter, posted: “I’m reading a lot of well-meaning advice about ‘sheltering in place’ tomorrow because some dip**** halfway across the globe has declared a Day of Jihad. This is the United States of America, so I’ll just be enjoying my day as usual. Outside. In my hood. With extra ammo.”

Tino Casz, who describes himself as a filmmaker and a Donald Trump supporter on X, posted: “Former Hamas leader—Khaled Meshaal calls for day of jihad on Friday the 13th, and tells Muslims to ‘take to the streets’ in protest against Israel. Arm yourselves not just this Friday, but everyday at all costs.”

The FBI said in a statement that it was aware of “open source reports” about global call for action on Friday which may lead to demonstrations in U.S. cities.

“As always, we take seriously any tips or leads we receive regarding potential threats and investigate them rigorously to determine their credibility,” the federal agency said . “The FBI encourages members of the public to remain vigilant and report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.”

The FBI has been contacted for further comment via email.

A similar statement was made by National Security Strategic communications coordinator John Kirby during a press briefing on Thursday.

“We are constantly in touch with local law enforcement—state and federal officials—across the country to make sure that we are as vigilant as we can be to be able to identify and disrupt any threats to the American people,” Kirby said. “We’re absolutely going to stay focused on that.”

In a statement following reports that all New York City police officers will report in uniform on Friday, the NYPD said: “There are no specific, credible threats to New York City.

“We are aware of the concern that postings circulating online have caused, and we have increased our uniform deployments at large gatherings and cultural sites to ensure public safety out of an abundance of caution.”

In his recorded statement sent to Reuters this week, former Hamas chief Mashaal said: “I call on you, me being included as well, and we are all responsible for this to start with the things we are used to but with a higher ceiling, first of all for anger, to head to the squares and streets of the Arab and Islamic world on Friday, the Friday of Al Aqsa Flood.

“Deliver a message through the squares and the streets, a message of anger, that we are with Palestine, that we are with Gaza, with Al Aqsa, with Jerusalem, and that we are a part of this battle, this is first.

“Second, Gaza is calling you for help, with relief and money, with whatever you own, whoever can help, this is the moment of truth.”

“To all scholars who teach jihad for the sake of God and who preach the fighters and martyrs, to all who teach and learn, this is a moment of application [of theories], so that words are not just words,” he added.

Donald Trump’s Truth Social dealt major blow

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Donald Trump’s Truth Social dealt major blow

A proposed merger with the company that owns Donald Trump‘s social media app, Truth Social has hit a major snag as the founding partner announced it would be returning hundreds of millions of dollars back to investors.

Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), a special-purpose acquisition company that aims to raise funds to merge with a private company, said it would return $533 million raised for the deal with Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) having already received termination notices on $467 million work of commitments.

The announcement is the latest for the planned merger which would allow TMTG to go public. TMTG announced it would be merging with DWAC in October 2021 but has been frequently delayed.

The private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction would have seen TMTG injected with $1 billion following its merger with Digital World. The two companies previously missed a September 2022 deadline to complete the merger, which gave investors the right to cancel their commitments.

DWAC CEO Eric Swider said in a statement that the decision is a “positive development” for the potential merger.

“We are very grateful to the PIPE Investors who showed their support to DWAC and TMTG throughout the PIPE process and in the past two years as we continue to work toward consummating the Business Combination,” Swider said.

“We are confident that with these recent cancellations the PIPE Investors have again demonstrated their overall understanding of the closing conditions in the Merger Agreement, the regulatory landscape, and most importantly, demonstrated their support in seeing this merger through.”

Swider added: “Despite how others may seek to characterize the PIPE commitment cancellations, we want our shareholders to understand that these cancellations are a positive development in our ability to consummate the Business Combination and we ask for the support of the remaining PIPE investors by agreeing to terminate the remaining PIPE investments.”

Devin Nunes, the CEO of TMTG, said that the announcement is an “important step” towards eliminating the PIPE, which TMTG believes would be “in the best interest of TMTG’s equity holders and completing our merger with DWAC as soon as possible.”

It is unclear if the operator of Truth Social will attempt to raise additional funds to support the merger.

Newsweek reached out to Trump Media & Technology Group via email for comment.

The planned merger has been frequently delayed, with Digital World investors voting in September to give an extension of up to one year to complete the TMTG deal.

The deal has also faced a number of other setbacks, including a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation that found that DWAC had misled investors and the SEC by failing to disclose that it was planning on buying TMTG before it raised its $300 million in IPO funds. DWAC was fined $18 million as a result of the investigation.

DWAC also removed its former CEO, Patrick Orlando as the head of the company in March, with another former board member, Bruce Garelick, arrested in June on suspicion of insider trading.

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