Israel moves to revoke citizenship of 2 Israeli Arabs

Israel moves to revoke citizenship of 2 Israeli Arabs

Israel has decided for the first time to revoke the citizenship of two Israeli Arabs and deport them, officials said Tuesday, reported Xinhua. The two men, who reportedly received financial support from the Palestinian Authority, were convicted of carrying out attacks against Israelis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. "This morning, I signed the revocation of citizenship and deportation of two Israeli terrorists who carried out stabbing and shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and were rewarded for their heinous acts by the Palestinian Authority," Netanyahu said. He added that "many more" deportation orders are expected to follow. His office issued the statement as Netanyahu was flying to Washington to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday. Ofir Katz, a lawmaker from Netanyahu's Likud party, also confirmed the decision, saying it marked the first time Israel has applied the law passed by parliament in 2023, which allows the state to revoke the citizenship of "convicted terrorists" and expel them. Neither Netanyahu nor Katz said where the two men would be deported. Israel's state-owned Kan TV News reported that they would be expelled to the Gaza Strip, adding that they are from Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.

US immigration detention centers trigger concerns over inhuman treatment

US immigration detention centers trigger concerns over inhuman treatment

An 18-month-old girl held at a U.S. immigration detention center was hospitalized with a life-threatening respiratory illness last month and returned to custody days later without receiving the prescribed daily medication, according to a federal lawsuit filed Friday, reported Xinhua on Tuesday. The girl and her parents were arrested during a scheduled check-in with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in December and transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center (Dilley) in south Texas, a remote family detention facility, the lawsuit said. The girl, who had been healthy before her detention, was diagnosed with pneumonia, COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus and severe respiratory distress when being sent to a hospital in January, according to the lawsuit. After spending 10 days in a hospital, the girl was returned to immigration detention and was denied "access to the medication that doctors prescribed for her at the hospital," the lawsuit said. As NBC reported, medical experts who reviewed her records said the girl was in "extreme danger" and faced a "high risk for medical decompensation and death." After her lawyer filed an emergency habeas corpus petition in federal court on Friday, the girl and her parents were released. The lawyer added that ICE still retained the child's prescriptions and birth certificate. "DEEPLY TROUBLING" The case has drawn renewed attention to Dilley, the only family detention center currently in operation in the United States. According to a report from DetentionReports.com, the population there has surged from fewer than 500 in October to 1,332 as of late January. As Austin Kocher, an assistant research professor at Syracuse University, estimated, approximately 800 of those detained are likely children. Immigration attorney Eric Lee, who visited the facility in late January, described conditions at Dilley as "deeply troubling." U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, who also visited the center, said what he observed amounted to "inhumanity." According to a report by ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, children detained at Dilley said they had experienced inadequate food, contaminated water, insufficient medical care and limited access to education. Dilley is not the only ICE facility to have raised concerns. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Monday that a Palestinian woman who had been detained by ICE in Texas since March was hospitalized after suffering a seizure on Friday. In a statement, the woman's legal team said she had experienced dizziness, fainting episodes and other symptoms linked to poor nutrition while in custody. The legal team said ICE failed to inform the woman's lawyers and family of her condition and whereabouts following her hospitalization. With prolonged detention, some immigrants remain in ICE custody even after agreeing to leave the United States. Ana Alicia Huerta, a senior attorney at the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, told local media that some detainees continued to wait for court hearings despite having signed voluntary deportation forms. In a 2001 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court said immigration detention should not be indefinite, finding six months to be a presumptively reasonable period. However, the DHS said its policies follow the law, citing a court ruling that the administration can continue to detain immigrants without bond. The media have reported that at least six immigrants have died in ICE detention centers in the United States so far in 2026. One was initially reported as a suicide by ICE and then the local authorities ruled his death a homicide. In two other cases, family members and lawyers have questioned whether detainees received timely medical treatment, raising concerns over delayed or ignored care. Under provisions of U.S. federal law and DHS appropriations statutes, ICE is required to provide detailed reports on immigrants who die in the agency's custody within 90 days of their deaths. However, according to a report by Zeteo, since October, ICE has failed to do so for at least eight immigrants who have died in detention centers. WHAT ARE THEY HIDING? According to ICE data, over 90 percent of people are held in privately-run immigrant detention centers, which annually gain profits of hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars from contracts with ICE. The American Immigration Council recently issued a report, saying ICE has signed extensive new contracts with private prison companies to reopen shuttered prisons and detention centers or expand existing facilities. New plans suggest that the administration may open a tent camp and even purchase unused commercial warehouses and convert them into jails to hold thousands of people at a time. Private-prison operator GEO Group has rejected a shareholder vote designed to shed light on alleged human rights violations in its operation of ICE detention centers, local media reported on Monday. "The fact that the company isn't transparent with us, that raises red flags," said Bryan Pham, a Jesuit priest who leads the investors' talks with GEO. "Does it have something to hide?"

15 arrested in Netherlands in ISIS terrorism investigation

15 arrested in Netherlands in ISIS terrorism investigation

Fifteen people were arrested across the Netherlands on Tuesday in a terrorism investigation, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) announced, reported Xinhua. The suspects, aged between 16 and 53, are accused of attempting to incite others to commit terrorist crimes through social media, including disseminating Islamic State (ISIS) propaganda and participating in a terrorist organization. Four of the suspects are minors. Police units will continue to cooperate closely in what authorities describe as a large-scale criminal investigation. Further arrests have not been ruled out. In the 2025 Terrorism Threat Assessment released on Dec. 2025, Dutch National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security maintained the terrorism threat level at "substantial" which indicates that the risk of a terrorist attack remains real. Authorities warn that the primary jihadist threat to Europe continues to stem from the ISIS. The radicalization of a new generation of young people active in online jihadist networks is described as particularly worrying. The Public Prosecution Service is the only authority in the Netherlands empowered to bring criminal suspects before the courts and is responsible for directing criminal investigations and prosecutions.

Teenage boy arrested after double stabbing at London school

Teenage boy arrested after double stabbing at London school

A 13-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after two boys, aged 12 and 13, were stabbed at Kingsbury High School in northwest London, British media said on Tuesday, reported Xinhua. The two victims were sent to hospital, with one taken to a trauma center "as a priority." Both boys are believed to be in serious condition, according to local media. Police said the suspect left the scene after the incident, but was later arrested in the afternoon. Officers added that a weapon believed to have been used in the attack has been recovered. Although counter-terrorism police are currently leading the investigation, authorities have not yet declared the incident an act of terrorism.

Khamenei approves mass pardons in Iran, excludes recent unrest cases

Khamenei approves mass pardons in Iran, excludes recent unrest cases

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has agreed to pardon or commute the sentences of 2,108 prisoners, but none of those involved in recent protests will benefit from the move, the judiciary said on Tuesday, reported Xinhua. The clemency was granted to mark a major religious holiday and the 47th anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, which falls on Wednesday. The pardons followed a request from judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, according to the judiciary's Mizan Online news outlet. Judiciary deputy chief Ali Mozaffari said the measure excludes defendants and convicts linked to recent "riots," Mizan reported. Khamenei routinely uses his constitutional authority to grant pardons on state occasions. Such measures do not apply to those convicted of serious crimes, including armed opposition to the state, major drug trafficking, armed robbery, weapons smuggling, espionage, and corruption. Protests erupted across Iran last month over economic grievances before taking on a political dimension and turning violent, leading to casualties and widespread damage to public property, mosques, government buildings, and banks. Iranian authorities have blamed the United States and Israel for inciting the unrest. The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported in January that about 3,000 people connected to the protests were detained, citing security officials.

Macron says dialogue channels with Russia restored at technical level

Macron says dialogue channels with Russia restored at technical level

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that dialogue channels with Russia had been restored at a technical level, European media outlets reported on Tuesday, said Xinhua. According to Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung, Macron said in an interview on Monday that he hoped the move could be shared with European partners and lead to a well-organized European approach. He stressed that dialogue with Russia should take place "without too many interlocutors," the report said. France's Le Figaro reported that Macron again argued against "delegating" this dialogue to the United States. Following the Greenland crisis, Macron called on Europeans not to give in to what he described as a "cowardly relief" that would only be short-lived, Le Monde reported. Noting that threats from the United States occur on a daily basis, Macron stressed that Europe must not back down or seek compromise when there is "blatant aggression," the report said. Macron also advocated a coordinated European response to protect industry through a "European preference" for certain strategic sectors, including cleantech, chemicals, steel, automotive and defense, warning that otherwise Europeans risk being swept aside.

Trump wants US to move on from Epstein files as Congress demands answers

Trump wants US to move on from Epstein files as Congress demands answers

U.S. President Donald Trump wants the United States to move on after the release of a treasure trove of files on the world's most notorious pedophile. But Congress and survivors continue to clamor for answers. Recent months have seen the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) release millions of documents in connection with its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, who was arrested in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking but later died in jail before standing trial. "I think it's really time for the country to maybe get onto something else," Trump recently told reporters in the Oval Office. Thursday morning saw the GOP-led Senate reject a request from Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to sue the Trump administration for how it has handled the release of the Epstein files. The Democrat said the White House is not complying with the law Congress passed last year that forced the Justice Department to release all materials connected to its investigation into Epstein. Schumer accused the Justice Department of failing to make public all the relevant material. He wrote in a statement: "You say all the documents are released. Does that include all of the co-conspirator memos, the corporate protection memos... etc.?" "Has every document that mentions the word Trump been released?" Schumer wrote. Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the government has finished its review of the files, in line with a law passed by Congress in November. Blanche said there are no reasons for new prosecutions. "There's a lot of correspondence. There are a lot of emails. There are a lot of photographs," Blanche said recently. "But that doesn't allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody." However, the House of Representatives is pushing ahead with its own investigation. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are slated to testify to Congress later this month after Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress if they failed to show up. Bill Clinton was acquainted with Epstein, but he denies knowing about his sexual offenses and says he cut off contact two decades ago. Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua: "Americans are not ready to move on from the Epstein story because there remain unanswered questions. The big issue is culpability for bad behavior. What will happen to those named in the files?" "The Administration has said there will be no further releases, no investigations, and no indictments. But the scope of the bad behavior leads many to question that approach," West said. Indeed, the most powerful men in the nation have been mentioned in the files. Those include former President Bill Clinton, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and President Trump. None has been accused of wrongdoing. Lisa Phillips, a victim of Epstein, told the BBC that she and other victims were not satisfied. "The (Justice Department) has violated all three of our requirements," she said. "Number one, many documents still haven't been disclosed. Number two, the date set for release has long passed. And number three, the DOJ released the names of many of the survivors, and that's not OK. We feel they're playing some games with us, but we're not going to stop fighting." Democrats have promised to issue subpoenas for Trump and other Republicans to testify about the Epstein files if the party takes hold of the House of Representatives in this year's midterm elections. When asked whether the country will move on from the Epstein files, Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, said no. "Public attention will go up and down and up again, indefinitely," Ramsay said. "Epstein is likely to remain in the news despite the administration's efforts to end the case," said West.