World News
While it’s ‘America First’ for we patriots we still cannot take our eye off world events.
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Iran smuggled $1B to Hezbollah this year despite US sanctions, Treasury official says
By Anders Hagstrom– Fox News
The Iranian regime has managed to smuggle at least $1 billion to its terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon despite heavy sanctions this year, top officials at the U.S. Treasury Department say.
John Hurley, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, says Iran remains committed to its proxy groups throughout the Middle East. Nevertheless, he says there is an opportunity to cut off the funding streams while Iran is in its current weakened state.
“There’s a moment in Lebanon now. If we could get Hezbollah to disarm, the Lebanese people could get their country back,” Hurley said.
“Even with everything Iran has been through, even with the economy not in great shape, they’re still pumping a lot of money to their terrorist proxies,” he continued.
“The key to that is to drive out the Iranian influence and control; that starts with all the…Read more here.
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Zelenskyy: Ukraine ‘confidently moving toward’ EU membership after European Commission progress report
By Ashley Carnahan – Fox News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country is making key progress toward becoming a member state of the European Union (EU).
“The European Commission’s Enlargement Package Report confirms: Ukraine is confidently moving toward EU membership and ready to open Clusters 1, 2, and 6,” Zelenskyy wrote Tuesday on X.
“This is the best assessment to date—proof that even as we defend against Russia’s full-scale aggression, Ukraine continues to reform and transform according to European standards.”
Ukraine has been an EU candidate country since it applied for membership in February 2022, days after Russia’s invasion began.
The European Commission released its 2025 Enlargement Package Report Tuesday…Read more here.
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EU agrees weakened climate target in final-hour deal for COP30
Kate Abnett, Inti Landauro and Benoit Van Overstraeten / Reuters
EU climate ministers agreed a 2040 climate change target in the early hours of Wednesday after watering down the goal in last-minute negotiations, as they raced to clinch the deal before the U.N. COP30 summit in Brazil. climate ministers from European Union countries approved in a public vote a compromise to cut emissions 90% by 2040, from 1990 levels, but with flexibilities to weaken this aim.
The weakened target would let countries buy foreign carbon credits to cover up to 5% of the 90% emissions-cutting goal. That would effectively weaken to 85% the emissions cuts required from European industries, and pay foreign countries to cut emissions on Europe’s behalf to make up the rest.
The EU also agreed to consider the option, in future, to use international carbon credits to meet a further 5% of the 2040 emissions reductions – potentially shaving another 5% off the domestic target.
Additionally, countries agreed a 2035 target to cut emissions in a range of 66.25-72.5%. Read more here.
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At least 20 dead after magnitude-6.3 earthquake hits Afghanistan
At least 20 people have died after an earthquake struck northern Afghanistan, local authorities say, with the toll expected to rise as rescue efforts continue.
Hundreds have also been left injured, local officials told the BBC.
The earthquake struck near Mazar-e-Sharif, one of the country’s largest cities that is home to about 500,000 people, at around 01:00 local time on Monday, (20:30 GMT on Sunday).
It had a magnitude of 6.3 and a depth of 28km (17 miles), according to the US Geological Survey, and was marked at the orange alert level, which indicates “significant casualties” are likely.
More than 530 people have been injured, according to the Taliban government health ministry.
Provincial officials earlier told the BBC that casualties were likely to rise as rescue efforts continued.
Haji Zaid, a Taliban spokesman in Balkh province wrote earlier on X…Read more and see video here.
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