A former FBI informant is set to plead guilty on Monday to lying about a phony bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden and his son Hunter that became central to the Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress. Alexander Smirnov is expected to make the plea in Los Angeles to a felony charge in connection with the bogus story, along with a tax evasion charge stemming from a separate indictment accusing him of concealing millions of dollars of income, according to court papers. Smirnov has been behind bars since his arrest in February on charges that he told his FBI handler that executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid President Biden and Hunter Biden $5 million each around 2015.

A lawyer for convicted British killer nurse Lucy Letby said Monday that he plans to ask an appeals court to re-examine her convictions after the prosecution’s leading expert changed his opinion on how three babies died. Attorney Mark McDonald said Dr. Dewi Evans could no longer be believed after reversing his opinion that Letby had injected air down a nasal gastric tube that killed three infants. “I have fresh evidence that casts doubt on the conviction,” McDonald said. “The defense will argue that Dr.

How do you solve a problem like Prince Andrew? That’s the question facing King Charles III as the long-running drama surrounding his 64-year-old brother roils Britain and the monarchy once again. In the latest episode of this palace soap opera, a Chinese businessman has been barred from the U.K. because of concerns he cultivated links with Andrew in an alleged effort to influence British elites on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in the German parliament on Monday, putting the European Union’s most populous member and biggest economy on course to hold an early election in February. Scholz won the support of 207 lawmakers in the 733-seat lower house, or Bundestag, while 394 voted against him and 116 abstained. That left him far short of the majority of 367 needed to win. Scholz leads a minority government after his unpopular and notoriously rancorous three-party coalition collapsed on Nov. 6 when he fired his finance minister in a dispute over how to revitalize Germany’s stagnant economy. Leaders of several major parties then agreed that a parliamentary election should be held on Feb. 23, seven months earlier than originally planned.

Hopes are rising for a breakthrough ceasefire and hostage release deal as reports indicate significant progress in negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz told Knesset lawmakers that Israel is “closer than ever” to securing a deal to free hostages held in Gaza, reinforcing a wave of optimism seen in recent days. While Katz remained tight-lipped on specifics during a closed-door session with the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, leaks of his comments suggest that substantial flexibility has been shown by Hamas. Katz reportedly assured lawmakers that the potential agreement is likely to gain widespread support within Israel’s coalition, despite ongoing resistance to Hamas’s demands for a complete cessation of hostilities.

Sirens blared in dozens of cities and towns in the Tel Aviv area, the Sharon and the Shomron on Monday afternoon, the first time in weeks that sirens were heard in central Israel. Shortly later, the IDF spokesperson said that the sirens sounded due to the launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen. The missile was intercepted before it crossed into Israel. Earlier on Monday, a drone fired by the Houthis in Yemen was intercepted over the Mediterranean Sea. There has been an increase in Houthi attacks since the ceasefire with Lebanon began. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Bashar al-Assad has broken his silence and claims Vladimir Putin forced his cowardly escape from Syria on him. The ousted leader said from Moscow he had no intention of fleeing the Syria but had to after the Russian base he was staying in was being bombed. The statement was published on the Syrian presidency’s Telegram channel and dated December 16 and was Assad’s first in public since he was toppled more than a week ago by a rebel offensive. Assad said he stayed in Damascus until the early hours of Sunday December 8 until “terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus”. He then claims he moved to the Russian air base in Lattakia, named Kheimim, to oversee the fighting of the rebels. But just house later the base itself came under drone strikes.

El Al has been named the fifth-worst airline in the world, according to the 2024 AirHelp ranking of global airlines. The rankings, released in December, placed El Al 105th out of 109 airlines evaluated. AirHelp, a global database for flight performance and passenger experience, assessed airlines on criteria including claims processing, punctuality, and customer reviews. El Al scored 0.1 in claims handling, 5.7 in punctuality, and 8 in customer satisfaction, reflecting significant gaps in performance, particularly in claims processing. While Brussels Airlines topped the list with high scores across all categories, El Al ranked just above Bulgaria Air, with Tunisair finishing in last place.

The leader of the Bnei Torah movement (Peleg Yerushalmi), Hagaon HaRav Asher Deutsch, z’tl, who also served as the Rosh Yeshivah of Ponevezh, was niftar on Monday morning at the age of 79. HaRav Deutsch was suffering in recent months from a serious illness and was hospitalized a number of times. On Friday,  his condition became critical and his family and talmidim were called to part from him. But then his condition unexpectedly improved but worsened again on Monday morning. The Rav was born in Bnei Brak. As a bochur, he learned in Yeshivas Ponevezh, where he became close to Hagaon HaRav Elazar Man Shach, z’tl, and HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Rozovosky, ztl. After he married, he was appointed by HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kahaneman, the Nasi of Ponevezh, to seve as the Rosh Mesivta of the yeshivah.

Iraqi sources told the UK-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news outlet over the weekend that Iranian Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani received a cold shoulder from Iraqi militias on his visit to Baghdad last week to discuss the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria. “Qaani met with several leaders of armed groups to discuss developments regarding the new situation in Syria and the determination of the Israeli entity to attack sites and occupy parts of Syria,” the source said. “Some of the faction leaders informed Qaani of their commitment to Iraq’s neutral position in the current crisis, saying that don’t want to become involved in opening new fronts and are waiting to see how things will unfold.” This development is a significant setback for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.