Netanyahu moves to dismiss head of Shin Bet over lack of ‘trust’
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says he no longer has ‘trust’ in the head of the domestic security agency. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will bring a vote to the government to dismiss the director of the Shin Bet domestic security service. In a statement from Netanyahu’s office on Sunday, the prime minister said he has had an “ongoing distrust” for Ronen Bar and that trust in the head of the domestic security service is crucial at a time of war. According to Israeli media, the vote to dismiss the Shin Bet chief is expected to take place in a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday. But in a statement, Bar said while he took “responsibility for the agency’s part” in failing to prevent the October 7 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza, it was “clear that the intent behind my dismissal is not related” to it. “The prime minister’s expectation of a personal loyalty that contradicts the public interest is an entirely improper expectation,” Bar said. Israeli Democrat Party chief Yair Golan also slammed the move to dismiss Bar and wrote on X that “Netanyahu declared war on the State of Israel.” Advertisement “The dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet is a desperate attempt by a criminal defendant to get rid of someone who is loyal to Israel and who is investigating Netanyahu and his close circle for serious and dark offences and is not willing to whitewash them,” Golan said. “The dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet will not pass as if nothing happened. There will be tremendous resistance, we will fight with force and will not allow Netanyahu to turn the State of Israel into a dictatorship of a corrupt man,” he added. The decision to dismiss Bar comes after an angry dispute between the two, which focused on who bears responsibility for October 7. The Shin Bet, which is responsible for monitoring Palestinian armed groups, recently issued a report accepting responsibility for its failures in the attack, which is seen in Israel as the country’s worst security failure that led to its single deadliest day, with 1,200 people killed and 251 taken captive, according to an Israeli tally. However, the organisation also criticised Netanyahu for failed government policies that helped create the moment that led to the attack. Still, the prime minister has also resisted calls for an official state commission inquiry into the events of October 7. Moreover, the decision to dismiss Bar follows several senior Israeli officials who were in charge during the Hamas attack being forced to step down, including former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi. The tensions boiled over this weekend when Bar’s predecessor, Nadav Argaman, said he would release sensitive information about Netanyahu if it is found that the prime minister had broken the law. Advertisement Netanyahu accused Argaman of blackmail and filed a police complaint. Adblock test (Why?)
First photo of ailing Pope Francis released amid complex health condition
The pontiff, 88, continues papal duties despite ill health, approving long-term church reform from his hospital room. The Vatican has released the first picture of Pope Francis since the 88-year-old was admitted to hospital last month for double pneumonia. The picture, published on Sunday, shows Francis from behind, facing an altar after celebrating mass in a chapel at the hospital. The pope entered Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on February 14 with a severe respiratory infection that has required evolving treatment. He has not been seen in public since. The pontiff, who has been receiving oxygen throughout his treatment, appears to be breathing on his own in the photo. Journalists and the faithful have been asking for images of the pope as the last image of Francis was published more than a month ago, a Vatican News report said. Since being hospitalised, the only other sign of the pope has been audio released on March 6 where a fatigued Francis could be heard thanking all those who have been praying for his recovery. Concerning his health, “the situation remains stable” the report said, but still within a “complex clinical picture”. Advertisement Doctors this week said Francis was no longer in critical, life-threatening condition. But they have continued to emphasise that his condition remained complex due to his age, lack of mobility and the loss of part of a lung as a young man. Still, the pope has continued performing his duties. On Saturday, he approved a three-year implementation and evaluation process for a reform project that aims to make the Roman Catholic Church more welcoming and responsive. The Vatican office for the Synod of Bishops released a timetable through 2028 to implement the reforms and said Francis had approved the calendar last week. Adblock test (Why?)
Venezuelan immigrants deported to El Salvador despite US court ban
The United States has flown more than 200 immigrants, alleged members of a Venezuelan gang, to be imprisoned in El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele has said, after his US counterpart Donald Trump controversially invoked wartime legislation to expel them. The deportations on Sunday took place despite a US federal judge granting a temporary suspension of the expulsions order, apparently as planes were already headed to El Salvador. In a sharp rebuke Sunday, Venezuela’s government said Trump had “criminalized” Venezuelan migrants, whom it said were “in their immense majority… dignified and honest” workers, not terrorists. It added that the action violated both US and international laws. “Oopsie … Too late,” Bukele posted on social media in response to an article on the judge’s ruling, adding a crying-with-laughter emoji. The Trump administration said it was appealing the court order. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt defended the deportations, saying Trump was “using his core powers as president and commander-in-chief to defend the American people from an urgent threat”. Advertisement Bukele announced the action Sunday on X, saying, “Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country.” Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country. They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable). The United States will pay a very low fee for them,… pic.twitter.com/tfsi8cgpD6 — Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 16, 2025 He shared a video of several men in handcuffs and shackles being transferred from a plane to a heavily guarded convoy, while the presidency shared a series of photos showing prisoners’ heads being shaved, and then hands manacled behind their backs, on their arrival in El Salvador. Bukele said the US would “pay a very low fee” for El Salvador’s custody of the men, but neither he nor American officials specified the amount. Trump on Friday signed an order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, but it was not publicly announced until Saturday. The contentious wartime authority allows a US president to detain or deport citizens of an enemy nation, and has been invoked only three times before – during major international conflicts, including World War I and II. Bukele, in a meeting last month with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, offered to house prisoners from the US in his country, including members of Tren de Aragua and Salvador’s own MS-13 gang. Salvadoran prison guards stand watch over deportees from the United States alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, in Tecoluca, El Salvador [El Salvador presidential press office/AP] Mega-jail with windowless cells Iron-fisted Bukele is extremely popular in his Latin American country for a successful crackdown on violent gangs, but has faced criticism from human rights groups. Advertisement His offer to take in foreign convicts for a fee has divided Salvadorans, who fear it could set back the country’s fight against violent crime. Leavitt told the Fox News Sunday Morning Futures programme that Trump “is acting within the bounds of the law”. Bukele said the alleged gang members had been sent to the country’s maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a mega-prison on the edge of a jungle 75km (47 miles) southeast of San Salvador with a capacity for 40,000 prisoners. Inmates there are packed in windowless cells, sleep on metal beds with no mattresses and are forbidden to have visitors. Rubio said in a statement on Sunday that as part of the transfer of Venezuela’s migrants, the US had deported “top leaders” of MS-13, “plus 21 of its most-wanted to face justice in their homeland”. Wartime legislation Trump, in his order, claimed Tren de Aragua was “conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime”. The statement gives Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi 60 days to enact the ruling making all Tren de Aragua gang members “subject to immediate apprehension, detention and removal”. The order will apply to all Venezuelan Tren de Aragua members who are over 14 and not naturalized US citizens or lawful permanent residents. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and an allied group, Democracy Forward, asked the US District Court in Washington to bar the deportations – arguing that the 1798 act was not intended for use in peacetime. Judge James Boasberg on Saturday issued a 14-day halt to any deportation under the new order. Bondi slammed the ruling, saying in a statement that it “puts the public and law enforcement at risk”. Advertisement The El Salvador prison where the alleged gang members were sent already houses some 15,000 members of the MS-13 and rival Salvadoran Barrio 18 gangs. They were rounded up under a state of emergency imposed by Bukele after a surge in gang violence in 2022. Adblock test (Why?)
Rubio says US ‘doing the world a favor’ by striking Houthi rebels
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended President Donald Trump’s airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, arguing that the U.S. is “doing the world a favor” by targeting the militant group. “We’re doing the entire world a favor by getting rid of these guys and their ability to strike global shipping. That’s the mission here, and it will continue until that’s carried out,” Rubio said during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. The comments come after Trump announced on social media Saturday that he had ordered “decisive and powerful” airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, arguing that that terrorist group has “waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.” HOUTHIS POST CRYPTIC VIDEO OF AMERICAN FLAG-DRAPED COFFINS “It has been over a year since a U.S.-flagged commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Aden,” Trump said in the post. “The last American Warship to go through the Red Sea, four months ago, was attacked by the Houthis over a dozen times…. These relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk.” “To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” The strikes come in response to the Houthis’ continued disruption of transit in the Red Sea, something Rubio said Sunday would come to an end with the strikes. TRUMP ANNOUNCES ‘DECISIVE AND POWERFUL’ AIRSTRIKES AGAINST HOUTHI TERRORISTS IN YEMEN “This is not a message,” Rubio said. “This is an effort to deny them the ability to continue to constrict and control shipping.” Rubio noted that the militant group, which is backed by Iran, had “struck or attacked 174 Naval vessels of the United States” over the last year, a time period that also saw the group launch 145 attacks on commercial shipping vessels. “So we basically have a band of pirates, you know, with guided precision anti-ship weaponry and exacting a toll system in one of the most important shipping lanes in the world,” Rubio said. “That’s just not sustainable.” The secretary of state said the strikes would continue until the Houthis “no longer have the capability” to continue to carry out such attacks. “We’re not going to have people sitting around with the missiles attacking the U.S. Navy,” Rubio said. “It’s not going to happen. Not under President Trump.”
Longtime Rep. Nita Lowey dead at 87
Former Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., has died at age 87, according to her family. Lowey, who represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives for 32 years and was the first woman to chair the House Appropriations Committee, died Saturday after a long battle with metastatic breast cancer, according to a report from the New York Post. “Nita’s family was central to her life as she was to all of ours,” the longtime lawmaker’s family said in a statement. “We will miss her more than words can say and take great comfort in knowing that she lived a full and purposeful life.” NITA LOWEY, LONGTIME DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER AND HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS CHAIRWOMAN, TO RETIRE The New York lawmaker was born Nita Sue Menikoff in the Bronx in 1937, later graduating from Bronx High School of Science before going on to receive a degree from Mount Holyoke College in 1959, the Post report noted. She married attorney Stephen Lowey in 1961, and was first elected to Congress in 1988 to represent New York’s 17th Congressional District. A longtime ally of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Clinton family, Lowey became chair of the House Appropriations Committee in 2019. She frequently clashed with President Donald Trump during his first term in office in her time as chair, telling Lohud in 2019 that the president was an “embarrassment.” DEMOCRATS LASH OUT AT SCHUMER FOR ‘BETRAYAL’ OF SIDING WITH TRUMP “The president is an embarrassment and as a member of the Congress and as the leader of the Appropriations Committee, we have the responsibility to serve the people,” she said at the time. Lowey announced her retirement that same year, with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., telling the New York Post that the longtime lawmaker was a “principled, passionate and powerful public servant.” “Over the course of her historic career, Congresswoman Lowey courageously served her constituents and stood up for New Yorkers while shattering multiple glass ceilings along the way,” Jeffries said Sunday, adding that Lowey was a “mentor and friend.” Lowey is survived by her husband, three children and eight grandchildren.
DOGE chain of command revealed in court filing, showing Musk is not the boss
The acting administrator of DOGE detailed that Elon Musk is not an employee of the United States DOGE Service and does not report to the acting DOGE chief, a court filing shedding additional light on the internal workings of the office shows. “Elon Musk does not work at USDS. I do not report to him, and he does not report to me. To my knowledge, he is a Senior Advisor to the White House,” Amy Gleason, the acting administrator of DOGE, wrote in a declaration included in a court filing on Friday. Musk has been the public face of DOGE for months, as President Donald Trump celebrates the billions of dollars in savings his administration has secured through DOGE’s work to gut the federal government of overspending, mismanagement and fraud. Musk, however, “has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself” and is working as a senior advisor to the president, a White House official said in a separate court filing in February. The White House identified Gleason as the official acting chief of DOGE last month. Gleason, a little-known government employee who also worked in the first Trump administration, provided a declaration in a court filing involving a lawsuit against DOGE last week that further explains how the government office operates. WHO IS DOGE’S NEWLY IDENTIFIED ADMINISTRATOR AMY GLEASON? ‘WORLD-CLASS TALENT’ “In my role at USDS, I oversee all of USDS’s employees and detailees to USDS from other agencies,” Gleason wrote in her declaration. “I report to the White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles.” Gleason previously worked for the United States Digital Service, which was founded in 2014 by former President Barack Obama as a technology office within the Executive Office of the President. Trump signed an executive order in January that renamed the office to the United States DOGE Service, establishing DOGE. MEET THE FAR-LEFT GROUPS FUNDING ANTI-DOGE PROTESTS AT GOP OFFICES ACROSS THE COUNTRY In addition to overseeing USDS, Gleason also oversees the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization – an office established by Trump in January that sits under the USDS umbrella and will expire on July 4, 2026. Gleason explained in her declaration that under Trump’s executive order establishing DOGE, agency chiefs were charged with creating their own DOGE teams to find and eliminate overspending. Gleason said the respective agency DOGE teams are comprised of agency employees or detailees who do not report to her. WHITE HOUSE CONFIRMS WHO WAS APPOINTED AS ACTING ADMINISTRATOR OF DOGE “Every member of an agency’s DOGE Team is an employee of the agency or a detailee to the agency. The DOGE Team members – whether employees of the agency or detailed to the agency – thus report to the agency heads or their designees, not to me or anyone else at USDS,” she wrote. “In some instances, members of agency DOGE Teams are detailees from USDS to the agency. Where USDS detailees are assigned to an agency DOGE Team and acting in their capacity as a detailee to the DOGE Team, they are supervised by personnel of the agency to which they are detailed,” she added. Gleason has been described by former colleagues as “world-class talent” who frequently works long hours and is apolitical. DOGE’S PLANS TO OFFLOAD GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS SUPPORTED BY FORMER GSA OFFICIAL DOGE has saved an estimated $115 billion in government spending in the form of workforce reductions, contract cancellations, regulatory savings and other initiatives, according to its website. Trump has touted DOGE’s work repeatedly in public remarks, including rattling off a list of government grants that were axed since his inauguration during his first address to a joint session of Congress earlier this month. “Forty-five million dollars for diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships in Burma,” Trump said as he provided examples of federal waste on March 4 after thanking Musk and DOGE for its work. “Forty million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. Nobody knows what that is. Eight million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of. Sixty million dollars for indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment in Central America. Sixty million. Eight million for making mice transgender.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Democrats and federal employees have railed against DOGE since the investigations and mass terminations at various agencies got underway following Trump’s inauguration, including staging protests outside federal buildings in Washington, D.C., and specifically protesting Musk for his involvement with DOGE.
Houthis post cryptic video of American flag-draped coffins
Houthi rebels in Yemen posted an animation online that depicted American flag-draped coffins floating near destroyed Navy ships. “These terrorists really cannot tell the difference between delusions and reality,” Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), said in a post on X along with the Houthi animation. The animation starts out with somber music and depicts a coffin draped in an American flag floating in water, then slowly zooms out to reveal dozens of similar flag-draped coffins floating away from destroyed warships. TRUMP ANNOUNCES ‘DECISIVE AND POWERFUL’ AIRSTRIKES AGAINST HOUTHI TERRORISTS IN YEMEN The animation comes after President Donald Trump ordered “decisive and powerful” airstrikes against Houthi terrorists in Yemen on Saturday, arguing on Truth Social that the group has “waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.” “It has been over a year since a U.S.-flagged commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Aden,” Trump said in the post. “The last American Warship to go through the Red Sea, four months ago, was attacked by the Houthis over a dozen times…. These relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk.” “To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” The White House on Sunday released photos of Trump watching the strikes on the Iran-backed terrorist group along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security advisor Mike Waltz. TRUMP WATCHES STRIKE ON IRAN-BACKED HOUTHIS IN YEMEN IN NEW WHITE HOUSE PICS AS LARGE-SCALE OP CONTINUES “President Trump is taking action against the Houthis to defend US shipping assets and deter terrorist threats,” the White House wrote in a post on X. “For too long American economic & national threats have been under assault by the Houthis. Not under this presidency.” U.S. Central Command said in a statement Saturday that it “initiated a series of operations consisting of precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets across Yemen to defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation.” Meanwhile, the Houthi-run Health Ministry in Yemen told the Associated Press that the strikes killed at least 31 people. Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
‘Unimaginable loss’: North Macedonia reels from deadly nightclub fire
A fire tore through a nightclub in the eastern town of Kocani in North Macedonia, killing 59 people, according to the country’s interior minister. More than 100 people were also wounded in the fire early on Sunday in the “Club Pulse”, Interior Minister Pance Toskovsk said. Toskovski said the fire was probably caused by the use of pyrotechnic devices “used for light effect at the concert”. As they were set off, “the sparks caught the ceiling, which was made of easily flammable material, after which the fire rapidly spread across the whole discotheque, creating thick smoke,” he said. The establishment had been packed with more than 1,000 mostly young fans to see a popular hip-hop duo called DNK. Helicopters ferried some of the injured to hospitals in the capital Skopje, some 100km (62 miles) to the west. Twenty-seven of them were admitted to the Naum Ohridski clinic, a doctor at the facility, Nebojsa Nastov, told online media outlet SDK. In September 2021, a major fire killed 14 people at a unit for COVID-19 patients in the northwestern town of Tetovo. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Roadside nets aim to thwart Russian drone attacks in Ukraine
NewsFeed Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford reports on the method being used to stop Russian drones from attacking Ukrainian vehicles near the border, not far from the Russian region of Kursk where fierce fighting is ongoing. Published On 16 Mar 202516 Mar 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Video: Israeli attacks kill Palestinians in Gaza as ceasefire talks stall
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Aid workers and a journalist were among some of the latest victims of Israeli attacks in Gaza.