The United States said it would give Ukraine a new military aid package worth $200 million as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy traveled to NATO's headquarters in Belgium to press for more support for his war-ravaged country ahead of the onset of the cold season.

"I'm proud that the United States will announce its latest security assistance package for Ukraine, valued at $200 million," U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said alongside Zelenskiy at the opening of a meeting of the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group, also known as the Ramstein format, which consists of some 50 countries that back Kyiv in its war against Russia.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said China will continue to stand on the side of international law, peace and justice, condemning all acts of violence against civilians in Israel's war with Hamas.

The unprecedented militant raid on October 7 claimed over 1,400 lives in Israel and prompted it to declare war, with hundreds of Palestinians now dying daily from retaliatory strikes on Gaza.

"China condemns all acts that harm civilians and opposes any violation of international law," China's top diplomat said, as he met with the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, in Beijing on Friday. Wang Yi said the humanitarian situation in Gaza is "rapidly deteriorating" and already "critical."

Lying Long Island Rep. George Santos surrendered Wednesday as federal prosecutors revealed the charges against him — including that he embezzled $50,000 in campaign money to buy designer clothing and pay personal expenses.

Santos, 34, is also accused of cheating his way to COVID unemployment benefits and lying to Congress on financial disclosure forms in which he claimed to be a millionaire, according to the 13-count indictment against him.

He pleaded not guilty at his first appearance in Central Islip federal court and was released on $500,000 bond.

The openly gay GOP lawmaker — who was elected Nov. 8 to represent New York's 3rd District in Long Island and Queens — made headlines last year after copping to elaborate lies about his education, work experience, and family history before he was voted in. Santos has since been deemed a pariah by other New York Republicans — many of whom have called for him to step down.

The data is out on the CV19 bioweapon vax, and it is crystal clear it did not help a single person. In fact, the CV19 vax is causing massive death and disability, and it will continue for years to come. Catherine Austin Fitts (CAF), Publisher of The Solari Report, financial expert and former Assistant Secretary of Housing (Bush 41 Admin.), says,

"I said literally on the first day way before they had a vaccine, I said don't worry about Covid, worry about the injection. I said that immediately because I could see it coming. The goal of this thing was to get people injected. The other goal was to steal a huge amount of assets, which they did quite successfully. The reality is you can't navigate this unless you can face what it is. It's not a mistake, and it's not betrayal. Somebody is trying to kill you, and your job is to figure out how to make sure they don't. You have to reorganize how you manage your time and how you manage your money where you have disaster capitalists coming at you and can make money from killing you."

(Update1720ET): Hamas has released a hostage 'proof of life' video which is now being widely shared online and reported on, per Israeli media:

The short video shows a young woman, 21-year-old Mia Schem, being treated after she was wounded in her arm, and later speaking to the camera.

Schem was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 while taking part in the desert rave in Kibbutz Re'im, where the gunmen also massacred over 260 festival-goers.

She tells the camera she was operated on for three hours and that "I'm being cared for, I'm getting medications. I'm only asking for me to be returned home as soon as possible, to my family, to my parents, to my siblings. Please get me out of here as soon as possible." Schem's family reacts to the clip, saying: "We're happy."

Boris Johnson was asked if his attitude to Russian civilization has changed since the latest escalation in the conflict began.

Boris Johnson remains an avowed Russophile despite his record of opposing the Russian government, the former British prime minister has told Ukrainian media.

The politician was confronted about his love for Russian culture during an interview with the state news channel Rada TV last week. The host wanted to know whether his attitude to Russians changed "after all that has happened."

'The Committee needs access to that information to evaluate whether our national security has been compromised,' Comer wrote.

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer is concerned that some of the classified documents concealed by President Joe Biden at his Penn Biden Center office and in his Delaware garage contained information about the countries involved in the foreign business deals that enriched the Biden family by millions of dollars during the Obama administration.

In a Monday morning letter, Comer urged Special Counsel Robert Hur to share the documents and testimonies he collected during his investigation of Biden's document scandal with the committee so they can continue their investigation into the first family's apparent pay-for-play scheme.

Hur, first tasked with investigating Biden's improper storage of dozens of recently discovered documents by Attorney General Merrick Garland in January, interviewed Biden about the classified cache on Sunday and Monday of last week.

Former President Donald Trump received a limited gag order in the criminal election interference case in Washington, D.C., blocking him from making statements publicly targeting prosecutors, court staff, or their families, or about witnesses and their testimony.

Federal prosecutors led by special counsel Jack Smith succeeded in federal district court Monday on arguments that Trump should be barred from making statements about possible trial witnesses and others, contending it could prejudice his criminal election interference case. The hearing comes as Trump has refused to relent in his public statements calling the Justice Department "corrupt" and presiding Judge Tanya Chutkan an Obama-appointed "Trump-hating" judge.

"His presidential candidacy does not give him carte blanche to vilify public servants who are simply doing their jobs," Chutkan said of Trump.

The Gates of Gaza

"The attackers came at dawn, quickly occupying the town. The men were separated from the women and shot. One of the attackers, opening the door of one of the homes, found an old man standing there. He shot him. 'He enjoyed shooting him,' an eyewitness to the attack said afterwards.

Soon the town was empty — the entire population of 5,000 had either been killed or expelled, those who survived put on trucks, and driven to Gaza. The empty homes were looted. 'We were very happy,' one of the participants said afterwards. 'If you don't take it, someone else will. You don't feel you have to give it back. They were not coming back.'"

It sounds like a narrative torn from the front pages of today's newspapers, one of many such stories — too many to count — describing the atrocities inflicted on the civilian populations of Israeli towns and Kibbutzes adjacent to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

But it is not. Instead, it is the recollections of Yaakov Sharett, the son of Moshe Sharett, one of the fathers of Israel, a signatory to Israel's Declaration of Independence, and Israel's first Foreign Minister, and second Prime Minister. Yaakov Sharett was recounting the seizure of the Arab town of Bersheeba, in 1948, by Israeli soldiers, during Israel's War of Independence.


Scott Ritter will discuss this article and answer audience questions on Ep. 106 of Ask the Inspector.

The four-month "counteroffensive" by Ukrainian forces has failed to reach any of its objectives, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told the Security Council on Friday.

"For several days now, Russian troops have switched to combat operations, practically along the entire front line. Therefore, we can consider the so-called Ukrainian counteroffensive formally over."

According to the Russian envoy:

"Four months of Ukrainian attacks resulted only in hundreds of units of destroyed Western equipment and tens of thousands of lives of those conscripted by the Kiev regime, most of whom did not want to fight. Some of the lucky ones surrendered and stayed alive."

Ukraine's casualties have amounted to "over 90,000 people," 557 tanks and 1,900 armored vehicles, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed last week at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi.

Nebenzia told the UN Security Council:

"Instead of putting an end to the massacre of Ukrainians on the frontline, the West continues to feed them weapons, like a drug to an addict, thus prolonging his agony. Let me emphasize that Russia is opposed not by the armed forces of Ukraine, whose resources are almost exhausted, but by the collective military machine of the NATO countries and their combined defense industry. The cynicism of our former Western partners is simply amazing."

He referred to the recent statement of Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren that arming Ukraine is "a very cheap way" to confront Russia.