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Rabbits are sprouting virus-induced "horns" in Colorado. Here's why scientists say there's no reason to panic.

A group of rabbits in Colorado with grotesque, hornlike growths may seem straight out of a low-budget horror film, but scientists say there's no reason to be spooked — the furry creatures merely have a relatively common virus.

The cottontails recently spotted in Fort Collins are infected with the mostly harmless Shope papillomavirus, which causes wart-like growths that protrude from their faces like metastasizing horns.

Viral photos have inspired a fluffle of unflattering nicknames, including "Frankenstein bunnies," "demon rabbits" and "zombie rabbits." But their affliction is nothing new, with the virus inspiring ancient folklore and fueling scientific research nearly 100 years ago.

The virus likely influenced the centuries-old jackalope myth in North America, which told of a rabbit with antlers or horns, among other animal variations. The disease in rabbits also contributed to scientists' knowledge about the connection between viruses and cancer, such as the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer.

The virus in rabbits was named after Dr. Richard E Shope, a professor at The Rockefeller University who discovered the disease in cottontails in the 1930s.

News about the rabbit sightings in Fort Collins, 65 miles north of Denver, started getting attention after residents started spotting them around town and posting pictures.

"It looks like it was black quills or black toothpicks sticking out all around his or her mouth," Susan Mansfield, a Fort Collins resident who saw one of the rabbits, told 9News. "I thought he would die off during the winter, but he didn't. He came back a second year, and it grew."

Kara Van Hoose, a spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the agency has been getting calls about the rabbits seen in Fort Collins.

But she said that it's not uncommon to see infected rabbits, especially in the summer, when the fleas and ticks that spread the virus are most active. The virus can spread from rabbit to rabbit but not to other species, including humans and pets, she said.

Shocking footage shows illegal-migrant driver make outrageous rogue U-turn, killing 3: officials

Terrifying video shows the moment a minivan ploughed into a tractor-trailer making an outrageous rogue U-turn on a Florida highway last week — with all three people in the van killed and the truck’s illegal-migrant driver charged with homicide.

The roadway horror happened around 3 p.m. Tuesday on the Florida Turnpike near Fort Pierce when the tractor-trailer driven by suspect Harjinder Singh made a hard left turn across the highway and attempted to cross the median through an “Official Use Only” pass, authorities said.

The truck’s trailer blocked all lanes of oncoming traffic as it nosed over the median — with footage from inside its cab showing a black minivan driving toward it with no time to stop and nowhere to turn to avoid a collision.
Within seconds, the minivan slammed into the trailer at full speed and became wedged underneath.

Photos from the wreck showed the minivan obliterated — with its contents strewn across the highway after apparently bursting from the van’s side, while the roof was shorn back and crumpled over the trunk in a twisted mess of metal.

Inside the truck’s cab, Singh appeared completely unaffected by the violence unfolding on the highway.

He looked out the cab window and watched as the minivan flew down the highway into the trailer, and when it collided and the truck was sent shuddering, his face remained unchanged as he calmly put his vehicle into park and turned the engine off.

Additional footage from alongside the truck after the wreck — as rescue crews used jacks to lift the trailer from the van and extricate the passengers’ remains — showed Singh standing by and watching the operation with his arms at his side and no expression on his face.

Two passengers in the minivan were killed instantly, while the driver clung to life and was pulled from the wreck. The driver was later declared dead at a nearby hospital.

The victims’ names have not been released, but were confirmed to be a 37-year-old Pompano Beach woman, a 30-year-old Florida City man and a 54-year-old Miami man, Treasure Coast Newspapers reported.

Singh was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and is in Florida custody.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer also was put out for him after it was determined that he’d been in the US illegally since 2018, when he crossed into the country over the Mexican border, CBS12 reported.

It remains unclear what country Singh is originally from.

He had been driving with a California commercial driver’s license.

If found guilty of homicide, Singh will likely serve his sentence in Florida and then be deported.

“Three people lost their lives as a result of his recklessness, and countless friends and family members will experience the pain of their loss forever,” said the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ executive director, Dave Kerner.

“Harjinder Singh is in custody on state vehicular homicide charges and immigration violations. He will no longer be able to damage and destroy the lives of Floridians and visitors,” he added, according to CBS 12.

California trucker accused of causing deadly crash extradited to Florida

A truck driver from the California city of Stockton, who is at the center of a major case getting national attention, has been extradited back to Florida.

Harjinder Singh is accused of making an illegal U-turn, causing a crash in Florida that killed three people. He was held at the San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp in California's Central Valley.

Florida's new Lieutenant Governor, Jay Collins, flew to California on Wednesday to pick up Singh and bring him back to Florida to face charges. On Thursday, Singh was guided onto a plane at the Stockton airport by Collins and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis confirmed the plan in a statement, saying, "We're going to extradite him back to Florida and throw the book at him."

Singh, an Indian national, entered the U.S. illegally in 2018. After the deadly crash on August 12, he returned to California and was arrested four days later by U.S. Marshals.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said this move by Florida is all for show.

"Florida let a murder suspect walk. California arrested him. Now, Florida wants a photo-op picking him up," a spokesperson for Newsom's office said.

The governor's office also mentioned California's sanctuary law, SB-54, which prevents local police from handing people over to immigration authorities if they don't have a criminal history.

In a news conference Thursday morning, Collins questioned how Singh was able to drive a commercial vehicle and said Singh answered three of the 16 questions officers asked him at the scene in Florida.

"He fled here because of the failed policies, these open border nonsense," Collins said. "The fact that you want to be a sanctuary state here because Gavin Newsom fails to understand his own citizens and the American citizens have given President Donald J Trump a mandate. Gov. Ron DeSantis has led on this. That gentleman, that thug, fled back here because he knew those policies would defend him."

San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow said that Singh had no criminal record before this crash. Withrow said it's still unclear whether the crash was an accident or intentional.

Trump demands Fed Governor Lisa Cook resign amid mortgage fraud allegations

President Trump on Wednesday called on Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to resign on the basis of allegations made by one of his political allies about mortgages she holds in Michigan and Georgia, intensifying his effort to gain influence over the central bank.

Cook said she had “no intention of being bullied to step down” from her position at the central bank after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte raised the allegations in a tweet.

“I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts,” she said in a statement.

Trump has also told aides he is considering attempting to fire her, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a senior White House official and another person familiar with the matter. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Trump has also told aides he is considering trying to fire Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Fed board, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a senior White House official and another person familiar with the matter. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

The White House declined to comment on the WSJ report.

Pulte alleged in a post on X earlier on Wednesday that Cook had designated a condo in Atlanta as her primary residence after taking a loan on her home in Michigan, which she also declared as a primary residence. Pulte told CNBC he is also probing property Cook has in Massachusetts.

Loans for a primary residence can carry easier terms than for second homes or investment properties. Pulte said the loans date to mid-2021, before Cook was appointed to the Fed by former President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate the following year.

She is a native of Georgia and at the time was an economics professor at Michigan State University.

Pulte asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate, and Trump quickly amplified the allegation. The Justice Department was taking the matter very seriously, a department official told Reuters.

Outraged passenger attacks Southwest Airlines gate agent, bashes computer in wild Orlando airport meltdown

A woman erupted in a temper tantrum and attacked a Southwest Airlines gate agent, smashing a computer and kicking him after missing multiple flights, video of the freak-out shows.

The outraged traveler had an epic meltdown at Orlando International Airport last Thursday after she failed to make the standby list for three consecutive flights, according to witness Peyton Turberville, who filmed the ordeal.

“She tried to get in through the gate after it closed and they asked her to stop,” Turbeville told Storyful.

Video shows the unidentified woman approach the desk repeatedly screaming “Are you kidding me?” at a desk agent in a pink shirt, who calmly asks her to back away.

She then kicks the man in pink.

“Ooh that’s assault,” Turberville can be heard saying from behind the camera.

She walks away, incoherently rambling before she walks back towards the desk and bashes the computer, causing bystanders to gasp.
“Two flights wasted!” she yells. “Three planes! After 45 minutes!”

The man in the pink shirt walks away from the woman, who tries to rally witnesses to “call the police.”

She then walks back over to the desk, winds up and throws a punch at the computer monitor, knocking it to the ground.

The woman follows the desk agent around as he tries to avoid her before she gives up and walks away.

Shocking video shows CEO with service dog being knocked out by illegal Russian Uber driver

A Russian Uber driver working illegally in the US was caught on camera head-butting a South Carolina CEO as he held his service dog, leaving the knocked-out rider with a brain injury, according to the victim and a new lawsuit.

Charleston-based CEO Bryan Kobel, 45, canceled a ride home from a French restaurant, Maison, in April because the driver refused to take his service dog, Kobel told The Post on Thursday.

Disturbing surveillance footage shows the driver — identified as Vadim Uliumdzhiev, 42 — suddenly marching over and knocking out Kobel as he holds his 17-pound golden doodle in the parking lot.

“The next thing I know, I’m waking up in a hospital bed with seven staples in my head and four stitches,” Kobel said. “It’s been a brutal experience to this day.”

Kobel, who is the CEO of a biotech company, suffered a concussion, amnesia, and scarring— and soon learned from cops the driver had gotten the Uber job with a fake license, he said.

“Uber has to take more accountability for its drivers,” he said. “They’re opening the door to mayhem.”

Kobel said he had just asked the driver if his service dog was allowed in the car and the driver responded “no.”

When he told the driver to cancel the ride, in an interaction Kobel described as “innocuous,” the driver attacked him — and his memory went black, Kobel said.

An onlooker is shown in footage snapping a photo of Uliumdzhiev’s driver’s plate, and a dramatic 911 call ensued.

Trump admin to review all 55 million US legal immigrants to see if they should be deported

The Trump administration will begin reviewing all 55 million US visa holders to see if any have committed deportable offenses.

Any immigrants holding US visas found with “indicators of overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organization” will have their permits to live in the US revoked and be deported, the State Department announced Thursday.

State Department representatives told the Associated Press all US visa holders are subject to “continuous vetting” intended to identify deportable offenses.

“We review all available information as part of our vetting, including law enforcement or immigration records or any other information that comes to light after visa issuance indicating a potential ineligibility,” the department said.

The announcement comes as the Trump administration has begun cracking down on the visa system, with particular scrutiny cast on the nation’s student visa holders.

Since Trump took office in January, 6,000 student visas have been revoked – with about 4,000 being taken from international students who broke the law.
And the “vast majority” of those people had committed crimes like driving under the influence, burglary or assault, a State Department official previously told The Post.

Upwards of 300 were revoked after holders were found to harbor “support for terrorism” – which the State Department said included “raising funds for the militant group Hamas.”

“Every single student visa revoked under the Trump Administration has happened because the individual has either broken the law or expressed support for terrorism while in the United States,” a State Department official told Fox News.

That crackdown is part of a wider move by President Trump to target illegal immigrants in the US – which has resulted in the first drop in immigrant populations the country has seen in 50 years.

Trump’s massive $500M civil fraud fine in AG Tish James’ case thrown out by NY appeals court

President Trump won a huge, symbolic victory Thursday when a New York appeals court threw out the more than $500 million fine he owed in Attorney General Letitia James’ business fraud case.

The Appellate Division, First Department, overturned the whopping $464 million judgment against Trump, 79, but upheld a finding that the real estate tycoon-turned-president engaged in fraud by exaggerating his net worth for decades.

“I had a victory today. You know, they stole $550 million from me with a fake case, and it was overturned,” Trump told dozens of law enforcement officers later Thursday during a visit related to his crime crackdown in Washington, DC.

But the case, stemming from a civil suit brought by James’ office, still remains in place and will now go to New York’s highest court as the legal battle between the state’s top lawyer and the commander in chief continues.

The 323-page decision included three separate opinions, but three of the five judges agreed the fine against Trump — which had grown to $515 million including interest — was “excessive.”

“While the injunctive relief ordered by the court is well crafted to curb defendants’ business culture, the court’s disgorgement order, which directs that defendants pay nearly half a billion dollars to the State of New York, is an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” the main opinion by Judges Dianne T. Renwick and Peter H. Moulton read.

Still, the five-judge panel kept in place a ban on Trump and his two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, from running a company in New York for several years. And the ruling kept in place an order for an outside monitor to oversee and file reports on the Trump Organization’s business dealings for three years.

Those parts of the ruling had been on hold while the appeal was decided. And Trump posted a $175 million bond in place of paying the entire judgment during the appeal process.

The interest and fines against everyone in the case — including Don Jr. and Eric, and other Trump Org. execs — have ballooned to over $527 million since the February 2024 ruling from Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron.

Thursday’s decision was a blow to James — whose office prosecuted Trump — and to Engoron, as at least two appellate judges found Engoron made “errors” in his rulings on the case.

James accused Trump and others of carrying out a “staggering fraud” by inflating his net worth by billions of dollars over a decade to get better loan and insurance terms. But the Republican commander-in-chief maintained his innocence, claiming that he was a target of the AG’s politically motivated prosecution.

Trump lauded the ruling in two lengthy posts on Truth Social, repeating claims that the case was a “political witch hunt.”

“TOTAL VICTORY in the FAKE New York State Attorney General Letitia James Case!,” Trump posted. “I greatly respect the fact that the Court had the Courage to throw out this unlawful and disgraceful Decision that was hurting Business all throughout New York State.”

James, in her own statement, glossed over the fact that the judgment was vacated, also playing the decision off as a victory.

“The First Department today affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court; Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud.”

James said her office would appeal.

The five-judge panel was starkly divided on various issues. Two of the judges found James’ suit was valid and that she proved Trump committed fraud but felt the fine against him was too harsh.

Trump tells deployed feds, cops that ‘spotless’ DC will be ‘best in the world’ after his crime crackdown

President Trump told dozens of law enforcement officers Thursday that his crime crackdown in Washington, DC, was having “incredible results” and that the capital would soon be “spotless” and the “best in the world.”

“It’s like a different city. It’s the capital and it’s going to be the best in the world,”  Trump said during a visit to a Park Police operations center in the high-crime Anacostia neighborhood.

“We’re going to do what you’re doing with law enforcement, and very importantly, also, we’re going to physically do it,” he said, describing plans to resurface city roadways and plant new grass in parks.

“You do the job on safety, and I’ll get this place fixed up physically. And we’re going to be so proud of it at the end of six months — but let’s say at the end of a year, this place will be maxed out in terms of beauty,” he said.

“They’re going to say, ‘Boy, this place is spotless.'”

The president presented the group with a dinner of hamburgers, which he said were cooked at the White House and recommended, and pizza from “a good place,” which was revealed to be Wise Guy Pizza.

Local Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers were present for the hastily scheduled appearance, as were members of the National Guard and various federal agencies, including the US Marshals, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Homeland Security Investigations.

“We’re not playing games. We’re going to make it safe, and we’re going to then go on to other places, but we’re going to stay here for a while,” the president said.

Trump last Monday asserted federal control over the MPD, citing high-profile recent crimes and allegations of data falsification involving police records. He also mobilized the National Guard and ordered hundreds of federal agents to help drive down crime.

His takeover has yielded tepid pushback from Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, and her Police Chief Pamela Smith, with both complying with Trump’s directives and saying they welcomed help to reduce violence while disagreeing with the loss of local control.

Federal agents have made 630 arrests, including apprehending 251 suspected illegal immigrants, since Aug. 7, according to figures shared Thursday by the White House. The force has seized 86 illegal guns.

“We want to make this absolutely perfect,” Trump told the law enforcement officers enforcing his orders.

“It’s our capital, and I guess it used to be, many years ago, safe, but it’s certainly not at a very good run — and you’ve got to be strong, you’ve got to be tough, you got to do your job, whatever it takes to do your job.

“Frankly, you make the whole place run,” Trump told the officers.

Villanova victim of ‘cruel’ active shooter ‘hoax’ that sends terrified new students, families scrambling during move-in, mass

The active shooting reported at Villanova University on Thursday afternoon that sparked pandemonium during new student move-in was a “cruel hoax,” the school’s president said in a statement to the campus community. 

Students and visitors, including many families helping their children get settled, had been directed to shelter in place following what turned out to be a false alarm, according to the Radnor Township Police Department.

An alert from the university ordered everyone to stay away from the Law School Scarpa Hall, located on the West Campus near nine residence halls and a dining hall, according to a campus map.

“Today, as we are celebrating Orientation Mass to welcome our newest Villanovans and their families to our community, panic and terror ensued with the news of a possible shooter at the Law School,” University President Rev. Peter Donohue wrote.

“Mercifully, no one was injured, and we now know that it was a cruel hoax–there was no active shooter, no injuries and no evidence of firearms present on campus. While that is a blessing and relief, I know today’s events have shaken our entire community,” Donohue continued.

The false report was sparked by a 911 call claiming that there was an active shooter and one deceased victim, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said.

Shortly after sending out the all-clear email to campus, Donohue spoke to the community outside a campus building.

The false report was one of many called in across the country, including to the King of Prussia mall just five minutes away from campus, Donohue said.

Alarming videos posted to X showed frantic students and families running for their lives and toppling over chairs during an outdoor mass that was being held to welcome the new students.

Thursday was the first day of new student orientation, according to the university calendar.

The law school’s orientation started Tuesday and concluded with a picnic held with the alumni association Thursday afternoon, according to posts on X.

UKRAINE WAR

Russia launches largest strike on Ukraine in weeks following Trump’s call with Putin — as war’s civilian death toll nears 13,000

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin ordered the largest drone strike on Ukraine in a month on Monday night — just as he hung up the phone with President Trump in a call discussing next steps for peace.

As Trump celebrated his significant progress toward ending Russia’s war on Ukraine in White House meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders on Monday, Moscow launched 270 drones and 10 missiles into the war-torn neighbor’s territory.

It came after at least 14 civilians were killed and more than 50 others were injured in a similar Russian strike ahead of the Monday meeting.

Among the dead was an entire family, including two children — ages one and 15 — their parents and grandmother, according to the Ukrainian government. They were at home in Kharkiv — roughly 15 miles from the Russian border — in the middle of the night when the fatal blast happened.

“An ordinary apartment block … families with small children, a children’s playground, a residential compound,” neighbor Olena Yakusheva told Reuters on Monday while fighting back tears.

That assault added to the war’s already horrifying death toll of nearly 13,000 civilians — including 569 children — since Russia invaded in February 2022, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office data shared with The Post.

Put in perspective, that’s more than four times the civilian toll of the Sept. 11, 2011 attacks.

”Several children were killed,” Zelensky’s top advisor Andriy Yermak told The Post on Monday. “How is that possible if [Putin] sat and committed to Trump: ‘Yes, I am ready for peace.’”

”[Putin] is a liar — a professional liar,” he added.

Trump has previously expressed frustration over Putin launching aerial attacks hours after promising the US president of his desire for peace, but he had not spoken out about the latest attack as of Tuesday afternoon.

“I go home, I tell the first lady, ‘You know, I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.’ She said, ‘Oh, really? Another city was just hit,’” he said in July, recounting a call earlier this summer.

“We get a lot of bulls–t thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” he said another time.

Last month was the deadliest since Putin launched his full-scale war on Ukraine three and a half years ago. In July alone, 286 civilians were killed and another 1,388, according to official data.

Ukrainian children captured and ‘brainwashed’ by Russia in preparation for war tell how they escaped

Ukrainian teenager Vladyslav Rudenko’s life was upended when Russian soldiers blasted into his home in Kherson in October 2022.

The menacing, black balaclava-clad troops said he had 30 minutes to pack whatever he could carry then ripped him from his family — he was 16 at the time.

It was nine months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Rudenko was forced onto one of several buses filled with Ukrainian children.

The military drove them to a camp in Crimea known as Druzhba — “Friendship” in both Ukrainian and Russian — populated by some 600 Ukrainian children and teenagers who were there to be re-educated.

The forced recruits were told to discard anything that would identify them as Ukrainian. One girl wore a T-shirt stamped with the words “Glory to Ukraine,” Rudenko told The Post.

She refused to take it off, so the Russian soldiers cut it off her, according to Rudenko.

At the re-education camp, teenagers were subjected to Russian propaganda videos and had to swear allegiance every morning to the Russian flag.

When Rudenko refused to cooperate, he was stuck in a dark cell and force-fed pills “to calm me down.”

Later, the soldiers sent Rudenko to a military camp where he learned to use weapons and drive a tank.

He was offered a Russian passport, education at a Russian university and Russian citizenship.

“They were trying to bribe me,” he said, adding that he is currently in therapy after suffering “emotional and psychological pressure to switch sides.”

Before he was scheduled to go to the front, Rudenko was allowed to call his mother, who had been working with the non-profit Save Ukraine to help him.

For security reasons, he says he cannot reveal how he was rescued, but is now back in Ukraine in what he described as “a very stable” environment.

The Russians offered him a Russian passport, education at a Russian university and Russian citizenship.

Kremlin’s new demands threaten to derail peace talks with Ukraine as Trump tries to seal Putin-Zelensky meeting

While President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky work to set up a bilateral Russia-Ukraine summit, Moscow is making new demands that could cancel out the White House’s recent successes in seeking an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Moscow’s latest foot-dragging includes demands for veto power over security guarantees the US and Europe would provide Kyiv — and specific conditions for a summit between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.

Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed Wednesday that Kremlin tyrant Vladimir Putin only agreed to thinking about “raising the level of heads of delegations” from previous talks in Istanbul — if certain requirements are met.

The talks would have to be “honest,” Lavrov said, adding that a one-on-one showdown between Putin and Zelensky would have to be a “period” at the end of talks, and not “make negotiations worse.”

The demands blunt the impact of two major wins Trump achieved in his back-to-back meetings with Putin in Alaska on Friday and with Zelensky and top European leaders at the White House on Monday.

US allies celebrated Trump’s proclamation that he had gotten Putin to finally agree to an in-person meeting with Zelensky, as well as agreement on the presence of “NATO-like” forces in Ukraine to enforce terms of a possible peace deal.

Trump, 79, and Zelensky, 47, want Putin, 72, to meet with Kyiv’s president for talks in a matter of weeks and have discussed possible locations for such a summit.

Lavrov also said Wednesday Russia wants one aspect of conversations with Ukraine to include the “political” aspects of any deal, but did not clarify what he meant.

How Kyiv responds to the mystery proposal — which Lavrov said Trump would relay — will be an “important step” to bringing about a meeting of more senior Russian leaders with their Ukrainian counterparts and settling “key questions,” the Russian foreign affairs minister claimed.

Trump rules out putting ‘American boots on the ground’ in Ukraine

President Trump ruled out sending US military forces to Ukraine as part of any US security guarantees to the war-torn nation, but suggested he would provide some form of air protection.

Trump insisted that the American public has “my assurance” when pressed in an interview on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning that there “won’t be American boots on the ground defending that border” in Ukraine.

“Well, you have my assurance,” the president replied. “I’m president and I’m just trying to stop people from being killed.”

Trump asserted that the US would support the Europeans in providing Ukraine with security, hinting that much of that support would be from air power.

“We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you could talk about by air, because nobody has the kind of stuff we have,” he said.
He noted that the Europeans will likely have boots on the ground in Ukraine.

“They want to have boots on the ground,” Trump said of European allies. “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem, to be honest with you, I think Putin is tired of it [the war]. I think they’re all tired of it. But you never know. We’re going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks.”

“We’re going to see where it all goes. It’s possible that he [Putin] doesn’t want to make a deal,” he added.

Ukraine has long demanded security guarantees to deter Russia from possible future invasions.

Top Trump administration officials, including special envoy Steve Witkoff, have publicly claimed that Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin has agreed to a NATO-like arrangement where countries would agree to defend Ukraine.

On Monday, however, the Russian Foreign Ministry seemingly pumped the brakes on the idea of NATO participants providing guarantees to Ukraine.

“We reaffirm our repeatedly stated position on our categorical rejection of any scenarios that envisage the appearance in Ukraine of a military contingent with the participation of NATO countries, which is fraught with an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict with unpredictable consequences,” the foreign ministry said, Russian state media RIA reported, per a translation.

I wonder if Trump can keep that promise after what happened in Mukachevo...

Russian missiles hit US-owned factory in Ukraine days after Trump-led peace talks

A massive Russian airstrike hit a US-owned electronics factory in Ukraine early Thursday while some 800 civilians were working there.

The Flex Ltd. plant in Mukachevo, a city hundreds of miles from the front line, was engulfed in flames after being hit by two Russian Kalibr cruise missiles around 4:30 a.m., according to Ukrainian officials.

The factory was not involved in the war and was just one casualty as “hundreds of drones, as well as hypersonic, ballistic, and cruise missiles, targeted civilian and energy infrastructure” in the latest Russian bombardment, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andriy Sybiha, wrote on X.

“One of the missiles hit a major American electronics plant in our westernmost region, causing severe damage and casualties. This is a completely civilian facility with no connection to defense or the military,” he added.

Dramatic photos and videos shared on social media show huge plumes of black smoke rising from the damaged plant.

Some 800 night-shift employees were on site at the time, but had been moved to designated shelters once an air raid siren sounded, according to reports.

At least 15 people were wounded in the strikes on Mukachevo, which is close to the borders with Hungary and Slovakia.

“This was an ordinary civilian facility with American investment,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in condemning the attack. “They produced everyday household items, such as coffee machines.”

Flex Ltd. is a Singaporean-American multinational manufacturing company with headquarters in Singapore and Austin, Texas.

The plant, which opened 13 years ago, employs more than 2,600 people and spans nearly 600,000 square feet.

It specializes in making plastic molding along with components for electrical equipment, coffee machines, printer cartridges, electronic price tags, and other products, Ukrainian outlet Dev.ua reports.

This marks the first Russian strike on Mukachevo since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Russia hit Ukraine with 574 drones and decoys, along with 40 missiles, on Wednesday night, mostly targeting western regions close to the European Union borders.

Russian drone crashes into field in latest ‘provocation’ from Kremlin, Poland says

A Russian drone crashed in a field in eastern Poland, according to early findings, Polish officials said on Wednesday, in an incident the nation’s defense minister described as a provocation.

The drone hit and scorched a cornfield in the village of Osiny in the eastern Lublin province overnight, just over 62 miles from the Ukrainian border and around 55 miles from Belarus.

Poland has been on high alert for objects entering its airspace since a stray Ukrainian missile struck a southern Polish village in 2022, killing two people.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Pawel Wronski told Reuters that the findings so far and some experts have suggested a Russian version of the Shahed drone developed by Iran was involved in the latest incident.

General Dariusz Malinowski said the drone appeared to be a decoy which was designed to self-destruct. He said it had a Chinese engine.

Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, who also serves as defense minister, said the incident bore similarities to cases in which Russian drones flew into Lithuania and Romania, and could be linked to efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

“Once again, we are dealing with a provocation by the Russian Federation, with a Russian drone. We are dealing with it in a crucial moment, when discussions about peace (in Ukraine) are underway,” he told journalists.

Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on X his ministry would issue a protest against the airspace violation but did not name the perpetrator.

“Another violation of our airspace from the East confirms that Poland’s most important mission towards NATO is the defense of our own territory.”

The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

U.S. President Donald Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a group of European allies in the White House on Monday, following his meeting on Friday in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The blast shattered windows in several homes, but nobody was injured, national news agency PAP reported.

Police said they found burnt metal and plastic debris at the site and that corn had been burnt in an area of roughly 26-33 ft in diameter around the spot where the object fell.

NATO scrambles warplanes as Russia hits near Romanian border in Ukraine

Two German warplanes were scrambled overnight from Romania after Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack in Ukraine less than a mile from the NATO borderline.

Romania’s Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday that two German Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, stationed at Romania's Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base as part of NATO's Enhanced Air Policing mission, were deployed "to monitor the air situation," but noted that this time no Russian aircraft or projectiles crossed the NATO border.

Despite last week’s talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, Moscow has continued its aerial bombardment of Ukraine, including in an overnight attack that targeted oil and port facilities in the Odesa region on and near the Danube River, which separates the Ukrainian border with the allied NATO nation of Romania.

The deployment of NATO jets comes after numerous incidents in recent weeks have increasingly threatened, and even crossed, NATO borders as the U.S. and Europe continue to push for Russia to end its war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported early on Wednesday that more than 60 drones and ballistic missiles were fired across Ukraine overnight, including the northeastern region of Sumy, where a drone strike injured 14 people — though Ukraine’s Air Force later increased the number of overnight drone strikes to 93, and noted that 62 of the Shahed-style drones were intercepted, as well as one ballistic missile.

"A family with wounded children — 5 months, 4 years, and 6 years old — sought assistance after the attack," Zelenskyy said.

A glide bomb in Donetsk damaged five apartment buildings, and three people were still trapped under the rubble as of Wednesday morning.

"The rescue operation continues," Zelenskyy added, though he did not confirm how many others were injured in the strikes.

"All of these are demonstrative strikes that only confirm the need to put pressure on Moscow, the need to impose new sanctions and tariffs until diplomacy is fully effective," Zelenskyy said on X. "I thank all partners who are helping to stop this Russian war. Together with the United States, Europe, and all those who seek peace.

North Korea’s top officers abruptly pulled out of Russia — and what this could mean for Ukraine peace talks

More than a dozen of North Korea’s top military officers are returning home from Russia, suggesting Pyongyang’s contribution to the war in Ukraine could take a back seat during the ongoing peace talks, according to a new report.

The North Korean commanders, including Col. Gen. Kim Yong Bok and Maj. Gen. Sin Kum Chol, appeared suddenly in a welcome-home ceremony with leader Kim Jong Un praising their accomplishments in taking back Russia’s Kursk region, according to reports from Pyongyang on Thursday.

The generals’ return is likely a signal that Russia is confident it can keep Kursk and fend off any Ukrainian counterattack, all while avoiding questions about Pyongyang’s involvement in the war, Michael Madden, a North Korea expert at the Stimson Center think tank, told the Wall Street Journal.

“The North Koreans shouldn’t be a bone of contention at the negotiating table as they are operating on Russian territory,” Madden noted.

North Korea had deployed around 12,000 troops to Russia to help Moscow retake the Kursk region, where Ukraine had mounted a successful counter-invasion last summer.

The Pyongyang fighters have remained solely on Russian soil, allowing the deployment of the foreign fighters to be framed as part of the two nations’ mutual-defense pact.

Both Russia and North Korea had remained silent about the presence of Pyongyang troops in Russia for months until footage aired this spring of Kim and his entourage holding a tribute for all the soldiers slain in the war.

During the welcome-home ceremony, Kim was seen happily greeting his returning generals and giving them hugs as he touted their victory.

“Ours is a heroic army,” Kim said, according to KCNA state media.

Trump defends Ukraine’s attack on Russia with sports analogy: ‘Interesting times ahead!!!’

President Trump insisted Thursday that Ukraine has the right to strike inside Russia as it attempts to fend off Moscow’s 41-month-old invasion.

“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders [sic] country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offensive. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president was likely referring to Ukraine’s recent strikes on Russian oil refineries.

A facility in Rostov Oblast, near the border with Ukraine, was set ablaze overnight after being hit with an apparent drone strike.

Ukraine also invaded Russia’s Kursk region in 2024, and successfully hit air bases deep inside Kremlin territory with a secret drone attack called “Operation Spiderweb” in June.

Trump had supported Ukraine’s counteroffensive on Kursk back in August of 2024, telling The Post at the time that the Ukrainians had to fight.

“Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND defend. How did that work out? Regardless, this is a war that would have NEVER happened if I were President – ZERO CHANCE. Interesting times ahead!!! President DJT,” Trump went on in Thursday’s lengthy post.

Meanwhile, the president has fiercely condemned Russia’s strikes on civilians after Moscow launched 614 aerial munitions overnight, despite Trump’s recent efforts to secure a peace deal.

Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on Monday in an effort to  work out a strategy to end the war, which he pledged to do during last year’s presidential campaign.

The US president met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, face-to-face for the first time since 2019 in Alaska on Friday for what the White House described as a “listening session.”

Now, Trump is attempting to coordinate a bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

NATO defense chiefs stress commitment to Ukraine, discuss security guarantees during virtual summit

The NATO Chiefs of Defense reaffirmed support for Ukraine in a virtual meeting Wednesday in Brussels that included all 32 allied military leaders and featured the first briefing in this format led by US Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the new Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine attended the meeting virtually, along with Grynkewich, who also leads US European Command, US officials confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday.

NATO officials said in a statement that the “candid discussion” centered on what security guarantees the alliance might provide Ukraine as part of a potential peace agreement to end Russia’s three-year war.

Col. Martin O’Donnell, spokesperson for Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, wrote on X that “the Supreme Allied Commander was honored to brief the Chiefs of Defense, his first in such a format. As he has said before, ‘these are consequential times.'”

“NATO has faced important times before — and these have only made our Alliance stronger. As we work through these important issues, we will all stay informed, engaged, and united in the defense of the Euro-Atlantic region and with NATO’s ongoing support to Ukraine as progress towards peace continues,” he added.

The Chair of NATO’s Military Committee also praised the discussions, writing on X that it was a “great, candid discussion among NATO Chiefs of Defence” and an “excellent update on the security environment from our new SACEUR, his first with us.”

The chair added that the meeting confirmed support for Ukraine, emphasizing the alliance’s focus on a “just, credible and durable peace” and praising the “relentless courage” of Ukrainian forces.

EUROPE

Terence Stamp obituary

Terence Stamp, who has died aged 87, was a leading cultural figure of the Swinging Sixties. Despite his extensive and varied work in the decades that followed, the strikingly handsome British actor will always be associated with that exhilarating period, when he was in demand by some of the best directors of the day.

Born in Stepney, east London, Terence was the eldest of five children of Ethel (nee Perrott) and Thomas Stamp, a tugboat captain. He was fortunate that his career began at the time when it helped an actor to have working-class origins. Following Michael Caine, Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay, the cockney Stamp was catapulted into stardom in his early 20s, enjoying all the accoutrements that went with celebrity. This included a romance with Julie Christie, and a three-year relationship with the top fashion model Jean Shrimpton, who made headlines when she left the photographer David Bailey for him.

Stamp spent his early years in the East end until the blitz forced the family to move to Plaistow, then in Essex. As his father was away for long periods in the Merchant Navy, Terence and his siblings were brought up mostly by their mother, grandmother and aunts.

On leaving Plaistow grammar school, Stamp worked in several advertising agencies in London, all the time wanting to be an actor. But, as he recalled: “It wasn’t until I saw James Dean in East of Eden that I began to think that maybe I could actually do this.” He then applied for and won a scholarship to the Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in South Kensington.

He had a spell as assistant stage manager, then actor, with a repertory company in Devon, before making his London stage debut in A Trip to the Castle at the Arts Theatre, in 1960. However, more important, in the same year, was the four-month tour in Willis Hall’s second world war army drama The Long and the Short and the Tall, in which the 21-year-old Stamp played Private Sammy Whitaker, the callow wireless operator, with 27-year-old Caine as the rebellious private “Bammo” Bamforth. The two Londoners struck up a friendship and moved together into a flat.

It was the younger actor who first broke into the big time when Peter Ustinov, looking for a handsome young man to play the title role of the ill-fated seaman in his film version of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd (1962), cast the unknown Stamp, more on the strength of his appearance than his experience.

Ustinov’s gamble paid off because Stamp, whose dark hair was dyed blond for the role, managed to convey the essence of Melville’s stammering angelic innocent, and gain himself a best supporting actor Oscar nomination. At the same time, he was seen in the far-from-angelic part of the school bully in Term of Trial (1962).

In December 1964, Stamp went to Broadway to star in Bill Naughton’s Alfie but, despite good reviews, the play ran for only 21 performances. (Although he was offered the chance to star in the film version of the play, Stamp turned it down, recommending his pal, Caine.)
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Maniac sets fire to Milan airport check-in desk, sending panicked travelers fleeing

A hammer-wielding madman set fire to a check-in desk at one of Italy’s major airports early Wednesday — sending scores of panicked travelers fleeing as thick smoke and flames engulfed the terminal.

The chaotic scene erupted at Milan’s Malpensa airport when the suspect suddenly doused the desk with a flammable liquid and set it ablaze at about 11 a.m. local time, Italian TV station TGLA 7 reported.

Footage shared on social media showed the assailant smashing monitors and nearby information screens as the fire grew.

The maniac, only identified as a 28-year-old born in Mali, was detained after someone struck him on the head with a fire extinguisher and others quickly pinned him to the floor.

Terrified travelers could be seen fleeing the packed terminal as the mayhem unfolded.
It wasn’t immediately clear what sparked the incident.

No injuries were reported, according to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

The terminal was evacuated as first responders extinguished the blaze, and the Lombardy Airports Association warned of ongoing delays.

Algerian man arrested as 4 bodies are found in Paris’ Seine River — year after Olympics controversy

Four dead bodies were found floating in Paris’ infamous Seine River — one year after the Summer Olympics as police announced an arrest in the suspected murders.

The four corpses were first reported by a train passenger who spotted one of the bodies floating in the infamously filthy waterway, which recently re-opened for public swimming for the first time in 100 years, near the French commune of Choisy-le-Roi on Aug. 13.

The gruesome discovery led police to arrest a 24-year-old Algerian man on suspicion of multiple murders, according to French newspaper Le Monde.

Police found the first body, “relatively well-preserved,” and identified the victim as a 40-something-year-old man who lived in the Paris department of Val-de-Marne.

During the investigation, officials horrifically uncovered three additional bodies submerged in the murky waters, according to the outlet.

The three additional corpses were characterized as being in a “very advanced state of decomposition,” the Créteil prosecutor’s office told the newspaper.

“There are three men of African descent and a fourth of North African descent,” Actu17 reported, citing sources.

Two of the bodies showed signs of violence, as one died of strangulation with the other sustaining “violent injuries,” prosecutors revealed Saturday.

Police launched two murder investigations following the discoveries.

LATIN AMERICA

6 severed heads found by side of the road along with chilling message in one of Mexico’s safest regions

Six severed heads have been found by the side of the road in Mexico alongside a chilling message in an area where such brutal violence is rare, Mexican prosecutors said.

The male remains were discovered by a road linking the central Mexican states of Puebla and Tlaxcala, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Alongside the heads was a pamphlet blaming the savage killings on the settling of scores between rival gangs, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

“The State Attorney General’s Office (FGJE) has initiated an investigation into the discovery of six male head limbs near the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala,” the office said as it announced an inquiry into the murders.

“The State Attorney General’s Office will continue the relevant investigations to clarify what happened and hold accountable whoever is found responsible,” the statement concluded.

Both Puebla and Tlaxcala are usually considered among the safest states in Mexico to visit, with the US State Department designating them a Level 2 travel advisory, the second-lowest warning.

Tlaxcala accounts for just 0.5% of the 14,769 intentional homicides recorded in Mexico this year so far, while Puebla accounts for 3.4%, according to official figures.

However, the State Department notes that both states face issues with criminal gangs that move drugs, fuel and humans through central Mexico.

Extreme violence — including decapitation — is usually concentrated around northern and western states along the Pacific coast.

Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro was planning on fleeing to Argentina to seek asylum: police

Brazil’s federal police said that messages found on the telephone of embattled former president Jair Bolsonaro showed that at one point he wanted to flee to Argentina and request political asylum, according to documents seen Wednesday by the Associated Press.

Bolsonaro is currently awaiting a Supreme court ruling about an alleged coup attempt and on Wednesday found out he might face another case as police formally accused him and one of his sons, Eduardo Bolsonaro, of obstruction of justice in connection with his pending trial.

The AP had access to the police investigation, messaging app exchanges, voice messages and reviewed the documents, which were sent to Brazil’s Supreme Court.

The 170-page police report said that Bolsonaro had drafted a request for political asylum from Argentine President Javier Milei’s government dated Feb. 10, 2024. Bolsonaro saved the document two days after authorities searched his home and office as part of an investigation into an alleged coup plot.

In a 33-page letter addressed to Milei, Bolsonaro claimed he was being politically persecuted in Brazil.

“I, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, request political asylum from Your Excellency in the Republic of Argentina, under an urgent regime, as I find myself in a situation of political persecution in Brazil and fear for my life,” the former Brazilian leader wrote.

Argentina’s presidential spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bolsonaro did not make comments about the investigation either.

On Feb. 12, Bolsonaro reportedly spent two nights at the Hungarian Embassy in Brasília, fueling speculation among critics that he may have been attempting to avoid arrest.

Brazilian federal police investigators also said in their report that Bolsonaro’s decision to ignore precautionary measures established for his house arrest and spread content to his allies “sought to directly hit Brazilian democratic institutions, notably the Supreme Court and even Brazil’s Congress.”

With regards to Wednesday’s obstruction of justice accusations, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a lawmaker who has lived in the United States, said in a statement that he “never aimed at interfering in any ongoing proceedings in Brazil.” He added the conversations with his father that are part of the investigation are “absolutely normal” and its publication has a political bias.

I wouldn't blame Bolsonaro for trying to escape from a corrupt judicial system.