Operation Bear Claw reveals suspects allegedly wore bear costume to commit insurance fraud. Image via California Department of Insurance
(LOS ANGELES) — Four individuals were arrested Wednesday for allegedly attempting to defraud their insurance companies by claiming a bear had damaged their vehicles — when in fact it was a person in a bear costume attacking the cars.
The suspects were all Los Angeles-area residents, according to a statement released Wednesday afternoon by the California Department of Insurance.
The suspects varying in age, were Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale; Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale; Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale; and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village.
The statement said that all four were charged with conspiracy and insurance fraud.
Suspects claimed on Jan. 28, 2024, that a bear entered their 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost and caused interior damage, according to the Department of Insurance. They provided video footage of the incident, stating that it had occurred during their visit to Lake Arrowhead.
Upon reviewing the footage, the Department of Insurance said that it suspected fraud. Officials said that they believed right away that the bear in question was actually a person in a bear costume.
Initiating an investigation — named Operation Bear Claw — the department learned that two other claims had been filed to different insurance companies with similar details: the same location and the same date.
Similar to the claim that originally drew the unit’s attention, the two other reports stated that a bear had attacked their cars: a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350, according to the statement.
Each of the two other claims had submitted video footage as part of their evidence. And in both of those videos, the department said it believed that they were looking at the same bear costume.
However, the department said that it sought an outside opinion on the case before making a final determination. Investigators reached out to a biologist from the California Department of Wildlife, who then independently reviewed the evidence for Operation Bear Claw.
The biologist stated that “it was clearly a human in a bear suit,” according to the statement.
Authorities were able to execute a search warrant for the people involved in the alleged insurance fraud scheme.
Officials confirm that a bear costume was found in one of the suspects’ homes.
At the time of the arrests, officials reported that the insurance companies had already paid out some of the claims, totaling $141,839.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.
Joan Vassos‘ journey as the Golden Bachelorette concluded in a happily ever after on Wednesday night during the show’s finale.
The 61-year-old school administrator from Maryland, whose journey as the Golden Bachelorette began in September, chose Chock, in the end, who proposed to her in Bora Bora.
Throughout the entire season, the 60-year-old insurance executive from Wichita, Kansas, appeared to be Vassos’ strongest connection. He received the first rose on one date, which they spent at Disneyland, and he showed his commitment to Vassos mid-season when he returned to the mansion after he went home for his mother’s funeral.
During his proposal, he promised her that he will honor John, her late husband, by loving her every day.
“Joan, I love you and I want you to be in my life,” he said.
She replied and told him that their first date at Disneyland helped her see a future with him. His brief departure from the show also made her realize that she “couldn’t do this journey” without him.
“I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” she told him before he got down on one knee. Vassos also gave Chock the final rose.
Before proposing to Vassos, Chock met her kids and told them how much he cares for Vassos. He also assured them that his intention isn’t to replace their dad, but to love her and have adventures with her. He also had a final date with her where he gave her a set of keys, which he said was a symbol of his commitment to her.
While Vassos found her happily ever after with Chock, it also meant she had to say goodbye to Guy. After Chock and Joan’s final date together, Vassos realized where her heart belonged and broke up with Guy the same day that he was supposed to meet her family. She told Guy that she wanted to “spare him” the trouble of meeting them and going through with their final date when she ultimately knew what her heart was telling her all along.
“Ever since we met, we’ve always said music is obviously our number-one passion, but we’ve always, always wanted to be moms,” Maddie & Tae‘s Taylor Kerr tells ABC Audio in a recent interview.
Both Maddie Font and Taylor are already moms, but they’re hoping to sync up their pregnancies one day.
Yes, that means both sporting a baby bump at the same time.
“Our real dream was to be pregnant at the same time. But we’re still figuring out how to do that,” says Taylor, whose second child, a boy, is due in November.
“We don’t know how to figure that out. I mean, we do tell each other all of our business,” Maddie shares.
Taylor adds, “Like [what] every besties want, they want to be pregnant at the same time. One day.”
But being pregnant simultaneously may prove a bit of a challenge to their business operation as a touring country duo.
“One has to run the business while the other one’s, you know, growing a human. And so we’ll figure it out one day,” says Maddie.
“We’re also business partners. So, yeah, that make sense,” Taylor adds with a laugh.
Maddie & Tae are up for Vocal Duo of the Year for the 2024 CMA Awards, airing live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
To catch Maddie & Tae on their Love & Light Tour in the spring, visit maddieandtae.com.
Just a year after breaking out with their 2023 album, Take Me Back to Eden, Sleep Token has now officially reached festival headliner status.
The “Granite” rockers top the bill for England’s 2025 Download Festival — self-described as “the U.K.’s premier rock festival” — alongside veterans Green Day and Korn. Speaking with NME about making Sleep Token a headliner, Download booker Andy Copping shares, “It was seeing their meteoric rise over the last two years that made me think, ‘This is a band that deserves to be elevated.'”
“I think it’s important for the festival to bring new bands through to headline,” Copping says. “Back in the day, I did it with Slipknot. I did it with Avenged Sevenfold and Biffy Clyro. In 2023 we did it with Bring Me the Horizon. Now, every one of those bands across the world is perceived as a festival headliner.”
“That’s what I felt this time with Sleep Token,” he continues. “It feels like we’re the first major festival that’s taken the bull by the horns and gone, ‘OK, it’s time. It’s Sleep Token’s moment.’ I know it’s going to be amazing for them, amazing for the festival and amazing for the fans.”
Akon, who dominated radio in the mid-2000s with hits like “Lonely” and “Don’t Matter,” is back with a new song, “Akon’s Beautiful Day.” Except it’s not new, exactly.
The song originally went viral thanks to a video showing a 10-year-old Jamaican student named Rushawn Ewears, who’s now 16, singing it at school. But Akon isn’t trying to steal the kid’s thunder — he’s just taking back what’s his.
“That was one of my early demos from back in 2012 that [got leaked and] made it to Jamaica,” Akon laughs. He says when he saw Rushawn singing it, he thought it was cool, but didn’t think much of it — until he went in the studio and his producer wanted to show him the cool new song he’d found.
“He was like, ‘Man, listen, I got this song that went viral. You got to listen to it. It sounds like something that you would actually do,'” Akon tells ABC Audio. “And when he played it for me, I was like, ‘What? Are you serious? You know this is one of my old demos, right?'”
That’s when Akon realized that “this was a sign … it was definitely meant to be.” In addition to recording the song, he plans to pay to renovate Rushawn’s school through his charity foundation.
Akon’s happy that the song’s out now, rather than in 2012, because he says the song’s message is sorely needed.
“The world is literally on fire,” he says. “I thought that this was the perfect timing … because we have so much going on with all these wars … and we’re attached to all these things with no solutions and … everyone’s so selfish. … So I just wanted to bring out a voice of unity.”
“This was definitely God’s plan, 100%, especially the way it came back 360.”
Director James Mangold’s long-in-the-works Bob Dylan flick A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet, is finally hitting theaters on Dec. 25, and the director reveals in a new interview how the pandemic may have helped in the film’s development.
Mangold tells MOJO that while the pandemic delayed the film, it also allowed him a chance to get more time with Dylan himself.
“Bob had a tour that he’d just cancelled, and he asked to read the script, and that was the start of our connection,” Mangold shares. “He liked what I was doing and saw that I didn’t have some kind of agenda.”
“Then we sat down and had a series of one-on-one meetings, four or five times for at least a half day, just the two of us drinking coffee,” he adds. “And it became a huge opportunity for me to fill in the cracks in the story that the many books about him don’t cover.”
Chalamet had been cast to play Dylan since 2020, and Mangold says, “I thought he was perfect for it from the start and remained so.”
“Timmy’s incredibly sharp, witty, ambitious, kind of wonderfully odd and cool,” he says. “I felt he kind of could really embody a lot of things that Bob was, especially in that early time in his life.”
The film, which Mangold describes as “a fable,” covers a five-year period of Dylan’s early career — and that was enough for the director.
“I don’t feel pressure to define Bob for the ages and all his work over decades,” Mangold says. “I’m just talking about the moment that this guy blossomed, he became empowered, and then moved on. And where he moved to is either another movie or another writer’s business.”
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza — particularly in the north of the strip — and in Lebanon, with Israeli attacks on targets nationwide including in the capital Beirut. The strikes form the backdrop for a fresh diplomatic push by the White House ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January.
Tensions also remain high between Israel and Iran after the former launched what it called “precise strikes on military targets” in several locations in Iran following Tehran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage.
Hostage families meet with Biden, hope for ‘new thoughts on the table’ with Trump The families of American hostages being held by Hamas met with President Joe Biden for roughly an hour and a half Wednesday afternoon, according to the White House.
They discussed where the situation now stands and noted that the topic was also, apparently, on the agenda for Biden and President-elect Donald Trump’s sit-down in the Oval Office.
“Both incoming and outgoing presidents are fully aligned on the importance of releasing the hostages and the urgency,” one of the family members said outside the West Wing.
They’re calling on the incoming Trump administration to use these next two months to “take action immediately” with the current national security team to try and secure a hostage release before Inauguration Day.
Earlier today, family members met with the senior staff of Sen. Marco Rubio, who Trump has tapped to be his secretary of state. They said they are hopeful to sit down with the senator later this week. Requests have also been made to meet with all of Trump’s national security picks.
They said they’re hopeful that a new administration will put “new thoughts on the table” since there has been a stalemate for months in trying to secure a deal.
They said they also believe that Trump’s relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will help get a deal in place “as soon as possible.”
This group of family members also met separately with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Tuesday.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
6 Israeli soldiers killed in combat in southern Lebanon, IDF says Six Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed during combat in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Capt. Itay Marcovich, Staff Sgt. Sraya Elbom, Staff Sgt. Dror Hen, Sgt. Shalev Itzhak Sagron and Staff Sgt. Nir Gofer were killed in combat. The sixth soldier killed in combat was not named.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Israeli strike leaves 7 dead in Gaza, IDF issues warnings to suburbs in Beirut An Israeli strike in Khan Younis left seven people dead Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
At least 47 people were killed and 182 people were injured in Gaza in the last day, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said.
In Lebanon, Israeli forces also issued two separate evacuation warnings to residents in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
-ABC News’ Sami Zyara and Diaa Ostaz
Sirens sound in Israel following projectile launches from Lebanon Sirens sounded in central Israel on Wednesday due to projectile launches from Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Experts tell UN north Gaza famine is ‘occurring or imminent’
Experts warned the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that famine is “occurring or imminent” in parts of northern Gaza.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon rejected the famine warning as “simply false” and said Israel is making additional efforts to improve the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory.
During the session, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said there must be “no forcible displacement, nor policy of starvation in Gaza” by Israel, warning such policies would have implications under U.S. and international law.
The session was held shortly after the U.S. said it would not restrict military aid to Israel despite concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza after more than a year of war.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Joe Simonetti
Palestinian militants release video of Russian-Israeli hostage
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum authorized the publication Wednesday of a video released by Palestinian Islamic Jihad of hostage Alexander “Sasha” Troufanov — the first video of a living captive for several months.
Troufanov, 29, was kidnapped from his parents’ home in the border kibbutz of Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023. His mother Yelena, grandmother Irena and partner Sapir were also kidnapped, but released in a November 2023 prisoner swap deal. His father, Vitaly, was killed in the attack.
In the video released Wednesday, Troufanov said he and other surviving hostages were running out of food and basic hygiene products. Troufanov urged the Israeli public to continue pressing for a hostage release deal and said he feared being accidentally killed by the Israel Defence Forces.
PIJ released two videos of Troufanov in May.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement posted to social media, “It’s inconceivable and incomprehensible that almost a year has passed since the last hostage release deal.”
“The hostages have no time left — a deal for their release is the only way to bring them all back to us: the living for rehabilitation and those who were murdered for proper burial.”
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
New Israeli airstrikes, evacuation orders in Beirut
The Israel Defense Forces ordered residents of several areas in the southern Beirut suburbs to flee their homes on Wednesday morning ahead of an imminent resumption of airstrikes
The target locations were in the Hezbollah stronghold suburb of Dahiya, which has been the focus of Israeli airstrikes since September.
The Wednesday morning evacuation orders came after a night of heavy bombardment in the area, which the IDF claimed targeted “Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and command centers.”
Lebanese authorities say Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,200 people since Oct. 8, 2023. Around a quarter of Lebanon’s population — some 1.2 million people — have been forced from their homes by Israel’s operation, per United Nations figures.
State Department denies giving Israel ‘a pass’ on Gaza
Vedant Patel, the State Department’s principal deputy spokesperson, denied at a Tuesday briefing that the U.S. is giving Israel “a pass” after President Joe Biden’s administration said it would not withhold weapons earmarked for the country over dire humanitarian conditions inside Gaza.
Tuesday saw the expiry of a 30-day deadline set by the U.S. for Israel to “surge” aid into the devastated Palestinian territory, or risk restrictions on military aid. Patel said Israel met some — but not all — U.S. demands set out in an Oct. 13 letter signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“Certainly I would not view it as giving them a pass, because one, no one is up here — certainly I’m not — saying that the situation in Gaza or the humanitarian circumstances are rosy,” Patel told journalists at a Tuesday briefing.
“It is a very dire circumstance,” he added. “And what we need to see is we need to see these steps acted on. We need to see them implemented.”
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
White House says Israel has ‘taken steps’ to improve aid in Gaza
Following a State Department press briefing with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the White House released a statement saying they’ve seen Israel has “taken steps” to improve humanitarian aid in Gaza but “there’s more work to be done.”
“We have seen, certainly some improvement. And again, we are going to do everything that we can,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told ABC News.
“The United States, we are indeed, the largest provider of humanitarian aid, humanitarian assistance into Gaza to relieve the pain of the Palestinian people. And what we’re seeing and you’re right, it is dire. But those discussions continue, and we’re going to be laser-focused on that,” Jean-Pierre added.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Tens of people killed in Gaza, Lebanon after Israeli strikes
At least 62 Palestinians were killed and 147 were wounded in five IDF attacks across the Gaza Strip within the last 48 hours as the situation in the north remains dire, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
The IDF launched strikes on Beit Hanoun in the north, Deir Al Balah and the Al-Mawasi area Tuesday morning, where displaced people were sheltering in west of Khan Yunis.
Several strikes on southern Beirut were reported as well. In Lebanon, at least 3,287 people have been killed and 14,222 wounded since October 2023.
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian, Sami Zyara, Diaa Ostaz and Ghazi Balkiz
Airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs
Several large airstrikes rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday morning, shortly after the Israel Defense Forces issued new evacuation orders for people living in the southern suburbs of Dahiya.
Dahiya — known as a Hezbollah stronghold — has borne the brunt of Israeli airstrikes on the capital. It was here that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by a massive Israeli attack in September.
The IDF has said it is targeting Hezbollah operatives, weapons manufacturing facilities and arms storage sites in the area.
Lebanese authorities say 3,200 people have been killed by Israeli strikes since cross-border fighting with Hezbollah flared again on Oct. 8, 2023.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
New Gaza aid crossing opens, Israel says
The Israel Defense Forces and the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories agency announced Tuesday the opening of a new humanitarian aid crossing into the Gaza Strip, on the same day a U.S. deadline to improve the flow of aid expired.
“In accordance with directives from the political echelon, and as part of the effort and commitment to increase the volume and routes of aid to the Gaza Strip, the ‘Kisufim’ crossing was opened” for “the transfer of humanitarian aid trucks,” the statement said.
The deliveries will include “food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment to central and southern Gaza,” the statement said. The supplies underwent “strict security checks at the Kerem Shalom crossing” before being sent into the strip, the IDF and COGAT said.
An Oct. 13 letter signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that continued failure to allow adequate aid into Gaza may trigger U.S. laws restricting military support for Israel.
Among the letter’s demands were that Israel allow a minimum of 350 truckloads of goods to enter Gaza each day, that it open a fifth crossing into the besieged territory, that it allow people in Israeli-imposed coastal tent camps to move inland before the winter and that it ensure access for aid groups to hard-hit northern Gaza.
The letter also called on Israel to halt legislation — since passed — that would hinder the operations of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
Israel fails to meet US aid demands in Gaza, NGOs say
A group of eight aid agencies published a joint statement Tuesday alleging that Israel has failed to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza in the 30-day window set by the U.S.
The U.S. deadline for Israel to “surge” food and other humanitarian aid into the devastated territory expires Tuesday.
Officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned last month that Israel’s failure to deliver may trigger laws requiring the U.S. to restrict military aid to Israel.
The eight NGOs — among them Oxfam America, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Save the Children — awarded Israel a “failing grade” in meeting U.S. demands.
“The facts are clear: the humanitarian situation in Gaza is now at its worst point since the war began in October 2023,” the statement said.
“This new analysis clearly demonstrates that the Israeli government is violating its obligations under U.S. and international law to facilitate humanitarian relief for suffering Palestinians in Gaza,” Refugees International President — and former senior USAID official — Jeremy Konyndyk said.
“With experts again projecting imminent famine in north Gaza, there is no time to lose. The United States must impose immediate restrictions on security cooperation with Israel,” he added.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
US strikes Iran-backed groups in Syria
U.S. Central Command announced late Monday that American forces struck nine targets in two locations “associated with Iranian groups in Syria” in response to attacks on U.S. personnel in the country.
“These strikes will degrade the Iranian backed groups’ ability to plan and launch future attacks on U.S. and coalition forces” deployed to the region for operations against Islamic State militants, CENTCOM said.
“Attacks against U.S. and coalition partners in the region will not be tolerated,” CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement.
“We will continue to take every step necessary to protect our personnel and coalition partners and respond to reckless attacks,” he added.
‘No cease-fire’ in Lebanon, Israeli defense minister says
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday there would be “no cease-fire” and “no respite” in Lebanon despite an ongoing diplomatic push to end Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in the country.
Katz said the offensive against Hezbollah — and the killing of its former leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in September — “are a picture of victory and the offensive activity should be continued” to further erode Hezbollah capabilities “and realize the fruits of victory.”
“We will continue to hit Hezbollah with full force until the goals of the war are achieved,” Katz said in a post to X.
“Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not guarantee Israel’s right” to “prevent terrorism on its own,” Katz continued, demanding the disarming of Hezbollah, the group’s withdrawal north of the Litani River and the return of Israeli communities to their homes in the north of the country.
Katz was appointed to head the Defense Ministry earlier this month. He replaced Yoav Gallant, who had emerged as a top critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prosecution of the wars in Gaza and Lebanon. Katz was previously Israel’s foreign minister.
7 killed in strike in southern Lebanon: Health ministry
Seven people were killed and another seven injured after an Israeli strike on Al-Saksakieh in southern Lebanon Monday evening local time, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.
Search and rescue teams are working to find missing people under the rubble, Lebanese national media reported.
The Israeli Defense Forces issued a warning to residents of 21 villages in southern Lebanon telling them to evacuate their homes immediately Monday evening local time.
-ABC News Ghazi Balkiz
Israeli finance minister wants Israel to extend sovereignty to West Bank in 2025
Israel’s far-right finance minister said he wants Israel to extend sovereignty to the West Bank in 2025 and believes U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will “support the State of Israel in this move.”
“In the first term, President Trump led dramatic moves, including the transfer of the American embassy to Jerusalem and the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel, recognition of the Golan Heights, and the decision on the legality and legitimacy of the settlements in Judea and Samaria, along with the Abraham agreements of peace for peace,” Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in remarks on Monday.
Smotrich, who has called for Israeli sovereignty in the Israeli-occupied West Bank for years, also said he has directed staff to begin “work to prepare the necessary infrastructure for the application of sovereignty” to the West Bank.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir
Hezbollah fires 75 projectiles into Israel, IDF says
The Israel Defense Forces said Hezbollah fired at least 75 projectiles into Israel on Monday.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it treated three people with shrapnel injuries in the area of Karmiel in northern Israel. Two other people were treated for shrapnel injuries in the Krayot area, the MDA said.
Hezbollah claimed several rocket and drone attacks on Monday.
Among the strikes was a “large rocket salvo” targeting a paratrooper training base in Karmiel settlement, Hezbollah said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir and Ghazi Balkiz
IDF orders residents of 21 south Lebanon villages to evacuate
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued a warning to residents of 21 south Lebanon villages to evacuate their homes until further notice, warning of imminent Israeli strikes there.
Adraee said in a post on X that the villages were the site of Hezbollah military activity and warned that the IDF would “act forcefully” against targets there.
“For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move to the north of the Awali River,” Adraee wrote. “For your safety, you must evacuate without delay.”
“You are prohibited from heading south,” he added. “Any movement south could be dangerous to your life.”
Around a quarter of Lebanese territory and a quarter of all residents — some 1.2 million people — are under IDF evacuation orders, per United Nations analysis.
Israel has killed more than 3,000 people in southern Lebanon since Oct. 8, 2023, Lebanese authorities have said.
IDF says deadly north Lebanon strike targeted Hezbollah weapons
The Israel Defense Forces said the strike in northern Lebanon that killed dozens of people on Sunday targeted “a Hezbollah terrorist site” which was storing weapons.
Lebanese health officials said the airstrike on the village of Aalmat — in a mainly Christian area in the north of the country — killed 23 and injured at least six others. Seven children were among the dead, officials said. Search and rescue work was ongoing as of Sunday.
The IDF said that Hezbollah fighters “responsible for firing rockets and missiles toward Israeli territory” were “operating from the site,” adding that the details of the incident “are under review.”
Lebanese authorities say that Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,000 people since Oct. 8, 2023. Some 1.2 million people — around a quarter of Lebanon’s population — have also been displaced by Israel’s military campaign.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir
IDF intercepts launch from Yemen
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday it intercepted one projectile “that approached Israel from the direction of Yemen.”
“The projectile did not cross into Israeli territory,” the IDF said in a statement posted to X, noting that the projectile caused sirens to sound in several areas of central Israel.
Overnight, the IDF also said it intercepted four uncrewed aerial vehicles that approached Israel from the east.
-ABC News’ Bruno Nota
New Defense Minister says Israel has defeated Hezbollah
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared on Sunday that his country has defeated Hezbollah after killing the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
“We defeated Hezbollah, and the elimination of Nasrallah was the crowning achievement,” Katz said during a handover ceremony at Israel’s foreign ministry on Sunday.
The ceremony comes after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired the previous defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
There is no word on how this will affect Israel’s operations in Lebanon, which shows no sign of slowing.
“Now it is our job to continue the pressure,” Katz said. “We will work together to materialize the fruits of this victory by ensuring that the security situation in Lebanon has changed.”
Israeli president to meet Biden
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will meet President Joe Biden on Tuesday during his visit to the U.S., according to Herzog’s office.
-ABC News’ Bruno Nota
Netanyahu says he’s spoken to Trump 3 times, ‘we see eye to eye’ on Iran
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement Sunday to mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht, highlighting the violence Thursday on the streets of Amsterdam that authorities said targeted Israeli soccer fans there, saying in a statement translated from Hebrew: “We will do what is necessary to defend ourselves and our citizens. We will never allow the atrocities of history to recur.”
Netanyahu also said he has spoken to President-elect Donald Trump three times since the election.
“These were very good and important talks designed to further enhance the steadfast bond between Israel and the U.S.,” Netanyahu said. “We see eye to eye on the Iranian threat in all its aspects, and on the dangers they reflect. We also see the great opportunities facing Israel, in the area of peace and its expansion, and in other areas.”
(NEW YORK) — Special counsel Jack Smith on Wednesday asked a federal appeals court to pause his appeal of the dismissal of President-elect Donald Trump’s classified documents case.
The move is part of Smith’s winding down of his two cases against Trump — the classified documents case and the federal election interference case — due to longstanding Department of Justice policy that prohibits a sitting president from facing criminal prosecution while in office.
“As a result of the election held on November 5, 2024, one of the defendants in this case, Donald J. Trump, is expected to be certified as President-elect on January 6, 2025, and inaugurated on January 20, 2025,” the filing said.
Smith asked to hold the appeal in abeyance and push the next filing deadline until Dec. 2 to “to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.”
Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.
District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the case against Trump and his co-defendants this summer, ruling that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional because he was not appointed by the president or confirmed by Congress.
Prosecutors then appealed that decision to the Atlanta-based United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
The judge in Trump’s federal election interference case paused all upcoming deadlines in that case last week, following a request from Smith.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he has chosen Rep. Matt Gaetz as his pick for attorney general, a move that, if he’s confirmed by the Senate, would place a firebrand and one of Trump’s most loyal allies at the head of the Justice Department.
“Matt is a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice,” Trump said in his social media post.
Gaetz is an explosive selection by Trump to be the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government, leading the very same executive branch of government that spent years investigating allegations regarding the Florida congressman. Gaetz was informed that the Justice Department would not seek changes just last year. He has long denied any wrongdoing.
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced later Wednesday that Gaetz offered his resignation from Congress effective immediately.
Johnson said the resignation took him by “surprise” but that the Florida congressman did so to “start the clock” on the process for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to call a special election to fill the vacancy.
“So Matt would have done us a great service by making that decision, as he did, on the fly. And so we’re grateful for that so we move forward,” Johnson added.
Gaetz’s resignation will narrow the slim majority that Republicans will have in the new Congress in January, but he represents a reliably Republican district in the Florida Panhandle.
Gaetz has been a member of Congress since winning in 2017, riding the MAGA wave that brought Trump to Washington eight years ago. Over the years, Gaetz has become one of Trump’s most ardent, and according to some allies, effective, defenders in Washington while also growing close to Trump.
Gaetz has been down at Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago almost every day since Election Day, helping make suggestions and input on other administration selections, sources tell ABC News. Gaetz was also seen traveling with Trump in his motorcade during his visit to Washington on Wednesday.
Notably, Gaetz is very close with Trump’s newly selected chief of staff, Susie Wiles, who also has deep and storied roots in Florida politics.
Beginning in 2019, Gaetz faced a yearslong Justice Department investigation into allegations related to sex trafficking and obstruction of justice. Gaetz has long denied any wrongdoing, and the Justice Department informed Gaetz in 2023 that it was declining to bring charges against him after its investigation.
The investigation into Gaetz stemmed from a probe into the Florida congressman’s one-time friend, former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg, who was sentenced in 2022 to 11 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including sex trafficking a minor and introducing the minor to other “adult men.”
Since the Justice Department declined to charge Gaetz following its investigation, the Florida congressman has faced an ongoing probe by the House Ethics Committee regarding the same allegations.
In September, Gaetz released a lengthy statement concerning the ongoing House Ethics probe into his alleged conduct. Gaetz stated that he would no longer voluntarily participate in the probe and included a string of answers seemingly to questions the committee asked the Florida congressman earlier that month.
The House Ethics Committee drops an investigation into a member once they leave Congress, House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest told ABC News.
“You know, once a member is no longer a member of Congress, then ethics has no jurisdiction. So if Matt Gaetz were to be appointed as the Attorney General, the ethics investigation is currently ongoing, would cease at that point,” Guest said.
House Republicans were meeting behind closed doors when Trump announced he would be nominating Gaetz to serve as attorney general. There was an audible gasp in the room, several members who were inside told ABC News.
Many House Republicans on Capitol Hill are reacting to Trump’s pick of Gaetz.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. Guest expressed support for Trump’s selection of Gaetz as attorney general. Republican Rep. Max Miller, a former aide to Donald Trump who was particularly critical of Gaetz following Florida congressman’s efforts to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year, said the pick was “silly” and that Gaetz would “never get confirmed by the Senate.”
“I believe that the President is probably rewarding him for being such a loyal soldier to the president, but the President is smart enough, and his team is smart enough to know that Mr. Gaetz will never get confirmed by the Senate. Whatsoever,” Miller said.
ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Lauren Peller and Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett interviews his bandmates Dave Grohl and Pat Smear on the second season premiere of his podcast, Shred with Shifty.
Over the course of the conversation, the trio goes into great detail about the guitar tones, amps and effects pedals they use.
“I don’t think either one of [Grohl or Smear] have ever done an interview quite like this,” Shiflett says at the beginning of the episode. “Like a deep dive on their guitar playing and gear and tone, and all the little secret formulas to the Foo Fighter magic sauce.”
If you’re wondering whether they addressed Grohl fathering a baby outside of his marriage, which he revealed in September, a press release notes that the conversation took place in February. Foo Fighters haven’t performed since the Grohl news broke and canceled what was set to be their first show back at the Soundside Music Festival.
Shiflett launched Shred with Shifty in 2023 and has interviewed artists including Rush‘s Alex Lifeson, Weezer‘s Rivers Cuomo, Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready and Wolfgang Van Halen. Upcoming guests on the second season include Black Label Society‘s Zakk Wylde and Keith Urban.
