INTERNACIONAL
Russia plots major strike on Europe’s largest nuclear plant power lines: source
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Russia is preparing to target Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant’s power lines in a move that could unfold within days, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Ukrainian officials had said Moscow’s plan was focused on high-voltage transmission infrastructure rather than direct strikes on nuclear reactors, but a source has since claimed the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lines (ZNPP) are Moscow’s focus.
In a statement released Jan. 17, the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry (HUR) had warned that Russia was weighing attacks on substations critical to nuclear power generation.
«In order to force Ukraine to sign unacceptable surrender demands to end the war, the aggressor state Russia is considering the option of attacking strategic facilities of our state’s energy system — we are talking about electricity transmission substations that ensure the operation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants.»
US ACCUSES RUSSIA OF ‘DANGEROUS AND INEXPLICABLE ESCALATION’ IN UKRAINE WAR DURING PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been under Russian occupation since March 2022. (Ed Ram/Washington Post via Getty Images)
«The threat is at ZNPP,» a source told Fox News Digital. «There are talks of a massive attack either tonight or in the coming nights,» the source said on condition of anonymity, adding that «the talks within the Ukrainian government are about ZNPP and the lines, and these talks have not been for the first time.»
According to The Associated Press, Russia also targeted energy infrastructure in Odesa region overnight Sunday, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service.
ZNPP is located in southern Ukraine and consists of six VVER-1000 pressurized water reactors, and has been under Russian occupation since March 2022, according to reports.
Although the reactors are no longer producing electricity, the plant needs external power to maintain cooling and safety systems.
The IAEA has repeatedly warned that disruptions to off-site power supplies and lines pose a serious nuclear safety risk.
A Jan. 16 localized ceasefire was agreed between Russia and Ukraine for repairs under IAEA coordination on one backup power line at ZNPP that had already been damaged.
In a statement, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Jan. 16: «The IAEA continues to work closely with both sides to ensure nuclear safety at the ZNPP and to prevent a nuclear accident during the conflict. This temporary ceasefire, the fourth we have negotiated, demonstrates the indispensable role that we continue to play.»
«A deterioration of Ukraine’s power grid from persistent military activity has direct implications on the nuclear safety of its nuclear facilities,» Grossi said.
«Russia is said to be going to do this strike, maybe even tonight,» the source said of the ZNPP operation.
RUSSIA FIRES NEW BALLISTIC MISSILE AT UKRAINE, KILLING AT LEAST FOUR
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly set his sights on Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lines, according to a source. (Ramil Sitdikov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
«Information also from the Ukrainian Parliament and Ukrainian Security Service, or internally, is that the Russian army told the Ukrainian army that if they don’t stop shelling their tankers in the sea or shelling their oil refineries, as well as their electric stations like power stations,» the source said, «then they will fully destroy Kyiv energy facilities aswell.»
«The parliament knows this. But we keep shelling,» the source added.
«This is a very difficult situation,» the source continued, saying Ukrainian leadership, the Ukrainian parliament and «obviously the office of the president» are fully aware that «if we keep shelling Russian tankers and oil refineries, then they will destroy everything that we have.»
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also recently urged NATO allies to urgently deliver additional air-defense missiles, warning that some systems are running low on ammunition, according to reports.
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«To actually preserve the energy in the country when it is minus 20 outside and people are literally suffering hugely,» the source added. «People don’t have electricity, don’t have warmth and some don’t even have water.»
«And this is a very controversial situation,» the source said, «particularly for the Ukrainian people sitting inside, hungry and freezing, and overall being in this disastrous humanitarian situation.»
Fox News Digital has reached out to President Zelenskyy’s office for comment.
ukraine,volodymyr zelenskyy,vladimir putin,wars
INTERNACIONAL
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INTERNACIONAL
House panel summons Soros-backed Fairfax prosecutor over releases tied to violent illegal immigrant cases
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House Republicans are hauling in two top Fairfax County law enforcement officials, including a Soros-backed prosecutor, after violent crimes involving illegal immigrants released from custody intensified federal scrutiny of the county’s sanctuary-style policies.
Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid and Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steven Descano are invited to voluntarily testify at an upcoming Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement Subcommittee hearing entitled «Fairfax County Virginia – The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary City Policies.»
Both are elected Democrats, and Descano’s campaigns have received more than $700,000 in funds from organizations backed by far-left Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, according to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, a pro-police group.
Descano and Kincaid received near-identical letters signed by Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock, R-Calif., which were also obtained by Fox News Digital.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT RELEASED UNDER BIDEN CHARGED WITH GROPING FEMALE STUDENTS AT VIRGINIA HIGH SCHOOL
Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid is seen. (Eva Russo/Getty Images)
«The hearing will examine how state and local policies that prohibit cooperation with federal immigration authorities hurt public safety,» Jordan and McClintock wrote.
«Your testimony will assist the Committee and Subcommittee in developing legislative reforms to address sanctuary jurisdictions.»
The Fairfax officials have until Monday to confirm their presence at the April 15 hearing to be held at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill.
Descano has a record of dropping charges against illegal immigrants who often have prior criminal records, including Salvadoran national Marvin Morales-Ortez, who was accused of the murder of a Virginia man ambushed on a walking trail.
Jordan and McClintock previously wrote to Descano about their concerns in that case, saying his policies «prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens and threaten public safety.»
DHS BLASTS SPANBERGER ON POTENTIAL RELEASE OF ILLEGAL MIGRANT WITH 30+ ARRESTS CURRENTLY CHARGED WITH MURDER
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano is seen speaking at an event in Fairfax County, Virginia. (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)
They said Kincaid released Morales-Ortez on December 16 despite his potential MS-13 ties after Descano’s office declined to further pursue prosecution in a malicious wounding case from September 12.
«Despite an ICE detainer on Morales-Ortez, your office refused to briefly detain him until ICE could arrest him and failed to even notify ICE about his imminent release,» the lawmakers wrote to Kincaid at the time.
«One day later, Morales-Ortez allegedly murdered a man in Reston, Virginia, and has now been charged with second-degree murder. Even now, however, you continue to defend your failed sanctuary policies and refuse to take accountability for their consequences,» the lawmakers wrote in the letter, first reported by Washington’s ABC affiliate.
The outlet further reported that Fairfax County’s board, led by Chairman Jeffrey McKay, D-Franconia, also prohibits the Fairfax County Police Department from cooperating with ICE.
Nick Minock, a reporter for the outlet, later obtained a transcript of Morales-Ortez’s preliminary hearing in which Descano’s office posited that Morales-Ortez was present when Jose Guillen Mejia was murdered and had ambushed the man on the trail.
A short time after he was released, Morales-Ortez allegedly went to a home on Fan Shell Court in Reston, Va. — near John F. Dulles International Airport — and allegedly shot a man inside.
POLICE WARNED PROSECUTORS 3 TIMES ABOUT VIOLENT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BEFORE HE ALLEGEDLY KILLED VIRGINIA MOTHER
That chain of events enraged the Trump administration, with then-Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin saying that «Fairfax County politicians [who] pushed policies that released this illegal alien from jail» have «blood on their hands.»
More recently, the family of Stephanie Minter, a 41-year-old mother stabbed to death at a Fairfax bus stop by an illegal immigrant with a long rap sheet, called for Descano’s ouster.
Abdul Jalloh, a Sierra Leone national, was charged with second-degree murder, and Descano released him despite being warned of his 30 prior arrests. Jalloh had been served an order of removal during the Biden administration but was never deported.
A police official in Mount Vernon emailed concerns to Descano’s office about Jalloh being released again, according to Fox & Friends.
Given the heavy Democratic bent of Fairfax, Virginia’s largest county by population and one state officials are trying to include in at least five newly drawn congressional districts, Descano and Kincaid have been strongly supported by voters in each election.
Republicans did not mount opponents against either candidate in 2023, while Descano’s only challenge came from fellow Democrat Ed Nuttall, whose primary bid was reportedly boosted by victims’ rights advocates.
ICE NABS IRANIAN NATIONAL WITH RAPE, SODOMY CONVICTIONS AFTER VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS MOVE TO CURB COOPERATION
Nuttall also mounted a write-in challenge in the general election that year but lost. Kincaid was first elected in 2013.
Fairfax Democrats removed Nuttall from their party amid that write-in bid after he attended a Brain Foundation fundraiser with Fairfax’s lone Republican board member, Pat Herrity of Springfield, and a Republican board candidate from Sully named Keith Elliott, according to FairfaxNow.
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Herrity is the son of the late Chairman Jack Herrity, a Republican known as «Mr. Fairfax» in the 1980s when the county was much more conservative.
Fox News Digital reached out to Descano’s and Kincaid’s offices for comment.
hearings house of representatives politics,migrant crime,democrats,illegal immigrants,sanctuary cities
INTERNACIONAL
En medio de la guerra en Medio Oriente, Israel lanzó una campaña virtual para reclutar espías en Irán
“Llegó el momento de actuar, una breve conversación podría abrir un nuevo capítulo para usted. Contáctenos a través de una línea segura”. En plena guerra contra la república islámica, la agencia de inteligencia exterior israelí, conocida como el Mossad, intensifica sus esfuerzos en las redes sociales para reclutar agentes iraníes.
Mientras el primer ministro israelí, Benjamin Netanyahu, no deja de llamar a los iraníes a “tomar el destino en sus manos”, una campaña más discreta se desarrolla en internet desde hace meses.
Leé también: El líder supremo de Irán divulgó un mensaje con amenazas a Israel por la muerte del jefe de Seguridad Nacional
Un canal del Mossad fue discretamente creado en la plataforma Telegram a finales de diciembre. En el sitio oficial del organismo figura un enlace que confirma así su autenticidad, junto a otros que llevan a cuentas de reclutamiento en Instagram, Facebook y LinkedIn en hebreo, inglés y árabe.
Sin embargo la campaña choca con una realidad: Irán impuso un absoluto silencio digital en el país y es casi imposible conectarse a internet.
Informes desde el terreno
Una cuenta en Telegram en persa fue creada el 24 de diciembre, cuatro días antes de que estallaran manifestaciones masivas en todo Irán.
Un mensaje fijado en la parte superior del canal indica: “íBienvenido! Si llegaste hasta aquí, probablemente quieras ponerte en contacto con nosotros. Nos alegra”. El Mossad israelí recluta espías en Irán (Foto: Inteligencia Artificial)
El mensaje va seguido de instrucciones detalladas sobre cómo entrar en contacto con el Instituto (“Mossad” en hebreo) de forma segura, a través de un agente conversacional o de su sitio web.
El 6 de marzo, el canal -que actualmente cuenta con unos 48.000 suscriptores-, publicó un mensaje animando a los iraníes a transmitir información desde el interior del país. “Sigan enviando sus informes desde el terreno. Ustedes son testigos de la verdad. ¡Perseveraremos hasta la victoria!”, afirma.
Leé también: Bombardeos en el Líbano: el momento en el que un edificio en Beirut colapsa luego de un ataque israelí
En X también apareció a principios de marzo una nueva cuenta bajo el nombre “Mossad Official”, tras el inicio de los bombardeos israelí-estadounidenses el 28 de febrero. Esta también multiplica los llamamientos, apoyados con atractivos videos generados con IA.
Uno de ellos muestra a “basijíes”(miembros de la fuerza de voluntarios que suelen reprimir las manifestaciones opositoras y que dependen de la Guardia Revolucionaria) mirando al cielo, visiblemente asustados por un posible ataque, con un texto que promete que estos milicianos islamistas encargados del orden público “no podrán esconderse por mucho tiempo”. Otro muestra a un hombre tomando discretamente una foto desde su ventana con su teléfono móvil.
Cuenta en persa en X
El Mossad “lleva a cabo este tipo de acciones desde hace décadas, en función de las herramientas y tecnologías disponibles”, explicó Yosi Melman, periodista israelí especializado en defensa e inteligencia.
“Al igual que otros servicios extranjeros, la agencia financió publicaciones y emisoras de radio en países enemigos. El Mossad no inventó nada nuevo. La CIA lo hace desde hace años”, destacó.
Seis meses antes de la apertura del canal oficial en Telegram, otra cuenta, llamada “Mossad Farsi”, apareció en X.
Publicó su primer mensaje el 25 de junio, justo después de los doce días de guerra entre Israel e Irán. Hoy cuenta con más de 60.000 seguidores.
Sus primeras publicaciones fueron una serie de videos de Menashe Amir, conocido presentador de radio israelí nacido en Teherán, que pasó más de seis décadas dirigiéndose en persa a los iraníes.
Amir confirmó que la cuenta estaba efectivamente gestionada por la agencia de inteligencia, aunque no figure en la lista publicada el martes por el Mosad.
“Make Iran great again”
“El primer mensaje (video) que publicaron conmigo fue visto 2.200.000 veces”, comentó.
La cuenta no fue autenticada por las autoridades, pero los medios israelíes la consideran oficial.
“Mossad Farsi” publicó una serie de críticas sarcásticas contra los dirigentes iraníes, así como contenidos variados.
Leé también: El precio del barril de petróleo se acerca a los US$110 mientras crecen las amenazas en Medio Oriente
Así, por ejemplo, hay una oferta de teleconsulta médica para los iraníes, una enigmática secuencia de números, una encuesta preguntando quién debería dirigir Irán para resolver su crisis crónica de agua, o bien un video que promete “Make Iran great again”, una versión adaptada del famoso eslogan de Donald Trump, “Que Estados Unidos vuelva a ser grande”.
El tono se volvió más insistente cuando estallaron protestas masivas en Irán a finales de diciembre de 2025, que fueron reprimidas violentamente. “Salgan juntos a la calle. Llegó el momento. Estamos con ustedes. No solo a distancia o con palabras, estamos con ustedes sobre el terreno”, afirmó uno de esos mensajes.
El martes, pocas horas después del asesinato por parte de Israel de Ali Lariyani, uno de los principales dirigentes iraníes, y del comandante de los Basij, la cuenta comentó de forma lacónica: “Las personas crueles terminan muriendo”.
(Con información de AFP)
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