Russia murdered Alexei Navalny with deadly frog poison, European countries conclude
Alexei Navalny was murdered by Russia with a type of frog poison, the governments of the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands have concluded.
In a joint statement on Saturday, the NATO countries said they were “confident” the Russian dissident had been poisoned by the Russian government with a “lethal toxin” known as epibatidine, which is found in South American poison dart frogs.
The frogs aren’t native to Russia.
“Russia claimed that Navalny died of natural causes. But given the toxicity of epibatidine and reported symptoms, poisoning was highly likely the cause of his death,” the countries wrote. “Navalny died while held in prison, meaning Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him.”
ALEXEI NAVALNY’S DEATH REPRESENTS MAJOR BLOW TO POLITICAL DISSENT IN RUSSIA
The conclusion was made based on samples taken from Navalny’s body.
Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most powerful opponents, died in a Russian prison in Siberia in 2024 after he decided to return to his home country in 2021.
Navalny was immediately detained upon his return on charges that included fraud and contempt of court that were widely considered to be politically motivated.
The activist was famously brought to a German hospital in 2020 to recover after Western powers, including the U.S., accused Russia of poisoning him with a nerve agent known as Novichok that was developed by the Soviet Union.
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“Russia’s repeated disregard for international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention is clear,” the statement said, adding that Russia was also widely believed to have used Novichok in England in 2018, leading to the death of a British woman named Dawn Sturgess.
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“These latest findings once again underline the need to hold Russia accountable for its repeated violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention and, in this instance, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention,” the statement said.
The countries added that they had written to the director general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to “inform him of this Russian breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.”
Terror convict, recently released, shot dead by Paris police after alleged knife attack near Arc de Triomphe
A man who had recently been released from prison on a terrorism charge was shot and killed by a police officer after he allegedly tried to attack another officer with a knife and scissors near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris Friday.
The incident happened near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the ceremony for relighting the eternal flame, which is carried out nightly.
The unidentified man, who is a French national born in 1978, allegedly tried to attack an officer guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and was shot by another officer.
He died of his wounds at a hospital, the French counterterrorism prosecutor’s office said.
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He was sentenced to 17 years in prison in Brussels in 2013 on a terrorist-related offense of attempted murder of three police officers in Belgium and had just been released in December.
The man served 12 years in prison and was placed under police supervision with routine checks, the French prosecution office said.
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The French counterterrorism prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation into the man related to his ties to a “terrorist enterprise” before his death.
The man was held in a Belgian prison until 2015, when he was transferred to France and released on Christmas Eve.
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The Arc de Triomphe was closed to guests after the incident, which had no other reported injuries.
The Arc de Triomphe, at the end of the Champs-Élysées, is one of Paris and Europe’s most popular sights, and millions of tourists visit the monument in the heart of the French capital each year.
Netanyahu urges court to revoke Palestinians’ Israeli citizenship after convictions for violent crimes
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday asked a court to revoke the Israeli citizenship of two Palestinian men convicted of terrorism offenses.
The effort appears to be the first use of a law enacted three years ago allowing the revocation of citizenship and subsequent deportation of Palestinian citizens who were convicted of certain violent crimes such as terrorism and received financial support from the Palestinian Authority as a reward.
Netanyahu filed court documents arguing that the severity of the crimes, along with payments the men reportedly received from a Palestinian Authority fund, justify pulling their citizenship and expelling them from the Jewish State.
The prime minister has long claimed the fund rewards violence, including attacks on civilians.
TRUMP SAYS HE WOULD ‘ABSOLUTELY’ REVOKE CITIZENSHIP FROM NATURALIZED CRIMINALS — IF HE HAS THE AUTHORITY
But Palestinian officials have contended that it is a safety net for the broad cross section of society with family members in Israeli detention. They also accused Netanyahu of focusing on the relatively small number of beneficiaries who carried out the attacks.
When the law passed, critics argued that it allowed Israel’s legal system to treat Jewish and Palestinian people differently. Civil rights groups said that basing a deportation law on Palestinian Authority payments effectively excluded Jewish Israelis, including settlers convicted of attacks against Palestinians, from the threat of losing their citizenship, as the statute targeted people of a certain race.
Netanyahu said this week that the government launched proceedings against the two men and that similar cases would be brought in the future.
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Israeli officials said Mohamad Ahmad, a citizen from Jerusalem, was convicted of “offenses that constitute an act of terrorism and receiving funds in connection with terrorism.” He allegedly received payment after he was sentenced in 2002 for a shooting attack and served 23 years before his release in 2024.
Mohammed Ahmad Hussein al-Halsi was sentenced in 2016 to 18 years behind bars for stabbing elderly women. He also allegedly received payments while in prison.
Ahmad would be deported immediately, while al-Halsi would be removed upon his release, as individuals are subject to removal to Gaza once their sentences are complete under the 2023 law, which applies to citizens or permanent residents convicted of “committing an act that constitutes a breach of loyalty to the State of Israel,” including terrorism.
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The general director of Israel’s Adalah legal center, Hassan Jabareen, called the move to use the law “a cynical propaganda move” by Netanyahu. He said stripping citizenship violated the most basic principles of the rule of law, including by acting against people who have completed prison sentences.
“The Israeli government is attempting to strip individuals of the very foundation through which all rights are protected, their nationality,” he said on Thursday, according to The Associated Press.
Trump admin warns Peru it could lose sovereignty as China tightens grip on nation
The United States is warning Peru that China’s growing control over a major Pacific port could threaten the country’s sovereignty, escalating tensions over Beijing’s expanding footprint in Latin America.
The concern centers on the $1.3 billion deep-water port in Chancay, north of Lima, which has become a flashpoint between Washington and Beijing after a Peruvian court ruling limited government regulatory oversight of the project.
The State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said on social media that it was “concerned about latest reports that Peru could be powerless to oversee Chancay, one of its largest ports, which is under the jurisdiction of predatory Chinese owners,” adding: “We support Peru’s sovereign right to oversee critical infrastructure in its own territory. Let this be a cautionary tale for the region and the world: cheap Chinese money costs sovereignty.”
CONGRESSIONAL COMMISSION WARNS CHINA’S PACIFIC INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS COULD POSE A MILITARY THREAT
China’s foreign ministry rejected the comments as “rumor-mongering and smearing” and insisted the project remains under Peruvian authority, according to The Associated Press report.
Asia analyst Gordon Chang told Fox News Digital: “Chancay is so central that analysts say it will redirect trade across the South Pacific. We know Beijing considers ports to be dual-use and strategic. China, held up the BlackRock deal to acquire the CK Hutchinson port operations in the Panama Canal Zone even though the ports are nowhere near China itself.”
“In times of war, China will not allow its port operations to load, unload, or service American ships or ships coming from or going to U.S. ports,” he warned.
Jack Burnham, senior analyst in the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the port reflects a broader strategic push by Beijing in the region.
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“The Chancay port is a keystone in China’s investment in Latin America — its size and proximity provide a bridge across the Pacific and access to another market to fuel Beijing’s export-driven economic engine,” Burnham said.
“China’s investment in Peru is predicated on Beijing grasping the sinews of Lima’s critical infrastructure to gain influence. With effective control over the port cemented for now by a lower Peruvian court ruling, China gains access to one of the largest critical infrastructure projects in the region, a position from which it could exercise significant control.”
The dispute comes as Washington and Beijing compete for influence across Latin America, where China has expanded investment through infrastructure projects and trade, analysts say.
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China’s state-owned shipping giant Cosco, which holds a majority stake in the project, dismissed U.S. concerns and said the court ruling “in no way involves aspects of sovereignty,” adding that Peruvian authorities still oversee security, environmental compliance and customs, according to The Associated Press.
Peru’s transport infrastructure regulator, Ositran, has said it plans to appeal the ruling, arguing the port should not be exempt from the same oversight applied to other major facilities.
Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told Fox News Digital that China strongly opposes what it called U.S. “false accusations and disinformation” regarding the Chancay port, citing remarks made by a Foreign Ministry spokesperson at a regular briefing on Feb. 12.
He described Chancay as a flagship China-Peru Belt and Road project and South America’s first “smart and green” port, saying the first phase is expected to cut shipping time between Peru and China to 23 days and reduce logistics costs by more than 20%, while generating about $4.5 billion annually for Peru and creating over 8,000 direct jobs. Liu said the project will strengthen Peru’s role as a regional trade gateway linking Asia and Latin America and support broader development, including environmental initiatives tied to wetlands and coastal habitats.
He added that China–Latin America partnerships are driven by shared development goals and benefit people on both sides.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Left-wing groups defiant as GOP sheds light on groups tied to China
As House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith dropped the gavel at 10:05 a.m. on Tuesday opening a hearing on “malign foreign influence,” the groups under scrutiny did not retreat, apologize or go silent.
They escalated.
Inside Room 1100 of the Longworth House Office Building, Smith warned that the U.S. nonprofit sector had become a vulnerability exploited by foreign adversaries. Outside the hearing room — across social media — far-left organizations tied to Marxist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, born in the U.S. and living in Shanghai, pressed forward with rhetoric vilifying the United States for its alleged “colonial policies” and “imperialism” and amplifying narratives aligned with the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, and communist allies like Cuba.
“This is not politics. It’s about national security,” Smith said, as he opened the hearing titled “Foreign Influence in American Nonprofits: Unmasking Threats from Beijing.” He said the committee was investigating “money trails” behind tax-exempt groups accused of “sowing chaos, fueling antisemitism,” and interfering in elections.
HOUSE COMMITTEE INVESTIGATES LEFT-WING ORGANIZATIONS ‘SOWING CHAOS’ ACROSS US
During the hearing, Smith sharpened the warning.
“The CCP is taking advantage of our tax-exempt sector,” he said.
For any organization allegedly breaking nonprofit tax laws, he said: “We’re coming for you!”
Breaking the fourth wall, Fox News Digital examined how the Singham network positioned itself outside the hearing room. A flurry of social media posts reveal that, even as Smith’s words echoed in the hearing room, the ecosystem he described was aggressively putting forward their own rhetoric of defiance.
On Tuesday, during the hearing, CodePink, co-founded by Singham’s wife Jodie Evans, was circulating a narrative accusing the United States of enabling atrocities abroad. On its X social media account, CodePink shared an article claiming Israel had “evaporated” Palestinians in Gaza, concluding: “Horrors beyond comprehension — made possible by the United States.”
The message mirrored language long pushed by U.S. adversaries, including the terrorist group Hamas.
While CodePink activists often crash hearings, screaming interruptions and heckling Republicans, they didn’t show up for this hearing, where their name was invoked several times for scrutiny.
In his opening remarks, Smith waved letters he had sent the night before to BreakThrough BT Media, a multimedia nonprofit, and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, a think tank – both media entities funded by Singham – demanding records on their ties to Singham and alleging they promoted propaganda aligned with the Chinese Communist Party.
Online, the groups gave no indication they were retreating. BreakThrough News posted protest footage from San Francisco, even with drone video of teachers picketing, one of them carrying a bold yellow-and-black sign from the Party for Socialism and Liberation that read, “MAKE THE BILLIONAIRES PAY.”
BreakThrough News showcased anti-U.S. narratives, one demonstrator shouting, “Enough is enough!”
The far-left groups persisted as Network Contagion Research Institute co-founder Adam Sohn testified, “This is engineered subversion,” describing how foreign-aligned narratives move through U.S. nonprofits and activist networks.
The response from those networks was more performative “agitprop,” a Soviet-era tactic for agitation propaganda.
As lawmakers questioned witnesses about fiscal sponsorships and donor-advised funds, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which is also part of the Singham’s network, promoted street protests and posted videos declaring victory.
One post from the Party for Socialism and Liberation from San Francisco racked up likes during the hearing, emblazoned with the words: “WE WILL WIN!”
That posture — aggressive, unapologetic and public — is exactly what experts warned about regarding the influence operation that U.S. adversaries are able to wage against the nation.
“They don’t need spies anymore,” Sohn told lawmakers. “They can use nonprofits,” like a Trojan horse, to “launder” their propaganda.
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By late morning, Democratic Socialists of America, which has 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations, added their own signal of defiance. As lawmakers debated foreign narrative laundering, Democratic Socialists of America widely shared a post where it praised the Super Bowl halftime performance by the Puerto Rican sensation Bad Bunny as “a damning critique of the harms of U.S. colonial policies.”
“As socialists in the U.S.,” Democratic Socialists of America declared. “It is our duty to support the struggles of peoples across the world suffering from the full weight of U.S. imperialism.”
The rhetoric landed as Scott Walter, president of the Capital Research Center, testified that “foreigners abuse this sector in order to hide their influence ops.”
“This committee is investigating money trails,” Smith warned. “This is about national security.”
Still, the messaging outside the room intensified.
The People’s Forum shared content praising communist Cuba and circulated a “Call to Conscience demanding an end to Trump’s assault on Cuba,” even as Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick called the groups out for “digital laundering operations,” the process of repackaging the narratives and rhetoric of foreign adversaries to make them appear organic from inside the U.S.
Inside the hearing, Smith warned, “If you are an American, you should be extremely concerned.” He asked witnesses to walk through Singham’s “web” of nonprofits.
Outside, that web responded in kind.
Students for Justice in Palestine, a nonprofit ally of the groups in the Singham network, urged Americans to “END ALL OCCUPATIONS,” whatever that meant, “from Palestine to Minneapolis.”
By 1:45 p.m., Smith dropped the gavel again.
“The committee stands adjourned,” he said.
Online, the campaign never paused. Democratic Socialists of America pushed a “Call to Conscience” to end the Trump administration’s “cruel blockade on Cuba.” The People’s Forum, an “incubator” hub for Marxist groups in the Singham network, based in New York City, moved ahead with its Tuesday night event for “comrades.”
It hosted an evening discussing the “Hidden Histories of Rebellion in the US.”
STEPHEN MOORE: From Dow 800 to 50,000–Reagan, Trump and the supply-side miracle
When I first arrived in Washington in 1982, the Dow Jones hit a low of 800. You may not believe that, so feel free to look it up.
If anyone had predicted that in a little more than four decades the Dow would surpass 50,000, they might have been admitted into a mental institution. But U.S. stocks have grown 60-fold (not counting inflation). Even accounting for inflation, the Dow is up about 12-fold. We have lived through the greatest period of wealth creation in perhaps the history of the world.
No other nation has come even close in modern times. Consider that American publicly traded companies are now worth more than $70 trillion.
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Is China catching up? Yes, but they’ve got a lot of work to do despite having four times more people than we do. The market cap of all Chinese companies is estimated at roughly $11 trillion. The market cap of all European Union countries is roughly $16 trillion. Japan’s companies are worth $7 trillion.
We are worth roughly as much as the rest of the world combined, even though we only have 5% of the world’s population. THAT should get you out of your chair shouting, “USA, USA, USA!”
We have lived through the greatest period of wealth creation in perhaps the history of the world.
This wealth spurt didn’t happen by accident. It’s the triumph of good economic policy — including the steep decline in tax rates and tame inflation bookended by two of our greatest pro-business presidents, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.
STEPHEN MOORE: ECONOMISTS KEEP MISSING THE TRUMP BOOM — AND THEY WON’T ADMIT IT
Rewind to 1981 when Reagan came into office: Inflation was running at about 12%, the top income tax rate was 70%, the corporate rate was 46%, the estate tax was 70%, and the capital gains rate was 28%. The economy was in a state of collapse.
Today, inflation is roughly 3%, the top income tax rate is 39.6%, the corporate rate is down to 21%, the estate tax is 40%, and capital gains taxes are taxed at 23.4%.
Supply-siders like Steve Forbes, Arthur Laffer and Larry Kudlow should take a bow. They were right about lowering tax rates and inflation, igniting growth and prosperity. The income redistributionists were wrong that the rich would pay much less taxes. They pay more. The top 1% now pay roughly 40% of the income tax.
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That’s the good news. The bad news is that so many Democrats haven’t learned the lesson that lower tax rates create more prosperity. By the way, the evidence also shows that even with these lower tax rates, the richest 1% pay a higher share of the tax burden than ever before.
The city in the U.S. with the highest combined federal/state/local income tax rate is New York City. The new mayor, Zohran Mamdani was elected promising that millionaires and billionaires would pay more taxes to close a $10 billion deficit.
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California is our most populous state. The liberal Democrats want to put a first-in-the-nation wealth tax on the ballot that has already created an exodus of millionaires and billionaires out of the state.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., Trump is predicting the Dow will reach 100,000 by the time he leaves office. That’s a bit of a moonshot, for sure, but the last four decades prove supply-side miracles can come true.
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15 arrested on suspicion of allegedly spreading ISIS propaganda on TikTok
Fifteen people were arrested in Europe on Tuesday for allegedly spreading Islamic State terrorist group propaganda over TikTok, a report said.
The suspects, whose ages ranged from 16 to 53, were taken into custody in raids across the Netherlands, according to Reuters.
The news agency cited Dutch prosecutors as saying the suspects were detained on suspicion of spreading propaganda from ISIS on TikTok and trying to persuade people to carry out terrorist attacks.
The arrests were sparked by a TikTok account that spread large amounts of ISIS propaganda with Dutch subtitles, the prosecutors reportedly added.
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Thirteen of those arrested were Syrian and four had Dutch nationality, suggesting that some of the suspects were dual nationals, Reuters reported.
TikTok did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
The arrests come as the U.S. military remains active in Syria against ISIS.
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U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced last Wednesday that it carried out five strikes against “multiple” Islamic State targets in recent days as part of a joint military effort to “ensure the enduring defeat of the terrorist network.”
CENTCOM said, from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, its forces “located and destroyed an ISIS communication site, critical logistics node, and weapons storage facilities with 50 precision munitions delivered by fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft.”
“Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, said in a statement.
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CENTCOM said it launched the Operation Hawkeye Strike mission in response to a Dec. 13, 2025, ISIS “ambush” attack against U.S. and Syrian forces in Palmyra, Syria.
That attack left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead.
Trump says he will block US-Canada Bridge unless Canada negotiates on trade
President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to prevent the opening of a bridge that will connect Michigan and Canada unless Ottawa negotiates with Washington on tariffs and the exclusion of American products.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump accused Canada of taking advantage of the United States with unfair trade practices and cozying up to China.
In an effort to bring Canada to the negotiating table, Trump said he would not allow the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which is named after the legendary Canadian ice hockey player who played for the Detroit Red Wings. The bridge, which is currently under construction, will connect Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.
“I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve,” Trump wrote.
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“We will start negotiations, IMMEDIATELY. With all that we have given them, we should own, perhaps, at least one half of this asset,” he added.
He cited the removal of U.S. alcohol products from Canadian liquor store shelves in Ontario.
Trump has previously accused Canada of taking advantage of U.S. trade policies. In his post, Trump said Canada has moved forward with building the bridge with “virtually no U.S. content.”
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He blamed former President Barack Obama for “stupidly” giving Canada a waiver so they could get around the Buy American Act, which mandates federal agencies purchase materials that are manufactured in the U.S. and made mostly from U.S.-produced components.
Trump accused Canada of not using American products, including steel.
“Now, the Canadian Government expects me, as President of the United States, to PERMIT them to just ‘take advantage of America!’ What does the United States of America get — Absolutely NOTHING!” he wrote. “Ontario won’t even put U.S. spirits, beverages, and other alcoholic products, on their shelves, they are absolutely prohibited from doing so and now, on top of everything else, Prime Minister Carney wants to make a deal with China — which will eat Canada alive. We’ll just get the leftovers! I don’t think so.”
By cozying up to China, Canada would be risking its national sport: ice hockey, Trump said.
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“The first thing China will do is terminate ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada, and permanently eliminate The Stanley Cup,” he said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Alleged Sinaloa cartel fentanyl producer charged in newly unsealed US federal indictment
An alleged top Sinaloa cartel fentanyl producer accused of supplying millions of deadly pills to the Chapitos was charged in a newly unsealed U.S. indictment after Mexican authorities arrested Ivan Valerio Sainz Salazar in Sinaloa, federal prosecutors said.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Thursday that Sainz Salazar, also known as “Mantecas,” is charged with fentanyl trafficking and weapons offenses tied to an alleged conspiracy to manufacture the drug for the Sinaloa cartel and smuggle it into the U.S.
Mexican authorities arrested Sainz Salazar and several alleged associates in Badiraguato, Sinaloa, on Jan. 19, 2026, according to Mexico Secretary of Security and Civilian Protection Omar H. Garcia Harfuch.
“In an operation carried out by the National Guard, the Mexican Army and Air Force, authorities detained Iván Valerio ‘N,’ alias ‘Mantecas,’ leader of a faction linked to the Beltrán Leyva organization,” Garcia Harfuch wrote on X. “He was arrested along with 7 members of his group, as well as firearms, vehicles and a synthetic drug production center. The investigation is ongoing.”
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According to the indictment, federal prosecutors claim the Sinaloa cartel remains one of the primary drivers of fentanyl flowing into the U.S., fueling record overdose deaths nationwide. The synthetic opioid is far more potent than heroin and has devastated communities across the country.
Investigators allege the cartel faction known as the Chapitos – led by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán – oversaw much of that operation, relying on armed enforcers to protect drug labs, trafficking routes and leadership, often using military-grade weapons.
Prosecutors claim Sainz Salazar served as a key fentanyl producer for the Chapitos from about 2022 through 2025, helping manufacture millions of pills, arranging drug transactions under armed protection and operating labs that later became central to the group’s fentanyl production.
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Sainz Salazar, a 40-year-old Mexican citizen, has been charged with conspiring to import fentanyl into the U.S. and conspiring to distribute it domestically – counts that each carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life.
He is also charged with using and possessing machine guns and destructive devices in connection with the alleged drug conspiracy. One weapons count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years and a maximum of life, while another related conspiracy charge also carries a maximum sentence of life.
“As alleged, Sainz Salazar served as a major producer of the Sinaloa Cartel’s fentanyl shipments bound for the United States,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said. “Fentanyl kills, and violent dealers in fentanyl must be taken off our streets. Today’s charges target a major producer behind the Chapitos’ supply chain and underscore the commitment of the women and men of our Office to holding traffickers at all levels of the production and distribution chain accountable.”
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Joaquín Guzmán López, son of cartel boss “El Chapo,” pleaded guilty in a Chicago federal courtroom in December to drug-trafficking and continuing criminal enterprise charges.
Guzmán López, 39, is among the so-called Chapitos, the group of brothers who took over a major faction of the Sinaloa cartel after drug kingpin El Chapo’s 2019 conviction and life sentence.
Prosecutors say the brothers increased the production and distribution of narcotics, including fentanyl, and created a massive pipeline that funneled tens of thousands of kilograms of drugs into the U.S. each year, per reports.
FBI ARRESTS 55 IN MASSIVE DRUG RING WITH ALLEGED CHINA SUPPLIER FLOODING US STREETS WITH FENTANYL
Guzmán López pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking and continuing criminal enterprise after acknowledging his role in overseeing the transporting of drugs to the U.S., mostly through underground tunnels.
Guzmán López’s attorney said the plea deal allows his client to avoid an automatic life sentence, according to The Associated Press.
Guzmán López was arrested in July 2024 alongside longtime cartel figure Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada after landing on a private jet in Texas.
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The plea followed a similar agreement reached months earlier by his brother, Ovidio Guzmán López, on trafficking and money-laundering charges.
El Chapo himself remains in a maximum-security U.S. prison serving life without parole for running a multibillion-dollar trafficking empire. Prosecutors say his son stepped into his role.
Notre Dame hire of abortion advocate to lead center causes staff to cut ties with university
A University of Notre Dame law professor as well as a research professor emeritus told Fox News Digital they are cutting ties with the university’s Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies in protest over the institute’s appointment of a professor who has publicly supported abortion.
“I confirm that I submitted my resignation to the University President, Provost, Keough School Dean, and the current Liu Institute Director, giving up my appointments as a Faculty Fellow and member of the Faculty Executive Committee of the Liu Institute yesterday,” Diane A. Desierto, professor of law and global affairs, told Fox News Digital in a statement Wednesday.
Additionally, in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital on Tuesday, Robert M. Gimello, research professor emeritus of theology, informed Michel Hockx, director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies at Notre Dame, that he does not want to be affiliated with the institute following the appointment of Susan Ostermann.
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Notre Dame announced Jan. 8 that Ostermann, who joined the university in 2017 as a global affairs professor, will assume her role as director of the Asian studies center in July.
“Dear Michel: In dismay, and with regret, I write to tell you that the recently announced appointment of your successor as Director of the Liu Center compels my resignation from my position as Emeritus Fellow of the Center,” Gimello wrote in the letter emailed to Hockx on Monday.
“Please remove my name and photograph from the Liu Institute’s roster,” Gimello added. “I can only hope —and I will pray — for a future in which the Institute fulfills its proper role as a faithful instrument of our University’s Catholic mission.”
Gimello is not listed as a Liu Institute emeritus fellow on his university biography page, but other profiles of Gimello list him as having been a fellow.
In 2022, Ostermann co-authored an article titled, “Lies about abortion have dictated our health policy,” with former Notre Dame professor Tamara Kay.
In the article, Ostermann and Kay argued, “Almost 90% of abortions occur during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy when there are no babies or fetuses. There are only blastocysts or embryos so tiny they are too small to be seen on an abdominal ultrasound.”
They also called it a “lie” that abortion is dangerous, writing, “This could not be further from the truth. Research shows abortion is safe and does not have long-term effects on physical or mental health.”
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The authors further wrote that abortion “doesn’t cause cancer, it doesn’t affect future fertility, and most people feel relief after an abortion and do not regret their decision. Up to 11 weeks, medication abortions are generally performed using mifepristone and misoprostol, which are safer than taking Tylenol.”
In another 2022 article published by Salon, titled “Forced pregnancy and childbirth are violence against women — and also terrible health policy,” Ostermann and Kay wrote, “Criminalizing abortion results in irreparable harm. In fact, it actually has the opposite policy effect that anti-abortion advocates say they want: It can increase abortion rates, unintended pregnancies and infant mortality.”
Additionally, they wrote, “Abortion access is freedom-enhancing, in the truest sense of the word. Consistent with integral human development that emphasizes social justice and human dignity, abortion access respects the inherent dignity of women, their freedom to make choices and to evaluate medical and other risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth.”
Gimello told Fox News Digital in a statement that his resignation was driven by Ostermann’s public advocacy for abortion.
NOTRE DAME’S NEW ‘ND VALUES’ LIST REMOVES EXPLICIT CALL FOR STAFF TO SUPPORT SCHOOL’S CATHOLIC MISSION
“You would be correct to assume that the principal reason for my resignation is the sad fact that administrators of the world’s preeminent Catholic university have chosen to appoint, as director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, a scholar who has repeatedly, publicly, and adamantly proclaimed her opposition to (verging at times, it seems to me, on contempt for) the Catholic Church’s firm teaching that protection and nourishment of human life, from the moment of conception until natural death, is a sacred duty incumbent upon the whole human community,” Gimello said.
He added, “Continued formal association with a unit of the University led by such a person is, for me, simply unconscionable — this regardless of whatever considerable talents and accomplishments the appointee might otherwise bring to the job.”
Gimello also expressed concern that Ostermann’s appointment would confuse those outside of Notre Dame about the university’s adherence to Catholic identity.
“Moreover, I am myself a scholar whose work focuses chiefly on Asia, particularly Asia’s religious and intellectual traditions, both in themselves and in comparison with Christianity,” he said. “The Liu Institute, for its part, is not only Notre Dame’s principal organ for the study of Asia; it is also its chief conduit for institutional relations with Asia. It is, as it were, Notre Dame’s ‘Asian face.’”
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“Questions and controversies regarding the nature and value of human life (not least questions concerning abortion, population control, euthanasia, etc.) are, of course, central to the intellectual, religious and ethical traditions of all Asian countries, all the more so in these troubled and contentious times,” Gimello said.
“I believe, therefore, that it is essential to Notre Dame’s Asian outreach that it faithfully represent to its Asian and Asian Studies interlocutors the Catholic Church’s views on these most fundamental matters,” he added. “I doubt that anyone so hostile to, or dismissive of, those views — as this newly appointed person seems clearly to be — even if she were to try to muffle her hostility, could do justice to Notre Dame’s properly Catholic endeavors in and about Asia. I fear now that this appointment will suggest to our Asian associates, and to scholars of Asia at other institutions here and abroad, that Notre Dame is deeply at odds with the Church that it claims to represent in the realms of higher education.”
Notre Dame told Fox News Digital that it stands by their previous statement about Ostermann’s appointment.
A representative affiliated with the university said, “Gimello retired from the Department of Theology in 2017 and has not been an active member of either the Theology Department or Liu Institute since then. Until recently, he was listed as an emeritus fellow with the Liu Institute as a professional courtesy.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Ostermann for comment.