The Biden administration on Saturday announced a $988 million aid package to Ukraine to ensure it “has the tools it needs to prevail in its fight against Russian aggression.” 

“This administration has made its choice. And so has a bipartisan coalition in Congress. The next administration must make its own choice,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California. “But, from this library, from this podium, I am confident that President Reagan would have stood on the side of Ukraine, American security and human freedom.” 

The aid package is provided through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and “will provide Ukraine with munitions for rocket systems and unmanned aerial systems,” a release from the administration said. “This package also includes support for maintenance and repair programs to help Ukraine reconstitute its forces and build and sustain combat power.” 

The announcement came as President-elect Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while at a ceremony commemorating the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Saturday after a devastating fire there in 2019. 

ZELENSKYY FEARS DANGER IF UKRAINE LOSES UNITY, DEFEAT IF US CUTS FUNDS, 1,000 DAYS AFTER WAR BEGAN 

During the campaign, Trump and running mate JD Vance heavily criticized the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion, and Trump said he would end the war before even entering office without offering further details. 

Vance also suggested earlier this year that the best way to end the war was for Ukraine to cede the land Russia has seized and for a demilitarized zone to be established, a proposal Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy flatly rejected. 

FLORIDA REP CALLS OUT DEMOCRATS FOR ‘ESCALATING’ CONFLICT IN UKRAINE

French President Emmanuel Macron, center, poses with President-elect Donald Trump, left, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Élysée Palace in Paris Saturday.  (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Recently, Zelenskyy has said he is more open to negotiations in the war and has called for Ukraine to be allowed to join NATO. 

The Biden administration has committed to giving Ukraine as much aid as possible before Trump takes office in January. 

“In September, the president announced a surge in security assistance for Ukraine to put Ukrainian forces in the strongest possible position before he leaves office,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement Monday while announcing $725 million in aid to Ukraine. 

Secretary Lloyd Austin  (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“Between now and mid-January, we will deliver hundreds of thousands of additional artillery rounds, thousands of additional rockets and other critical capabilities to help Ukraine defend its freedom and independence.” 

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and Jan. 20.” 

Saturday’s announcement marks the administration’s 22nd aid package through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. 

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This week, House Speaker Mike Johnson rejected a request by the administration for Congress to authorize $24 billion in additional funding.

“It is not the place of Joe Biden to make that decision now,” Johnson said. “We have a newly elected president, and we’re going to wait and take the new commander in chief’s direction on all that. So, I don’t expect any Ukraine funding to come up now.”

JERUSALEM—The Western-trained eye doctor, Bashar Assad, who used chemical weapons multiple times on his population, has fled Syria after a re-kindled revolt against his brutal regime resulted in the speedy loss of major cities and territory that started in late November.

Assad and his British-born wife, Asma al-Assad, fled with their three children to…

After one of the bloodiest civil wars of this century, a 13-year-old conflict in the heart of the Islamic heartland that looked to overthrow the Assad dynasty has seemingly come to an end, at least for now. 

The collapse of more than 50 years of Assad family rule over the Syrian Arabian Republic is a monumental turning point in Middle East power politics. 

ISLAMIST REBELS IN SYRIA CATCH ASSAD, PUTIN, IRAN REGIMES OFF GUARD GIVING US NEW MIDEAST HEADACHE

A coalition of largely radical Islamist groups dislodged Assad’s Iran-backed regime. The U.S.-designated terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist former Al-Qaeda affiliate that is part of the rebel forces, played the decisive role in evicting Assad, who inherited his presidency in 2000 following the death of his father, Hafez Assad.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the Islamist leader of HTS, who has a $10 million bounty on his head from the U.S, seeks to present a toned-down version of the radical Islamism that has defined his years of fighting in Syria and in Iraq against American troops. Al-Golani was detained by the U.S. military in the first decade of this century.

Syrian experts have told Fox News Digital that HTS seeks to impose a totalitarian Islamist regime on the population. Phillip Smyth, an expert on Iranian regime proxy groups and Syria, who is with the Atlantic Council, told Fox News Digital, “HTS is a group that is an outgrowth of Al-Qaeda and has connections to Turkey. Their endgame is to create a Talibanesque society with a few tweaks.”

Rebels In Northwest Syria Seized Military Vehicles Belonging To The Regime Along The Route Toward Kweris Airport In The Eastern Countryside Of Aleppo On December 2, 2024. (Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via APRami Alsayed/NurPhoto via AP)

Assad’s decision in 2011 to launch a violent crackdown on pro-democracy Syrian activists during the Arab Spring revolts, which engulfed Egypt and Tunisia, resulted in a protracted civil war. Assad’s scorched-earth policy against the citizens of his country caused the killing of over 500,000 people. The U.N. recently announced that it has stopped counting the mounting death toll.

TRUMP URGES US TO STAY OUT OF SYRIAN CIVIL WAR, BLAMING OBAMA FOR FAILURE AS ISLAMISTS CLOSE IN ON CAPITAL

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday Egyptian and Jordanian officials urged Assad to flee Syria and form a government-in-exile. Jordan’s government denied the report.

In 2015, Assad’s regime was teetering when Vladimir Putin’s Russia intervened to save the dictatorship. The U.S.-sanctioned Lebanese terrorist movement, Hezbollah, and its main sponsor, Iran, both threw their weight behind Assad’s regime. 

The rebel forces who routed Assad’s forces—with the swift capture of the major Syrian cities of Aleppo, Hamas, and Homs—jolted both Putin and Iran. Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion of its territory has weakened Moscow. Israel has inflicted a number of aerial attacks on Iran’s military infrastructure since Tehran’s ally, Hamas, launched a surprise attack against the Jewish state on October 7, 2023.

Portraits of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) and his late father and predecessor, Hafez, hang on the wall of a destroyed apartment in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, 17 August 2006.  (PATRICK BAZ/AFP via Getty Images)

The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2254 in 2015, which called for a cease-fire, UN-run elections and a new constitution. Assad rejected the resolution’s implementation. 

After Assad launched a shocking mass chemical weapons strike on Syrian civilians in 2013, in which more than 1,400 people were killed, former President Obama’s administration reneged on its promise to take military action against Assad. 

The origin of Assad’s forced departure can be traced back to a group of schoolboys in the southwestern dusty city of Daraa—the cradle of the Syrian revolt—in 2011.  The young boys used cans of graffiti to write on a concrete wall:”The people / want / to topple the regime!”

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left), Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (center), Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (right). ((Fox News/Getty Images))

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Assad’s cousin, Gen. Atef Najeeb, oversaw an operation that involved reported torture of the arrested 15 boys between the ages of 10 and 15. Syrian officials ripped the boy’s fingernails out and burned and beat them.

Syrian Islamist forces ousted Assad’s regime on Friday in Daraa.

The gray backpack linked to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, which authorities found dumped in Central Park, has reportedly yielded a jacket, and some Monopoly money, but no gun.

The backpack, which was found in Central Park West on Friday, contained a jacket, according to Bloomberg. NBC News reported Saturday that Monopoly money was also found in the backpack.

The new information came as authorities began to wrap up day four of the hunt for Thompson’s assassin. The businessman was shot with a suppressed pistol at around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel.

SHOCKING VIDEO SHOWS UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO BRIAN THOMPSON GUNNED DOWN ON NYC STREET

Thompson was walking towards a Midtown hotel when the masked suspect opened fire from behind and then fled the scene. Police believe that the gunman left New York City on a bus the same day.

Police have not officially confirmed that the newly-found backpack was the same one that the suspect wore during the murder, which was captured by a surveillance camera.

FORMER NYPD INSPECTOR ‘SKEPTICAL’ UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO GUNMAN WAS PROFESSIONAL, ZEROES IN ON WEAPON OF CHOICE

Signage posted around Midtown Manhattan asks for the public’s help in locating the suspect wanted for the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday. (Fox News)

Retired FBI agent Scott Duffey told Fox News Digital it will be taken to a lab in Queens for forensic testing, where it will undergo trace evidence processing.

“[It’s] a process for hair, fibers [and] DNA,” Duffey explained Saturday. “If he holds his hand against the strap and tightens the buckle like most of us do, that is where DNA most likely can be found. And zippers.”

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The suspected shooter of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is seen leaving the scene. (Amar Abdelmula)

Investigators are also analyzing clues that the suspect left, such as a water bottle at the scene and a discarded cellphone. Bullet casings with the words “deny,” “depose” and “delay,” written on them were also found.

Former Washington, D.C. homicide detective Ted Williams said the Monopoly money in backpack is the “killer playing games with the authorities. All part of a cat and mouse game,” he said. 

“This killer knew they would more likely than not find the backpack, and he is leaving breadcrumbs to let [the] authorities know that he is in control, not them.”

Fox News Digital’s Christina Coulter contributed to this report.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and show host Piers Morgan argued over trans athletes in a heated debate this week over the future of competitive sports. 

“What I see is sports is on the frontier of how to handle this frontier of people who are trans,” Tyson said on “Piers Morgan Uncensored.” “It’s on the frontier of how to resolve that. And I’m making this up now: imagine the future of sports does not distinguish sex, it distinguishes and sorts people by hormone ratios.” 

Tyson recently spoke with comedian Bill Maher on his show to discuss the role of scientists in discussing the inclusion of trans athletes in men’s and women’s sports. 

SCHOOL DISTRICT MIRED IN TRANSGENDER ATHLETE CONTROVERSY TELLS CRITICS TO BLAME LAWMAKERS IN CA AND DC

“I’m making this up, but imagine if that were the case,” he said. “That would be interesting. You get a hormone test, you’re in this range and then you compete against other people with the same range.”

“That’s ridiculous. Neil, that is ridiculous,” Morgan said.

“No, it’s not! I’ll tell you why it’s not,” Tyson said.

HIGH SCHOOL FACING STUDENT UPRISING OVER BAN OF SHIRTS PROTESTING TRANS ATHLETES AFTER GIRLS BEG FOR SAFETY

Tyson conceded that in competitive sports, men were on average faster and stronger than women.  (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Webby Awards)

“I say this respectfully because I love you, but it just seems to me like you’ve dug yourself into a slight hole on this issue and you’re trying to get out of it,” Morgan said. “And now you’re suggesting slightly mad cat theories, whereas the science, to me, is obvious. You’ve already given the best argument I’ve heard for why we separate the sexes.”

“You misquoted me in this very interview,” Tyson said. 

Tyson argued that in competitive sports, men were on average faster and stronger than women. 

“Across the board that is the case,” Tyson said. “There is no dispute there. That is just objective truth.” 

“Now we have to ask: Why do we watch sports at all?” he continued. “We like the equality of the contest and not knowing who would win. That’s what makes sports fun.” 

“If there’s a wave of trans women who dominate the sport against other women, all those sports will become less interesting based on how we all watch sports,” Tyson said, suggesting that the inclusion of trans athletes in sports may require rethinking how athletes are matched up against each other. 

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Not long after Barry Keoghan deactivated his Instagram account, the “Saltburn” actor rumored to have cheated on girlfriend Sabrina Carpenter took to social media to explain his decision and ask for respect. 

“I can only sit and take so much. My name has been dragged across the internet in ways I usually don’t respond to,” he wrote on X. “I have to respond now because it’s gettin[g] to a place where there are too many lines being crossed. 

“I deactivated my account because I can no longer let this stuff distract from my family and my work. The messages I have received no person should ever have to read them. Absolute lies, hatred, disgusting commentary about my appearance, character, how I am as a parent and every other inhumane thing you can imagine.

SABRINA CARPENTER PLAGUED BY CHEATING SCANDAL AS POP STAR MAKES SURPRISE APPEARANCE FOR FANS

“Dragging my character and everything I worked extremely hard for and stand for,” he continued. “Talking about how I was a heroine baby and how I grew up and dragging my dear mother into it also. Knocking on my grannie’s door. Sitting outside my baby boy’s house intimidating them. That’s crossing a line.

“Each and every day I work harder to push myself on every level to be the healthiest and strongest person for that boy,” he concluded. “I want to provide opportunities for him to learn, fail and grow. I want him to be able to look up to his daddy, to have full trust in me and know I will have his back no matter what. I need you to remember he has to read ALL of this about his father when he is older. Please be respectful to all. Thank u x.”

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A representative for Keoghan did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

On Thursday, Carpenter surprised fans at the premiere of her Netflix Christmas special as cheating rumors swirled about her relationship with Keoghan. 

Carpenter and Keoghan first sparked dating rumors in 2023.  (Aeon/GC Images)

The “Taste” singer appeared in good spirits while promoting “A Nonsense Christmas” despite chatter online that her relationship with Keoghan ended due to infidelity on the Oscar-nominated actor’s part.

Influencer Breckie Hill, who boasts 4.3 million followers on TikTok, fueled the infidelity rumors by reposting a video on the platform.

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The video featured a post from gossip account DeuxMoi, which said, “On the closing night of her biggest tour to date in LA, he was busy getting very cozy at San Vincente Bungalows with a blonde, semi-famous LA-based influencer (who’s particularly big on TikTok).

Barry Keoghan and Sabrina Carpenter reportedly called it quits after dating on and off for a year.  (Getty Images)

“I snooped around a bit out of curiosity and apparently he and his pop star girlfriend called it quits very suddenly less than a week before her final shows in LA after she found out he had been chatting with said influencer behind her back for months in a not-innocent-at-all way.”

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for both Carpenter and Keoghan for comment.

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An insider confirmed the two are taking a break after first sparking romance rumors in December 2023.

“They are both young and career-focused, so they’ve decided to take a break,” the source told People magazine.

Fox News Digital’s Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this report. 

Attorney Brian Claypool accused the prosecution of intentionally “overcharging” Marine veteran Daniel Penny in the Jordan Neely subway chokehold case, knowing the move would boil down to the jury weighing on the “easier-to-prove” lesser charge. 

The judge in the high-profile case granted the prosecution’s motion to dismiss the top charge of second-degree manslaughter before the jury broke for the weekend, leaving them to weigh the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide when court deliberations resume on Monday.

Jurors failed to reach a unanimous agreement twice, prompting the dismissal.

“I thought when this case started that this prosecutor overcharged Daniel Penny. This never was a second-degree manslaughter case; that requires Penny to intend to harm Jordan Neely. That requires proof that Penny knew and had reasonable belief to know that Jordan Neely was going to die because of this chokehold and still did it,” Claypool said.

“There’s no facts to support that, so these prosecutors overcharged, knowing they’d never get a conviction on second-degree manslaughter, and then got what they wanted. Then they get the judge to say, ‘Well, you can’t agree on that one, but let’s go to the lesser charge, which is easier to prove.’ What that does is it induces jurors to throw up their arms after they’ve been deliberating three or four days and say, ‘OK, let’s just get them on the lesser charge,’ so it’s patently unfair, and that’s a miscarriage of justice.”

LEAD DANIEL PENNY PROSECUTOR SECURED LIGHT SENTENCE FOR THUG WHO KILLED 87-YEAR-OLD IN ATM ROBBERY

Penny’s defense said in a statement Friday that it is “cautiously optimistic” that the remaining count will be dismissed by the jury on Monday, allowing the “nightmare” to be put behind Penny.

DANIEL PENNY TRIAL: MEET THE JURORS WHO WILL DECIDE MARINE VETERAN’S FATE IN SUBWAY CHOKEHOLD CASE

Jordan Neely is pictured before going to see the Michael Jackson movie, “This is It,” outside the Regal Cinemas on 8th Ave. and 42nd St. in Times Square, New York, in 2009.  (Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

“…[This would] allow us to focus on the civil lawsuit, filed two days ago, for the same allegations contained in the criminal indictment,” the statement continued.

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Penny is accused of using a chokehold against 30-year-old Neely that resulted in his death after Neely told passengers aboard a New York City subway that someone was going to “die today” and that he didn’t care about going to prison for life. 

When actor Timothée Chalamet was selected by ESPN to be the special guest picker for “College GameDay” on Saturday, fans were puzzled as the “Dune” star had no clear ties to college football.

However, the Hollywood A-list actor impressed the panel and, more importantly, the fans with his seemingly expert analysis.  

“I’m going Jackson State, eight wins in a row, 11 all-conference players, this should be a comfortable, easy win for them,” Chalamet said in his first pick.

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Chalamet impressed the hosts of the show with his research. 

“He said I only got six games, I’m bringing the heat on all six,” co-host Kirk Herbstreit said. 

When picking the Clemson-SMU ACC Championship game, the “Wonka” star referenced SMU’s Pony Express, which was one of the greatest running attacks in college football history with Eric Dickerson and Craig James. 

“Kevin Jennings is a legitimate Heisman contender next year, in my humble opinion. I’m pulling for SMU, it smells like the 1980s folks,” Chalamet said. 

When it came to picking the SEC Championship game between Texas and Georgia, Chalamet made his choice with a friend in mind. 

“You know it’s hard to beat the same team twice. Adjustments are made, it’s like a game of chess. Coach Saban knows this better than anyone on this dais. Listen, I’m going with my movie-dad (Matthew) McConaughey here. I’m sorry to everyone here, this is a Longhorn’s victory, hook’em horns,” Chalamet said. 

Chalamet played McConaughey’s son in “Interstellar,” and McConaughey is known to be a massive Texas fan. 

TEXAS FAN NARROWLY MISSES $1.2 MILLION KICK ON ESPN’S ‘COLLEGE GAMEDAY’

Actor Matthew McConaughey celebrates the 17-7 Texas Longhorns win over Texas A&M in the Lone Star Showdown at Kyle Field on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024 in College Station, Texas. (IMAGN)

Here are all of Chalamet’s picks:

Fans were impressed with Chalamet’s knowledge and research, and took to social media to praise him.

“I’ve never been more wrong about anything in my life than I was about Timothée Chalamet’s college football knowledge. I’m speechless. This guy knows ball,” one user wrote on X.

“Timothée Chalamet being a real deal college football fan, being a SMU fan, and knowing about all these teams was so crazy to me. I thought (he) just got invited cause (he is) famous, but he was a legit great guest picker on College Gameday,” another X user posted.

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Timothée Chalamet attends the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on January 7, 2024, in Beverly Hills, California.  (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

FOX Sports’ Peter Schrager made sure to acknowledge Chalamet’s reference to the Pony Express.

“Timothee Chalamet came prepared, researched, and referenced the Pony Express. Maybe the best College Gameday guest picker yet. NYC guy. Respect,” Schrager wrote on X. 

“College GameDay” was in Atlanta, Georgia, covering the SEC Championship game between Texas and Georgia that begins at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Chalamet is starring in a Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” which comes out on Dec. 25. Dylan himself approved the film, and Chalamet is singing some of Dylan’s classics in the movie. 

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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is trying to “strong-arm” the jury in the Daniel Penny case into deciding on a verdict by dismissing manslaughter charges when they appeared deadlocked, former U.S. assistant attorney Andy McCarthy says.

“Bragg added a baseless recklessness charge to the indictment so the jury would have two counts, increasing the odds of conviction by giving the jury something to compromise on,” McCarthy wrote in National Review.

The manslaughter charge required prosecutors to prove that Penny acted with recklessness when he put mentally ill homeless man Jordan Neely in a chokehold on May 1, 2023. Neely had barged onto a subway car while high on drugs, threatening to kill passengers during a psychotic episode, according to trial testimony.

DANIEL PENNY MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE DISMISSED AS JURY BREAKS FOR WEEKEND

The judge initially ruled that the jury could not deliberate on the second charge unless they found Penny not guilty of manslaughter by some reason other than that the chokehold was justified. However, after jurors said they were deadlocked a second time, Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Dafna Yoran asked to have the top charge dismissed to allow the jury to debate the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, which carries a maximum punishment of four years in prison.

“Today, the jurors have been Allen-charged to try to strong-arm them into deciding the count despite indicating, after three days, that they were deadlocked,” McCarthy wrote.

McCarthy said that he believes Bragg’s strategy in the case against Penny was to push forward with two charges, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, in order to maximize his chances in the court system.

“Unfortunately the strategy is working the way it’s designed to work,” McCarthy said on Fox News Channel on Friday. 

In National Review, he said the prosecution should never have happened.

“This was not remotely a recklessness case, where it could be said that Penny wantonly disregarded an obvious risk of death,” he wrote. “There is evidence that Penny moved Neely into a position that would make breathing easier, waited for the police to come and fully cooperated with them, and did not even know Neely was dead when he voluntarily spoke to police and explained what happened — that he wasn’t trying to hurt Neely, just subdue him until the police arrived.” 

DANIEL PENNY TO BE TAPPED FOR CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL BY HOUSE GOP LAWMAKER

Penny, a Marine veteran, is awaiting a jury’s decision on a charge of criminally negligent homicide in the 2023 death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway train. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

Other commentators, including Claremont Institute senior fellow Jeremy Carl, responded angrily to the recent court developments. 

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“Kyle Rittenhouse was clearly not guilty, but the Daniel Penny case makes the Kyle Rittenhouse case look like a model of blind justice,” Carl wrote. “He is unquestionably in every way a hero and the prosecution against him a total disgrace.”

“I don’t think the left fully grasps how much they are radicalizing people when a Marine who saved a bunch of people on the subway from a violent person with mental illness yelling ‘someone is going to die today’ is demonized,” former “The View” co-host Meghan McCain argued. “Daniel Penny did nothing wrong, you lunatics.”

Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and CB Cotton contributed to this report. 

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