TOP NEWS

The right-wing leader has sought to appeal his 27-year sentence for allegedly fomenting a coup after his 2022 defeat.

Lawyers for former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have asked Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to allow him to serve his 27-year sentence under house arrest, citing health concerns.

According to a document reviewed by the Reuters news agency on Friday, Bolsonaro’s lawyers said the 70-year-old former president’s recurring intestinal issues would make imprisonment life-threatening.

He had been stabbed in the stomach while campaigning in the state of Minas Gerais in 2018.

“It is certain that keeping the petitioner in a prison environment would pose a concrete and immediate risk to his physical integrity and even his life,” the document said. It asked for house arrest on humanitarian grounds.

In September, Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison by a five-judge panel from Brazil’s Supreme Court. He was convicted of plotting a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The former right-wing leader has already been under house arrest for violating precautionary measures in a separate case, in which he allegedly courted United States interference to halt the criminal proceedings against him.

Court sources said Bolsonaro’s arrest appeared imminent after the Supreme Court panel earlier this month unanimously rejected an appeal filed by the former president’s legal team.

His lawyers said they would file a new appeal, but they argued that, if it is also rejected, Bolsonaro should begin serving his sentence under house arrest once all appeals are exhausted.

They noted that, earlier this year, the top court let 76-year-old former President Fernando Collor de Mello serve house arrest due to his age and health issues, including Parkinson’s disease, after he was sentenced to almost nine years in prison on corruption and money laundering charges.

Recent medical tests on Bolsonaro show that “a serious or sudden illness is not a question of ‘if’, but of ‘when’,” his legal team said.

One of Bolsonaro’s sons, Carlos, said on Friday that the former president was facing severe hiccups and vomiting constantly. “I’ve never seen him like this,” he wrote on the social media platform X.

Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022, was convicted of five crimes, including participating in an armed criminal organisation, attempting to violently abolish democracy and organising a coup.

On Friday, the former president made a brief appearance in the doorway of his house while receiving a visit from federal lawmaker Nikolas Ferreira.

Nov. 21 (UPI) — Students and teachers were injured during a grizzly bear attack in Canada, and authorities are warning locals to stay indoors until they can find the bear.

The attack happened Thursday in the Bella Coola Valley of the Nuxalk Nation in British Columbia. The CBC reported that two people were critically injured, two were seriously hurt and others were treated at the scene.

The group were from the Acwsalcta School, about 435 miles northwest of Vancouver.

A male teacher “got the whole brunt of it” and some children got sprayed with bear spray as the adults tried to scare the bear away, parent Veronica Schooner told the Canadian Press, Canada’s state news agency.

Schooner’s 10-year-old son was part of the group, but wasn’t attacked.

“He said that bear ran so close to him, but it was going after somebody else,” she said, noting that “he even felt its fur.”

“Officers are armed” the Nation said on Facebook. “Remain indoors and off the highway.” The Facebook page also told people not to walk anywhere and take the bus, which is free to ride.

The Nation’s officials have temporarily shut the school and are offering counselling services.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has announced it will not release inflation information for the month of October, citing the consequences of the recent government shutdown.

On Friday, the bureau updated its website to say that certain October data would not be available, even now that government funding has been restored and normal operations have resumed.

“BLS could not collect October 2025 reference period survey data due to a lapse in appropriations,” it wrote in a statement. “BLS is unable to retroactively collect these data.”

The cancelled data includes the Consumer Price Index (CPI) — a report that is commonly used to calculate inflation by measuring the changing costs of retail items — and the Real Earnings summary, which tracks wages among US workers.

For some of the reports, including the Consumer Price Index, the bureau said it would use “nonsurvey data sources” to make calculations that would be included in a future report for the month of November.

The November Consumer Price Index will also be published later than anticipated, on December 18.

The most recent government shutdown was the longest in US history, spanning nearly 43 days.

It began on October 1, after the US Congress missed a September 30 deadline to pass legislation to keep the government funded.

Republicans had hoped to push through a continuing resolution that made no changes to current spending levels. But Democrats had baulked at the prospect, arguing that recent restrictions to government programmes had put healthcare out of reach for some US citizens.

They also warned that insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act are set to expire by the end of the year. Without an extension to those subsidies, they said that insurance premiums for many Americans will spike.

Republicans rejected the prospect of negotiating the issue until after their continuing resolution was passed. Democrats, meanwhile, feared that, if they passed the continuing resolution without changes, there would be no further opportunity to address healthcare spending before the end of the year.

The two parties hit an impasse as a result. Non-essential government functions were halted during the shutdown, and many federal employees were furloughed.

Only on November 10 did a breakthrough begin to emerge. Late that night, seven Democrats and one independent broke from their caucus to side with Republicans and pass a budget bill to fund the government through January 30.

The bill was then approved by the House of Representatives on November 12, by a vote of 222 to 209. President Donald Trump signed the legislation into law that very same day.

Trump had openly sought to leverage the shutdown to eliminate federal programmes he saw as benefitting Democratic strongholds.

He also attempted to blame the political left for the lapse in government services, though he acknowledged public frustration with Republicans after Democrats won key elections in November.

“If you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans,” he told a breakfast for Republican senators on November 5. “That was a big factor.”

The Trump administration had warned as early as October that the month’s consumer price data would be negatively affected as a result of the shutdown.

In a White House statement, Trump officials touted Trump’s economic record while slamming a potential lapse in the government’s collection of data. Once again, they angled the blame for any slowed economic growth at the Democrats.

“Unfortunately, the Democrat Shutdown risks grinding that progress to a halt,” the statement said.

“Because surveyors cannot deploy to the field, the White House has learned there will likely NOT be an inflation release next month for the first time in history — depriving policymakers and markets of critical data and risking economic calamity.”

September’s Consumer Price Index, the most recent available, showed that inflation across all retail items rose about 3 percent over the previous 12-month period.

For food alone, inflation for that period was estimated at 3.1 percent.

Nov. 21 (UPI) — Former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, has decided not to run for governor of his state in 2026.

“After careful consideration, much prayer and reflection, and after long conversations with my family, my closest friends and advisors, I’ve made the decision not to run for governor in 2026,” Ryan said in a statement.

His bowing out will ease the path for former state health director Amy Acton, who will likely be the nominee against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump.

Gov. Mike DeWine can’t run again due to term limits.

Ryan has faced criticism from Democrats for his ties to cryptocurrency. He represented some of the Akron and Youngstown areas for 20 years in Congress and ran for Senate in 2021, but lost to Vice President JD Vance.

Recently, he has been considering running for governor. An advisor said Ryan’s interest in running for governor was “renewed and heightened” by former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown‘s decision to run for Senate again instead of Ohio governor, Cleveland.com reported.

Ryan ran for president in 2019.

Nov. 21 (UPI) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told his people that the country “may soon face an extremely difficult choice” in response to the peace plan put forward by the President Donald Trump administration.

“Either the loss of dignity or the risk of losing a key partner. Either 28 complicated points or the hardest winter yet — and the risks that follow,” the Kyiv Independent reported Zelensky said on Telegram.

The speech came just one day after U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll delivered the plan to Zelensky, who said he is willing to negotiate with Trump.

The president on Thursday indicated that he is giving Ukraine until Thanksgiving to accept the plan. He said on Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade Show, “Well, we have, you know, I’ve had a lot of deadlines, but if things are working well, you tend to extend the deadlines,” Trump to a question about the deadline. “But Thursday is, we think, an appropriate time.”

The administration has said that if Zelensky doesn’t accept by the deadline, Ukraine will lose U.S. support, The Washington Post reported.

The plan asks Ukraine to allow Russia to take some Ukrainian territory in the Donbas region in southeast Ukraine. Zelensky has in the past refused any effort to give Russia land. It would also require Ukraine to significantly cut the size of its army and give up many of its weapons.

“Ukraine’s national interest must be taken into account,” Zelensky said in his speech. “We will pursue a calm dialogue with America and all of our partners. There will be a constructive search for solutions with our main partner.”

He also said that the country needs more unity.

“We need to pull ourselves together, stop the quarrels, stop the political games. The state must function. The parliament of a country at war must work in unity. The government must work effectively,” he said.

Some European leaders have voiced their support of Ukraine since the details were released. They’ve insisted that any decisions must be made by Kyiv.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had a joint call with Zelensky Friday and, “agreed to continue to pursue the goal of safeguarding vital European and Ukrainian interests in the long term,” CNN reported.

A German press office statement said that includes “ensuring that the line of contact is the starting point for an understanding and that the Ukrainian armed forces remain capable of effectively defending Ukraine’s sovereignty.”

Zelensky told his people that he would work around the clock and would not betray his country.

“I will present arguments, I will persuade, I will offer alternatives, but we will definitely not give the enemy any reason to say that Ukraine does not want peace, that it is disrupting the process, and that Ukraine is not ready for diplomacy,” he said.

Nov. 21 (UPI) — Healthcare giant Eli Lilly on Friday became the first global healthcare company to hit $1 trillion in value.

The Indiana-based company hit the $1 trillion market capitalization threshold for a brief period at roughly $1,061 a share during morning hour trading before it scaled back.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway was the first known non-tech company to reach the trillion-dollar valuation mark.

The company is currently riding on the popularity of its Zepbound weightloss inject and Mounjaro, which is Eli’s diabetes treatment.

Eli Lilly has long been a player in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 100 years, introducing such medication as Prozac in the early 1990s and the Humulin insulin drug.

In June, Eli revealed its billion-dollar buyout of Boston-based Verve Therapeutics to advance Verve’s new line of experimental cardiac health drugs.

Meanwhile, a medical and science expert pointed out that American citizens currently “are getting slammed by medical bills and rising care costs.”

“One in four is in medical debt. Eli Lilly just hit a $1 trillion valuation. Two realities, same healthcare system,” Dr. Carolyn Barber posted Friday on X.

The company’s stock has zoomed this year, driven by the explosive growth of the weight-loss drug market.

Eli Lilly has hit $1 trillion in market value, making it the first drugmaker to enter the exclusive club dominated by tech giants and underscoring its rise as a weight-loss powerhouse.

A more than 35 percent rally in the company’s stock this year has largely been driven by the explosive growth of the weight-loss drug market and saw it join the $1 trillion club on Friday.

Once seen as a niche category, obesity treatments are now one of the most lucrative segments in healthcare, with steadily rising demand.

Novo Nordisk had the early lead in the space, but Lilly’s drugs – Mounjaro and Zepbound – have surged in popularity and helped eclipse its rival in prescriptions.

The company’s shares were up 1.3 percent at a record high of $1,057.70.

Lilly now trades at one of the richest valuations in big pharma, at about 50 times its expected earnings over the next 12 months, according to LSEG data, reflecting investors’ belief that demand for obesity drugs will remain strong.

Shares have also far outpaced the broader United States equity market. Since the launch of Zepbound in late 2023, Lilly has gained more than 75 percent, compared with a more than 50 percent rise in the S&P 500 over the same period.

In the latest reported quarter, Lilly posted combined revenue of more than $10.09bn from its obesity and diabetes portfolio, accounting for more than half of its total revenue of $17.6bn.

“They are doing so many things outside of obesity, but to suggest anything is driving share price beyond obesity at this point, I don’t know if that would be a factual statement,” said Kevin Gade, chief operating officer at Lilly shareholder Bahl and Gaynor, in advance of the milestone.

‘Sales phenomenon’

Wall Street estimates the weight-loss drug market to be worth $150bn by 2030, with Lilly and Novo together controlling the majority of projected global sales.

Investors are now focused on Lilly’s oral obesity drug, orforglipron, which is expected to be approved early next year.

In a note last week, Citi analysts said the latest generation of GLP-1 drugs have already been a “sales phenomenon”, and orforglipron is poised to benefit from the “inroads made by its injectable predecessors”.

Lilly’s recent deal with the White House to cut prices for its weight-loss drugs, as well as planned investments to expand drug production, augur well for its growth.

Lilly is starting to resemble the “Magnificent Seven” again, said James Shin, director of Biopharma Equity Research at Deutsche Bank, referring to the seven tech heavyweights, including Nvidia and Microsoft, that have powered much of the market’s returns this year.

At one point, investors viewed it as part of that elite group, but after some disappointing headlines and earnings, it slipped out of favour.

Now, however, it seems poised to rejoin that circle, possibly even as an alternative for investors, especially given recent concerns and weakness in some AI stocks, he added.

Still, analysts and investors are watching whether Lilly can sustain its current growth as prices of Mounjaro and Zepbound come under pressure, and whether its scale-up plans, along with its diversified pipeline and dealmaking, will offset margin pressure.

Nov. 21 (UPI) — The Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court struck down legal provisions that criminalized same-sex relationships within the National Police and the Armed Forces.

The ruling invalidates two articles in the justice codes of both institutions that imposed criminal penalties, including prison time, on service members who engaged in same-sex relationships.

The regulations, in place since the mid-20th century, imposed penalties of up to one year in prison for officers and six months for enlisted personnel under the stated aim of “maintaining discipline and institutional morality.”

However, the high court found that the provisions violated fundamental rights, including privacy, equality before the law and the free development of one’s personality.

The decision responds to a direct constitutional challenge filed by Dominican attorneys Anderson Dirocie de León and Patricia Santana. According to the attorneys, the disciplinary codes of the National Police and the Armed Forces violated fundamental rights recognized in the Dominican Constitution and in human rights treaties the country has ratified.

The measure adopted by the Constitutional Court has prompted mixed reactions in the country.

Cristian Gonzales Cabrera, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said “for decades, these provisions forced LGBT officers to live in fear of punishment simply for who they are.”

“This ruling is a resounding affirmation that a more inclusive future is both possible and required under Dominican law,” Gonzales said.

Conservative groups in the country, especially those linked to evangelical churches, described the measure as an affront to moral values.

“This ruling is a direct blow to the moral, ethical and spiritual principles that have sustained our nation since its founding. This decision by the Constitutional Court is unconstitutional because it disregards the spirit, value framework and guiding principles established in the Constitution.”

The Dominican Bar Association called the ruling “unfortunate and unnecessary.”

In comments reported by Diario Libre, the association’s president, Trajano Potentini, said the Constitutional Court applied a constitutional test that does not apply to an area that, by its nature, relies on a work ethic, discipline and special subordination inherent to military and police institutions.

In the Dominican Republic, same-sex marriage remains illegal and high levels of stigma toward LGBTQ+ people persist.

With this ruling, the country joins Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela in eliminating similar discriminatory laws and policies that criminalized same-sex conduct among military personnel.

However, activists warn that although the ruling is historic, it does not by itself guarantee a cultural shift within the armed forces.

The judgment, which still must be implemented, marks a milestone in Dominican jurisprudence and could set a precedent for future reforms in other areas of public service.

Tunis, Tunisia – Night had just about fallen in Halq al-Wadi, also known as La Goulette, a balmy coastal suburb of Tunis, when the Virgin Mary emerged from the local church, Saint-Augustin and Saint Fidele, into a packed square.

Carried on the shoulders of a dozen churchgoers, the statue of the Virgin was greeted with cheers, ululations and a passionately waved Tunisian flag.

Hundreds of people – Tunisians, Europeans, and sub-Saharan Africans – had gathered for the annual procession of Our Lady of Trapani.

Many of those participating in the procession, and the Catholic Mass that came beforehand, were from sub-Saharan Africa.

“It’s the Holy Virgin who has brought us all here today,” Isaac Lusafu, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told Al Jazeera. “Today the Virgin Mary has united us all”.

In a large, packed square just beyond the church gates, the statue moved in a circle as people prayed and sang hymns. It was all under the watchful eye of a mural of Claudia Cardinale, the renowned Italian actress born in La Goulette, a reminder of the distant past when the district was home to thousands of Europeans.

A melting pot

The Catholic feast of Our Lady of Trapani was brought to La Goulette in the late 1800s by Sicilian immigrants, in the days when the port town was a hub for poor southern European fishermen in search of a better life.

Immigration to Tunisia from Sicily peaked in the early 20th century. Nearly all of the fishermen, along with their families and descendants, have now returned to European shores, but the statue of the Virgin remained – and, every year on August 15, it is carried in procession out of the church.

“It’s a unique event,” Hatem Bourial, a Tunisian journalist and radio presenter, told Al Jazeera.

He went on to describe how, in the procession’s heyday in the early 20th century, native Tunisians, Muslims and Jews alike, would join Tunisian-Sicilian Catholics in carrying the statue of the Virgin Mary from the church down to the sea.

There, participants would ask Mary to bless the fishermen’s boats. Many residents would shout “Long live the Virgin of Trapani!”, Bourial said, while others threw their chechia, a traditional red cap worn in the Maghreb, in the air.

As well as its religious significance – for Catholics, August 15 marks the day that Mary was taken up into heaven – the feast also coincides with the Italian mid-August holiday of Ferragosto, which traditionally signals the high point of the summer.

Silvia Finzi, born in Tunis in the 1950s to Italian parents, described how, after the statue had been brought down to the sea, many of La Goulette’s residents would declare that the worst of the punishingly hot Tunisian summer was over.

“Once the Virgin had been taken down to the water, it was as if the sea had changed”, Finzi, a professor of Italian at the University of Tunis, told Al Jazeera.

“People would say ‘the sea has changed, the summer’s over’, and you wouldn’t need to go swimming to cool down any more”.

European exodus

The first European immigrants began to arrive in La Goulette in the early 19th century. Their numbers rapidly increased after 1881, when Tunisia became a French protectorate. At its height in the early 1900s, the number of Italian immigrants – who were largely Sicilians – across the whole of Tunisia is estimated to have been more than 100,000.

In the decade after 1956, when Tunisia gained its independence from France, the vast majority of its European residents left the country, as the new government pivoted towards nationalism.

In 1964, the Vatican signed an agreement with Tunisia, transferring control of the majority of the country’s churches – now largely empty – to the government for use as public buildings. The agreement also put an end to all public Christian celebrations, including the procession in La Goulette.

For more than half a century, August 15 was marked only with a Mass inside the church building, and the statue of Our Lady of Trapani remained immobile in its niche. The date remained important for La Goulette’s much-reduced Catholic population, but it largely ceased to be an important event for the wider community.

Nostalgia

In 2017, the Catholic Church received permission to restart the procession, initially just inside the church compound. This year, when Al Jazeera visited, the procession left the church property but only travelled as far as the square outside.

Many attendees were young Tunisian Muslims, with little connection to La Goulette’s historic Sicilian population.

A major reason for this is undoubtedly the high status accorded to the Virgin Mary in Islam – an entire chapter of the Quran is dedicated to her.

Other participants seemed to be drawn by a feeling of nostalgia for La Goulette’s multiethnic, multireligious past.

“I love the procession”, Rania, 26, told Al Jazeera. “Lots of people have forgotten about it now, but European immigration is such an important part of Tunisia’s history”.

Rania, a student, told Al Jazeera of her love for the 1996 film, Un ete a La Goulette (A Summer in La Goulette).

Featuring dialogue in three languages, and evocative shots of sunlit courtyards and shimmering beaches, the film is an ode to La Goulette’s past.

Directed by the renowned Tunisian filmmaker Ferid Boughedir, it follows the lives of three teenage girls – Gigi, a Sicilian, Meriem, a Muslim, and Tina, a Jew – over the course of a summer in the 1960s.

The film ends, however, on a bleak note, with the outbreak of the 1967 War between Israel and several Arab states, and the subsequent departure of almost all of Tunisia’s remaining Jewish and European residents.

New migrations

As Tunisia’s European population declined, the country has seen an influx of new migrant communities from sub-Saharan Africa.

The majority of these new migrants, who number in the tens of thousands, hail from Francophone West Africa. Many come to Tunisia in search of work; others hope to find passage across the Mediterranean to Europe.

Many of the sub-Saharan migrants – who face widespread discrimination in Tunisia – are Christian, and as a result, they now make up the vast majority of Tunisia’s churchgoing population.

This fact is reflected in a mural in the church in La Goulette, inspired by the feast of Our Lady of Trapani. Painted in 2017, it depicts the Virgin Mary sheltering a group of people – Tunisians, Sicilians and sub-Saharan Africans – under her mantle.

The air around the Virgin in the mural is full of passports. The church’s priest, Father Narcisse, who hails from Chad, told Al Jazeera that these represent the documents that immigrants throw into the sea while making the journey from North Africa to Europe in the hope of evading deportation.

The mural highlights the fact that the Madonna of Trapani, once considered the protector of Sicilian fishermen, is today called upon by immigrants of far more varied backgrounds.

“This celebration, in its original form, marked the deep bonds between the two shores of the Mediterranean,” Archbishop of Tunis Nicolas Lhernould told Al Jazeera. “Today, it brings together a more diverse group – Tunisians, Africans, Europeans; locals, migrants, and tourists.”

“Mary herself was a migrant,” Archbishop Lhernould said, referring to the New Testament story which narrates Mary’s flight, together with the child Jesus and her husband Joseph, from Palestine to Egypt.

From a Christian perspective, he suggested, “we are all migrants, just passing through, citizens of a kingdom which is not of this world”.

The spirit of La Goulette

La Goulette was once home to ‘Little Sicily’, an area characterised by its clusters of Italian-style apartment buildings. The vast majority of these structures – modest buildings built by the newly-arrived fishermen – have been torn down and replaced, and little more than the church remains to testify to the area’s once significant Sicilian presence.

As of 2019, there were only 800 Italians descended from the original immigrant community left in the whole of Tunisia.

“There are so few of us left”, said Rita Strazzera, who was born in Tunis to Sicilian parents. The Tunisian-Sicilian community meets very rarely, she explained, with some members coming together for the celebration on the 15th August, and holding occasional meetings in a small bookshop opposite the church.

Still, the spirit of Little Sicily has not entirely vanished. Traces of the old La Goulette linger – in memory, in film, and, Strazzera told Al Jazeera, in other, more surprising ways as well.

“Every year, on All Saints’ Day, I go to the graveyard”, said Strazzera, referring to the annual celebration when Catholics remember their deceased loved ones.

“And there are Tunisians there, Muslims, people who maybe had a Sicilian parent, or a Sicilian grandparent, and have come to visit their graves, because they know it’s what Catholics do.”

“There have been lots of mixed marriages”, Strazzera added, “and so, every year, there are more of them visiting the graves. When I see them, it’s like a reminder that Little Sicily is still with us.”

Nov. 21 (UPI) — The United States has sanctioned dozens of individuals, entities, vessels and aircraft accused of participating in Iran’s oil-shipping networks, as the Trump administration continues to squeeze the Islamic nation with its reinstated maximum pressure campaign.

The State Department said Thursday it was adding 17 names of companies people and vessels to its sanctions list, while the Treasury said it was adding 41.

“The United States remains committed to disrupting the illicit funding streams that finance all aspects of Iran’s malign activities,” State Department spokesman Thomas Pigott said in a statement.

“As long as Iran devotes revenue to funding attacks against the United States and our allies, supporting terrorism around the world and pursuing other destabilizing actions, we will use all the tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable.”

In February, President Donald Trump reinstated his maximum pressure campaign of sanctions and other punitive economic measures against Iran from his first administration to force Iran to return to the negotiating table on a new deal aimed at preventing Tehran from securing a nuclear weapon.

Since reinstating the policy, Trump has repeatedly imposed sanctions targeting Iran, specifically its illicit oil trade, which funds its military forces.

The Treasury said it was sanctioning an additional six vessels of Tehran’s shadow fleet of oil tankers that export energy products. It also blacklisted Mahan Air, which works closely with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, the Iranian military’s specialized elite unit that oversees international operations and funds proxy militias, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

The State Department said its sanctioned targets were located in several countries, including India, panama and the Seychelles, among others.

The sanctions freeze all property of the named companies and individuals in the United States and bar U.S. persons from doing business with them.

“Today’s action continues Treasury’s campaign to cut off funding for the Iranian regime’s development of nuclear weapons and support of terrorist proxies,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

“Disrupting the Iranian regime’s revenue is critical to helping curb its nuclear ambitions.”

Jubata al-Khashab, Quneitra, Syria – When Syrians gather to record Israeli incursions, soldiers point their guns at them.

Israeli military incursions have become more brazen, more frequent and more violent since Israel expanded its occupation of southern Syria following the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

Across Quneitra province, the Israeli military’s tanks have established checkpoints and patrols, even setting up gates. They stop and search civilians, and some are abducted.

Khadija Arnous’s husband and brother-in-law are among those taken from their home in July. Her brother-in-law was released from Sednaya prison, and now he is in Israeli custody.

At 3am (00:00 GMT) one day, Israeli soldiers ordered both men to leave the house and blindfolded them.

“We’ve had no news about them since,” Arnous told Al Jazeera, covering her face for fear of reprisal. “We contacted the Red Cross, but to no avail.”

“I have four children – my husband was the sole provider. I urge the government to find a solution for us. Why are the Israelis coming and taking whoever they want?”

Described by Israel as security operations, Syrian authorities and human rights groups refer to such incidents as abductions or unlawful arrests. As many as 40 people have reportedly been detained in recent weeks.

Israel first seized territory in the Golan Heights following the 1967 war. But after the fall of al-Assad, it claimed its 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria was void and has widened its occupation in Syria by some 400sq km (155sq miles).

Mohammad Mazen Mriwed, an elder from Jubata al-Khashab village, told Al Jazeera that people are living in fear of Israeli incursions and can no longer work their land.

“Since the fall of the regime, many are no longer building or cultivating,” he said. “We don’t know how the government will respond, but true relief will come only when the occupation ends.”

In addition to taking Syrians, Israeli forces are also fortifying their positions with large berms and watchtowers. Sanad, Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency, has verified the establishment of nine new Israeli military camps in Syria since December 2024.

Local elders estimate 1,700 acres (688 hectares) of land seized by Israeli forces includes orchards, fields and grazing lands.

Israeli forces have flattened entire areas, uprooting trees believed to be hundreds of years old, to build more military presence on Syrian soil, villagers and shepherds say.

Mohammad Makkiyah went too close to a watchtower and was shot by an Israeli sniper. He says the first shot missed his head, but as he ran from a volley of fire, a bullet hit his leg.

In a nearby house, Hussain Bakr’s son and brother were taken five months ago.

“We complained to the UN and the Red Cross, who told us that they will ask the Israelis, but there is no response,” Bakr told Al Jazeera. “They are innocent, taken for no reason.”

Residents say interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa should remember his own family’s displacement when Israel occupied the Golan Heights. The president has previously said his grandfather was forced to flee the area in 1967.

Government representatives say they are trying for solutions through diplomacy.

But until the missing come home, words offer little solace.

“The situation is painful for the families and for us as a government,” Jamal Numairi, a People’s Assembly member from Quneitra, told Al Jazeera. “To the families, I say: the government will spare no effort to resolve the issue. I consider them kidnapped, not as prisoners.”

Mahmood Mamdani, father of New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, says his son’s drive is both innovative and uncompromising – and he is fully aware of the enormity of the job ahead.

Nov. 21 (UPI) — Federal authorities have arrested four people, including two Chinese nationals, on accusations of scheming to illegally export cutting-edge Nvidia technology with artificial intelligence uses to Beijing, which prosecutors said seeks to be the AI world leader by the end of the decade.

Federal authorities in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday arrested 34-year-old Hong Kong-born U.S. citizen Hong Ning Ho, also known as Matthew Ho, and 45-year-old Jing Chen, also known as Harry Chen, who was in the United States on a F-1 nonimmigrant student visa.

Brian Curtis Raymond, 46, of Huntsville, Ala., and 38-year-old Cham Li, also know as Tony Li, a Chinese national, were also arrested, though when was not clear.

Federal prosecutors alleged in an indictment — unsealed Wednesday but publicized by the Justice Department on Thursday — that from September 2023 until their arrests, the defendants conspired to illegally export NVIDIA graphics processing units to China through Malaysia and Thailand.

“The indictment unsealed yesterday alleges a deliberate and deceptive effort to transship controlled NVIDIA GPUs to China by falsifying paperwork, creating fake contracts and misleading U.S. authorities,” John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for National Security said in a statement.

The court documents statement that they attempted four separate exports consisting of hundreds of GPUs. The first two shipments saw 400 Nvidia A100 GPUs being exported to China between October 2024 and January. The other two shipments of 50 Nvidia H200 GPUs and 10 Hewlett Packard Enterprises supercomputers with Nvidia H100 GPUS were intercepted by authorities.

In return for the shipments, the defendants allegedly received more than $3.89 million in wire transfers, according to the indictment.

The indictment states they used Tampa-based Janford Realtor, owned by Ho and Li, as a front company to buy the goods and export them to China.

Federal prosecutors alleged that despite being labeled a real estate company, it was involved involved in property transactions.

The court document accuses Raymond of supply the GPUs to Ho through his Alabama-based electronics company.

According to federal prosecutors, China is seeking to become the world leader in AI by 2030 and seeks to use the technology for military modernization efforts, including designing and testing its weapons of mass destruction as well as surveillance tools.

Preliminary investigations show a gas leak triggered the explosion, which also flattened nearby homes, authorities say.

An explosion at a glue-making factory in Pakistan has killed at least 16 people and injured seven after it collapsed the factory and sparked fires in nearby homes, Pakistani media are reporting.

The blast occurred at about 5am local time (00:00 GMT) on Friday in the Malikpur area of Faisalabad, west of Lahore in Punjab province.

Preliminary investigations showed a gas leak inside the factory’s chemical warehouse triggered the explosion, local outlets reported, citing Faisalabad Commissioner Raja Jahangir Anwar.

Authorities arrested the factory manager but were still searching for the owner, who fled shortly after the incident.

The blast flattened the factory’s roof and those of a handful of nearby homes, causing fires to break out in at least three of them, according to Pakistani channel Aaj TV. Photos published by the channel showed flames leaping up from a central blast site and rescue crews crowding into the interior of a burning building.

The majority of those killed were residents from adjacent homes, including six children, authorities said.

Rescue crews searched for and dug people out of piles of rubble, according to TV channel Geo News. The seven injured people were receiving treatment at a nearby hospital.

Factory fires are not uncommon in the country. In 2024, an explosion at a textile mill in Faisalabad killed a dozen people, while a blast at a firecracker factory in Karachi killed four people and injured 11 more last week.

South Korean stocks closed sharply lower Friday, as renewed concerns over an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble weighed heavily on big-cap tech shares. The local currency fell to the lowest level in seven months against the U.S. dollar on massive foreign stock selling.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) tumbled 151.59 points, or 3.79 percent, to close at 3,853.26.

Trade volume was moderate at 307.95 million shares worth 14.02 trillion won (US$9.5 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 718 to 177.

Foreigners sold a net 2.83 trillion won worth of shares, while retail and institutional investors bought a net 2.29 trillion won and 495.46 billion won worth of shares, respectively.

According to the Korea Exchange, offshore investors’ net selling reached its largest level since Feb. 26, 2021, when they offloaded 2.83 trillion won worth of shares.

The index opened lower, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, and further extended its decline as investors were wary of the valuation of AI-related shares and their aggressive investment plans.

Also affecting the sentiment was the Federal Reserve‘s monetary policy, as expectations for further rate cuts continued to wane.

“The market surrendered its gains from yesterday’s Nvidia earnings surprise. Following recent sharp gains, volatility appears to have persisted,” Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said.

“But there remains ample potential for sentiment to reverse depending on upcoming key economic data and additional AI-related developments,” the analyst added.

Tech shares dipped following a rally in the previous session.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 5.77 percent to 94,800 won, and chip giant SK hynix plunged 8.76 percent to 521,000 won.

Major battery maker LG Energy Solution lost 3.51 percent to 425,500 won, and LG Chem dipped 5.53 percent to 367,000 won.

Nuclear power plant builder Doosan Enerbility sank 5.92 percent to 73,100 won, and defense giant Hanwha Aerospace shed 5.13 percent to 869,000 won.

Leading shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy skidded 4.8 percent to 555,000 won, and its rival Hanwha Ocean lost 4.16 percent to 119,800 won. No. 1 steelmaker POSCO declined 3.42 percent to 310,500 won.

Carmakers finished mixed. Top automaker Hyundai Motor retreated 0.95 percent to 259,500 won, while its sister affiliate Kia rose 0.53 percent to 114,000 won.

Leading financial group KB Financial decreased 0.58 percent to 120,500 won, while internet portal operator Naver surged 2.14 percent to 262,500 won.

The local currency was quoted at 1,475.6 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m., down 7.7 won from the previous session.

It marked the weakest level since April 9, when it finished at 1,484.1 won. The April 9 figure was the lowest since March 12, 2009, when the won closed at 1,496.5 amid the global financial crisis.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, ended higher. The yield on three-year Treasurys fell 3.6 basis points to 2.872 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds lost 3.9 basis points to 3.076 percent.

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US President Donald Trump’s decision to snub the G20 summit in South Africa this year has handed an opportunity to China, as it seeks to expand its growing influence in the African continent and position itself as an alternative to the dangers of a unilateralist United States.

Washington said it would not attend the two-day summit set to kick off on Saturday over widely discredited claims that the host country, previously ruled by its white minority under an apartheid system until 1994, now mistreats white people.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa hit back at Trump’s claim that hosting the summit in Johannesburg was a “total disgrace”. “Boycott politics doesn’t work,” Ramaphosa said, adding that the US was “giving up the very important role that they should be playing as the biggest economy in the world”.

By Friday morning, Trump appeared to have backtracked on his stance somewhat, when speculation that Washington might send a US official to Johannesburg after all circulated.

Regardless, the spat comes as Chinese President Xi Jinping sends Premier Li Qiang to represent him on the world stage. China’s 72-year-old president has dialled back foreign visits, increasingly delegating his top emissary.

“The US is giving China an opportunity to expand its global influence,” Zhiqun Zhu, professor of political science and international relations at Bucknell University, told Al Jazeera. “With the absence of the US, China and EU countries will be the focus of the summit and other countries will look for leadership [from them].”

But observers say that while Trump’s absence will direct heightened attention to Beijing’s statements and behaviour, it does not spell the end of the US-led order altogether.

Jing Gu, a political economist at the United Kingdom-based Institute of Development Studies, said the US’s failure to attend “does not automatically make China the new leader, but it creates visible space for China to present itself as a more stable, reliable partner in governance”.

“It reinforces the perception that the US is stepping back from multilateralism and the shared management of global problems,” she said. “In that context, China can present itself as a more predictable, stable actor and emphasise continuity, support for open trade and engagement with the Global South.”

Expanding influence in the African continent

This year’s G20 will, for the first time, have an African chair and take place on the African continent. The African Union (AU) will also participate fully as a member.

South Africa, which holds the G20 presidency, is expected to push for consensus and action on priority issues for African countries, including debt relief, economic growth, climate change and transition to clean energy.

Zhu, who also serves as editor-in-chief of the academic journal, China and the World, said South Africa’s themes were a “natural fit” for China, Africa’s largest trading partner.

“China aims to become a leader in green energy, and there’s a lot of room for China and African countries to work on that,” he said.

The African continent, with its mineral wealth, booming population and fast-growing economies, offers huge potential for Chinese firms. Li, China’s premier, travelled to Zambia this week, marking the first visit to the country by a Chinese premier in 28 years. The copper-rich nation has Beijing as its largest official creditor for $5.7bn.

Eager to secure access to Zambia’s commodities and expand its exports from resource-rich East Africa, China signed a $1.4bn deal in September to rehabilitate the Tazara Railway, built in the 1970s and connecting Tanzania and Zambia, to improve rail-sea transportation in the region.

“The Chinese economy and African economy are complementary; they both benefit from trade,” Zhu said. The G20 “is a great platform for China to project its global influence and seek opportunities to work with other countries”, he added.

Africa’s growing demand for energy and China’s dominance in manufacturing make the two a good fit, observers say. This is playing out. A report by energy think tank Ember, for instance, found Africa’s imports of solar panels from China rose a whopping 60 percent in the 12 months to June 2025.

According to Gu at the Institute of Development Studies, China will be looking to tap into this growing synergy with Africa and will deliver a three-fold message at this year’s G20.

“First, it will stress stability and the importance of global rules and regulations,” she said. Second, “it will link the G20 to the Global South and highlight issues like development and green transformation”.

Third, “by offering issue-based leadership on topics such as digital economy, artificial intelligence and governance, it will position itself as a problem-solver rather than a disruptor”, the economist added.

China as a bastion of multilateralism

An absence of American officials at this year’s G20 – after skipping the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Korea as well as the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil – would be “another opportunity for China”, Rosemary Foot, professor of politics and international relations at the University of Oxford, told Al Jazeera.

“It can contrast, yet again, its declared commitment to multilateralism and responsible behaviour as a major state versus the dangers of a unilateralist America focusing not on public goods but on benefits to itself only.”

China has been looking to expand its influence in Africa as a counterweight to the US-led world order. In stark contrast to Trump’s decision to end Africa’s duty-free era and slap 15-30 percent tariffs on 22 nations, Xi announced at the APEC summit last month a zero-tariff policy for all African nations with diplomatic ties to Beijing.

On that occasion, Xi emphasised China’s commitment “to joint development and shared prosperity with all countries”, stressing the country’s goal to “support more developing countries in achieving modernisation and opening up new avenues for global development”.

Similarly, Li, China’s premier, marked the United Nations’ 80th anniversary at the General Assembly in September by expressing the need for stronger collective action on climate change and emerging technologies, calling for greater solidarity to “[lift] everyone up, while division drags all down”.

His remarks were in stark contrast to Trump’s, who, in his speech, described climate change as the “greatest con job ever perpetrated” and called renewable sources of energy a “joke” and “pathetic”.

Foot said the spotlight will now be on Beijing as it seeks to strike a similar conciliatory pose – and in doing so, set itself apart from the US – at the G20. “Whether Beijing will have a major impact on the G20 agenda is more difficult to determine,” she said.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has announced new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as Trump seeks to expand US oil production.

The White House announced the news on Thursday.

The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the coast of Florida, as a way to boost US energy security and jobs.

What’s in the plan?

The administration’s plan proposes six offshore lease sales through 2030 in areas along the California coast.

It also calls for new drilling off the coast of Florida in areas at least 160km (100 miles) from that state’s shore. The area targeted for leasing is adjacent to an area in the Central Gulf of Mexico that already contains thousands of wells and hundreds of drilling platforms.

The five-year plan also would compel more than 20 lease sales off the coast of Alaska, including a newly designated area known as the High Arctic, more than 320km (200 miles) offshore in the Arctic Ocean.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in announcing the sales that it would take years for the oil from those parcels to get to market.

“By moving forward with the development of a robust, forward-thinking leasing plan, we are ensuring that America’s offshore industry stays strong, our workers stay employed, and our nation remains energy dominant for decades to come,” Burgum said in a statement.

The American Petroleum Institute said in response that the announced plan was a “historic step” towards unleashing vast offshore resources. Industry groups have pointed to California’s history as an oil-producing state and say it already has infrastructure to support more production.

Political pushback

Leaders in both California and Florida have pushed back on the deal.

Last week, Florida Republican Senator Ashley Moody and Rick Scott co-sponsored a bill to maintain a moratorium on offshore drilling in the state that Trump signed in his first term.

“As Floridians, we know how vital our beautiful beaches and coastal waters are to our state’s economy, environment and way of life,” Scott said in a statement. “I will always work to keep Florida’s shores pristine and protect our natural treasures for generations to come.”

A spokesman for California Governor Gavin Newsom said Trump officials had not formally shared the plan, but said “expensive and riskier offshore drilling would put our communities at risk and undermine the economic stability of our coastal economies”.

California has been a leader in restricting offshore oil drilling since the infamous 1969 Santa Barbara spill that helped launch the modern environmental movement. While there have been no new federal leases offered since the mid-1980s, drilling from existing platforms continues.

Newsom expressed support for greater offshore controls after a 2021 spill off Huntington Beach and has backed a congressional effort to ban new offshore drilling on the West Coast.

A Texas-based company, with support from the Trump administration, is seeking to restart production in waters off Santa Barbara damaged by a 2015 oil spill. The administration has hailed the plan by Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp as the kind of project Trump wants to increase US energy production as the federal government removes regulatory barriers.

The announcement comes as Governor Newsom attended the COP30 climate conference in Brazil.

“He [Trump] intentionally aligned that to the opening of COP,” Newsom said.

Even before it was released, the offshore drilling plan met strong opposition from Newsom, a Democrat who is eyeing a 2028 presidential run and has emerged as a leading Trump critic.

Newsom pronounced the idea “dead on arrival” in a social media post. The proposal is also likely to draw bipartisan opposition in Florida. Tourism and access to clean beaches are key parts of the economy in both states.

Democratic lawmakers, including California Senator Alex Padilla and Representative Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, warned that opening vast coastlines to new offshore drilling would hurt coastal economies, jeopardise national security, ravage coastal ecosystems, and put the health and safety of millions of people at risk.

“With this draft plan, Donald Trump and his Administration are trying to destroy one of the most valuable, most protected coastlines in the world and hand it over to the fossil fuel industry,” Padilla and Huffman said in a joint statement.

The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore Alabama, since 1995, because of concerns about oil spills. California has some offshore oil rigs, but there has been no new leasing in federal waters since the mid-1980s.

Since taking office for a second time in January, Trump has systematically reversed former President Joe Biden’s focus on slowing climate change to pursue what the Republican calls US “energy dominance” in the global market.

Trump, who recently called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” created a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-high US energy production, particularly fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.

Meanwhile, Trump’s administration has blocked renewable energy sources such as offshore wind and cancelled billions of dollars in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects across the country.

Nov. 20 (UPI) — Charlotte, N.C., officials said Thursday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have left the city, but the Department of Homeland Security insisted that agents are still enforcing immigration law there.

Shortly after the Mecklenburg, N.C., County sheriff announced that agents had left Charlotte, the Trump administration pushed back.

“Wrong. Operation Charlotte’s Web isn’t ending anytime soon,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.

CBP had agents in Charlotte for nearly a week, and DHS said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would continue to enforce laws in the city while also transitioning CBP agents to New Orleans.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, CBP has been in touch with officials in Louisiana about mobilizing and deploying agents to New Orleans after Thanksgiving, NBC News reported.

The Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement action known as “Operation Charlotte’s Web” resulted in the arrests of more than 250 people which prompted fear among residents and business owners, local media reported.

The Charlotte operation was the latest in a series of immigration enforcement actions in several large U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago, where many of those arrested did not have criminal records, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Local law enforcement and state leaders have pushed back on federal law presence in their cities, saying additional enforcement personnel are not necessary to police municipalities.

At least 250 Border Patrol agents are scheduled to begin arriving in New Orleans Friday, where officials have said they expect as many as 5,000 arrests, local media reported.

More details are emerging from a 28-point peace plan backed by United States President Donald Trump aimed at ending Russia’s four-year war on Ukraine, with several media outlets and officials confirming that the plan, which has yet to be officially published, appears to favour Russia.

Details of the plan also come after US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told the UN Security Council on Thursday afternoon that the US had offered “generous terms for Russia, including sanctions relief”.

“The United States has invested at the highest levels, the president of the United States personally, to end this war,” Waltz told the council.

The AFP news agency reported on Friday that the plan, which the US views as a “working document”, says that “Crimea, Lugansk [Luhansk] and Donetsk will be recognised as de facto Russian, including by the United States”.

This corresponds with an earlier report from US media outlet Axios.

The Associated Press (AP) news agency also reported on Friday that the plan would require Ukraine to surrender the Donbas, which includes the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that Ukraine currently partly holds.

Under the draft, Moscow would hold all the eastern Donbas region, even though approximately 14 percent still remains in Ukrainian hands, AP reported.

AFP and AP also confirmed Axios’s earlier report that the plan would require Ukraine to limit the size of its military.

According to AFP, the plan specifically says that the army would be limited to 600,000 personnel. Ukraine is estimated to currently have just under 900,000 active duty military staff.

‘A neutral demilitarised buffer zone’

Ukrainian member of parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko shared a document showing what appeared to be the full 28-point peace plan with his 223,000 followers on the Telegram messaging app, late on Thursday, Ukraine time.

Russia’s state TASS news agency also reported on details included in the document shared by Goncharenko, saying it “purportedly represents a Ukrainian translation of 28 points of the new American plan for a peace settlement in Ukraine”.

New details included in the document shared by Goncharenko include that “Ukraine has the right to EU [European Union] membership” and that the “United States will work with Ukraine to jointly restore, develop, modernise, and operate Ukraine’s gas infrastructure, including pipelines and storage facilities”.

The document also states that Ukraine’s “Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant will be commissioned under [UN nuclear agency] IAEA supervision, and the electricity generated will be shared equally between Russia and Ukraine in a 50:50 ratio”.

The text of the document shared by Goncharenko also states that “Ukrainian forces withdraw from the part of the Donetsk region that they currently control, and this withdrawal zone will be considered a neutral demilitarised buffer zone”.

Handing over territory to Russia would be deeply unpopular in Ukraine and would also be illegal under Ukraine’s constitution. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly ruled out such a possibility.

No NATO membership for Ukraine

The AFP news agency also reported that, according to the plan, European fighter jets would be based in Poland specifically to protect Ukraine.

However, Kyiv would have to concede that no NATO troops would be stationed in Ukraine and that it would agree never to join the military alliance.

Additional details reported by AP include that Russia would commit to making no future attacks on Ukraine, something the White House views as a concession by Moscow.

In addition, $100bn in frozen Russian assets would be dedicated to rebuilding Ukraine, AP reported.

Russia would also be re-admitted to the G8 group of nations and be integrated back into the global economy under the plan, according to AFP.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that both Ukrainians and Russians have had input into the plan, which she said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff have been quietly working on for a month.

Nov. 20 (UPI) — A former congressional staff member has been accused of faking a violent attack against her at a New Jersey park, according to the criminal complaint.

Natalie Greene, 26, allegedly paid a body modification artist to etch wounds onto her skin and then claimed she had been assaulted in a politically motivated attack in July, according to the complaint announced Wednesday.

Greene, of Ocean City, N.J., has been charged with one count of conspiracy to convey false statements and hoaxes, and one count of making false statements to federal law enforcement, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.

Greene previously worked for Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., his office told NBC News.

“We are deeply saddened by today’s news, and while Natalie is no longer associated with the Congressman’s government office, our thoughts and prayers are with her,” said Aaron Paxton, a spokesperson for Van Dew’s office. “We hope she’s getting the care she needs.”

Prosecutors allege that Greene and an accomplice called 911 on July 23, claiming that they had been attacked by three armed men at Egg Harbor Township state park.

Police located Greene in a wooded area bound with zip ties, with lacerations on her head and chest, according to the criminal complaint. A sexual slur referencing President Donald Trump and a statement calling her former employer a “racist” were written on her stomach, according to photos from the alleged crime scene included in the complaint.

“The investigation revealed that Greene had not, in fact, been attacked by three men at gunpoint on July 23,” the U.S. attorney’s statement said. “Instead, Green had paid a modification and scarification artist to deliberately cut the lacerations on her face, neck, upper chest and shoulder, based on a pattern that she had provided beforehand.”

Law enforcement agents who investigated the incident said they found zip ties in Greene’s car similar to the ones used in the alleged attack. Investigators also found a “zip ties near me” search on her co-conspirator’s phone, prosecutors said.

A search of Greene’s phone found messages with a body modification artist in Pennsylvania, who gave police $500 in receipts for the scarring and apparent injuries he did for Greene. Her phone also allegedly showed a Reddit profile that followed posts for “bodymods” and “scarification,” the court documents state.

Greene told an FBI agent after she was discovered following the attack that she had been receiving threatening messages at work. The alleged co-conspirator who called 911 relayed details of the incident to the dispatcher.

“They were attacking her,” they told the 911 operator. “They were like talking about politics and stuff. They were like calling her names. They were like calling her racist, calling her a whore,” the co-conspirator added.

Greene’s attorney, Louis Barbone, told ABC News that Greene is innocent until proven guilty.

“At the age of 26, my client served her community working full time to assist the constituents of the Congressman with loyalty and fidelity,” a statement from Barbone said. “She did that while being a full time student. Under the law, she is presumed innocent and reserves all of her defenses for presentation in court of law.

Following her arraignment Wednesday, Greene was released on a $200,000 bond, the U.S. attorney’s office said. She faces up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine if convicted.