• Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the American envoy to the United Nations, visited Nagasaki, Japan, becoming the first U.S. cabinet member to do so.
• Thomas-Greenfield voiced the need for nations possessing atomic weapons to pursue disarmament.
• She also called for cooperation to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons globally and advocated for arms control measures.

The American envoy to the United Nations called Friday for countries armed with atomic weapons to pursue nuclear disarmament as she visited the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki, Japan.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who became the first U.S. cabinet member to visit Nagasaki, stressed the importance of dialogue and diplomacy amid a growing nuclear threat in the region.

“We must continue to work together to create an environment for nuclear disarmament. We must continue to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in every corner of the world,” she said after a tour of the atomic bomb museum.

GOP LAWMAKER DEMANDS ACTION FROM JAPAN PM ON KEY ISSUE IMPACTING HUNDREDS OF US CHILDREN ABROAD

“For those of us who already have those weapons, we must pursue arms control. We can and must work to ensure that Nagasaki is the last place to ever experience the horror of nuclear weapons,” she added, standing in front of colorful hanging origami cranes, a symbol of peace.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, prepare to talk during a meeting on April 19, 2024, at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second attack three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.

Nagasaki Gov. Kengo Oishi said in a statement that he believed Thomas-Greenfield’s visit and her first-person experience at the museum “will be a strong message in promoting momentum of nuclear disarmament for the international society at a time the world faces a severe environment surrounding atomic weapons.”

Oishi said he conveyed to the ambassador the increasingly important role of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in emphasizing the need of nuclear disarmament.

Thomas-Greenfield’s visit to Japan comes on the heels of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s official visit to the United States last week and is aimed at deepening Washington’s trilateral ties with Tokyo and Seoul. During her visit to South Korea earlier this week, she held talks with South Korean officials, met with defectors from North Korea and visited the demilitarized zone.

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The ambassador said the United States is looking into setting up a new mechanism for monitoring North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Russia and China have thwarted U.S.-led efforts to step up U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile testing since 2022, underscoring a deepening divide between permanent Security Council members over Russia’s war on Ukraine.

She said it would be “optimal” to launch the new system next month, though it is uncertain if that is possible.

The U.N. Security Council established a committee to monitor sanctions, and the mandate for its panel of experts to investigate violations had been renewed for 14 years until last month, when Russia vetoed another renewal.

In its most recent report, the panel of experts said it is investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023 valued at approximately $3 billion, with the money reportedly being used to help fund its weapons development.

The United States, Japan and South Korea have been deepening security ties amid growing tension in the region from North Korea and China.

Iranian nuclear sites are “fully safe” and have not been impacted by Israeli strikes, the country’s regime says.

Israel carried out limited strikes on areas of Iran early Friday in retaliation for Tehran firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel last Saturday.

The region surrounding the city of Isfahan — home to the country’s “nuclear energy mountain” — was among the areas targeted in the strike.

ISRAEL STRIKES SITE IN IRAN IN RETALIATION FOR WEEKEND ASSAULT: SOURCE

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows Iran’s nuclear site in Isfahan. Iran fired air defenses at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan after spotting drones that were suspected to be part of an Israeli attack in retaliation for Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Isfahan is home to Iran’s Uranium Conversion Facility and three research reactors. The country’s underground Natanz enrichment site is also in the region.

Iranian state media stated following the attack that the nation’s atomic sites were “fully safe” and not struck by the missiles.

“The explosion this morning in the sky of Isfahan was related to the shooting of air defense systems at a suspicious object that did not cause any damage,”  Iranian army commander Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi said.

REPORTS OF ISRAEL’S RETALIATORY STRIKES AGAINST IRAN PROMPT REACTIONS FROM LAWMAKERS: ‘RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF’

The International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations affiliate watchdog organization, later confirmed “there is no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites.”

The agency said it “continues to call for extreme restraint from everybody and reiterates that nuclear facilities should never be a target in military conflicts.”

Details surrounding the intended target of the strike – if there was one – were not immediately available, but Fox News was previously able to confirm the target was “not nuclear or civilian.”

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Vehicles drive past an anti-Israeli banner showing missiles being launched in a square in downtown Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A senior Iranian official allegedly told Reuters that Iran has no plans to immediately respond to the Israeli strike, which was described differently in Iranian state media. The explosions heard in Isfahan were allegedly a result of the country’s air defense systems activating and not a missile attack, the official told Reuters.

Former Israel Defense Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus wrote on X that while Iran appears to downplay the strike, he “think[s] they’ve gotten the message.”

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz, Jennifer Griffin and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.

• South Korea’s government will delay plans to increase medical school admissions to resolve a weeks-long doctor strike.
• The strike began in February after the government proposed recruiting 2,000 more students, raising concerns about the quality of medical education.
• A compromise proposal from the presidents of six state-run universities was adopted by the government, involving a gradual increase in admissions over several years.

Desperate to end a weeks-long strike by thousands of doctors, South Korea’s government said Friday it will slow down a plan to admit more students to the country’s medical schools from next year.

More than 90% of the country’s 13,000 medical interns and residents have been on strike since late February, when the government announced a plan to recruit 2,000 more students next year. That would have increased the current cap of 3,058, which has been the same since 2006, by about two-thirds.

The government adopted a compromise proposal put forward by the presidents of six state-run universities on Thursday, under which medical schools will increase admissions over several years.

WHY SOUTH KOREA MIGHT SUSPEND STRIKING DOCTORS’ LICENSES EN MASSE

Doctors’ groups have claimed that the universities would be unable to handle a steep increase in students and that it would undermine the quality of the country’s medical services. Government officials say the country significantly needs more doctors to cope with the country’s fast-aging population.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks during a briefing at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, on April 19, 2024. Desperate to end a weekslong strike by thousands of doctors, South Korea’s government said it will slow down a plan to admit thousands more students to the country’s medical schools from next year. (Hang Gwang-mo/Yonhap via AP)

Announcing the compromise proposal, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo cited concerns that the prolonged strike by junior doctors is increasing the strain on hospitals.

Han said the country’s 32 medical schools will be allowed to lower their quotas for new places by up to 50% of the target set by the government in 2025, meaning the number of new places could end up closer to 1,000 than 2,000.

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Officials stressed that the compromise is temporary and that the schools will be required to finalize plans by April to increase their admissions by the full 2,000 by 2026.

Doctors’ groups have called for the government to scrap the plan entirely.

“The government decided that the damage caused by the vacuums in healthcare services cannot be left unchecked and that bold decisions are needed, considering the demands by patients and broader public to solve the problem,” Han said in a news conference, urging the striking doctors to return to work and negotiate with the government.

On Sept. 1, 1939, Nazi Germany’s attack on Poland triggered World War II, prompting France and the United Kingdom to honor their defensive pact with Poland and declare war on Germany in response.

As Germany invaded from the west, the Soviet Union invaded from the east, culminating in the division and annexation of Poland under the German-Soviet Frontier Treaty.

The Nazis subsequently unleashed brutality on Poland‘s considerable Jewish population, herding them into urban ghettos to await transport to the Majdanek and Treblinka extermination camps.

SURVIVOR OF THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING HONORED ON 80TH ANNIVERSARY

During the Grossaktion Warsaw, in the summer of 1942, a quarter of a million Jews were transported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka. In response, groups including the Jewish Combat Organization and the Jewish Military Union began to organize a resistance effort, leading to the largest military uprising by Jews during the war.

A group of Jewish civilians being held at gunpoint by German SS troops after being forced out of a bunker where they were sheltering during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in German-occupied Poland, World War II, April 19 – May 16, 1943. (12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

As the Nazis’ concentration camp deportation plan unfolded toward the end of 1942, the Jewish resistance initially decided to refrain from military action, under the belief that the Jewish population was being sent to labor camps. As word spread of the Nazi plan for Jewish extermination, fervor for armed resistance spread.

The first limited armed conflict in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising took place on Jan. 18, 1943, as sparsely armed Jewish families took heavy losses, but inflicted dozens of casualties on Nazi soldiers. 

Then, on Passover eve, on April 19, German police and SS forces entered the Warsaw ghetto intent upon completing the deportation plan.

Despite great persecution, Poland again has a thriving Jewish community. Here, Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Shudrich is seen speaking to a congregation of women Rabbis visiting the Nozyk synagogue in Warsaw, Poland on Jan. 17, 2019. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Soon, they met with heavy resistance from Molotov cocktails and grenades. Knowing the Nazi response would be fierce and total, the Jews decided to fight to the end; they refused to allow the Nazis to choose their time and place of death, and desired to call attention to the world’s troubling inaction in the face of growing awareness of Nazi atrocities.

SS Brigadefuhrer Jurgen Stroop, who commanded Warsaw, gave the Jewish defenders an ultimatum, offering them an opportunity to surrender. Upon rejection, Stroop resorted to burning the Jewish resistance out, employing flamethrowers and fire bottles. The so-called “Bunker Wars” lasted for a month, as the brave Jewish defenders slowed German progress in dense house-to-house urban warfare. Some driven from above ground, many defenders took refuge below in dugouts, bunkers and sewers.

GREAT SYNAGOGUE OF WARSAW TO ‘REAPPEAR’, 76 YEARS AFTER BEING DESTROYED BY NAZIS DURING GHETTO UPRISING

Following weeks of combat, the Jewish Military Union lost all of its commanders, prompting its last fighters to escape to the Michalin forest through the Muranowski tunnel on April 29, marking the end of the major engagement, although sporadic resistance continued until early June.

An estimated 13,000 Jews were killed during the uprising, while nearly all the rest were deported to the Majdanek and Treblinka concentration camps. Virtually every structure in the Warsaw Ghetto was subsequently demolished, and Stroop reported to his superiors on May 16, 1943, that the Warsaw Synagogue had been blown up. After razing the incinerated buildings, the Nazis built the Warsaw concentration camp complex in their place.

Railway networks were used to transport hundreds of thousands of Jews to the gas chambers to be murdered, inside the former Nazi death camps. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

However, justice would come for Stroop and the other Nazi commanders who oversaw the anti-Jewish brutality in Poland. Virtually all died in combat during the war or were captured by Allied forces and faced either execution or lengthy prison sentences. Stroop was captured in Germany by American troops, and following his conviction for war crimes, was hanged in Poland in 1952.

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While the Jewish resistance faced overwhelming odds against the vastly larger and better armed German forces, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising stands as an important milestone in Jewish history, demonstrating the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity, and inspiring other resistance and partisan forces both in Poland and beyond.

In 2018, Simcha Rotem, who played a key role as a courier in the Warsaw resistance, became the last survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, dying in Jerusalem, aged 94. 

An Iranian senior official has revealed that Tehran has no plan to hit back immediately against Israel after the Jewish state carried out limited strikes inside the country early Friday, a report says. 

The strikes in Iran’s Isfahan province — which is where Natanz, one of Iran’s nuclear facilities, is located — come in retaliation for Iran firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel last Saturday.  

The senior official told Reuters that Iran has no immediate plans to fire back at Israel and that “the foreign source of the incident has not been confirmed.” 

“We have not received any external attack, and the discussion leans more towards infiltration than attack,” he also claimed. 

ISRAEL STRIKES SITE IN IRAN IN RETALIATION FOR WEEKEND ASSAULT: SOURCE 

Iranian soldiers take part in a military parade during a ceremony marking the country’s annual army day on April 17, 2024, in Tehran, Iran.  (Getty Images)

Iran went after Israel last weekend in response to a suspected Israeli airstrike on April 1 targeting the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, that left a dozen dead, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. 

A well-placed military source told Fox News that Friday’s strike by Israel was “limited.” Sources familiar said the U.S. was not involved and there was pre-notification to the U.S. from the Israelis. 

ISRAEL HITS IRAN WITH ‘LIMITED’ STRIKES DESPITE WHITE HOUSE’S REPORTED OPPOSITION 

An Iranian woman watches an Iranian news TV channel in Tehran following reported strikes Friday in central Isfahan province. (Hossein Beris/Middle East Images/Middle East Images via AFP/Getty Images)

Iranian state media reported that three drones had been shot down over Isfahan by air defense systems, according to Reuters. 

Iranian state television later described all sites in the Natanz area as “fully safe” and the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on X Friday morning that there is no damage to the nuclear facilities. 

Israel launched limited strikes against Iran on Friday, April 19. (IRGC)

“Director General Rafael Grossi continues to call for extreme restraint from everybody and reiterates that nuclear facilities should never be a target in military conflicts,” the IAEA added. “IAEA is monitoring the situation very closely.” 

Details surrounding the intended target of the strike were not immediately available, but Fox News was able to confirm the target was “not nuclear or civilian.” 

An anti-missile system operates after Iran launched drones and missiles towards Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on April 14. (Reuters/Amir Cohen TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

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As of early Friday morning, Pentagon officials have not confirmed the strike and the White House and the National Security Council have declined to comment on the unfolding situation. 

Fox News’ Bradford Betz, Jennifer Griffin and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX – A decades-old interview is adding to a widening scandal involving a former high-ranking Iranian official and controversial Princeton professor. Seyed Hossein Mousavian is accused of endorsing Hezbollah and Hamas in a 1997 German newspaper interview.

The new revelations about Mousavian’s pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah interview in a German paper, coupled with what some claim was an endorsement of an Iranian regime fatwa (religious order) ordering the assassination of British-American author Salman Rushdie, comes at a time when the Ivy League professor is the subject of a congressional probe. Mousavian is currently facing a U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce investigation for allegedly advancing the interests of Iran.

WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES NEW SANCTIONS ON IRAN FOLLOWING ATTACK AGAINST ISRAEL: ‘THE PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE’

The head of the Iranian delegation, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, speaks to journalists at the International Atomic Energy Agency on Nov. 29, 2004 in Vienna. (ROBERT NEWALD/AFP via Getty Images)

In November, Fox News Digital exclusively reported on the investigation into Mousavian’s ties to the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism, the Islamic Republic of Iran. The investigation is ongoing, and the congressional committee has not issued any findings.

In an interview back in 1997 with the left-wing German daily paper Taz, Mousavian, who was Iran’s Ambassador to Germany at the time, was asked if Iran supports groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. Mousavian seemed to put his support behind Hamas. “If by that you mean that we supply Hamas with weapons: No, we do not. But if you mean that we support the Palestinians in their struggle, yes, we do.”

When asked by the paper if Iran provides Hezbollah support materially or financially, Mousavian said “We support Hezbollah morally and not by supplying weapons.”

‘NOTHING WOULD REMAIN’: IRAN’S PRESIDENT VOWS TO COMPLETELY DESTROY ISRAEL IF IT LAUNCHES ‘TINIEST INVASION’

The U.S. Middle East Media Research Institute first translated Mousavian’s German language interview earlier this month on its website and provided background material on his alleged role in stoking terrorism in Europe, including the assassination of Kurdish dissidents in a Berlin restaurant named Mykonos in 1992.

Mousavian, a Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at Princeton University, was hosted by the Obama administration, according to the Washington Free Beacon, at least three times at the White House, and invited to speak at an important U.S. STRATCOM military event in August 2023 during the Biden administration

Iranians walk past a billboard displaying Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the capital Tehran, on July 31 2022. (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

According to the congressional letter, first obtained by Fox News Digital, Mousavian’s appearance at the STRATCOM symposium “concerned members of the Armed Services Committees of both the House and the Senate. Additionally, aspects of this issue trouble us as members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.”

Mousavian told Fox News Digital in November that, “My talk at the U.S. Strategic Command was all about peace in the Middle East and why the U.S. should avoid wars and focus on peace and cooperation.” 

DOZENS DEAD, OVER 1,200 ARRESTED IN IRAN AS REGIME WARNS OF ‘DECISIVE’ CRACKDOWN

When asked by Fox News Digital if he considers Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations, Mousavian refused to answer numerous Fox News Digital press queries via email, telephone and WhatsApp. Fox News Digital approached Princeton University via telephone and email for comment. The Ivy League institution did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions.

Mousavian also seemed to defend the Iranian-led campaign to assassinate U.S. and British writer Salman Rushdie because the famous novelist depicted the Muslim prophet Muhammad irreverently.

Princeton Professor Seyed Hossein Mousavian is at the center of an investigation by the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce investigation into his ties to Iran. (News Photo/Joshua Comins | Photo by: Photographer name/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

In 2022, a 24-year-old man named Hadi Matar, who is fan of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, allegedly stabbed Rushdie in the neck and liver during the author’s speech in Chautauqua, New York. After the attack, Rushdie lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand.

A Nov. 5, 1992 Reuters report, titled “German Opposition Wants Iranian Envoy Expelled,” said that, ” …Hossein Mousavian was summoned to the German Foreign Ministry after remarking in a radio interview that Bonn would not act against its trade interests with Iran to back Rushdie’s request for the death decree to be lifted.”

The Reuters report continued “Social Democrat Freimut Duve told parliament in a special debate on what has become known as the ‘Rushdie Affair’ that Mousavian should leave Germany as he did not respect its laws.”

In the radio interview after Rushdie’s appearance, Mousavian defended the historic Islamic practice of imposing the death sentence for blasphemy.

IRAN’S ATTACK ON ISRAEL SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON TEHRAN’S ADVANCING NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died in 1989, but his fatwa against Salman Rushdie did not. (Reuters)

Mousavian declined to answer numerous Fox News Digital press queries about whether he continues to endorse the Iranian religious decree to murder Rushdie.

Mousavian denied his country’s role in the Iranian state-sponsored murders of the four Kurdish dissidents in the Mykonos restaurant. He termed the Berlin court verdict, which convicted Iranian and Hezbollah operatives of the assassinations, as “nonsense” in the German Taz interview. Mousavian refused to answer Fox News Digital press queries about his rejection of the Berlin court Mykonos verdict.

According to a 1997 article from the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, Abolghasem Mesbahi, a former senior-level Iranian intelligence official, told a Berlin court during the Mykonos trial, “Mousavian participated in most of the [Iranian regime’s] crimes that took place in Europe.”

During Mousavian’s tenure as Iran’s ambassador to Germany, he was in charge of the embassy that the Berlin court found “served as the ‘headquarters” for the planning of the 1992 assassination of four Iranian dissidents at the Greek restaurant Mykonos in Berlin.”

Israeli and Palestinian supporters rally around 42nd St. for and against the terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas. Anti-Israel supporters march after the rally in that neighborhood, stopping in front of the permanent missions of Egypt, Kuwait and the United States, chanting to end support for Israel. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“This accusation is a big lie,” Mousavian told Fox News Digital in November. “The 398-page verdict is published, and everyone can have access to it. The Berlin court verdict does not contain any direct or indirect allegations against me. German authorities never forced me to leave the country. … I have been a frequent visitor to Germany,” added Mousavian.

The calls for Mousavian to be fired coincide with the scandal-plagued pro-Iran regime academic, Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, who taught at Oberlin College in Ohio.

Mahallati was Iran’s former ambassador to the U.N. from 1987-1989. Oberlin College ousted Mahallati in November 2023 after a mushrooming series of scandals, including Mahallati’s pro-Hamas teachings and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. According to Amnesty International, Mahallati covered up the Iranian regime’s mass murder of 5,000 Iranian dissidents in 1988.

The California-based Alliance Against the Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA) spearheaded the high-intensity campaign to fire Mahallati. 

WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES NEW SANCTIONS ON IRAN FOLLOWING ATTACK AGAINST ISRAEL: ‘THE PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE’

Iranian American human rights activist Lawdan Bazargan, the lead organizer on the AAIRIA campaign, told Fox News Digital about Mousavian “It is profoundly disheartening that Princeton University would appoint such an individual, allowing him to masquerade as a proponent of peace. To think that an agent of an oppressive Islamic regime, known for its flagrant disregard for religious freedom and its menacing slogans of ‘death to America’ and ‘death to Israel,’ could have the audacity to proclaim involvement in peace initiatives is nothing short of a cynical farce.”

She added, “Princeton’s endorsement of Mousavian tarnishes its reputation and undermines the principles of peace, tolerance, and academic integrity it purports to uphold.”

AAIRIA urged Princeton to summarily fire Mousavian, who is not a tenured academic, and the NGO announced a protest at Princeton University next week against the controversial academic. Just last month, the National Association of Scholars issued a call to terminate Mousavian’s employment.

BIDEN SAYS ISRAEL NOT TO BLAME FOR ROCKET ATTACK ON GAZA HOSPITAL THAT LEFT 500 DEAD: ‘DONE BY THE OTHER TEAM’

A leading antisemitism expert has claimed that Mousavian’s account contains antisemitic posts against Israel. Mousavian falsely claimed in an October X post that Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza and termed it “a crime similar to the Holocaust of Nazi Germany.” 

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, told Fox News Digital that “Cleary, this is a person who feels no matter what he does that his status will be protected at Princeton.”

Princeton University campus, Oct. 20., 2022.  (Stephanie Pagones/Fox News Digital)

Regarding Mousavian comparing Israel with the crimes of Nazi Germany, Cooper said “that anyone who uses that language is proving his antisemitic credentials. He feels confident and is immune from any action against him.”

A Fox News Digital examination of Mousavain’s X Posts since Oct. 7 shows the overwhelming number of posts are attacks on the Jewish state and support of many Hamas talking points, including that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

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Cooper said “I think Princeton has a lot to answer for,” and Mousavian should be disqualified as an academic in American higher education.

“To say this is a scandal would not give justice to the issues exposed. It might be time to call Princeton University forward at a congressional hearing because it covers issues of sensitive national security, “said Cooper, who has testified in Congress about antisemitism.

CHENNAI – Close to 970 million Indians start voting today as India holds its general election with polls suggesting that incumbent Prime Minister, Narendra Modi will win a third term in the world’s largest democracy.

“Many Indians view Modi as a ‘strongman figure’. None of the opposition parties can field a candidate with equal charisma. Also, they have no coherent strategy or platform except that they are ‘anti-Modi,'” 25-year-old Anandh Nair from Thiruvananthapuram in the state of Kerala recently told Fox News Digital.

Modi first became prime minister in 2014. He was then re-elected for a second term in 2019.  

Nair, a student, said that “During Modi’s two terms, we actually saw the standard of living rise, especially for the middle class. Another thing was, previous leaders had been ‘wishy-washy’ about supporting our Hindu identity, almost as if they were ashamed of it. But for the BJP, there was no doubt that they showed pride. For most Indians, religion is an important part of everyday life.” 

INDIAN PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI VISITS KASHMIR’S MAIN CITY TO DISCUSS DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

A woman walks past an election campaign poster of the Bharatiya Janata Party featuring their leader and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi along a street in Varanasi on March 24, 2024, ahead of the country’s upcoming general elections. (Photo by NIHARIKA KULKARNI/AFP via Getty Images)

While Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not yet succeeded in making inroads in some parts of the country, the main opposition Indian National Congress Party has dwindled in terms of the number of states it now holds, despite its previous dominance in Indian politics. Regardless, Modi has campaigned in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala recently in what many viewed as a daring step, given that the party has not fared well there. 

A voter’s finger marked with indelible ink after casting a ballot at a polling station during the first phase of voting for national elections in Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Friday, April 19, 2024. Almost 1 billion Indians begin voting today in elections lasting more than six weeks, weighing up whether to hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi a third five-year term to continue his mix of economic and Hindu nationalist policies. Photographer: Prakash Singh/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Gurdas Rao, a tour guide from Mumbai, told Fox News Digital that, “Modi is popular among both the rich and poor. All of us have seen the quality-of-life skyrocket, so why won’t we vote for him again?”. 

From left to right, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro pose for a photo at the BRICS summit in Brasilia, Brazil, on Nov. 14, 2019. (Pavel Golovkin/Pool via REUTERS)

India’s economic success in the face of the economic crisis following the COVID-19 pandemic was most notable when regional neighbors, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, faced major challenges as they ran out of foreign reserves. In contrast, India stayed relatively unscathed. This culminated when India came to Sri Lanka’s rescue, providing much needed fuel resources during its economic crisis in 2022. Both the IMF and the World Bank also estimated that India was the fastest growing economy in 2023.

A significant event was when the 73-year-old Modi attended the groundbreaking opening of the Ram Mandhir, a new temple in Ayodhya and described this as fulfilling “dreams that many generations have cherished for years”. This was at the holy site believed by Hindus to be the birthplace of the legendary King Rama. 
MILLIONS IN INDIA CELEBRATE AS TEMPLE BUILT ON RUINS OF HISTORIC MOSQUE 

A general view of the Ram Mandir on the day of its consecration ceremony on Jan. 22, 2024 in Ayodhya, India. (Photo by Ritesh Shukla/Getty Images)

It opened, despite much controversy surrounding the temple being built on top of a razed mosque, leaving the nation divided along religious lines. Many among the Hindu majority showed positive responses, while religious minorities seemed less satisfied. 

Prince Samuels, a Christian from Goa, told Fox News Digital that “India is a very diverse country: we have churches, mosques and temples; all on the same street. The BJP is catering to the Hindu majority and not incorporating our religious and culture diversity into their vision of a ‘united India’. They blatantly favor one community over the others.”

Siddhartha Dubey, a professor of journalism based in Evanston, Illinois, said “I think the Indian diaspora, which is largely Hindu, is keen to see India growing economically and strengthening ties with their adopted countries. Both of these are currently happening. However, generally speaking, they do not seem too bothered in the whittling down of democracy and institutions within India, and it seems that many are happy to support Mr. Modi.” 

He cautioned that a third Modi term will see the “doubling down against the rights of minorities and civil society”. However, in terms of foreign relations, he said that “U.S.-India relations are agnostic of whoever gets elected as U.S. president this year.” 

A man rides past an election awareness poster displayed along a street ahead of India’s upcoming general elections, in Hyderabad on March 26, 2024. (Photo by NOAH SEELAM/AFP via Getty Images)

Dubey added, “India’s economy will grow and if you see the projections from big American companies, India is a key place for investment.”

Former University of Delhi, Indian history professor Preeti Singh told Fox News Digital that, “Modi’s support in India transcends the differences in income levels, social categories and caste divisions. His background as a chai walla (tea vendor) has been likened to a common man much like a majority of Indians, and his rise to the top position in India personifies the aspirations of the working classes and all other Indians.” 

“His promise and delivery of clean politics, corruption-free government and improved infrastructure have increased his popularity cutting across all classes and categories of society.”

PUTIN SUGGESTS ADDING INDIA OTHER COUNTRIES TO UN SECURITY COUNCIL

Large cutouts of India’s Congress party leaders Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi are displayed behind their supporters during an election campaign rally ahead of the country’s upcoming national elections in Mumbai on March 17, 2024. India announced on March 16, that national polls would begin on April 19, with Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly favored to win a third term in the world’s biggest democracy. (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images)

Strong foreign relations have been a cornerstone of Modi’s tenure as prime minister. He has undertaken many foreign visits across the globe. Modi has also notably maintained ties with major world powers that rival one another. Singh explained, “Modi is clearly sticking to ‘neutrality’. He wants to make it clear that India is trying to break the shackles by conveying that major players such as the U.S. and Russia have their independent value in terms of Indian foreign policy.” 

Likewise, Modi has also maintained relationships with Israel and Iran. In contrast, India’s biggest political rivals historically continue to be Pakistan and China. 

Singh also noted how India’s role during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict was “rooted in strategic neutrality, while also condemning civilian killings that had taken place.”

Rumela Sen, political science lecturer at Columbia University, expressed concern as to the BJP government’s “rewriting Indian history” to fit a Hindu nationalist narrative as “a battle for the soul of India”. She cited “textbook revisionism on caste” and the “‘sanitization’ of independence hero Gandhi’s killer”(Nathuram Godse) as examples. 

President Biden, right, meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Quad leaders summit at Kantei Palace, May 24, 2022, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

She said that the BJP’s actions “undermine several institutions and rights that were hallmarks of Indian democracy.” 

“We almost do not notice the centralization of power in the hands of the executive, midnight arrests and legal harassment of opposition and critics and erosion of free press.” 

When asked about concerns of eroding democracy and a crackdown on the opposition in India, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told journalists on Monday that, “India is the world’s largest democracy, it is an important strategic partner of the United States, and I expect that to remain true.”

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Despite criticism, Narendra Modi has so far proven that his support-base is solidly rooted in both the domestic and foreign fronts. Also, coupled with a weak opposition and poll results, all indicators suggest that Modi will most probably be re-elected for a third term.  

Results of the 44-day-long process will be known on June 4.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Israel carried out limited strikes in Iran early Friday in retaliation for Tehran firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel last Saturday.

A well-placed military source has told Fox News that the strike was “limited.” Sources familiar said the U.S. was not involved and there was pre-notification to the U.S. from the Israelis.

Fox News confirmed there have been explosions in Iran’s Isfahan province, which is where Natanz, one of Iran’s nuclear facilities, is located. 

Though it was initially unclear if the facility was hit, state television described all sites in the area as “fully safe” and the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on X Friday morning that there is no damage.

REPORTS OF ISRAEL’S RETALIATORY STRIKES AGAINST IRAN PROMPT REACTIONS FROM LAWMAKERS: ‘RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF’

Explosions were heard near the Iranian city of Isfahan on Friday after Israel reportedly launched retaliatory strikes on the country in response to Iran’s weekend attack on the Jewish state. (Getty Images)

Details surrounding the intended target of the strike – if there was one – were not immediately available, but Fox News was able to confirm the target was “not nuclear or civilian.”

As of early Friday morning, Pentagon officials have not confirmed the strike and the White House and the National Security Council (NSC) have declined to comment on the unfolding situation.

The semiofficial Fars news agency reported on the sound of explosions over Isfahan near its international airport. It offered no explanation for the blast. However, Isfahan is home to a major airbase for the Iranian military, as well as sites associated with its nuclear program.

A senior Iranian official allegedly told Reuters that Iran has no plans to immediately respond to the Israeli strike, which was described differently on Iranian state media. The explosions heard in Isfahan were allegedly a result of the country’s air defense systems activating and not a missile attack, the official told Reuters.

Former Israel Defense Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus wrote on X while Iran appears to downplay the strike, he “think[s] they’ve gotten the message.”

WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES NEW SANCTIONS ON IRAN FOLLOWING ATTACK AGAINST ISRAEL: ‘THE PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE’

Iran temporarily grounded commercial flights in Tehran and across areas of its western and central regions in response to the attack. Restrictions have since been lifted on flights to and from Khomeini and Mehrabad international airports in Tehran, according to Iranian news agency Tasnim.

Dubai-based carriers Emirates and FlyDubai began diverting around western Iran at 4:30 a.m. local time.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, FlyDubai said flight FZ 1929 from Dubai to Tehran on Friday morning returned to Dubai because the Imam Khomeini International Airport was closed. The airline also said all of its flights to Iran on Friday have been canceled.

“The safety of our passengers and crew is our priority. We are monitoring the situation closely and will make changes to our flight paths in consultation with the relevant authorities,” a FlyDubai spokesperson said. “We will share any further updates once more information becomes available.”

ISRAEL’S ADVANCED MILITARY TECHNOLOGY ON FULL DISPLAY DURING IRAN’S ATTACK

An anti-missile system operates after Iran launched drones and missiles towards Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel April 14, 2024. (REUTERS/Amir Cohen)

In response to Israel’s reported strike on Iran, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem issued a security notice Friday morning “out of an abundance of caution” restricting U.S. government employees and their family members from personal travel outside the greater Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Be’er Sheva areas until further notice.

Iran attacked Israel over the weekend in retaliation for a deadly strike on Iran’s consulate in Syria earlier this month that killed a dozen people, including a top general. Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attack.

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The weekend attack by Iran marked a major escalation of violence. Despite decades of hostilities between the two nations, Iran has never directly attacked Israel, instead relying on proxy forces in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere. 

This is a developing story. Check back for updates. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa granted clemency to more than 4,000 prisoners, including some who were on death row, in an independence day amnesty on Thursday.

Zimbabwe marked 44 years of independence from white minority rule, which ended in 1980 after a bloody bush war. The country’s name was changed from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe.

The presidential amnesty, the second in less than a year, benefits female, older and juvenile inmates, the terminally ill and some who were originally sentenced to death.

KENYA’S MILITARY CHIEF DIES IN A HELICOPTER CRASH

Those once on death row but who had their sentences commuted to life terms in previous clemency orders or through court appeals are to be freed provided they have been in prison for at least 20 years, according to the clemency order, which was announced Wednesday and due to take effect on Thursday.

All female prisoners who had served at least a third of their sentence by independence day are being freed, as are juvenile inmates who have served the same period.

Prisoners kneel at the entrance of Chikurubi Maximum prison before their release on the outskirts of the capital Harare, Thursday, April 18, 2024. Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa has granted amnesty to more than 4,000 prisoners in an independence day amnesty. The amnesty coincided with the countrys 44th anniversary of independence from white minority rule on Thursday and included some prisoners who were on death row. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Prisoners age 60 and older who have served one tenth of their sentences will also be released. Mnangagwa also pardoned the blind and others with disabilities who have served a third of their sentence.

The prisoners are being released in batches across the country.

However, those jailed for “specified” offences that include sexual offences, robbery, public violence, unlawful possession of firearms, human trafficking and theft or vandalism of electricity and telecommunications infrastructure won’t benefit from the amnesty.

All death row prisoners who have been in jail for at least 10 years had their sentences commuted to life in prison under the amnesty.

Zimbabwe has more than 60 inmates on death row. It wasn’t immediately clear how many of those had their sentences commuted to life under the amnesty.

Zimbabwe is one of more than a dozen countries in Africa and more than 50 across the world that have the death penalty, although the country’s last hanging was in 2005. Mnangagwa says he supports abolishing the death penalty, a move which was backed by the Cabinet in February and is now awaiting approval from Parliament.

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Mnangagwa freed more than 4,000 prisoners in another clemency order last May aimed at decongesting the southern African nation’s overcrowded prisons, where conditions are usually harsh. At the time, Zimbabwe had about 22,000 prisoners crammed into prisons with a capacity of 17,000.