Lebanese authorities release son of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on bail.

BEIRUT -- Lebanese authorities released the son of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Monday after he paid a US$900,000 bail, ending his 10-year detention for allegedly withholding information about a missing Lebanese cleric, security officials and a member of his defence team said.

One of Hannibal Gadhafi’s lawyers, Charbel Milad al-Khoury, told The Associated Press that Gadhafi was released Monday evening after necessary paperwork was finished. Two security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, also confirmed that Gadhafi was set free.

“Hannibal is officially free and has the full right to choose the destination that he wants,” al-Khoury said. He refused to give further details about Gadhafi’s future movements out of security concerns.

The release came days after Lebanese authorities lifted a travel ban and reduced the bail for Hannibal Gadhafi, paving the way for his release.

Thursday’s decision by the country’s judicial authorities to lift the travel ban and reduce the bail from $11 million came days after a Libyan delegation visited Lebanon and made progress in talks for the release of Gadhafi.

In mid-October, a Lebanese judge ordered Gadhafi’s release on $11 million bail, but banned him from travelling outside Lebanon. His lawyers said at the time that he didn’t have enough to pay that amount, and sought permission for him to leave the country.

On Thursday, his bail was reduced to 80 billion Lebanese pounds (about $900,000) and the travel ban was lifted allowing him to leave the country once he pays the bail.

The two judicial and one security official said the bail was paid by the Libyan delegation. The Justice Ministry of the Tripoli-based government also posted on its social media platforms that the Libyan delegation paid the bail.

The judicial officials in Beirut said Gadhafi’s defence team withdrew a case against the Lebanese state that they had filed in Geneva last month over holding him without trial.

Detained in Lebanon in 2015, Gadhafi was accused of withholding information about the fate of Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr who disappeared during a trip to Libya in 1978, although the late leader’s son was less than 3 years old at the time.

Libya formally requested Hannibal Gadhafi’s release in 2023, citing his deteriorating health after he went on a hunger strike to protest his detention without trial.

Gadhafi had been living in exile in Syria with his Lebanese wife, Aline Skaf, and children until he was abducted in 2015 and brought to Lebanon by Lebanese militants who were demanding information about al-Sadr.

Lebanese police later announced they had seized Gadhafi from the northeastern Lebanese city of Baalbek where he was being held, and he had been held ever since in a Beirut jail, where he faced questioning over al-Sadr’s disappearance.

The case has been a long-standing sore point in Lebanon. The cleric’s family believes he may still be alive in a Libyan prison, though most Lebanese presume he is dead. He would be 96 years old.

Al-Sadr, who went missing with companions Abbas Badreddine and Mohammed Yacoub, was the founder of a Shiite political and military group that took part in the long Lebanese Civil War that began in 1975, largely pitting Muslims against Christians.

Moammar Gadhafi was killed by opposition fighters during Libya’s 2011 uprising-turned-civil war, ending his four-decade rule of the North African country.

Hannibal Gadhafi, who was born nearly three years before al-Sadr disappeared, fled to Algeria after his father was toppled and Tripoli fell to opposition fighters, along with his mother and several other relatives. He later moved to Syria where he was given political asylum and stayed there until he was abducted.

Moammar Gadhafi had eight children from two marriages. Most of them had significant roles in his government. His son Muatassim was killed at the same time as the leader was captured and slain. Two other sons, Seif al-Arab and Khamis, were killed in the uprising.

Seif al-Islam, the one-time heir apparent to his father, has been in Libya since his release from detention there in 2017. Gadhafi’s son Mohammed and daughter Aisha live in Oman. Al-Saadi, a former soccer player, was released from prison in Libya in 2021 after being jailed following repatriation from Niger in 2014, and is believed to be living in Turkiye.

By Bassem Mroue

China announces restrictions on chemicals after deal with Trump on fentanyl tariffs.

Beijing announced new export restrictions on 13 “drug-making” chemicals to the United States, Canada and Mexico, including those that are used to produce the synthetic opioid blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the U.S. every year. After meeting Xi in South Korea last month, Trump said China would help end the fentanyl crisis and he would ease a related tariff from 20 to 10 per cent.

It shows the back-and-forth nature of U.S.-Chinese cooperation on fentanyl over the years and lessens the recent tensions after Trump launched his campaign of tariffs, including those against the country that is the top exporter of pharmaceutical ingredients, such as the chemicals used to make fentanyl.

“What the Trump administration has essentially agreed with Beijing is for Beijing to restart what it had been doing during the second part of 2024,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow focusing on the opioid crisis at the Brookings Institution.

Cooperation on fentanyl has long been a sticking point in relations between Beijing and Washington.

In 2019, during #Trump’s first term, Beijing took a huge step by restricting fentanyl and related substances at the request of the U.S. president. When tensions rose between Beijing and Washington over human rights issues, China started to stall counternarcotics cooperation in 2020 before making it formal two years later.

Typhoon Fung-wong blows away from the Philippines, leaving 6 dead and 1.4 million displaced.


It was forecast to head northwest toward Taiwan.

Fung-wong lashed the northern Philippines while the country was still dealing with the devastation wrought by Typhoon Kalmaegi, which left at least 224 people dead in central provinces on Tuesday before pummeling Vietnam, where at least five were killed.

Fung-wong slammed ashore in northeastern Aurora province on Sunday night as a super typhoon with sustained winds of up to 185 km/h (115 mph) and gusts of up to 230 km/h (143 mph).

The 1,800-kilometre (1,100-mile)-wide storm weakened as it raked through mountainous northern provinces and agricultural plains overnight before blowing away from the province of La Union into the South China Sea, according to state forecasters.

One person drowned in flash floods in the eastern province of Catanduanes, and another died in Catbalogan city in eastern Samar province when her house collapsed on her, officials said.

In the northern province of Nueva Vizcaya, three children died in two separate landslides in the towns of Kayapa and Kasibu and four others were injured, police told The Associated Press. An elderly person was killed in a mudslide in Barlig, a town in northern Mountain Province, according to officials.

Another landslide in Lubuagan town in nearby Kalinga province killed two villagers and two others were missing, provincial officials said late Monday.

More than 1.4 million people moved into emergency shelters or the homes of relatives before the typhoon made landfall, and about 318,000 remained in evacuation centers on Monday.

Fierce wind and rain flooded at least 132 northern villages, including one where some residents were trapped on their roofs as floodwaters rapidly rose. About 1,000 houses were damaged, Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV of the Office of Civil Defence and other officials said, adding that roads blocked by landslides would be cleared as the weather improved on Monday.

“While the typhoon has passed, its rains still pose a danger in certain areas” in northern Luzon, including in metropolitan Manila," Alejandro said. “We’ll undertake today rescue, relief and disaster-response operations.”

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a state of emergency on Thurday due to the extensive devastation caused by Kalmaegi and the expected damage from Fung-wong, which was also called Uwan in the Philippines.

Tropical cyclones with sustained winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) or higher are categorized in the Philippines as a super typhoon to underscore the urgency tied to more extreme weather disturbances.

The Philippines has not called for international help following the devastation caused by Kalmaegi, but Teodoro said the United States, the country’s longtime treaty ally, and Japan were ready to provide assistance.

Authorities announced that schools and most government offices would be closed on Monday and Tuesday. More than 325 domestic and 61 international flights were cancelled over the weekend and into Monday, and more than 6,600 commuters and cargo workers were stranded in ports after the coast guard prohibited ships from venturing into rough seas.

The Philippines is hit by about 20 typhoons and storms each year. The country also has frequent earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

Jim Gomez, The Associated Press

Al-Sharaa to become the first Syrian president to visit the White House after an unlikely rise

U.S. airlines cancel more than 2,500 weekend flights largely due to #government shutdown.

The slowdown at many of the nation’s busiest airports did not cause immediate widespread disruptions. But it deepened the impact felt by the nation’s longest federal shutdown.

“We all travel. We all have somewhere to be,” said Emmy Holguin, 36, who was flying from Miami to see family in the Dominican Republic. “I’m hoping that the government can take care of this.”

Analysts warn that the upheaval will intensify and spread far beyond air travel if cancellations keep growing and reach into Thanksgiving week.

Already there are concerns about the squeeze on tourism destinations and holiday shipping.

Here’s what to know about the flight reductions:
How many flights have been cancelled?

Cancellations jumped Saturday — typically a slow travel day — to more than 1,500, following just over 1,000 the previous day, according to the tracking website FlightAware. By the evening U.S. airlines already had cancelled another 1,000-plus for Sunday.

Airports in Atlanta and Chicago, as well as Charlotte, North Carolina, and Newark, New Jersey, saw numerous disruptions throughout the day. Ongoing staffing shortages in radar centers and control towers added to the cancellations and delays at several East Coast airports, including those around New York City.

Not all the cancellations were due to the FAA order, and those numbers represented just a small portion of the overall flights nationwide. But they are certain to rise in the coming days if the slowdown continues.

The FAA said the reductions impacting all commercial airlines started at 4% of flights at 40 targeted airports and will be bumped up again Tuesday before hitting 10% on Friday.

#ISLAMABAD — Peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Istanbul have ended without agreement, with the sides trading blame for the breakdown in negotiations aimed at easing border tensions and upholding a fragile ceasefire, officials said Saturday.

Tensions have escalated in recent weeks following deadly border fighting that killed dozens of soldiers and civilians. The violence erupted after explosions in Kabul on Oct. 9, which Afghanistan’s Taliban government said were drone strikes conducted by Pakistan and vowed to avenge. The clashes subsided after Qatar brokered a ceasefire on Oct. 19, which remains tenuously in place.

Afghanistan’s government spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, blamed Pakistan for the talks’ failure, saying that “Pakistan’s demands in the negotiations were unreasonable and the talks could not proceed, the meeting ended and the talks are at a standstill for now.”

Speaking during a press conference from the southern Afghan city of Kandahar Saturday, Mujahid said Afghanistan “(does) not want insecurity in the region, and entering into war is not our first choice,” but he noted that “if war breaks out, we have the right to defend ourselves.”

Earlier, he had reiterated in a written statement that Afghanistan “will not allow anyone to use its territory against another country, nor permit actions that undermine its sovereignty or security.”
Talks come to an end without progress

The two-day talks in Istanbul, mediated by Turkey and Qatar, were the third round of peace negotiations that were viewed as one of the most significant diplomatic efforts between the two neighbors since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan 2021. Despite intense back-channel diplomacy, officials said discussions stalled late Friday without tangible progress.

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told the private Geo News channel late Friday that the “talks are over” and that the Pakistani delegation was returning home with “no plan for any future meetings.” He added that the ceasefire would remain in place as long as “it is not violated from the Afghan side.”

Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers of harboring the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group responsible for a surge in attacks inside Pakistan since 2021. Kabul denies the charge, saying it does not allow its territory to be used against other countries.

Although separate from Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, the TTP is closely allied with it and has been emboldened since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of Kabul.

During his news conference, Mujahid rejected accusations that Afghanistan was responsible for the actions of the TTP, saying the creation of the group had long predated the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of Afghanistan.
Clashes continue

The collapse of talks came the night after Afghan officials reported that four civilians were killed and five others wounded in cross-border clashes despite the ongoing negotiations.

Asif said the Afghan delegation came “without any program” and refused to sign a written agreement, insisting only on verbal assurances. “They said they would respect a verbal agreement, but there is no room for that,” he said. “There is no plan or hope for any fourth round of talks. Talks have entered an indefinite pause.”

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s military said it carried out airstrikes on the hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban inside Afghanistan, killing dozens of people it described as insurgents. Afghan officials denied the claim, saying civilians were among the dead, and said Afghan forces had struck Pakistani military posts in retaliation, killing 58 soldiers. Pakistan’s military acknowledged losing 23 troops in the fighting.

The violence prompted Qatar to invite delegations from both sides to Doha, where they agreed to a ceasefire on Oct. 19. It was followed by six days of talks in Istanbul, which resulted in an agreement to extend the truce and hold a third round on Nov. 6 and 7 — talks that ultimately failed to produce any breakthrough.
Border closure

Since then, Pakistan has kept all of its border crossings with Afghanistan closed, though it partially reopened the main Torkham crossing last week to allow stranded Afghan refugees to return home.

The closure, imposed on Oct. 12, has disrupted vital trade and transit routes and stranded thousands of people. Hundreds of trucks loaded with goods remain backed up on both sides of the frontier, cutting off one of the busiest economic arteries linking South and Central Asia.

Alongside the border restrictions, Pakistan is pursuing a nationwide campaign to deport undocumented foreigners, the majority of them Afghans. Since 2023, authorities say more than a million Afghan nationals have been sent back as part of the repatriation drive.

Pakistan has also witnessed a surge in militant attacks, many claimed by the TTP, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations.

Abdul Qahar Afghan contributed to this report from Kabul, Afghanistan

Sajjad Tarakzai, The Associated Press

Tornado in southern Brazil kills six, injures hundreds. A tornado accompanied by strong winds and heavy rain struck the southern Brazilian state of Parana, killing six people, the state government said on Saturday.

The town of Rio Bonito do Iguacu was hit hardest late Friday, with the state’s civil defense agency reporting that over half of the urban area suffered roof collapses, along with multiple structural failures.

Roads were blocked and power lines damaged.

Authorities said 437 people were treated for injuries and about 1,000 were displaced. The nearby city of Guarapuava was also affected.

According to the Parana Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring System, the tornado’s winds reached speeds between 180 kph (111 mph) and 250 kph (155 mph).

Institutional Relations Minister Gleisi Hoffmann said she would travel to the area on Saturday with acting Health Minister Adriano Massuda and other federal officials to support relief efforts and reconstruction.

“We will continue to assist the people of Parana and provide all the help needed,” President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on X, expressing condolences to the victims’ families.

Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Alistair Bell, Reuters

#Gaza death toll tops 69,000 as Israel and militants again exchange remains.

The latest jump in deaths occurred as more bodies are recovered from the rubble in the devastated strip since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, and as previously unidentified bodies are identified. The toll also includes Palestinians killed by strikes since the truce took hold, which Israel says target remaining militants.

Israel on Saturday returned the remains of another 15 Palestinians to Gaza, according to hospital officials in the strip, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel. He was identified as Lior Rudaeff, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘s office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Rudaeff was born in Argentina.

The exchanges are the central part of the ceasefire’s initial phase, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians.

Trump accuses foreign-owned meat packers of inflating U.S. beef prices and calls for investigation.


The Republican president announced the move on social media days after his party suffered losses in key elections in which the winning Democratic candidates focused relentlessly on the public’s concerns about the cost of living. But experts said it’s unlikely that an investigation would result in lower prices at grocery stores, and a trade group representing meat packers said they’re not to blame.

Trump did not present evidence for his claims, writing on social media that “I have asked the DOJ to immediately begin an investigation into the Meat Packing Companies who are driving up the price of Beef through Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation.”

He said he was taking the action to help ranchers, who were recently angered by his suggestion that the U.S. would buy Argentine beef to bring down stubbornly high prices for American consumers.

“We will always protect our American Ranchers, and they are being blamed for what is being done by Majority Foreign Owned Meat Packers, who artificially inflate prices, and jeopardize the security of our Nation’s food supply,” Trump said.
Why beef prices have climbed

Beef prices have soared to record levels in part after drought and years of low prices led to the smallest U.S. herd size in decades. Trump’s tariffs on Brazil, a major beef exporter, have also curbed imports.

Meanwhile, demand for beef remains strong. Prices are high because consumers want to eat it, and they’re willing and able to pay for it, said Glynn Tonsor, who leads the Meat Demand Monitor at Kansas State University.

Tonsor said the ownership mix in the meat packing industry has not changed significantly in the past four years.

Concentration in the meat packing business has been a longtime concern for farmers and politicians on both sides of the aisle. Four major meatpacking companies dominate the beef market in the United States.

There’s no evidence to back up claims that the big packers have undue market power and use it to drive up beef prices, said Derrell Peel, an agricultural economist at Oklahoma State University.

“The packing industry in this country has been investigated and researched for 50 years, and it’s been an issue for over a hundred years, at least, for some producers,” Peel said, expressing skepticism that consumers or producers will benefit from the investigation Trump announced.

“If the outcome is to break up the big packers, the outcome will be higher beef prices for consumers, and lower cattle prices for producers,” Peel said.
Meat packers say they’re getting pinched by high prices

Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin said Friday that he and fellow Republican senators Cindy-Hyde-Smith of Mississippi and Tim Sheehy of Montana visited the White House earlier in the day to speak with Trump about recent volatility in the beef market. Mullin said Trump agreed to have the U.S. Justice Department look at the issue.

Mullin blamed meat processors, saying that “we’re seeing the same exact game play again out” as a 2019 lawsuit against large meatpackers for violating antitrust laws.

JBS, which is based in Brazil, is the largest U.S. beef producer and its second-largest producer of poultry and pork. Half of its annual revenue comes from the U.S., where it has more than 72,000 employees.

The company has faced price-fixing charges before. In 2022, JBS agreed to a US$52.5 million settlement with grocery stores and wholesalers who accused JBS, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods and other companies of working together to suppress the number of cattle being slaughtered in order to drive up beef prices.

JBS did not admit wrongdoing as part of that settlement. Messages seeking comment were left Friday with JBS USA.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., last week called on the administration to renew an investigation into meat packers that was opened in Trump’s first term. Cramer’s office said he has pushed for such a probe since March 2020.

The Meat Institute, a trade group that represents JBS and other meat producers, said its industry is being pinched by the price of cattle, despite record prices for U.S. beef.

“For more than a year, beef packers have been operating at a loss due to a tight cattle supply and strong demand,” Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts said in a statement. “The beef industry is heavily regulated, and market transactions are transparent. The government’s own data from #USDA confirms that the beef packing sector is experiencing catastrophic losses and experts predict this will continue into 2026.”

Trump’s accusations have renewed a bipartisan presidential fight against rising food prices.

Senate Republicans vote down legislation to limit #Trump’s ability to attack #Venezuela.

#WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans voted to reject legislation Thursday that would have put a check on President Donald Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela, as Democrats pressed Congress to take a stronger role in Trump’s high-stakes campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Lawmakers, including top Republicans, have demanded that the Trump administration provide them with more information on the U.S. military strikes against alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. But Thursday’s vote, on legislation that would essentially forestall an attack on Venezuelan soil without congressional authorization, suggested Republicans are willing to give Trump leeway to continue his buildup of naval forces in the region.

“President Trump has taken decisive action to protect thousands of Americans from lethal narcotics,” said Sen. Jim Risch, the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Still, the vote allowed Democrats to press their GOP colleagues on Trump’s threats against Venezuela. The legislation failed to advance 49-51, with Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only Republicans voting in favor.

The U.S. is assembling an unusually large force, including its most advanced aircraft carrier, in the Caribbean Sea, leading many to conclude that Trump intends to go beyond just intercepting cocaine-running boats. The campaign so far has killed at least 69 people in 17 known strikes, the latest carried out Thursday against a boat in the Caribbean.

“It’s really an open secret that this is much more about potential regime change,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who pushed the resolution. “If that’s where the administration is headed, if that’s what we’re risking — involvement in a war — then Congress needs to be heard on this.”

Some Republicans are uneasy with Caribbean campaign

Republican leadership pressed Thursday to make sure the legislation failed, but several senators still carefully considered their vote.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, another Republican who voted against the resolution, said that he still has doubts about the campaign. He pointed out that it was expensive to change the deployment location for an aircraft carrier and questioned whether those funds could be better used at the U.S.-Mexico border to stop fentanyl trafficking.

Tillis said that if the campaign continues for several months more, “then we have to have a real discussion about whether or not we’re engaging in some sort of hybrid war.”

Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, said in a statement that he voted against the legislation because he didn’t believe it was “necessary or appropriate at this time.”

But he added that he was “troubled by many aspects and assumptions of this operation and believe it is at odds with the majority of Americans who want the U.S. military less entangled in international conflicts.”

The push for congressional oversight

As the Trump administration has reconfigured U.S. priorities overseas, there has been a growing sense of frustration among lawmakers, including some Republicans, who are concerned about recent moves made by the Pentagon.

At a hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier Thursday, Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair, said that many senators have “serious concerns about the Pentagon’s policy office” and that Congress was not being consulted on recent actions like putting a pause on Ukraine security assistance, reducing the number of U.S. troops in Romania and the formulation of the National Defense Strategy.

GOP senators have directed their ire at the Department of Defense's policy office, which is led by Elbridge Colby, an official who has advocated for the U.S. to step down its involvement in international alliances.

“It just seems like there’s this pigpen-like mess coming out of the policy shop,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, during another Armed Services hearing earlier this week.

As pushback has mounted on Capitol Hill, the Trump administration has stepped up its outreach to lawmakers. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held a classified briefing for congressional leaders Wednesday. The officials gave details on the intelligence that is used to target the boats and allowed senators to review the legal rationale for the attacks, but did not discuss whether they would launch an attack directly against Venezuela, according to lawmakers in the meeting.

Still, Democrats have tested the unease among Republicans by forcing the vote on the potential for an attack on Venezuela under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which was intended to reassert congressional power over the declaration of war. A previous war powers vote pertaining to the strikes against boats in international waters also failed last month on a 48-51 vote, but Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who pushed the legislation, said he still plans to force more votes.

“We should not be going to war without a vote of Congress. The lives of our troops are at stake,” Kaine said in a floor speech.

Democrats also argued that the Trump administration was using a flimsy legal defense for an expansive military campaign that is putting U.S. troops and the nation’s reputation at risk. Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services panel, charged that Trump is engaging in “violence without a strategic objective” while failing to take actions that would actually address fentanyl smuggling.

“You cannot bomb your way out of a drug crisis,” he said.

Stephen Groves, The Associated Press