Alleged Peruvian gang leader arrested by ICE in upstate New York
Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A leader of a Peruvian gang who is wanted for 23 murders in Peru was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Thursday, according to the agency.
Gianfrano Torres-Navarro was arrested in Endicott, New York, during a “targeted operation,” according to a source familiar with the operation.
Torres-Navarro is the alleged leader of “Los Killers,” a gang in Peru, according to local authorities.
“Gianfranco Torres-Navarro poses a significant threat to our communities, and we won’t allow New York to be a safe haven for dangerous noncitizens,” said Enforcement and Removal Operations Buffalo Field Office Director Thomas P. Brophy. “Well done by our ERO Buffalo officers who brought this individual into custody.”
Torres-Navarro, 38, entered into the U.S. on May 16, near Roma, Texas, and a month ago authorities were notified he was wanted in Peru for murders.
He is currently being held in Batavia, New York, in a federal detention center.
There was no attorney listed for Torres-Navarro at the time of publication.
(LONDON) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, cease-fire discussions are occurring in the Middle East, with officials hoping to bring an end to the conflict.
The United States and its allies continue to plead for a cease-fire deal, with discussions set for this week.
US not involved in Israel’s pre-emptive strike on Lebanon, official says
Last Updated: August 25, 1:00 PM ET
A U.S. official reaffirmed Sunday that the United States was not involved in Israel’s pre-emptive strike Saturday night on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon but had provided Israel some intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information believed to have been used in the mission.
The U.S. had provided some “ISR support in terms of tracking incoming Lebanese Hezbollah attacks but did not conduct any kinetic operations as they were not required,” the official said.
“We continue to closely monitor the situation and remain well-postured and ready to support the defense of Israel from attacks by Iran and any of its proxies, to include Lebanese Hezbollah,” the official said.
At least three people were killed overnight in the Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Sunday. The casualties included two people who were killed in the village of At Tiri and one in the town of Khiam, the ministry said, adding that two additional people were injured and required hospitalization.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
IDF issues new evacuation order in central Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces announced a new evacuation order Sunday for a small strip of land in a humanitarian area of central Gaza.
The new evacuation order for an area of Deir al-Balah came just days after the IDF ordered the evacuation of two refugee camps in the same area as the Israeli military prepared for a new ground offensive in the humanitarian zone.
The IDF suspects that Hamas terrorists are hiding in the area and using Palestinian refugees as human shields.
Sunday’s evacuation order affected those living in a relatively small area of Deir al-Balah that includes five schools sheltering displaced people and tent camps around them. The area is near the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, one of the largest remaining functional hospitals in Gaza, servicing all of central Gaza.
-ABC News’ Bictoria Beaule
Hezbollah planned to strike Israeli intelligence, sources tell ABC News
Israel believes the Hezbollah targets in central Israel were meant to be a complex of intelligence bases and the headquarters of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, just north of Tel Aviv, two Israeli security sources told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir and Bruno Nota
3 killed, 2 injured in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, officials say
At least three people were killed overnight in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Sunday.
Two were killed in the village of At Tiri and one in the town of Khiam, the ministry said, adding that two additional people were injured and required hospitalization.
The United Nations agency in charge of peacekeeping in southern Lebanon called on Sunday for a cease-fire and for all sides to “refrain from further escalatory action.”
“In light of worrying developments across the Blue Line since the early morning, UNSCOL and UNIFIL call on all to cease fire and refrain from further escalatory action,” the agency said in a statement, referring to a demarcation line separating Israel from Lebanon.
There have been no reports of injuries on the Israeli side, according to emergency services in Israel.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz, Jordana Miller and Victoria Beaule
Israel continues strikes in southern Lebanon, IDF says
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday said the military was targeting Hezbollah with additional strikes in southern Lebanon.
“In the last hour, the IDF struck Hezbollah launchers in several areas in southern Lebanon to remove threats,” the IDF said in a statement. “In addition, the IDF identified a terrorist cell operating in the area of Khiam in southern Lebanon. The IAF swiftly struck the terrorists.”
-ABC News’ Anna Burd and Victoria Beaule
‘Whoever harms us — we will harm them,’ Netanyahu says
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday described his country’s preemptive strikes within Lebanon as a “strong action to foil the threats” raised by a potential attack by Hezbollah.
“It has eliminated thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel,” Netanyahu said as he convened his Security Cabinet for a meeting at 7 a.m. local time. “It is thwarting many other threats and is taking very strong action — both defensively and offensively.”
Netanyahu had earlier in the morning been managing the situation with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant from the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, his office said. The prime minister’s office released photos of the pair meeting with military officials.
“We are determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes and to continue upholding a simple rule: Whoever harms us — we will harm them,” Netanyahu said.
-ABC News’ Kevin Shalvey
‘Thousands’ of Hezbollah rocket launchers destroyed, IDF says
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday said it had destroyed “thousands” of Hezbollah rocket launchers.
“Approximately 100 IAF fighter jets, directed by IDF intelligence, struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels that were located and embedded in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.
The statement added, “Most of these launchers were aimed toward northern Israel and some were aimed toward central Israel. More than 40 launches areas in Lebanon were struck during the strikes.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Kevin Shalvey
Israel warns Lebanese citizens of danger as it strikes Hezbollah
The Israeli Air Force launched “dozens” of planes to attack locations throughout southern Lebanon, saying it was continuing “to remove threats, to vigorously attack the terrorist organization Hezbollah.”
“Israel’s air defense systems, navy ships and Air Force planes are on a defense mission above the country’s skies, identifying, intercepting threats and attacking wherever in Lebanon it is required in order to remove threats and harm Hezbollah,” Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.
The aerial strikes within Lebanon were coming as Israeli defenses were dealing with “different types of threats,” including scores of rockets and drones launched into Israeli airspace, he said.
“We have already intercepted a number of rockets and unmanned aerial vehicles that approached the territory of the State of Israel,” Hagari said.He added, “We warn the Lebanese citizens in South Lebanon. We recognize that Hezbollah is firing in a large area near your homes. You are in danger. We attack and remove Hezbollah threats.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Kevin Shalvey
Hezbollah claims hundreds of rockets launched at Israel
Hezbollah claimed early on Sunday to have launched more than 320 rockets toward 11 military locations within Israel and Golan Heights.
The “enemy sites” that had been targeted were detailed in a statement. They included military bases in Meron, Ein Zeytim and Al-Sahl.
Barracks in Naveh Ziv, Ramot Naftali and Zaoura were also among the sites targeted, Hezbollah said.
The group described those launches as a “first stage,” saying they were “targeting Israeli barracks and sites to facilitate the passage of offensive drones towards their desired target deep inside” Israel.
(IZMIR, Turkey) — Two U.S. service members were assaulted in Izmir, Turkey, on Monday “and are now safe,” the U.S. Embassy in Turkey and the local governor’s office said in statements on X.
“We can confirm reports that U.S. service members embarked aboard the USS Wasp were the victims of an assault in İzmir today and are now safe. We thank Turkish authorities for their rapid response and ongoing investigation,” the U.S. Embassy in Turkey said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“A group of 15 people, 2 women and 13 men, members of the Turkish Youth Union (TGB), physically attacked 2 U.S. military personnel in civilian clothes,” the Izmir Governorship, the local governor’s office, said in a post on X.
“In addition, 5 plain clothes US soldiers saw the incident from a distance, and got involved. Our police forces quickly responded to the incident,” the Izmir Governorship added.
The local authorities took 15 suspects into custody and a “judicial investigation has been initiated regarding the matter,” the Izmir Governorship said.
The Turkish Youth Union is a national youth and student group that has an anti-American and anti-imperialist stance. They are linked to the Turkish “Vatan Party,” a nationalist political party in Turkey.
The USS Wasp arrived in Izmir on Sunday for a “regularly scheduled port visit,” the Department of Defense said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi applaud during the ceremony of documents signing after their talks in Mariinskyi Palace, on August 23, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Ukraine scored victories on and off the battlefield last week, with Kyiv securing a long sought after visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the backdrop of its evolving offensive into Russia’s Kursk region.
A wartime visit by Modi — the popular and powerful leader of the world’s second most populous nation, its fifth largest economy and a major military and economic partner for Russia — has long been near the top of Kyiv’s diplomatic wish list, second perhaps only to a visit by China’s President Xi Jinping.
“It’s great news for Ukraine and can be viewed as a diplomatic victory,” Oleksandr Merezko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee, told ABC News of Friday’s visit. “It’s important for us to have a direct dialogue with him, and persuade him to be on the right side of history.”
With a cease-fire proving elusive after two and a half years of war, Kyiv’s friends and enemies alike will see opportunity in Modi’s outreach.
On Monday, President Joe Biden “commended” Modi on his Ukraine visit, per a White House readout, praising the leader’s “message of peace and ongoing humanitarian support.”
Russians, too, are “positive” about the visit, Oleg Ignatov — the Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Russia — told ABC News.
“Russia will welcome their role, if their role is constructive,” Ignatov said.
The U.S. and its Western partners — even officially non-aligned ones like Switzerland and Austria — have “lost their position of independent, impartial players” in the Kremlin’s eyes, Ignatov said.
“They can’t be middlemen,” Ignatov said.
But perhaps Modi can be that middleman.
True neutral
Modi’s dueling visits to Russia and Ukraine characterize — even if unintentionally — New Delhi’s staunch neutrality. The prime minister was in Moscow when a Russian missile struck a Ukrainian children’s hospital in July. His bear hug greeting of President Vladimir Putin earned him a fierce rebuke from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
And now, Modi has sat down with the Ukrainian leader while the latter’s troops expanded their occupation of Russian territory, in an operation that Putin has decried as a criminal effort to destabilize his nation.
Merezhko said he was “surprised” by the timing.
“I suspect that our American and European allies are trying to push India in the right direction,” Merezhko said.
India has neither condoned nor condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion. New Delhi has been urging de-escalation and peace talks while benefiting from historically low prices for Russian oil — which India is also processing and selling on to the West — amid the Western sanctions campaign, analysts have noted.
India has not signed up to the Western-led sanctions drive. Russia is selling oil to India at prices above the G7 price cap, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that is acceptable, as long as India avoids Western insurance, finance and maritime services which are bound by the cap.
Foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said last week: “It is not like there is a political strategy to buy oil … there is an oil strategy to buy oil … there is a market strategy.”
Modi’s India has been building its U.S. ties, happy to work closely with both Republicans and Democrats as the nation looks to extract its mammoth economic potential and blunt the longstanding threat from China across their shared Himalayan border — a challenge experts have suggested is a major driver of the evolving U.S.-India relationship.
India’s trade with Russia is worth less than half that of the $130 billion exchange with the United States. The 2023 U.S.-Indian commitment to the multibillion India-Middle East Economic Corridor speaks to the expanding strategic vision of the two nations. The White House described the project as “a gateway to our future,” while New Delhi lauded what it called “a transformative integration of Asia, Europe and Middle East.”
India is also increasingly looking towards the U.S. for its military needs while its military trade with Russia dwindles, amid concerns about the quality of Moscow’s goods and its inability to deliver on advanced contracts. A warm relationship with the U.S. may also somewhat insulate Modi from concerns — at home and abroad — that he is pushing India’s democracy in an illiberal and perhaps even authoritarian direction.
Modi and his government have pushed back on such criticisms. At a press conference with President Joe Biden in 2023, Modi said there “is no scope for any discrimination” under his administration. And this year, India’s Foreign Ministry dismissed a State Department report detailing “significant” human rights abused as “deeply biased.”
Asked about the Ukraine visit, a State Department spokesperson told ABC News: “We continue to ask all our partners, including India, to support efforts toward a just and lasting peace for Ukraine and to urge Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine’s sovereign territory.”
Before departing New Delhi last week, Modi reiterated his calls for peace, saying in a statement: “As a friend and partner, we hope for an early return of peace and stability in the region.”
India’s position — firmly on the fence — could prove an opportunity for both sides.
Neither the Indian Foreign Ministry nor the Kremlin responded to ABC News’ request for comment in time for publication.
‘Let’s talk’
Officially neutral nations like India, China, Qatar or Saudi Arabia could all play a central role in bringing the war to an end, or at least achieving a cease-fire. All refused to join the Western-led sanctions campaign against Moscow, and all have called for an end to the fighting.
Indeed, reported secret Qatari efforts to facilitate renewed cease-fire talks were only scuppered by Ukraine’s Kursk offensive earlier this month.
“They are ready to play the role of intermediaries; not negotiators, but facilitators, to help both countries understand which issues their positions could be close on,” Ignatov said of non-aligned nations. “If there is a request from both Ukraine and Russia, they will help. But they won’t do anything to the detriment of one country.”
Modi’s visit may undergird the apparent sentiment on both sides of the war that negotiations could be revived. But, Ignatov said, any new proposal should be broad, and as simple as: “Let’s talk.”
Chietigj Bajpaee of the Chatham House think tank in London, U.K., told ABC News that Modi wants to promote India “as a rising and responsible global power,” and potentially as a “bridging power” between the West, its adversaries in authoritarian nations like Russia, China and India, and less powerful “Global South” nations not willing to commit to broader U.S.-led transatlantic goals.
“The other countries that maintain very good relations with Russia — China, Iran, North Korea — all of these are countries with which the U.S. and the West maintain difficult relations,” Bajpaee said.
“In theory, at least, I think India is well positioned to play some sort of role as a bridging power or mediating role in the conflict in Ukraine. Whether it has the means and motivation to do so is another question,” Bajpaee added.
Indian officials have publicly ruled out acting as official mediators between the warring nations, though Modi has said he is willing to convey messages between them.
For Merezhko, India would be a more appealing facilitator than China, for example. Beijing presented an initial peace plan in 2023 which was widely dismissed in Kyiv, followed by a second effort in coordination with Brazil in May.
“Modi shows that Ukraine exists for India,” Merezhko said. “In this regard, we can see a contrast between China’s and India’s position on Ukraine. Whereas Xi has not visited Ukraine at all and had several meetings with Putin, which is very telling, India’s prime minister seemingly is trying to keep some balance.”
“The Chinese plan is empty and pro-Russian. Modi, if he plans to come up with his own peace plan, will at least try to be more constructive than China,” Merezhko said.
Modi will likely keep one eye on facilitating dialogue between Kyiv and Moscow, Yehor Cherniev — a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chairman of his country’s delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly — told ABC News, not least because of continued concerns in the “Global South” as to the conflict’s detrimental effect on trade.
But any nascent rumblings of new talks will be secondary to the ongoing combat. Ukrainian forces will keep pushing in Kursk and Russian forces on the eastern front, particularly in Donetsk. Meanwhile, both sides will keep bombarding the other’s cities with drones and missiles.
Russia’s weekend nationwide missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine served as a bloody reminder of the diplomatic gulf between the two sides.
“The outcome of this war will be decided by Russia and Ukraine,” Ignatov said, “not by India, China or the United States.”
Cherniev said that while Ukrainians are “open” to fresh ideas and “thankful” for Modi’s visit, his compatriots will wait to see “what conditions” will be tied to any revival of dialogue.
“It’s difficult to predict any outcomes of peace negotiations,” Cherniev added, stressing that Kyiv’s demand of full territorial liberation “has not changed.”
As to the persistent question of territorial concessions in pursuit of peace, Cherniev replied: “We will never do this.”
