Hundreds of political prisoners in Venezuela, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists, could soon be freed under an amnesty bill that the country’s acting president announced on Friday. 

The move represents the latest concession Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez has made since the Jan. 3 capture of the country’s former leader Nicolás Maduro by the U.S.

Rodriguez told a group of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the National Assembly, which is controlled by the ruling party, would promptly take up the bill, The Associated Press reported.

‘May this law serve to heal the wounds left by the political confrontation fueled by violence and extremism,’ she said in the pre-taped televised event, according to the AP. ‘May it serve to redirect justice in our country, and may it serve to redirect coexistence among Venezuelans.’

Rodriguez said the amnesty law would cover the ‘entire period of political violence from 1999 to the present,’ and that those incarcerated for murder, drug trafficking, corruption or human rights violations would not qualify for relief, the AP reported.

In addition to the amnesty law, Rodriguez announced the shutdown of Venezuela’s notorious El Helicoide prison in Caracas. Torture and other human rights abuses have been repeatedly documented at El Helicoide. The facility is set to be transformed into sports, social and cultural center, according to reports.

Alfredo Romero, the head of Foro Penal, Venezuela’s leading prisoner rights organization, welcomed the legislation while expressing some skepticism.

‘A General Amnesty is always welcome as long as its elements and conditions include all of civil society, without discrimination, that it does not become a blanket of impunity, and that it contributes to the dismantling of the repressive apparatus of political persecution,’ Romero said in a post on X.

Relatives of some prisoners livestreamed Rodríguez’s speech on a phone as they gathered outside Helicoide, according to the AP.

Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado said in a statement that the moves were not made ‘voluntarily, but rather in response to pressure from the US government,’ the AP reported. She also reportedly noted that people detained for their political activities have been held for anywhere between a month and 23 years.

Foro Penal estimates there are 711 political prisoners held in Venezuela, 183 of whom have been sentenced, the AP reported. The outlet identified prominent members of the opposition who were detained after the 2024 election and remain in prison as former lawmaker Freddy Superlano, Machado’s lawyer Perkins Rocha, and Juan Pablo Guanipa, a former governor and one of Machado’s closest allies.

On Friday evening, Venezuela released all known American citizens being held in the country.

‘We are pleased to confirm the release by the interim authorities of all known U.S. citizens held in Venezuela,’ the U.S. embassy wrote on X. ‘Should you have information regarding any other U.S. citizens still detained, please contact American Citizen Services.’

The Associated Press and Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday that strikes across Gaza were carried out in response to what it described as a ceasefire violation in which eight terrorists were identified exiting underground terror infrastructure in eastern Rafah.

The IDF said it struck four commanders and additional terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as a weapons storage facility. A weapons manufacturing site and two launch sites belonging to Hamas in central Gaza were also hit, the IDF said.

Gaza hospitals run by the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry said at least 30 Palestinians were reported killed in the strikes, according to The Associated Press. 

Hospital officials reported that casualties included civilians. They said the casualties included two women and six children from two different families. An airstrike also hit a police station in Gaza City, killing at least 14 and wounding others, Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.

The strikes came a day after Israel accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire. An Israeli military official told the AP that the strikes were carried out in response to ceasefire violations but declined to comment on specific targets.

The violence unfolded one day before the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was set to reopen, a move seen as a key step in the second phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. That phase includes limited border reopenings, efforts to demilitarize Gaza and discussions over postwar governance.

Israel has said the Rafah crossing has been a focal point for concerns about weapons smuggling by Hamas, and that security arrangements would accompany any reopening.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel agreed to a ‘limited reopening’ of the crossing under President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan.

Israel has said it continues to carry out strikes across the region in response to violations of ceasefire understandings. On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure and engineering vehicles in southern Lebanon, accusing the group of attempting to reestablish terror infrastructure in violation of agreements with Israel.

Meanwhile, a senior Israeli military official acknowledged that the IDF believes the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry’s overall death toll from the war is largely accurate, according to The Times of Israel. The military estimates around 70,000 Gazans were killed during the two-plus-year conflict triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

The Gaza Health Ministry currently reports 71,667 deaths, including more than 450 since the October 2025 ceasefire, though Israeli officials said the estimate does not include bodies believed to be buried under rubble.

Gaza’s Health Ministry has said 509 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire began Oct. 10.

Israel also returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians on Thursday, days after recovering the remains of the last Israeli hostage, a Gaza Health Ministry official said, according to the AP.

The transfer marked the final hostage-detainee exchange under the first phase of the ceasefire.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Spencer Pratt says many in Hollywood privately support his criticism of Los Angeles leadership, but fear keeps them silent.

The 41-year-old reality TV star and ‘The Guy You Loved to Hate’ author, who rose to fame on MTV’s ‘The Hills’ and is now launching a bid for mayor of Los Angeles, told Fox News Digital that while he often finds himself standing alone in public, the support he receives behind closed doors tells a very different story.

According to Pratt, those conversations tend to happen far from cameras and social media. He said they often take place in restaurants, where well-known figures feel safe enough to ask questions, listen and express gratitude without attaching their names to his cause.

‘I know actual A-list stars support what I do, because I’ve been at restaurants, and they sit down at the table, and they quiz me about everything that I know for 20 minutes and thank me,’ Pratt said. ‘But these people know if they do that publicly, they risk losing their careers that some of them have been working for 30 years to have.’

Pratt said he understands the risks that come with speaking publicly and doesn’t fault those who choose to stay quiet.

‘So, I don’t judge them,’ he added. ‘It’s just the same with firefighters that don’t come forward with the truth because of retaliation. There’s no difference between public employees who know what’s going on and celebrities. Everyone sees what’s happening, but everyone’s scared to talk.’

The fear Pratt describes is not limited to Hollywood insiders. He said it reflects a broader culture of silence across Los Angeles, where people see what is happening around them but hesitate to speak publicly.

For years, Pratt admits, he was part of that silence himself.

‘Well, it’s obvious that they burned my house down, is what gave me the confidence, because I was quiet as well,’ he said. ‘I let a lot of this stuff happen over the years because I’m in my house, I’m just going to turn on the TV and pretend that what’s happening in Los Angeles isn’t happening. But once that’s gone, it’s real easy to speak up.’

Pratt’s decision to speak publicly and eventually step into politics didn’t come overnight. He said losing his home forced him to confront realities he could no longer ignore and stripped away the comfort that once allowed him to disengage.

Pratt and his wife, Heidi Montag, lost their Pacific Palisades home in a wildfire in January 2025. Pratt said his parents also lost their home in the fires.

Once that shift happened, Pratt said he began to see his voice as less optional and more necessary. He believes the timing of that realization was not accidental.

Pratt said the release of his memoir and his decision to run for mayor unfolded simultaneously in a way that felt beyond his control.

‘The timing of the mayor and the book — that’s God’s timing because the book actually came together right after the fires over a year ago,’ he told Fox News Digital. ‘So, the writing’s been happening all year.’

As the manuscript took shape, Pratt said he was watching the political landscape closely and growing increasingly frustrated.

‘And then when I saw that nobody was stepping up to run against Mayor Karen Bass in the last month or so, I had to do it,’ he said. ‘Again, it’s God’s timing.’

That frustration, Pratt said, ultimately led him to challenge the city’s leadership directly.

‘I’m going to run against you because you shouldn’t have this job,’ Pratt said. ‘You should have resigned on January 7 on the airplane back from Africa.’

Despite knowing the decision would bring scrutiny and criticism, Pratt said a sense of inevitability carried him forward.

The memoir at the center of that moment, ‘The Guy You Love to Hate,’ takes a deep dive into the public persona Pratt became known for during his rise to fame on reality television and the strategy behind it.

‘The memoir is called ‘The Guy You Love to Hate’ because my goal was always to be fun and entertaining,’ Pratt said. ‘Obviously, it went sideways at times, but it was to make TV and to have drama, to be like a soap opera.’

Pratt said that, early in his career, he received advice that shaped how he approached reality television and the role he played within it.

‘David Foster gave me advice when I first did my first television show to be the Simon Cowell — the new young Simon Cowell — of reality,’ he recalled. ‘I went a little far with it, obviously.’

Looking back, Pratt acknowledges that the character he leaned into often lacked logic or restraint, but he insists it was never accidental.

‘And I wasn’t judging anyone’s talent, so there wasn’t really any logic to what I was doing,’ he said. ‘But there was always a purpose, as you’ll read in the book.’

That purpose, Pratt said, was financial.

‘It was a plan to make money with this character,’ he explained. ‘I wasn’t doing it for free.’

Pratt said one of the biggest misconceptions about him is confusing the character he played on television with who he actually was.

‘Who I was versus who I was being,’ Pratt said.

Now, with more distance from that chapter of his life, Pratt said he views even his most controversial moments differently.

Asked whether there were parts of his life he wishes he could change, Pratt said he doesn’t regret any of it.

‘I don’t regret any chapters of my life because they are hard experiences that got me here to go up against someone like Karen Bass and the system of Los Angeles politics,’ he said.

Instead, Pratt said those failures became preparation — lessons that sharpened him for the fight he believes lies ahead.

‘So, I look at even my failures and mistakes as training ground for where I am now,’ he said. ‘I look at them as lessons learned to do better in the future.’

Spencer Pratt’s memoir, ‘The Guy You Loved to Hate,’ is out now.

Shouts of ‘Trump act now!’ filled the sunny Saturday afternoon on New York’s Fifth Avenue as hundreds of anti-Iranian regime protestors denounced the theocratic regime in Tehran and called for the U.S. to take action against Iran.

‘We want freedom for the Iranian people,’ said protester Sarah Shahi. ‘We want this theocracy that has been taking people’s rights away to be taken out with whatever means necessary. We need help when so many people have been killed.’

The protesters gathered across the street from the residence of Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations and called for the regime in Tehran to be toppled.

The ornate 19th century limestone townhouse was originally purchased by the Iranian government under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran who ruled from 1941 until 1979. It has been the official home of the country’s UN representative ever since. Protests have been rare at the location, but at some point, overnight, someone spray-painted the words ‘terrorists’ and ‘killers’ on the front facade.

The building’s location is one of the most exclusive on the Upper East Side, diagonally across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and less than a block away from the former residence of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

One protester’s sign showed a photograph of current Iranian UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani with the words ‘A terrorist lives here.’

‘For the people of the Islamic republic to be residing here is just so unjust,’ said Shahi. ‘But it is the closest thing we have to an embassy’ as a protest location.

Since Iran does not have diplomatic relations with the United States, the building is the only Iranian government-owned property in the country.

President Trump has ordered U.S. warships to within striking distance of Iran as he considers potential attacks against the regime’s nuclear program, oil and military targets. The buildup is in response to Iran’s continued support of terrorism and its brutal mass killings of protesters, with estimates saying as many as 30,000 people have been killed for participating in anti-regime street demonstrations.

The protesters in Manhattan are supporters of the late shah’s son, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who has been speaking out for weeks against the regime as its barbaric crackdown continued. Pahlavi has been in exile for 47 years, since his father fled and the Iranian revolution ushered in the hardline religious Anti-American regime of the Mullahs.

The chants from the protesters were no less impassioned than those of their brethren who have flooded the streets of Iranian cities. Signs demanded ‘End the regime in Iran,’ and ‘Brave Iranians are fighting on the ground. The U.S. and Israel must act against a common enemy now.’ Other signs proclaimed, ‘No to the Islamic Republic regime,’ and ‘Make Iran Great Again.’

The protesters say they are waiting for President Trump to take military action against the regime so that the nation can finally taste freedom.