The Senate quietly passed legislation on Tuesday that would create stiffer penalties for explicit AI-manipulated images, known as deepfakes. 

The bill from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is designed to beef up federal penalties against the creation, distribution or solicitation of ‘non-consensual digital forgeries,’ or deepfakes. It’s geared to act as a companion to a previously passed bill targeting revenge porn.

Durbin’s Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits, or DEFIANCE Act, passed unanimously through the Senate on a fast-track vote. But it will still require the House to weigh in before it heads to President Donald Trump’s desk. 

His bill, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and introduced in the House by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., would allow victims of deepfake images to sue people who create, possess with intent to share, solicit, or share non-consensual items, and levy a fine of up to $250,000 per violation. 

‘Give to the victims their day in court to hold those responsible who continue to publish these images at their expense,’ Durbin said on the Senate floor. ‘Today, we are one step closer to making this a reality.’

It also allows courts to order takedowns, deletions and injunctions to stop further spread of the images, provide privacy protections for victims during litigation, and sets up a statute of limitations of up to 10 years. 

Durbin said the backlash of deepfake images can be long-lasting, and people may go through depression, anxiety and fear, ‘and in the worst cases, victims have been driven to suicide.’ 

‘Imagine losing control over your own likeness and identity. Imagine how powerless victims feel when they cannot remove illicit content, cannot prevent it from being reproduced repeatedly, and cannot prevent new images from being created,’ Durbin said. 

The DEFIANCE Act comes as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pushed for stiffer regulations and penalties for AI, particularly chatbots and potentially harmful interactions they have with children online. Notably, Durbin and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., teamed up last year for legislation that defines AI as a product, allowing people to sue for liabilities that stem from using AI systems. 

Durbin’s successful effort in the upper chamber comes after lawmakers passed a separate bill, the Take It Down Act, last year geared to creating penalties for revenge porn. First Lady Melania Trump heavily lobbied for that bill, which was ultimately signed into law by Trump and is set to take effect in May. 

Recently unredacted construction plans for China’s new super embassy in London have ignited a storm of national security concerns across the United Kingdom, as blueprints reveal a hidden underground room positioned alarmingly close to some of Britain’s most sensitive communication cables.

Major critics of the proposed site, which will run as close as three feet to the internet infrastructure, warned that the secret room could serve as a hub for Chinese espionage. While the British government reportedly assured its allies that the lines do not carry sensitive government data, the cables transmit financial transactions as well as communication traffic for millions of internet users.  

The blueprints were publicly unredacted Monday by The Telegraph, just one week before Prime Minister Keir Starmer is widely expected to approve the plans before his visit to see President Xi Jinping in China.  

A government spokesman told the outlet that despite the security concerns, ‘national security is our first duty and government security experts have been involved throughout the process so far.’

According to the blueprint, the facility will be located at the former Royal Mint and will become Europe’s largest Chinese embassy. 

Construction plans indicate that China intends to demolish and rebuild a basement wall, placing officials and equipment just over three feet from critical fiber-optic cables. Security experts have warned that such proximity could create opportunities for ‘cable-tapping,’ which involves inserting wiretaps or reading light signals leaking from the lines.

Professor Alan Woodward, a security expert at the University of Surrey, highlighted the technical feasibility of espionage given the physical layout, The Telegraph reported. He described the demolition as a ‘red flag’ and noted, ‘If I were in their shoes, having those cables on my doorstep would be an enormous temptation.’

Additionally, the concealed chamber appears to be equipped with at least two hot-air extraction systems designed to ventilate heat-generating equipment. Experts reportedly inferred that this infrastructure suggests that the room is designed to accommodate high-powered technology such as advanced computers typically used for espionage and data processing. 

Beyond the single chamber near the cables, the unredacted plans also revealed a network of 208 secret rooms beneath the diplomatic site. The basement appears to allow for emergency backup generators, sprinkler systems, communications cabling and showers, suggesting that officials could remain underground for extended periods, potentially to operate or monitor equipment.

The construction plans have generally raised fears that the London complex could serve as a Beijing intelligence hub. According to U.K. outlet The Times, Britain has been pressured to reassure the United States and other intelligence partners that the cables do not transmit any sensitive government data.

Alicia Kearns, the shadow national security minister and prominent critic of the project, described the approval of the embassy as handing Beijing a strategic advantage against British interests.  

‘Giving China the go-ahead for its embassy site would be to gift them a launchpad for economic warfare at the very heart of the central nervous system of our critical financial national infrastructure,’ she said in a post on X.  

Iranian security forces escalated from pellet guns to live ammunition during protests, sharply increasing casualties, a doctor who treated wounded demonstrators told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

Speaking after fleeing the country, the doctor told CHRI the use of live fire increased the death toll days after protests erupted Dec. 28.

‘Law enforcement forces were firing pellet shotguns that scatter pellets. During those days, I received five or six calls per day about people who had been hit by two pellets in the back or pellets to the head or scalp,’ the doctor claimed.

The doctor said he noticed the situation shifted on Jan. 8, when authorities imposed internet blackouts and cut off communication nationwide.

‘From about 8:10 to 8:20 pm, the sound of bullets, gunfire, screams, and sporadic explosions could be heard. I was called to the hospital. When I arrived, I saw that the nature of the injuries and the number of gunshot wounds had changed completely,’ the doctor said of the days around the blackout.

‘The situation was totally different. Shots from close range, injuries leading to death.’

Human rights groups say thousands have been killed as security forces moved to suppress the demonstrations, with some estimates placing the death toll above 3,000, Fox News’ chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reported Tuesday.

The protests were fueled by anger over economic hardship, rising prices and inflation before expanding into broader anti-government demonstrations.

‘The calls I received on my home phone for medical advice were no longer about pellet wounds,’ the doctor said. ‘People were saying they had been shot, with bullets entering one side of the body and exiting the other. Live ammunition.’

Describing scenes in Isfahan, which is a major protest hub, the doctor said streets were stained with blood as security forces deployed heavier weapons.

‘A large amount of blood, about a liter, had pooled in the gutter and blood trails extended for several meters,’ the doctor claimed.

‘The level and intensity of violence increased step by step,’ he said before describing a change in aggression on Jan. 9.

‘On Friday night, I heard automatic gunfire. I am familiar with weapons and can distinguish their sounds. I heard DShK heavy machine guns. I heard PK machine guns.

‘These weapons are in the possession of IRGC units — DShKs, PK machine guns, and Kalashnikovs,’ the doctor said. ‘The trauma cases I saw were brutal, shoot-to-kill.’

Victims ranged from teenagers to elderly men, the doctor said. Some injuries were so severe that bodies were unrecognizable.

‘One colleague said that during a night shift, eight bodies were brought in with gunshot wounds to the face; their faces were unrecognizable. Many bodies are not identifiable at all,’ he added.

The account comes as President Donald Trump publicly voiced support for Iranian protesters. 

On Tuesday, Trump urged Iranians to ‘take over’ their institutions, saying he had canceled all meetings with Iranian officials until the crackdown ends.

A 23-year-old student was shot in the head at close range during protests in Iran, according to Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based group, as the regime continues its violent crackdown on nationwide demonstrations.

Rubina Aminian, a student of textile and fashion design at Shariati Technical and Vocational College for Girls in Tehran, was killed Jan. 8 after leaving college and joining the protests in the capital, according to Iran Human Rights.

She is among the few victims of the recent unrest whose identity has been publicly confirmed.

‘Sources close to Rubina’s family, citing eyewitnesses, told Iran Human Rights that the young Kurdish woman from Marivan was shot from close range from behind, with the bullet striking her head,’ the group said in a statement.

Following her death, Aminian’s family traveled from their home in Kermanshah, western Iran, to Tehran to identify her body.

According to sources cited by Iran Human Rights, the family was taken to a location near the college where they saw the bodies of hundreds of young people allegedly killed during the protests.

‘Most of the victims were young people between 18 and 22 years old, who had been shot at close range in the head and neck by government forces,’ a source close to the family said.

The family was reportedly initially barred from identifying Aminian’s body and later prevented from taking her remains, the group said.

After extensive efforts, relatives were eventually allowed to retrieve her body and return to Kermanshah.

When they got there, intelligence forces reportedly surrounded the family home and would not allow a burial to take place.

According to Iran Human Rights, the family was forced to bury Aminian’s body along the roadside between Kermanshah and the nearby city of Kamyaran.

The family has also not been permitted to hold mourning ceremonies, and several mosques in Marivan were reportedly disallowed from hosting memorial services.

Iran’s spiraling anti-government protests have been driven by widespread anger over political repression and economic hardship, including rising inflation.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency estimated Tuesday that over 16,700 people have been detained.

Other rights groups have reported extremely high death tolls, with some estimates exceeding 3,000, according to Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.

Iran Human Rights described Aminian in a statement as ‘a young woman full of joy for life and passionate about fashion and clothing design, whose dreams were buried by the violent repression of the Islamic Republic.’

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is facing backlash from the MAGA base after voting with Democrats and a small group of Republican senators to advance a war powers resolution related to Venezuela — marking a break with President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, the Senate is expected to hold a full vote on the resolution that would limit Trump’s ability to conduct future military operations against Venezuela without Congressional approval, teeing up a test for Hawley with MAGA and its base. 

The vote comes after Trump announced Jan. 3 that the U.S. military carried out a successful operation in Venezuela, capturing dictatorial president Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The couple is now being held in a New York City jail on sweeping narco-terrorism conspiracy and drug trafficking charges. 

The operation set off condemnation among Democrats who took issue with Trump ordering the mission and strike on Venezuela without prior congressional approval. 

Days later, on Jan. 8, the Senate advanced a bipartisan war powers resolution by a 52–47 vote that would require the president to seek congressional authorization before engaging U.S. armed forces in ‘hostilities within or against Venezuela.’ The procedural vote set up a full Senate vote slated for Wednesday. 

Hawley joined Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Todd Young, R-Ind., in voting with Democrats to require Trump obtain congressional approval prior to military action in Venezuela, sparking condemnation and surprise from the MAGA base on social media earlier in January. 

‘The Republicans who sided with Democrats today on the War Powers resolution are STUPID & WEAK,’ former campaign aide Alex Bruesewitz posted to X following the procedural vote. ‘It came as no surprise to see Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, or Todd Young vote against President Trump, they’ve all shown clear signs of Trump Derangement Syndrome in the past.’

Bruesewitz added that he was ‘surprised and disappointed’ by Hawley for aligning ‘himself with the anti-Trump faction and Democrats, particularly since he represents Missouri, one of the most staunchly pro-Trump states in the nation.’

‘Shameful,’ he added. 

Hawley previously defended his procedural vote by framing it as a constitutional issue rather than a rebuke of the administration. 

‘My read of the Constitution is that if the President feels the need to put boots on the ground there in the future, Congress would need to vote on it,’ Hawley posted to X explaining the vote. 

Fox News Digital spoke to a longtime Republican campaign operative working on midterm races, who said Hawley has broken with the administration over a handful of issues, and compared him to former Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who frequently take shots at the president and his policies and draw media attention.  

‘It seems like every other month he does something that’s opposed to the president and the party more broadly,’ the source said. 

Trump needs two of the five Republicans to switch their positions ahead of Wednesday’s vote. The president put the five senators on notice following the procedural vote, warning on social media that they ‘should never be elected to office again.’

‘This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief,’ he wrote earlier in January. ‘In any event, and despite their ‘stupidity,’ the War Powers Act is Unconstitutional, totally violating Article II of the Constitution, as all Presidents, and their Departments of Justice, have determined before me.’

MAGA allies echoed Trump’s Truth Social message in their own posts, describing Hawley as a ‘RINO’ whose political career is allegedly teetering over the vote. 

‘President Trump ERUPTS on the Republican senators who just voted to approve the War Powers resolution that would rein in his Venezuela operations, says NEVER ELECT THEM AGAIN,’ Eric Daughtery posted to X Jan. 8. 

‘Remember this in November. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again! We are sick of compromised GOP dirtbags going against our President,’ another MAGA-aligned social media account, Farm Girl Carrie, posted. 

Hawley told Fox News Tuesday, when asked how he plans to vote, that he’s spoken with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and DOJ officials about his top concern of having American troops on the ground. 

He said they ‘assured me there are no ground troops in Venezuela’ and that there ‘are not going to be ground troops in Venezuela.’ 

‘My big concern has been ground troops in Venezuela and, making sure that if there’s going to be ground troops in Venezuela, (which) I would hope we would not do, that Congress authorizes that. But I will tell you, I’ve talked to the president. I talked to the secretary of state. I talked to the Department of Justice here in the last few days and have had tremendous conversations in the Secretary of State, who I just talked to recently, assured me there are no ground troops in Venezuela. There are not going to be ground troops in Venezuela,’ he said. ‘The administration will notify Congress, will seek congressional approval where necessary.’ 

Hawley has drawn Trump’s ire before, including during a fight over Hawley’s stock-trading ban proposal in July. Trump, who previously said he liked the idea ‘conceptually,’ accused Hawley of siding with Democrats to block a GOP-backed effort tied to reviewing Nancy Pelosi’s stock trading.

‘Why would one ‘Republican,’ Senator Josh Hawley from the Great State of Missouri, join with all of the Democrats to block a Review, sponsored by Senator Rick Scott, and with the support of almost all other Republicans, of Nancy Pelosi’s Stock Trading over the last 25 years. The information was inappropriately released just minutes before the Vote — Very much like SABOTAGE!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Hawley has also broken with the administration on domestic policy, repeatedly criticizing Medicaid reforms included in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ back in 2025, even as he ultimately voted in favor of the sweeping package when it came to the Senate floor.

The Republican campaign operative said it is unclear why Hawley has broken with the administration on certain policies, speculating he might have 2028 aspirations.

‘The polling I’ve seen shows that Republicans are in favor of the president’s actions in Venezuela,’ the sourced added. ‘He would be out of step with our voters. I don’t think it’d bode well for him. I think this was one of the most unifying moments on the right, when the president successfully arrested Maduro and took him out the country. Him siding with the Democrats is bizarre.’ 

‘How has that worked out for Rand Paul or Massie,’ the operative said, referring to Kentucky lawmakers’ ongoing policy spats with the president and administration.