International
Bomb That Killed Top Hamas Leader In Iran Was Planted Months In Advance By Assassins, Officials Say

From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By JAKE SMITH
The bomb that killed top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was planted in his guesthouse in Iran two months in advance, according to several reports.
Haniyeh was assassinated after attending the inauguration of the new Iranian president in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday. Initially thought to be an airstrike, Haniyeh was actually killed in an explosion set off by a bomb that had been planted by assassins two months earlier in a Tehran guesthouse where he had been residing, according to five Middle Eastern officials who spoke to The New York Times.
The bomb was detonated remotely once Haniyeh reached his room in the guesthouse, according to the Times. Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Axios that Mossad, Israel’s top intelligence agency, planted and detonated the bomb.
Israel has not taken credit for Haniyeh’s assassination, nor has the U.S. publicly identified who it believes was behind the operation. Israel has taken responsibility for some of its military actions in the past — such as the strike against a high-level Hezbollah operative in Lebanon on Monday — but Mossad’s operations have often been shrouded in mystery and met with silence from the Israeli government.
It is unclear how the assassins were able to plant the bomb to begin with, according to the Times. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Iran’s military, was tasked with running and providing security for the guesthouse, which is located in an upper-class neighborhood of Tehran.
The assassins managed to bypass IRGC security and plant the bomb in a hidden location, according to the Times. That IRGC officials failed to catch the assassin or detect the bomb in the months that it was hidden represents a massive security and intelligence failure, as well as a stain on the IRGC’s reputation, two Iranian officials told the Times.
When the bomb exploded around 2 a.m. local time, the guesthouse shook and partially collapsed, according to the Times. Officials and medical personnel scrambled to Haniyeh’s room to find that he had died immediately, as did his bodyguard, who was also in the room at the time.
Haniyeh’s death is a major blow to Hamas, given his high-level status as the terrorist organization’s political leader. Iran and Hamas declared Israel was responsible immediately following the news of Haniyeh’s death and have vowed revenge; Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reportedly gave the order to strike directly inside of Israel out of retaliation, although the scale or timing of such a strike is unknown, according to the Times.
International
Poland’s president signs new zero income tax law for parents with two children

From LifeSiteNews
Polish president Karol Nawrocki presented the new law as a way to help families financially and encourage a higher birth rate.
Poland’s president has signed into law the cancellation of personal income tax for parents who are raising two or more children, in an effort to support and encourage families and boost the economy.
The newly enacted bill removes the income tax obligation for families earning up to 140,000 zloty (€32,973, or $38,486) a year. The average Polish family is expected to keep in pocket an extra 1,000 zloty (€235 or $274) per month as a result of the tax break.
Polish president Karol Nawrocki, who was sworn into office in August, presented the bill before it was approved by Parliament as a means to financially help families as well as encourage a sustainable birth rate in a country suffering, like most others, from birth rate decline.
“Financial resources must be found for Polish families,” said Nawrocki while presenting the bill. He highlighted the fact that Poland is suffering from a birth rate crisis. Last year, the number of births in Poland fell to a new low. Poland’s birth rate is one of the lowest in the world, at 1.1 by 2024, far below replacement rate. Only eight countries have a birth rate lower than Poland’s according to the Population Reference Bureau.
Public consultations about the law before its passage found that the tax break is very popular among Poles. About 76 percent of respondents said the law was “definitely needed,” and only 16 percent were strongly opposed to the bill, EuroNews reported.
Demography experts such as data analyst Stephen Shaw, the creator of the documentary “Birthgap,” are skeptical about whether economic incentives can reverse the trend of population decline. He has noted that even the Roman Empire, in its later stages, enacted policies aimed at increasing birth rates, including taxing the childless.
According to Shaw, “No society in history has been known to come out of” the “spiral” of population decline.
In his film “Birthgap,” he has documented how declining birth rates in the U.S. and around the world are being driven by an “explosion” in childlessness as opposed to smaller family sizes.
International
Australian territory bans men from women’s prisons in national first

From LifeSiteNews
Australia’s Northern Territory has become the first in the country to ban men claiming to be women from female prisons, after a woman was reportedly sexual assaulted by a man while incarcerated.
Australia’s Northern Territory has banned gender-confused men from women’s prisons, after women were assaulted by men while being incarcerated.
On October 13, Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro announced new policies to keep men claiming to be women out of female prisons, becoming the first territory in Australia to protect women from predatory males in jails.
“There should be no men in women’s prisons, full stop,” Finocchiaro told The Australian. “I can tell you now, here in the Northern Territory there are no blokes in women’s jails and we’re not having that here, not on my watch.”
“If you’re born a bloke, you go into a men’s prison. At the end of the day, this is really about women’s safety. It’s about women’s dignity,” she continued.
The announcement came just a few days after a female inmate revealed that she was sexually assaulted by a man pretending to be a woman while being incarcerated at an Australian prison.
Finocchiaro condemned Australia’s current polices for failing to protect women, saying, “women need to be protected, both in and outside of jail. This is not rocket science, and some people have forgotten why they’re there, and some people have made life far more complicated than it needs to be.”
“This is about people’s fundamental right to be safe. And it doesn’t need to be more complicated than that,” she continued, condemning the Labour government’s decision to prioritize “woke” ideology over women’s safety.
“It’s just absurd to think that people would be putting men equipped with male genitalia in women’s prisons,” Finocchiaro declared.
Additionally, in September, a convicted male child pedophile was placed in a female prison after claiming he was “transgender.” These two cases sparked outrage across the country as advocates called for further protections for women.
Following these two cases, the Women’s Forum Australia appealed to state premiers and territory leaders as well as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to protect female inmates from dangerous men pretending to be female.
Women’s Forum Australia CEO Rachael Wong celebrated Finocchiaro’s new policy in a post on X, writing, “NT Chief Minister @LiaFinocchiaro showing the rest of Australia’s leaders how it’s done!”
Wong condemned Australia mainstream prison policy for perpetuating “a national pattern of state-sanctioned injustice and abuse, whereby male offenders are being permitted to enter women’s prisons under the guise of gender identity.”
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Poland’s president signs new zero income tax law for parents with two children