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US Lawmaker Rashida Tlaib Condemns Cartoon Showing Her with Exploding Pager

US Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, protests during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a joint meeting of Congress at the US Capitol on July 24, 2024, in Washington, DC. (AFP)
US Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, protests during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a joint meeting of Congress at the US Capitol on July 24, 2024, in Washington, DC. (AFP)
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US Lawmaker Rashida Tlaib Condemns Cartoon Showing Her with Exploding Pager

US Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, protests during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a joint meeting of Congress at the US Capitol on July 24, 2024, in Washington, DC. (AFP)
US Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, protests during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a joint meeting of Congress at the US Capitol on July 24, 2024, in Washington, DC. (AFP)

Palestinian American US lawmaker Rashida Tlaib on Friday condemned as racist a cartoon published in the conservative magazine National Review showing her with an exploding pager - a reference to an attack this week against members of the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"Our community is already in so much pain right now. This racism will incite more hate + violence against our Arab & Muslim communities, and it makes everyone less safe. It's disgraceful that the media continues to normalize this racism," Tlaib wrote on the social media platform X.

Tlaib, a Democrat who represents a district from Michigan in the US House of Representatives, is the lone Palestinian American lawmaker in the US Congress.

The Muslim American advocacy group Emgage Action, Democratic US House members Cory Bush and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, some local officials in Michigan and human rights groups also criticized the cartoon.

National Review did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The cartoon, published on Thursday, showed a woman sitting next to an exploding pager. The woman's desk in the cartoon had a name card saying "Rep. Tlaib" while the woman herself is shown saying: "ODD. MY PAGER JUST EXPLODED."

The cartoon was created by Henry Payne, a Detroit News auto critic. Payne's X account titled the cartoon as "Tlaib Pager Hamas." The Detroit News said it was not involved in its creation and distribution, and chose not to run it.

Thousands of pagers used by members of Hezbollah in Lebanon exploded on Tuesday. That was followed a day later by the explosion of hand-held radios in Lebanon, with dozens killed and thousands wounded in the incidents.

Security sources have said Israel was responsible. Israel did not take responsibility.

Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave, and created a humanitarian crisis. Israel's assault followed an attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people and in which about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Tlaib has been a fierce critic of Israel's actions in the war and American support for the longtime US ally.

Human rights advocates have cited rising dehumanization of Arabs, Muslims and Jews amid the war.

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World

Macron to Meet Zelenskiy, Starmer and Merz in London on Monday

A heavily damaged train station building is pictured in the town of Fastiv, Kyiv region, after an air attack, on December 6, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Serhii Okunev / AFP)
A heavily damaged train station building is pictured in the town of Fastiv, Kyiv region, after an air attack, on December 6, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Serhii Okunev / AFP)
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Macron to Meet Zelenskiy, Starmer and Merz in London on Monday

A heavily damaged train station building is pictured in the town of Fastiv, Kyiv region, after an air attack, on December 6, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Serhii Okunev / AFP)
A heavily damaged train station building is pictured in the town of Fastiv, Kyiv region, after an air attack, on December 6, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Serhii Okunev / AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would travel to London on Monday to meet Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy as well as the British and German leaders, to discuss the situation in Ukraine and ongoing negotiations under US mediation.

"Ukraine can count on our unwavering support. That is the whole point of the efforts we have undertaken as part of the Coalition of the Willing," Macron said on X.

"We will continue these efforts alongside the Americans to provide Ukraine with security guarantees, without which there can be no robust and lasting peace.

For what is at stake in Ukraine is also the security of Europe as a whole," he added. Macron also condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the strikes that targeted Ukraine last night, in particular its energy and rail infrastructure.

"Russia is locked into an escalatory approach and is not seeking peace ... We must continue to put pressure on Russia to force it to make peace," he added, according to Reuters.

Widespread military activities overnight affected Ukraine's electricity grid and prompted operating nuclear power plants to reduce output, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Saturday.

Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power overnight, the IAEA said, citing its Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

World

Protesters Arrested after Smearing Custard and Crumble on Crown Jewels Case at Tower of London

Members of an organization called Take Back Power hold a sign as they stand after they threw food at a display case containing the Imperial State Crown, at Tower of London, in London, Britain, December 6, 2025. TAKE BACK POWER/Handout via REUTERS
Members of an organization called Take Back Power hold a sign as they stand after they threw food at a display case containing the Imperial State Crown, at Tower of London, in London, Britain, December 6, 2025. TAKE BACK POWER/Handout via REUTERS
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Protesters Arrested after Smearing Custard and Crumble on Crown Jewels Case at Tower of London

Members of an organization called Take Back Power hold a sign as they stand after they threw food at a display case containing the Imperial State Crown, at Tower of London, in London, Britain, December 6, 2025. TAKE BACK POWER/Handout via REUTERS
Members of an organization called Take Back Power hold a sign as they stand after they threw food at a display case containing the Imperial State Crown, at Tower of London, in London, Britain, December 6, 2025. TAKE BACK POWER/Handout via REUTERS

Four protesters were arrested Saturday after splattering food on the display case of a priceless diamond-encrusted crown at the Tower of London.

The Crown Jewels display was temporarily closed after members of a group called Take Back Power smeared apple crumble and poured yellow custard — two staples on British dessert menus — on the case containing the Imperial State Crown worn by King Charles III as he left his coronation ceremony in 2023 and during his speech to open Parliament in 2024.

The hefty crown, containing 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, four rubies and 269 pearls, was crafted for the coronation of Charles' grandfather, George VI, in 1937.

Police said the protesters were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. But the invaluable jewels that are a major tourist draw were unharmed, The Associated Press quoted Historic Royal Palaces as saying.

The civil disobedience group that advocates for a permanent citizens' assembly and wants to tax extreme wealth said two of its members had thrown the food and two others were also arrested and taken into “custard-y.”

The stunt is one of many that has targeted prized treasures and artworks to draw attention to a political cause. Petroleum protesters were imprisoned last year for tossing a can of tomato soup on glass protecting Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery.

Video of the act at the Tower of London, once a royal palace also known as the prison where Anne Boleyn, Thomas More and others were executed, showed two protesters attacking the case as other visitors stepped back in shock.

After an employee intervened and radioed for help, the two demonstrators unfurled a sign saying, “Democracy has crumbled. Tax the rich.”

World

Russia Unleashes Massive Drone and Missile Attack on Ukraine

An owner of a small private shop is seen through the broken window waiting for customers after Russia's night missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
An owner of a small private shop is seen through the broken window waiting for customers after Russia's night missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
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Russia Unleashes Massive Drone and Missile Attack on Ukraine

An owner of a small private shop is seen through the broken window waiting for customers after Russia's night missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
An owner of a small private shop is seen through the broken window waiting for customers after Russia's night missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Russia unleashed a major missile and drone barrage on Ukraine overnight into Saturday, after US and Ukrainian officials said they’ll meet on Saturday for a third day of talks aimed at ending the nearly 4-year-old war.

Following talks that made progress on a security framework for postwar Ukraine, the two sides also offered the sober assessment that any “real progress toward any agreement” ultimately will depend “on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace.”

The statement from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov came after they met for a second day in Florida on Friday.

They offered only broad brushstrokes about the progress they say has been made as Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a US-mediated proposal to end the war.

Russia used 653 drones and 51 missiles in the wide-reaching overnight attack on Ukraine, which triggered air raid alerts across the country and came as Ukraine marked Armed Forces Day, the country’s air force said Saturday morning.

Ukrainian forces shot down and neutralized 585 drones and 30 missiles, the air force said, adding that 29 locations were struck, The Associated Press reported.

At least eight people were wounded in the attacks, Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said.

Among these, at least three people were wounded in the Kyiv region, according to local officials. Drone sightings were reported as far west as Ukraine’s Lviv region.

Russia carried out a “massive missile-drone attack” on power stations and other energy infrastructure in several Ukrainian regions, Ukraine’s national energy operator, Ukrenergo, wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power overnight, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Saturday, citing its Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

The plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shut-down reactors and spent fuel, to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that energy facilities were the main targets of the attacks, also noting that a drone strike had “burned down” the train station in the city of Fastiv, located in the Kyiv region.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its air defenses had shot down 116 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight into Saturday.

Russian Telegram news channel Astra said Ukraine struck Russia’s Ryazan Oil Refinery, sharing footage appearing to show a fire breaking out and plumes of smoke rising above the refinery. The Associated Press could not independently verify the video.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces later said Ukrainian forces had struck the refinery. Ryazan regional Gov. Pavel Malkov said a residential building had been damaged in a drone attack and that drone debris had fallen on the grounds of an “industrial facility,” but did not mention the refinery.

Months of Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries have aimed to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue the war.

Meanwhile, Kyiv and its western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold.

The latest round of attacks came as US President Donald Trump’s advisers and Ukrainian officials said they’ll meet for a third day of talks on Saturday, after making progress on finding agreement on a security framework for postwar Ukraine.

Following Friday’s talks, the two sides also offered the sober assessment that any “real progress toward any agreement” ultimately will depend “on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace.”

The statement from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov came after they met for a second day in Florida on Friday. They offered only broad brushstrokes about the progress they say has been made as Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a US-mediated proposal to end nearly four years of war.