By Tal Shalev, Dana Karni, CNN

Jerusalem (CNN) — Former Israeli hostage Romi Gonen said she endured repeated sexual assault, harassment and intimidation during her 471 days of Hamas captivity, speaking publicly for the first time about her experience and her fear of becoming a “sex slave” in Gaza.

Gonen, now 25, was kidnapped at age 23 from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, and released as part of the January 2025 hostage deal. In a two-part interview broadcast this week on Israel’s Channel 12 program Uvda, she recounted several incidents of sexual harassment and assault by three different men.

“Only when you’re in this situation can you grasp what happens to the body. And fear – it sometimes paralyzes,” Gonen said, describing what she called the “worst” assault. According to her account, one captor ordered her into a bathroom, followed her inside and assaulted her. “There was this one moment in the bathroom, I was crying like crazy,” she said, “and he was having the time of his life, ecstatic, as if he had received the gift of a lifetime.”

Looking through a small window, she said, she was struck by “The dissonance between the beautiful, ordinary clean life outside – and the filth, beastliness, and disgust happening inside the bathroom.” In the aftermath of the assault, she recalled thinking: “Romi, everyone in Israel thinks you’re dead, and you’re going to be his sex slave for life… Then he comes up to me, puts a gun to my head, and tells me, ‘If you tell anyone, I am going to kill you.’”

Gonen, who suffered a gunshot wound to her arm during the October 7 attack, said she spent the first 34 days of captivity alone, moving between houses and captors. “I had to be alone with it, and it’s not easy, I kept telling myself, ‘You’re strong.’ But no, I’m not strong, and no, you can’t heal from such a thing, you can’t,” she said, in tears.

She described the first assault occurring within days of her abduction, when a supposed medic followed her into the shower under the pretext of treating her wound. “He was a ‘nurse’ so he allowed himself to ‘help me.’ I was wounded, powerless, and couldn’t do anything. He took everything from me,” she said. “And I had to continue living with him in that house afterward.”

Gonen referred to her “worst 16 days of captivity,” during which two captors, identified as Ibrahim and Muhammed, repeatedly harassed her.

“I’m sitting on the bed. Ibrahim comes and sits next to me and harasses me. Everything is in complete silence. I start crying insanely, and he says, ‘Be careful. If you don’t calm down, I’ll get angry,” she said. “And that’s how the days go by: I go to the bathroom and Mohammed follows me. I sit on the toilet pulling down my pants with one hand, so he won’t see anything. Ibrahim keeps bothering me endlessly, touching my leg and thigh. I kick them off.”

‘Promise me that you’ll keep quiet’

At one point, Gonen said, senior Hamas commanders learned she was shaken by one of the assaults, they led her through tunnels to make a phone call. “I picked up the phone, and he said ‘Hello.’ He spoke Hebrew. He asked me to tell him everything that happened,” she said, recalling his proposal for “some kind of deal. ‘I will put you at the top of the release list, and in return, you will promise me that you will keep quiet.” She identified the man’s voice as belonging to Izz a Din al-Haddad, then head of the Hamas Gaza Brigade, and now the group’s Gaza leader, whom she said she also met in person during her captivity.

“They often silenced my story and told

By John Towfighi, CNN

(CNN) — US stocks had a stellar 2025, but global markets stole the show.

A major index tracking stocks outside the US, the MSCI All Country World ex-USA, gained 29.2% in 2025, handily outpacing the S&P 500’s gain of 16.39%.

The artificial intelligence boom has benefited markets in Asia, where tech companies and chipmakers have seen surges in demand. In Europe, markets received a boost from plans for government spending on defense and improved prospects for economic growth.

A weaker US dollar also provided a tailwind for international stocks. When the dollar weakens and other currencies strengthen, investments denominated in those currencies become more valuable when converted back into dollars.

The US dollar index, which measures the dollar’s strength against six major currencies, fell by roughly 9.4% in 2025, its worst year since 2017.

Heading into 2025, US stock valuations were already relatively expensive compared to the rest of the world, creating an incentive for investors to look for returns in different markets.

“A lot of things went right for international stocks in 2025,” Michael Reynolds, vice president of investment strategy at Glenmede, told CNN.

“After a couple years of lackluster fundamentals, foreign equities put together a strong year of earnings growth,” Reynolds said. “This was highlighted by fiscal stimulus in Europe and AI-related growth in Asia.”

Global AI boom

Markets in Asia have been riding the wave of AI enthusiasm.

Tech companies and chipmakers in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China all benefited last year from investor interest in AI.

South Korea’s Kospi index soared almost 76% in 2025 and posted its best year since 1999. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 26%, lifted by gains in tech companies and chipmakers.

In Japan, shares of memory chip maker Kioxia surged 536%. And in South Korea, shares of tech giant Samsung surged almost 130%.

“The AI trade has broadened materially over the past year,” said Arun Sai, senior multi-asset strategist at Pictet Asset Management. “That optimism has increasingly been priced in beyond the US, extending globally, particularly into markets such as Korea and Japan.”

In Taiwan, shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) gained 46.54% last year and hit record highs. Meanwhile, shares of China-based Alibaba (BABA) soared 75.81% as the company embraced AI and launched its own chatbot.

Growth and defense

Stocks in Europe rallied in early 2025 as the German government enacted historic reforms to boost spending on defense. European defense stocks rallied last year, with German manufacturer Rheinmetall gaining 154%.

Meanw

By Nicquel Terry Ellis, CNN

(CNN) — At Fardowsa Ali’s restaurant in Minneapolis, she said the usual steady flow of diners seeking Somali sambusas or desserts has been replaced with threatening phone calls.

“It’s really sad,” said Ali, who opened Albi Kitchen last summer. “I called police because one guy called here and said he was going to come here and break everything.”

The threats and declining business began after conservative content creator Nick Shirley posted a video accusing day care centers in Minneapolis’ Somali community of fraud – including one in the same building as her cafe, Ali said.

Since the video was posted, Ali and other business owners and families in the state’s deeply rooted Somali community have said they were threatened, harassed and bullied on social media. A day care facility was vandalized and parents are afraid to send their children to school. Somali restaurants and coffee shops that once bustled with patrons were nearly empty last week and people are scared to show up to their jobs.

The backlash from Shirley’s video has exacerbated the anxiety residents of Somali descent in Minnesota were already feeling after President Donald Trump called the community “garbage” and sent immigration enforcement agents to the state in December, making the Twin Cities the latest target of his deportation push, which was previously seen in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and New Orleans.

“This climate of fear is disrupting livelihoods, separating families, and undermining the sense of safety and belonging for an entire community,” Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Minnesota chapter, said of how the nation’s largest Somali diaspora has felt in recent weeks.

Day care centers disrupted by scandal

Some day care providers say Shirley’s video has disrupted daily life for them as they care for children— some of whom come from working class families who heavily rely on child care. They are now fielding an influx of phone calls, threats and media attention while trying to calm fearful parents and children.

Phone calls to day care owner and consultant Kassim Busuri’s facility near Minneapolis have skyrocketed with people asking questions about enrollment, hours of operation and availability, he said.

The callers, he said, don’t seem like genuinely interested parents and are a distraction from the work his team needs to be doing. CNN is not naming Busuri’s day care facility because he is afraid his center could be targeted.

“It’s just random calls, extra things that we don’t need to focus on,” Busuri said. “We need to focus on our children that we care for.”

The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families said Friday its investigators Read more

By Eric Bradner, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s allies in the Republican Party and his Make America Great Again movement — even some who previously warned against wading into new foreign conflicts — largely rallied behind his actions in Venezuela on Saturday, hours after the capture of President Nicolás Maduro in a large-scale military operation.

Trump faced criticism from some conservatives who worried he was straying from his “America First” pledges, as well as from Democrats who questioned the legality of his move and his long-term strategy. But most Republicans, including leaders on Capitol Hill, hawkish figures who have sometimes criticized Trump’s foreign policy positions, conservatives in South Florida, and influencers within his political movement, backed the president on Saturday.

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina praised Trump’s action, writing on social media: “We will be more prosperous and safer for it. I am hoping and praying that the Venezuelan people will soon have a fresh start on democracy and freedom.”

But he cautioned that the United States should turn over control of Venezuela quickly.

“The President is correct to counsel patience. We have to get this right. But the sooner Venezuela is put back in the hands of the Venezuelan people, the better,” Graham said.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican who has long opposed US military intervention, wrote on social media that “few Venezuelans, or Americans for that matter, will or should mourn the removal of Nicolas Maduro from power.”

Paul, who has co-sponsored a bipartisan measure that would block Trump from taking further military action in Venezuela, did not overtly criticize Trump’s actions but stressed the importance of limits to the president’s powers in such cases.

“Time will tell if regime change in Venezuela is successful without significant monetary or human cost. Best though, not to forget, that our founders limited the executive’s power to go to war without Congressional authorization for a reason — to limit the horror of war and limit war to acts of defense,” he said.

Those questions about what happens next mean the broader political consequences are far from clear, as Trump’s claim that the United States will “run” Venezuela during a transitional period raised the prospect of long-lasting and far-reaching US military actions in Latin America. Trump doubled down on that perception when he described Cuba as “very similar” and “something we’ll end up talking about,” and told reporters that Colombia’s president needs to “watch his ass.”

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah initially sounded critical of Trump’s actions in Venezuela, writing just after 3 a.m. ET Saturday that he looked forward “to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.”

However, he later wrote that he’d been briefed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and said: “This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or

Por Anabella González y Alessandra Freitas, CNN en Español

Terrible y desesperante. Así define las últimas horas en Caracas Jenny Salazar, una venezolana que, como tantos otros, salió a las calles a comprar mercadería por temor a lo que pueda suceder en las próximas horas. Tiene esperanzas de que su país mejore después de la captura de Nicolás Maduro, pero no le agrada la idea de que el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, tome decisiones sobre Venezuela.

“No estoy de acuerdo con que otro presidente, ajeno a Venezuela, tome el control de nosotros los venezolanos”, dice con firmeza a CNN.

Horas antes, Trump dijo en conferencia de prensa que gobernará Venezuela “hasta que pueda haber una transición” y que no cree que la líder opositora María Corina Machado tenga el apoyo necesario para gobernar el país. En cambio, se mostró abierto a trabajar con la vicepresidenta ejecutiva Delcy Rodríguez, quien según la Constitución de Venezuela debería asumir el poder en lugar de Maduro.

“Entiendo que esa es la ley al ser la vicepresidenta, pero ella forma parte del régimen. Así que me resulta muy extraño escuchar que sea ella quien asuma el poder”, dice una ciudadana venezolana que pide preservar su identidad por temor a represalias.

La sonrisa del rostro de otra joven venezolana se desdibuja rápidamente cuando CNN le pregunta qué piensa sobre las declaraciones del presidente de Estados Unidos y su intención de tomar acciones dentro de Venezuela. “Me reservo los comentarios. No quisiera opinar al respecto”, dice y también pide permanecer en el anonimato. Cuenta que salió a buscar comida poco después de conocer la noticia, preocupada por una situación inestable que teme podría agravarse, ya que Trump no descartó nuevas acciones militares en el país.

Como ella, muchos residentes de Caracas se dirigieron este sábado a las tiendas para abastecerse de alimentos y suministros ante lo que se vislumbra como un futuro incierto. Videos obtenidos por CNN también mostraban calles mayormente vacías y tranquilas, mientras la gente se concentraba en largas filas de espera para ingresar a distintos comercios y farmacias.

“Mientras salga este gobierno, todo bien. Confiamos en Dios, primero que todo”, dice otro hombre que circula en motocicleta y frena por unos minutos para dar su testimonio. Parece dispuesto a aceptar que Estados Unidos intervenga en las decisiones de Venezuela, aunque no está convencido.

“Pasó lo que mucha gente quería que pasara, pero es una cuestión ambigua, ¿cómo es que (Donald Trump) va a tener control? ¿qué tipo de control va a tener? ¿Dónde está la gente que va a controlar eso? (…) No sé. Creo que todos estamos a la expectativa de cuál es la verdad”, afirma Teo Tilin, que vive en Miami y viajó a Venezuela para visitar a su madre.

Él tenía previsto regresar la semana próxima, pero con la cancelación de vuelos su regreso es ahora incierto. “La agencia de viajes me dijo que no habían vuelos, esa es otra incógnita. No se sabe nada”, dice.

La Administración Federal de Aviación de Estados Unidos (FAA, por sus siglas en inglés) prohibió en horas de la madrugada del sábado los vuelos comerciales estadounidenses en el espacio aéreo venezolano debido a la “actividad militar en curso”. La situación en las fronteras por tierra con Brasil, Guyana y Colombia está siendo monitoreada por esos países.