Quote:The Supreme Court issued an emergency order on Friday night, temporarily blocking full payments of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.
Why It Matters
The fate of SNAP has become a critical and ongoing flashpoint in the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, with nearly 42 million Americans depending on the assistance to eat, some of whom already faced interruptions in food assistance due to the program's funding being in limbo.
What To Know
According to the Associated Press, the High Court granted the Trump Administration's request to appeal a previous ruling that would require SNAP to be fully funded amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.
The order written by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson says in part, "The applicants assert that, without intervention from this
Court, they will have to 'transfer an estimated $4 billion by tonight' to fund SNAP benefits through November."
"Given the First Circuit’s representations, an administrative stay is required to facilitate the First Circuit’s expeditious resolution of the pending stay motion," Justice Jackson wrote. The order now blocks a previous ruling by a Rhode Island judge that required the payments to be paid out by Friday night, NBC News notes.
What People Are Saying
New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul on X earlier on Friday before the Supreme Court order: "I've just directed state agencies to fully fund federal SNAP benefits for November. President Trump's actions have been senseless and un-American. I'll never stop fighting for New York's families."
California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom on X on Friday before the order: "Donald Trump is now going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to take SNAP food benefits away from Americans in need. California won't back down in court from supporting the tens of millions of Americans the Trump Administration seemingly wants to starve."
Trump on Truth Social on Tuesday: "SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office (Due to the fact that they were haphazardly 'handed' to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!), will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT"
Quote:A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Trump administration’s attempt to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, was unconstitutional.
On Sunday, US District Court Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, temporarily extended an order blocking the administration from deploying troops to The Rose City, saying the government failed to justify the move.
In the Sunday evening order, Immergut temporarily blocked “Defendant Secretary of Defense [Pete] Hegseth from implementing” memorandums that authorized the federalization and deployment of National Guard members from Oregon, Texas and California into Portland.
The injunction remained in effect until Friday.
Friday’s 106-page ruling makes the order permanent.
It followed a three-day trial over whether protests at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland warranted use of the military domestically under federal law.
The administration said the troops were needed to protect federal personnel and property.
Immergut said in the ruling the “evidence demonstrates that these deployments, which were objected to by Oregon’s governor and not requested by the federal officials in charge of protection of the ICE building, exceeded the President’s authority” because he wasn’t able to demonstrate there was a rebellion or threat of rebellion that couldn’t be enforced without the military.
The judge added that “even giving great deference to the President’s determination, the President did not have a lawful basis to federalize the National Guard.”
Immergut called the order unconstitutional, saying that it violated the 10th Amendment, “which ‘reserves to the States’ any powers not expressly delegated to the federal government in the Constitution.”
The city of Portland and state of Oregon had sued the administration over the deployment in September after Hegseth sent 200 troops to the city.
The administration can appeal the decision.
The administration also faces a temporary injunction in Chicago, where a judge has barred the administration from deploying troops.
Quote:Former President Joe Biden, wearing a seemingly fresh bandage on his head, told Nebraska Democrats Friday that his late son should have been elected commander-in-chief in 2020, not himself, in a speech ripping President Trump.
The ex-president invoked the 2015 death of his eldest son, Beau Biden, from brain cancer to attack Trump, who he accused of “cutting government funding for cancer research” after his administration made it a “priority.”
“Folks, I know what cancer research means,” Biden said in a speech at the Nebraska Democratic Party’s Ben Nelson Gala. “Cancer hits every family. It’s hit my family hard.”
“When the love of my life, my oldest son, the attorney general of the state of Delaware – who should’ve been the president, not me – volunteered to go to Iraq for a year, didn’t have to, he came back with stage four glioblastoma because he lived in a burn pit just like those guys did on 9/11, and he died,” the 46th president said quietly.
Biden, who was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer earlier this year, then referenced his own battle with the disease.
“But when you get that research, research, they’re, they’re doing, when they diagnose it – in my case, I just had prostate cancer – so, and, I, uh, when you finish that round of treatment, you get to ring that bell at the end of each treatment,” he said. “Well, thank God for the doctors and nurses and incredible breakthroughs we’re making in cancer research.”
“Now, Trump and his Republican friends are cutting government funding for health care, making it more expensive.”
Biden, who turns 83 on Nov. 20, appeared at the event wearing a seemingly new bandage on the top-left portion of his head. The reason for the new bandage is unclear.
In August, Biden underwent Mohs surgery, a procedure used to treat skin cancer, and appeared in public with a large bandage – and then a healing gash – on a different part of his head.
“Why in God’s name are they doing this?” Biden shouted as he continued to rail against the Trump administration budget cuts, arguing that the reason for them is to cut taxes for the “wealthiest people in America.”
Quote:An NYPD exodus is already underway, with a surge of officers quitting in the month leading up to anti-cop socialist Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral win — and more might go if Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch exits, according to data and department sources.
The NYPD saw a 35% hike in cops of all ranks leaving in October – 245 police officers compared to 181 in the same month last year, according to Police Pension Fund data.
“Morale is down because everyone is concerned about the policies Mamdani wants to put in place,” said Detectives Endowment Association President Scott Munro.
“You have a person who is supposed to be running New York City that does not believe in law enforcement,” said Munro, a police officer for more than three decades. “What’s coming out of everyone’s mouth is, ‘We’re in trouble.'”
Whether more cops leave in the coming months will depend on the “Tisch factor,” a police union source said.
“If she leaves it may result in an uptick,” the source said. “If she stays, maybe not.”
The Police Benevolent Association, which will have to negotiate a new contract with Mamdani, bemoaned that the number of cops leaving could get worse.
“Every single month, we’re losing enough cops to staff an entire precinct,” PBA President Patrick Hendry said.
“It will certainly get worse if our city leaders don’t work with us to fix our unsustainable workload, our expired contract and the constant second-guessing that is driving good cops away from the job.”
Quote:Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband made at least $130 million in stock profits over the course of the California Democrat’s 37 years in Congress — a staggering return of 16,930%.
Pelosi, 85, announced this week she will retire when her term ends in January 2027.
The San Francisco pol became famous as the first woman to wield the speaker’s gavel, and infamous for her exceptional stock market returns.
Before first taking Congressional office in 1987, the then-47-year-old freshman and her hubby, venture capitalist Paul Pelosi, reported between $610,000 and $785,000 in stocks in their portfolio, according to a copy of her “hand delivered” 1987 financial disclosure form.
They held a dozen stocks, including CitiBank, and in many companies no longer publicly traded.
That portfolio has soared to $133.7 million today, according to the latest estimates from Quiver Quantitative.
That represents an eye-watering profit of 16,930% — compared to 2,300% for the Dow Jones over those years.
Even with the power of compound interest, the windfall represents a staggering 14.5% average annual return — beating out the S&P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones performances over those years, around 7% to 9%.
Last year, their investment portfolio pulled in an estimated 54% return, more than double the S&P 500’s 25% gain — and beating every large hedge fund, according to numbers in Bloomberg’s end-of-year tally.
Pelosi’s 2024 financial disclosure form shows holdings in some two dozen individual stocks, including millions in each of NVIDIA, Palo Alto Network, Salesforce, Netflix – and between $25 and $50 million of Apple stocks – their largest holding.
The Pelosis are worth an estimated $280 million today – compared to around $3 million when the Golden State lawmaker joined Congress.
They also have stakes in various other ventures, including a Napa Valley winery worth between $5 and 25 million, a Bay area Italian restaurant, commercial real estate and a political data and consulting firm.
Quote:UPS has temporarily grounded part of its air fleet after a deadly crash involving one of its cargo planes killed at least 14 people in Kentucky.
The decision will affect around 9 percent of the company's aircraft.
"Out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety, we have made the decision to temporarily ground our MD-11 fleet. MD-11s are approximately 9% of the UPS Airlines fleet," said the company in a statement.
"The grounding is effective immediately. We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees and the communities we serve," added the statement.
"Contingency plans are in place to ensure we can continue to deliver the reliable service our customers around the world count on," it added.
Newsweek has contacted UPS for additional comment via email.
Why It Matters
The grounding underscores the fragility of the U.S. supply chain heading into the busy holiday season. UPS is one of the nation’s largest air cargo carriers, and any disruption to its operations could delay deliveries and affect businesses that rely on rapid shipping.
What To Know
On Tuesday, an MD-11 operated by UPS Airlines (Flight 2976) crashed just after takeoff from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky. The plane was headed to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii.
At least 14 people died in the crash, officials said. That includes pilots Captain Richard Wartenberg, First Officer Lee Truitt, and International Relief Officer Captain Dana Diamond.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the UPS MD-11 cargo jet departed Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport around 5:15 p.m. local time with three crew members onboard. Moments later, the plane’s left wing reportedly caught fire and an engine detached, sending the wide-body freighter crashing to the ground and erupting into a fireball.
In response, rival FedEx also grounded its fleet of 28 MD-11s out of caution. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has since launched an investigation into the aircraft’s maintenance history, noting that the jet had recently undergone repairs in Texas.
A class-action lawsuit was filed the following day against UPS, Boeing, and General Electric, alleging that the companies' "recklessness" led to the crash, WDRB reported.
"(Their) recklessness has upended the lives and livelihoods of Plaintiffs and numerous Kentuckians, who live with trauma, fear and uncertainty caused by Defendants' actions," the suit claims.
Filed by local resident Shakeara Ware, auto shop Triple D, Inc., and property owner Ensey LLC, the complaint seeks damages for "emotional distress, business interruption, revenue losses, lost wages," and property damage.
The lawsuit also accuses the MD-11 model and its CF-6 engines of having a troubling safety history, alleging that the aircraft has been linked to multiple catastrophic failures and ranks among the least reliable commercial planes still in service.
However, NTSB investigators said the engine—not the wing—detached mid-flight, and the cause remains under review. The complaint references previous MD-11 crashes, including a 2009 FedEx disaster in Tokyo, and several CF-6-related accidents dating back decades, suggesting that similar mechanical defects “caused or contributed” to the Louisville crash.
What Happens Next
UPS said it is working closely with the NTSB and remains in "close contact with the Federal Aviation Administration" as investigations continue. No conclusions have yet been reached as to the cause of the crash, and enquiries and analysis are ongoing.
Quote:No illegal immigrants were released into the US in the past six months, as the Trump administration cracked down heavily on the influx of migrants unlawfully living in the country and crossing the southern border, President Trump declared on Truth Social Saturday.
“0 illegal aliens released into the U.S. in the last 6 months,’ his post simply said.
“All we needed was a new president,” the White House posted on Facebook.
On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security released preliminary data for October showing “record-low encounters, sustained control across all sectors, and the sixth straight month of zero releases by the U.S. Border Patrol.”
Total encounters of would-be border crossers were 29% lower than the previous low of 43,010 in 2012, and a 79% drop from October 2024, according to the agency.
Trump and his team have organized a “mass deportation campaign,” which includes a push for people illegally in the country to “self-deport” as well as major law enforcement operations involving ICE, Border Patrol and the National Guard in cities and towns across the US.
An October 2024 report by House Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee accused the Biden administration of releasing 1.4 million inadmissible aliens with “insufficient vetting” into the country through parole programs for citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela and other countries.
On Friday 268,000 Venezuelans lost their Biden-era Temporary Protected Status under the new policy announced by DHS.
Quote:Senate Majority Leader John Thune quickly rejected a Democratic offer to reopen the government and extend expiring health care subsidies for a year, calling it a "nonstarter."
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer made the offer to reopen the government on Friday as Republicans have refused to negotiate on demands to extend health care subsidies.
It was a much narrowed version of a broad proposal the Democrats had laid out a month ago to make the health tax credits permanent and reverse Medicaid cuts that Republicans enacted earlier this year.
Why It Matters
Lawmakers in both parties are feeling increased urgency to reopen the government. The ongoing shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history, has disrupted millions of lives, with government workers remaining unpaid and food aid payments delayed for millions.
Democrats have demanded an extension of expiring health care subsidies as part of a bill to fund the government, but Republicans have said they would not negotiate on health care until the government is reopened.
President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to end the shutdown quickly and scrap the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 Senate votes for most legislation, so they can bypass Democrats altogether. Republicans have rejected Trump's call and Thune has been eyeing a bipartisan package that mirrors the proposal the moderate Democrats have been sketching out.
Still, it remains unclear what Thune would promise on health care.
What To Know
In a floor speech on Friday, Schumer proposed a "clean" one-year extension to the subsidies expiring at the end of the year.
Schumer also called for the creation of a bipartisan committee to address Republican demands for changes to the Affordable Care Act.
He said it was "a simple proposal that would reopen the government and extend the ACA premium tax credits simultaneously. And then we have the opportunity to start negotiating longer-term solutions to health care costs."
He added: "We need Republicans to just say 'yes'."
But Thune quickly rejected the offer, reiterating that they would not trade offers on health care until the government is reopened.
"I think everybody who follows this knows that's a nonstarter,” he said, according to ABC News.
“There is no way. The Obamacare extension is the negotiation. That's what we're going to negotiate, once the government opens up."
Quote:Flight cancellations led to short lines at airports Saturday, while hundreds queued up at some NYC food banks, as the federal shutdown hit its 38th day with no end in sight.
Airports nationwide had more than 4,200 flights delayed and more than 1,000 canceled after the government imposed reductions due to problems with air traffic controllers who aren’t getting paid during the Democrat-led shutdown.
Scores of frustrated travelers had to change plans or stay home due to canceled flights; Charlotte Douglas International Airport was slammed with more than 120 cancellations and Newark International Airport followed closely behind with 109.
It was the second day in a row with more than 1,000 cancellations nationwide after the start of the Federal Aviation Administration’s slowdown Friday, according to FlightAware data.
The shutdown is “just ridiculous,” said Rachelle Ellery, 38 who was flying out of John F. Kennedy International Airport Saturday back home to Oregon after leaving a cruise with her hubby a day early because of a canceled flight.
“I don’t know what else to say about it. They (the politicians) should just get it together so we can get on with our lives,” she told The Post.
In the Bronx, throngs of desperate locals lined up as early as 2:30 a.m. at food banks because of disruptions in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance benefits caused by the shutdown.
Carmen Verona told The Post she was there for the time ever because her mom and brother had their benefits cut. Her own $459 monthly SNAP benefits aren’t enough.
“Without the food stamps, it’s a lot … and that’s not even enough because I always got to put out of pocket like $200, $300 because it’s too expensive,” said Verona, 58, as she picked up fruit, vegetables, and apple juice.
“My income is not enough,” she added.
Even an end to the shutdown wouldn’t immediately fix problems, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, because it will take time to get beleaguered air traffic controllers back to work.
Also Saturday, President Trump urged Senate Republicans to end Obamacare and send federal health care spending “directly to the people,” taking on what has been a top Democratic talking point about rising health subsidies.
“I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Quote:MADRID — The longest U.S. government shutdown on record is doing more than grind activities to a halt at home; an ocean away in Europe, local workers at U.S. military bases have started to feel the pain.
At least 2,000 people working at overseas bases in Europe have had their salaries interrupted since the shutdown began almost six weeks ago. In some cases, governments hosting the U.S. bases have stepped in to foot the bill, expecting the United States to eventually make good. In others, including in Italy and Portugal, workers have simply kept working unpaid as the gridlock in Washington drags on.
“It’s an absurd situation because nobody has responses, nobody feels responsible,” said Angelo Zaccaria, a union coordinator at the Aviano Air Base in northeastern Italy.
“This is having dramatic effects on us Italian workers,” he told The Associated Press.
An array of needed jobs
The jobs foreign nationals do at U.S. bases around the world range from food service, construction, logistics, maintenance and other, more specialized roles. In some cases, foreign workers are employed by private companies contracted by the U.S. government while others are direct hires.
How local employees are paid varies by country and is based on specific agreements the U.S. government has with each host nation, said Amber Kelly-Herard, a public affairs spokesperson for the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa.
During the shutdown, Kelly-Herard said local employees were expected to continue to perform their jobs in accordance with their work contracts.
The AP reached out to the Pentagon with multiple questions on the pay disruption, but was only provided a brief statement that did not acknowledge it.
“We value the important contributions of our local national employees around the world,” it said. The official declined to answer any follow-up questions.
Quote:Fast food chain Wendy's is set to close hundreds of restaurants around the country.
CNN is reporting that in a call on Friday, Interim CEO Ken Cook told analysts a “mid single-digit percentage” of approximately 6,000 U.S. locations could close, which amounts to between 200 and 350 restaurants.
Cook said the closures will target "underperforming" locations in an effort to "boost sales and profitability."
“These actions will strengthen the system and enable franchisees to invest more capital and resources in their remaining restaurants,” Cook said. “Closures of underperforming units are expected to boost sales and profitability at nearby locations.”
Newsweek has contacted Wendy's for comment via email.
Why It Matters
The closures mark one of the largest cutbacks in Wendy’s history and highlight growing financial pressure on fast-food chains amid rising labor and food costs.
Shuttering up to 350 restaurants could lead to thousands of job losses and reduced competition in some local markets.
What To Know
The fast-food chain isn’t planning to close all of its struggling restaurants outright. Cook said the company aims to pinpoint underperforming locations and assess the best path forward for each. Instead of a one-size-fits-all strategy, Wendy’s will review individual stores to determine whether they can be improved or if shutting them down is the most viable option.
Wendy’s shut down 140 restaurants across the U.S. in 2024, though the company said at the time it planned to open new outlets in stronger markets.
The burger chain has lagged behind competitors in recent quarters. U.S. same-store sales dropped 4.7 percent, while McDonald’s, Burger King and Shake Shack all reported gains.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Wendy’s shares fell 2.6 percent on Friday and have plunged 46 percent so far this year. The company also reported quarterly net income of $44.3 million—down from $50.2 million a year ago.
However, Cook said there were reasons for optimism. The chain’s new chicken tenders, called “Tendys,” have proven unexpectedly popular. “We’re looking forward to continuing that momentum, and this is an encouraging first step as we look to reestablish our leadership position in chicken,” he added, noting that some stores ran out of the item before the marketing campaign even began.
Quote:Authorities are searching for a man who allegedly opened fire Saturday on Border Patrol agents in Chicago.
The shooter was behind the wheel of a black Jeep when they fired off the shots near 26th Street and Kedzie Avenue, as the agents conducted immigration enforcement operations on the city’s Southwest side, the US Department of Homeland Security wrote on X.
Agitators also hurled a paint can and bricks at the agency’s vehicles during the incident.
Chicago cops cleared the scene, and the shooter remains at large.
“The shooter and vehicle remain at large, and this is a dynamic situation,” the agency said in its post.
No one was hurt, according to reports.
“This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of violence and obstruction,” DHS said.
“Over the past two months, we’ve seen an increase in assaults and obstruction targeting federal law enforcement during operations. These confrontations highlight the dangers our agents face daily and the escalating aggression toward law enforcement. The violence must end.”
Last month, Border Patrol agents shot a woman in Chicago after an angry mob tried to attack the officers.
Marimar Martinez was arrested on Oct. 4, and accused of driving within inches of a Border Patrol vehicle — running red lights and driving erratically, the FBI claimed.
The agents opened fire. Martinez pleaded not guilty, and the case is pending.
On Oct. 14, two illegal immigrants used their vehicle to ram into a border patrol convoy that sparked a dangerous car chase and riot in the Windy City, officials there confirmed.
Quote:The 2026 New York gubernatorial election will be “existential battle” to save New York and all of Western civilization from socialism, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) told The Post’s Rich Calder during a nearly 20-minute interview this week, excerpted below, discussing her decision to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Q: Under the state Constitution, governors could suspend or even remove elected officials from office. Is that something you’d consider doing with socialist NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani if elected governor?
A: If elected governor, I will follow the New York State Constitution, which lays out a process. It is not based upon ideology. The Constitution is very specific about that process. . . . When we win, I will follow the Constitution and make an assessment.
Q: How do you get around the fact that President Trump is not popular in parts of New York – especially in New York City? Hochul is already using your alliance with Trump to raise cash from panicked Democrats.
A: Hochul’s campaign is helping us turn out low-propensity voters, which will be a key part of our electoral strategy. The reality is Kathy Hochul got about 3.1 million votes in New York and Donald Trump got nearly 3.6 million. This race is going to be won on voter turnout, and it’s going to be won on a referendum on Kathy Hochul. . . . Her name is on the ballot. My name will be on the ballot, and she is less popular than Donald Trump is in New York State.
Q: If you beat Hochul, do you plan to reverse congestion pricing?
A: Oh, absolutely. That is going to be a major part of my platform. It is a commuter tax. It is a tax on working New Yorkers, and it’s devastating the economy of New York City.
Q: Why did you decide to enter the governor’s race – and why now?
A: I am running to save New York. We have seen two decades of Democrats in the governor’s seat, and what has happened in New York? It’s become the most unaffordable state in the nation and one of the most unsafe. On the affordability issue, because of Kathy Hochul’s failed leadership, we are the highest tax state in the nation. We have the highest energy prices, the highest utility cost, highest rent, highest grocery bills. We also rank at the bottom when it comes to friendliness of doing business in New York.. . . And on the issue of safety, because of failed bail reform, every single day, there are violent crimes being committed against law-abiding New Yorkers. . . . New Yorkers are outraged, and so I decided to run because I want to save the state that I love. I’m born and raised in upstate New York, and I understand that traditionally New York is a Democrat state. But when I first ran for Congress over a decade ago, no one thought I could win. It was a Democrat seat. Republicans had struggled for many cycles to win it. . . . I went on to win the most expensive primary in the country, and I won the general election by over 20 points, shattering expectations, and we did that by building a coalition of Republicans, independents, and Democrats. And since then, we’ve built an apparatus where I put up some of the largest margins in the Northeast and the highest voter turnout of any congressional district in the state.
Quote:US airlines canceled more than 2,500 weekend flights by Saturday evening as the Federal Aviation Administration’s mandate to reduce air traffic because of the government shutdown showed no signs of easing.
The slowdown at many of the nation’s busiest airports did not cause immediate widespread disruptions. But it deepened the impact felt by the nation’s longest federal shutdown.
“We all travel. We all have somewhere to be,” said Emmy Holguin, 36, who was flying from Miami to see family in the Dominican Republic. “I’m hoping that the government can take care of this.”
Analysts warn that the upheaval will intensify and spread far beyond air travel if cancellations keep growing and reach into Thanksgiving week.
Already there are concerns about the squeeze on tourism destinations and holiday shipping.
Here’s what to know about the flight reductions:
How many flights have been canceled?
Cancellations jumped Saturday — typically a slow travel day — to more than 1,500, following just over 1,000 the previous day, according to the tracking website FlightAware.
By the evening, US airlines already had canceled another 1,000-plus for Sunday.
Airports in Atlanta and Chicago, as well as Charlotte, North Carolina, and Newark, New Jersey, saw numerous disruptions throughout the day.
Ongoing staffing shortages in radar centers and control towers added to the cancellations and delays at several East Coast airports, including those around New York City.
Not all the cancellations were due to the FAA order, and those numbers represented just a small portion of the overall flights nationwide. But they are certain to rise in the coming days if the slowdown continues.
The FAA said the reductions impacting all commercial airlines started at 4% of flights at 40 targeted airports and will be bumped up again Tuesday before hitting 10% on Friday.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned this week that even more cuts might be needed if the shutdown continues and more air traffic controllers are off the job.
Quote:Newly re-elected Minneapolis Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey is facing backlash from conservatives for giving a victory speech in Somali and saying that Minneapolis welcomes Somalians.
In a video of the speech posted online, Frey can be seen leading chants in Somali as the crowd responds and applauds.
Popular conservative influencer Paul Szypula ripped into the progressive mayor, writing, “The pandering here is insane.”
“Mayor Jacob Frey, as he won reelection, spoke almost a minute in Somalia then said Minneapolis belongs to Somalia,” said Szypula.
In a second round of nonpartisan ranked-choice voting, Frey narrowly defeated a challenge from socialist Minneapolis state Sen. Omar Fateh.
Fateh is the first Somali American and first Muslim to serve in the state Senate.
Fateh had the backing of the Twin Cities’ chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who represents Minneapolis in the US House of Representatives.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate last year who is up for re-election next year, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., endorsed Frey’s campaign this year.
While speaking with a crowd of Somali residents after his victory, Frey repeatedly thanked the crowd in Somali.
“To the great people of Minneapolis, and I say that very intentionally, because no matter where you are from, Minneapolis should be a place where you are proud to call home,” he said.
He then proceeded to list a number of Somalian regions, saying, “Whether you are from Bosaso or Mogadishu, whether you are from Hargeisa or Garowe, whether you are from Beledweyne or southwest, Minneapolis is a place where you come to seek prosperity, where you come to raise your family.”
“Here is what this election means. This election means this is a moment for unity, where the entire Somali community can come together and say, ‘This is our people. This is our city. We are united behind each other,” he said.
Conservative pundit Gerry Callahan slammed Frey’s speech, saying, “This is an American politician, raised in America, educated in America, ostensibly representing Americans, prostrating himself in front of bunch of foreigners. Could be the most humiliating thing I’ve ever seen.”
Podcaster Matt Walsh also chimed in, writing, “As I have said many times now, politicians in this country should be required by law to speak English when addressing the public in an official capacity. There should never be a time when Americans can’t understand what their elected leaders are saying.”
Nick Sortor wrote, “I don’t know how large ICE’s presence in Minneapolis is, but it needs to be much, MUCH larger.”
Quote:A federal appeals court sided with Florida this week in a case challenging its controversial ban on Chinese citizens buying real estate and land.
The court’s ruling allows the state to enforce its ban and paves the way for other states to introduce similar legislation.
The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that the Florida law, introduced in 2023, did not violate federal law or discriminate against Asians.
What Do We Know About the Ban?
In May 2023, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill 264, which restricted “foreign principals” from purchasing agricultural land and certain real estate in Florida.
These, by definition, include various entities or individuals operating outside the U.S., among which are individuals who are not U.S. citizens or are not domiciled in the country.
The bill’s text identifies China as a “foreign country of concern”—along with Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria—specifying that any acquisition or purchase or real estate property in Florida by the People’s Republic of China is prohibited.
The ban is not limited to the Chinese Communist Party or its members. The law says that “any person who is domiciled in the People’s Republic of China and who is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States” is forbidden from buying property in Florida. Essentially, any Chinese national who is not a U.S. citizen or a green card holder cannot buy a home in the Sunshine State.
The law came into effect on July 1, 2023. In a news release later that year, DeSantis said the bill was “the strongest legislation in the nation to fight back against foreign malign influence.”
According to DeSantis, the bill seeks to strengthen the state’s security, “protecting Floridians and Florida’s infrastructure from agents like the Chinese Communist Party and other foreign adversaries.”
What Did the Court of Appeals Decide?
Shortly after the ban was signed into law in May 2023, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida on behalf of four Chinese citizens living in Florida and a real estate brokerage firm helping Chinese and Chinese Americans buyers purchase property in the U.S.
According to the complaint, the ban was in violation of the 14th Amendment and the Fair Housing Act, among other legislation, which prohibits any discrimination in housing based on race or color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability.
The issue was escalated to the federal court of appeals, which last year blocked the law from being enforced pending the outcome of the appeal.
This week, a different 11th Circuit panel sided with Florida, saying that ACLU lacked legal standing because the ban applied only to people “domiciled” in China, and the Chinese nationals involved in the complaint have lived in the Sunshine State for years.
The court also ruled that the Florida ban was not in violation of anti-discrimination federal laws. “National, individual, land, and food security concerns motivated [the law’s] enactment,” Circuit Judge Robert Luck wrote for the court, as reported by Reuters.
Ashley Gorski, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a statement following the ruling, “All people, regardless of where they come from, should be free to buy homes and build lives in Florida without fear of discrimination.”
She added, “Although today’s decision is disappointing, we’ll continue to fight laws like these that blatantly target immigrants based on their national origin and ethnicity.”
Quote:The Trump administration on Friday moved to dissolve a preliminary injunction that bars Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, from removal, clearing the path for his deportation to Liberia.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, told Newsweek in an email statement, in part, on Saturday evening: “We’ll be filing our opposition to the motion on Friday.”
Why It Matters
Abrego Garcia’s immigration story has been in the spotlight since March when the Trump administration sent him to the high-security CECOT prison in El Salvador in what was deemed an administrative error. He was returned to the United States in June after a months-long court fight and now faces human smuggling charges, which he denies, stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.
Since a court order prevents Abrego Garcia’s return to El Salvador, the administration has been looking for a third country to accept him, with Eswatini, Uganda, and Ghana previously floated, and the most recent filings identifying Liberia.
The Trump administration reported in September that “2 million illegal aliens have been removed or self-deported in just 250 days.” President Donald Trump has pledged to launch the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. Some of the deportees have been sent back to their country of origin, while others have gone to third countries that have entered an agreement with the U.S.
What To Know
In a lengthy court filing, government lawyers pushed for U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis to “dissolve its preliminary injunction and permit the government to remove Petitioner to Liberia,” according to court documents reviewed by Newsweek. This summer, Xinis issued the preliminary injunction barring Abrego Garcia’s removal.
The attorneys argued that Abrego Garcia “has not carried his burden for obtaining relief based on fear of persecution or torture,” in Liberia, and noted that the “United States has received the requisite assurances from the government of Liberia, which here notably includes assurance that individuals would not be refouled to any country where they would be subject to persecution or torture.”
His immigration saga has extended for months as the administration admitted it first mistakenly deported him to El Salvador. Previously, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Abrego Garcia it planned to send him to Uganda, which he objected to, saying he feared being persecuted or tortured. Xinis blocked his deportation to Uganda in late-August.
Abrego Garcia’s legal team has pushed back against Liberia as a removal destination noting in an October filing that he “expressed fear of removal to that country and requested a reasonable fear interview.”
Abrego Garcia came to the U.S. illegally as a teenager, and is married to a U.S. citizen, residing in Maryland. He has said he is willing to be deported to Costa Rica, which has indicated it would accept him, but the administration has not pursued that option publicly.
The Trump administration maintains that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, which Trump designated a terrorist organization in January. He and his family have consistently denied this allegation.
Sandoval-Moshenberg told Newsweek in an email statement Saturday, “The government still has not produced anything that guarantees Mr. Abrego Garcia will not be re-deported from Liberia to El Salvador, since the government of Liberia explicitly stated that they are only willing to accept him there on a temporary basis.”
Quote:The crew of China's Shenzhou-20 mission have had to delay their return to Earth after concerns their spacecraft had been struck by space debris, China's Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said Wednesday.
Newsweek reached out to the CMSA by email with a request for comment.
Why It Matters
The incident highlights the risks posed by an increasingly crowded low orbit. Traveling at speeds of up to five miles per second, or roughly eight kilometers per second, even tiny fragments of debris can severely damage space stations, crewed vehicles, and critical communication or defense satellites.
These risks have prompted the United States, China, and other spacefaring nations to develop advanced systems for tracking, avoiding, and potentially removing orbital debris.
In 2021, NASA astronauts were forced to cancel a spacewalk at the last minute after an 11-foot-wide fragment of a Russian rocket stage was forecast to pass dangerously close to the International Space Station.
What To Know
The CMSA said it had begun an impact assessment on the Shenzhou-20 to ensure the safety of its taikonauts—as Chinese astronauts are known—state media reported. The spacecraft had been scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday.
The agency did not specify the location or extent of the damage.
The Shenzhou-20 launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia on April 25 for a six-month mission to China’s permanent space station, the Tiangong.
It was the sixth three-person crewed mission to the Tiangong. During their stay, the astronauts conducted various scientific experiments and added two of a planned 23 experimental modules to the station.
Quote:China officially put its most-advanced aircraft carrier, CNS Fujian, into service at a ceremony attended by President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, marking a major milestone for the East Asian power in developing its armed forces to "world-class" standards.
The Fujian is China's first aircraft carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults, a design decided by Xi personally, the Chinese military said on Friday. The technology enables the Fujian to launch heavier fixed-wing aircraft, bolstering its combat power.
Why It Matters
Like its U.S. counterpart, the Chinese military has viewed aircraft carriers as a visible symbol of its strength. Under Xi's leadership, the People's Liberation Army has been undergoing modernization, including its fast-growing nuclear forces, with a long-term goal of making it "world-class" by 2049, coinciding with the centennial of the country.
What To Know
As part of its military buildup, China operates the world's largest navy by hull count, with over 370 vessels, according to a Pentagon assessment. The Chinese fleet includes three conventionally powered aircraft carriers—CNS Liaoning, CNS Shandong and the Fujian. Its naval adversary, the United States, has 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
Xi, who also serves as China's military leader, attended the commissioning and flag-presenting ceremony of the Fujian, which has the hull number 18, at a naval port in the city of Sanya in the southern province of Hainan, located north of the South China Sea.
The Chinese military said Xi has "consistently paid close attention" to China's aircraft-carrier development. After the ceremony, the president boarded the Fujian and received a briefing on the development of aircraft-carrier fleet and the use of electromagnetic catapults.
The Chinese leader also witnessed how the Fujian's three catapults work. "He visited the catapult control station, observed the workflow, pressed the catapult button and the unloaded launcher on the deck shot like an arrow toward the bow," the report said.
Several aircraft were parked on the Fujian's flight deck for Xi's inspection, including J-15T and J-35 fighter jets and KJ-600 early warning aircraft. These were first spotted in an October 25 satellite image of Yulin Naval Base, along with the Shandong.
Unlike the Fujian, both the Liaoning and the Shandong are "ski-jump" aircraft carriers, which are not equipped with catapults to support their aircraft's flight operations.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies' ChinaPower project, the Fujian began construction in 2017 and was launched in 2022. The warship, named after Fujian province, underwent nine sea trials between May last year and September.
The Fujian has become one of two aircraft carriers in the world equipped with electromagnetic catapults, the other being USS Gerald R. Ford. The Chinese military said its electromagnetic catapult technology is "among the world's most advanced."
Quote:China's exports shrank unexpectedly in October, Beijing's official commerce data showed, dragged down by a sharp fall in shipments to the U.S. amid the trade battle with President Donald Trump.
Beijing's grip on rare earths processing is a major problem for the U.S. and its advanced manufacturing sector. But the drop in exports highlights Trump's substantial leverage over China, of which the exporters—the engine of its economy—still rely heavily on American demand, despite Beijing's recent efforts to diversify its markets beyond the U.S., such as in Europe and Southeast Asia.
China Exports Data
There was a 25 percent drop in Chinese shipments to the U.S. during the month, according to the data released Friday. This was compounded by a 1.1 percent drop in China’s global exports in October compared to a year earlier, the weakest since February, following an 8.3 percent increase in September.
October 2024 was a high comparable base, which sharpened the fall this year, because American firms had loaded up their inventories in anticipation of a Trump victory and a renewed trade war with China. But that frontloading of inventory is over—and it spells bad news for China in the coming months.
China’s shipments to the U.S. have already fallen by double-digits for seven consecutive months. A Reuters poll of analysts had forecast a 3 percent rise in October after September's strong performance.
Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for the Asia-Pacific at Natixis, told Reuters that "it's going to be much tougher for China in the fourth quarter, which means it's going to be tougher in the first half of 2026 as well."
Trump-Xi Meeting
At their meeting in South Korea in late October, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to lower tariffs and postpone new port fees they had imposed on each other's vessels.
China paused some of its export controls on rare earths for one year and agreed to purchase more soybeans and other farm products from the U.S. The U.S. eased some sanctions on Chinese companies.
Goldman Sachs economists said following the Trump-Xi meeting that they expect Chinese export volumes to grow by 5 percent to 6 percent annually, helping China to gain global market share and driving its overall economic expansion.
“The reduction in some of these tariffs as part of the latest U.S.-China trade ‘deal’ may provide a small boost to exports,” Leah Fahy and Zichun Huang, China economists at Capital Economics, wrote in a recent note.
But that won’t show up until later in the last quarter of this year, they said.
Imports rose 1 percent in October, compared with a 7.4 percent growth in September year-on-year. Economists said a prolonged property sector downturn and weak domestic consumption remain a concern.
Quote:A visiting forces agreement signed by the Philippines and Canada marked Manila’s latest move to strengthen military ties with international partners amid mounting territorial tensions with China.
Newsweek has contacted the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment.
Why It Matters
China claims sovereignty over almost all of the trade-heavy South China Sea, putting it at odds with competing claims by the Philippines and several other neighboring countries.
In recent years, Beijing has sought to solidify its presence inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), including ejecting Filipino fishermen. The Philippine government has released footage showing Chinese vessels using water cannons and ramming maneuvers while intercepting its ships.
China has also stepped up its presence near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, which lies within the Philippines’ maritime zone, after unilaterally declaring a “nature reserve” over much of the feature—drawing strong protests from Manila, Washington and several other U.S. allies.
What To Know
On Sunday, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and his Canadian counterpart, David McGuinty, signed the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement, enabling their respective armed forces to operate and train within each other’s borders.
Teodoro called the pact “one of the most important projections of trust and confidence between nations.” He continued, “Our armed forces and defense establishments can converge, can work together not only bilaterally but with other like-minded partners to preserve and enforce peace and stability, to deter instability.”
The agreement also paves the way for Canada to participate in more complex joint military exercises, such as Sama Sama, a U.S. and Philippine-led naval exercise it joined last month.
Canada is among several U.S. allies maintaining a regular presence in the Indo-Pacific amid China’s growing assertiveness. It becomes the fifth country to sign a visiting forces agreement with the Philippines, following the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
During a joint news briefing in Makati City following the signing, McGuinty said Ottawa had committed to maintaining a “persistent naval presence of three Canadian ships in the region each year.” He noted that Canadian naval vessels had made nine port calls to the Philippines over the past three years.
Quote:The White House is preparing to deploy the United States military to an air base in the Syrian capital of Damascus to help shore up a potential security pact between Syria and Israel that U.S. President Donald Trump is currently brokering, according to a new report.
Why It Matters
Washington has swiveled its relations with Damascus since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, and the crumbling of his Iranian-allied regime.
The country's new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is due to meet with Trump at the White House on Monday, a historic first for a Syrian head of state. The U.S. in June lifted longstanding sanctions on Syria and has petitioned the United Nations Security Council to remove its own measures leveled against al-Sharaa.
What To Know
The U.S. is planning to use the base to keep an eye on a possible agreement between Israel and Syria, Reuters reported, citing six sources familiar with preparations at the facility.
It is not clear which site is referenced in the report, nor how many U.S. troops would be involved and when they could arrive. The news agency said it had agreed to omit the exact location after a U.S. administration official requested that the information be withheld for operational security reasons.
A U.S. defense official told Newsweek that they had no information to provide.
The U.S. has cut down on the 2,000 U.S. troops previously stationed in Syria and closed several bases, U.S. special envoy to Damascus, Thomas Barrack, said earlier this year. Barrack also serves as the U.S. ambassador to Turkey.
The Pentagon announced in April that it intended to reduce U.S. troop levels in the country to fewer than 1,000 personnel in the following months. The U.S. deployed forces to Syria more than a decade ago to fight ISIS and support the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led organization. The SDF is in the process of integrating into the Syrian military.
Syrian authorities would keep full control of the base, two military sources in the country said. A Western official stated that the Department of Defense had conducted multiple reconnaissance missions to the site and deemed the runway suitable for aircraft use.
A Syrian defense official told Reuters that the U.S. had flown to the facility in a C-130 military transport aircraft.
Quote:New satellite imagery shows what appears to be Iran’s shadow fleet operating in the South China Sea, transferring oil via ship-to-ship to tankers possibly bound for China.
Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. State Department, the Iranian and Chinese foreign ministries for comment.
Why It Matters
The U.S. is escalating enforcement against Iran’s covert oil trade. Beijing’s refiners have increasingly relied on Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil, much of it carried by older or reflagged "shadow" vessels operating outside Western shipping and insurance systems.
What To Know
Satellite imagery captured on Sunday shows at least five oil tankers conducting ship-to-ship transfers in the South China Sea, roughly 70 kilometers off Malaysia’s eastern coast, near Johor, according to an open-source intelligence (OSINT) X account specializing in maritime security in the Indo-Pacific.
Charlie B., who posts on X as @supbrow, said that most of the shipments appeared to involve oil moving from Iran to China.
In October, the U.S. government imposed new sanctions on a network of companies and ships it said had enabled Iran to earn billions of dollars from oil exports, targeting those involved in moving Iranian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), nearly two dozen shadow fleet vessels, a China-based crude oil terminal, and an independent “teapot” refinery—all part of a network helping Iran sell oil and fund its proxy groups.
"This is the fourth round of sanctions where the Trump Administration has targeted China-based refineries that continue to purchase Iranian oil," a statement by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) read on October 9. Iran has previously condemned sanctions against its oil industry.
Iranian oil discounts to China have hit a year‑high as sanctions on Iran and Russia tighten, squeezing independent refiners already constrained by import quotas, trade sources told Reuters on October 29. "There was just too much supply, and the market is directionless," a China-based trader was quoted as saying, though the report mentioned sanctions prompting some buyers in China to pause purchases.
Last month, several operators at Qingdao Port in eastern Shandong province sought to impose new restrictions possibly aimed at foreign “shadow fleet” tankers delivering sanctioned crude.
As for Malaysia, which recently signed a trade agreement with the U.S., limited resources for maritime authorities make it difficult to curb the widespread transshipment of U.S.-sanctioned Iranian oil off the country’s coast, a 2024 report by the Malaysian think-tank, the Institute of Strategic & International Studies (ISIS).
What People Are Saying
U.S. Department of Treasury said in press release on October 9: "Iran’s shadow fleet employs obfuscation tactics to mask shipments of Iran-origin petroleum and relies on services from companies in China and elsewhere to deliver their goods. Iranian exporters often transfer cargoes between shadow fleet vessels—at times with the aid of tugboats—in the Persian Gulf and in waters off the coast of Singapore and Malaysia in order to disguise the origin of their cargoes."
Quote:Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has issued a dire warning that the Iranian capital could soon face catastrophic water shortages and even evacuation if rain does not fall soon.
Speaking Thursday, Pezeshkian described a nation on the brink, struggling with economic turmoil, environmental collapse and social unrest. Tehran stands at the center of this mounting crisis, its 20 million population and strained infrastructure leaving it dangerously exposed to the worsening drought.
Newsweek has contacted Iran's Foreign Ministry for comment.
Why It Matters
The crisis facing Tehran reflects a broader water emergency that extends across Iran. Years of declining rainfall, drought, and overuse of limited water reserves have left much of the country vulnerable. Rivers and reservoirs are running dry, while groundwater sources have been overexploited to sustain agriculture and urban growth. As rainfall continues to decrease, water scarcity has become a nationwide threat, affecting cities, villages, and farmlands alike.
Iran’s semi-arid climate makes it especially susceptible to drought, but the current situation has reached critical levels. Many provinces have seen reservoir capacities fall dramatically, and entire communities now depend on water rationing. Tehran, which relies heavily on five main dams, has become the most visible example of the crisis, but the shortage extends far beyond the capital. Persistent drought and mismanagement have turned water security into one of Iran’s most pressing national challenges.
What to Know
During his speech, Pezeshkian acknowledged that Iran’s difficulties stem from both internal mismanagement and the effects of international sanctions. "High prices and inflation are the fault of both the parliament and the government. There are efforts underway, but limited financial resources mean projects remain unfinished," he said, according to Iranian media.
Turning to the deepening drought, Pezeshkian warned that Iran faces serious natural and environmental challenges. "If it doesn’t rain, we will have to start restricting water supplies in Tehran next month. If the drought continues, we will run out of water and be forced to evacuate the city," he said. The president described the situation as "alarming" and emphasized the urgent need for better management of water and energy resources.
Quote:President Donald Trump has said Iran has asked whether U.S. sanctions could be lifted, calling the current measures “very heavy” and noting he is “open to hearing that, and we’ll see what happens.”
Speaking at the White House late Thursday, Trump offered no timeline or conditions for engagement but signalled a potential opening for dialogue between the longtime rivals.
Newsweek has reached out to the State Department and Iran's Foreign Ministry for comment.
Why It Matters
Any easing of U.S. sanctions would mark a significant shift in American foreign policy toward Tehran. Trump’s administration has pursued a “maximum pressure” campaign, including strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and tight economic restrictions.
Negotiations between the U.S. and Iran stalled after a 12-day war sparked by a surprise Israeli attack earlier this year. Any change in policy could influence the balance of power in the Middle East, affect global oil markets, and reshape relations with U.S. allies in the region.
What to Know
Trump told reporters: “Iran has been asking if the sanctions could be lifted. Iran has got very heavy U.S. sanctions and it makes it really hard for them to do what they'd like to be able to do. And I'm open to hearing that, and we'll see what happens, but I would be open to it.”
The president has not committed to any specific steps, but his openness indicates a potential recalibration of U.S. strategy toward Tehran.
The “maximum pressure” strategy, reinstated early in his second term, was designed to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and limit its regional influence. Previous negotiations, including the 2015 nuclear deal, collapsed after the U.S. withdrew, citing inadequate oversight.
Trump on Israel-Iran Conflict
Trump also addressed the recent conflict between Israel and Iran, providing new details on U.S. involvement.
“Israel attacked first. That attack was very, very powerful. I was very much in charge of that,” he said. “When Israel attacked Iran first, that was a great day for Israel because that attack did more damage than the rest of them put together.”
The Israeli assault on June 13 killed several top Iranian generals and nuclear scientists, along with numerous civilians. Iran responded with hundreds of missile strikes against Israel, after which the U.S. joined the conflict by bombing Iran’s three major nuclear facilities.
Quote:In an exclusive interview conducted ahead of fateful parliamentary elections, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani outlines to Newsweek his efforts to transform his nation from a source of unrest to a regional hub of commerce, innovation and stability.
Sudani, who came to power in October 2022 amid political turmoil that unraveled his predecessor’s administration, has thus far overseen a period of relative calm for Iraq, a feat made all the more notable by the turbulence that has consumed the region around it.
The war that erupted in Gaza one year into Sudani’s term has led to conflict and upheaval across the Middle East, with Iraqi militias also joining the fight, facing direct strikes from the United States and threats from Israel. And yet Iraq has since managed to avoid the kind of turmoil wrought by the conflict on Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and even Iran itself.
The Iraqi premier credits this among his achievements, detailing a crucial position for his government in mediating between the U.S. and Iran, both viewed as key partners for Iraq, and reining in the activities of armed factions, who he hopes to further integrate into the nation’s political process.
Sudani sees this as part of his broader “Vision 2050” platform, a six-pillar initiative designed to redefine Iraq’s future after decades of strife. In each of these projects, Sudani touts an “Iraq First” mentality that he says aligns with the outlook of U.S. President Donald Trump.
These promises will be put to the test during Iraq’s November 11 parliamentary election, during which his Reconstruction and Development Coalition and its allies will vie for seats against an array of rivals, including influential Shiite Muslim blocs and other dynasties and independents looking to define Iraq’s future.
...
Newsweek: I understand you have an election coming up very soon. How are you feeling?
Sudani: Of course, we are at the end of the latest government that continued for three years, because the term is four years. Previously, political differences led to the formation of the government. It was supposed to be that this government would continue for one year and then there would be early elections, according to the agreement of the political forces. But because of the performance of the government, it made all the difference to give this government a chance to be for three years.
I think what we have achieved is something to be proud of on all levels. Sometimes, we write these achievements in a booklet, but some people may read it and not focus on the value of the achievements. What we have accomplished is important and pivotal because they happened for the first time.
For example, a comprehensive census for Iraq needed to be established because any development, any planning that the government would depend on for statistics and numbers would be incomplete, so I insisted on creating a census, which had been delayed since 2010. There was a difference between the ethnic groups, which is a very sensitive issue, there was a clerical difference, there was a security problem. And so, since 2010, it was delayed.
So, this government set out on organizing a census to ensure we are meeting all the required measures and in compatibility with the entire nation, which is something that is very important for all citizens. For 48 hours, there was a curfew across all of Iraq, without the use of the security forces. And the people actually committed to that curfew and interacted with the census workers.
It’s the first digital census, it’s not a paper-based census. During Saddam Hussein’s census, I was an employee at that time, in 1997, it was a paper-based census, and the government required two years until the results were released. This census required only two months.
And this is the first comprehensive census in Iraq since 1987, so we haven’t had a comprehensive census in 37 years, as the census in 1997 excluded the Iraqi Kurdistan Region because it was separated, as you know. So, this is important, because all of the planning, all of the policies, all of the programs will be based on that census. Under the supervision of the United Nations, which issued a report praising the census, other countries in the region came to us to work with our experiences.
This is one example. There are many. For example, the local elections were delayed since 2013. In Kirkuk, it is a special situation. Because there are Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen there. And no [local] election was held since 2005, and we did that after we established a debate and discussions with assurances that they have a local government.
Our accomplishments are on the level of economic reforms, financial reforms, many service reforms, so certainly, in the end, we enter the elections with confidence. These are achievements I can speak of.
And that is something no previous prime minister has offered. They entered elections without any achievements. The people were upset, and this reflected their decision on whether or not to participate [in elections]. Unfortunately, most of the citizens decided to abstain because of the performance of the government.
It is the opposite now. The total number of citizens who registered since 2023 as new registrations to enter the elections is 5 million citizens. This is an unprecedented number and will be reflected in participation.
Quote:Tea is spilling — and these disgraced Brits will have a hard time cleaning it up.
Former Duke of York Prince Andrew is under investigation by London police and may face jail time, while his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson is also being probed for unscrupulous use of charity money — and they both could be forced out of the UK, according to a new report.
“Andrew is going to be charged with various public offenses and misconduct in public office … he’ll probably go to jail. The case against him is pretty clear … he’s toast,” historian Andrew Lownie, author of “Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York,” told NewsNation’s Paula Froelich.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s third child, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor “won’t go down for sex trafficking, it will be for financial impropriety,” Lownie told the outlet.
The “Prince” and “His Royal Highness” was stripped of his titles on Nov. 3 amidst allegations he was one of Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous clients
Andrew, 65, was a trade envoy for the UK from 2001 until 2011 and would rub elbows with questionable characters in countries such as Libya, Kazakhstan and Laos — forgoing embassies to stay at five-star hotels and rack up high bills.
The police are also looking into claims that Andrew asked an officer in 2011 to find personal information about his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, 41.
The late Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, claimed in her memoir “Nobody’s Girl” — published posthumously in October — that Jeffrey Epstein ordered her to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, including when she was 17.
The UK campaign group Republic, which advocates for abolishing the monarchy, is also asking lawyers to consider prosecution against Andrew for alleged sexual assault, corruption or misconduct while in public office.
In the meantime, 66-year-old Ferguson, whom Andrew divorced in 1996, is also being investigated for using proceeds from book deals and endorsements for her own gain — instead of the charity they were supposed to be intended for.
“She’s been basically using charities to make money. So she’s gonna be in trouble there,” Lownie continued.
The former power couple will most likely need to move out of England, Lownie predicted.
Quote:LONDON (AP) — U.K. police on Monday charged a 32-year-old man with attempted murder over a mass stabbing attack on a train that wounded 11 people, and said he also tried to kill someone at a London transit station earlier the same day.
British Transport Police said Anthony Williams is charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one of actual bodily harm, and one of possession of a bladed article over the attack on Saturday.
Police said he is also charged with attempted murder over an earlier incident at Pontoon Dock light rail station in London just before 1 a.m. on Saturday, in which a victim “suffered facial injuries after being attacked with a knife” by an assailant who fled the scene.
Police said investigators are also “looking at other possible linked offenses.”
Police say they are not treating the train stabbings as an act of terror and are not looking for other suspects. A second man initially arrested as a suspect was released without charge on Sunday after it was determined the 35-year-old was not involved.
Williams, a British citizen from the city of Peterborough in eastern England, made a brief appearance at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Williams, who was flanked by four security officers as he stood in the dock wearing a gray prison tracksuit and handcuffs, was ordered detained until his next hearing on Dec. 1. He was not asked to enter pleas.
The minutes-long stabbing spree spread fear and panic through a train bound from Doncaster in northern England to London on Saturday evening. The train was about halfway through its journey and had just departed from a stop at Peterborough when police began receiving calls about people being stabbed on board.
Passengers described scenes of panic as bloodied travelers raced down the train to get away from the knifeman. Eleven people were treated in the hospital. The most seriously wounded victim is a member of railway staff who tried to stop the attacker. Police called his actions “ nothing short of heroic.”
He is hospitalized in a critical but stable condition. Four other victims remained in the hospital on Monday.
Williams was arrested when the train made an emergency stop in the town of Huntingdon in eastern England. Police say he was detained within eight minutes of officers receiving the first emergency calls.
Authorities said the attack was an isolated incident but stepped up security on the railway, with armed police officers on patrol Monday at major train stations.
Quote:Terrifying surveillance video shows the moment the UK mass train stabbing suspect stormed into a barbershop armed with a huge knife — just one day before he allegedly carried out his bloody rampage on a London-bound train.
Anthony Williams, 32, was caught on camera pacing outside the barbershop Friday night soon after he allegedly knifed a 14-year-old boy in a separate attack, the Sun reported.
The maniac could be seen whipping out the huge blade and barging into the shop as employees and customers scrambled out of the way just before 7:30 p.m.
It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was injured in the ordeal.
The chilling saga is one of three knife attacks allegedly tied to the suspect.
It unfolded just minutes after Williams had allegedly stabbed a teen nearby.
The 14-year-old boy who was injured in the initial attack was treated for minor injuries at a hospital.
The violence unfolded less than 24 hours before Williams allegedly stormed a London-bound train in Huntingdon in the country’s east on Saturday night and wounded 11 people.
The alleged perp screamed “Kill me, kill me” as cops descended on the scene.
Williams has since been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one of actual bodily harm and one of possession of a bladed article over the frenzied rampage.
Quote:The BBC has upheld a complaint that presenter Martine Croxall broke the network’s guidelines by correcting the term “pregnant people” to “women” during a live broadcast.
“London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has released research, which says that nearly 600 heat-related deaths are expected in the U.K.,” Croxall began in the June broadcast.
“Malcolm Mistry, who was involved in the research, says that the aged, pregnant people — women,” she said, pausing briefly with an edge in her voice, “and those with pre-existing health conditions need to take precautions.”
According to the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU), 20 viewers filed complaints about Croxall’s reaction and determined that she breached the BBC’s editorial standards of impartiality.
“The phrase ‘pregnant people’ was followed by a facial expression which has been variously interpreted by complainants as showing disgust, ridicule, contempt or exasperation,” the BBC reported in a news release Thursday.
BBC News management initially claimed Croxall was reacting to “scripting which somewhat clumsily incorporated phrases from the press release accompanying the research.”
BBC’s style guide also does not include specific rules about using the term “pregnant people.”
However, the ECU claimed Croxall’s expression and the praise she received online showed she was sharing a “personal view” on a “controversial matter.”
“Even accepting this explanation, however, the ECU considered the facial expression which accompanied the change of ‘people’ to ‘women’ laid it open to the interpretation that it indicated a particular viewpoint in the controversies currently surrounding trans identity, and the congratulatory messages Ms. Croxall later received on social media, together with the critical views expressed in the complaints to the BBC and elsewhere, tended to confirm that the impression of her having expressed a personal view was widely shared across the spectrum of opinion on the issue,” the news release said.
The ECU reported the findings to BBC News management, which reportedly discussed the matter with Croxall and the editorial team behind the video. It is unclear what additional action will be taken.
The BBC declined to comment to Fox News Digital.
The clip was lauded by J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series and a staunch defender of women-only spaces, who wrote on X, “I have a new favorite BBC presenter.”
Quote:The BBC is reportedly expected to apologize after using a “doctored” clip of President Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech in a documentary released last year.
BBC chairman Samir Shah will apologize to the UK House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Monday, expressing regret for misleading viewers by splicing together clips of Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally in the Panorama documentary, which aired last October, the Telegraph reported.
The mea culpa comes after Michael Prescott, the British network’s former Editorial Guidelines and Standards adviser, released a damning 19-page report alleging widespread bias within the organization and highlighting warnings he issued in May about the “doctored” speech, according to the outlet.
The whistleblower claimed the BBC “mangled” the clip in its documentary “Trump: A Second Chance?” to make it appear as if the president encouraged crowds to storm the Capitol.
Prescott noted that the network aired footage of Trump appearing to tell rally-goers: “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you and we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell you’re not gonna have a country any more.”
The clip was spliced together from three separate parts of Trump’s speech — with a nearly hour-long gap edited out to make it seem like one fluent sentence.
Trump’s actual remarks were: “We’re gonna walk down, and I’ll be there with you, we’re gonna walk down, we’re gonna walk down any one of you but I think right here, we’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressman and women.”
The BBC edited out the president saying, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
About 54 minutes into Trump’s speech, he told the crowd, “We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not gonna have a country anymore.”
Prescott called the deceptive editing “shocking,” according to the report.
“This created the impression that Trump said something he did not and, in doing so, materially misled viewers,” the ex-adviser wrote.
Quote:A driver shouted “Allahu Akbar” after he deliberately plowed into ten people during a violent rampage in western France on Wednesday, critically injuring four, according to reports.
The brutal scene happened just before 9 a.m. in he villages of Dolus-d’Oléron and Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron on Île d’Oléron, an island off the west coast of France, Le Parisien reported.
The male driver, identified as a French nationalist in his thirties known to police for petty crimes, rammed his car into the crowd that consisted of pedestrians and cyclists.
Some of the ten people, including two who are in critical condition, were airlifted to the University Hospital of Poitiers, according to the outlet. Their ages range from 22 to 67.
The unidentified driver was detained near the crash scene, attempting to light his car on fire.
The driver shouted “Allahu Akbar” during his arrest, the outlet reported, citing the local prosecutor’s office.
“Multiple accidents occurred in Saint Pierre and Dolus,” Dolus-d’Oléron Mayor Thibault Brechkoff wrote on Facebook. “They were caused by someone deliberately causing these accidents.”
An investigation was opened into the cause and motive behind the crash, including if the driver suffered from psychiatric disorders or was abusing drugs or alcohol.
Quote:PARIS — French authorities have warned they may block access to Shein after it emerged that the online fast fashion giant had been selling sex dolls with a childlike appearance.
France’s consumer watchdog, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, said last week it had discovered the dolls on Shein’s website, noting that their descriptions and categorization left little doubt as to their child-pornographic nature.
The agency has referred the case to public prosecutors, and Economy Minister Roland Lescure said on Monday he would seek to ban Shein from the French market if such incidents were to occur again.
“This is provided for by law,” he said. “In cases involving terrorism, drug trafficking, or child pornographic materials, the government has the right to request that access to the French market be prohibited,” Lescure told BFM TV.
The law authorizes French authorities to order online platforms to remove clearly illegal content such as child pornography within 24 hours. If they fail to comply, authorities can require internet service providers and search engines to block access and delist the site.
The watchdog said it has issued a formal notice urging the platform to take urgent corrective measures.
Shein said in a statement that it has banned all sex-doll products, and temporarily removed its adult products category for review.
It added that it has launched an investigation to determine how these listings bypassed its screening measures.
“The fight against child exploitation is non-negotiable for Shein,” said Executive Chairman Donald Tang said in the statement. “These were marketplace listings from third-party sellers, but I take this personally. Trust is our foundation, and we will not allow anything that violates it.”
He noted that every related product has been removed and that “We are tracing the source and will take swift, decisive action against those responsible.”
Quote:President Donald Trump announced on Friday a new nuclear energy cooperation deal with Hungary, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, marking the first agreement of its kind between the two nations, Reuters reported.
Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, said the deal includes plans to buy American nuclear fuel and U.S. technology for storing spent fuel at the country’s Russian-built Paks nuclear power plant.
“We will sign a major intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in nuclear energy with my foreign minister colleague [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio,” Szijjártó said.
Why It Matters
The move comes as Hungary seeks to diversify its energy sources while continuing to rely on Russia’s Rosatom, which has been constructing two new reactors at Paks under a 2014 deal that bypassed competitive bidding. Szijjártó said that, for the first time in the nation’s history, Hungary will purchase U.S. nuclear fuel in addition to its existing Russian supply as it works to meet growing domestic energy demands.
What To Know
Trump is meeting Friday with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a longtime ally of the president, for their first bilateral talks since Trump returned to the White House in January. The meeting is expected to focus on Hungary’s heavy reliance on Russian oil and efforts to diversify its energy supply.
Widely considered Putin’s most reliable advocate in the European Union (EU), Orbán has maintained warm relations with the Kremlin despite its ongoing war against Ukraine. He has also curried favor with Trump and his "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) movement, which views Hungary as a shining example of conservative nationalism despite the erosion of its democratic institutions.
But now, as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches its fourth anniversary, Orbán is under increasing pressure from Brussels and Washington to end Hungary's reliance on Russian oil, a resource seen as critical for funding Moscow's war.
Last month, the Trump administration levied sanctions on Russian state-affiliated energy giants Lukoil and Rosneft that could expose their foreign buyers—like India, China and Hungary—to secondary sanctions.
In comments to state radio last week, Orbán made clear he would try to “make the Americans understand” that Hungary needs a carve out for its continued purchases of Russian energy.
Quote:A Russian drone slammed into a tower block in eastern Ukraine as residents slept early Saturday, killing three and injuring 12 civilians, Ukrainian authorities said.
The blast left a massive hole in the front of the nine-story building, destroying several apartments, with emergency service crews rescuing two children, including a two-year-old, among the wounded.
The attack in Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, was part of a large Russian missile and drone barrage across the war-torn country that also targeted gas and energy infrastructure.
Ukraine’s state-owned power company said all its plants were down Saturday, after what it called Moscow’s “largest-ever attack.”
Drones hit its three plants — in Kyiv, Kharviv and Donetsk — “each minute” overnight.
“Less than a month has passed since the previous strike, and last night the enemy again hit all of our power generation facilities simultaneously,” Centrenergo, which provides electricity to about 10% of Ukraine, wrote on Telegram.
In Kyiv, residents were left without electricity for up to 12 hours a day, as emergency power cuts were introduced.
“The main targets of this strike were our cities, our energy sector and our people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on X.
“It was a very flagrant and demonstrative strike.”
Russia fired a total of 458 drones and 45 missiles, including 32 ballistic missiles.
Zelensky said only few systems in the world are capable of stopping ballistic missiles.
“We are working with the United States to purchase additional Patriots, and we are very much counting on the support,” he said.
“Weak responses to Russian brazenness spur Russia to continue the war.”
In eastern Ukraine, fighting for the strategic city of Pokrovsk — a focal point in the coveted Donetsk region — has reached a critical stage.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claims his forces are on the cusp of winning the battleground.
If captured, Pokrovsk would be the largest city taken by Russian forces in more than two years of fighting.
Russian troops have advanced 24 miles into the city, after more than a year of figthing, forcing Ukraine to deploy its elite units last week — leading to intense street-to-street confrotntations that has killed thousands of soldiers.
“The enemy’s number-one goal is to occupy Pokrovsk as quickly as possible. That goal remains,” Zelensly told reporters in Kyiv Friday.
Beyond the battle for territory, Pokrovsk is seen as key in swaying the course of peace negotiations, analysts say, with both Kyiv and Moscow also desperately trying to prove to President Trump they can win the frontline city.
Quote:Russia is exploiting Africa’s poor population to fight its deadly war in Ukraine – many tricked or forced to the front lines through money, lies or threats, officials warn.
At least 1,436 citizens from 36 African countries including Kenya, South Africa and Cameroon, are currently fighting alongside Russian troops, according to Kyiv government leaders.
“Foreign citizens in the Russian army have a sad fate,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X Friday.
“Most of them are immediately sent to the so-called ‘meat assaults,’ where they are quickly killed.”
The men are lured in with false promises of well-paying jobs, duped by signing agreements in Russian that they can’ read which turn out to be military contracts. And sometimes they are made to sign under duress, Sybiha said.
“Signing a contract is equivalent to signing a death sentence,” he added, urging African governments to warn their citizens.
“There will be no accountability for the killed foreigner, so they are treated as second-rate, expendable human material.
“Most mercenaries do not survive more than a month.”
Evan Kibet, 36, an aspiring long-distance runner from Kenya, said a sports agent offered to fly him and three other Kenyans to St. Petersburg for races.
There, he was told to sign work papers in Russian, before being shoved in a car and driven seven hours to a military camp.
“Either you go to fight or we’ll kill you,” he recalled Russian men telling him, according to BBC.
He was given one week of training on an assault rifle, by instructors who only spoke Russian. He escaped on the way to his first combat mission and hid in the woods near Kharkiv, where he was captured and eventually freed by the Ukrainian military in September.
South Africa is currently investigating how 17 of its citizens ended up fighting in Russia, after the men made distressed calls for help, President Cyril Ramaphosa said this week.
The men, who are between 20 and 39, are caught up in Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region, and were also lured through lucrative work contracts, according to the South African government.
“President Ramaphosa and the South African government strongly condemn the exploitation of young vulnerable people by individuals working with foreign military entities,” said a government spokesperson.
Quote:A Russian satellite, that previously sparked alarm from NATO member Germany about Moscow’s military intentions in space, is nearing the end of its mission, according to analysis.
Kayhan Space, a Colorado-based firm of spaceflight and satellite experts, said it had found that the Luch-Olymp satellite appears to be maneuvering to an end-of-life orbit.
German defense minister Boris Pistorius said in September that two Russian Luch-Olymp reconnaissance satellites were tracking Intelsat satellites used by the German military.
But Kayhan Space said one Luch-Olymp was repositioning for its final task, with Kayhan CEO Siamak Hesar, telling Newsweek, “Russia's capability has been reduced, at least for now.”
Why It Matters
There have been growing fears about Russia developing satellites as a new military domain beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, which could complicate NATO’s efforts at deterrence from its adversaries.
Launched in 2014, the Luch-Olymp is one of the most closely watched and debated satellites in geostationary orbit.
Pistorius had raised the alarm at how—along with its 2023 successor—Russian satellites could "eavesdrop" on other satellites, as the minister announced a €35 billion ($41 billion) space program investment for constellations to withstand jamming and kinetic attacks.
What To Know
Kayhan said that over the course of two weeks in October, Russia’s Luch-Olymp satellite initiated a series of altitude-raising burns, climbing more than 260 miles above the protected region and drifting west.
Kayhan said that whether it is intentional disposal or a repositioning for its final tasking, the maneuver "brings one of the most agile and enigmatic intelligence assets ever fielded in geostationary orbit closer to the end of its mission lifetime.”
Over the last decade, the Russian satellite conducted a series of deliberate proximity operations with commercial and military spacecraft, including Seasat 2, Intelsat 7, Intelsat 901, Intelsat 905, Athena-Fidus, Skynet 4C, Astra 1G, and Turksat 4.
Its persistent “shadowing” of targets marked a new era of on-orbit intelligence collection and drew strong criticism from Intelsat and France in actions that reshaped how operators assess safety, intent, and transparency in geostationary orbit, Kayhan said.
Hesar told Newsweek that in the case of its Luch/Olymp class satellites, Russia's capability had been temporarily reduced.
However, he noted how from 2014 to 2023, Russia only operated one Luch/Olymp satellite for intelligence operations. Luch/Olymp 2 is the successor likely intended to replace the original satellite as it neared end of life, Hesar said.
Luch/Olymp 2 appears designed primarily to sustain those capabilities rather than expand them. Whether Russia adds satellites remains to be seen, but at this point, the replacement maintains continuity rather than increasing capacity, he added.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a revised stopgap funding bill to move toward ending the shutdown on Monday, sending the legislation back to the House for consideration as lawmakers in the lower chamber return to the nation’s capital.
All Republican senators — except for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — and eight Democratic or Dem-aligned senators approved the stopgap measure, which would fund the government until Jan. 30, 2026, helping it clear the 60-vote filibuster in the Senate.
The measure also included funding until Sept. 30, 2026, for the 42 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) as well as veterans’ medical care and benefits, military construction and spending for legislative branch activities.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Monday urged reps to reconvene immediately, with a vote expected 36 hours after the so-called “clean” continuing resolution passed the Senate.
It left the lower chamber after being approved by a narrow majority on Sept. 19.
But 40 Democrats — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) — opposed it after having initially forced the shutdown on Oct. 1 with five of their colleagues who later defected to vote with the GOP.
Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) voted with Republicans to end the shutdown — despite having maintained it for 40 days.
One of the few concessions the Senate Democrats got in return after the longest shutdown in US history was a promise to vote on an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, something Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) had offered weeks ago.
President Trump also pledged Monday to “abide by” a provision requiring him to re-hire federal workers fired during the shutdown.
Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Va.) and Angus King (I-Maine) had voted for the funding bill no fewer than 14 times before the other five Democrats helped them break the filibuster on Sunday.
King admitted bluntly in an interview that “standing up to Trump didn’t work.”
On Monday night, the Senate convened to debate other amendments to the legislation — including the full-year appropriations bills and an amendment brought by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to reverse a ban of “intoxicating” hemp products.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) also sought an amendment extending the Obamacare subsidies, which had been expanded under former President Joe Biden, for one year. The credits are set to expire at the end of 2025.
Johnson has made no promise that they will get a vote in the House even if they pass in the Senate.
Should the House pass the bill, as it is, SNAP and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) will also have contingency reserves reimbursed for spending amid the shutdown — and both furloughed and non-furloughed federal workers will get backpay.
Quote:WASHINGTON — Democrats and progressives exploded with outrage after the Senate took a giant step toward reopening the government Sunday night, with many calling for Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s ouster.
Schumer (D-NY), who voted against the bipartisan package to end the longest government shutdown in US history, was slammed for failing to prevent five Democratic defections that allowed the measure to advance, despite Republicans making no concessions on keeping Obamacare subsidies due to expire at the end of this year.
“Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) chided on X. “If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?”
“Tonight is another example of why we need new leadership,” jeered Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who launched his primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) last month, on X. “If @ChuckSchumer were an effective leader, he would have united his caucus to vote ‘No’ tonight and hold the line on healthcare.
“Maybe now @EdMarkey will finally join me in pledging not to vote for Schumer [as conference leader after the 2026 elections]?”
Democratic candidates trying to unseat Senate Republicans next year also made their displeasure clear.
“Chuck Schumer is not built for this moment,” wrote Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, who hopes to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), on X.
“Chuck Schumer has failed us,” agreed Iowa state Sen. Zach Wahls, running for the open seat held by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).
The quintet — Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Jacky Rosen of Nevada — voted to end debate on a deal whose main terms had been offered by Republicans weeks ago.
Shaheen’s own daughter, Stefany, who is running for the Democratic nomination in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, announced on social media that she would reject the deal her mother helped broker.
“I cannot support this deal when Speaker Johnson refuses to even allow a vote to extend health care tax credits,” Stefany Shaheen declared on X. “We need to both end this shutdown and extend the ACA tax credits. Otherwise, no deal. It’s essential to ensure people have access to health care and it’s past time to put paychecks back into people’s pockets and food back on families’ tables.”
Quote:Some Republicans expressed frustration Monday that measures to withhold lawmaker pay when there is a lapse in federal funding were not included as part of a deal to end the 41-day government shutdown.
The record-long shutdown forced thousands of government workers — including military personnel, federal law enforcement officers and air traffic controllers — to work without pay, while lawmakers continued to receive their six-figure salaries.
“Democrats just caused the longest shutdown in our nation’s history and proved they’re willing to deprive millions of hardworking Americans of their paychecks — members of our military, federal law enforcement, FAA, Capitol Police — all while cashing their own paychecks,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told The Post.
“And Dems have already said they’re willing to do it again,” he added.
As Democratic senators repeatedly rejected GOP efforts to reopen the government, Scott urged his colleagues to immediately pass his No Budget, No Pay Act, which would prevent members of Congress from being paid in a fiscal year until both chambers approve a budget resolution and pass all regular appropriations bills for that fiscal year.
The bill has been referred to committee.
“It’s pure hypocrisy,” Scott seethed of lawmakers cashing paychecks amid the shutdown. “Our military and federal employees shouldn’t be punished because Congress can’t do its job!”
“It’s time to pass my No Budget, No Pay Act that says if we can’t fund the government, members shouldn’t get paid. Period.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) also pushed legislation to pause paychecks for lawmakers during the shutdown, which was blocked last week by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
“My only disappointment in the deal that we have, I strongly wanted a provision added that senators cannot be paid during the shutdown,” Kennedy said during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show.”
“It’s called shared sacrifice. It’s called leadership,” the Louisiana Republican continued. “We were getting paid, but our staff wasn’t.”
Members of Congress receive an annual salary of $174,000 a year, which is a bit higher for members of leadership.
Their paychecks are guaranteed by the Constitution, which requires that “Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”
The 27th Amendment also blocks Congress from passing laws that affect lawmaker pay in the same congressional term.
Kennedy’s No Shutdown Paychecks to Politicians Act would force lawmakers to go without pay for every day that the government is shut down, and his Withhold Member Pay During Shutdowns Act gets around the constitutional question by withholding paychecks in escrow until after the November 2026 elections.
“I didn’t take my salary,” Kennedy noted, “but our staff wasn’t getting paid, and air traffic controllers and our military … I thought it was the height of hypocrisy.”
“My leadership blocked me from bringing that bill, but I’m not going to stop. I’m going to keep coming,” he pledged.
And before we even knew about the Senate's bill being sent to the House...
Quote:A federal appeals court late on Sunday allowed a judge’s order to stand that directs US President Donald Trump’s administration to fully fund this month’s food aid benefits for 42 million low-income Americans during the ongoing US government shutdown.
The Boston-based 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals declined to halt Thursday’s decision by a Rhode Island judge requiring the US Department of Agriculture to spend $4 billion set aside for other purposes to ensure Americans receive full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.
The ruling by the 1st Circuit will have no immediate impact because on Friday US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson put a temporary hold on the lower court order by US District Judge John McConnell.
Her temporary hold remains in place for 48 hours after the 1st Circuit decision.
Jackson’s order, along with earlier court rulings and announcements by the administration and various states at the center of the litigation, has left the status of the country’s anti-hunger food aid program uncertain during the shutdown.
On Saturday, USDA directed states to “undo” any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, before Jackson’s order or risk financial penalties.
The administration had argued to the 1st Circuit that judges have no power to appropriate or spend federal money, and McConnell could not force the USDA to find money beyond a contingency fund in the “metaphorical couch cushions” to pay for full SNAP benefits.
It blamed Congress for the crisis and said it was up to lawmakers to solve it by ending the shutdown.
The Senate on Sunday moved forward on a measure aimed at reopening the federal government, which on Monday reached its 41st day.
Quote:Rudy Giuliani offered some brutal “advice” for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani Monday — telling his successor he should never take office as leader of the Big Apple.
“My advice to him is to step down and do something else,” Giuliani told The Post of the proud democratic socialist who he branded a “communist — right out of Karl Marx.”
Giuliani, a Republican former two-term mayor of the city, blasted Mamdani as ill-equipped for the job and claimed he was a “supporter of Muslim extremism” after the Democratic Party nominee rubbed elbows with controversial Imam Suraj Wahhaj, a radical who had once urged a gun-free “jihad” on the city.
“The imam he was with is a strong supporter of terrorism,” Giuliani said, referring to a picture taken during the campaign of Mamdani — who will be the city’s first Muslim mayor — smiling widely with Wahhaj.
“I’m not worried that he’s a Muslim. I’m worried that he supports Muslim extremism,” Giuliani said.
Giuliani, who was once considered “America’s mayor” for leading the city during and after the Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attacks, later went on to be a Trump attorney.
He was pardoned by the Trump administration for his part in the alleged effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election that saw Democrat Joe Biden defeat Trump. Trump returned to office after the 2024 election.
“You think the federal government will give this guy a security clearance?” Giuliani said. “Zohran Mamdani is a serious security threat to the United States of America. He’s a communist and a sympathizer for Muslim terrorism.”
He blasted Mamdani’s critical views of Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “antisemitic.”
“Israel seems like an obsession with him,” Giuliani claimed, noting Mamdani’s support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel.
“The BDS movement wants to wipe out the State of Israel. Mamdani is one of the best known antisemites in the country,” Giuliani railed.
Giuliani said his other advice to his incoming successor was to “love America.”
The mayor-elect had no immediate comment on Giuliani’s stunning condemnation.
Quote:The wheels are coming off the socialist bus.
Gov. Kathy Hochul slammed the brakes on supporting Zohran Mamdani’s $700 million call for free city buses — casting doubt that one of the far-left mayor-elect’s signature campaign promises has a smooth road ahead.
Hochul, speaking during a press conference at the SOMOS political retreat in Puerto Rico on Saturday, argued she has already put vast sums of money into the perpetually cash-strapped MTA for major projects.
“We’re spending a lot of money, so I cannot set forth a plan right now that takes money out of a system that relies on the fares of the buses and the subways,” she said.
“But can we find a path to make it more affordable for people who need help? Of course we can.”
Mamdani avoided a straight answer over apparently being at odds with Hochul on buses.
“I continue to be excited at the work of making the slowest buses in America fast and free,” he said Monday, during an unrelated press conference. “And I appreciate the governor’s continued partnership in delivering on that agenda of affordability.”
The cautious bus route outlined by Hochul is the latest split the moderate Democratic governor has had with Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, since she endorsed him in September.
Hochul happily rode Mamdani’s coattails as he whipped up excitement among New Yorkers for his focus on affordability, but she has balked at much of his actual agenda — notably, taxing the rich to pay for $10 billion in freebies such as no-cost child care and buses without fares.
The governor’s guarded approach could spell problems for Mamdani, as his grand plans largely require support from both Hochul and lawmakers in Albany.
The two top Dems in the state Legislature — House Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins — have been significantly more open to helping Mamdani deliver his core campaign promises.
Mamdani’s supporters have taken notice of Hochul’s hesitancy and twice recently chanted “Tax the rich” at her, clearly irking the governor.
“The more you push me, the more I’m not going to do what you want,” Hochul told a SOMOS crowd.
But Hochul didn’t fully reject Mamdani’s socialist dreams.
As she urged caution on buses, the governor repeated that she wants to work with Mamdani on delivering free child care — although she hinted that delivering it could take years and billions of dollars.
“We’ll be on a path to get there, because I’m committed to this as ‘mom governor’ — I get it,” she said.
“But also to do it statewide, right now, it’s about $15 billion — the entire amount of my reserves.”
Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump praised Syria President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Monday after the first-ever White House visit for a Damascus head of state — days after the US and United Nations removed sanctions on the onetime al Qaeda terrorist who formerly had a $10 million bounty on his head.
The Syrian leader described his nearly two-hour-long meeting with Trump as “amazing,” during an appearance on Fox News’ “Special Report,” and revealed the commander in chief gifted him a Make America Great Again hat.
“After the fall of the former regime, Syria has entered into a new era, and this will build on a new strategy with the United States,” Al-Sharaa said.
Al-Sharaa, 43, strolled Pennsylvania Avenue to greet dozens of supporters following the roughly 90-minute Oval Office meeting, which was closed to the press. The group held signs calling for Congress to permanently end sanctions that the Trump administration temporarily waived earlier this year.
“He’s a very strong leader. He comes from a very tough place, and he’s a tough guy. I liked him. I get along with him,” Trump told reporters.
“We’ll do everything we can to make Syria successful, because that’s part of the Middle East. We have peace now in the Middle East.”
Trump acknowledged that al-Sharaa has a “rough past,” but said, “We’ve all had rough pasts.”
“I think, frankly, if you didn’t have a rough past, you wouldn’t have a chance,” he added.
The Syrian interim government released photos showing al-Sharaa seated in the Oval Office next to Vice President JD Vance, who served in the Iraq War while the guest of honor was planting roadside bombs there on behalf of al Qaeda.
“This is a matter of the past,” Al-Sharaa said of his previous affiliation with al Qaeda, during his appearance on Fox News.
“We did not discuss this actively,” he added. “We talked about the present and the future.
“We talked about the investment opportunities in the future in Syria, so that Syria is no longer looked at as a security threat. It is now looked at as a geopolitical ally.”
The conversation focused on “a number of regional and international issues of common interest,” the Syrian release said.
The visit was the latest step in al-Sharaa’s dramatic image revamp from turban-wearing jihadist to US-backed head of state since his rebels defeated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a surprise offensive last December.
Al-Sharaa was escorted through the streets of Washington by a large law enforcement motorcade and entered the West Wing through a side door after meetings with Republicans in Congress.
Quote:Rudy Giuliani said he was “surprised” to receive a pardon from President Trump in the alleged plot to overturn the 2020 election results — and said The Post was vindicated for its exclusive reporting on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop.
“President Trump ended a long nightmare for innocent people,” the former New York City mayor and Trump lawyer told The Post Monday, a day after Trump’s Department of Justice granted pardons to 77 people tied to the alleged plot, including Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro.
“The president has made the justice system fair again,” he added. “This pardon decision shows there were two justice systems.”
Giuliani claimed he hadn’t talked to the president about a potential pardon in recent years.
“I was surprised. No one can say President Trump can’t keep a secret,” he quipped.
The Republican once called America’s mayor said the prosecutions were “the worst distortions of the American justice system in our history.”
“This period will also go down as the darkest chapter in our court system,” Giuliani said. “A lot of these electors who were indicted were regular people.”
In his decision, US Pardon Attorney Edward Martin Jr. said the New York Post was also victimized by orchestrated partisan censorship involving the FBI under President Joe Biden.
“This covert operation caused the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story on Twitter and Facebook, as well as the de-platforming of the New York Post on Twitter for two weeks in late October 2020, directly orchestrated by FBI officials,” Martin said.
Giuliani said, “It sets up a lawsuit for the New York Post. It was a violation of the New York Post’s constitutional rights.
“I was vindicated. The New York Post was vindicated,” he said.
The Post’s bombshell reporting on the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned “laptop from hell” contained evidence of influence-peddling, drug use and other lurid activity. The laptop was first reported on in 2020 ahead of Trump’s unsuccessful re-election bid against Democrat Joe Biden.
The contents were initially dismissed by critics and some media members as part of a Russian disinformation campaign and stories on the laptop’s contents got The Post temporarily suspended from social media.
The contents of the laptop showed Hunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm less than a year before the elder Biden pressured government officials in Ukraine into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company, according to emails obtained from the laptop.
Quote:The former Navy SEAL who fatally shot terror chief Osama bin Laden is suing two podcasters for $25 million for repeatedly claiming he lied about assassinating the al-Qaeda leader, according to new court papers.
Robert O’Neill, a highly decorated ex-member of the ultra-elite military unit, claims Antihero Broadcast podcasters Tyler Hoover and Brent Tucker began their unfair on-air crusade against him in 2023 and have since continued to falsely claim he lied about his heroic 2011 act, according to the Westchester County Supreme Court lawsuit filed Monday — the eve of Veteran’s Day.
Hoover, 37, and Tucker, 45, both Florida residents and military veterans themselves, first launched their smear campaign against O’Neill to get clicks and bring attention to their YouTube channel, the suit alleged.
“Besides the Rob O’Neill who didn’t kill bin Laden,” Tucker said at one point during the pair’s Aug. 9, 2023, episode on Antihero, which currently has 120,000 subscribers.
“No, he didn’t kill bin Laden! It is the worst-kept secret in all of special ops,’’ Tucker claimed. “I am not going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I was on the mission.’ I’d be as big a liar as Rob O’Neill.”
Tucker claimed he is friends with some of the other men who were on the mission and that while they are too professional to contradict O’Neill’s account, they also haven’t said, “ ‘Oh, yeah, he’s a great guy. He killed Osama bin Laden.’
“They won’t do it,” Tucker said.
O’Neill, 49, was on SEAL Team Six for its famous May 2, 2011, Operation Neptune’s Spear and was personally responsible for landing the shots that killed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist plotter, the suit said.
That fact was corroborated by the mission’s leader, retired Admr. William H. McRaven, the lawsuit said.
“The story that I’ve been truthful with the entire time is that I had one [other] guy [on the mission] in front of me,” O’Neill told The Post in an exclusive interview.
“He went one direction at the top of the stairs to confront what he thought was a suicide bomber. I turned the other way, and Osama bin Laden was standing there, and so I shot him three times.
“I killed Osama bin Laden.”
“What [Tucker and Hoover] are saying is not true at all,” O’Neill said.
But in an episode April 22, 2024, Hoover said O’Neill was backpedaling on his claims of how it played out and whether his bullets were the ones that finished bin Laden.
“He is going from saying that he was the one that killed Osama bin Laden with da two rounds and a round to the body or something like that … was very specific with his rounds. … Now he is going on an outlet saying his team killed and that he shot bin Laden,’’ Hoover said.
Tucker responded, referring to O’Neill, “ ‘You were just the last guy to put a round in bin Laden.’ And that’s where his original story and now his new story drastically differ[s].”
On Oct. 23, 2025, on Tucker’s new podcast “Tier1,” Tucker claimed that the fact he hadn’t not been sued yet by O’Neill was further proof that Tucker had been right all along about O’Neill’s alleged lies, the suit said.
Quote:One of the accused Jersey boy jihadi yuppies nabbed last week in a bombshell home-grown terrorism case is already angling to get a plea deal from the feds, new court papers show.
Tomas Jimenez-Guzel, 19, of tony liberal Montclair, NJ — which is also home to Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill — was arrested Wednesday for allegedly swearing allegiance to ISIS, plotting to move to the Middle East to build up a group of violent jihadists and threatening violence against Jewish people and other non-Muslims.
Newark federal Magistrate Judge André Espinosa has ordered the next court date in the privileged suspect’s case to be pushed off until Jan. 14, 2026 — partly so that he and prosecutors can try to hash out a desired plea deal, according to a ruling.
Jimenez-Guzel comes from a prominent Montclair family: His mother, Meral Guzel, was once a UN diplomat who headed a women’s business agency, and she also previously worked in banking and finance jobs, according to her LinkedIn account.
“Both the United States and the defendant desire additional time to negotiate a plea agreement, which would render grand jury proceedings and a trial in this matter unnecessary,” Espinosa wrote in court papers.
The extra time will also allow Jimenez-Guzel’s lawyer to wade through all of the evidence the feds have turned over, since “the charges in this case result from a lengthy investigation,” the judge added.
In two criminal complaints totaling nearly 60 pages, the government detailed disturbing group chats and conversations the young alleged jihadis engaged in with other suspected wannabe ISIS terrorists from around the country and world — including some chats that involved their aspirations to behead infidels and carry out a “Boston bombing-like attack.”
The Boston Marathon terror blast in 2013 killed three people and injured more than 260 others.
Jimenez-Guzel’s fellow accused ISIS sympathizer, Milo Sedarat, 19, also lives in Montclair and comes from a standout family.
Sedarat’s father, Roger Sedarat, is a noted Iranian American poet and a professor at Queens College in New York City.
Sedarat proudly proclaimed himself the biggest antisemite in America, raged about the fact his mother had Jewish friends and said he wanted to mow down protesters in a pro-Israel march in Montclair with a car, according to the criminal complaint.
Sedarat, Jimenez-Guzel and another defendant, Saed Ali Mirreh, 19, of Washington state, chatted in online groups with people around the world — including from Finland, Sweden and the UK — about migrating to Syria, building a group of ISIS-inspired terrorists and carrying out violence against non-believers.
Quote:MOUNT VERNON — A Skagit County Superior Court judge denied a request from Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley to exempt Flock camera footage from the Public Records Act.
Judge Elizabeth Neidzwski said Thursday that Public Records Act exemptions don’t apply to the footage an individual requested from the cities and that the footage is considered public record.
Cities across Snohomish County were awaiting Thursday’s decision to gain clarity on how the state’s Public Records Act could apply to Flock camera footage. Some were waiting on the decision to determine whether or not to install Flock cameras at all.
In July, the cities of Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley filed a motion for a declaratory judgment after receiving public records requests for Flock camera footage. The cities argued Flock footage should either not be considered public record or be exempt from the Public Records Act for privacy reasons. Judge Elizabeth Neidzwski denied the motion Thursday.
In April, the defendant, Jose Rodriguez, requested all Flock camera footage in Stanwood from 5-6 p.m. on March 30. In May, Rodriguez made a similar request to Sedro-Woolley for all footage within a half-hour window. In both instances, Rodriguez requested footage that departments had not previously searched for the purposes of investigating a crime.
Flock cameras are a type of automated license plate reader. After Flock cameras capture the back of a vehicle, artificial intelligence analyzes the footage and creates terms for police to search. For example, an officer could search for a vehicle’s make, model, color, or even distinct bumper stickers or body damage, even if they don’t have a specific license plate number. Every time a vehicle passes a camera, the image and associated data are stored in the cloud for a default of 30 days, according to Flock. Any time within those 30 days, an officer can make a search and retrieve the data.
The Public Records Act exempts some records that contain specific intelligence information. Neidzwski said that because the records Rodriguez requested do not pertain to a specific case, the intelligence exemption of the public records act does not apply.
“I do think that the information at stake does have serious privacy implications, but that’s not the analysis for the intelligence information exemption,” she said. “You also have to make a finding that this is specific intelligence information that is compiled by investigative or law enforcement agencies, and the information that’s being compiled here does not relate to a specific case or investigation. The public already knows that these cameras exist and are operated. Many of them are in sight. The information does not disclose particular methods or procedures for gathering or evaluating intelligence information.”
The Public Records Act states that public records include information “prepared, owned, used, or retained” by an agency. Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley argued that Flock footage is only public record once a public agency extracts and downloads the data.
“Requiring public agencies to generate a new search in the Flock cloud system for the sole purpose of accessing and downloading data requested under the PRA, data which the agency had not previously accessed, would require the agency to create new public records not in existence at the time of the request,” Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley’s complaint read.
Timothy Hall, who represented Rodriguez in the case, argued that the footage is public record because it serves a governmental purpose.
“I don’t think there’s any real question that these are public records,” he said. “Government agencies do not need to possess documents in order for the Public Records Act to apply to them, and the Washington State Supreme Court has ruled on that issue. … So the fact that they can’t access their own records doesn’t in any way affect the Public Records Act or an individual’s ability to get records.”
Even if the footage is public record, the cities argued it should still be exempt from requests for privacy reasons. The Public Records Act exempts certain intelligence information that could jeopardize the effectiveness of law enforcement or a person’s right to privacy if released. State law does not explicitly exempt automated license plate reader data from public records, but it does have explicit exemptions for red-light camera data.
Quote:First lady Melania Trump wasn’t fully onboard with her husband’s decision to demolish the East Wing of the White House to make way for a new ballroom but is warming up to the renovations, President Trump revealed Monday.
“She loved her little, tiny office,” the president told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, when asked about a Wall Street Journal report that Melania had privately raised concerns about tearing down the East Wing.
Trump, 79, did not deny the report but suggested his wife quickly warmed up to the massive construction project, which began late last month.
“She’s very smart,” he said of Melania, during his appearance on “The Ingraham Angle,” claiming that “in about one day she — if you were to ask her now, she’d say, ‘It’s great.’”
The East Wing housed the first lady’s offices and the White House’s social offices, including the graphics and calligraphy departments.
Administration officials cited in the Wall Street Journal’s report last month indicated that Melania had told associates that the demolition was not her project.
The president is erecting a massive, 90,000-square-foot ballroom in the space once occupied by the East Wing, which was originally built in 1902 and renovated extensively since.
“The East Wing,” Trump told Ingraham, “that building was renovated 20 times, including adding a floor to the top, which was terrible.”
“It was made out of common brick, little, tiny windows. It looked like hell.”
Trump said he “didn’t want to sacrifice a great ballroom for an OK ballroom by leaving [the East Wing] right smack in the middle.”
When the president first unveiled plans to build the ballroom, he suggested the structure would be nestled near the existing East Wing and not replace it entirely.
Trump claims the project is entirely financed by donations and will cost up to $300 million.
Quote:DULLES, Va. (AP) — A vehicle transporting passengers at a Washington, D.C.-area airport hit a dock at the building Monday afternoon, sending 18 people to the hospital, according to officials.
A mobile lounge, which transports passengers between the terminal and aircraft, struck the dock at an angle at about 4:30 p.m. at Washington Dulles International Airport as it was pulling up to the building, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said in a statement. The dock is where the vehicle stops to let people into the concourse.
The passengers who were hurt have non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to the hospital by the fire department, according to the authority.
“The airport is open and operating as normal,” according to the authority’s statement.
There are 19 mobile lounges at Dulles and they can carry up to 102 passengers, according to the airport’s website. They are about 54 feet (16.5 meters) long and 16 feet (4.9 meters) wide.
Quote:Witnesses have described the chilling moment they heard a “huge bang” as a Disney superfan jumped to her death at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel after flying to Florida without her family.
Summer Equitz, 31, died at the Contemporary Resort after leaping from a 12th-floor balcony in front of stunned guests and staff on Oct. 14.
A married couple who were staying at the hotel have described the horrifying moment Equitz landed just 30 feet from where they were standing on the fourth-floor observation deck.
“[They] were standing on the balcony outside by the chairs looking out at the view when they heard a loud noise and turned to see a female laying on the ground … an estimated 10 yards away,” according to an incident report from an Orange County sheriff’s deputy obtained by The Post.
One of the witnesses “moved closer to see if she was breathing, which she did not appear to be,” the report stated.
Another witness described seeing “a person out of the corner of her eye and heard a huge bang.”
A member of staff at the hotel had been on the 15th-floor observation deck with a co-worker when Equitz jumped to her death from three floors below.
“When he got to the 12th floor, [he] discovered a blue tote bag resting against the steel rail guard,” the report states.
Quote:An illegal immigrant from Mexico was arrested after he allegedly opened fire at Border Patrol agents during a weekend raid in Chicago — which also saw protesters lobbing bricks at the feds.
The man, who was not identified, allegedly drove up alongside agents during an immigration raid in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood and fired a few rounds before speeding off in a Jeep.
At the same time, a swarm of protesters was trying to physically block authorities, with some chucking bricks and a bucket of paint at their vehicles.
No injuries were reported as cops pivoted to track down the gunman.
The Department of Homeland Security announced that it had taken the “criminal illegal alien from Mexico” into custody on Monday, and revealed he had prior convictions for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon or vehicle, felony possession of a weapon and illegal entry, on X.
“This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of violence and obstruction. Over the past two months, we’ve seen an increase in assaults and obstruction targeting federal law enforcement during operations. These confrontations highlight the dangers our agents face daily and the escalating aggression toward law enforcement,” DHS wrote.
The agency added that the man was “marked as a violator of the Laken Riley Act, pending charges relating to assaulting officers.”
The Laken Riley Act was ratified in January 2025 and specifically permits DHS to take “certain non-U.S. nationals” into custody if they have prior arrests or convictions for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting, according to the bill.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem doubled down and pinned blame on Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who previously likened Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s operations in Chicago to World War II-era raids in Nazi Germany.
“[Gov. JB Pritzker] is protecting violent criminal illegal aliens who want American law enforcement officers dead. This is a battle between law and order, good and evil—and we will prevail,” Noem wrote on X.
In late October, DHS announced that ICE officers face an 8,000% increase in death threats, but Noem asserted that the intimidation would “not stop us or slow us down.”
The updated statistics were announced shortly after the Chicago-based gang Latin Kings was accused of placing a $10,000 bounty on Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino’s head. A ranking member of the gang was later arrested in connection with the threat.
Quote:Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has waded into the fight to allow cameras in court for Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old Utah man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk.
Grassley, who has long supported the idea of allowing cameras into federal courtrooms, where they're currently banned, referred to Kirk's slaying as one of the "pivotal moments in history" and argued that such cases should play out before the public eye.
"I want to compliment Erika Kirk, wife of assassinated conservative leader Charlie Kirk. She has made an emotional appeal to have cameras in the courtroom at the trial of her husband’s [alleged] murderer," he said on the Senate floor Tuesday. "I commend her for this brave plea, because it fits in with a stand I’ve been taking for the last couple of decades."
Most states, including Utah, allow cameras in their courtrooms, or at least give judges discretion, he said. But federally, there are no cameras. Robinson is facing state-level charges.
In an October motion seeking permission to have him appear in civilian clothes and without shackles, Robinson's lawyers argued that federal courts have upheld that restrictions on cameras in the courtroom do not violate the media's First Amendment rights.
Utah Judge Tony Graf granted his motion to wear regular clothes, denied his motion to appear without shackles and held off a decision on the camera issue after telling both sides to come up with new briefs.
Separately, he has allowed Robinson to attend his last two public hearings remotely, without being on camera.
Robinson is due back in court on Jan. 16, 2026. Graf has so far allowed both news cameras in the courtroom and a court-operated public livestream, but lawyers on the case have indicated they would support limits or an outright ban on news cameras.
Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, told Fox News' Jesse Watters this week she supports keeping the cameras in place.
"There were cameras all over my husband when he was murdered," she said. "There have been cameras all over my friends and family mourning. There have been cameras all over me, analyzing my every move, analyzing my every smile, my every tear. We deserve to have cameras in there."
Criminal defendants have a right to a fair trial, but not to privacy or to try and minimize public interest in the case, said Royal Oakes, a Los Angeles-based media attorney who successfully argued to have news cameras in court for OJ Simpson's 1990s murder trial.
"A more traditional argument for courtroom transparency is the right of the public to see its justice system at work," he told Fox News Digital. "But Erika Kirk is right to call for broadcasting of court proceedings because, whether the accused is found guilty or not, citizens are entitled to observe hearings and a trial, and make up their own minds about the allegations."
To solve the federal issue, Grassley has sponsored two bipartisan bills – the Sunshine in the Courtroom Act, which would give all federal judges the authority to allow cameras in their courtrooms, and the Cameras in the Courtroom Act, which would have the U.S. Supreme Court televise all open sessions unless a majority of justices believe doing so would violate due process.
Quote:Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker said there was a “grain of truth” to President Donald Trump’s argument that Harvard University was a “liberal mess.”
“President Trump has described Harvard as a liberal mess, that it has been hiring almost all woke, radical left idiots and birdbrains,” CBS’ Bill Whitaker asked Pinker during “60 Minutes.” “The language is a bit harsh, but does he have a point here?”
“Not there, no. I do not agree with that. I think there is a grain of a truth,” Pinker said. “I think there should be more voices on the right at Harvard.”
The Trump administration has taken aim at elite universities over antisemitism. Trump slashed more than $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard earlier this year due to its failure to comply with the recommendations of a federal antisemitism task force. A judge in Boston blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to slash funding in September.
Pinker added that he didn’t think Trump should be the one determining whose voices are acceptable.
Whitaker asked Pinker where he believed Harvard had gone wrong.
“I think there have been too many incidents in which someone has expressed a controversial opinion and has been shamed or canceled,” Pinker said.
Harvard University did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
He specifically pointed to former Harvard professor Carole Hooven, who previously taught the “Hormones and Behavior” human evolutionary biology course at the university.
Hooven said school administrators didn’t support her after comments she made during a Fox News interview about biological sex.
The former professor told Fox News in 2021, “The ideology seems to be that biology really isn’t as important as how somebody feels about themselves or feels their sex to be.”
“The facts are that there are, in fact, two sexes — there are male and female — and those sexes are designated by the kind of gametes we produce,” she said.
Quote:President Trump threatened the British Broadcasting Corporation with a $1 billion lawsuit in Florida Monday if it did not retract a news program that featured doctored footage of Trump’s remarks ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
In a letter from Trump’s outside counsel obtained by The Post, the BBC was given until 5 p.m. ET Friday to “retract the false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements made about President Trump” in its “Panorama” program that aired Oct. 28, 2024, titled “Trump: A Second Chance?”
“If the BBC does not comply … President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars) in damages,” wrote attorney Alejandro Brito.
“The BBC is on notice.”
“The BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally and deceitfully editing its documentary in order to try and interfere in the Presidential Election,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team said. “President Trump will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in lies, deception, and fake news.”
BBC Director General Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness resigned after a whistleblower told The Telegraph newspaper last week that the program spliced together two clips of Trump to suggest he had instructed his supporters to storm the Capitol in his now-infamous speech at the Ellipse.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol … and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell,” Trump was shown saying.
In fact, those two portions of the speech took place more than 50 minutes apart.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them,” the then-45th president said, adding much later: “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
The broadcast also edited out Trump telling his supporters: “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
“Due to their salacious nature, the fabricated statements that were aired by the BBC have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums, which have reached tens of millions of people worldwide,” Brito wrote. “Consequently, the BBC has caused President Trump to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm.”
On Monday, BBC Chair Samir Shah conceded in a statement to a UK parliamentary committee that “we accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action.
“The BBC would like to apologise [sic] for that error of judgement,” added Shah, who said the goal had been to “convey the message of the speech made by President Trump so that Panorama’s audience could better understand how it had been received by President Trump’s supporters and what was happening on the ground at that time.”
Shah went on to say that the edit “was considered and discussed as part of a wider review of the BBC’s US Election coverage … rather than handled as a specific programme [sic] complaint, given it had not attracted significant audience feedback and had been transmitted before the US election, so the point wasn’t pursued further at that time … With hindsight, it would have been better to take more formal action.”
“The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught “doctoring” my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th,” Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday as he returned to Washington from a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort. “Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists.’
“These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election,” the president went on. “On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!”
Argentinian President Javier Milei said he will “warmly” welcome New Yorkers fleeing the “communist” regime of Big Apple Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
The libertarian prez — who famously wielded a chainsaw to illustrate how he would slash government control and spending — warned that the Big Apple could suffer under the far-left philosophy that plunged his country into decades of economic ruin.
“I dedicate these words to New Yorkers, who have taken the opposite path that of Argentina, and will now be living under a communist party,” Milei declared at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) circle retreat and gala at Mar-a-Lago late last week, per a translation.
“They should know that if the going gets tough, they will always be warmly welcome in our land if they seek to prosper.”
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has fashioned himself as a Democratic Socialist, rather than a hammer-and-sickle-waving communist. But a resurfaced clip from him at a 2021 Young Democratic Socialists of America conference showed him touting “the end goal of seizing the means of production.”
In that 2021 speech, he acknowledged that the goal was unpopular at that moment, but contended that it should be pursued anyway, calling upon leaders to be “unapologetic about our socialism.”
Mamdani, who won the Big Apple’s mayoral race last Tuesday, has vowed to freeze rent costs, massively raise taxes on the wealthy and businesses, make citywide busing free, set up government-run grocery stores, provide free child-care services and more.
Technically, he would need the approval from the state legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to raise taxes and fund most of those initiatives.
Milei, who did the “YMCA” dance during his address at the CPAC gala, is fresh off the heels of his La Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances) party, massively overperforming expectations in the midterm elections last month.
Markets had been rattled by polling showing his party down in the polls amid a series of scandals that plagued the bombastic libertarian, leading to a selloff of Argentinian assets, including the Peso.
President Trump’s team then threw him a lifeline, offering a $20 billion currency swap earlier this month — with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicating the amount could expand to $40 billion by leaning on private sector assistance.
Ultimately, the peso began to rebound after La Libertad Avanza’s stunning suite of victories, which will give Milei more breathing room at his works to implement the next phase of his agenda.
Quote:A tornado ripped through Southern Brazil on Friday, killing at least five people and injuring 432 others.
According to the Paraná State Government, four deaths occurred in Rio Bonito do Iguaçu and one happened in Guarapuava.
The tornado collapsed structures, leaving people trapped, the government said.
Search and rescue of the collapsed buildings was still ongoing Saturday.
The government said the Military Fire Department of Paraná and health services provided medical attention for the 432 injured people.
Nine people were seriously injured.
Local and federal Brazilian government officials visited the areas affected on Saturday morning.
The tornado that hit the community was originally classified as an EF-2, according to the state government, but after assessment of damage, could be reclassified as an EF-3.
Wind gusts ranged between 111 and 155 mph.
“Since the beginning of November, several cities in Paraná have faced heavy rains, storms, gales and hail, which led the State Government to take emergency measures to release resources, assist victims and rebuild affected areas,” the government said.
The government said as of Friday, 14 cities were in a state of emergency.
Quote:Peru’s lawmakers swore in Congress chief Jose Jeri as the country’s new president less than an hour after unanimously voting to remove President Dina Boluarte, as anger mounted over rising crime and accusations of corruption.
One of the world’s least popular leaders was ousted shortly after midnight on Friday, just hours after various political blocs first presented motions for Boluarte’s removal on grounds of moral incapacity.
The vote took place after several members of popular cumbia music group Agua Marina were injured in a shooting during a concert held on Wednesday in a venue belonging to the Peruvian military.
JERI CALLS FOR WAR ON CRIME
Motions for Boluarte’s removal cited the economic impacts of rising crime, as well as allegations of corruption and a scandal known locally as Rolexgate over the provenance of her collection of luxury watches.
Jeri, who becomes Peru’s seventh president since 2016, signaled he would take a tough approach on insecurity.
“The main enemy is out there on the streets: criminal gangs,” he told Congress, wearing a sash of the national flag. “We must declare war on crime.”
The 38-year-old member of the conservative Somos Peru party, who became Congress president in July, joins the ranks of some of the world’s youngest heads of state.
Crowds had gathered outside Congress and Ecuador’s embassy, where there had been speculation that Boluarte could seek asylum.
Some people were in a celebratory mood waving flags, dancing and playing instruments.
Shortly after Congress voted to remove her, Boluarte made an address at the presidential palace where she acknowledged that the same Congress that had sworn her in late 2022 had now voted for her removal, “with the implications this has for the stability of democracy in our country.”
“At every moment, I called for unity,” she said.
LOSING SUPPORT
Lawmakers from across the political spectrum had late on Thursday summoned Boluarte to defend herself before Congress that same night.
She never arrived, and lawmakers had sufficient votes to proceed with a rapid impeachment process.
Boluarte, 63, was deeply disliked, with approval ratings between 2% and 4%, following accusations she has illicitly profited from her office and is responsible for lethal crackdowns on protests in favor of her predecessor.
Quote:A Chinese consul general in Japan threatened to decapitate the nation’s new prime minister over her comments in defense of Taiwan, prompting outrage in Tokyo and underscoring the rising tension between the two regional powers.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took office last month, told a parliamentary committee Friday that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan would likely create a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan — one that could compel Tokyo to deploy its Self-Defense Forces in response. The democratically governed island sits just 60 miles from Japanese territory.
Xue Jian, the Chinese consul general in Osaka, fired back in a since-deleted X post on Sunday: "That filthy neck that barged in on its own — I’ve got no choice but to cut it off without a moment’s hesitation. Are you prepared for that?"
Japan’s government condemned the statement, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara calling it "extremely inappropriate" and confirming that Tokyo had lodged a formal protest with Beijing. Kihara said Xue had made "multiple" inflammatory remarks in the past and urged China to take disciplinary action.
China instead appeared to defend the diplomat. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters Monday that Xue’s words came in response to Takaichi’s "wrongful and dangerous" comments, which he said misrepresented China’s position on Taiwan. Lin accused Japan of "refusing to face up to its historical responsibilities" and warned Tokyo not to interfere in "internal Chinese affairs."
Takaichi later told reporters her comments were "hypothetical" and said she would refrain from making similar remarks in the future.
The episode threatens to strain already fraught relations between Asia’s two largest economies. Takaichi, a nationalist known for her hawkish views on China and close ties with Washington, has sought to deepen defense cooperation with the Trump administration. She has pledged to push Japan’s long-stagnant defense spending above 1% of GDP and to play a more assertive role in maintaining stability across the Taiwan Strait.
U.S. defense officials have long argued that Japan’s participation would be critical in any potential conflict over Taiwan, which Beijing sees as its own.
Japan's chief cabinet secretary Minoru Kihara said that while the intent of the post was "not entirely clear" Xue’s remarks were "extremely inappropriate." He said Xue had made multiple inappropriate statements and Japan has asked Beijing to take action.
Hypothetical!?
She won't dare to utter that word once again if Taiwanese or Japanese territory ever gets invaded by Chinese invaders in a (distant) future.
Quote:Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Newsweek that the deployment of the United States Typhon missile system in the country does not target any specific nation, after Russia said it reserved the right to take "necessary measures" to ensure its security.
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Forces Japan for comment via email. The Russian defense and foreign ministries did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Why It Matters
The Typhon Mid-Range Capability system is a U.S. Army ground-based missile system capable of conducting land-attack missions with 1,000-mile-range Tomahawk cruise missiles. It was deployed to Japan in September for the Resolute Dragon 25 bilateral drill, putting Russia's Far East region within its range, according to a Newsweek map.
The missile deployment followed the U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019, which banned land-based cruise missiles with a range of 310 to 3,417 miles, citing Russia's deployment of a prohibited weapon. The withdrawal allowed the U.S. to pursue similar systems capable of countering Russia.
What To Know
Russia's Foreign Ministry lodged a strong protest with Japan's embassy on October 31 over security concerns regarding the country's Far Eastern borders, where both nations claim ownership of four islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Hokkaido.
Moscow claimed that the Typhon system, which can launch shorter- and intermediate-range missiles, had not been withdrawn from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, a key U.S. military base in Japan, following the conclusion of Exercise Resolute Dragon 25.
"It was noted in this connection that the Russian Federation reserved the right to take the necessary compensatory measures for ensuring the due level of its security," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a press release. No further explanation was provided.
In response, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement to Newsweek on Thursday that the bilateral war game aimed to improve the "mobile deployment capabilities" of similar U.S. missiles and is not targeting any specific country or region.
Japan's Defense Ministry previously told Newsweek that the U.S. military "is currently preparing for the retrograde" of the Typhon missile system, adding that the deployment was temporary for the exercise and is not intended to be permanently based in Japan.
Dmitry Stefanovich, a research fellow at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Newsweek that Russia could deploy its INF-range weapons, including the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile and the Kalibr cruise missile, as countermeasures.
Russia could also strengthen air and missile defenses in the Far East, but all measures would likely wait until the end of the war in Ukraine, according to Stefanovich.
In the protest, Russia also said a joint exercise of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, held in late October across the country—including Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island—took place in the "geographical vicinity" of the Russian Federation.
Moscow described the Japanese war game as "provocative military activity," creating a potential threat to Russia's Far Eastern borders. Tokyo told Newsweek that the drill aimed to enhance the "integrated operational capabilities" of the Self-Defense Forces.
Quote:Russia is assessing how to carry out possible nuclear tests, the Kremlin said on Sunday, after President Vladimir Putin ordered the country's experts to draw up proposals for what could be the first nuclear tests by Moscow in decades.
The Context
President Donald Trump announced last month the U.S. would "immediately" start nuclear weapons testing on "an equal basis" with unnamed countries. His remarks were opaque, leaving doubt over whether the Republican referred to tests of delivery systems or warheads. Government officials reportedly discussed restarting nuclear tests during his previous administration after accusing Russia and China of carrying out "low yield" tests, which both countries denied.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright earlier this month said the U.S. was not planning on carrying out nuclear explosions.
The U.S., Russia and China—the three countries with the largest atomic arsenals—have not conducted full nuclear tests since the 1990s, although drills to make sure weapons still function correctly have continued in the decades since. North Korea is the only known exception, and the last test the Kremlin carried out was during the now-collapsed Soviet Union.
Russia has reacted with confusion to Trump's announcement and said it is waiting for clarification from the U.S. Moscow and the Washington combined control roughly 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons.
What To Know
"We really need clarification of what exactly was meant," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told state media on Sunday. But Putin ordered experts to create plans for how the country could resume its own nuclear testing, he said.
Putin told his security council last week experts must do "everything possible" to formulate proposals for new nuclear testing preparations. Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov told his president it was "advisable to begin preparations for full-scale nuclear tests immediately.”
Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said on Saturday the public would be "informed about the results" of proposals on how to restart nuclear testing.
The 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty prohibited all explosions. The U.S. signed the treaty but has not ratified it, while Russia withdrew its ratification in 2023. But both sides would have to pull their signature if they no longer intend to observe the treaty.
Experts say resuming full nuclear testing would benefit China most of all, as its modern-day nuclear arsenal is vastly different to its 20th-century weapons. William Alberque, a former head of NATO's nuclear non-proliferation center currently with the Pacific Forum nonprofit, previously told Newsweek the U.S. could be ready to perform some form of test within about six to 10 months, but would likely need three years to prepare for a series of tests.
Russia said it had carried out tests of its Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and its nuclear-capable Poseidon torpedo last month, but that these trials did not count as full nuclear tests. It would be "an extremely superficial and incorrect judgment," Peskov said on Sunday.
Quote:Russia’s latest drone and missile attack struck stations powering two major nuclear plants in Ukraine, putting Europe in danger of a “catastrophic incident,” Kyiv warned on Sunday.
Moscow’s overnight assault, which killed 12 people in Ukraine, also struck the substations that supply power to the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plant, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a statement.
“These were not accidental but well-planned strikes. Russia is deliberately endangering nuclear safety in Europe,” Sybiha alleged.
“We also urge all states that value nuclear safety, particularly China and India, to demand Russia stop reckless attacks on nuclear energy that risk a catastrophic incident,” he added.
Sybiha also called on the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog group, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to hold an urgent meeting following the attack on the two nuclear plants.
Kyiv has repeatedly accused Russia of targeting the country’s nuclear power plants in a ploy to decimate Ukraine’s energy grid ahead of the harsh winter months.
Along with targeting the power plants in the latest attack — which saw more than 450 drones and 45 missiles fired — energy facilities in the Kyiv, Poltava and Kharkiv regions were damaged, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
The damages have left thousands of people in the regions without power and water.
Emergency crews were deployed to stabilize the power grid, but Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk has warned that power cuts were needed to address the power outages.
Despite the work, blackouts are persisting in both Poltava and Kharkiv, according to local news reports.
“The last strike was not even a month ago and the enemy has now struck all our generating capacity at the same time. The stations are on fire!” the state-owned Tsentrenergo energy company said in a statement.
Tsentrenergo, which generates nearly a tenth of Ukraine’s power, has been forced to halt operations at its plants in Kharkiv and Kyiv, with its power output currently at zero, the company warned.
Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin displayed a “swollen and sore” hand that appeared covered in bulging veins during a recent press conference, igniting new speculations over his health.
Putin, whose right hand has been a source of health rumors over the years, was spotted clenching his hand tightly in discomfort during an event in which the 73-year-old addressed a crowd of loyalists on a basketball court.
The images sparked fresh speculations that the Russian dictator has been fighting a serious illness, with online sleuths claiming Putin had everything from Parkinson’s to cancer.
“There’s something wrong with Putin’s hands,” Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry, told East2West.
“Apart from the fact that they’re covered in blood up to the elbows, his veins are bulging too,” he added while taking a shot at Putin’s relentless invasion of Ukraine.
Many other Ukrainians were quick to hop on the speculation, with media personality Dmytro Gordon telling the outlet that Putin’s hands appeared “swollen and sore, with veins bulging prominently on one hand.”
Putin’s hands became the subject of discussion during the first year of the Ukraine war, where a black spot appeared on the Russian leader’s hands during a military visit, while other photos claimed to show signs of numerous IV marks on his hands.
Putin has also been seen grabbing hold of tables while speaking, with his hands otherwise twitching, which many claim is further proof of Parkinson’s.
The Kremlin has never confirmed any of the health rumors that are circulating about Putin.
The Russian leader isn’t alone in facing online scrutiny over images of his hand. Earlier this year, President Trump became the focus of online health sleuths after he was pictured with similar dark bruises.
Quote:Pokrovsk, a city formerly home to around 60,000 in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, is ground zero for Russia’s latest offensive in Moscow’s nearly three-year-old invasion of its neighbor.
Despite the Kremlin’s forces using every trick to try to break through Ukrainian defenses, Kyiv is grimly holding on to the logistically important town, armed forces of Ukraine commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi exclusively told The Post Sunday.
“The situation on the front line is really a tense one, where the enemy is carrying out a strategic offensive operation,’” he said. “They’ve collected most of the forces, creating domination in an attempt to breach our defense line … to capture the area.”
Despite Russian state TV and social media propagandists insisting that Pokrovsk has fallen and Ukrainians are trapped, Syrskyi says the opposite is the case following a September counterattack that cost the invaders “about 13,000” casualties and allowed Ukrainian forces to clear more than 165 square miles.
“They continue to show this area on their maps as if it’s under their control,” he said. “This perception — that the enemy has got practically everything and they’re about to finish it — is not true.”
Undeterred, Moscow has sent roughly 150,000 troops — out of the roughly 700,000 on Ukrainian territory — in the direction of Pokrovsk, with powerful mechanized groups and four marine brigades committed to the push.
Russia’s goal is to encircle Pokrovsk and neighboring towns from north, south and east, choking off supply lines and squeezing out any remaining civilians in its latest gambit to capture all of Donetsk, the commander explained.
As the Kremlin burns through funds to pay top dollar to enlisted men and mercenaries, some analysts have questioned how long Moscow can continue sending soldiers to die without resorting to conscription, which would be deeply unpopular and hurt Russian President Vladimir Putin politically.
“Our task is to see that their level of mobilizing people would be equal or less than the number of losses they sustain,” Syrskyi said. “They’ve been doing these active assault actions for two months without any material success.”
The Ukrainians have spent months building fortifications around residential townships to blunt the effectiveness of heavy machinery like tanks.
“There’s a difference between having to defend yourself in the open field or an urban structure,” Syrskyi said. “Our urban areas are able to hold off huge masses of enemy troops.”
Russian regulars aren’t all Kyiv’s forces have to contend with, as sabotage teams attempt to strike rear positions and communications and Kremlin information operatives work overtime to sow doubt at home and abroad.
Actually, this is a nearly 4-year-old war being fought in Ukrainian soil.
Quote:Russia attacked the BBC over the scandal involving its editing of video clips that were filmed 54 minutes apart showing President Donald Trump's speech on January 6, 2021 so it misleadingly appeared he had encouraged his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol.
“They are beyond reproach," Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told her country's state-run Tass news agency, originally in Russian.
Zakharova also accused the BBC, Britain's public broadcaster, of "falsification" in its reporting of the 2022 Bucha massacre by Russian troops in Ukraine.
A BBC spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement: “Our independent and impartial reporting of Russia and the war in Ukraine continues to serve audiences who come to the BBC for trusted news and analysis.”
The scandal is the latest vindication of Trump in his campaign against the media, which he and his allies accuse of persistent bias against him, and has seen the president file multiple lawsuits against major networks and broadcasters.
It also adds fuel to Russia's attempts to undermine public trust in the media, just as Western allies accuse the Kremlin of peddling damaging disinformation in their societies.
Russia Draws Bucha Massacre Comparison
Two senior leaders at the BBC—its Director General Tim Davie and CEO of BBC News Deborah Turness—resigned amid the backlash over its handling of the documentary concerned.
The BBC's Panorama documentary program, aired in October 2024, spliced together two sections of Trump's speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell."
Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
"The falsification in Bucha was likewise ‘edited,’ or rather, informationally fabricated, precisely by the BBC," Zakharova claimed, accusing the institution of having "invented incredible stories" and "inflated absurd disinformation" in other coverage of Russia.
The BBC published satellite imagery in April 2022 taken a month before that showed corpses lying in the street's in the Ukrainian city of Bucha while it was under the control of Russian forces. The BBC found that some of the bodies had their hands tied behind their backs, which suggests executions rather than incidental battlefield deaths.
Ukrainian authorities, including local officials in Bucha, said that hundreds of civilians were killed during the Russian occupation of the city. Ukraine said many of those killed were shot, some with their hands tied, and that the killings amount to war crimes.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the images and footage of deaths in Bucha were a “staged provocation” by Ukraine and its Western backers. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the situation in Bucha as a “fake attack” orchestrated by the West.
Russia claims its forces left Bucha before the bodies appeared on the streets, and thus argues its forces cannot be responsible.
BBC Trump Editing Scandal
Pressure on the BBC's top executives had been growing since the British Daily Telegraph newspaper published parts of a dossier compiled by Michael Prescott, who had been hired to advise the BBC on standards and guidelines. The BBC has strict rules of impartiality in its editorial guidelines that it must uphold.
As well as the Trump edit, it criticized the BBC’s coverage of transgender issues and raised concerns of anti-Israel bias in the BBC’s Arabic service.
The Panorama episode showed an edited clip from the January 2021 speech in which Trump claimed the 2020 presidential election had been rigged. Trump is shown saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
According to video and a transcript from Trump’s comments that day, he said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.
“Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated.
“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Trump used the “fight like hell” phrase toward the end of his speech, but without referencing the Capitol.
“We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” Trump said.
Quote:Actress Angelina Jolie visited families living on the front lines in Ukraine, where she witnessed firsthand the daily danger Ukrainians face in a region hauntingly dubbed a “human safari zone” — where Russian drones hunt civilians.
The Oscar winner made her second trip to Ukraine during Russia’s invasion last week, stopping by the besieged city of Kherson, where Moscow’s drone pilots regularly target civilians, including infants and seniors.
“The threat of drones was a constant, heavy presence,” Jolie, 50, said in an Instagram post on Sunday.
“You hear a low hum in the sky. There was a moment when we had to pause and wait while a drone flew overhead,” she added.
“I was in protective gear, and for me, it was just a couple of days. The families here live with this every single day.”
Jolie toured the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions with the UK-based Legacy of War Foundation, where she met with civilians as they tried to adapt to living in reinforced basements and safe houses under the threat of Russian drones.
Russia has been regularly attacking Kherson’s civilian population since the summer of 2024, with Ukrainian and human rights groups accusing Moscow of effectively transforming the area into a “human safari zone.”
Nearly 150 civilians were killed in the initial summer assault and hundreds more were injured, according to the United Nations, with the attacks continuing daily.
The Post has previously reported on one attack that killed a 1-year-old boy while he was playing outside and another strike that killed an 84-year-old as she herded goats.
Jolie said she wanted to visit the people in Kherson to highlight the civilian toll of Russia’s invasion and make sure the residents there know that the world is not just silently watching.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:The House will vote on reopening the federal government Wednesday after lawmakers’ funding bill survived a key hurdle earlier in the morning.
The bipartisan deal to end the 42-day government shutdown advanced through the House Rules Committee overnight Wednesday, with all Republicans supporting the measure and all Democrats against.
It now moves to the full House for consideration, where multiple people familiar with GOP leaders’ conversations told Fox News Digital they believe it will pass with nearly all Republicans on board.
Passage through the House Rules Committee is a meaningful step toward ending the shutdown, now the longest in US history by roughly a week.
The panel’s hearing to advance the bill lasted more than six hours, kicking off Wednesday evening and ending shortly after 1 a.m. on Thursday.
Democrats attempted to force votes on amendments dealing with COVID-19-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year and other issues opposed by the GOP, though all failed.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, made a notable surprise appearance at one point, testifying in favor of his own amendment to extend those subsidies for another three years.
The lengthy hearing saw members on opposite sides of the aisle clash several times as well, with Democrats repeatedly accusing Republicans of robbing Americans of their healthcare and taking a “vacation” for several weeks while remaining in their districts during the shutdown.
“I am sick and tired of hearing you all say we had an eight-week vacation,” House Rules Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-NC, said at one point. “I worked every day. I don’t know about you. I don’t want to hear another soul say that.”
Democrats and some Republicans also piled on a provision in the funding bill that would allow GOP senators to sue the federal government for $500,000 for secretly obtaining their phone records during ex-Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation.
“I think there’s gonna be a lot of people, if they look and understand this, they’re going to see it as self-serving, self-dealing kind of stuff. And I don’t think that’s right,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said.
“I’m trying to figure out what we can do to force the Senate’s hand to say, ‘You’re going to repeal this provision and fix it,’ without amending it here.”
The bill will now get a House-wide “rule vote,” a procedural test that, if it passes, allows lawmakers to debate the legislation itself.
Lawmakers are expected to then hold a final vote sometime on Wednesday evening on sending the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
Quote:The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended an order blocking full SNAP payments, amid signals that the government shutdown could soon end and food aid payments resume.
The order keeps in place at least for a few more days a chaotic situation. People who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to feed their families in some states have received their full monthly allocations, while others have received nothing.
The order will expire just before midnight Thursday.
The Senate has approved a bill to end the shutdown and the House of Representatives could vote on it as early as Wednesday. Reopening the government would restart the program that helps 42 million Americans buy groceries, but it’s not clear how quickly full payments would resume.
The justices chose what is effectively the path of least resistance, anticipating the federal government shutdown will end soon while avoiding any substantive legal ruling about whether lower court orders to keep full payments flowing during the shutdown are correct.
Beneficiaries in some states have received their full monthly allocations while in others they have received nothing. Some states have issued partial payments.
How quickly SNAP benefits could reach recipients if the government reopens would vary by state. But states and advocates say that it’s easier to make full payments quickly than partial ones.
Carolyn Vega, a policy analyst at the advocacy group Share Our Strength, also said there could be some technical challenges for states that have issued partial benefits to send out the remaining amount.
An urgent need for beneficiaries
In Pennsylvania, full November benefits went out to some people on Friday. But Jim Malliard, 41, of Franklin, said he had not received anything by Monday.
Malliard is a full-time caretaker for his wife, who is blind and has had several strokes this year, and his teenage daughter, who suffered severe medical complications from surgery last year.
That stress has only been compounded by the pause in the $350 monthly SNAP payment he previously received for himself, his wife and daughter. He said he is down to $10 in his account and is relying on what’s left in the pantry — mostly rice and ramen.
“It’s kind of been a lot of late nights, making sure I had everything down to the penny to make sure I was right,” Malliard said. “To say anxiety has been my issue for the past two weeks is putting it mildly.”
The political wrangling in Washington has shocked many Americans, and some have been moved to help.
“I figure that I’ve spent money on dumber stuff than trying to feed other people during a manufactured famine,” said Ashley Oxenford, a teacher who set out a “little food pantry” in her front yard this week for vulnerable neighbors in Carthage, New York.
SNAP has been the center of an intense fight in court
Quote:Violent “Antifa thugs” stormed a sold-out event for Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA at the University of California, Berkeley, organizers said — with keffiyeh-clad protesters clashing with cops and attendees, leaving some covered in blood.
Turning Point USA leaders quickly blamed the bloody violence on anti-fascist agitators as footage showed demonstrators trying to break through police barricades after the campus event for the group was kicking off late Monday.
“Right now at our Turning Point USA campus tour stop at UC Berkeley… Antifa is breaking through police barricades and threatening our event attendees,” TPUSA chief of staff Mikey McCoy said on X.
As the violence erupted, one disturbing clip shot by Fox News showed a man in a red “Freedom” T-shirt with blood gushing from his face.
Police were spotted pulling him and another man apart as anti-Turning Point demonstrators — including some sporting keffiyehs — tried to intervene.
At least two people had already been arrested, including one for battery, before the event got underway, police said.
The event — which was held two months after Kirk, TPUSA’s co-founder, was assassinated at a campus event in Utah — drew hundreds of rowdy protesters.
Antifa expert Andy Ngo said the violence “was organized by the violent outsider Antifa group, By Any Means Necessary.”
“The group was involved in organizing prior Antifa attacks on the campus and in the city,” wrote Ngo, the author of “Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy.”
As night fell, footage captured demonstrators chanting loudly outside as cops clad in riot gear formed a barricade and blocked them from getting closer to the event.
At one point, a sign-carrying male protester could be seen being dragged away by officers after refusing to move back.
Despite the chaotic scenes outside, organizers said the hours-long event — hosted by actor and comedian Rob Schneider and Christian author Dr. Frank Turek — went off without a hitch inside.
“Despite Antifa thugs blocking our campus tour stop with tear gas, fireworks, and glass bottles, we had a PACKED HOUSE in the heart of deep blue UC Berkeley,” TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet said.
“God bless these brave students.”
Schneider sarcastically thanked the far-left agitators for coming to his event.
“Thank YOU, Antifa for welcoming us tonight at UC Berkeley,” he said. “We Look forward to our thoughtful, teargas free discussion and debate.”
Riot police were still in place as attendees were spotted filing out of the venue.
UC Berkeley assistant vice chancellor Dan Mogulof said the school had been bracing for the planned protest in the lead-up.
“The campus fully supports the rights and ability of every single student organization to invite whatever speakers they wish, regardless of their beliefs or perspectives,” Mogulof said.
The event marked the final stop of Turning Point’s “American Comeback Tour” — the nationwide event Kirk was scheduled to headline before he was assassinated.
Quote:A demonstrator named “Jihad” who was at Monday’s chaotic protest against Turning Point USA at the University of California-Berkeley was charged with assault and robbery for an incident at the scene, according to cops.
Jihad Dphrepaulezz, 25, allegedly snatched a chain necklace from an attendee, sparking a vicious fight that left him and the victim covered in blood — as “antifa thugs” clashed with Charlie Kirk supporters exactly two months after the TPUSA founder’s assassination.
The unidentified victim was initially arrested, too, but later released.
“Officers determined that one of the men—Jihad Dphrepaulezz … had stolen the other man’s chain from around his neck. The other man was attempting to get his chain back from Dphrepaulezz,” a rep with the Berkeley Police Department told The Post.
Aerial footage from FOX 2 appeared to show Dphrepaulezz snatching something from a TPUSA supporter’s neck as protesters clashed with Charlie Kirk supporters.
Dphrepaulezz seemed to dash away before the man — in a red shirt reading “freedom” — chased him down.
The brawl went down as protesters stormed the sold-out event, organizers said — with the keffiyeh-clad demonstrators clashing with cops and attendees.
Quote:A twisted man with a laundry list of prior convictions allegedly snuck into a sorority at the University of California, Berkeley, watched young women living in the house shower and even stole their underwear, according to cops.
Courtney Alford, 45, was arrested by officers with the Berkeley Police Department last Wednesday, four days after a gaggle of sorority sisters reported seeing a strange man snooping around UC Berkeley’s Alpha Chi Omega house.
The students told police that they caught the pervert picking through a coed’s room before fleeing the residence around 6 a.m., while others reported seeing a middle-aged man sneaking around as early as 3 a.m., the department wrote in a news release.
When officers parsed through the house’s security footage, they found multiple clips of a man believed to be Alford walking inside and outside of the building until around 6:35 a.m. At one point, he also appeared to leave and return in an entirely new ensemble with a ski mask covering his face.
The disturbing ordeal took place during the wee hours of the morning when many students were returning from a night out celebrating Halloween on the university’s Greek Row, which is lined with fraternity and sorority houses.
During the investigation, police discovered that the creep had made off with pairs of the students’ underwear and a few slices of pizza.
Officer Byron White, with the Berkeley Police Department, told the Los Angeles Times that one student woke up while Alford was prowling near her bed and another alleged seeing him spying on her while she was showering.
“He is someone that is known to the Berkeley Police Department well enough that an officer recognized him from one of the [surveillance photos],” White told the outlet.
Investigators cuffed Alford at his home in Castro Valley, Calif., without incident on Nov. 5. Cops recovered a cache of weapons inside the home, including parts of an assault rifle, high-capacity ammunition magazines and more than 900 rounds of ammunition.
Quote:NORFOLK, Virginia — The two houses at the center of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ legal trouble have been magnets for police activity since she bought them — with cops dispatched two dozen times since her ne’er-do-well kin moved in, The Post has learned.
James’ serial crook grandniece, Nakia Thompson, 36, moved into one home with her three children soon after James closed on the house in August 2020, for which she paid $137,000.
Since then, cops have been summoned to the residence on 12 occasions, according to police records — including several instances in which they were called multiple times in a day.
Cops went out to the house for issuing warrants and subpoenas — as well as for incidents labeled vandalism, domestic issues and for suspicious persons.
Additional details about the nature of the calls were not immediately available.
James’ purchase of two small houses in Norfolk — which she says were both for her family members — landed her in legal hot water.
In October, she was indicted on federal bank fraud charges, which allege she misrepresented how she would use the property she bought in 2020 in order to obtain a more favorable loan interest rate.
The other house, which she bought in 2023, was the subject of a criminal referral on similar allegations.
Rather than occupying the residence herself — as loan paperwork bearing James’ signature indicated she would be doing despite working over 300 miles away — the homes have been occupied by troubled relatives of the AG with extensive criminal histories.
James, who denies any wrongdoing in the bank fraud charges, faces up to 60 years in federal prison if convicted.
At the home James bought in 2020, three of the calls were placed the year she bought it, one each in 2021, 2022 and 2023 — and six in the first two weeks of October this year.
The latter calls were made after the property came under national scrutiny when James was charged with bank fraud.
Thompson, who told a grand jury in June she was living rent-free in the three-bedroom, one-bath house, is currently wanted by authorities in Forsythe County, North Carolina, for failing to finish her probation, court documents reveal.
In that case, she was charged with malicious conduct by a prisoner, a felony, along with assault of a government official and resisting a public officer, court records show.
Quote:President Donald Trump said Tuesday that violent crime in Chicago has fallen sharply since the start of a federal crackdown known as “Operation Midway Blitz,” crediting the Department of Homeland Security-led effort with driving shootings and robberies down across the Windy City.
The president’s Truth Social post claimed that shootings are down 35%, robberies down 41% and carjackings nearly 50% since the operation began several weeks ago.
“This has been achieved despite the extraordinary resistance from Chicago and Illinois Radical Democrat leadership,” Trump wrote.
The post marks the president’s first public update on the initiative since late October, when DHS confirmed nine arrests, including three illegal immigrants, following what officials described as “one of the most violent days” of the operation.
According to DHS statements obtained by Fox News Digital, agents faced multiple assaults and vehicle rammings during coordinated Oct. 22 raids in the Chicago suburbs of Cicero and Glendale Heights.
DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin called it “one of the most violent days we’ve had,” confirming that one agent was injured and several patrol units were damaged.
The raids targeted violent offenders and previously deported foreign nationals with criminal records.
The operation’s namesake honors Katie Abraham, a Chicago-area resident killed in September in a hit-and-run involving a suspected illegal immigrant.
“Midway Blitz,” launched in September, is part of a broader DHS initiative aimed at “criminal illegal aliens terrorizing Americans in sanctuary Illinois,” according to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who said suspects who attacked agents “will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Trump’s post also reignited tensions with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, both of whom have previously opposed large-scale immigration raids.
The president accused them of obstructing enforcement and “encouraging violent resistance against ICE officers.”
Trump said the next phase of “Midway Blitz” will include a “full surge” of federal agents in Chicago and Memphis, claiming the first wave has already delivered measurable results.
“As we ramp up more assets, these numbers will continue to drop,” he wrote Tuesday.
We all know that cockroaches are evil but this is just ridiculous.
Quote:A man allegedly shot two people dead inside a New Mexico home after receiving an “encrypted message” telling him he “needed to kill” inside a cockroach, according to authorities and reports.
Police responded to a home in southwest Albuquerque just before 10:30 p.m. Friday and discovered two unidentified men dead with gunshot wounds inside the house, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Alexis Hernandez, 25, was arrested at the home and booked Saturday morning on two open counts of murder in connection to the double homicide, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
Three additional adults and two young children were also inside the home, but were unharmed, police said.
When deputies arrived at the house, Hernandez answered the door armed with a gun and had a “Marine Corps saber” affixed to his hip, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by the outlet.
The unhinged man allegedly confessed to deputies that there were two men dead inside the home and described himself as a member of the Marines, the filing said.
After he was detained, Hernandez blurted to police that one of the dead men, whom he believed was a friend, had been stalking him and placing cameras in light fixtures, the warrant claimed.
He then bizarrely claimed that he had received an “encrypted message in a cockroach” that told him he “needed to kill” one of the men, the document stated.
He was also “hearing creepy voices coming from the vents” and “had been getting signs that he had to end [one of the victims] before he ended him,” the document said, according to the outlet.
Hernandez had purchased a Glock handgun for “protection,” and allegedly unleashed the assault on Friday after the two men allegedly took him to the back room of the home, NBC News reported.
He told cops he was “afraid for his life at this point,” and shot one of the men, who was the property owner, in the head before shooting the other man in the kitchen, the warrant said, according to the outlet.
He allegedly shot both men before getting more ammunition from his vehicle, then returned to shoot them again, the publication reported.
Hernandez also told police that the two young children saw him shoot the men but maintained he was not going to “take the kids,” or do anything to them, the outlet reported.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for further comment.
Quote:The two people killed when a small plane crashed while taking supplies to hurricane-ravaged Jamaica have been identified as a Christian ministry CEO and his daughter.
Alexander Wurm, 53, and his daughter Serena, 22, were killed when the turboprop plane slammed into a residential neighborhood pond near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, soon after takeoff Monday morning.
The father-daughter duo were en route to Jamaica to help with the hurricane relief efforts, authorities said.
In a heartfelt tribute, the evangelical Christian ministry that Wurm founded described him as a selfless devotee who had worked tirelessly to help others.
“Alexander, known for his warmth and unwavering kindness, devoted his life to serving others — both through his actions and by sharing the gospel of Jesus across the globe,” Ignite the Fire said in a social media statement.
“Throughout his life, Alex travelled extensively, reaching various countries and continents, where he tirelessly worked to bring faith, compassion, and support to those in need.”
“Serena, following in her father’s footsteps, was a beacon of empathy and hope, inspiring all with her commitment to humanitarian work. Together, their final journey embodied selflessness and courage, reminding us of the power of service and love,” the church added.
The small Beechcraft King Air plane the pair were on had taken off from the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport just after 10 a.m., officials said.
Harrowing surveillance video captured the plane crashing just moments later.
Quote:A dozen Dutch F-35 fighter jets are in the U.S. for annual training exercises to help prepare for defending NATO territory.
The 12 fighter jets arrived at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho on October 29 for the three week-long exercises, along with four A330 tankers for in-air refueling.
The aircraft are expected to return to the Netherlands around November 21.
The Context
The Dutch military says it holds regular training exercises in the U.S. because it is hard to find enough space in the Netherlands to test-fire the weapons carried by the stealth fighter jets.
The Netherlands has 40 F-35As capable of carrying American tactical nuclear weapons deployed in multiple bases across Europe. The F-35 can launch different air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, like Sidewinder missiles and small diameter bombs. A Dutch military spokesperson said GPS- and laser-guided bombs would be test-fired but declined to specify individual weapons.
What To Know
The Dutch defense ministry said that its military personnel will practice dealing with simulated attacks, malfunctioning equipment, and rehearse flying low to take cover. "The pilots must be able to perform precision attacks," it said.
Frederik Mertens, a strategic analyst with the Dutch TNO think tank, said that each year Dutch personnel can train at squadron level with the U.S. Air Force in these exercises.
This means that all the personnel involved in operating the high-tech aircraft are skilled, and that many aircraft can work together when needed, Mertens told Newsweek.
NATO aircraft work together all the time, including for air policing operations along the alliance's eastern flank.
Several NATO countries sent additional fighter aircraft to Poland after Russian drones crossed into the country in mid-September. Russia denied deliberately targeting the country, but the incident was characterized by some current and former NATO officials as a probing of NATO defenses.
"For the Dutch, being able to train in the USA is particularly important, because we are a small, densely populated country," Mertens said. The Netherlands is roughly five times smaller than Idaho, but has about nine times the state's population, he said.
The F-35 is the most advanced Western fighter jet available to Western militaries outside the U.S. It is a fifth-generation stealth fighter, meaning it has better avionics and sensors while being harder to detect than fourth-generation aircraft.
It is billed by U.S. defense firm Lockheed Martin as the "most lethal, survivable and connected fighter jet in the world."
Last month, British and Australian F-35s completed joint training exercises in the Indo-Pacific.
Quote:The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier moved into Latin American waters Tuesday as the US ramped up its military presence in the region while targeting drug traffickers operating out of Venezuela.
The Navy’s 4th Fleet did not specify the Ford’s location Tuesday, but did confirm the vessel was inside the US Southern Command’s (SOUTHCOM) area of responsibility — which includes the waters off Central and South America and the Caribbean Sea.
The Ford and its escort of three guided-missile destroyers join eight warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 aircraft already in the SOUTHCOM region.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the vessels’ presence would “bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere.”
“These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle transnational criminal organizations,” he added.
The aircraft carrier, which was commissioned in 2017, is the Navy’s newest and the world’s largest, with more than 5,000 sailors aboard.
President Trump ordered the Ford deployed to the SOUTHCOM region last month from the Middle East.
The move comes as the United Kingdom opted to no longer share intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in the strikes, CNN reported.
It marks a clear schism between the UK and US as skepticism continues to grow over the Trump administration’s military campaign around Latin America.
Prior to November, the UK had for years shared intelligence with the US to locate suspected smuggling boats in the region.
That partnership turned south following America’s deadly strikes in the Caribbean, which UK officials fear is a violation of international law, sources with knowledge of the decision told CNN.
Since Sept. 2, the US military has conducted 19 strikes against suspected drug transport vessels in both the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 76 people the Pentagon claims are part of global trafficking gangs.
Venezuela’s left-wing authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, has alleged the US is undertaking a campaign to drive him from power.
Quote:Venezuela is preparing for a potential U.S. attack by deploying decades-old Russian-made weapons and planning a guerrilla-style defense aimed at creating chaos, according to sources and documents obtained by Reuters.
Whether Venezuela's response is successful depends on the definition of success, Fulton Armstrong, who spent nearly 30 years in various U.S. government positions, many of which focused on Latin America, told Newsweek.
Why It Matters
Tensions between Venezuela and the United States remain high following recent U.S. airstrikes on cartel-operated vessels allegedly linked to Caracas, and, as satellite photos have shown, U.S. warships have been positioned for a potential strike against Venezuela—though President Donald Trump indicated earlier in November that he does not plan to launch a strike inside the nation.
The two countries are longtime adversaries. The new report from Reuters provides more details about how Venezuela could try to resist an attack from the U.S., though the strategy does reflect what insiders describe as a tacit acknowledgment of the country’s weakened military, which suffers from shortages of personnel, training and equipment.
What to Know
President Nicolás Maduro has accused U.S. President Donald Trump of seeking to overthrow him after Trump suggested possible ground operations following a military buildup in the Caribbean.
According to Reuters, Maduro’s government is betting on a so-called “prolonged resistance” campaign and an “anarchization” plan that would rely on small military units, militias and intelligence forces to wage sabotage and street unrest if the United States were to invade.
The strategy of "anarchization" would use intelligence services and armed supporters to create disorder in Caracas and make the nation ungovernable, Reuters reported. The two strategies are "complementary," and it's unclear when they would be deployed. Reuters reported that its sources said the strategies did face "long odds of success," as the nation is not prepared for a conflict against the U.S.
The military in Venezuela has faced challenges, including low pay for soldiers and old equipment that would make it difficult for the country to respond, Reuters reported. Soldiers are only paid $100 per month, and much of their equipment was made by Russia and has been around for decades, according to the report.
Trump's actions in the Caribbean have centered around his concerns about the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. Strikes carried out in the region have been focused on targeting individuals accused of drug trafficking. U.S. officials have referred to those individuals as "narco-terrorists," though some critics have questioned whether the strikes are legal.
Whether the response is successful depends on the definition of success, Fulton Armstrong, who now works as a professor of American University’s School of International Service after serving in various government roles across 30 years, including National Intelligence Officer for Latin America, told Newsweek.
“The U.S. has shown repeatedly that it can overthrow governments, blow up government buildings, and install a president to our liking. As Reuters says, the Venezuelan military isn’t going to fight on our terms; it’ll be destroyed,” he said.
Venezuelans will “indeed mount a clever campaign of sabotage, sniper attacks, and political operations to undermine the U.S. military and what they consider the ‘puppets’ we will install,” he said.
An attack by the U.S. would likely “fuel enough pockets of nationalistic fervor that either U.S. forces or pro-U.S. forces are going to feel a swarm of bees when they leave their little safe zones,” he said.
The administration does not appear to prefer a “boots on the ground” approach, he added.
“They’re hoping that huffing and puffing off the coast will signal to unhappy military officers to rise up, and for individuals that the Admin seems to think have been recruited by U.S. intel to lead the uprising, to remove Maduro from power,” he said, noting that “hasn’t worked so far.”
Quote:Colombian President Gustavo Petro has floated the idea of recreating Gran Colombia, the 19th-century republic that once spanned a swath of South America.
Petro made the comments last weekend in response to the United States' strike campaign in the Caribbean, which President Donald Trump's administration has said is targeting drug traffickers.
Petro said that a union could counter U.S. aggression in the region, although his interior minister later played down the remarks as “symbolic.”
Newsweek reached out to the Colombian president’s office for comment.
Why It Matters
Petro’s comments signal his growing anger about the Trump administration’s drug policy in the Caribbean and follow a deepening spat between Washington and Bogota, a U.S. ally in the region.
What To Know
Gran Colombia was founded by Simón Bolívar, who led the region to independence from Spain. It existed from 1821 to 1831 and included modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama.
Petro referred to the 19th-century republic as he took aim at the U.S. campaign in the Caribbean. Speaking on Saturday in Santa Marta, where Bolívar died, Petro compared the revolutionary struggle of the early 1800s with the present day.
He said on Saturday that every dictator who has appeared in the country has faced rebellion and asked if it was time “to talk about Gran Colombia again?”
In a post on X on Sunday, he proposed rebuilding the idea of a Gran Colombia along the lines of the European Union, with a common parliament and presidency. Petro repeated the idea when he hosted delegates at a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, where he said that Latin America has an older, but less successful, history of integration than the EU.
However, Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti told the Miami Herald that Petro’s comments were “symbolic” and referred to how Colombia and its neighbors will return “to brotherhood” rather than a merging of several nations.
Last month, the United States Treasury imposed sanctions on Petro, his family, and Benedetti over accusations that the government had not reined in the cocaine trade.
This puts the left-wing Petro in a club alongside Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a U.S. adversary who is also a focus of Trump’s narcotics crackdown, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Last week, Petro said at the COP30 climate summit that Trump was “against mankind” and likened his immigration policy to that of the Nazis.
Quote:Romania has found suspected drone fragments on its soil, the country's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, after Russia attacked Ukrainian port facilities close to the NATO country overnight.
Authorities were told a drone had hit the ground about 5 kilometers, or just over 3 miles, from the Romanian border with Ukraine at 1:09 a.m. local time, the government said. Residents close to the border in Romania's Tulcea region were alerted shortly after midnight.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
The Context
The town and broader region of Tulcea sit directly across the border from the Ukrainian port of Izmail, which Russia has repeatedly targeted. The Danube River marks the border between the two countries, just north of Tulcea.
Russian drones have crossed into NATO territory a number of times since the Kremlin began its full-scale war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, with fragments found in Romania on several occasions. Drones straying across the Danube have not so far been deemed intentional attacks. Romania is a member of both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union.
What To Know
"Teams of soldiers went to the scene and reported the presence of possible drone fragments," the Defense Ministry added in a statement.
Fighter jets are typically scrambled in NATO countries when they detect possible airspace violations. Poor weather conditions in southeastern Romania overnight stopped fighter jets from taking off, Bucharest said.
Ukraine's air force said Russia launched almost 120 drones at the country overnight, targeting eastern Ukraine and the country's Odesa region, where Izmail is located. Close to half the drones struck the country across 18 different locations, and debris from an intercepted drone fell at one unspecified site, the military said.
One person was injured by shrapnel in Odesa, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said early on Tuesday. Russian strikes triggered fires at "several energy facilities," Kiper said.
A depot operated by Kyiv's state-owned Ukrainian Railways, as well as administrative buildings, were damaged, the governor added.
"A large number of explosions were recorded on the Ukrainian side of the Danube, in the area of the port of Izmail," Romania said.
What People Are Saying
Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said early on Tuesday that Russia "massively attacked" Odesa with strike drones.
Quote:Chinese refiner Yanchang Petroleum, backed by a provincial government, has stopped purchasing Russian oil, according to Reuters news agency, citing two anonymous traders familiar with the matter.
China is Russia's leading strategic partner and its large-scale oil purchases have until now helped Moscow's war economy through Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.
The suspension of purchases by Yanchang would put Russia under major economic pressure to end its war on Ukraine.
What To Know
Yanchang has been a regular buyer of Russian oil, typically taking in one shipment per month, an oil trader told Reuters, but it has now shunned Russian oil in its tender for deliveries between December and mid-February.
China and India are Russia's top oil export markets.
The administration of President Donald Trump on October 22 announced sweeping new sanctions targeting Russia’s oil industry, in particular Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia's two top state-owned oil producers, in an effort to push President Vladimir Putin toward negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
Reuters reported last month that four major state-owned Chinese oil companies had suspended their purchases of seaborne Russian oil in response to the sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil.
Trump has for months sought to bring Russia's war to an end, mostly through diplomacy. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has dug in on his war goals and even intensified his attacks on Ukraine, defying Trump's pleas for peace. Ukraine and its European allies have urged Trump to take tougher action in response to Russia's recalcitrance.
China, responding to the U.S. sanctions on Russia's oil industry last month, said it opposes unilateral sanctions without a basis in international law or United Nations Security Council authorization.
Trump met Chinese leader Xi Jinping for talks on October 30 on the sidelines of an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in South Korea. Trump said after the talks that they had discussed the war in Ukraine.
What People Are Saying
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakin told reporters on October 23, the day after the U.S. sanctioned Russia's oil companies: "Dialogue and negotiation is the only viable way out of Ukraine crisis. Coercion and pressuring provide no solution."
Quote:A Russian lawmaker has issued a threat about a nuclear–capable missile recently tested by Moscow, boasting in a broadcast that it could wipe out a whole U.S. state.
State Duma deputy Andrey Gurulyov touted the capabilities of the Burevestnik missile during a segment on the Solovyov Live talk and video channel in which he also claimed that Russia could defeat Ukraine in 30 minutes.
Why It Matters
Gurulyov is a former deputy Commander of Russia's Southern Military District and is currently a deputy in Russia’s parliament, the Duma.
He often makes threats against the West on state television. While these do not necessarily reflect Kremlin thinking, his latest pronouncements about the Burevestnik are likely to be part of a government-approved narrative to promote the weapon's capabilities.
This comes amid renewed tensions between Russia and the U.S. over the prospect of resumed nuclear testing mooted this month by President Donald Trump.
What To Know
In a clip shared by Russia watcher and journalist Julia Davis, Solovyov Live anchor Vladislav Shurygin asked Gurulyov about the significance of last month’s test-launch of the Burevestnik, which Moscow claims can penetrate any missile defense system, .
Gurulyov said that each missile had enough firepower to wipe out an entire American state, “if not more.” He said the weapon can remain in the air for as long as necessary and can even to fly to the Antarctic and circle “then quietly approach from the south” before striking any target.
Codenamed by NATO SSC-X-9 Skyfall, the ground-launched cruise missile was revealed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2018 as among six strategic weapons he boasted would be game changers.
Moscow touts its range as effectively unlimited, thanks to its onboard nuclear propulsion
In October 2023, Putin said the missile had been successfully flight-tested although there is no independent confirmation of this. The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) said in 2024 the weapon had a poor test record of only two partial successes out of least 13 known tests.
However, on October 21, Russia’s Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said a 9M730 Burevestnik flew 8,700 miles during a 15-hour flight and Putin hailed it as “unique.”
Gurulyov said the weapon’s key asset is that it is guaranteed to strike any target. Given the threat that this posed and the fear its capabilities could provoke, the war in Ukraine could be ended “within 30 minutes” he added.
He rejected that Russia would become a pariah for breaking the nuclear taboo, saying that countries would line up to be allies with Moscow given such a demonstration of strength.
Gurulyov said he was not calling for nuclear weapons to be used immediately but that adversaries should not think that they would never be used.
Quote:Russian troops riding on rusty motorbikes and on the roofs of battered cars stormed the fog-covered Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Tuesday — in a scene straight out of the post-apocalyptic “Mad Max” movie franchise, shocking video shows.
Footage from Russian war bloggers shows the reinforcements being sent to Pokrovsk, a logistical hub in eastern Ukraine that has been a target for 21 months, with the troops looking less like soldiers and more like marauders from George Miller’s 1979 dystopian flick.
The soldiers could be seen riding toward Pokrovsk in bands of motorcycles and in cars and vans with open roofs and missing doors and windows — all while covered in a heavy fog.
Some could be seen awkwardly carrying large rifles and rocket launchers as they dodged the debris littered across the road, with others casually sitting on the roofs of the battered vehicles.
Reuters confirmed the authenticity of the video, with the location matching the layout of the roads leading to Pokrovsk.
There are about 300 Russian soldiers currently inside Pokrovsk, with Kyiv’s soldiers currently battling the invaders under a dense fog and drones hovering overhead, Ukraine’s military said Tuesday.
After failing to conquer the city for nearly two years, Moscow is aiming to use sheer numbers to finally take the town, with 150,000 soldiers deployed for the final push.
The force represents more than a fifth of Russia’s roughly 700,000 soldiers in Ukraine, with Moscow aiming to fully surround Pokrovsk in a gambit to capture one of the last remaining cities standing in the Donetsk region, armed forces of Ukraine commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told The Post Sunday.
As the urban battle intensifies, Russia claims it has already taken 256 buildings in the city, adding that its forces are advancing further in and around the railway station.
Open-source battlefield maps show that Russia is attempting a pincer maneuver around Pokrovsk, with its forces closing in on the city center.
Ukraine maintains that it can keep the Russian invaders at bay, as it has done so for nearly two years in the face of Moscow’s meat grinder that has dispensed thousands of soldiers a week for only small gains.
While experts and analysts have contended that Pokrovsk has outlived its usefulness and will eventually fall, Ukraine is still committed to holding onto the city.
In a sign of the importance of the battle to Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the front lines near Pokrovsk last week, telling reporters that Russian attempts to break through had “no success” but acknowledging that “things are not easy” for his own forces.
Quote:Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be released from prison and placed under judicial supervision, a Paris appeals court ruled Monday, less than three weeks after he began serving a five-year sentence over a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya.
Sarkozy, 70, was expected to leave Paris’ La Santé prison in the afternoon.
He will be banned from leaving the French territory and from being in touch with key people including co-defendants and witnesses in the case, the court said. An appeals trial is expected to take place later, possibly in the spring.
Sarkozy became the first former French head of state in modern times to be sent behind bars after his conviction on Sept. 25. He denies wrongdoing. He was jailed on Oct. 21 pending appeal but immediately filed for early release.
During Monday’s hearing, Sarkozy, speaking from prison via video conference, argued he has always met all justice requirements.
“I had never imagined I would experience prison at 70. This ordeal was imposed on me, and I lived through it. It’s hard, very hard,” he said.
Sarkozy also paid tribute to prison staff who he said helped him through “this nightmare.” Sarkozy’s wife, supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and two of his sons, attended the hearing at the Paris courthouse.
Monday’s proceedings didn’t involve the motives for the sentencing.
Still, Sarkozy told the court he never asked Libya’s longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi for any financing. “I will never admit something I didn’t do,” he said.
Under French law, release is the general rule pending appeal, while detention remains the exception.
The former president, who governed from 2007 to 2012, faces separate proceedings, including a Nov. 26 ruling by France’s highest court over illegal financing of his failed 2012 reelection bid, and an ongoing investigation into alleged witness tampering in the Libya case.
In 2023, he was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling for trying to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated. France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, later upheld the verdict.
Quote:A German man allegedly used his own blood to paint swastikas on buildings and nearly four dozen cars in a sleepy central town outside of Frankfurt, according to police.
Authorities received an alert last Wednesday after a man said a car parked in Hanau was branded with a swastika in a reddish liquid. When authorities arrived on the scene, they found nearly 50 cars were similarly defaced, police spokesman Thomas Leipold said.
Investigators tested the substance, which revealed it was human blood.
The next day, police used a witness tip to trace the blood back to a 31-year-old Romanian citizen, who they arrested at his home.
“He was still under the strong influence of alcohol and his motive appears to be highly personal and job-related — he just snapped,” Leipold said.
The assilant was injured when he was apprehended and his wounds appeared to be self-inflicted, the police official added.
The suspect was booked in a “psychiatric hospital” and his identity was withheld per Germany’s privacy rules, Leipold said.
Hanau Mayor Claus Kaminsky was appalled by the attack and noted that the community is still working to put the pieces back together after a domestic terrorist attack in February 2020, in which a gunman specifically killed nine people with immigrant backgrounds at a hookah bar.
“Especially in our city, which was deeply affected by the racist attack on Feb. 19, 2020, such an act causes deep consternation,” he said, adding that the city had filed a criminal complaint, German news agency dpa reported.
“What happened here crosses every boundary of decency and humanity. Swastikas have no place in Hanau. We will not allow such symbols to sow fear or division.”
The display of Nazi emblems, including the swastika, is banned in Germany.
The banned symbol, which was depicted on Nazi flags and soldiers’ uniforms, has since been reused by white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups who hold similar hate towards marginalized groups, including Jewish people.
Quote:A Saudi doctor went on trial on murder charges Monday over the car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg last year that left six people dead.
The 51-year-old suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, was brought by helicopter to a temporary courtroom in the eastern city specially set up for the trial, and sat behind a bulletproof glass screen.
Five women and a boy died, and many more people were wounded, in the Dec. 20 attack that lasted just over a minute. The defendant is charged with six counts of murder and 338 of attempted murder in the trial at the Magdeburg state court, for which sessions have been scheduled until March. He could face a life prison sentence if convicted.
Prosecutor Matthias Böttcher told the court that al-Abdulmohsen had acted out of “supposed personal frustration” and aimed to hit as many people as possible in order to gain “the attention he wanted,” German news agency dpa reported.
There are no formal pleas in the German legal system. But the defendant told the court: “I am the one who drove the car.”
He didn’t immediately give further details or offer any apology, dpa reported. Instead, he talked about alleged police cover-ups and criticized the media, and the presiding judge admonished him to address the matter at hand.
Investigators have said that the attack was carried out with a rented BMW X3, which reached speeds of up to 48 kph (30 mph) during the rampage. They said when they filed the indictment that he wasn’t under the influence of alcohol and apparently acted out of dissatisfaction with the outcome of a legal dispute and the failure of various criminal complaints. They also have said that he planned the attack without accomplices.
Officials have said the suspect doesn’t fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. The man described himself as an ex-Muslim who was highly critical of Islam and on social media expressed support for the far-right. He had previously come to authorities’ attention for threatening behavior but wasn’t known to have committed any violence.
The Magdeburg car-ramming was one of a series of attacks involving immigrants that pushed migration to the forefront of the campaign for Germany’s national election in February. The defendant arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency.
Quote:The outgoing boss of the BBC said he was “very proud” of the broadcaster’s journalism, two days after he quit following accusations of bias and the threat of legal action from US President Trump.
“I’m very, very proud of our journalists in this building. They’re doing work I think is incredibly important,” Tim Davie said on Tuesday, the first time he has spoken publicly since announcing his resignation on Sunday.
“They’re doing a wonderful job,” he added.
The publicly funded British Broadcasting Corporation’s head of news also quit on Sunday, plunging it into its biggest crisis in decades and dominating the front pages of Britain’s newspapers on Tuesday.
Davie, who has been director general since 2020, also tried to calm worries over the future of the broadcaster.
“The BBC is going to be thriving, and I support everyone on the team,” he said.
Trump threatened legal action against the BBC on Monday for its editing of a speech he made in 2021 on the day his supporters overran the Capitol, which the British broadcaster admitted on Monday was an “error of judgment.”
Quote:Rattled UK residents living on streets named after disgraced ex-Duke of York Prince Andrew want his name scrubbed from their addresses in the wake of his sordid ties to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Residents of Prince Andrew Road and Prince Andrew Close in Maidenhead are urging local officials to rename their streets after Queen Elizabeth II’s third child, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was stripped of his royal titles and honors earlier this month, according to local reports.
Tom Kirk, who lives on Prince Andrew Road, said the street is “an embarrassing association.”
“Whenever you speak with someone, if you’re ordering something or tell someone where you live, there’s always raised eyebrows,” the mortified local told the Maidenhead Advertiser.
“This road name is now linked to controversy, given the severity of the allegations that continue to come through. In terms of where you live from a community side, it should reflect strong values like integrity, equality, respect. This road name doesn’t really represent that.”
Kirk, who moved to the area earlier this year with his partner and young son, said he reached out to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to kick-start the process of renaming the street, which was named after the tarnished former royal when he was born in 1960.
The 65-year-old shed his titles and ranks of “Prince” and “His Royal Highness” on Nov. 3 after allegations surfaced that he was one of Epstein’s notorious clients.
Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims who died by suicide in April, claimed in her posthumous memoir “Nobody’s Girl” that the infamous pedophile financier forced her to have sex with Andrew on three separate occasions, including when she was just 17.
“Some people might say that there are loads of bad men and women in the world who have buildings named after them,” another resident, who did not want to be named, told the BBC.
“They haven’t been changed or destroyed or so forth. But, I feel, if we can, why not explore it?”
Quote:ISLAMABAD — A suicide bomber struck outside the gates of a district court in Islamabad on Tuesday, detonating his explosives next to a police car and killing 12 people, Pakistan’s interior minister said, the latest in an uptick in violence across the country.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the midday blast, which also wounded at least 27 people, but authorities have struggled over the past months with a resurgent Pakistani Taliban, border tensions, and a fragile ceasefire with neighboring Afghanistan.
Witnesses described scenes of mayhem in the immediate aftermath of the attack. The explosion, heard for miles away, came at a busy time of day when the area outside the court is typically crowded with hundreds of visitors attending court hearings.
The attacker tried to “enter the court premises but, failing to do so, targeted a police vehicle,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told journalists. Earlier reports by Pakistani state-run media and two security officials said a car bomb had caused the explosion.
Naqvi alleged that the attack was “carried out by Indian-backed elements and Afghan Taliban proxies” linked to the Pakistani Taliban. Still, he said authorities are “looking into all aspects” of the explosion.
Outside the court
Police quickly cordoned off the area around the court as a cloud of smoke rose into the sky following the blast. The casualties were mostly passersby or those who had arrived for court appointments, according to Islamabad police.
More than a dozen badly wounded people were screaming for help as ambulances rushed to the scene.
“People started running in all directions,” said Mohammad Afzal, who was at the court at the time.
Naqvi said the discovery nearby of a severed head, which the police said belonged to the attacker, confirmed the blast was a suicide attack. The attacker was also later spotted in CCTV footage from the site, he said.
Overnight attack at an army-run college
Meanwhile, Pakistani security forces said they foiled an attempt by militants to take cadets hostage at an army-run college overnight, when a suicide car bomber and five other attackers targeted the facility in a northwestern province.
The authorities blamed the Pakistani Taliban, which is separate from but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, but the group denied involvement in that attack.
The attack started on Monday evening, when a bomber tried to storm the cadet college in Wana, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border. The area had, until recent years, served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaida, and other foreign militants.
According to Alamgir Mahsud, the local police chief, two of the militants were quickly killed by troops while three others managed to enter the compound before being cornered in an administrative block. The army’s commandoes were among the forces conducting a clearance operation and an intermittent exchange of fire that went on for hours, Mahsud added.
Quote:At least eight people were killed and 20 injured in after a car exploded near Delhi’s Red Fort during the evening rush Monday.
A slow-moving vehicle was seen approaching the landmark attraction in India’s capital — with it exploding after coming to a stop at a red light.
A former owner of the car has been arrested, authorities said without elaborating, according to NDTV. There were three people in the vehicle at the time of the blast, the BBC reported.
“Many [of those hurt] are not in the position of recovering,” added Dr. Manish Kumar Jha, a doctor at the local Lok Nayak Hospital, to reporters in the capital.
“An explosion occurred in that vehicle, the passengers in the vehicle and people in surrounding vehicles were impacted,” Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golcha told reporters.
Footage of the aftermath shows massive, orange flames and black smoke billowing from the destroyed car as residents fled the area.
Suman Mishra said she was at the Red Fort train station when the explosion happened, engulfing at least six cars and three auto-rickshaws on fire in the middle of the street.
“I was at the metro station, going down the stairs, when I heard an explosion. I turned around and saw a fire. People started running helter-skelter,” she told Reuters.
The explosion originated from a Hyundai i20 car, according to India’s federal home minister, Amit Shah.
“We are exploring all possibilities and will conduct a thorough investigation, taking all possibilities into account,” Shah told reporters.
Many of those wounded in the blast have been left “badly injured,” Dr. Jha said.
Major train stations across India, the financial capital Mumbai and the state of Uttar Pradesh were all put on high alert, officials said.
The explosion has left the nation in shock, especially since it occurred near the iconic Red Fort landmark.
Located just five miles from Indian parliament, the 17th Century monument attracts thousands of visitors every day and is home to the Independence Day speeches given by India’s prime minister every year.
Quote:Typhoon Fung-wong blew out of the northwestern Philippines on Monday after setting off floods and landslides, knocking out power to entire provinces, killing at least eight people and displacing more than 1.4 million others.
The typhoon was forecast to head northwest toward Taiwan.
Fung-wong lashed the northern Philippines while the country was still dealing with the devastation wrought last week by Typhoon Kalmaegi, which left at least 224 people dead in central provinces on Nov. 4 before pummeling Vietnam, where at least five were killed.
Fung-wong slammed ashore in northeastern Aurora province on Sunday night as a super typhoon with sustained winds of up to 185 kph (115 mph) and gusts of up to 230 kph (143 mph).
The 1,800-kilometer (1,100-mile)-wide storm weakened as it raked through mountainous northern provinces and agricultural plains overnight before blowing away from the province of La Union into the South China Sea, according to state forecasters.
One person drowned in flash floods in the eastern province of Catanduanes, and another died in Catbalogan city in eastern Samar province when her house collapsed on her, officials said.
In the northern province of Nueva Vizcaya, three children died in two separate landslides and four others were injured, police told The Associated Press. An elderly person was killed in a mudslide in Barlig, a town in northern Mountain Province, according to officials.
Another landslide in Lubuagan town in nearby Kalinga province killed two villagers and two others were missing, provincial officials said late Monday.
More than 1.4 million people moved into emergency shelters or the homes of relatives before the typhoon made landfall, and about 318,000 remained in evacuation centers on Monday.
Fierce wind and rain flooded at least 132 northern villages, including one where some residents were trapped on their roofs as floodwaters rapidly rose. About 1,000 houses were damaged, Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV of the Office of Civil Defense and other officials said, adding that roads blocked by landslides would be cleared as the weather improved on Monday.
Quote:TAIPEI — Taiwan evacuated more than 3,000 people on Tuesday, issuing a land warning for the arrival of Typhoon Fung-wong, which is expected to dump large volumes of rain on its mountainous east coast, recently lashed by another typhoon.
The weakening Fung-wong is forecast to hit land on Wednesday on the island’s southwestern coast around the major port of Kaohsiung, after it killed 18 people while powering through the Philippines as a much stronger system.
“Fung-wong may have been downgraded to a weak typhoon, but we still cannot lower our guard,” Chen Chi-mai, the city’s mayor, told reporters.
On his Facebook page, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te urged people to keep clear of the mountains, the coast and other potentially dangerous areas.
The transport ministry said 66, mostly domestic, flights were canceled on Tuesday.
“Fung-wong may have been downgraded to a weak typhoon, but we still cannot lower our guard,” Chen Chi-mai, the city’s mayor, told reporters.
On his Facebook page, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te urged people to keep clear of the mountains, the coast and other potentially dangerous areas.
The government, which has ordered evacuations in the town of Guangfu, the scene of those deadly floods, said 3,337 people in four counties and cities had been moved to safer areas.
Hualien closed schools and offices on Tuesday, as did the neighbouring county of Yilan.
The typhoon will not directly affect the northern city of Hsinchu, home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
Most deaths in the Philippines were caused by landslides in its mountainous northern Cordilleras, senior civil defence official Raffy Alejandro told a briefing, with two people reported missing and 28 injured.
Quote:The Iranian regime has managed to smuggle at least $1 billion to its terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon despite heavy sanctions this year, top officials at the U.S. Treasury Department say.
John Hurley, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, says Iran remains committed to its proxy groups throughout the Middle East. Nevertheless, he says there is an opportunity to cut off the funding streams while Iran is in its current weakened state.
"There's a moment in Lebanon now. If we could get Hezbollah to disarm, the Lebanese people could get their country back," Hurley said.
"Even with everything Iran has been through, even with the economy not in great shape, they're still pumping a lot of money to their terrorist proxies," he continued.
"The key to that is to drive out the Iranian influence and control; that starts with all the money that they are pumping into Hezbollah," he argued.
Hurley pushed for the increased pressure campaign during a tour of Turkey, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Israel this weekend.
Western nations have already laid down heavy sanctions on Tehran over its unwillingness to negotiate a nuclear deal. The regime insists its nuclear development program exists solely for civilian purposes.
President Donald Trump ordered bombings on Iran's key nuclear sites earlier this year in Operation Midnight Hammer, which U.S. officials say succeeded in crippling Tehran's progress toward a bomb.
Iran has nevertheless continued its efforts to spread chaos across the globe. U.S. officials say they, along with Israel and Mexico, thwarted an Iran-backed attempt to assassinate Israel's ambassador to Mexico earlier this year.
"We thank the security and law enforcement services in Mexico for thwarting a terrorist network directed by Iran that sought to attack Israel’s ambassador in Mexico," Israel’s foreign ministry told Fox News on Friday.
"The Israeli security and intelligence community will continue to work tirelessly, in full cooperation with security and intelligence agencies around the world, to thwart terrorist threats from Iran and its proxies against Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide."
A U.S. official told Reuters the plot targeting ambassador Einat Kranz Neiger "was contained and does not pose a current threat."
Quote:Iran is accelerating its missile production with the stated goal of being able to fire 2,000 missiles at once in any future confrontation with Israel, aiming to overwhelm the country’s advanced defense systems, according to a report by The New York Times.
The ambition marks a sharp escalation from June's 12-day war, when Iran launched roughly 500 missiles in retaliation for Israeli strikes on its critical infrastructure, military bases and nuclear facilities. Officials have reportedly said missile factories are operating around the clock to achieve this larger-scale capability.
Newsweek has contacted Iran and Israel's Foreign Ministries for comment.
Why It Matters
Iran’s expanding missile program underscores the growing volatility in the Middle East. If Tehran reaches its target capacity, Israel’s multi-layered missile defenses could face unprecedented pressure. The buildup occurs amid a tense stalemate over Iran’s nuclear program and President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” strategy.
Earlier this year, Israel's surprise attack on Iran sparked a 12-day conflict that concluded with U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. While the war temporarily paused hostilities, it left both sides poised for renewed confrontation. Tehran’s accelerated missile production and ongoing nuclear activity suggest that any future clash could exceed the scale of the previous exchange, raising the risk of rapid escalation across the region.
What to Know
On Sunday, The New York Times reported that Iran has shifted toward mass-strike readiness, with missile factories reportedly operating 24 hours a day to reach the explicit goal of being able to launch 2,000 missiles simultaneously. Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, told the NYT that Tehran hopes to “overwhelm Israeli defenses” in a future confrontation, rather than repeating the more limited response seen in June.
Regional Isolation
This push comes amid a broader context of regional isolation and strategic recalibration. According to the report, Iran is more isolated from the West than it has been in decades. Competing regional Arab powers, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have increased influence in Washington and with Trump, leveraging both economic ties and cooperation on regional conflicts, including attempts to mediate the Gaza war.
Syria’s new president is set to visit Washington seeking U.S. support; under the previous Assad government, Syria had been a key Iranian strategic ally. An erosion of influence in key regional capitals appears to be reinforcing Tehran’s focus on self-reliance, missile buildup, and nuclear expansion as a hedge against reduced diplomatic leverage.
Israeli Perspective
Israel’s perspective reflects the urgency these developments create. Israeli officials view Iran’s nuclear and missile advances as existential threats. Although Israel’s June offensive was halted under U.S. pressure, officials reportedly consider the work unfinished and see no barrier to resuming strikes if Iran continues advancing its nuclear and missile programs.
Nuclear Inspections
In related news, on Monday Iran’s foreign ministry confirmed that U.N. inspectors had visited its nuclear sites, a week after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) urged Tehran to “seriously improve” cooperation to avoid escalating tensions with the West. The agency has conducted roughly a dozen inspections since June but reported last week that it had been denied access to facilities including Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, all of which were targeted by U.S. strikes.
“As long as we are NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) members, we will abide by our commitments. Inspectors visited several facilities, including the Tehran Research Reactor,” said Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, without specifying the other sites, underscoring Iran’s cautious approach to international oversight.
Quote:A top aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Washington seeks to keep Latin America under its control, pursuing a "backyard" policy that dates back to the Monroe era.
"Today, the United States faces a legitimacy crisis not only in the Middle East but also in Latin America and East Asia," Ali Akbar Velayati, Khamenei's adviser on international affairs, told Iran's state media in an interview published on Tuesday.
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. State Department for comment.
Why It Matters
Iran has condemned increased U.S. military activities near Venezuela. U.S. President Donald Trump has escalated the U.S. military's counter-narcotics posture in the southern Caribbean region, carrying out multiple strikes on vessels alleged to be trafficking drugs from Venezuelan waters. The strikes have fanned concerns in Caracas about regime-change intentions disguised as anti-drug operations.
Iran, a principal challenger to U.S. influence in the East—alongside powers such as China and Russia—has long positioned itself as part of an emerging multipolar order countering Washington's dominance. Velayati echoed this view, describing what he called a global transition "from a unipolar to a multipolar and just order," driven by growing coordination among Eastern powers seeking to counter U.S. unilateralism.
What To Know
In a detailed interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency, Velayati highlighted Russia and China as examples of countries countering U.S. unilateralism, citing Moscow's resurgence under President Vladimir Putin and Beijing's rapid economic growth and strategic independence.
"The strategic alliance of China and Russia within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS clearly signals the emergence of a new Eastern pole standing against the unilateral policies of the United States," he said.
BRICS, a group of 10 major emerging economies, formed in 2009 to promote economic cooperation, political coordination and development among its members. The group's founding members were Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined in 2010, while the remaining five members—Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia—joined in the past two years.
Velayati also positioned Iran as a central actor in the Middle East, part of a broader "resistance front" that, together with these emerging powers, is shaping a multipolar order to challenge Washington's global dominance.
The U.S.'s calls for Hezbollah's disarmament, aimed at reducing Tehran's influence in Lebanon and curbing the group's military capabilities, are countered by Iran's continued political and military support for the organization. Trump, who brokered the Abraham Accords, seeks to push more Arab countries toward normalization agreements with Israel, the U.S.'s key ally. The American president views Iran as a major obstacle to those efforts.
Tensions between Iran and the U.S. remain high over the nuclear issue, with Washington conducting targeted strikes in June amid concerns about Tehran's program.
What People Are Saying
Ali Akbar Velayati, the adviser for international affairs to Iran's supreme leader, told the Islamic Republic News Agency in Persian on Tuesday: "The U.S. seeks to expand its influence from South America to the North Pole and simultaneously aims to control strategic areas such as the Panama Canal, Venezuela, Chile, and Bolivia."
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on November 7: "Iran has been asking if the sanctions could be lifted. Iran has got very heavy U.S. sanctions and it makes it really hard for them to do what they'd like to be able to do. And I'm open to hearing that, and we'll see what happens, but I would be open to it."
Quote:Tens of thousands of people packed a cemetery in central Israel on Tuesday for the funeral of an Israeli soldier whose body had been held in Gaza for 11 years, overflowing and blocking surrounding streets as somber crowds stood with Israeli flags.
The burial of Lt. Hadar Goldin was a moment of closure for his family, which had traveled the world in a public campaign seeking his return. The huge turnout also reflected the importance of the case for the broader public in Israel, where Goldin became a household name during the struggle to bring his remains home.
Hamas returned his remains on Sunday as part of the Trump-brokered ceasefire deal that began last month. The bodies of four hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, are still in Gaza.
Goldin was 23 when he was killed two hours after a ceasefire took effect in the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. For years before the 2023 attack, posters with the faces of Goldin and Oron Shaul, another soldier whose body was abducted in the 2014 war, stared down from intersections as their families campaigned for the return of their bodies.
Israel’s military long ago determined that Goldin had been killed based on evidence found in the tunnel where his body was taken, including a blood-soaked shirt and prayer fringes. The military retrieved Shaul’s body in January. On Tuesday, it announced it had dismantled the tunnel shaft where his body was found.
“Hadar, we waited for you 11 years, that’s a long time. A very long time. I honestly can’t explain how we did it,” Goldin’s mother, Leah, said as she stood next to his grave. Even though there was never any doubt that Goldin had been killed, being able to reach out and touch his body finally allowed her to let go of her last hopes. “I still believed you would jump up and say ‘Everything is fine!’” she said.
Eulogies from Goldin’s siblings, parents, and former fiancee at his funeral never mentioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was also prime minister when Goldin was kidnapped and for most of the period since. They continuously thanked the Israeli military, including reserve soldiers, who tirelessly searched for Goldin’s body over the years.
Netanyahu did not attend the funeral, though Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, gave a eulogy on behalf of the military. Benny Gantz, an opposition lawmaker who was the chief of staff during Goldin’s abduction, attended with former military leaders.
Quote:Intense fighting in central Sudan displaced some 2,000 people over the past three days, the U.N. migration agency said Monday, the latest in a war that has convulsed the country for more than two years and killed tens of thousands.
The International Organization for Migration said the displaced fled from several towns and villages in the area of Bara in North Kordofan province between Friday and Sunday.
Kordofan has been one of two areas, along with the western Darfur region, that recently became the epicenter of the war between the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The RSF capture of the key city of el-Fasher left hundreds dead and forced tens of thousands to flee to overcrowded camps to escape reported atrocities by the paramilitary force, according to aid groups and U.N. officials. The IOM said nearly 92,000 people have left el-Fasher and surrounding villages.
The war between the RSF and the military began in 2023, when tensions erupted between the two former allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising. The fighting has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, and displaced 12 million. However, aid groups say the true death toll could be many times higher.
In late October, RSF fighters launched attacks in the town of Bara in North Kordofan, killing at least 47 people, including women and children, the local aid group Sudan Doctors Network said at the time.
The IOM estimated that nearly 39,000 people had fled several villages and towns in North Kordofan since Oct. 26. They were mostly headed north, toward the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and the adjacent Omdurman region, as well as Sheikan in North Kordofan.
Also Monday, the RSF claimed its fighters entered the town of Babanusa in West Kordofan province and were heading toward the army headquarters.
Salah Semsaya, a volunteer with the local group Emergency Response Rooms, told The Associated Press that other volunteers from the town of Babanusa working with charity kitchens in the area reported a decline in the number of families coming to get food — apparently an indication that many had left or fled the area. Definitive figures could not be confirmed.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday passed a funding bill to end the longest government shutdown in US history, sending the legislation to President Trump’s desk for the final step to end the 43-day standoff.
In a 222-209 vote, the House voted to pass the funding bill it received from the Senate which will restart paychecks for federal workers and air traffic controllers, and fund food assistance programs.
The legislation finally “reopens the government, restores critical services, and puts an end to the needless hardship Democrats have inflicted on the country,” said GOP House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole of Oklahoma.
Trump will sign the measure into law Wednesday night in the Oval Office, officially ending the shutdown.
“We feel very relieved tonight,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters after the vote. “The Democrat shutdown is finally over thanks to House and Senate Republicans, who stood together to get the job done.”
Johnson slammed Democrats for using “the American people as leverage in this political game,” arguing that the outcome was “totally foreseeable.”
“It’s something that is very difficult to forgive,” he continued, describing the shutdown “stunt” as “utterly pointless and foolish.”
House Democrats lamented that their Senate Democratic colleagues caved with nothing to show for it on healthcare, their stated political reason for holding the government hostage.
“I rise in opposition to this bill that does nothing, not one thing to address the Republican health care crisis, amid a cost-of-living crisis,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) said in a floor speech ahead of the vote.
In his speech, House Minority Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) proclaimed, “This fight is not over.”
“There are only two ways that this fight will end, Mr. Speaker: either Republicans finally decide to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits this year, or the American people will throw Republicans out of their jobs next year and end the speakership of Donald J. Trump once and for all,” the Democratic leader said.
The legislation, as soon as it’s signed by Trump, will return federal workers to their jobs with backpay, reopen executive branch agencies that provide critical veterans services and other benefits like food stamps and fully fund the government until at least Jan. 30.
After that, some spending for SNAP benefits, veterans programs, legislative branch activities and military construction, among other items, will continue until Sept. 30 — at which point the 2026 fiscal year ends.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers and congressional staffers had gone without pay for more than 40 days — leading the top union backing government employees to pressure Democrats into ending the shutdown.
There had also been increasing flight delays and cancellations due to the lack of staffing at air traffic control towers, as unpaid workers were not showing up to their jobs.
Last Friday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had warned that if the government remained closed with the Thanksgiving holiday nearing, there could be an up to 20% reduction in US airspace.
“As of Sunday, nearly half of all domestic flights and US flights were either canceled or delayed. And it’s a very serious situation,” noted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Monday, giving his chamber 36 hours to reconvene.
“Shutting down the government never produces anything,” Johnson added. “It never has.”
Six House Democrats voted for the funding measure in the House’s first legislative move since going into recess after Sept. 19.
Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Don Davis (D-NC), Adam Gray (D-Calif.), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) crossed party lines to vote with the majority.
Two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Greg Steube (R-Fla.), voted against the Senate-passed bill.
“I could not in good conscience support a resolution that creates a self-indulgent legal provision for certain senators to enrich themselves by suing the Justice Department using taxpayer dollars,” Steube said of his no vote on X, referring to a provision in the bill that allows Republican senators snooped on by former special counsel Jack Smith to seek compensation.
“There is no reason the House should have been forced to eat this garbage to end the Schumer Shutdown,” he added.
On Monday, eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus crossed the aisle to vote with the GOP for the end of the shutdown, though Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was not among them.
“I think he made a mistake in going too far,” Trump told Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” on Monday. “He thought he could break the Republicans, and the Republicans broke him.”
Before that, all but three from the Senate Democratic caucus had voted 14 times against reopening the government as they held out through last week’s Election Day to activate the progressive base and turnout Democratic voters in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York.
Quote:President Donald Trump signed legislation to fund the government again — putting an end to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Trump signaled Monday the government would open soon, as consequences of a lapse in funding continued to snowball, including missed paychecks for federal workers and airline delays stemming from air traffic controller staffing shortages.
The bill keeps funding the government at the same levels during fiscal year 2025 through Jan. 30 to provide additional time to hash out a longer appropriations measure for fiscal year 2026.
The measure also funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that more than 42 million Americans rely on through September. The program supports non- or low-income individuals or families to purchase groceries on a debit card.
Additionally, the measure reverses layoffs the Trump administration set into motion earlier in October and pays employees for their absence.
The reopening of the government comes after more than 40 days of a lapse in funding amid a stalemate between Senate Republicans and Democrats over a stopgap spending bill that would have funded the government through Nov. 21.
After a lapse in funding starting Oct. 1, the Senate passed legislation Monday night that would reopen the government by a 60–40 vote margin. A total of eight Democrats voted alongside their Republican counterparts for the measure. The House subsequently passed its version of the measure Wednesday.
The deal came as fallout from the shutdown came to a head, including travel disruptions at U.S. airports where air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers were required to work and were gearing up to miss a second paycheck.
As a result, these staffers were calling in sick, or taking on second jobs, creating staffing shortages and flight delays.
The standoff between Republicans and Democrats originated over disagreements about various healthcare provisions to include in a potential funding measure. Trump and Republicans claimed Democrats wanted to provide illegal immigrants healthcare, and pointed to a provision that would repeal part of Trump’s tax and domestic policy bill known as the "big, beautiful bill" that reduced Medicaid eligibility for non-U.S. citizens.
Democrats pushed back on this characterization, and said they want to permanently extend certain Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of 2025.
The stopgap spending bill that Trump signed does not extend these subsidies by the end of the year, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed to a vote in December on legislation that would continue these credits.
Even so, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., has not agreed to get on board with that arrangement in the House.
Quote:WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed that the Trump administration has discussed restricting the president’s proposed $2,000 tariff dividend to families making less than six figures.
“Well, there are a lot of options here that the president’s talking about a $2,000 rebate and those — that would be for families making less than, say, $100,000,” Bessent told “Fox & Friends” Wednesday.
“We haven’t,” Bessent clarified when asked if the Trump administration decided on that limit. “It’s in discussion.”
Last week, following a brutal hearing over his “trafficking” and “reciprocal” tariffs before the Supreme Court, President Trump floated a $2,000 dividend but did not elaborate on specifics on how that would work.
Bessent later told ABC’s “This Week” that the dividend “could come in lots of forms” and that it “could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing.” That’s a reference to tax cuts including in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was signed into law earlier this year.
The Treasury secretary reiterated Wednesday that “what we did with the tax bill is actually financing the president’s no tax and tips, overtime, Social Security, and the big refunds you’re going to see are a result of that.”
He also pointed to the so-called “Trump accounts” nestled in the marquee megalaw in which the US government will automatically open up an account for children under the age of 18 between 2025 and 2028 and contribute a one-time $1,000 deposit to those accounts.
Questions have long swirled over how Trump’s $2,000 tariff dividend proposal would work. On Sunday, Trump had teased that “a dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.”
But Congress would have to sign off on any major cash payments to American families at that scale and some Republicans previously pumped the brakes on that idea.
“It’ll never pass,” Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), whom Vice President JD Vance backed in a primary contest last year, bluntly told reporters in July, according to Business Insider. “We have a $37 trillion debt.”
Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs — the specific type of duties that are under threat of getting scrapped by the Supreme Court — have only raked in about $90 billion between their implementation and Sept. 23, according to data from US Customs and Border Patrol.
For comparison, a COVID-19-era proposal to fire off $2,000 checks to families was estimated to cost some $464 billion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Even if the $2,000 payments were narrowed to individuals earning under $100,000, it would still have a roughly $300 billion pricetag, per an estimate from Erica York, the Tax Foundation’s vice president of federal tax policy.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani confirmed Tuesday that he will reach out to President Trump before taking office New Year’s Day, telling NBC New York in an interview that the relationship between City Hall and the White House “will be critical to the success of the city.”
“I will be reaching out to the White House as we prepare to actually take office, said Mamdani, 34, who didn’t specify when he would contact the administration, but said he would be “proactive” as he tries to thwart Trump’s hard-line immigration and crime policies.
“[If] President Trump wants to speak about lowering the cost of living or delivering cheaper groceries, like he ran on [in 2024], I’m there to have that conversation,” the mayor-elect said, later adding that he would tell the commander-in-chief: “I’m here to work for the benefit of everyone that calls the city home, and that wherever there is a possibility for working together toward that end, I’m ready, and if [the administration’s policies] are to the expense of those New Yorkers, I will fight.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Post at her regular briefing Wednesday that “I’ll let the president respond himself to that comment by Mr. Mamdani.”
Ahead of the Nov. 4 mayoral election, Trump threatened to withhold federal money from NYC and execute a federal takeover if the “Communist” Mamdani was voted in.
In his first comments since the Democratic socialist’s victory, the president slightly softened his tone, saying last week, “I hope it works out for New York” and “we’ll help him a little bit, maybe.”
“He has to be a little bit respectful of Washington because if he’s not, he doesn’t have a chance of succeeding,” Trump told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in a post-election interview. “I want to make the city succeed.”
Trump said that he didn’t plan to reach out and that “it would be more appropriate for him to reach out to us” and that “I’m here.”
Mamdani also revealed in Tuesday’s interview that he has consulted with Gov. Kathy Hochul about how to respond to Trump’s occasional threats and frequent public attacks.
Quote:The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said a member of Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s office, D-Ill., misrepresented himself as the attorney of a detained illegal immigrant to facilitate their release.
According to a letter sent Wednesday to Duckworth, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons said the staffer told federal agents he was the attorney of Jose Ismeal Ayuzo Sandoval — a 40-year-old illegal immigrant previously deported four times to Mexico and who had a DUI conviction.
The letter says the staffer entered an ICE facility in St. Louis, Ill., on Oct. 29.
“At approximately 1:29 p.m., an individual identified as Edward York, who according to publicly available information, is employed as a Constituent Outreach Coordinator for your Senate office, entered the field office lobby, and in a discussion with a federal officer, claimed to be Mr. Ayuzo’s attorney. Mr. York demanded to speak with his ‘client,’” the letter states.
“This staff member allegedly did so to gain access to the detainee and seek his release from custody, and he accomplished it by falsifying an official Department of Homeland Security (DHS) form.”
While at the facility, York successfully met with Ayuzo and got him to sign a G-28 form, the letter said. It allows an attorney to represent a client on immigration matters, empowering them to receive official correspondence, communicate with government agencies on their behalf and more.
After attaining a release order, the staffer then tried to submit the form without Sandoval’s signature, even after having completed the G-28 form in person, the letter said.
“Four days later, a Suarez Law Office in Collinsville, Illinois filed a G-28 electronically that did not have Mr. Ayuzo’s signature, even though Mr. York, who claimed to work for the law firm, had already obtained a signed form,” the letter describes.
“It appears as if Mr. York may have collaborated with the firm to cover his misrepresentation.”
ICE said it could not verify that York was an attorney.
The agency further became suspicious of the picture when they discovered a post to Facebook describing the incident. The post, put up by the Montgomery County Illinois Democrats’ page, described that a staffer had gone to a field office with a packet of documents and a release order with the intention of misrepresenting himself to law enforcement, the letter said.
Lyons’ letter requests a response from Duckworth’s office no later than Nov. 17, demanding answers surrounding York’s employment, whether he knowingly lied on government documents, and whether he acted with the knowledge of other members of Duckworth’s staff.
“I implore all members of the US House of Representatives and Senate, as well as their staff, to stop the political games that put law enforcement and detainees at risk,” Lyons wrote.
“It is my sincere hope that you will advocate on behalf of your constituents who have been victimized by illegal alien crime and work with DHS to remove these criminals from the United States.”
Sen. Duckworth’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Quote:Linda Sun “was for sale,” federal prosecutors charged Wednesday as the former top aide to Govs. Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo went on trial for allegedly betraying New Yorkers in favor of the Chinese government.
Sun, 42, sat calmly as Assistant US Attorney Amanda Shami launched into withering opening statements outlining the feds’ case that the ex-official acted as a secret agent for China in exchange for a shower of payoffs and lavish high-end goodies.
“Her loyalty was for sale, and the Chinese government, which wanted to influence the New York government, was willing to pay her to do their bidding,” Shami said in Brooklyn federal court, dramatically pointing in Sun’s direction at one point.
“Linda Sun was for sale.”
The arguments launched what’s expected to be a bombshell one-month trial for Sun and her businessman husband, Chris Hu, 42, who are charged with fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
Sun, who’s also charged with acting as a foreign agent for China, had worked under Hochul and her predecessor, ex-gov-turned-mayoral-loser Cuomo.
She allegedly used her position of power to sway the gubernatorial duo toward benefitting Chinese interests — including by once stopping Cuomo from publicly thanking the communist nation’s rival Taiwan.
She even bragged about her duplicitous dealings to Chinese officials in texts, Shami told jurors.
Sun also doctored emails to falsely claim a third party had endorsed a PPE company run by her cousin as the Empire State doled out lucrative contracts during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shami charged.
Chinese governmental officials in turn paid off Sun by steering millions of dollars in contracts to an outpost of Hu’s lobster exporting business, as well as the PPE-related “kickbacks,” Shami claimed.
Sun was also showered with gifts, including paid trips to China, free hotel stays, and free tickets to concerts, Shami said.
Shami notably didn’t mention the fancy salted ducks Sun allegedly also received from her Beijing backers.
But Sun’s defense attorney Jarrod Schaeffer countered that she wasn’t a secret agent for China, but actually a dedicated public servant.
“Linda Sun did what she was hired to do. She didn’t commit a crime by doing her job,” he argued.
“The evidence will show that Linda was working on behalf of New Yorkers,” he told the jury, adding later that, “This New Yorker was working for New York.”
Schaeffer acknowledged Sun received gifts, as well as steered New York leaders away from touchy topics for China.
But that didn’t make her an agent for China, he argued.
Quote:CHICAGO — What kind of US president demolishes a cherished piece of American history in order to build a shrine to himself?
That’s what many Chicagoans are asking — and they aren’t talking about President Trump’s East Wing demolition to make way for a White House ballroom.
Locals are still trying to make sense of the $850 million Obama Presidential Center, dubbed “The Obamalisk,” which broke ground in Chicago’s historic Jackson Park in 2021 and will be finished next Spring.
“Obama, of all people, should not be building a palace for himself, a fortress in the middle of a public park. It’s just contrary to what I thought he believed in,” renowned Chicago architect Grahm Balkany, a self-described progressive liberal, told The Post.
“So many people in Chicago, unfortunately, didn’t want to speak truth to power — especially when that power was Obama.”
While many neighborhood residents who recently spoke to The Post gave the Presidential Center (not a library) a hesitant thumbs up, plenty of Chicago historians, preservationists and architects remain outraged.
“I always see it as a cenotaph, a tombstone, a crusader fortress in brutalist style,” W.J.T. Mitchell, an art historian at the University of Chicago, told The Post of the hulking, 240-foot-tall beige concrete and stone-clad tower.
“It’s not a beautiful building. Its monumentality violates the spirit of the democratic urban park” in which it stands, designed by visionary architect Fredrick Law Olmsted.
The Obama Foundation gobbled up 20 acres of the protected and landmarked Jackson Park, which sits on the national registry of historic places, for the project.
The park, huddled next Lake Michigan, was designed by Olmsted — the man who, alongside Calvert Vaux, designed New York’s Central Park — for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, a nation-defining event credited with putting modern Chicago on the map.
The Obama Foundation’s actions are at odds with Olmsted’s work, democratizing the idea of the public park, according to Mitchell.
“[Olmsted] was transforming park design from the English manor house [which] was always punctuated by the castle, or some magnificent building, to signify the feudal lord who owned that land,” Mitchell told The Post.
The architect believed “this is public land, this is owned by everybody. There should not be any great monuments or monumental buildings. It’s about the people,” Mitchell continued.
“The most atrocious thing was when they started clearcutting a thousand, healthy, century-old trees. I was there to document it. It struck many people as an environmental disaster,” Mitchell added.
The project raised eyebrows from the start. While Chicago seems a natural home for Obama’s monument, the former president made the city bid against two other locations —New York and Hawaii — to host his center.
Quote:A sharp rise in students entering the University of California system without middle school-level math skills is raising alarms among educators.
A new internal report from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) reveals that the percentage of incoming students scoring below Algebra 1 on placement exams—a math course typically completed by the end of eighth grade—has tripled over the past five years.
Why It Matters
In 2020, just 6 percent of first-year students at UCSD placed below Algebra 1. By 2025, that number had surged to 18 percent, according to the UCSD Senate Admissions Working Group (SAWG) report.
The findings reflect a growing disconnect between high school transcripts and actual college readiness. The SAWG report links the increase to pandemic-era learning disruptions, long-standing inequities in California’s K–12 system, and the elimination of standardized testing requirements in UC admissions.
What To Know
The number of UCSD students requiring Math 2, a course originally designed for less than 1 percent of the incoming class, surged from under 100 students annually to over 900 by fall 2024.
“In Fall 2024, the numbers of students placing into Math 2 and 3B surged further, with over 900 students in the combined Math 2 and 3B population,” the report notes. “This represents an alarming 12.5 percent of the incoming first-year class.”
Math 2, once intended to cover high school topics like Algebra I and II, has been redesigned to focus “entirely on elementary and middle school Common Core math subjects (grades 1-8).” A new course, Math 3B, was created to handle high school-level content.
UCSD is now the only UC campus that offers a credit-bearing course designed to remediate elementary and middle school math.
Placement test data shows a worsening gap between what students appear qualified for on paper and their actual ability.
“In Fall of 2024, of those who demonstrated math skills not meeting middle school levels, only 6 percent met only the minimum high school course requirement,” the report states. “The other 94 percent went beyond, with 42 percent completing Calculus or Precalculus.”
The report concludes that GPA and course titles have become unreliable predictors of readiness.
“Over 25 percent of the students in Math 2 had a math grade average of 4.0,” the authors write.
Other Findings
Remedial math placements correlate closely with prior school conditions. “In 2023–2024, the combined enrollment in Math 2/3B grew by another 100 students, 63 of whom came from LCFF+ schools,” referring to California schools with high concentrations of low-income, English learner, or foster youth students. By 2025–2026, 1 in 3 LCFF+ enrollees required Math 2 or 3B.
The report acknowledges the tension between access and readiness.
“We cannot simply admit only from better-resourced schools,” the report says. “This would replicate privilege and fail to support our mission as an institution that promotes social mobility.”
Faculty concern over academic alignment is central to the report’s recommendations.
“We face an enormous uncertainty when judging the math skills of our applicants,” the committee wrote.
Quote:All 14 victims who were killed when a UPS cargo plane crashed into a petroleum recycling center and exploded in a massive fireball in Kentucky have been identified, officials announced Wednesday.
The casualties include three UPS crew members aboard the Honolulu-bound flight and 11 customers and employees at a nearby business when the aircraft went down shortly after takeoff, just south of Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport, around 5:15 p.m. on Nov. 4.
The victims have been identified as Angela Anderson, 45; Carlos Fernandez, 52; Trinadette “Trina” Chavez, 37; Tony Crain, 65; John Loucks, 52; John Spray, 45; Matthew Sweets, 37; Ella Petty Whorton, 31; Megan Washburn, 35: Louisnes Fedon, 47; and his 3-year-old granddaughter Kimberly Asa.
Capt. Richard Wartenberg, 57; First Officer Lee Truitt, 45; and International Relief Officer Capt. Dana Diamond, 62, were previously identified by UPS as the three crew members aboard doomed Flight 2976.
“Our city feels the full weight of this unimaginable tragedy,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said Wednesday at a news conference, where the coroner named each victim, WLWT5 reported.
“Each of these victims represents a life full of purpose, interrupted far too soon. And also, a life that will never fade because we’ll always remember them.”
Sean Garber, the owner of Grade A Auto Parts and Scrap Metal Recycling — one of the businesses hit by the terrifying explosion — said the remaining victims were either employees or customers of his company, NBC News reported.
One of those customers was Anderson, a local mother of two, who headed out to the facility to get rid of some scrap metal, her boyfriend, Donald Henderson, previously told local station WDRB last week
Henderson said he was too tired after a long day’s work, so he let Anderson go by herself — only to come to regret the decision following the fatal crash.
“She’s all I got,” the heartbroken 55-year-old told the outlet.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear previously said the 3-year-old victim who died had been at the car parts business with their guardian.
Greenberg said that all the victims were identified through DNA analysis, medical and dental records, and that all of their family members have been notified.
“I hope that with this certainty, their grieving can continue to turn to healing, and that they can begin to find ways to move forward, to recover from this trauma and find joy and happiness in life once again, knowing it will never be the same without their loved one,” the mayor said, according to NBC.
The UPS jet was carrying about 50,000 gallons of fuel when it took off from the airport, with footage showing the plane’s left engine completely engulfed in flames as it sped down the runway for takeoff before it descended and crashed moments after its nose lifted from the ground.
The crash sparked a massive inferno that consumed the enormous aircraft and hit Grade A Auto Parts and Kentucky Petroleum Recycling.
Quote:Students at a Rhode Island high school where a teacher mocked Charlie Kirk after his assassination are launching a Turning Point USA chapter to promote conservative values and free expression on campus.
“What inspired me personally to start this Turning Point chapter was the teacher at our school said after Charlie Kirk’s death, he made a TikTok about how he has no remorse over him and how he was a hateful person,” Brayden Ryan, vice president of the Turning Point USA chapter at Barrington High School in Rhode Island, told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday.
Shortly after Kirk’s public assassination Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University during his “American Comeback Tour,” social studies teacher Benjamin Fillo posted a video online saying that Kirk “hated the LGBTQ community” and “hated women’s rights.”
Fillo, who was placed on administrative leave after his video post, also said in a video that Kirk “thought he proved how tough he was with his words… What a piece of garbage. Look what happens… Bye, Charlie!”
When conservative activist and mother Nicole Solas issued a public records request to review Fillo’s curriculum, including handouts, assignments, videos, links, resources, guides, worksheets, workbooks, prompts and his emails, Barrington Public Schools said it would charge her $117,132 in order to gather all the materials.
Solas is a mom living in a different school district whose kids are in a private school because the National Education Association Rhode Island (NEARI) sued her for sending public records requests four years ago.
Ryan, a freshman, said that starting the chapter has been “difficult” due to the political demographics of the area, but that he and fellow students are pushing ahead.
“I feel like we should give space to other students, a free and safe space to other students, other conservative students, to speak their own personal values, such as their religious beliefs and their political beliefs,” Ryan said.
Caleb Kaplan, president of the Turning Point USA chapter, told Fox News Digital that some have been supportive of their efforts, while others have campaigned to reinstate Fillo.
“I’m not going to name any names out of respect, but they have been campaigning or making petitions to get the teacher that we spoke about back in a position,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan, who is also a freshman, said the group tries to handle the pushback in a respectful way.
Quote:A third attempt by students at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego to establish a school-supported Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter was denied by the university’s Associated Student Body (ASB) Board of Directors.
The decision was announced in an email sent to students by university President Kerry Fulcher Nov. 5.
“I felt silenced when I got that email,” said Luke Cole, the elected secretary of the chapter and a third-year student at the university. “I felt like I couldn’t speak anymore.”
The email, obtained by Fox News Digital, said the motion was brought to a vote by the ASB Board of Directors and failed to pass after a review process. The email expressed concerns over the organization’s Professor Watchlist. According to TPUSA’s website, the Professor Watchlist aims to “expose and document” professors who discriminate against conservative students.
“While the applicants indicated they would not participate in the watchlist, their application included phrasing that mirrors language used on TPUSA’s website in connection with it,” Fulcher wrote in the email. “That practice is not aligned with ASB’s purpose of fostering constructive communication and interaction between students, faculty, and administration.”
The email also cited the club’s intent to affiliate with TPUSA Faith, an initiative that aims to “unite the Church” and “eliminate wokeism,” according to its website. Fulcher said that was a violation of the university’s church and parachurch policies.
“This policy is in place to ensure that outside churches or ministry organizations, however well-intentioned, do not duplicate efforts already being led by our campus ministry team and use university resources to advance their own programming,” Fulcher wrote in the email.
Fulcher said the authority to approve or deny student-initiated clubs rests solely with the ASB Board of Directors.
According to PLNU’s website, the school hosts a “B.R.E.A.K.” club which “emphasizes the importance of gender equality on a school campus.” Hosts discuss issues such as “privilege” and “gender justice.”
The school also hosts a “Center for Justice and Reconciliation” group that focuses on “immigration and racial justice” and allows students to “process injustices in their communities,” according to the website.
The decision has left students crestfallen. Ginger Friess, a first-year student at the university, told Fox News Digital that, after Charlie Kirk’s death, she felt called to serve her campus through founding a TPUSA chapter.
“For me, it was about finding truth and making space for that on this campus,” said Friess. “I watched students and faculty, who identified as Christian, celebrate human death on campus … and I was deeply troubled by that.
“[Kirk] invited all people, all students on campus to an open mic. We want to open up the conversation.”
Brooklyn Stratton, a third-year student at PLNU and elected vice president of TPUSA Point Loma, said she and other young conservatives felt targeted on college campuses after Kirk’s death.
“I just wanted to make a community for other students who [were] also feeling this way to get together,” said Stratton. “College is our formative years. … I feel like not giving people the opportunity to explore which side of politics they’re on doesn’t align with free speech at all.”
The formation of a TPUSA chapter was also rejected twice in 2021, according to the campus’ student newspaper.
Associate Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs Lora Flemming shared in a statement with Fox News Digital that the university is a place where “students from a variety of backgrounds are welcomed into a community shaped by faith.”
Quote:A tearful Sharon Osbourne recalled the touching moment President Trump called her to offer his condolences after the death of her Black Sabbath frontman husband over the summer.
Osbourne played Trump’s heartfelt voicemail and expressed her admiration for the president and First Lady Melania during Wednesday’s emotional episode of “The Osbournes” podcast, where she reunited with her children, Kelly and Jack, for the first time since Ozzy’s death at age 76 in July.
“Love him or hate him, he didn’t have to call and leave a voicemail,” Jack, 40, said to his grieving mom.
The 72-year-old former TV host, while fighting back tears, said Trump has done nothing but show her family “respect” throughout the years.
“For him to take his time to do that for us … he doesn’t live in a bubble,” Osbourne said.
“He knows what is going on in the streets. He knows what is going on. Again, for President Trump and Melania, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
The Prince of Darkness died on July 22 from cardiac arrest, acute myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s Disease.
The heavy metal icon confirmed his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2020. He had also undergone multiple surgeries in recent years, including going under the knife for a debilitating spinal injury in 2019.
In the voicemail, Trump said: “Hi Sharon, it’s Donald Trump and I just wanted to wish you the best and the family … Ozzy was amazing, he was an amazing guy.”
“I met him a few times and I want to tell you he was unique in every way and talented. So, I just wanted to wish you the best and it’s a tough thing. I know how close you were and whatever I can do. Take care of yourself. Say hello to the family. Thanks, bye.”
Osbourne emphasized to her children that her praise for the president was personal, not political, adding that she isn’t an American citizen and cannot vote in the United States.
“All I know is a man that I know, I worked with for a month – I spent one month with him and his wife, who was always gracious, elegant, just a delight to talk to,” the Brit gushed.
“Listen, I’m not American. I can’t vote, I don’t want to vote. I don’t vote for anyone. I vote for no one. Never have, never will. But the thing is, all I know is he’s treated me with respect, your father with respect. He wanted nothing from us – nothing. Melania, the same. Nothing. And they have been great.”
A co-pilot allegedly forged certificates to qualify himself for a captain position with a Lithuanian airline — and helmed flights carrying hundreds of passengers throughout Europe.
The faux flyer, whose identity was not disclosed, served as a captain for Lithuanian airline Avion Express for an unspecified period of time. He apparently lacked the necessary qualifications and had only ever worked as a co-pilot with Garuda Indonesia, German outlet Aero Telegraph reported.
Avion Express, a “wet-lease” company that specializes in providing aircraft and full crews to other airlines, confirmed that it employed the pilot, who has since been removed.
“The company recently became aware of unverified information regarding his professional experience. An internal investigation was immediately launched and is currently ongoing,” a company spokesperson told the outlet.
The carrier added that its hiring procedures line up with aviation regulations and assured that “safety and compliance” are the company’s “highest priorities.”
The man also piloted flights for other Western European airlines through Avion Express, including Eurowings, which is based in Germany.
Eurowings confirmed that it was “[taking] up the matter with our safety experts for a more detailed examination,” the outlet reported.
Avion Express was founded in 2005 and charters flights to Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. It is part of the larger Avia Solutions Group, a Lithuanian-owned holding group headquartered in Ireland.
Its fleet consists of 55 Airbus A320 family aircraft, which can seat up to 180 passengers, according to the Airbus Aircraft website.
Eurowings is a low-cost airline that frequently partners with other airlines, including Avion Express. It is primarily owned by the Lufthansa Group, which holds stakes in multiple other airlines, including Australian Airlines, Swiss International Airlines and Brussels Airlines.
Quote:Wealthy “sniper tourists” allegedly paid upward of $90,000 to shoot people during “human safari” trips to Sarajevo in the 1990s — with an extra fee to kill children, according to wild claims being probed by Italian prosecutors.
The investigation was sparked after an Italian writer alleged he had uncovered evidence that wealthy gun enthusiasts — dubbed “sniper tourists” — would pay Bosnian Serb forces for the chance to gun down residents at random during the four-year siege of the city, the Guardian reported.
More than 10,000 were killed in Sarajevo by snipers and shelling between 1992 and 1996 during the Balkan Wars.
“There were Germans, French, English … people from all Western countries who paid large sums of money to be taken there to shoot civilians,” said Ezio Gavazzeni, the investigative writer.
“There were no political or religious motivations. They were rich people who went there for fun and personal satisfaction. We are talking about people who love guns who perhaps go to shooting ranges or on safari in Africa.”
Gavazzeni said he first read reports of the alleged tourist-led shootings in Italian media outlets in the ’90s, but started digging deeper after watching a 2022 documentary about a former Serb soldier who claimed foreigners would shoot at residents from the hills in Sarajevo.
He claims a key source was a former Bosnian intelligence officer.
The newly launched probe, being led by prosecutors in Milan, is seeking to identify any Italians involved in the so-called sniper tourism.
Gavazzeni said he had already uncovered the identities of some of the Italians allegedly involved in the massacre and they are expected to be questioned by prosecutors in the coming weeks.
The Bosnian Consulate in Milan said the Bosnian government would offer “total collaboration” amid the probe.
“We are impatient to discover the truth about such a cruel matter in order to close a chapter of history. I am in possession of certain information I will be sharing with the investigators,” a spokesperson said.
Quote:ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — All 20 personnel on board a Turkish military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia were killed, Turkey’s defense minister announced on Wednesday.
The C-130 plane was flying from Ganja, Azerbaijan, to Turkey when it crashed in Georgia’s Sighnaghi municipality, close to the Azerbaijani border, on Tuesday. The cause of the crash is being investigated.
The military personnel were part of a unit that had traveled to Azerbaijan to take part in that country’s Victory Day celebrations on Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. The event marked Azerbaijan’s 2020 military success over Armenia for control of the Karabakh region, known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh, a conflict that had lasted nearly four decades.
A 46-member Turkish accident investigation team reached the crash site and was inspecting the wreckage of the plane, in coordination with the Georgian authorities.
Erdogan said the plane’s flight data recorder has been recovered and inspections were underway to determine the cause of the crash.
Authorities have so far recovered the remains of 19 of the victims, and efforts were continuing to locate one other body, Erdogan added.
The wreckage was spread across a plain that includes farmland and is surrounded by hills, Turkish private broadcaster NTV reported from the site. Debris from the aircraft was scattered across multiple locations, the report said.
“Our heroic comrades-in-arms were martyred on November 11, 2025, when our C-130 military cargo plane, which had taken off from Azerbaijan en route to our country, crashed near the Georgia-Azerbaijan border,” Defense Minister Yasar Guler said in a message posted on X, together with photographs of the military personnel that were killed.
On Tuesday, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency quoted the Georgian aviation authority as saying that contact with the plane was lost a few minutes after it entered Georgia’s airspace. The plane had not issued a distress signal, it said.
C-130 military cargo planes are widely used by Turkey’s armed forces for transporting personnel and handling logistical operations.
Turkey and Azerbaijan maintain close military cooperation.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili extended their condolences to their Turkish counterparts over Tuesday’s crash.
Quote:JERUSALEM — Israel’s minister in charge of combating antisemitism said extremist anti-Jew rhetoric on the American right is now more alarming than traditional hate from the far left — and he’s calling on Washington to wake up before it’s too late.
“When I started this role three years ago, I thought antisemitism on the right was marginal — small groups of neo-Nazis, not a real force,” Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli told The Post. “Today, it’s a completely different story. I’m far more concerned about antisemitism on the right than on the left — and I say this as a conservative myself.”
Chikli, who oversees Israel’s global fight against Jew-hate, said the shift has been fueled by a toxic blend of online influencers, conspiracy peddlers and foreign-backed disinformation campaigns — all amplified by America’s culture wars.
He pointed to high-profile conservative voices — including podcast hosts and figures connected to Tucker Carlson, who recently platformed Holocaust deniers and fringe conspiracy theorists.
“One of the worst moments was when a popular conservative broadcaster called one of the most vile Holocaust deniers in America ‘one of the most honest historians.’ That legitimizes hate — it normalizes it,” Chikli said, referring to Carlson.
The minister said such rhetoric is spreading fast among young Americans online, both on the left and right.
“Antisemitism has become fashionable for Gen Z,” Chikli warned. “They listen to podcasts, not professors. When people like Nick Fuentes or Darryl Cooper are treated as thought leaders, that’s dangerous. These are neo-Nazis.”
He added that the phenomenon is so new that it can’t be organic — suggesting there may be coordinated funding behind the rise of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment on social media.
“It’s visible,” Chikli said. “The same messages, the same phrases, showing up on hundreds of accounts at the same time. It’s unnatural. Someone’s paying for this.”
Pressed on who might be bankrolling the hate, he pointed to possible foreign involvement.
“We think there’s foreign money involved — maybe from hostile regimes,” Chikli said. “That’s for the FBI to investigate.”
The minister also warned of an ideological pipeline linking some corners of the right-wing isolationist movement to extremist circles.
“Isolationism has been hijacked — it’s being weaponized by antisemites and white supremacists,” he said. That’s what’s new and so troubling.”
The minister drew a sharp line between legitimate foreign policy skepticism and hate-driven politics.
“We can work with isolationists. We cannot work with neo-Nazis,” Chikli said. “When you see someone obsessed with Israel — posting about it 24/7 — that’s not policy. That’s hate.”
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:WASHINGTON — House Democrats prevented a quick vote on legislation that would require the Justice Department to release all its files on sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, apparently hoping to keep the controversy in the spotlight longer, the GOP has alleged.
Ahead of the House vote to end the 43-day government shutdown, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) took to the floor and requested unanimous consent to immediately vote on the Epstein bill.
The GOP attempt failed, with Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), the senior GOPer in charge of the House floor, explaining: “The chair is constrained not to entertain the request unless cleared by the bipartisan floor and committee leaderships.”
“I tried to get the Epstein files [bill] straight to the floor, cut out all of this nonsense and the Democrats blocked it, oddly enough,” Burchett grumbled after his effort failed. “This is politics. It has nothing to do with what’s right.”
Womack was restricted by House rules from revealing which party blocked Burchett’s unanimous consent request — but the Tennessee lawmaker, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), and others insisted Democrats stood in the way.
The bill was the “Epstein Files Transparency Act,” which was introduced by Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is championing an identical piece of legislation with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to release the Epstein files that is set to receive a vote next week.
Khanna and Massie have secured sufficient support for what’s known as a discharge petition to get a vote on their similar legislation to release the Epstein files, despite opposition from House Republican leadership.
Burchett did not sign the discharge petition, but wanted to bring the vote on Khanna’s similar bill forward.
“I have not seen many stories written yet about the fact we put the discharge petition up for unanimous consent on the floor tonight,” Johnson vented to reporters Wednesday.
“The Democrats objected to the unanimous consent. Nobody has written a story about that. That is stunning to me.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-NY) office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Massie and Khanna began pursuing their discharge petition after the FBI and DOJ publicly concluded this past July that Epstein, 66, committed suicide while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges and did not maintain a “client list” of powerful friends to whom he peddled girls as young as 14 — contrary to widespread speculation.
Meanwhile, lefty Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett got put in her place on live TV by CNN anchors after she falsely tried to blame Republicans for redacting the name of one of Epstein’s victims in a newly released email.
The email in question was part of a tranche of 23,000 pages of documents from the convicted pedophile’s estate released by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee this week after Democrats published a smaller batch in which they chose to redact the name of deceased victim Virginia Giuffre.
Republicans later revealed the omitted name in the 2011 email was Giuffre, and accused the Democrats of deliberately muddying the waters by obscuring it.
“The fact that Trump does not want these files to be out to me says he has more to hide than him actually being able to exonerate himself,” Crockett said on “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” Thursday.
However CNN anchor Pamela Brown then produced the email, and pointed out that Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, wrote in her posthumously published memoir that Trump had no hand in the disgraced financier’s wrongdoing.
“And I don’t know why they would necessarily redact someone’s name who is deceased at this point,” Crockett said.
President Trump has repeatedly and publicly lashed out over the ongoing Epstein controversy, and did so again this week.
Quote:Discredited author Michael Wolff once encouraged Jeffrey Epstein to blackmail then-presidential candidate Donald Trump — insisting the convicted pedophile could generate a “debt” from him.
The Trump-obsessed writer’s email exchanges with Epstein were among the trove of documents released by the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.
In one email, Wolff floated the possibility of intimidating Trump for his own benefit — as he warned Epstein that the then-GOP candidate could be asked about their alleged ties while on the campaign trail.
“I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you — either on air or in scrum afterwards,” Wolff wrote to Epstein in December 2015.
“I think you should let him hang himself,” he added in a follow-up the next day.
“If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt.”
Wolff — who penned “Fire and Fury,” a supposed tell-all about the first Trump administration — went on to say it was possible the then-candidate could speak glowingly about the sex trafficker.
“Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he’ll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime,” Wolff noted.
He also once mused that Epstein could be the “bullet” to end Trump’s 2016 campaign if he decided to openly discuss their past ties — and suggested that Epstein should have a strategy in place.
“The more Trump looks real, or perish the thought, inevitable, the more reporters are going to focus on this, so, as you will not be surprised, you need a strategy,” the author noted in a January 2016 email exchange.
In February 2016, Epstein emailed Wolff noting that he was being approached by more reporters as Trump’s popularity in the polls grew.
“Yeah, you’re the Trump bullet,” Wolff responded.
“NYT called me about you and Trump. Also, Hillary campaign digging deeply. Again, you should consider preempting,” Wolff wrote in another email later that month.
Right before the election, Wolff again suggested Epstein could tank Trump’s campaign with an email subject line that read: “Now could be the time.”
“There’s an opportunity to come forward this week and talk about Trump in such a way that could garner you great sympathy and help finish him,” Wolff wrote. “Interested?”
The author and journalist has made a career profiting off Trump’s presidency.
Wolff’s first book, “Fire and Fury,” sold almost 2 million copies in the first three weeks after it was published in January 2018. He went on to write three more books about Trump in power.
Right after Trump was elected, Wolff boasted to Epstein that he was writing one Trump book “for a pile of cash.”
“So… I’m doing this Trump book for a pile of money and with so far quite a bit of co-operation from them (DT called me the other day and spent 45 minutes on the phone ranting and raving about the media–alarming),” he wrote in February 2017.
Wolff went on to ask Epstein to introduce him to two people who could potentially help with “off-the-record perspective on White House procedures.”
Trump, for his part, later ripped Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” — calling it “trash” and “full of lies.”
Quote:A top economic official in the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations sought advice from convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein about his relationship with an unidentified woman, bombshell emails released by the House Oversight Committee show.
Lawrence Summers, who served as Clinton’s final Treasury secretary and director of the National Economic Council under Obama, routinely picked Epstein’s twisted brain about how to interact with the woman, who apparently lived in London at the time of the exchanges.
On March 16, 2019, less than four months before Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges, Summers wrote that he and the woman had “talked on the phone.”
“Then [she said] ‘I can’t talk later’. Dint [sic] think I can talk tomorrow,” the former president of Harvard University continued in the correspondence tucked in 20,000 pages of documents made public by the panel Wednesday.
“I said what are you up to. She said ‘I’m busy’. I said awfully coy u [sic] are,” Summers complained. “And then I said. Did u [sic] really rearrange the weekend we were going to be together because guy number 3 was coming’. She said no his schedule changed after we changed our plans. I said ok I got to go call me when u feel like it.
“Tone was not of good feeling,” the now-70-year-old summed up. “I dint [sic] want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend without benefits.”
“[S]hes smart,” Epstein told Summers in a responding email 11 minutes later. “[M]aking you pay for past errors. [I]gnore the daddy im [sic] going to go out with the motorcycle guy, you reacted well.. annoyed shows caring., no whining showed strentgh [sic].”
Epstein, 66, was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell 147 days later, on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial.
The March 2019 exchange was not the only time Epstein and the married Summers discussed the fairer sex.
In November 2018, Summers forwarded Epstein an email from a different woman with the comment: “Think no response for a while probably appropriate.”
“She’s already begining to sound needy :) nice,” Epstein replied.
The emails shed new light on the closeness of the relationship between Epstein and Summers, who serves on the board of directors at OpenAI.
In 2014, Summers had sought advice from Epstein about how to raise $1 million to help his wife, Harvard professor Elisa New, create an online educational project about American poetry.
The exchange was reported in 2023 by the Wall Street Journal, which noted that a nonprofit linked to New had received a $100,000 donation from Epstein.
Three years later, in October 2017, Summers went on a bizarre rant to Epstein about the case of Michelle Jones, whose admission to a Harvard PhD program had been rescinded after university officials learned she had spent time in prison for the murder of her 4-year-old son decades earlier.
“I’m trying to figure out why American elite think if u [sic] murder your baby by beating and abandonment it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard,” Summers wrote in apparent reference to the “Me Too” movement, “but hit on a few women 10 years ago and [you] can’t work at a network or think tank.”
Summers then added, in all caps: “Do not repeat this insight.”
When approached for comment by the New York Times on Wednesday, Summers referred the outlet — to which he contributes opinion pieces — to statements in which he has been “regretting my past associations with Mr. Epstein.”
Epstein and Summers also discussed President Trump in their newly revealed correspondence, with the former telling Summers on Feb. 8, 2017, that the commander-in-chief has “[n]ot one decent cell in his body.”
“I have met some very bad people, none as bad as Trump,” the disgraced financier added in the same message.
“[Y]our world does not understand how dumb he really is,” Epstein warned Summers in a May 28, 2017, email. “[H]e will blame everyone around him … for bad results.”
In December 2018, Epstein described Trump to Summers as “borderline insane,” adding that prominent attorney Alan Dershowitz, who represented both Epstein and Trump in various legal proceedings, was “a few feet further from the border but not by much.”
Quote:WASHINGTON — Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein ended his friendship with Bill Clinton because he believed the former president was a liar, according to new emails the disgraced financier’s estate handed over to Congress on Wednesday.
The emails obtained by the House Oversight Committee show that Kathryn Ruemmler, a former White House counsel to President Barack Obama, had a chummy relationship with Epstein — and the two frequently discussed politics in the lead-up to the 2016 election.
In a Jan. 23, 2016, email, Epstein revealed that he broke off contact with Slick Willy after “he swore, with whole-hearted conviction to me that he had done something, he had forgotten that he also swore the exact opposite to me only weeks before.”
“Who knows what they’re talking about,” a Clinton spokesperson responded in a statement. “What we do know and have always said is that President Clinton knew nothing about Epstein’s heinous crimes and hadn’t spoken to him in twenty years. Now here it is in black and white.”
Ruemmler and Epstein had been discussing another person named “macgiver” earlier in the email thread, and sources familiar with the exchange indicated that Ruemmler’s comments only referred to that individual.
“I will just say I told you so. Not to sound overly dramatic, but he is very close to being a psychopath,” Ruemmler had said earlier in the exchange of the mysterious individual. “[H]e has no conscience. It’s scary.”
“He obviously said something to you yesterday that was disturbing, and you don’t want to tell me. Just tell me — I can take it. I promise,” added Ruemmler of this person, who was once listed as a backup executor to Epstein’s estate in January 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported.
But it’s unclear how long the two remained at odds as Clinton was mentioned in other emails in the trove of more than 20,000 pages worth of documents released by the powerful House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.
“Let’s do a men of the world conference,” theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss said in an April 5, 2018, email to Epstein, sending a proposed invite list that included Clinton, actor Kevin Spacey, former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and director Woody Allen.
Ruemmler had met Epstein while employed as a partner at Latham and Watkins. She is the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel at Goldman Sachs. A spokesperson for the banking giant claimed Ruemmler’s interactions with Epstein were limited to business.
“They shared a common client that originated as an Epstein referral,” the spokesperson said, referring to her time at Latham & Watkins.
Clinton and Epstein’s ties date back to at least the early 1990s, when the child sex predator donated money to the 42nd president’s campaign. Later, he contributed $20,000 to Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign in 1999. Epstein visited the White House over a dozen times during the Clinton presidency, visitor logs show.
Following Clinton’s White House departure, the two remained in touch. Epstein was an active donor to the Clinton Foundation and Slick Willy appeared in flight logs for the late pedaphile’s infamous “Lolita Express” on more than two dozen occasions.
Epstein was known to staff his jet with young women while mingling with powerful people.
Quote:A then-New York Times finance reporter tipped off Jeffrey Epstein in the spring of 2016 that an investigative journalist and former NYPD detective was “digging around” on the convicted pedophile for a tell-all book about his depraved lifestyle.
Landon Thomas Jr., gave the disgraced financier a heads-up after being contacted by ex-cop-turned-reporter John Connolly about the tome which became “Filthy Rich,” according to a tranche of emails released Wednesday by the House Oversight Committee.
“Keep getting calls from that guy doing a book on you — John Connolly. He seems very interested in your relationship with the news media. I told him you were a hell of a guy :),” Thomas wrote to Epstein in an email dated June 1, 2016.
“He actually seemed to be a sensible guy/solid reporter — just from the few conversations I had with him. I think he is close to finishing up. Did you ever speak to him?”
Elsewhere in the exchange, Thomas went on to note that Connolly had apparently inquired about an article he had written for New York Magazine in 2002, in which Donald Trump was quoted as speaking highly of Epstein.
“One oddity: he said he had been told that that quote from Trump about you in the original NY Mag story had been manufactured. ie, that I did not actually speak to Donald,” Thomas wrote in the email.
“Which is bull s–t of course. I am sure that is what Trump told him as they have been getting a lot of questions from reporters about you.”
In earlier emails, Thomas acknowledged that people had been coming to him because they figured he had “juicy info on you and Trump” — specifically because of his magazine article that quoted Trump as saying, “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” and “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do and many of them are on the younger side.”
Connolly, who died in January 2022 at the age of 78, published “Filthy Rich: The Shocking True Story of Jeffrey Epstein” in October 2016, sharing author credit with celebrity wordsmith James Patterson.
The book became the basis of a four-part Netflix documentary that began streaming in May 2020, months after Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
In September 2017, nearly a year after the book was released, Thomas emailed Epstein that Connolly “is digging around again — not clear if its another book/or expanded paperback version. Was asking me all sorts of questions about why you hired Ken Starr” — a reference to the former independent counsel who investigated the Clinton White House.
“I told him I had no idea — I think he is doing some Trump-related digging too,” Thomas added. “Anyway, for what it’s worth…”
Other emails in the trove of more than 20,000 documents released Wednesday detail Thomas’ chummy relationship with Epstein through the years — revealing that the reporter picked the pervert’s brain for background information on a potential story about Saudi Arabia.
In multiple emails, Thomas fretted about Donald Trump potentially defeating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, writing to Epstein in a Feb. 10 exchange: “Its [sic] getting scary. The stories you could tell…”
Thomas left the Times in early 2019, after he revealed to editors that he had solicited a $30,000 donation to a cultural center in Harlem from Epstein, NPR reported at the time.
Quote:President Trump privately polled top CEOs for ideas on how to make US voters’ lives more affordable – even as he predicted a deregulation-driven economic boom on par with the Reagan and Clinton eras, The Post has learned.
Trump’s remarks came during a private Wednesday dinner at the White House that included some of Wall Street and corporate America’s biggest names, among them JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon.
While he stopped short of specifically mentioning an “affordability crisis” as alleged by Democrats, Trump appeared to concede that parts of the American dream have become out of reach, and asked the CEOs if they had any solutions, according to one CEO in attendance.
“He spoke a lot about affordability and what we can do from a market perspective to address it,” the CEO told The Post.
Other bigwigs at the dinner included Larry Fink of Blackrock, Ted Pick of Morgan Stanley, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq’s Adena Friedman and Steve Schwarzman, CEO of private equity powerhouse Blackstone.
Also in attendance were Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Trump is said to have “controlled the room” of Wall Street and business heavyweights, sprinkling pitches on his pro-growth economic policies with his trademarked charisma and sense of humor.
Still, Trump raised eyebrows when he blurted out that he believes his economic policies – which include stiff tariffs on foreign goods — could make the US economy grow “between 5 and 6 percent,” according to an attendee.
The CEOs didn’t confront Trump on his prediction, which is far higher than most optimistic forecasts, including the 4% growth outlook from the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank. But privately, many had doubts given the current economic headwinds.
Some in attendance told The Post that even Trump’s economic advisers are skeptical of such growth. Meanwhile, they are concerned about next year’s midterms following the recent Democratic gubernatorial wins and Zohran Mamdani’s election as New York mayor.
“I sure hope the president is right about 6% growth,” another CEO told The Post. “But I don’t see how we get there. His people are worried as well particularly about affordability but they won’t tell him. He’s surrounded by a lot of ‘yes men.'”
The CEOs also discussed ways to open the markets up to average people so they can put their retirement savings in the stock market, which if history is any guide, provides the highest returns for investors than other assets, according to people who were present.
Quote:WASHINGTON — First lady Melania Trump joined her husband for a rare joint executive order signing ceremony Thursday on a directive to expand resources for teenagers in the foster care system.
“Too many people from the foster care community end up homeless, in danger on America’s streets,” the first lady said before the signing ceremony.
“I predict this small spark today will ignite a profound and lasting nationwide movement. Our united resolve will foster a thriving future filled with compassion and innovation.”
The executive order, signed by both Trumps, is intended to boost Melania’s “Fostering the Future,” which aims to elevate youth transitioning out of the foster care system through scholarships and educational opportunities.
“Fostering the Future” is part of the first lady’s “Be Best” initiative, which she launched during the first Trump administration to promote the well-being of children, including by countering bullying and drug addiction.
President Trump’s executive order lays out key goals for his administration, particularly the Department of Health and Human Services, to create more opportunities for teenagers in foster care as they transition to adulthood.
It instructs HHS to streamline the collection of child-welfare data, partner with the private sector to create opportunities for youth in foster care, and coordinate with faith-based institutions to ensure states and local governments aren’t stopping them from participating in federal child welfare programs.
There were an estimated 328,947 children in the foster care system as of September of last year, according to data from HHS’s Administration for Children and Families. That’s a downtick from the first Trump administration, when it stood at 437,000 in 2017.
Only 55% of children in the foster care system graduate high school and just 10% will graduate from college, per Route 21, a youth mentoring program.
Additionally, 1 out of 10 individuals in jail went through foster care, according to Route 21.
The president heaped praise on the first lady’s work, taking note of her ability to speak five languages.
“I couldn’t do that,” he quipped. “Thank you, Melania, and our country is truly blessed to have this magnificent and very caring First Lady.”
“We believe that every American child deserves a safe and loving home, and we’re determined to support the amazing families who helped make that happen,” he later added.
President Trump also invoked the Bible to underscore the importance of tending to society’s most vulnerable.
Quote:Mayor-elect Zohram Mamdani wants to deploy social workers instead of police officers to respond to 911 calls — but the controversial plan has already been operating in the Big Apple and is failing.
The early results of a program dubbed B-HEARD spells trouble for Mamdani’s proposed $1.1 billion Department of Community Safety (DCS), a signature imitative that his newly announced chief of staff and left-hand woman Elle Bisgaard-Church helped craft.
B-HEARD launched in 2021 as a pilot program and only operates in some city neighborhoods, but a bleak audit conducted in May by the city comptroller found it was limping — with a whopping 60% of calls deemed ineligible while more than 35% of eligible calls from mental health professionals never got a response.
“Calls were considered potentially dangerous, were ineligible because a mental health professional was already at the scene, or were unable to be triaged because FDNY EMS did not take the call or all necessary information could not be collected about the person in distress,” the comptroller’s office wrote in a news release at the time.
Between fiscal years 2022 and 2024, the program received a total of 96,291 calls — 24,071 of those received a response from a “B-HEARD Team” which consists of two FDNY officers and EMTS, and one social worker.
The proud socialist mayor-elect is looking to drastically scale up the program — which currently consists of 18 active teams — through a 150% increase in funding that would place one response squad in each Big Apple neighborhood, and up to three teams in areas with higher need.
Mamdani’s plan would absorb B-HEARD into the DCS, which his campaign website touts as an agency meant to “fill the gaps of our programs and services” on his campaign website.
“Its mission will be to prevent violence before it happens by taking a public health approach to safety,” the document reads.
Right now, B-HEARD operates in The Bronx, Upper Manhattan, central Brooklyn and a northwest section of Queens. DCS would likely require a massive increase in staffing and resources to scale citywide, experts said.
The pricey project would utilize $605 million by absorbing existing programs like B-HEARD, and seek to raise a whopping $455 million in new funding.
Mamdani’s DCS plan has alienated law enforcement, with critics saying it could not only put potential callers in harm’s way but endanger the responders.
Experts interviewed by The Post echoed said B-HEARD’s questionable effectiveness was a bad sign for a potential DCS.
“The devil is in the details, and here the detail is implementation. The fact that the program is not reaching people does not tell me it’s unsuccessful; that is a matter of resources,” said Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City.
“But there are fundamental questions,” he said, noting the harrowing idea of when it’s appropriate to send mental health professionals to 911 calls instead of law enforcement.
Political strategist Hank Sheinkopf scoffed at the idea of a new department entirely.
“Exactly what New York doesn’t need: another government agency with an unmanageable bureaucracy. Domestic dispute calls can get violent,” Sheinkopf emphasized.
Quote:Zohran Mamdani held a secretive meeting with far-left Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday — a sitdown that was captured by an eagle-eyed New Yorker whose office is across from the mayor-elect’s headquarters.
Warren boasted about the meeting with the Democratic socialist and Big Tech antagonist Lina Khan, the co-chair of Mamdani’s transition team, on Instagram.
“Tax the rich. Billionaire tears not pictured,” Warren captioned the post of the beaming trio.
The nosy neighbor who works in the building across the street from Mamdani snapped a picture of him and Warren “in deep debate” on Nov. 12, according to a post on X.
“Update: the blinds are all closed this morning,” he wrote Thursday.
Exact details of the trio’s meeting are unclear. The Post reached out to Mamdani and Warren for comment.
Warren is a notorious hater of Wall Street who gushed about Mamdani’s “steely” focus on affordability over the summer, saying his fantastical promises of free child care, transit and rent freezes are the true “Democratic message.”
Maria Danzilo, a former candidate for the New York state Senate, gawked at the Bay State progressive’s apparent “obsession” with the incoming mayor.
“This woman will not rest until she brings down America, starting with NYC. It’s bad enough we have [AOC] here,” Danzilo seethed on X.
“NYC is bleeding jobs and it’s headed for anti-growth and a death spiral thanks to years of De Blasio, no course correction with Adams, and now four years of [t]his! She should go back to Massachusetts and leave NYC the heck alone.”
Others, growing fretful about the other lefty politicians swarming around Mamdani, couldn’t help but agree.
“Welp Bernie said it. He wants to bring Mamdani politics all across the country,” one user wrote, referring to independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who rallied with Mamdani just before the election.
“I don’t think her policies work for nyc,” another person noted.
“She is a MA senator…why is she even there?” one user wondered.
Quote:Gov. Kathy Hochul is getting cooked for placing her “Green New Deal” on the back burner.
The New York leader faced attacks from both sides of the aisle this week when her administration revealed it was stalling the implementation of the All-Electric Buildings Act that includes a controversial ban on installing gas stoves in newly built homes.
The law was supposed to start in January for new buildings up to seven stories, and then for all other buildings in 2029, but state lawyers agreed in a court filing to a delay amid an ongoing court fight challenging the law.
Environmentalists slammed Hochul for pushing off much needed green initiatives while Republicans, like GOP candidate for governor, upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik, accused her of cynically slowing the roll-out ahead of her re-election in 2026.
“Kathy Hochul is lying to New Yorkers,” Stefanik bluntly said in a statement.
“She wants them to believe there will not be a gas stove ban and all-electric mandate policies that will absolutely crush New York’s economy and cause a skyrocketing of prices further worsening the affordability crisis.
“This is a cynical political ‘pause’ so she can screw New Yorkers with higher prices after the election.”
The congresswoman, who announced her challenge of the Democrat last week, also brought up how Hochul suspended the implementation of congestion pricing for vehicles entering Manhattan’s business district last year, but reversed course following the 2024 elections.
“Just like congestion pricing, when Hochul lied to voters before the election and then immediately raised taxes on workers and commuters, she thinks New Yorkers are stupid and won’t notice this desperate political ploy,” she said, adding the gas stove ban should be fully repealed.
Environmental Advocates NY also joined in on slamming Hochul.
“Delaying the All Electric Buildings Act will keep us stuck in a fossil fuel past we can’t afford,” said Katherine Nadeau, deputy executive director of policy and programs at the organization.
“We need the governor to fight for clean energy, not drag things out further. Every months we wait holds back New York’s climate progress and puts our future at risk,” added the green energy activist.
Hochul’s office said in a statement it was still committed to enforcing the green mandate while pointing to the ongoing court challenge of the law brought by the construction industry including New York State Builders Association, National Association of Home Builders, New York Propane Gas Association and laborers’ unions.
“The governor remains committed to the all-electric-buildings law and believes this action will help the State defend it, as well as reduce regulatory uncertainty for developers during this period of litigation,” said Ken Lovett, Hochul’s senior communications adviser on energy and the environment.
“Governor Hochul remains resolved to providing more affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy for New Yorkers.”
State attorneys said it would not go ahead with the implementation until a federal appellate court delivers a ruling, according to reports.
Quote:House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan launched a probe Thursday into a Virginia prosecutor he claims is siding with a left-wing activist being investigated for threats to White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller and the intimidation of his family.
Jordan’s (R-Ohio) request for information from Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, comes after the prosecutor reportedly asked a local judge to limit a state law enforcement search of a woman accused of putting up menacing flyers in Miller’s Northern Virginia neighborhood and making a bizarre gesture at the White House official’s wife.
“On October 2, 2025, in the matter pending before a court in Arlington County, you made ‘an unusual request’ by siding ‘with the defense’ in requesting that the judge overseeing the matter limit the search warrant and the information that state police could share with the FBI, which the judge so ordered,” Jordan wrote in a letter Dehghani-Tafti.
“According to investigators involved in the case, you have been ‘stymying the investigation’ into the threats made against the Miller family,” the congressman added.
The Millers moved out of their Arlington, Va., home, and put it up for sale, after 66-year-old Barbara Wien allegedly plastered their neighborhood with “”NO NAZIS IN NOVA,” flyers, according to Axios.
The posters included an image of Miller’s head inside a crossed-out red circle and listed his home address.
A QR code on the flyers linked to the Instagram account of the activist group, Arlington Neighbors United for Humanity (ANUFH) – an organization Jordan claimed Dehghani-Tafti is a supporter of.
The flyers were put up on Sept. 11 – the day after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination in Utah.
That same day, Wien allegedly walked by the Millers’ home as the White House official’s wife, Katie Miller, sat on the porch and pointed her index and middle fingers to her eye, signaling that she was watching the family.
Dehghani-Tafti became involved in the case when the Millers went to Virginia State Police with their complaint, after Magistrate Judge Lindsey Vaala denied two FBI search warrant requests related to Wien.
Wien has not been arrested, and the warrants sought were to investigate whether she had violated any laws.
“Your unmistakably partisan actions suggest that you are willing to not only ignore threats of political violence against those with whom you disagree, but will actively side with those making the threats,” Jordan wrote in his letter to the prosecutor.
“The Miller family deserves the same protections afforded to all Americans, particularly when it comes to feeling safe in their own home,” he added. “Their safety is especially important in light of recent left-wing political violence against prominent Republicans, and the election of an attorney general in Virginia who fantasizes about murdering the children of his political opponents.”
“The appearance that you have allowed your political bias to influence an investigation involving a senior Trump Administration official gives rise to substantial federal concerns.”
Dehghani-Tafti’s office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Quote:A violent lunatic attempted to confront acting US Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba reportedly with a bat before allegedly trashing her office in a crazed fit – and the Department of Justice is on the hunt for the unhinged suspect.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the terrifying incident unfolded Wednesday night and vowed that the deranged suspect will be “brought to justice” amid a growing wave of political violence.
“Last night, an individual attempted to confront one of our U.S. Attorneys — my dear friend [Alina Habba] —destroyed property in her office, and then fled the scene. Thankfully, Alina is ok,” Bondi wrote on X.
“Any violence or threats of violence against any federal officer will not be tolerated. Period. This is unfortunately becoming a trend as radicals continue to attack law enforcement agents around the country. We will find this person, and the individual will be brought to justice,” she continued.
“Our federal prosecutors, agents, and law-enforcement partners put their lives on the line everyday to protect the American people, and this Department will use every legal tool available to ensure their safety and hold violent offenders fully accountable.”
Habba, President Trump’s former personal lawyer, was in her Newark office Wednesday night when the man allegedly appeared outside with a bat and was barred from entering the building, two people close to the matter told The New York Times.
He later returned without the bat, and security officers allowed him inside before he went up to Habba’s office and began shouting incoherently and destroying property, the outlet reported.
It’s unclear if the disturbed maniac was targeting the New Jersey native, who oversees all federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigations in the Garden State.
“I will not be intimidated by radical lunatics for doing my job,” Habba, who was tapped for the temporary role by Trump in March, said on X.
The FBI is aware of the man’s appearance, an agency spokesperson told The Times.
While details about the alleged incident were not immediately available, the FBI said it would release more information when possible.
Wednesday’s attack is the latest in a disturbing wave of violence targeting elected officials, including President Trump, who narrowly escaped death when a would-be 20-year-old assassin fired at him and struck the then-candidate’s ear during a 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
In June, Former Minnesota Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman, her husband and dog, were gunned down and killed in their Minneapolis home in a politically motivated attack. Alleged assassin, Vance Boelter, is also accused of shooting state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, who both survived.
Quote:WASHINGTON — Sen. John Fetterman was hospitalized “out of an abundance of caution” after falling and hitting his face during a morning walk near his home in Braddock, Pa., his office announced Thursday.
Doctors diagnosed the Pennsylvania Democrat with a “ventricular fibrillation flare-up,” meaning his heart wasn’t pumping blood correctly due to an irregular heartbeat. It can be life-threatening.
“He is doing well and receiving routine observation at the hospital,” Fetterman’s office continued. “He has opted to stay so doctors can fine-tune his medication regimen. Senator Fetterman is grateful for the EMTs, doctors, and nurses who are providing his care.”
The 56-year-old was “feeling light-headed” and suffered unspecified minor injuries from the fall. He received treatment at a Pittsburgh hospital.
“If you thought my face looked bad before,” Fetterman quipped in a statement, “wait until you see it now!”
The accident took place two days after the publication of the Democrat’s memoir, “Unfettered,” which relates his various health problems — including a battle with depression early in his term.
Fetterman survived a stroke back in 2022, months before his election to the Senate.
In 2023, Fetterman was hospitalized for two days after feeling light-headed.
A few weeks after that, he checked himself into Walter Reed Military Medical Center, where he received treatment for six weeks for clinical depression.
On Thursday, the hulking senator was in his home state of Pennsylvania at the time of his fall after voting with Republicans on Monday to reopen the government and end the record-breaking shutdown.
The Keystone State senator has been on a media tour this week to promote his book, opening up about his recovery process.
Fetterman’s stroke left him with an auditory processing impairment that has made it difficult for him to communicate, though he has made significant improvements over the past three years.
“It changed my life,” Fetterman recalled of his stroke during an interview on “CBS Morning” this week, in which he also talked of his struggle with depression.
“I don’t know what your road for recovery is, but I promise if you stay in the game, you will get better, and I’m being here right now is a testament to that,” he said.
Quote:WASHINGTON — Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) was hit with a federal criminal referral for alleged mortgage and tax fraud related to his purchase of a $1.2 million home in Washington, DC, that he claimed as a primary residence, The Post has confirmed.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte in a Wednesday letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi requested an investigation of Swalwell based on allegedly false and misleading statements he made about the purchase, NBC News first reported.
The California Democrat was able to secure millions of dollars’ worth of loans and refinancing based on the primary residence declaration in DC, a source familiar with the referral said.
The designation could constitute mortgage fraud, insurance fraud and state and local tax fraud, among other charges, the source noted.
In addition to the Department of Justice criminal referral, FHFA’s inspector general is probing the alleged mortgage fraud.
“As the most vocal critic of Donald Trump over the last decade and as the only person who still has a surviving lawsuit against him, the only thing I am surprised about is that it took him this long to come after me,” Swalwell responded in a statement.
“Like James Comey and John Bolton, Adam Schiff and Lisa Cook, Letitia James and the dozens more to come – I refuse to live in fear in what was once the freest country in the world,” added the California congressman, who is now the fourth Democratic official to be targeted for mortgage fraud by the Trump administration.
“Of course, I will not end my lawsuit against him. And I will not stop speaking out against the president and speaking up for Californians,” Swalwell said.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Attorney General Letitia James and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook have all faced criminal referrals from Pulte based on allegedly false statements they made about second homes or rental properties being their primary residence.
The referrals indicated the misrepresentations may have granted each more favorable loan terms.
On Oct. 9, a federal grand jury handed up a criminal indictment of James for purported falsehoods related to a $109,600 loan she obtained for a Norfolk, Va., residence, netting her an extra nearly $19,000.
A separate grand jury in Maryland as of August was weighing charges against Schiff. Cook was fired from the Fed amid a DOJ criminal investigation — but has since appealed her case to the US Supreme Court.
Swalwell purchased the Victorian bungalow, nestled in the District’s historic Eckington neighborhood and just a mile north of the US Capitol, in 2020 for $1.2 million, records show.
Quote:New York Attorney General Letitia James threatened to take Condé Nast to court over the “Fired Four” on Wednesday night during a union rally outside the company’s World Trade Center headquarters.
Condé Nast angered the NewsGuild of New York last week by firing four employees after they confronted the company’s HR chief outside his C-suite office to “demand answers” on recent layoffs at WIRED and Teen Vogue.
The Guild blasted the firings as “grossly illegal tactics” designed to union-bust and intimidate and organized a rally to call for the reinstatement of the group that has been billed as the “Fired Four” by colleagues.
NewsGuild of New York President Susan DeCarava introduced James to rallygoers by declaring she has “built her career on standing up for working people” and “holding powerful interests to account.”
James came to the podium and started chants of, “When we fight, we win,” and “People, united, will never be defeated,” before suggesting the economy is “rigged against working people.”
James told the assembled crowd she was proud to stand with the Guild before asking, “Since when is it illegal for an individual, or individuals, to express, or recognize, their First Amendment rights? Since when is that illegal? When is it illegal to ask a question? When is it illegal to speak truth to power? When is it illegal to get answers from your employer?”
James, who is fighting her own battle right now after pleading not guilty to federal bank fraud charges, accused Condé Nast of skirting labor protections.
“To all of those who are responsible for the termination of these individuals, let me introduce myself. My name is Letitia James, otherwise known as Tish, and I am here to let you know that I stand with workers now, and I will stand with workers forever,” she said.
“I want you to know that I’m not afraid to march into a courtroom to assure that the rights of these individuals, and the rights of all workers, is respected and honored. And that the rule of law is on the side of those individuals who simply asked the question, ‘What is going on?’ So, I urge you, I urge you now, to reverse these terminations,” James continued. “This is an injustice. My name is Letitia James and as the Attorney General of the State of New York, Condé Nast, I’ll see you in court.”
Condé Nast appeared unfazed by James’ threat, insisting the “Fired Four” had been terminated lawfully.
“The employment terminations were lawful and based on clear violations of company policies. We have an obligation to protect our workplace from harassment and intimidation. If the Attorney General has concerns, we are happy to respond to her,” a Condé Nast spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The dispute began last week when staffers confronted Condé Nast Chief People Officer Stan Duncan, peppering him with questions about the recent layoffs.
Duncan urged them to return to their workspaces immediately.
The caught-on-camera interaction resulted in the termination of four of the employees involved.
Quote:In an exclusive interview with People, the longtime Murdaugh employee discussed the details that led her to believe that the now disgraced South Carolina lawyer killed his wife and son in 2021.
Turrubiate-Simpson wrote that she long trusted Alex and loved the family she served.
“There was no universe in which Alex could have committed these crimes,” she wrote in her new memoir, “Within the House of Murdaugh: Amid a Unique Friendship – Blanca and Maggie,” co-written with Mary Frances Weaver, which will be released this month.
But after the June 7, 2021, killings at the Murdaughs’ Moselle estate in South Carolina, small inconsistencies began to trouble her.
The morning after the murders, Maggie’s Mercedes SUV had been parked in an unusual spot, something Turrubiate-Simpson said Maggie never did.
Pajamas and a pair of underwear were laid out neatly in the laundry-room doorway, even though Maggie “never wore underwear to bed,” Turrubiate-Simpson said.
“I knew automatically that wasn’t her,” she told the outlet.
In Alex’s bathroom, she found a puddle of water, a towel and a pair of khaki pants she recognized from the morning before.
She also noticed that the shirt Alex wore in a Snapchat video that day disappeared and was never seen again.
Months later, Alex asked her if she remembered him wearing a Vineyard Vines shirt on the day of the murders.
“You remember what I was wearing that day,” she remembers him telling her, she writes. “You know, the Vinny Vines [Vineyard Vines] shirt.”
Turrubiate-Simpson said she did not, saying she remembered ironing a seafoam green polo. The question, she said, felt like an attempt to change his story from that night.
“One thing was for sure,” Simpson writes. “He was lying.”
Her turning point came during Alex’s 2023 murder trial, when she saw police bodycam video showing a beach towel on the front seat of his car.
The longtime housekeeper said she had washed, dried and folded that towel earlier that day and placed it on a high shelf in the laundry room.
“When I saw that towel in his car, I said, ‘Oh my God. He did it,’” she told People.
She speculates in the book that Alex hosed himself off near the kennels and either changed there or back at the house.
Quote:WASHINGTON — Staffers at the Democratic National Committee seethed over the party’s new directive to show up to the office and work in-person five days a week, blasting the order as “shocking” and “callous.”
DNC Chairman Ken Martin informed workers during an all-staff meeting on Wednesday that the national Democratic Party apparatus will require its entire Washington, DC-based staff to return to full in-person work starting in February.
“It was shocking to see the DNC chair disregard staff’s valid concerns on today’s team call,” the DNC staff union leadership fumed in a statement first reported by the New York Times.
“DNC staff worked extremely hard to support historic wins for Democrats up and down the ballot last Tuesday, and this change feels especially callous considering the current economic conditions created by the Trump administration.”
The union, which ratified a collective bargaining agreement with the DNC back in July, noted that it is “considering its options.”
That collective bargaining agreement allows DNC workers to “request to work remotely on occasion.”
During the announcement, Martin caveated that DNC workers would have flexibility for family, medical and other personal matters that warranted remote work, a DNC official told The Post.
Martin argued that Democrats had momentum after the off-year elections last week and contended that having staff work together is conducive to better brainstorming and allows the party to make time-sensitive decisions quickly, the source claimed.
The DNC boss also impressed upon staff that the 2025 off-year election cycle is different than the 2026 midterm elections, in which states and the Democratic party will lean on the DNC more for support.
Backlash quickly ensued, with a flurry of thumbs-downs on the Zoom call for remote workers and questions from staffers, according to the New York Times.
Some staffers reportedly argued that Democrats won the 2020 election despite the remote work and contended that the party could do so again in 2028.
The DNC declined to comment on the record. The Post also reached out to Local 500 of the Service Employees International Union, of which the DNC staffer union is a member.
It's really unbelievable to read how people complain about a working in person nowadays.
Quote:The union repping taxpayer-funded Legal Aid lawyers agreed to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by members who were allegedly ridiculed and targeted for opposing a union-approved anti-Israel resolution as antisemitic.
The Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW Local 2325, agreed to pay the three pro-Israel members a total of $315,000 and admitted that some of the comments leveled at the trio were “inappropriate.”
“We’re happy for our clients, and for the precedent this settlement establishes for Jewish and allied union members across the country laboring against an obsessive focus on demonizing Israel and Jews, instead of a focus on fighting for better wages, benefits and working conditions,” said Rory Lancman, director of corporate initiatives & senior Counsel at the Brandeis Center, who led the prosecution for the plaintiffs.
The settlement also calls for mandatory training of union members.
The case was brought by the Louis Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a Jewish legal civil rights group.
The ALAA had even initiated proceedings to expel the three Nassau County members — Ilana Kopmar, Diane Clarke and Isaac Altman — after they filed a lawsuit last year to block the union from passing a one-sided resolution that condemned Israel for the war, but didn’t blame Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks sparked the conflict.
Two of three plaintiffs are Jewish.
The approved resolution also opposes all existing and future US military aid to Israel and endorses the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Jewish state, which critics say is a form of antisemitism.
In their federal court complaint, the plaintiffs described being targeted as “snitches,” “losers,” “disgusting,” “dictators in training” and “Zionist ghouls” in the ALAA’s internal discussion boards.
Plaintiff Ilana Kopmar said she and the others fought the union for passing “an antisemitic resolution.”
“They retaliated, tried to silence and bully us. I’m proud that me and my co-plaintiffs fought, and I’m hoping that with this resolution the union will think twice about retaliating against their members,” Kopmar said.
Plaintiff Isaac Altman said he’ll be donating a portion of his settlement payout to the Israeli emergency medical services group Magen David Adom.
Quote:A US congresswoman said she is working with Italian and Bosnian officials to see if any Americans took part in the alleged “sniper tourist” killings that saw wealthy Westerns pay to shoot humans in Sarajevo during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s.
Following news that Italian prosecutors are investigating alleged “human safari” trips, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) said Thursday that she has opened an investigation into the matter and is in contact with the Bosnian Consulate and Italian Embassy.
“Paying money to shoot civilians — and even worse to shoot children — is a level of evil our country cannot and will not tolerate,” Luna wrote on X.
“Both the Italian and Bosnian governments will be sharing any and all information regarding any AMERICANS that may be implicated,” she added. “If there are any Americans who have engaged in this, they deserve to be charged and prosecuted.”
It’s unclear if any Americans took part in the alleged killings, which were supposedly carried out by wealthy gun enthusiasts who would pay Bosnian Serb forces as much as $90,000 to shoot people in Sarajevo. According to the report, there was an extra fee to kill children.
Ezio Gavazzeni, an investigative writer, claimed he uncovered the gruesome history and provided his evidence to Italian prosecutors, the Guardian reported.
“There were Germans, French, English … people from all Western countries who paid large sums of money to be taken there to shoot civilians,” Gavazzeni alleged.
“There were no political or religious motivations. They were rich people who went there for fun and personal satisfaction. We are talking about people who love guns who perhaps go to shooting ranges or on safari in Africa,” he added.
The “human safari” was allegedly maintained by Radovan Karadžić, the former Bosnian Serb leader who was found guilty of genocide and other crimes against humanity in 2016.
More than 10,000 people were killed during the four-year siege in Sarajevo, which was constantly under shelling and sniper fire following Bosnia and Herzegovina’s declaration of independence from Yugoslavia.
Fear ruled over Sarajevo during the four years as sniper fire often struck civilians walking in the streets, including children, at random.
The city’s main street, Meša Selimović Boulevard, was notoriously nicknamed “Sniper Alley” because of the frequent murders on the only road leading to the airport.
Gavazzeni said his research led him to name several Italian nationals who allegedly took part in the killings, with prosecutors in Milan probing the case.
Quote:Ukraine suspended its justice minister on Wednesday after an investigation linked him to an alleged $100 million energy kickback scheme, a case that’s shaking trust in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wartime government.
Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who had previously served as energy minister, was suspended after one of his advisors had been named a suspect in the alleged scheme to control procurement at the Energoatom nuclear agency and other state enterprises.
Five suspects were charged this week in connection with the case, including long-time Zelensky ally Timur Mindich, the co-owner of the Kvartal-95 TV studio that brought the president national fame before his foray into politics.
The charges have fueled public outrage against the long history of corruption in Kyiv, serving as an especially harsh blow given the current state of Ukraine’s energy grid from Russia’s daily bombardments.
Galushchenko, who was not among the five arrested, said he agreed with the government’s decision to suspend him for the duration of the investigation, which is being handled by Ukraine’s National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).
“I will defend myself in the legal arena and prove my position,” the justice minister said.
The “high-level” case saw a slew of former officials and execs allegedly receive benefits and launder money through Energoatom, including a ploy to force contractors for the company to pay an illegal commission of 10-15% or risk losing their supplier status, NABU and SAPO allege.
“Using their official connections in the ministry and the state-owned company, [the suspects] ensured control over personnel decisions, procurement processes, and financial flows,” the agencies said in a statement.
NABU added that the criminal organization also transferred funds to an “unnamed former deputy prime minister of Ukraine, referred to internally as Che Guevara.”
Some $1.2 million was transferred to this person, with the so-called Guevara transferring nearly half of it to his wife when he became the subject of investigation, NABU said.
During the investigation, NABU also obtained recordings of Galushchenko speaking with the suspects, a source familiar with the case told Reuters.
Kvartal 95, which produced the sitcom that propelled Zelensky to fame as a comedian and actor, distanced itself from Mindich, stating that he is not an active participant in the company, nor does he influence its contents or decisions.
Energoatom also stated that the corruption case has not impacted its operations to provide energy to Ukrainians.
The development is the latest blow to Zelensky, who has seen allies embroiled in corruption charges and whose government is still struggling to root out high levels of fraud — one of the key issues keeping Ukraine from being able to join the European Union.
Quote:Belgium's federal prosecutor's office launched eight investigations following the 17 unexplained incidents involving drones flying over sites which included airports, nuclear power plants, and military bases.
The incidents come on the heels of drone incursions into the airspace of other NATO members which have been blamed on Russia.
Newsweek has contacted Belgium's federal prosecutor's office for comment.
Why It Matters
Russia has been accused by NATO countries of hybrid warfare following unauthorized drone flights over critical infrastructure, which have caused flight suspensions, military alerts, and international concern.
Belgium is the latest country which has raised the alarm about these flights and its investigations will focus attention on Russia’s alleged tactics to destabilize the continent’s security.
What To Know
Belgium's media reported that the country's federal prosecutor's office had opened eight investigations following 17 incidents involving drones flying over sensitive sites such as airports, nuclear power plants, and military bases.
No country was mentioned in the reports, but media had previously reported that Belgian security services are convinced that Russia is behind the spate of drone incidents, although there is no independent confirmation of Moscow’s involvement.
Incidents included five drones hovering over the Doel nuclear power station near Antwerp on November 9 and the suspension of flights due to drone sightings near air bases.
Violations of drone regulations are under the jurisdiction of local prosecutors. Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Yasmina Vanoverschelde said it was a challenge to differentiate between local rule-breaking and activity tied to foreign state actors, the Brussels Times reported.
Dozens of sightings of drones and other uncrewed aerial objects have been made near and over civilian airports, military bases, defense industry hubs, and critical infrastructure in Europe with Germany, Denmark, and Norway the most affected.
In Germany and Belgium, drones hovered around and over defense hubs and military bases, including a possible depot in Europe holding United States nuclear weapons.
ACLED’s (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data) Eastern Europe Assistant Research Manager, Cristian Vlas, told Newsweek that these increasingly frequent drone overflights have highlighted the vulnerability of key defense sites in Europe and that EU member states are struggling to counter these risks due to gaps in legislation and a limited choice of means to engage relatively cheap drones.
What People Are Saying
Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Yasmina Vanoverschelde told the newspaper De Standaard: "It is still very difficult to determine whether these are local drone operators violating regulations or attempts at destabilization by a state actor."
ACLED’s Eastern Europe Assistant Research Manager, Cristian Vlas to Newsweek: "Coupled with Russia’s openly provocative flyovers near and over NATO territory in the Baltic Sea, these suspicious overflights question Europe’s ability to deter military and hybrid activity below the threshold of triggering mutual defense clauses."
Quote:The U.S. Coast Guard said it is monitoring a Russian military vessel that was spotted operating about 15 nautical miles south of Oahu on October 29, officials said Thursday.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Government Press Office and Russian Foreign Ministry via email on Thursday evening outside of normal business hours for comment.
Why It Matters
Tensions between Russia and the U.S. have increased in recent months as the two nations failed to advance any peace deal between Russia and Ukraine—a major campaign promise that U.S. President Donald Trump said would occur shortly after returning to office, but that he subsequently found difficult and more complicated than he had anticipated.
Trump then escalated matters by announcing his intent to have the U.S. restart testing nuclear weapons. The president said he had instructed the Pentagon to resume nuclear testing, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters the pledge was the same as "other countries around the world."
European leaders have also faced seeming provocation from Russia, accusing Moscow of violating their sovereignty by launching drones and balloons into the airspace of NATO members, prompting a few of them to invoke NATO Article 4, which seeks dialogue among member states about potential provocation.
What To Know
A Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft and cutter William Hart conducted an overflight and passed near the Kareliya, a Vishnya-class Russian intelligence ship. The Coast Guard said it is tracking the vessel in accordance with international law to ensure maritime security and support U.S. homeland defense efforts.
Foreign military ships are allowed to operate outside a nation’s 12-nautical-mile territorial boundary, but Coast Guard officials said they routinely monitor such activity to protect U.S. interests in the Pacific.
In a statement issued on Thursday evening, the Coast Guard said that it is "working in concert with partners and allies, our crews monitor and respond to foreign military vessel activity near our territorial waters to protect our maritime borders and defend our sovereign interests.”
Coast Guard Oceania District and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command will continue communicating about the matter and monitor further actions by the vessel.
What People Are Saying
The U.S. Coast Guard in a statement, in part: "Acting in accordance with international law, Coast Guard personnel are monitoring the Russian vessel’s activities near U.S. territorial waters to provide maritime security for U.S. vessels operating in the area and to support U.S. homeland defense efforts."
Quote:Russia is "ready" to help Venezuela as the U.S. beefs up its military presence near the South American nation, Russia's foreign minister said.
Caracas and Moscow signed a strategic partnership in May. The Kremlin is "ready to fully act within the framework of the obligations that were mutually stipulated in this agreement with our Venezuelan friends," Sergey Lavrov said in comments reported by Russian state media on Tuesday.
Russia and Venezuela have long-standing diplomatic, economic and military ties stretching back to Venezuela's former leader, Hugo Chávez. A factory to pump out Kalashnikov munitions opened in Venezuela in July and a Russian cargo aircraft, sanctioned by the U.S. and known for transporting defense equipment to Venezuela, landed in the country late last month, according to flight records.
Why It Matters
The U.S. military footprint close to Venezuela has ballooned as the White House forges ahead with a strike campaign it has framed as a lethal crackdown on drugs smuggled from Latin America, while international experts and former officials have described the attacks on suspected drug boats as illegal under international law.
The overwhelming show of force—augmented by the world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, arriving in waters close to Venezuela along with three warships on Tuesday—has raised questions about whether U.S. President Donald Trump hopes to topple Venezuela's authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro. Caracas has loudly protested the gathering of U.S military forces close to its coastline, at once appealing for peace and insisting Venezuela is ready to respond to any American attack.
What To Know
The agreement between Caracas and Moscow hasn't yet come into force but is "getting close," Lavrov said. The leaders of both countries have ratified the strategic partnership.
"Now it is at the final stage of ratification [by the Russian Legislature]," Lavrov said, Tass reported. "It states the need to continue our security cooperation, including military-technical cooperation."
Venezuela has not requested military assistance or that Russian weapons be deployed in the country, Lavrov said. But a senior Russian official suggested this month that Russia could furnish Venezuela with its experimental Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, which Moscow debuted to the world in a strike on central Ukraine a year ago.
"We supply the country with virtually the entire range of weapons, from small arms to aircraft," said Alexei Zhuravlev, who sits on the defense committee of Russia's state Duma, the lower parliamentary house. Zhuravlev said the details of which weapons Russia sends to Venezuela was classified, but there were no "obstacles to supplying a friendly country with new developments" like Oreshnik, or Moscow's Kalibr cruise missiles that it has extensively used against Ukrainian targets.
"The Americans could be in for some surprises," Zhuravlev said.
The alliance between Caracas and Moscow is strong, and hands Russia a friend close to the U.S., said Carlos Solar, a senior research fellow in Latin American security with the U.K.-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank. But Venezuela gets the better end of the deal, Solar told Newsweek.
Venezuela has long hosted Russian military advisers and purchased military supplies from Moscow, although its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems would struggle to intercept any kind of attack the U.S. could launch.
U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats in the southern Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed at least 75 people since the start of September, according to the administration's publicly acknowledged numbers. Strikes have continued in the weeks since the administration confirmed the USS Gerald R. Ford and the thousands of additional personnel in tow would head for the region.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López ordered the mobilization of 200,000 soldiers across the country on Tuesday against the "threat" posed by the U.S.
The strikes appear to be cutting at U.S. relationships with key allies, including Colombia. The country's president, Gustavo Petro, ordered Bogotá's security and intelligence forces to stop communication sharing with the U.S. on Tuesday as long as Washington attacks boats in the Caribbean. CNN separately reported on Tuesday that the U.K. had paused intelligence sharing on suspected drug vessels more than a month ago.
Quote:Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned on Thursday that "Russia will respond in kind" if the United States begins testing nuclear weapons.
The comments came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked about resuming testing on Wednesday, and also addressed concerns that China might be expanding its nuclear arsenal.
Why It Matters
Tensions have been growing around nuclear weapons and testing in recent months, despite North Korea being the only nation to have conducted any nuclear tests this century. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed in 1996, has kept the threat of escalation somewhat at bay. The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, and concerns in Europe and the U.S., have led to increased discussions and veiled threats that testing would begin again around the world.
What To Know
President Donald Trump said in late October that he had instructed the Pentagon to resume nuclear testing in Nevada, claiming the U.S. had the most nuclear weapons of any country.
Then on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the president's pledge was "on par with other countries around the world," and in part to ensure the weapons were safe. He did not appear to fully commit to full testing.
Peskov, a key ally and top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, responded to Rubio's remarks on Thursday.
"If we consider this [Rubio’s words] to be confirmation that the U.S. is lifting the ban on testing, then this indeed signifies Washington’s intention to conduct such tests, as this would interrupt a long-standing period of a comprehensive ban on nuclear testing," Peskov said, according to Russia's Tass news agency.
"As our president has said, in that case, Russia will respond in kind," the Kremlin spokesperson said.
On November 5, Putin reportedly told Russia's Foreign and Defense Ministries, as well as the country's special services and civil agencies, to gather information and analyze what was needed to possibly restart full-scale nuclear tests in Russia.
Peskov insisted that this was simply analyzing a potential plan, and not an instruction to begin testing.
Relations between Trump and Putin have become somewhat strained in recent months, with the U.S. president growing frustrated at the lack of progress being made to end Russia's war with Ukraine. A meeting between the two at the end of October was put on indefinite hold.
Quote:Russian strongman Vladimir Putin has rubber-stamped the sale of Citi’s Russian banking operations to Renaissance Capital, an investment firm that once belonged to billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the former owner of the Brooklyn Nets.
The presidential order was published on the Kremlin’s website on Wednesday, confirming a key step in the Jane Fraser-led lender’s planned exit from Russia, three years after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine that has killed tens of thousands of people.
Renaissance Capital was part of Prokhorov’s Onexim conglomerate until November of last year.
The 60-year-old, who sold the NBA outfit to Joseph Tsai for $2.3 billion in 2019 amid reported pressure from Putin, fled to Israel two months after Russia invaded its smaller neighbor.
The sale to Renaissance, which had been complicated by wider Western sanctions and asset freezes on Russian entities, still requires approval from US regulators.
It follows similar exits by Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs, Germany’s Deutsche Bank, and French financial firm Société Générale.
A Citi spokeswoman told The Post: “The transaction is subject to additional approvals and we won’t be commenting further at this stage.”
News of the diktat, which provided no details of the price or timeline of the transaction, was first reported by Bloomberg.
The move comes weeks after Citi’s board of directors voted to make Scotland-born Fraser the bank’s board chair while awarding her a $25 million bonus of restricted stock.
Citi first announced plans to sell its Russian consumer business in 2021 as part of Fraser’s global restructuring plan.
But in August 2022, it went further and announced that it would wind down all of its consumer and commercial banking operations in Russia over the war, which Moscow merely refers to as a “special military operation.”
The bank had approximately $11.7 billion in clients’ exposure to Russia as of the end of September, the majority of which were corporate dividends that the Russian government would not allow Citi to remit.
Quote:The BBC apologized to President Trump Thursday after he threatened the British broadcaster with a massive lawsuit for deceptively editing his Jan. 6, 2021 — but the network is refusing to pay out any money.
“Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump’s legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday,” a BBC spokesperson said, according to the outlet.
“BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president’s speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the programme.
“The BBC has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any BBC platforms.”
The documentary aired on the BBC’s current events program, “Panorama,” last October and “materially misled viewers” by splicing together clips of Trump’s White House Ellipse speech at the “Stop the Steal” rally to make it seem like he incited the riot at the US Capitol, The Telegraph reported last week, citing a whistleblower.
Trump’s attorney threatened the BBC with a $1 billion lawsuit Monday if it did not retract the deceptively edited documentary and “appropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused.”
The demand letter noted the BBC had until Friday to respond.
The BBC argued that it shouldn’t have to compensate Trump.
“While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim,” the BBC spokesperson said.
The White House referred The Post to Trump’s outside legal counsel, attorney Alejandro Brito, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The BBC documentary showed footage of Trump appearing to tell rally-goers: “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you and we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell you’re not gonna have a country any more.”
The clip was spliced together from three separate parts of the president’s speech – with a nearly hour-long gap edited out to make it seem like one fluent sentence.
The BBC edited out the president saying, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
The program also made it appear as if members of the Proud Boys, an extremist right-wing group, were inspired to march toward the Capitol after Trump’s speech.
Quote:An Australian news program doctored President Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021 speech on the White House Ellipse in the same manner in which the BBC manipulated his remarks, according to a report.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) aired a documentary program a month after Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally which included deceptive edits to make it seem like he incited the riot at the US Capitol, Sky News host Chris Kenny reported on Monday.
The scandal Down Under comes a week after the BBC was caught by The Telegraph misleading viewers by splicing together segments of Trump’s speech – delivered almost an hour apart – for a program that aired last October.
Kenny accused the ABC of committing the “same journalistic sin” as the BBC, which resulted in the resignations of two top executives at the British broadcaster.
The documentary – “Downfall: The Last Days of President Trump” – aired in February 2021 on the ABC’s current events program, “Four Corners.”
The ABC included footage of Trump telling rally-goers: “We’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you. Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and have to be strong.”
The scene was followed by a cutaway shot which edited out Trump calling on his supporters “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
“They have clipped up the speech to suit their narrative rather than reality, and the true meaning of what Donald Trump said,” Kenny charged.
A spokesperson for the ABC told the Sky News host that the network stood by its program.
“The quote in question from President Trump was used accurately by the ABC, did not change the meaning of that section of the speech and it did not mislead the audience,” the spokesperson said. “The program was consistent with the ABC’s high standards of factual, accurate and impartial story telling.”
Trump’s attorney threatened the BBC with a $1 billion lawsuit Monday if it did not retract the deceptively edited documentary.
“If the BBC does not comply … President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars) in damages,” attorney Alejandro Brito wrote in a demand letter, adding, “The BBC is on notice.”
Quote:A young, female Hamas hostage was forced to perform a sex act on a terrorist — and then smile after the sickening abuse, according to harrowing testimony given to a United Nations committee.
Israeli hostage Aviva Siegel recounted the horror she saw while testifying Wednesday to the UN Committee against Torture in Geneva.
“I’m a witness of one of the girls that was with us, that the Hamas terrorist took her into the bathroom, told her to get undressed, came into the shower with her and forced her to do oral sex on him,” Siegel said, laying bare the gruesome extent of Hamas’ sexual violence.
“And she had to smile after that happened, too,” she added.
Siegel, who was held by Hamas for 51 days, said the terrorists would repeatedly grab the girls and force them into the bathroom, with the victims coming back shaking.
The former hostage also recounted how she saw this happen to a 16-year-old girl who was held captive.
“She’s never, ever shown anybody her body. The Hamas terrorist just stood there and stared at her and smiled,” Siegel recalled.
“I remember looking at her while she came out of there. She was shocked, I was shocked,” she added.
During the harrowing episodes, Siegel — the wife of Israeli-American Keith Siegel, who was also held hostage — said she was never allowed to comfort the victims.
Still, she said she had to hug one of the victims after she returned from the bathroom with one of the terrorists.
“She told us that the Hamas terrorist touched her whole body and did whatever he wanted… She was so scared because he said to her if she ever says anything about that he will kill her, but she told us,” Siegel told the UN committee.
Quote:Israeli security forces in recent weeks broke up a major Hamas terror network in the Judean city of Bethlehem, including a cell in the advanced stages of preparing an attack, according to an Israel Police statement on Thursday.
Over 50 operatives were arrested in more than 15 separate operations conducted by reservists from the Israel Defense Forces’ Etzion Brigade, along with forces from the IDF’s Duvdevan Unit and the Israel Border Police’s Counterterrorism Unit (Yamam).
The Judea and Samaria District Police and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) also took part in the joint operation.
In addition to the arrests, weapons were also confiscated, including an M16 rifle.
The network had planned to carry out shootings against Israeli security forces and civilians, with one cell “at an advanced stage of readiness to carry out attacks in the immediate timeframe,” the statement said.
According to the Shin Bet investigation, senior members of the network “recruited and established terror cells, procured weapons and planned shooting attacks targeting Israeli civilians and security personnel.”
The dismantling of the network “prevented major planned shootings and bombings that could have resulted in significant loss of civilian and military life,” the agency said.
The Shin Bet, IDF, and Israel Police said they will continue efforts to thwart any attempts by Hamas to harm Israel and its citizens and will work to bring those involved to justice.
Quote:U.S. President Donald Trump has sent a letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog requesting a full pardon for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his corruption trial, Herzog’s office said on Wednesday.
The letter reads in part, “As the Great State of Israel and the amazing Jewish People move past the terribly difficult times of the last three years, I hereby call on you to fully pardon Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been a formidable and decisive War Time Prime Minister and is now leading Israel into a time of peace, which includes my continued work with key Middle East leaders to add many additional countries to the world changing Abraham Accords.”
The letter continues: “Prime Minister Netanyahu has stood tall for Israel in the face of strong adversaries and long odds, and his attention cannot be unnecessarily diverted.”
Trump wrote that, while he respects the independence and requirements of the Israeli judicial system, he believes the case against Netanyahu is a “political, unjustified prosecution.” He added that “it is time to let Bibi unite Israel by pardoning him, and ending lawfare once and for all.”
Herzog, for his part, responded to the letter, with his office noting that a formal request for a pardon must be submitted:
“President Herzog holds President Trump in the highest regard and continues to express his deep appreciation for President Trump’s unwavering support for Israel, his tremendous contribution to the return of the hostages, to reshaping the situation in the Middle East and Gaza especially, and to ensuring the security of the State of Israel,” the statement reads.
“Alongside and not withstanding this, as the Office of the President has made clear throughout, anyone seeking a Presidential pardon must submit a formal request in accordance with the established procedures,” it added.
The letter follows Trump’s Nov. 2 comments on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” in which he said his administration would “help out” with Netanyahu’s trial.
During an interview at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump told journalist Norah O’Donnell: “I don’t think they treat him [Netanyahu] very well. He’s under trial for some things and I don’t think they treat him very well. We’ll be involved in that to help him out a little bit because I think it’s very unfair.”
Quote:NIR OZ, Israel — The hum of construction has replaced the gunfire that once tore through this quiet kibbutz less than two miles from Gaza — but for survivor Irit Lahav, the fear hasn’t faded.
“I was born here. I love this kibbutz,” she told The Post in Israel this week. “I want to make it alive, full of energy and happy again. But every night, I’m still afraid.”
More than two years after Hamas terrorists slaughtered and kidnapped more than 100 Nir Oz residents in the Oct. 7 attack, rebuilding is underway though tragic memories remain.
So far, 14 families have moved back, with ten new houses almost ready for a group of about 30 young couples waiting for their turn. Some are temporarily living in kindergartens and community buildings — anything that still stands.
“Sixty percent of the houses are a total loss,” Lahav said. “Completely burned down. So even those who want to come back need to renovate. Even if it was just shooting or a grenade in the house or broken windows, you still have to fix it.”
The kibbutz is taking it one house at a time, as Hamas terrorists entered all but six of the more than 200 homes in the community, Lahav said.
“Slowly, slowly, the kibbutz is trying to renovate those houses that are in better condition,” Lahav explained. “As we have the money and time to renovate more, more people will move in.”
But its survival and security depend on the next steps of President Trump’s peace plan coming through — something that is far from guaranteed.
Hamas has not agreed to disarm or give up power as laid forth for phase two of the plan, and Israel Defense Forces deal with daily incursions from armed terrorists from Gaza City trying to sneak past the yellow line separating Palestinian- and IDF-controlled parts of the area.
For now, construction is the main sign of movement in the community, aside from the occasional boom of artillery as the IDF demolishes buildings and tunnels in Gaza and pushes back against terrorists.
The kibbutz was among the worst hit by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack, with IDF soldiers unable to reach it until the evening after the morning attack. Of the 1,139 people who died and roughly 240 who were kidnapped by terrorists that day, 123 came from Nir Oz alone.
“In Nir Oz, it’s different than other kibbutzim,” she said. “All the kibbutz is destroyed, so we have to rebuild the whole kibbutz again.”
When Lahav’s own house was repaired in May, she returned alone.
“I was the only person in the whole neighborhood,” she said. “Even if I would shout, nobody would hear me.”
For her, rebuilding Nir Oz is more than a physical act — it’s an act of courage. One that asks her to stand on ground that reminds her of the worst of humanity, and believe that life here can go on.
But starting over can be scary for anyone, let alone for survivors of unthinkable horror.
“I used to go to sleep and lock all the windows, turn down all the shades, make sure ten times my door is locked,” she said. “Then I’d wake up and lock my bedroom door again. It was very hard for me — and it’s still very hard for me — to sleep here.”
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
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cockroaches are evil but this is just ridiculous. 
unbelievable to read how people complain about a working in person nowadays.
