News of the World

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Texas Attorney General blocks Biden administration

from auctioning off more border materials

Ross O'Keefe, Washington Examiner

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has successfully blocked the Biden administration from selling border wall materials before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.

The Biden administration told a federal judge on Friday that it would agree to an order preventing them from disposing of border wall materials until Trump takes office.

“We have successfully blocked the Biden Administration from disposing of any further border wall materials before President Trump takes office,” Paxton said. “This follows our major victory forcing Biden to build the wall, and we will hold his Administration accountable for illegally subverting our Nation’s border security until their very last day in power, especially where their actions are clearly motivated by a desire to thwart President-elect Trump’s immigration agenda.”

Trump celebrated the decision in a post to Truth Social Saturday.

In a major, crucial WIN for America, and our National Security, a Federal Judge in Texas, based on papers we filed just a few days ago, has PROHIBITED the Biden Administration from selling any materials designated for the Border Wall, that has been wrecked by Biden and his cronies, and which I am going to rebuild in order to protect our Country from violent migrant crime, fentanyl smuggling, sex trafficking, terror attacks, and other heinous, Nation ending disasters.

. . .

The Judge has also ordered an investigation into the illegal selling of the materials, which will expose just how corrupt and anti-American Radical Democrats are.

The Biden administration will be held in contempt of court as a result of a May injunction by Paxton if “the Department of Justice made misrepresentations regarding the border materials that have been auctioned off.” The court said that the administration must provide documentation proving this did not happen.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Texas was made aware of border materials in Arizona slated for auction on a government website Dec. 12, which was the same day the Daily Wire reported the sale. The next day, Patrick said Texas tried to find the border wall materials on the auction site, but those items were then unavailable.

Trump previously complained that the Biden administration was selling the material “for pennies” and asked for them to stop “giving it away.”

Putin apologizes over ‘tragic’ Azerbaijan Airlines crash,

without admitting responsibility

By Darya Tarasova, Catherine Nicholls and Hassan Tayir, CNN

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has apologized for the fact that an Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed after entering Russian airspace in Grozny, Chechnya, on Wednesday, but did not say that Russia was responsible.

Putin said Saturday that Russia’s air defense systems were active when the plane attempted to land in Grozny, according to the Kremlin. Unable to reach the airport, the aircraft diverted east, eventually crashing near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people on board.

People from Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were on board the plane. Among the survivors were two children.

It is unconfirmed what was behind the incident, but a US official told CNN on Thursday that early indications suggest a Russian anti-aircraft system may have downed the passenger jet. In his comments, Putin did not say that Russian air defenses hit the plane.

Putin “apologized for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace” in a phone call with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, the Kremlin said in a statement.

The Kremlin said that the plane “repeatedly attempted to land at the airport in Grozny” but at the same time, the areas of “Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by Ukrainian combat drones, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks.”

Russia’s investigative committee has opened a criminal case in relation to the disaster, the statement said.

Video and images of the plane after it crashed show perforations in its body that look similar to damage from shrapnel or debris. The cause of these holes has not been confirmed.

CNN aviation analyst Miles O’Brien explained Thursday that the fact that the metal around the holes is bent inwards shows that there was “an explosion in proximity to the tail of that aircraft.”

The US official that spoke to CNN also said that the holes on the side of the aircraft are consistent with shrapnel damage from an explosion.

Azerbaijan’s Aliyev told Putin that the plane “encountered external physical and technical interference while in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control,” according to an official presidential statement about Saturday’s call.

. . .

Putin also expressed condolences over the crash in a phone call with the president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, on Saturday, the Kremlin said.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X that he also spoke to Aliyev on Saturday, and conveyed his condolences regarding the “tragic crash.”

“Russia must provide clear explanations and stop spreading disinformation. Photos and videos clearly show the damage to the aircraft’s fuselage, including punctures and dents, which strongly point to a strike by an air defense missile,” Zelensky said.

. . .

At least five airlines have temporarily suspended flights to areas in Russia since the disaster, including Azerbaijan Airlines, Turkmenistan Airlines, El Al Israel, Flydubai and Qazaq Air.

Jimmy Carter, 39th US president

and noted humanitarian, has died

Susan Page, USA Today

Former President Jimmy Carter, honored more widely for his humanitarian work around the globe after his presidency than for his White House tenure during a tumultuous time, has died. He was 100.

“My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” said Chip Carter, the former president’s son. “My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”

Carter died Sunday in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. In November 2023, the Nobel Peace Prize-winner's wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, also passed away in the modest house they built together in 1961, when he had taken over his father's peanut warehouse business and was only beginning to consider a political career.

In February 2023, he had announced he was ending medical intervention and moving to hospice care.

Jason Carter had visited his grandparents at the time of the announcement and said "They are at peace and – as always – their home is full of love," he posted on Twitter.

Germany’s president dissolves parliament,

sets national election for Feb. 23

By David McHugh, AP News

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday ordered parliament dissolved and set new elections for Feb. 23 in the wake of the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition, saying it was the only way to give the country a stable government capable of tackling its problems.

Scholz lost a confidence vote on Dec. 16 and leads a minority government after his unpopular and notoriously rancorous three-party coalition collapsed on Nov. 6 when he fired his finance minister in a dispute over how to revitalize Germany’s stagnant economy.

Steinmeier said he made the decision because it was clear after consultation with party leaders that there was no agreement among Germany’s political parties on a majority for a new government in the current parliament.

“It is precisely in difficult times like these that stability requires a government capable of taking action and a reliable majority in parliament,” he said as he made the announcement in Berlin.

“Therefore I am convinced that for the good of our country new elections are the right way.”

Since the post-World War II constitution doesn’t allow the Bundestag to dissolve itself, it was up to Steinmeier to decide whether to dissolve parliament and call an election. He had 21 days to make that decision. Once parliament is dissolved, the election must be held within 60 days. Leaders of several major parties agreed earlier on the election date of Feb. 23, seven months earlier than originally planned.

Steinmeier warned about outside interference in the poll, saying it is “a danger to democracy, whether it is covert, as was evidently the case recently in the Romanian elections, or open and blatant, as is currently being practiced particularly intensively on platform X.”