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.
President Elect Trump Wrote: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.”
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.
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.
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.”
Up is down, left is right and sideways is straight ahead. - Cord "Circle of Iron", 1978 (written by Bruce Lee and James Coburn... really...)
Quote:The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is under fire after initially asserting that the truck-ramming attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans — leaving at least ten dead and over two dozen more injured — was “not a terrorist event.”
Local police responded to the incident at 3:17 a.m., as a suspect drove a vehicle through a crowd of New Year’s revelers before opening fire. The FBI confirmed the suspect is deceased.
However, the FBI is coming under fire for initially stating that the attack was “not a terrorist event” — a real head scratcher, particularly given that the agency admitted that there were “improvised explosive devices” involved as well.
“This is not a terrorist event. What it is right now is there improvised explosive devices that was found, and we are working on confirming if this is a viable device or not,” the FBI said initially.
“As Chief Kirkpatrick said, we’re asking everyone to stay away from Bourbon Street,” the FBI continued, sparking confusion.
That contradicts the official statement from the FBI, which has since stated that it is “working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism.”
President Joe Biden also confirmed this in a statement, which read in part, “The FBI is taking the lead in the investigation and is investigating this incident as an act of terrorism.”
Quote:New Orleans terror suspect Shamsud Din Jabbar planted two IEDs (improvised explosive devices) ahead of his attack and is now believed to have acted alone, Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia of the Counterterrorism Division said during a press conference Thursday morning.
Raia confirmed that 14 innocent individuals were killed in the attack, in which Shamsud Din Jabbar plowed his truck through crowds of people and opened fire. At least 35 more were injured as the result of the attack.
Despite the confusion initially after the attack, Raia made it clear that “this was an act of terrorism.”
“It was premeditated and an evil act. It’s obviously a critical incident, and with that, lots of information and tips come pouring in from law enforcement, first responders and the public,” he said, explaining that they have been “aggressively” pursuing leads and reviewing “hundreds of hours of surveillance and other video for both the French Quarter and other locations.”
Providing a rough timeline, Raia said Jabbar picked up the rented truck in Houston, Texas, on December 30 and drove to New Orleans on December 31. The suspect also “posted several videos to an online platform proclaiming his support for ISIS,” which goes along with authorities recovering an ISIS flag at the scene.
“As you know, we recovered an ISIS flag from the back of the vehicle. Jabbar declared his support for the terrorist group on social media, as I stated before, as he made his way to New Orleans,” he said. “FBI bomb technicians also recovered two IEDs in coolers, one from the cross section of Bourbon and Portland Street, and the second at an intersection approximately two blocks away,” he revealed, noting that reports of other devices are “misinformation.”
“Those are the only two devices that we’ve been able to recover that were functional. Both devices were rendered safe on scene,” he said, revealing they obtained surveillance footage “showing Jabbar placing the devices where they were found.”
Further, he said “at this point,” they do not believe anyone else is involved in the attack.
“Currently, and this is another position, another fact, I want to be clear on, we do not assess at this point that anyone else … is involved in this attack, except for Shamsud Din Jabbar, the subject you’ve already been briefed on,” he said.
Quote:New Orleans terror suspect Shamsud Din Jabbar said he originally planned to target his family and friends instead of strangers but did not because he feared the headlines would not focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers,” FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia of the Counterterrorism Division revealed during a press conference Thursday morning.
Raia provided a timeline of events that led to the attack, which resulted in 14 innocent victims losing their lives and roughly 35 more injured. He noted that Jabbar joined ISIS before the summer and posted videos to his Facebook account revealing his plans to originally attack family and friends. However, Jabbar decided it would not send the correct message, that this is a “war between the believers and disbelievers.”
“There were five videos posted on Jabbar’s Facebook account, which are time stamped, beginning at 1:29 a.m. and the last at 3:02 a.m.,” he said. “In the first video, Jabbar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the quote, ‘War between the believers and the disbelievers.’ End quote.”
“Additionally, he stated he had joined ISIS before this summer,” he added, noting that the FBI has obtained three phones linked to the suspect as well as two laptops.
“Those laptops were recovered at the manifold address,” he said, providing more information on Jabbar’s past, as he was born in the U.S. and was a U.S. military veteran.
“We are looking in everything in his life. While we have interviewed many people who know Jabbar, we still need to talk to others. Whether you know Jabbar, personally worked with him, served in the military, or saw him in New Orleans or Texas, we need to talk to you,” Raia said.
“You may not think you have relevant information, but what you know could tie in to one of our investigative leads,” he continued, noting that they particularly want to speak to anyone who was in the French Quarter on New Year’s Eve or early on New Year’s Day.
Quote:An 18-year-old girl dreaming of becoming a nurse, a single mother, a father of two and a football star suffered fatal injuries when the driver of a white pickup truck sped onto Bourbon Street, packed with holiday revelers
...
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An 18-year-old girl dreaming of becoming a nurse, a single mother, a father of two and a former Princeton football star suffered fatal injuries when the driver of a white pickup truck sped down Bourbon Street, packed with holiday revelers early Wednesday morning.
Officials have not yet released the names of the 15 people killed in the New Orleans New Year’s Day truck attack, but their families and friends have started sharing their stories. New Orleans Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna said in a statement late Wednesday that they will release the names of the dead once autopsies are complete and they’ve talked with the next of kin. About 30 people were injured.
Nikyra Dedeaux
Zion Parsons of Gulfport, Mississippi, had been celebrating New Year’s Eve at his first night on Bourbon Street when a vehicle appeared and plowed into his friend, 18-year-old Nikyra Dedeaux, who he said had dreamed of becoming a nurse.
“A truck hit the corner and comes barreling through throwing people like in a movie scene, throwing people into the air,” Parsons, 18, told The Associated Press. “It hit her and flung her like at least 30 feet and I was just lucky to be alive.”
As the crowd scattered in the chaos he ran through a gruesome aftermath of bleeding and maimed victims, hearing gunshots and explosive sounds.
“Bodies, bodies all up and down the street, everybody screaming and hollering” Parsons said. “People crying on the floor, like brain matter all over the ground. It was just insane, like the closest thing to a war zone that I’ve ever seen.”
Dedeaux was a responsible daughter — shorter than all her siblings but the one who helped take care of everyone, Parsons said. Dedeaux had a job at a hospital and was set to start college and begin working towards her goal of becoming a registered nurse.
“She had her mindset — she didn’t have everything figured out but she had the plan laid down,” Parsons said.
Reggie Hunter
A 37-year-old father of two from Baton Rouge was among the 15 people killed early Wednesday when a pickup truck careened down Bourbon Street in what officials called an act of terror.
Reggie Hunter had just left work and headed to celebrate New Year’s with a cousin when the attack happened, his first cousin Shirell Jackson told Nola.com.
Hunter was killed and his cousin was injured, Jackson said.
Tiger Bech
A former high school and college football player from Louisiana was among those who died after a driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ French Quarter, according to an education official.
Tiger Bech, 27, died late Wednesday morning at a New Orleans hospital, according to local media outlets citing Kim Broussard, the athletic director at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette. Bech attended the high school, where he played wide receiver, quarterback, punt returner and defensive back, NOLA.com reported.
Bech played football at Princeton University before graduating in 2021. Most recently he was working as an investment trader at a New York brokerage firm.
Princeton football coach Bob Surace said Wednesday that he had been texting with Bech’s father, sharing memories of the player, who was a school kick returner and receiver from 2017 to 2019. He earned All-Ivy League honors as a returner.
...
Quote:Louisiana’s attorney general is seeking a further delay for the Sugar Bowl after the deadly New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans.
The College Football Playoff game between Georgia and Notre Dame was originally scheduled for Wednesday.
It was then delayed for 24-hours after at least 15 people were killed — including a former Princeton football star — in the wake of a terrorist driving a truck through crowded Bourbon Street as revelers celebrated at around 3:15 a.m, as Breitbart News reported.
An FBI investigation continues into driver Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42.
The agency said in a statement that at the time of the attack, he was driving a Ford pickup truck that appeared to have been rented, and that an ISIS flag was located in the vehicle.
The New York Post reports Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” on Wednesday night she would have preferred the football game get delayed at least until Friday.
“Not my decision, but I would like to see it delayed at least another day,” Murrill told the network. “If they asked my opinion, I would tell them that.”
Organizers of the Sugar Bowl — being held at the Caesar Superdome, which is about one mile away from the attack — decided to move the game to Thursday at 4 p.m. ET.
The winner of the game will play Penn State one week later on Jan. 9 in the Orange Bowl.
“We have been in consultation with ESPN, with the College Football Playoff, with the Southeastern Conference, with the University of Georgia, with Notre Dame. All parties and all agree that it’s in the best interest in everybody and public safety that we postpone the game for 24 hours,” Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon to confirm the change.
ESPN’s Laura Rutledge reported earlier in the day the Georgia football team has been sheltering after the attacks.
In separate statements, both the Bulldogs and Notre Dame Fighting Irish football say all their personnel have been accounted for.
Quote:The decorated special forces soldier who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas shot himself in the head before the blast, authorities said Thursday, adding that his motivation was still “unknown.”
Authorities said the suspect — identified as Matthew Alan Livelsberger — was a member of the elite Green Beret forces who appeared to have committed suicide in a Cybertruck filled with fuel containers and fireworks, which then erupted into flames.
He had a gunshot wound to the head and a gun was found at his feet, officials told reporters at a press conference in Las Vegas.
“The motivation at this point is unknown,” FBI Special Agent Spencer Evans said, as investigators probed the incident as a potential act of “terror.”
Video footage outside the Trump International Hotel shows the stainless steel truck parked at the building’s glass entrance early Wednesday, then bursting into flames, followed by smaller explosions that appeared similar to fireworks.
Seven people were wounded in the blast.
The Trump-branded building, which opened in 2008, is part-owned by the Republican president-elect’s family business.
Evans said the link to the president-elect was “not lost” on agents, nor was the fact that Tesla is owned by world’s richest man — and prominent Trump backer — Elon Musk.
“But we don’t have information at this point that definitively tells us” it was driven by any particular ideology, he said.
Officials said the body had been burned beyond recognition, but that they have a “lot of confidence” it was Livelsberger — identified through his military ID, passport and credit cards.
Guns found
Livelsberger rented the vehicle in Colorado on December 28, from where authorities tracked him driving it alone through Arizona and New Mexico to Las Vegas, which he reached on January 1, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said.
McMahill said Livelsberger was a Green Beret who had spent time in Germany and had been deployed to Afghanistan in 2009.
An army spokesperson said that Livelsberger was “on approved leave at the time of his death,” and that he had been awarded multiple Bronze Star Medals, including one for valor.
Quote:The man who allegedly tried to explode a Tesla Cybertruck near the Las Vegas Trump hotel had firearms in his possession which he purchased legally.
The Associated Press reported that the bombing suspect, 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, shot himself in the head before the explosives in the Cybertruck detonated.
The handgun he is believed to have used was found lying at his feet.
NBC News noted that law enforcement recovered two guns at the scene, “a .50-caliber Desert Eagle and a semiautomatic pistol.” They also noted that both guns were “lawfully purchased on December 30.”
ABC News pointed out that Livelsberger was “a Special Operations soldier who was on leave from his base in Germany.” He was “a Green Beret operations sergeant who was stationed mostly at Fort Carson, Colorado.”
Police Thanks Musk for Assisting Them in the Investigation
Quote:The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department expressed gratitude towards Tesla CEO Elon Musk for his help in the investigation of the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel on New Year’s Day.
Business Insider reports that on Wednesday, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) Sheriff Kevin McMahill publicly thanked Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, for his assistance in the investigation of the Tesla Cybertruck explosion that occurred outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day. The incident, which took place at 8:40 a.m. local time, resulted in one fatality and seven injuries.
During a press conference, Sheriff McMahill specifically acknowledged Musk’s contributions to the investigation, stating, “He gave us quite a bit of additional information in regards to how the vehicle was locked after it exploded due to the nature of the force from the explosion as well as being able to capture all of the video from Tesla charging stations across the country, he sent that directly to us so I appreciate his help on that.”
The explosion, which is currently under investigation by the FBI to determine if it was an act of terrorism, originated from the Cybertruck’s cargo bed. According to McMahill, the bed contained gasoline canisters, fuel canisters, and “larger mortar fireworks.” The driver, who was killed in the explosion, has been identified as active duty Green Beret Matthew Livelsberger.
Elon Musk, in an X post on the day of the incident, echoed the sheriff’s remarks, stating, “The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.” He further emphasized that not even the glass doors of the hotel lobby were broken due to the Cybertruck’s strength.
The LVMPD released video footage of the exploded Cybertruck, which showed the vehicle’s cargo bed severely damaged by the blast. However, the hull of the Cybertruck appeared to be largely intact. Sheriff McMahill credited the limited damage inside the valet area to the Cybertruck’s robust construction, stating, “The fact that this was a Cybertruck really limited the damage that occurred inside of the valet because it had most of the blast go up through the truck and out.”
Both Places
Turo Involved in Terror Attacks? Authorities Will Find Out
Quote:Car rental app Turo, widely known as the “Airbnb for cars,” has come under the spotlight after the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas and the truck used in the deadly New Orleans terror attack were both rented through the platform.
Business Insider reports that two separate incidents involving vehicles rented through the car-sharing app Turo have left authorities investigating possible connections between the cases. On Wednesday, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, killing the driver and injuring seven others. The same day, a truck rented through Turo was used in a deadly terrorist attack in New Orleans, claiming the lives of 15 people.
Turo, a San Francisco-based company often described as the “Airbnb for cars,” allows private car owners to rent out their vehicles to users. The platform offers a wide variety of cars, from everyday Toyotas to luxury Porsches and Teslas. With backing from high-profile investors such as American Express, BMW, and Google Ventures, as well as celebrities like rapper 2 Chainz and various NBA and NFL players, Turo has grown to become a significant player in the car-sharing industry.
In a statement released on its website, Turo confirmed that the vehicles involved in both the Las Vegas explosion and the New Orleans attack were rented through its service. The company stated that its trust and safety team is actively cooperating with law enforcement authorities to provide any information that could assist in their investigations. Turo also noted that they do not believe either renter had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat, and they are not currently aware of any information indicating that the two incidents are related.
According to Turo’s terms of service, the company has the “right but not the obligation” to perform background checks:
Turo has the right, but not the obligation, to undertake screenings, checks, and engage in processes designed to (1) help verify the identities or check the backgrounds of users, including driving history and driver’s license validity and (2) verify vehicle details. Turo does not endorse any vehicle, user, or a user’s background, or commit to undertake any specific screening process. Turo may in its sole discretion use third-party services to verify the information you provide to us and to obtain additional related information and corrections where applicable, and you hereby authorize Turo to request, receive, use, and store such information. Turo may permit or refuse your request to book or list a vehicle in its sole and absolute discretion. Turo may, but does not commit to, undertake efforts to ensure the safety of vehicles shared through the Services. We do not make any representations about, confirm, or endorse the safety, roadworthiness, or legal status of any vehicles shared via the Services. Rather, hosts have sole responsibility to ensure their vehicles are in safe and operable condition, legally registered to be driven on public roads, have a clean title (e.g., non-salvaged/non-branded/non-washed/non-written off), not subject to any applicable safety recalls, and otherwise satisfy our vehicle eligibility requirements.
Is it just a coincidence that both guys served at the same base?
Quote:The suspect in Wednesday’s Las Vegas Tesla Cybertruck explosion and the suspect in the New Orleans terror attack reportedly served at the same military base.
Authorities are investigating the New Orleans incident as an act of terror and the Las Vegas incident as a “possible act of terror,” according to Breitbart News.
Denver 7 reported of the two suspects on Thursday:
Matthew Livelsberger is accused of renting a Cybertruck in Colorado Springs, driving it to Nevada and packing it with firework mortars and gas cans before exploding it in front of the Trump International Hotel in Vegas Wednesday morning, killing himself and injuring seven others. Shamsud-Din Jabbar is suspected of plowing through a crowd of New Year’s revelers in the French Quarter hours earlier, killing at least 15 and injuring dozens more in an attack that sent shockwaves through a famous New Year’s destination the morning of a scheduled College Football Playoff game.
The outlet said the men were Army veterans, adding, “Late Wednesday, multiple informed sources told Denver7 Chief Investigator Tony Kovaleski of the link between the two suspects’ military service”:
Twitter Wrote:NEW: The Cybertruck explosion suspect has been identified as 37 year old former Army veteran Matthew Livelsberger, according to local news reports.
Livelsberger reportedly served at the same military base as New Orleans terrorist suspect Shamsud Din Jabbar.
Here is what we know about Livelsberger:
- Livelsberger lived in Colorado Springs.
- He served 18 years in the Special Forces according to the Daily Mail.
- His current job was Remote and Autonomous Systems Manager.
- He is believed to have set off explosives in the back of the truck.
- It’s unclear at the moment if Livelsberger is connected to Jabbar.
Kovaleski wrote in a social media post on Thursday:
Twitter Wrote:BREAKING—Sources also confirming Livelsberger served at the same military base as the terrorist responsible for the attack in New Orleans and authorities are investigating a possible connection between the two men. @DenverChannel
Officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed Wednesday that Jabbar was carrying an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) flag in the vehicle when the horrific incident unfolded, per Breitbart News.[/spoiler]
Quote:President Joe Biden said on Wednesday there is "no justification" for what he called the "horrific" attack early on New Year's Day in New Orleans, noting that the FBI was investigating it as an act of terrorism.
"I have been continually briefed since early this morning by federal law enforcement leadership and my homeland security team, including Secretary of Homeland Security Ali Mayorkas, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, and the Mayor of New Orleans regarding the horrific incident that occurred there overnight," Biden said in a written statement.
At least 15 people were killed and 25 injured when a vehicle rammed into a crowd gathered on Bourbon Street, authorities said.
Police say the driver was "hell-bent" on causing damage as they drove on the street at a very fast pace in the early morning hours Wednesday. The driver then exited the vehicle with an assault weapon, and was shot and killed by officers.
"I am grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury," Biden said. "I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind."
"I will continue to receive updates throughout the day, and I will have more to say as we have further information to share. In the meantime, my heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday," the president added in the statement. "There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation's communities."
Biden briefly spoke about the attack as he departed Delaware to travel to Camp David, though he declined to comment on specific questions from reporters regarding the suspect's identity.
...
President-elect Donald Trump also weighed in on the tragedy, calling it "pure evil."
"Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!" Trump wrote in a statement on his conservative social media platform.
"When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true," Trump falsely implied, hours before the FBI identified the suspect as a U.S. citizen from Texas.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana native, also called the violence "pure evil."
"The vicious attack on innocent people celebrating the New Year in New Orleans early this morning was an act of pure evil, and justice must be swift for anyone who was involved," Johnson wrote on X. "Please join us in praying for the victims, their families, and the first responders and investigators on the scene."
Quote:The U.S. Capitol Police have taken a suspect into custody while investigating a “suspicious vehicle” along Constitution Avenue and Third Street, NW — just one day before the new Congress officially heads into town.
“Our officers just responded to the area of Constitution Avenue and Third Street, NW, for a suspicious vehicle. Please avoid the area while we investigate,” U.S. Capitol Police confirmed just after 10 a.m. Eastern.
“We are still investigating the suspicious vehicle near Constitution Avenue and Third Street, NW. We will keep you all updated with the latest information as soon as we can release it,” it continued, providing a list of streets closed due to the investigation.
In the most recent update as of this writing, law enforcement said officers spotted a vehicle driving along the sidewalk “near Peace Circle, and into the grassy area near Third Street, NW, & Constitution Avenue.”
“Officers took the man into custody. Please continue to avoid the area while we investigate the car,” authorities added.
...
TPUSA Frontlines reporter Monica Page also posted a video of the area, where authorities told her that “someone was driving a vehicle erratically onto the sidewalk, so everything around the Capitol is shut down for now.”
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, also a Republican, called the incident "tragic" but said he believed the Sugar Bowl -- an annual college football game played in New Orleans on New Year's Day -- should go on.
"The terrorists win if we don't live our lives. We must live our lives. Otherwise, one more time, they win and they can't win. We've got to track them down, we've got to hunt them down, we've got to find out their supporting network, and we've got to bring them to justice," Cassidy said on Fox News.
Hours after he spoke, a local official said the game had been postponed until Thursday.
And certain groups in NYC could not stay silent on these events.
Quote:Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in New York City on New Year’s Day for “intifada,” blocking Sixth Avenue in Manhattan just hours after a terror attack in New Orleans, Louisiana, and an explosion in Las Vegas, Nevada.
...
The Times of Israel reported:
Attendees chanted “Resistance is glorious — we will be victorious,” “We will honor all our martyrs,” and “Gaza, you make us proud.” They carried signs that said “Zionism is cancer,” “No war on Iran,” and “End all US aid to Israel.”
“There is only one solution — Intifada revolution,” they chanted, using a common refrain at anti-Israel rallies in the US. “Intifada,” Arabic for “uprising,” is associated with the Second Intifada, a period of terror attacks in Israel in the early 2000s marked by suicide bombings.
…
A handful of pro-Israel counter-protesters showed up to wave Israeli and American flags on the sidelines of the demonstration, while heckling the anti-Israel activists. A Jewish retiree led chants of “Get a job” directed at the protesters.
The New Orleans attack took place in the early hours of the morning, when Shamsud Din Jabbar, who had reportedly pledged loyalty to ISIS, rammed his car into a crown on Bourbon Street, killing more than a dozen people.
Even so, Mayorkas has plenty of time to spit out some old lies over and over again.
Quote:On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas responded to questions on how we can ensure ISIS won’t exploit the border by stating that “individuals who pose a threat to public safety or our national security are prioritized for immigration detention and removal from the United States.” And that policy changes have been made to reduce traffic at the southern border.
After listing figures about potential terrorists at the border, host Sandra Smith asked, [relevant exchange begins around 2:30] “How can we be sure that ISIS won’t find a safe harbor here?”
Mayorkas answered, “It is our highest responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the American people. And in the service of that responsibility, we screen and vet individuals, and individuals who pose a threat to public safety or our national security are prioritized for immigration detention and removal from the United States. And looking at the matter before us, the tragedy in New Orleans yesterday, we are dealing with a United States citizen born in the state of Texas who was radicalized to violence by a foreign terrorist ideology. But, let me be clear, whatever the nature of the threat, those who pose a threat to the American people are our highest priority for law enforcement action as our laws provide and we enforce and execute those laws every single day. And so many people in our department do so at risk to their own well-being and safety.”
Smith responded, “There are going to be many who are going to hear you say that and wonder why more hasn’t been done to stop people from illegally coming into the country, Mr. Secretary. I looked back at March 12. And I was reminded when Christopher Wray, heading up the FBI, said that the terror level in this country has reached a whole new level, worried about those here who will inspire acts like, by the way, the one that just happened in New Orleans. He said the terror level threat is higher than before October 7. So, one might wonder why there hasn’t been a change in policy that has led to that.”
Mayorkas responded, “Well, there has been a change in policy. Quite frankly, the number of individuals encountered at our southern border on a daily basis now is lower than it was in 2019, the last year before the pandemic, number one. Number two, Director Wray was speaking of the fact that we have a diverse set of challenges that our country is facing. And I have spoken publicly about this as well. We have the persistent threat of foreign terrorism that really gave rise to the Department of Homeland Security in the first instance after the tragic events of 9/11. We have the individuals already resident in the United States radicalized to violence by a foreign terrorist ideology, or, over the last eight years, what we have seen, anti-government sentiment, false narratives spread online, personal grievances. And the third major threat vector is adverse nation-states such as the People’s Republic of China, Russia, and Iran that we counter every single day.”
Quote:Ten people were wounded when multiple gunmen opened fire outside a NYC nightclub on Wednesday about 11:15 p.m.
The Associated Press reported approximately 15 people–ages 16 to 20 years–were standing outside Amazura nightclub when armed men approached and began shooting.
A private event was being hosted at the club at the time of the shooting.
The gunmen ran to a getaway car after firing approximately 30 rounds into the crowd.
The New York Post noted there four gunmen and the wounded consist of four males and six females. All the shooting victims are expected to survive.
AM NY pointed out that the private event at Amazura nightclub was reportedly held “in honor of a known gang member in the community slain last October whose birthday coincided with New Year’s Day.”
New York is ranked number two in the nation for gun control strength.
Quote:The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania obtained a grand jury indictment against a former U.S. Army soldier. The indictment alleges the Pennsylvania resident made multiple attempts to join a foreign terrorist organization in Lebanon and Syria.
A federal grand jury handed down an indictment against Jack Danaher Molloy, 24, a former resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is charged with attempting to support the foreign terrorist organization Hezbollah, also known as Hizballah, and making false statements involving international terrorism to a department or agency of the United States.
Court documents indicate that Molloy, a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, made multiple attempts to join Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. The documents also reveal that Molloy previously served on active duty in the United States Army.
Molloy was charged with making false statements on Dec. 6, 2024, following an investigation into his travels to Lebanon and Syria in August 2024. Officials arrested him in Chicago, Illinois, in December, and the U.S. Marshals Service transported him to Pittsburgh on Monday.
As alleged in the indictment and complaint, from around August 2024 through approximately December 2024, Molloy attempted to provide material support, resources, and services to Hezbollah, a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). According to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint, Molloy is alleged to have committed these offenses in Pennsylvania, Syria, and Lebanon while knowing that Hezbollah was a designated terrorist organization and that the organization had engaged in and was engaging in terrorist activity and terrorism.
Hezbollah — spelled Hizballah in court and other U.S. government documents — was formed in the wake of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and has conducted numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli and Western targets, including against American military and diplomatic personnel. Court documents allege Molloy traveled to Lebanon in August 2024 and attempted to join the foreign terrorist organization unsuccessfully. While in Lebanon, Molloy was told by multiple individuals that the time was not right and that he needed to take other steps before he could join the terrorist organization.
Molloy then allegedly traveled from Lebanon to Syria in October 2024 in hopes of fighting for Hezbollah in Syria. After returning to the United States, Molloy resided in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, where he continued his attempts to join Hezbollah, including through communication with individuals online and in Lebanon. During his time in the United States and abroad, Molloy also allegedly expressed his hatred toward and promoted violence against Jewish people.
And yes my friends, a immigrant caravan can be a serious security threat as well. Especially under Mayorkas' supervision.
Quote:The first migrant caravan of 2025 began its journey from Southern Mexico, intending to reach the U.S. border prior to the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States.
Between 2,000 to 2,500 migrants started the first caravan of 20205 in the southern state of Chiapas. The goal of the group is to walk to Mexico City to find alternate routes to reach the U.S. border and claim asylum.
The caravan began early Thursday morning in the Bicentennial Park of Tapachula, Chiapas. Agents with Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) who spoke with Breitbart Texas revealed that the coordination for the caravan was carried out through social media messages and messaging applications, not posterboards and loudspeakers, as it had done in the past. The move was made to avoid any interference from authorities.
INM agents and members of Mexico’s National Guard were at the park but ultimately allowed the caravan to move northward. INM agents recorded the group as they walked past them while some local police officials helped direct traffic.
The caravan is the first of 2025 and the tenth since Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took office in October. Members of the current caravan and the prior ones have expressed a sense of urgency to enter the United States before President-Elect Trump takes office.
Quote:The Islamic State on Wednesday claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack on a Somali military base in the Puntland region — but remained silent on the New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans, whose perpetrator carried an ISIS flag in his pickup truck.
ISIS claimed at least 22 military personnel were killed in the Puntland attack, which began with a string of suicide bombings and car bombs in the eastern village of Dharjale.
National and regional government officials would not immediately confirm the casualty count, but local media reports said 18 soldiers were killed and 30 were injured, some of them critically. Eight ISIS fighters and an uncertain number of civilians were also killed in the attack.
“Photos purported to be of dead militants show severed heads, and burned and mutilated flesh, indicating the use of a massive explosive device,” Voice of America News (VOA) reported.
Puntland officials indicated in December they were preparing to begin a sustained operation against ISIS militants in the area, so the attack may have been seen as a pre-emptive strike by the terrorist organization. Somali and U.S. security officials agree that the Islamic State has substantially increased its numbers in Somalia, including both local recruits and foreign fighters.
In its claim of responsibility for the attack, ISIS boasted that just twelve of its fighters were responsible for the terrible damage. According to Puntland counter-terrorism officials, nine of the attackers were suicide bombers who died after detonating their payloads.
ISIS also boasted that fighters from seven different nations were involved in the attack on the Somali military camp, including Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Yemen.
The Islamic State in Somalia, founded in Puntland in 2015 by defectors from Somalia’s premier terrorist gang al-Shabaab, has grown into a major power center for ISIS even though it remains fairly small in manpower terms. Even after the growth described by American and Somali security officials, ISIS-Somalia has six hundred active members at most.
After surviving al-Shabbab’s efforts to destroy or absorb it, ISIS-Somalia became an important logistical and financial hub for ISIS activities across Africa and around the world. ISIS-Somalia excels at raising large amounts of cash through extortion rackets, which it uses to fund ISIS activities in other theaters. Its success at recruiting foreign fighters is due in part to the growing popularity and influence of its leader, Abdulqadir Mumin, who has become one of the top Islamic State leaders worldwide.
While it was quick to claim responsibility for the attack in Somalia, ISIS has been quiet on the topic of New Orleans, where accused terrorist Shamsud-din Jabbar allegedly carried an ISIS flag in his truck when he drove through a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street, killing 14 and injuring 30 more. Jabbar himself was shot dead by police at the scene.
In his brief statement on the New Orleans horror, outgoing President Joe Biden said Jabbar was “inspired by ISIS” to commit his “despicable attack.”
"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:Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has re-hired Maher Bitar, a former White House staffer who spent his student years as a pro-Palestinian radical in Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and played a major role in the Biden administration.
Bitar’s new job is confirmed by Legistorm. He also previously worked for Schiff during the first impeachment effort against then-President Donald Trump, who will return to office on Monday.
As Breitbart News reported last year:
Maher Bitar, the White House Coordinator for Intelligence and Defense Policy at the U.S. National Security Council (NSC), was a radical pro-Palestinian activist and a leader within Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
The SJP is one of the most prominent groups involved in the pro-Hamas, antisemitic “encampment” protests that have taken over dozens of university campuses. Its parent group is also the target of a lawsuit by survivors and families of victims of the October 7 terror attack that alleges SJP is a propaganda front for Hamas in the U.S.
In addition, conservative author Daniel Greenfield wrote about Bitar’s record for the Jewish News Syndicate:
At the PSM [Palestine Solidarity Movement] conference in Georgetown [in 2006], Bitar had run a session describing how to best demonize Israel. Next year, he facilitated a Palestinian Student Society summit addressed by Joseph Massad, who had called Israel a “Jewish supremacist state” and praised terrorism.
…
A few years later, Bitar could be found presenting at a Sabeel conference featuring some of the worst bigots like Rebecca Vilkomerson of JVP, who had invited a terrorist to address the BDS hate group, and Richard Falk, who had endorsed a book which wondered whether “Hitler might have been right after all.”
…
Bitar went to work for UNRWA, interned at the misnamed and militantly anti-Israel Foundation for Middle East Peace and studied at Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre, writing papers on the so-called “Nakba” and on “Palestinian” activism. He appeared to describe Israel’s security barrier as a “segregation wall.”
Schiff is considered a pro-Israel Senator, by the standards of the Democratic Party, but his reliance on Bitar for advice on national security policy signals a possible shift mirroring the anti-Israel drift of much of the rest of his party.
Quote:Economic “wreckage” is occurring across the globe as the result of Russian aggression, Erik Prince, veteran and founder of Unplugged Technologies, discussed during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday, highlighting the Russian seizure of an American-owned business.
He described the war in Ukraine as a “very unnecessary slaughter that’s gone on for multiple years now,” calling for its end.
“There is no possibility that it’s going to end in some armistice moment of Ukrainian victory. There are thousands of people, thousands of soldiers on both sides, dying daily and very unnecessarily,” he began, laying out the bigger picture globally.
President-elect Donald Trump, he said, was elected to “pursue the strategic interests of the United States,” which he identified, in part, as keeping Russia away from “combining with China.”
“And you have for 100 years, it was the policy to keep German industry from combining with Russian resources. Now, all we’ve done is pushed all those Russian resources into a subservient role with the Chinese Communist Party,” he said, noting that in previous BRICS meetings, there has been an “equal relationship between Putin and Xi Jinping.”
“This last one in October was very different. That it was Xi was clearly on top, Putin subservient. That is not a good scenario for the United States. So settling this war, you know, Putin, yes, was the aggressor. This was a dumb thing. I’m sure if he had a chance to do it over, he would not wade into the mess. But I think settling it, freezing the lines and coming up with some hybrid approach is very, very necessary, because at so many levels, there’s economic damage going around the world, and especially the United States,” he said, noting that the neocons thought sanctions would “bring Putin to their knees,” but that is not what happened. “Their economy is actually doing ok.”
“But there’s economic wreckage happening all around now. There’s even American-owned businesses in Russia, like Universal Beverage Company,” he revealed, noting it was “started by a guy that came to America in the in the 80s,” who is now an American citizen.
He went back after the Soviet Union collapsed and started the business, which “now is effectively frozen by the Russian government,” Prince said.
“This is the kind of nonsense that must stop,” he said, describing this company as the “Campbell’s Soup of Russia.”
“The Russian government apparently did a decree, Vladimir Putin signed a decree to seize the assets of this company,” host Matthew Boyle said of AO Glavproduct, owned by Universal Beverage Company.
Quote:The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released the first photos of the three female hostages who were released Sunday as part of a hostage deal with Hamas — Romi Gonen, 24; Emily Damari, 38; and Doron Steinbrecher, 31 — and returned to Israel.
They were finally free, after 471 days in captivity. All were abducted in the Hamas terror attack of October 7, 2023.
The three were handed to the International Red Cross, after being paraded in front of a jeering crowd in green Hamas headbands and black uniforms — much like the hostage releases that took place during an eight-day truce in 2023.
...
They were then brought into Israel, where they were transported by Air Force helicopter to the Sheba Medical Center. There, they reunited with their mothers, chosen by medical professionals to be the first relatives to greet them.
[Photos]
The three are the first of 33 hostages to be released over the course of six weeks, most of whom are presumed to be living, with priority given to female and civilian hostages. In return, Israel will release over 1,900 Palestinian terrorists and withdraw from some positions in the Gaza Strip while surging humanitarian aid into the territory.
The deal almost collapsed when Hamas failed to provide the names of the hostages to be released, as it had agreed. It did so, belatedly.
There are thought to be about 60 remaining hostages, many of whom are still alive. They will only be released in a second phase of the ceasefire deal. Israel says it reserves the right to resume the war at any time.
"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:BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation.
Acting pursuant to the grant of authority in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution of the United States, I do hereby:
(a) commute the sentences of the following individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, to time served as of January 20, 2025:
• Stewart Rhodes
• Kelly Meggs
• Kenneth Harrelson
• Thomas Caldwell
• Jessica Watkins
• Roberto Minuta
• Edward Vallejo
• David Moerschel
• Joseph Hackett
• Ethan Nordean
• Joseph Biggs
• Zachary Rehl
• Dominic Pezzola
• Jeremy Bertino
(b) grant a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021;
The Attorney General shall administer and effectuate the immediate issuance of certificates of pardon to all individuals described in section (b) above, and shall ensure that all individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, who are currently held in prison are released immediately. The Bureau of Prisons shall immediately implement all instructions from the Department of Justice regarding this directive.
I further direct the Attorney General to pursue dismissal with prejudice to the government of all pending indictments against individuals for their conduct related to the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Bureau of Prisons shall immediately implement all instructions from the Department of Justice regarding this directive.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.
Quote:President Donald Trump rescinded 78 of former President Joe Biden’s executive actions with the stroke of a pen on Monday night.
Trump’s executive order covers an array of actions Biden took throughout his term, ranging from nixing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies to the southern border and the climate.
“I can undo almost everything Biden did, he through executive order. And on day one, much of that will be undone,” Trump said in a statement shared in a White House fact sheet obtained by Breitbart News.
Trump’s action notably undoes Biden’s first executive order, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” and several other “racial equity” orders Biden imposed, per the fact sheet.
“We will terminate every diversity, equity, and inclusion program across the entire federal government,” Trump said in a statement.
Regarding the border, Trump is working to reverse Biden’s executive orders that reinstated catch-and-release, halted criminal illegal alien deportations, and granted government-funded benefits for illegal aliens.
Trump is targeting several of Biden’s climate orders as well, including his electric vehicle mandate to phase out gas-powered automobiles.
“Several EOs imposed crushing emissions standards designed to end gas powered vehicles, set an EV mandate by 2030, canceled the Keystone Pipeline, stopped drilling, and prevented permitting,” the sheet notes.
“We’re going to have a great border, we’re going to have more energy than you’ve ever had, and we’re never going back,” Trump vowed.
The order further mandates a review of all of Biden’s executive actions, meaning more recessions can be expected this year, according to the White House.
According to a Fox News report published Sunday, Trump is set to sign more than 200 executive orders on his first day.
Quote:A large number of senior career diplomats who served in politically appointed leadership positions and also lower-level posts at the State Department are leaving their jobs at the demand of the incoming Trump administration, which plans to install its own people, according to current and outgoing U.S. officials.
Personnel changes in the senior ranks of the department, like those at all federal agencies, are not uncommon after a presidential election, and career officials serving in those roles are required, just as non-career political appointees, to submit letters of resignation. However, it is unusual for incoming administrations to seek the resignations of officials serving in positions not nominated by the president.
In the past, some resignations have not been accepted, allowing career officials to remain in their posts at least temporarily until the new president can nominate his team. That offers some degree of continuity in the day-to-day running of the bureaucracy.
One senior career diplomat who is staying, Lisa Kenna, was appointed acting secretary of state shortly after Monday's inauguration. She was only in that job for several hours, until Marco Rubio was confirmed by the Senate as top diplomat. Kenna will return to a previous job she held as executive secretary.
Officials at the State Department’s global talent management team spent part of Monday calling career senior diplomats at the behest of the Trump administration, asking them to resign immediately, according to a person familiar with matter. The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said that while requests for resignations were anticipated, the number of diplomats being called on to step down was greater than expected.
It was not immediately clear how many non-political appointees were being asked to leave.
While turnover is inevitable during any change of administration, the departures come at a fraught time, notably in Ukraine and the Middle East, in the foreign policy realm. Conflict is raging between Russia and Ukraine, and new negotiations will be required early next month to extend and expand a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Thus, changes in the top ranks of the State Department and the White House National Security Council may have a more significant impact than they might have had during previous transitions.
Quote:A bust of Winston Churchill’s head has been in a game of political football for over 15 years, with Democrat Presidents removing it from the Oval Office and President Trump putting it back again.
A bronze likeness of British wartime leader and scourge of Nazism Sir Winston Churchill given to America by the British government in July 2001 has been returned to the Oval Office — again — as part of President Donald Trump’s inauguration redecoration.
While redecorating the Oval Office for an incoming President to reflect their tastes and needs — changing curtains, for instance, and the large oval rug over the decorative timber floor — has become a normal part of the inauguration day handover, the presence of the bust of Churchill has become a political matter. Having sat in the Oval Office after being made a gift in 2001 for seven years, the bust was removed by President Barack Obama upon his inauguration in 2009 and replaced with one of Martin Luther King Jr.
This was met with controversy and allegations President Obama had demoted the Churchill Bust to a corridor in the Residence because of anti-British sentiment, something his administration later denied.
...
President Trump restored the bust when he took power in 2017 following lobbying by Brexit’s Nigel Farage. Speaking in 2016 of a meeting he had with then President-Elect Trump, Mr Farage had said he was “especially pleased at his very positive reaction to the idea that Sir Winston Churchill’s bust should be put back in the Oval Office”.
President Trump made a point of showing the Churchill bust to then-British Prime Minister Theresa May when she visited the White House in 2017.
But the story didn’t end there, with President Joe Biden again removing the Churchill bust in 2021, adding busts of Robert F. Kennedy, Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks, and former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt instead. Biden also removed the flags of the branches of the U.S. armed forces from the Office, something else Trump had returned to their place this week.
Now it is noted the bust has returned once again, having been photographed in the Oval Office as President Trump sat in the room signing executive orders, the bronze cast placed on a side table near the fireplace, which is where it had been before it was removed by Biden.
Quote:Shortly after delivering his inauguration address on Monday, President Donald Trump said 25-percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico could be imposed as soon as February 1.
“We are thinking in terms of 25% on Mexico and Canada, because they are allowing vast numbers of people — Canada is a very bad abuser also – vast numbers of people to come in and fentanyl to come in,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office on Monday evening.
“I think we’ll do it February 1,” Trump responded when a reporter asked for the timing on these tariffs.
Trump later said he would consider putting a “universal tariff” on “anybody doing business in the United States” if “they’re stealing our wealth, they’re stealing our jobs, they’re stealing our companies, they’re hurting our companies.”
Trump’s comments clearly surprised the Canadian government, whose officials and political leaders have been talking tough about fighting a trade war with Trump – especially the candidates jockeying to replace departing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – even as they evidently believed the tariff threat had subsided.
Canada’s Globe and Mail noted that U.S. media coverage on Monday suggested Trump would “direct government agencies to remedy persistent trade deficits and ensure trade deals prioritize U.S. jobs,” but he had largely stopped talking about tariffs – until he suddenly started talking about them again during his freewheeling post-inauguration press conference.
Biden's Preemptive Pardons - That Had Not Existed Ever Before
Quote:President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Retired Gen. Mark Milley, Anthony Fauci, and members of the January 6 Committee — with just hours left in his administration.
In a statement released Monday morning at 7 a.m. — just several hours before President-Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, the White House issued a statement from Biden touting them “dedicated, selfless public servants.”
He claimed he believed in the rule of law, but said, “But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing.”
House Oversight Committee Republicans reminded Americans that Biden also pardoned his son Hunter Biden — which the outgoing president had told the country he would not do:
Joe Biden will be remembered for using his last few weeks in office to shield his son from the law and protect himself.
...
Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) posted: “Mark Milley might be pardoned but we will continue to explore ways to hold him accountable.”
...
Biden’s statement said in full:
Our nation relies on dedicated, selfless public servants every day. They are the lifeblood of our democracy.
Yet alarmingly, public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties.
In certain cases, some have even been threatened with criminal prosecutions, including General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, and the members and staff of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. These public servants have served our nation with honor and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.
General Milley served our nation for more than 40 years, serving in multiple command and leadership posts and deploying to some of the most dangerous parts of the world to protect and defend democracy. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he guided our Armed Forces through complex global security threats and strengthened our existing alliances while forging new ones.
For more than half a century, Dr. Fauci served our country. He saved countless lives by managing the government’s response to pressing health crises, including HIV/AIDS, as well as the Ebola and Zika viruses. During his tenure as my Chief Medical Advisor, he helped the country tackle a once-in-a-century pandemic. The United States is safer and healthier because of him.
On January 6, 2021, American democracy was tested when a mob of insurrectionists attacked the Capitol in an attempt to overturn a fair and free election by force and violence. In light of the significance of that day, Congress established the bipartisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol to investigate and report upon the facts, circumstances, and causes of the insurrection. The Select Committee fulfilled this mission with integrity and a commitment to discovering the truth. Rather than accept accountability, those who perpetrated the January 6th attack have taken every opportunity to undermine and intimidate those who participated in the Select Committee in an attempt to rewrite history, erase the stain of January 6th for partisan gain, and seek revenge, including by threatening criminal prosecutions.
I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing. Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong—and in fact have done the right thing—and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances.
That is why I am exercising my authority under the Constitution to pardon General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee. The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense. Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.
Quote:Former National Security Adviser John Bolton was stripped of his Secret Service detail on the same day that President Donald Trump stripped him of his security clearance, according to several reports.
CNN reported that Bolton had confirmed that “within hours” of Trump taking office, the president terminated the Secret Service detail that had been assigned to Bolton.
Several sources also informed CBS News that the decision to terminate Bolton’s Secret Service detail had been made “in the past 24 hours.”
...
In a statement on X, Bolton expressed that he was “disappointed but not surprised that President Trump” had terminated his Secret Service detail. Bolton added that despite his “criticisms” of former President Joe Biden’s national security policies, Biden “made the decision to extend” Bolton’s Secret Service detail protection.
“I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection previously provided by the United States Secret Service,” Bolton wrote. “Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden’s national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to extend that protection to me in 2021.”
“The Justice Department filed criminal charges against an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official in 2022 for attempting to hire a hit man to target me,” Bolton added. “That threat remains today, as also demonstrated by the recent arrest of someone trying to arrange for President Trump’s own assassination. The American people can judge for themselves which President made the right call.”
"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:By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy and Purpose. More than 50 years after the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Federal Government has not released to the public all of its records related to those events. Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth. It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay.
The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 required all records related to the assassination of President Kennedy to be publicly disclosed in full by October 26, 2017, unless the President certifies that: (i) continued postponement is made necessary by an identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations; and (ii) the identifiable harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure. President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, section 5(g)(2)(D), Public Law 102-526, 106 Stat. 3443, 3448–49, codified at 44 U.S.C. 2107 note.
I previously accepted proposed redactions from executive departments and agencies (agencies) in 2017 and 2018, but ordered the continued re-evaluation of those remaining redactions. See Temporary Certification for Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 82 Fed. Reg. 50,307–08 (Oct. 31, 2017); Certification for Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 83 Fed. Reg. 19, 157–58 (Apr. 26, 2018). In the Presidential Memorandum of April 26, 2018, I also ordered agencies to re-review each of those redactions over the next 3 years and disclose information that no longer warrants continued withholding under the standard set forth in section 5(g)(2)(D) of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992.
President Biden issued subsequent certifications with respect to these records in 2021, 2022, and 2023, which gave agencies additional time to review the records and withhold information from public disclosure. See Temporary Certification Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 86 Fed. Reg. 59,599 (Oct. 22, 2021); Certifications Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 87 Fed. Reg. 77,967 (Dec. 15, 2022); Certification Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 88 Fed. Reg. 43,247 (June 30, 2023).
I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue. And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest.
Sec. 2. Declassification and Disclosure. (a) Within 15 days of the date of this order, the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General shall, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Counsel to the President, present a plan to the President for the full and complete release of records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
(b) Within 45 days of the date of this order, the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General shall, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Counsel to the President, review records related to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and present a plan to the President for the full and complete release of these records.
Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
Quote:In a Thursday address to the World Economic Forum, President Donald Trump promised global elites they would receive lower taxes if they relocated manufacturing to the U.S. and threatened to impose tariffs if they do not.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment on Thursday afternoon.
Why It Matters
Trump has threatened to use universal tariffs to try and drive business up in the United States. Many assumed this was merely to take a more "America First" approach to supporting businesses, but his remarks at Davos show that he likely will view all business in the U.S. - including foreign companies - as part of that business landscape.
After taking office earlier this week, the president once again floated the idea of a universal tariff, saying that it was necessary because "essentially countries take advantage of the U.S.," even as he acknowledged the country was "not ready for that yet," referring to a universal tariff.
What to Know
Trump spoke via video from the White House to the annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, on his third full day in office, Trump highlighted his series of executive actions since his inauguration and asserted that he had a "massive mandate" from the American people to enact change. He proposed a carrot-and-stick strategy to encourage private investment in the U.S.
"Come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes as any nation on earth," Trump said. "But if you don't make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply, you will have to pay a tariff — differing amounts — but a tariff, which will direct hundreds of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars into our treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt under the Trump administration."
One of the factors Trump touted as a major attraction to operating in the U.S. would be a lower corporate tax rate, which he told the Davos panel he would look to bring down to 15 percent, but only "if you make your product in the U.S.," saying that rate would be "as low as it gets."
Quote:Speaking remotely at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, President Donald Trump announced that he would ask Saudi Arabia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to take action and bring down the price of oil.
"You've got to bring it down," he said in a virtual call on Thursday.
Why It Matters
The fourth day of the annual economic gathering featured Donald Trump as a special guest. In his address, he promised global elites lower taxes if they moved manufacturing to the United States, while warning of tariffs if they failed to comply.
During his 30-minute speech, Trump criticized the OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting countries, accusing them of keeping oil prices excessively high throughout much of the nearly three-year war.
Oil sales remain the backbone of Moscow's economy. However, oil prices have recently dropped due to weaker-than-expected demand from China and increased production by non-OPEC+ countries like Brazil and Argentina.
As of January 23, 2025, oil prices have experienced a slight decline. Brent crude futures decreased by 26 cents, settling at $78.74 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell by 23 cents to $75.21 per barrel.
What To Know
In a Thursday speech to executives in Davos, the U.S. president called on Saudi Arabia and other oil producers to reduce crude oil prices, expressing surprise that they hadn't acted sooner.
"I'm going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil. You gotta bring it down. Which frankly I'm surprised they didn't do before the election," he said.
Quote:President Donald Trump’s newly confirmed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director, John Ratcliffe, told Breitbart News exclusively that he views his mission as restoring the world’s most preeminent intelligence agency to its core primary objectives and undoing the lasting damage that one of his predecessors, John Brennan, did to the CIA.
“It would be fair to say his tenure was one of the worst things that has ever happened to the Agency,” Ratcliffe told Breitbart News of Brennan on Thursday in his first interview as CIA director.
Ratcliffe, who served as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in Trump’s first term, was just confirmed Thursday afternoon as Trump’s new director of the CIA and sworn in shortly thereafter. He sat for his interview as CIA director on Thursday with Breitbart News, a broad and wide-ranging conversation that focused on the challenges that face the Intelligence Community (IC) as a whole, the CIA in particular, and how he views his role in terms of helping Trump execute his agenda. Ratcliffe also covered several major world theaters, from China to Russia to the Middle East, in this interview. But his very harsh criticism of Brennan, whose security clearance was just revoked by Trump along with the other 51 intelligence officials who falsely claimed Hunter Biden’s laptop was a product of Russian disinformation, is sure to make major news and marks a totally new era being ushered in at the CIA.
“There are challenges within the Intelligence Community and skepticism, I guess,” Ratcliffe told Breitbart News. “It’s because the American people saw examples of that. They saw the FBI misuse intelligence authorities at the FISA courts to spy on the Trump campaign. They saw through my declassification when I was DNI notes that the Intelligence Community knew in the summer of 2016 that Hillary Clinton had funded the Steele Dossier but yet it resulted in the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane and the Mueller investigation and the whole Russia collusion hoax. Then in 2020 they saw Brennan, [James] Clapper, and others amplify this lie that Adam Schiff started about Hunter Biden’s laptop being a Russian disinformation operation when everyone related to that did know and understand that there was no intelligence that supported that. Ultimately the FBI and Department of Justice used that laptop at the central piece of evidence in the prosecution of Hunter Biden and his guilty plea.”
Asked if former President Joe Biden pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, weeks before he left office and then doing the same for several of his family members in his final moments as president on Monday confirmed once and for all that the Biden family is corrupt and the critics are correct, Ratcliffe said it did. “Absolutely — it’s verification of that,” Ratcliffe said.
Ratcliffe said he also believes one of his main tasks as CIA director is to get the Agency “back to its core mission” and cut out the political nonsense that Brennan started back during President Barack Obama’s administration.
“So I do think the challenge is one of my focuses has to be not only to get the CIA back to its core mission and the things that it’s supposed to do like being the best foreign intelligence agency and collecting human intelligence and being objective in the analysis of that intelligence and conducting covert action as directed by the president and authorized by the president and only by the president, and then the counterintelligence mission of keeping America’s national security information safe — all of those things will remain the same,” Ratcliffe said. “But restoring the public’s confidence in the Intelligence Community, particularly the CIA, in the ability to do that. I talked about that in the confirmation process and how I would go about that. The number one thing is to move away from the things that have contributed to all of the failures and all of the mistakes and all of the lapses that we just talked about—the politicization of intelligence, and it really started under the tenure of John Brennan.”
Ratcliffe said that Brennan’s well-publicized efforts to “modernize” the CIA actually ended up hurting the agency in retrospect, and he will be spending a lot of time undoing the damage Brennan did to the CIA.
Quote:President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birth citizenship for children of migrants has reportedly prompted a rush for C-section births by pregnant illegal migrants and visa workers.
Dr. S D Rama, who operates a maternity clinic in the United States, told Times of India that a significant increase in pre-term delivery requests has been seen following President Trump’s Monday executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal migrants.
Indian women in their eighth or ninth month of pregnancy are now scrambling to schedule C-sections before the February 20, when President Trump’s order is set to go into effect.
“A seven months pregnant woman came with her husband to sign up for a preterm delivery,” Dr. Rama said. “She isn’t due until sometime in March.”
Dr. S G Mukkala, a Texas-based obstetrician and gynecologist, meanwhile, shared his concerns regarding obtaining preterm births.
“I am trying to tell couples that even if it is possible, a preterm birth poses significant risk to mother and child,” he said. “Complications include underdeveloped lungs, feeding problems, low birth weight, neurological complications and more.”
Dr. Mukkala added that he has had discussions about these concerns with 15 to 20 couples in just the past two days.
An expectant Indian couple told Times of India that they have been in the United States on H-1B visas for eight years, and were hoping for their child to be born in the country.
Quote:A man with a gun entered the Capitol complex even after a hand search was conducted by an officer, the United States Capitol Police (USCP) revealed in a statement released on Thursday.
The incident occurred on Tuesday January 21 — one day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
According to the USCP press release, authorities received “a lookout for a man with reported mental health issues and suicidal thoughts who was believed to be armed and in the area.”
“At approximately 1:15 p.m., USCP officers spotted the man’s car on First Street, near East Capitol Street, NE. Officers conducted a canvass of the area and discovered that the man had recently entered the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) and taken a Capitol tour,” authorities said, adding that the suspect was spotted at the Library of Congress at about 2:15 ET after taking the tour, walking toward his vehicle.
“He was stopped, searched, and arrested. A small 9mm handgun was discovered, concealed in his waistband,” the press release reads, identifying the man as 27-year-old James A. Faber of Massachusetts.
Perhaps what is most surprising is USPC admitting that Faber was allowed to enter the south CVC checkpoint. The magnetometers did, indeed, go off, prompting a hand search by an officer. This — evidently — did not result in the discovery of the man’s weapon. That officer has since been suspended.
Quote:The shooter who opened fire inside a Nashville high school cafeteria on Wednesday, killing a female student, shared racist and incel content in writings on social media, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Analysts with the ADL Center on Extremism "have located a manifesto and social media accounts believed to belong to the shooter, where he shared a range of incel, accelerationist, white supremacist, antisemitic & anti-Black content," the organization wrote in a Wednesday post on X (formerly Twitter).
Local media outlets have posted details and excerpts from the lengthy document, which the shooter reportedly shared on social media. Those accounts have since been taken down. Newsweek is trying to verify the origins of the document.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department has not confirmed if the writings posted online are linked to the shooter, but it said the department is "examining very concerning online writings and social media posts connected" to the shooter. The department has been contacted by Newsweek via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Police identified the shooter as 17-year-old Solomon Henderson, a student at Antioch High School.
Police said the shooter confronted a student, 16-year-old Josselin Corea Escalante, in the school's cafeteria on Wednesday and opened fire, killing her. Another male student, who was grazed by a bullet, was treated and released from the hospital, police said. Henderson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, police said.
Police and federal and state agencies are examining "very concerning online writings and social media posts" connected to Henderson as they work to establish a motive for the shooting, Nashville police said in a Wednesday evening statement.
Quote:Amayor in New Jersey said Thursday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided "a local establishment" in Newark, New Jersey without a warrant and detained undocumented people, as well as citizens.
An ICE spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement: "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may encounter U.S. citizens while conducting field work and may request identification to establish an individual's identity as was the case during a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite today in Newark, New Jersey. This is an active investigation and, per ICE policy, we cannot discuss ongoing investigations."
Why It Matters
The news comes as the Trump administration has taken a series of steps to crack down on immigration and prepares to raid migrant communities across the U.S.
Immigration and border security were central pillars of Trump's 2024 campaign and he pledged to begin mass deportations on Day 1 of his presidency. Since taking office, he's signed a slew of executive actions aimed at shutting down the southern border and ramping up deportations, but the details of how the orders will be enforced remain unclear.
What To Know
ICE "raided a local establishment in the City of Newark, detaining undocumented residents, as well as citizens, without producing a warrant," Newark mayor Ras J. Baraka said in a statement.
Baraka's office said one of the detainees is a military veteran "who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned."
"This egregious act is in plain violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which guarantees the 'right of the people be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against reasonable searches and seizures...'" the statement continued.
"Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized. I will be holding a press conference in alliance with partners ready and willing to defend and protect civil and human rights," Baraka's statement said.
Quote:The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the indictment of two North Korean nationals and three facilitators, including two Americans, involved in a multiyear fraudulent scheme to secure remote information technology (IT) work from U.S. companies.
Why It Matters
Over the last few years, U.S. agencies have uncovered efforts by North Korea to have their citizens employed by American companies. Higher-paying IT salaries can often be filtered back to the government, allowing North Korea access to sensitive information.
The Justice Department said North Korea has sent "thousands" of IT workers to China, Russia and Southeast Asia, as well.
This is not the first time a North Korean group has infiltrated U.S. companies remotely. In May 2024, a woman was accused of helping North Koreans gain freelance IT employment at U.S. companies. In August, a U.S. citizen was charged with aiding North Korean actors in obtaining remote IT work and laundering their salaries to finance the country's weapons program. Last week, the U.S. sanctioned two North Korean nationals as well as several companies in Laos and China for their IT worker schemes.
The DOJ launched a "DPRK RevGen: Domestic Enabler Initiative" in March 2024 to identify and shutter this type of practice.
What To Know
The indicted North Korean nationals, Jin Sung-Il and Pak Jin-Song, orchestrated the scheme, while Mexican national Pedro Ernesto Alonso De Los Reyes and Americans Erick Ntekereze Prince and Emanuel Ashtor provided essential support, a press release from the DOJ stated.
The facilitators helped create false identities and fabricated resumes, enabling the North Koreans to apply for and obtain remote IT jobs under false pretenses.
The DOJ said they successfully infiltrated the U.S. job market by concealing their true identities and locations, thereby circumventing security protocols intended to protect sensitive data and infrastructure.
According to the indictment, the scheme occurred between April 2018 and August 2024. The con-conspirators obtained work from at least 64 U.S. companies. Payments from 10 companies equated to at least $866,255, most of which were laundered through a Chinese bank account.
In addition to the indictments on Thursday, the FBI released an advisory around data extortion and infiltration.
Quote:Ukraine's first vice prime minister has signaled that Kyiv would be open to engaging in peace negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine expects the Trump administration to be involved in possible peace talks with Russia, Yulia Svyrydenko told Polish radio station RMF FM in Davos in an interview published on Wednesday.
Newsweek has contacted the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia for comment by email.
Why It Matters
Trump has pledged to bring an end to the grinding war in Ukraine, which enters its fourth year next month, and the world is watching to see whether he will be able to deliver on his key election promise. He has said repeatedly that he would be able to bring a swift end to the war in Ukraine by speaking with Putin, but he has already extended a timeline for when this could happen—from 24 hours, to now 100 days.
What To Know
Svyrydenko told the radio station that Ukraine hopes the war will come to an end this year. Kyiv's priority is to negotiate strong security guarantees that will allow the nation to return to some semblance of normality.
Peace talks are possible but "it depends on when it happens," she said. Ukraine should first strengthen its defense capabilities, and become stronger economically.
Trump also directed an angry message to his Russian counterpart in a post on his Truth Social account on Wednesday, urging him to "settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War!"
Trump has suggested that both Russia and Ukraine must make concessions in the war. Kyiv has rejected any suggestions of ceding territory to Moscow, while Putin has demanded that Ukraine give up its aspirations of joining the NATO military alliance.
Quote:Russia has responded to President Donald Trump's warning that he will impose tariffs and sanctions if Moscow does not "make a deal" soon and end the war with Ukraine.
Russia's Deputy United Nations Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told Reuters that it depends on what a "deal" means, and the Kremlin said it does not see "any new elements here."
Newsweek reached out to the Trump transition team for comment via email outside of business hours.
Why It Matters
Trump's threat could not only have detrimental effects on Moscow's struggling economy, but it could also increase tensions between Russia and the U.S. and make peace negotiations with Ukraine more difficult. The imposition of tariffs and sanctions could also have long-standing ramifications on global markets, as tariffs imposed on goods by either country could affect other countries importing the products.
Further, the tariffs on Russian goods could also indirectly affect American consumers by impacting U.S. market prices, particularly with materials made with certain metals that the country no longer imports, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
What To Know
In a post on Truth Social on January 22, Trump made threats to Russia's economy and wrote that it is "ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don't make a 'deal.'" He added that he as "no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries."
In response, Polyanskiy told Reuters: "It's not merely the question of ending the war. It's first and foremost the question of addressing root causes of Ukrainian crisis."
Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin abruptly left a government meeting, citing an "urgent necessity" to conduct an "international phone conversation." The government meeting was being broadcast live on-air when Putin excused himself, however, he did not disclose who the phone call would be with.
U.S. President Donald Trump had previously stated that he planned to call Putin "soon" after his inauguration. Although, it remains unclear whether the call has already taken place or if this was the conversation Putin interrupted the meeting for.
Newsweek has reached out to the Kremlin for comment vie email.
Why It Matters
Russia recently responded to President Trump's warning that he will impose tariffs and sanctions if Moscow does not "make a deal" soon and end the war with Ukraine.
Russia's Deputy United Nations Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told Reuters that it depends on what a "deal" means, and the Kremlin said it does not see "any new elements here."
What To Know
Trump's threat could not only have detrimental effects on Moscow's struggling economy, but it could also increase tensions between Russia and the U.S. and make peace negotiations with Ukraine more difficult.
Quote:NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte cautioned Thursday that a Russian victory in Ukraine would weaken the deterrent power of the world's largest military alliance and that restoring its credibility could require trillions of dollars.
"It will not be billions extra; it will be trillions extra," Rutte said, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Why It Matters
NATO has been bolstering its presence along its eastern flank bordering Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, deploying thousands of troops and military equipment to prevent Moscow from extending its conflict into the territory of any of the alliance's 32 member states.
What to Know
Rutte said Ukraine's Western allies must "step up and not scale back the support" they are providing, nearly three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
The NATO Secretary-General emphasized the need to change the trajectory of the war, adding that in the 21st century the West should not allow one country to invade another and try to "colonize it."
How Is Trump Responding to Russia's War?
Growing concerns in Europe suggest that U.S. President Donald Trump may push for a swift resolution to the war through negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, potentially on terms unfavorable to Ukraine. However, Rutte appeared cautious about rushing the process.
Quote:U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey on Wednesday issued a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin after reporting a Russian spy ship had entered British waters earlier this week.
While speaking to the U.K. Parliament about the alleged incident, Healey directed a message to Putin, saying: "We see you. We know what you are doing. And we will not shy away from robust action to protect this country."
Why It Matters
The U.K. is one of Europe's top suppliers of military assistance to Kyiv in the war Putin launched by invading Ukraine in February 2022. Last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer made his first official visit to Kyiv since taking office in July, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said they agreed to "at least U.S. $3.6 billion" in annual military aid.
Zelensky's office also published the text of an agreement on a "100-Year Partnership" between Ukraine and the U.K., which aims to strengthen defense ties.
What To Know
Healey accused the Russian vessel, Yantar, of "gathering intelligence and mapping the U.K.'s critical underwater infrastructure."
He also said the ship operated under the Russian Ministry of Defense and called its presence in U.K. waters "another example of growing Russian aggression."
"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 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) now backs the theory that the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment released on Saturday by order of new director John Ratcliffe.
But the agency said it has "low confidence" on this conclusion, adding that there isn't sufficient evidence to easily resolve the ongoing debate over the origin of the pandemic.
Why It Matters
Finding the origin of the pandemic that killed millions around the world, forced many more into lockdowns, and profoundly disrupted life as we know it could be crucial to prevent future outbreaks.
If the virus was found to have escaped from a lab, countries around the world might decide to implement tighter regulations on medical and scientific research involving dangerous viruses. If it was discovered to have originated in a wet market, efforts might be made to make these places more secure.
Should the virus be tracked down to a Chinese lab, the relations between the U.S. and China, already strained, are likely to erode in a way that would impact the entire world. Should the lab leak theory be dismissed, trust between the two countries might actually improve, as tensions between them ease.
What To Know
The assessment declassified and released on Saturday on the orders of Ratcliffe, Donald Trump's pick to lead the CIA, was conducted under the Biden administration. It is not based on new intelligence, but rather on the same evidence that has been available to the agency for months now.
However, people close to the CIA said that the assessment is based in part on a closer analysis of the conditions in the high-security labs in the Wuhan province, as reported by The New York Times.
While the CIA now thinks it is most likely that the virus originated from a laboratory, a spokesperson for the agency said it "continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible."
Ratcliffe, who has long said he believes the virus escaped from a Chinese lab, had told Breitbart News on Friday that he no longer wanted the CIA to "be off the sidelines" of the debate around the origin of COVID-19. Tracing back the origin of the pandemic to a Chinese lab could deeply affect the U.S.-Chinese relations.
Quote:Donald Trump doubled down on his demands to gain control of Greenland on Saturday, when he told reporters on Air Force One that the island's 57,000 residents "want to be with us."
There was a fiery call between the U.S. president and Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen last week, which one of the five current and former senior European officials briefed on it described to the U.K. newspaper Financial Times as "horrendous."
Another told the newspaper that it was a "cold shower" to realize that Trump is serious in his attempt to acquire the island: "Before, it was hard to take it seriously. But I do think it is serious, and potentially very dangerous."
Newsweek contacted Trump's team, Denmark's embassy in the U.S., and Greenland's Prime Minister's Office for comment on Sunday morning, outside of standard working hours.
Why It Matters
Greenland is in a strategic position in the Arctic Ocean, which will likely put the island at the center of growing competition in the region and makes it key to avoid potential future aggressions from Russia.
The island is also rich in natural resources—including rare earth metals such as uranium and iron—and sits in the middle of two potential shipping routes through the Arctic, which could reduce shipping times and bypass the Suez and Panama canals as Arctic sea ice melts.
What To Know
Already during his first presidency, Trump had floated the idea of buying Greenland. Last month, he revived these calls, saying it was "an absolute necessity" for the U.S. to own the island for the country's national and "economic security."
While it already has wide-range autonomy and it is believed that it will one day gain independence, Greenland belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark. Though the island's government has expressed interest in getting closer to the U.S. and receiving the country's support in defense and mining, both Denmark and Greenland's prime ministers have said that the latter is not for sale.
Quote:President Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, said on Sunday that not all undocumented migrants will be removed from the United States, citing costs associated with the administration's mass deportation plans.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House via email for comment on Sunday morning.
Why It Matters
The Trump administration has vowed to conduct the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history targeting the estimated 11.7 million people who are in the country without legal status.
...
However, the policy has sparked concerns about its significant costs and potential impact including on families and the economy. Homan has previously said the administration will initially need $86 billion from Congress to begin mass deportations.
What To Know
In a Sunday interview with ABC News' This Week, Homan discussed the mass deportation plans and what he thinks will be accomplished.
When asked by host Martha Raddatz why he didn't speak about getting "every immigrant who is in the country illegally out," Homan said he's being "realistic," citing costs.
"I'm being realistic. We can do what we can with the money we have. We're going to try to be efficient, but with more money we have, the more we can accomplish. I don't have the money to remove that many people," he said.
Mass removals could cost the U.S. $315 billion for a one-time effort, according to the American Immigration Council. The long-term cost of deporting a million people per year could average $88 billion annually, totaling $967.9 billion over a decade. This would require a vast expansion of detention and court systems.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has estimated substantial costs for deportation logistics, including air transportation, and has said the daily cost for a bed for one adult in a detention center is about $165.
In regard to resources, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) relies on a combination of its own processing centers, private detention facilities, and prisons under state and city contracts. However, it currently lacks facilities for detaining immigrant families, who constitute a significant portion of arrivals at the southern border.
While the Trump administration has not publicly said how many immigration detention beds it needs to achieve its goals, or what the cost will be, ICE currently has the budget to detain only about 41,000 people, according to the Associated Press.
Quote:President Donald Trump has announced retaliatory measures against Colombia after the country refused to accept deportation flights of Colombian migrants.
Newsweek reached out to the White House, U.S. State Department and Colombian Foreign Ministry for comment by email on Sunday afternoon.
Why It Matters
Trump initiated his much-promised plan to deport unauthorized or undocumented immigrants within the first week of his new administration. The first flights, which used military planes, started taking off on Friday last week.
The White House published photos of migrants boarding the planes along with the declaration, "deportation flights have begun."
Trump made immigration a central theme of his successful presidential campaign and Americans largely support his mass deportation plans.
A New York Times/Ipsos poll, carried out from January 2 to 10, found 55 percent of voters strongly or somewhat supported such plans. Eighty-eight percent supported "Deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records." Large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans agreed that the immigration system is broken.
What To Know
Colombian President Gustavo Petro denied the flights with deported Colombian migrants into his country, writing on X, formerly Twitter: "The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals. I deny the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory. The United States must establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them."
In response, Trump announced a raft of punishments against Colombia, writing on his Truth Social platform: "I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia."
Quote:Colombian President Gustavo Petro quickly reversed course about accepting flights of deported migrants from the US after President Donald Trump threatened emergency tariffs of up to 50% on the South American country for refusing to cooperate.
Petro not only acquiesced to Trump’s demands, he even offered up the official Colombian presidential plane to help shuttle migrants back to the country, calling it a response to “the Government’s commitment to guarantee decent conditions.”
“The Government of Colombia, under the direction of President Gustavo Petro, has arranged the presidential plane to facilitate the dignified return of the compatriots who were going to arrive in the country today in the morning, coming from deportation flights,” a translated official statement read in part.
The short-lived battle of wills between the world leaders kicked off this weekend when the US sent a pair of military flights loaded with deported Colombian migrants as part of the Trump administration’s pledge to crack down on illegal aliens.
A defiant Petro initially refused entry of the Colombian migrants from the US, and insisted the US cannot treat those being deported as “criminals.”
The first round of deportations under Trump has targeted migrants with criminal records and deportation orders.
Petro further said, “The United States must establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them.”
In response, Trump swiftly enacted a wave of retaliatory measures, including ordering a 25% tariff be imposed on all Colombian goods coming into the US.
Quote:President Donald Trump said he wants Jordan and Egypt to take in more Palestinian refugees from Gaza in an effort to "clean out" the territory.
Newsweek has reached out the White House press team, Jordan's foreign ministry, and the office of Egypt's State Information for comment via email on Sunday.
...
Over 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas has devastated the enclave and killed upwards of 47,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. At least 1.9 million people, about 90 percent of the population, have been internally displaced due to Israeli bombardments, according to the United Nations (U.N.).
The conflict has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, uprooted and separated families, and devastated health care systems in the territory.
Several Israeli officials have proposed relocating Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and other Arab countries. Palestinian groups and international organizations have condemned the proposals as forced displacement and ethnic cleansing. The proposed move would strip Palestinians of their homeland, a cornerstone of their history, identity, and culture.
...
Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, Israel, in response, has launched several ground and air operations in Gaza and closed off essential aid access points.
On Saturday, aboard Air Force One, Trump spoke to reporters about the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
On the matter, Trump said he told Jordanian King Abdullah II, "I'd love for you to take on more [Palestinians], cause I'm looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it's a mess. It's a real mess," per the Associated Press.
Jordan already hosts a large number of Palestinians, with the U.N. reporting that more than 2.39 million registered Palestine refugees live in the country.
Trump added that he will be speaking with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi about the issue, saying, "I'd like Egypt to take people."
Outlining the plan a little more, Trump told reporters, "You're talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean out the whole thing," in reference to Gaza.
He called the Palestinian territory "literally a demolition site, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there so I'd rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change."
When asked about the timeline for the plan, Trump said it "could be temporarily or could be long term."
Please remember that the Gaza Health Ministry is controlled by Hamas itself.
Concerning the homeland of Palestinians, historically speaking it's always modern Jordan and some small regions in Syria. Actually, the current Queen of Jordan IS a Palestinian. You can still find around a million Palestinians in Jordan nowadays. Their ancestral land wasn't that far away from them after all.
Quote:Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, nicknamed "Europe's last dictator," is projected to secure victory in Sunday's election, securing a seventh term and extending his rule beyond three decades.
Newsweek reached out by email on Sunday morning to the White House, Russian foreign ministry and Belarusian foreign ministry for comment.
Why It Matters
Lukashenko has proven to be one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most vital allies. He played a pivotal role in beating back the surprise revolt by the Wagner mercenary group after its founder and leader, the now-deceased Yevgeny Prigozhin, ordered them to march to Moscow around 15 months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
While Belarus has not directly involved itself in the war in Ukraine, Lukashenko has allowed his country to act as a staging area for Russia's forces, and economic and military ties between the two nations have grown deeper.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, has warned that a Lukashenko victory moves Belarus one step closer to an effective annexation of the country by Russia, which would seek dominant power over most, if not all, aspects of Belarusian governance.
What To Know
Polls closed at 8 p.m. local time/12 noon ET, but it was not long before news outlets were able to project an overwhelming victory, according to Reuters. Exit polls indicate that Lukashenko has secured 87.6 percent of the vote—more than he had secured in the highly contentious 2020 vote.
Belarus moved its election from the usual summer timeline to January, trying to secure a seventh term for Lukashenko that would extend his rule beyond 30 years. He was first elected in 1994 and won the 2020 election with 80 percent of the vote.
Quote:South Korea's impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol has been indicted on insurrection charges over his brief declaration of martial law in December, according to reports.
The charges are unprecedented for a South Korean president, and Yoon could face years in prison if convicted.
South Korean media outlets, including Yonhap news agency, reported on Sunday that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office had indicted Yoon over rebellion.
The prosecutors' office and Yoon's lawyers have not yet responded, according to The Associated Press.
Why It Matters
Yoon is under investigation related to his declaration of martial law on December 3, which plunged the country into political crisis and rocked financial markets. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Yoon's actions also led to the impeachment of the country's prime minister, Han Duck-soo, along with a number of top military officials for their roles in the alleged insurrection.
What To Know
Yoon, a conservative, defended his decision to impose martial law, calling it a legitimate act of governance meant to raise awareness of the danger of the liberal-controlled National Assembly.
During his announcement of the law, Yoon called the assembly "a den of criminals" and vowed to eliminate "shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces."
Yoon subsequently sent troops and police officers to the assembly, but enough lawmakers managed to enter a chamber to vote down his decree unanimously, forcing his cabinet to lift it.
The martial law imposition, the first of its kind in South Korea in more than 40 years, lasted only six hours.
Yoon has insisted he had no intentions of disrupting the assembly's work, and that dispatching troops and officers was meant to maintain order. But commanders of military units have told assembly hearings and investigators that Yoon ordered them to drag out lawmaker, according to AP.
Quote:Hamas militants have handed over four female Israeli soldiers to the Red Cross in a prisoner swap, part of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Newsweek has contacted the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment.
Why It Matters
The continued prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas, which includes Israel's release of 200 Palestinian prisoners, suggests the fragile ceasefire in Gaza is still holding.
What To Know
On Saturday, the IDF released footage of the four women being handed over to the Red Cross. The soldiers had been held captive since October 7, 2023, following Hamas' rampage on southern Israel, which preceded Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy formed the second group of Israeli hostages to be released under the terms of a ceasefire deal. Flanked by Hamas militants, the four Israeli soldiers smiled and waved from a stage in Gaza City's Palestine Square before being led off to Red Cross.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for Israel's army, confirmed that the released hostages were in Israeli hands, but he criticized the public display of the women by Hamas before their release. He added that Israel would not forget the 90 hostages—including women, children and elderly men—who remain in Hamas captivity.
The four soldiers were taken from Nahal Oz base near Israel's border with Gaza when Palestinian militants overran it.
A crowd cheered in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square as they watched the release unfold on a giant screen. Relatives of Albag said they felt relief and happiness after seeing her release, the Times of Israel reported.
"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:President Donald Trump continued his executive order spree on Monday, signing a slew of new actions related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and transgender military service members, the development of an "American Iron Dome" and more.
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Trump hit the ground running after being inaugurated last week and has signed dozens of executive orders and other actions undoing the Biden administration's policies and forging ahead with his campaign pledge to crack down on immigration, increase offshore drilling, roll back DEI programs and transgender rights and purge the federal government of officials deemed insufficiently loyal to the president's agenda.
What To Know
The president announced Monday's orders while addressing Republican lawmakers at a retreat at Trump National Doral Miami.
As Reuters reported, one of the executive actions orders the reinstatement of military service members who were discharged because they refused to comply with COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Another requires the development of an American missile defense system akin to the Iron Dome in Israel.
A third eliminates "gender radicalism in the military," while a fourth order eradicates DEI military initiatives. The fifth action was a proclamation commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
"We have to have a strong, strong defense," Trump told Republicans at his south Florida resort earlier Monday. "And in a little while, I'll be signing four new executive orders."
Monday's announcements came after Trump ordered all federal government Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) staff be placed on paid leave as their offices begin closing down.
What People Are Saying
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on X, formerly Twitter, Monday: "Thank you for your leadership Mr. President. We will execute!"
Conservative radio host Dan Bongino posted a meme to X on Monday of a person appearing to yell, "More!"
Quote:The Air Force says it has reinstated training material on the Tuskegee Airmen and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) after a brief delay to revise it in line with the Trump administration's rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, Hegseth clarified that any attempt to cut the Tuskegee Airmen training material had been "immediately reversed."
The decision resolves a controversy that emerged as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth began his first day at the Pentagon.
...
The temporary removal of the training, which was primarily intended to educate Air Force members on the history of those who are regarded as trailblazing figures, sparked a backlash.
It followed the removal of courses highlighting the Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs, the pioneering female pilots of World War II, which led to criticism from various groups, including the Tuskegee Airmen organization.
The Air Force had initially pulled these materials as part of broader efforts to reduce DEI references across the department.
...
While Hegseth, who was confirmed by the Senate on Friday in a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance, did not directly address the issue upon his arrival at the Pentagon Monday morning, he emphasized that the military's focus would shift back to readiness.
He also mentioned that he would be issuing more executive orders aimed at rolling back DEI programs and reinstating troops dismissed over COVID-19 vaccine mandates, along with other national security initiatives.
Quote:U.S. Border Patrol agents near Fronton, Texas, reportedly exchanged gunfire at the southern border with suspected drug cartel gunmen from Mexico.
There were no injuries in the incident near Fronton Island, an uninhabited island in the Rio Grande in Starr County, Texas, according to reports. The island is a disputed territory about which Texas and Mexico have made conflicting ownership claims.
...
NewsNation's Ali Bradley reported that while the suspected cartel has fired shots from the Mexican side of the territory for years, things in the area have escalated "in unprecedented ways since President [Donald] Trump was elected—Even giving orders to shoot at agents recently."
Since taking office last week, Trump has issued a massive crackdown on illegal immigration, signing a slew of executive orders that have paved the way for mass deportations and the return of some of his first-term policies. Among those orders is one that designates Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Trump made immigration a central theme of his successful presidential campaign, and Americans largely support his mass deportation plans. A New York Times/Ipsos poll from January 2 to 10 found 55 percent of voters strongly or somewhat supported such plans. Eighty-eight percent supported "Deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records." Large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans agreed that the immigration system is broken.
...
"Per multiple law enforcement sources, within the last hour, Border Patrol agents near Fronton, TX were fired upon from MX by suspected cartel gunmen as a group of illegal aliens were being brought across the river. I'm told BP returned fire, nobody hit on either side, and that the illegal aliens did not make it across," Fox News's Bill Melugin reported on X, formerly Twitter.
Quote:Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas slammed a circuit court of appeals for not adhering to legal precedent in a dissent released on Monday.
Thomas dissented from a denial by the court to review a lower court's decision. Justice Samuel Alito joined the opinion.
"Because I would not overlook the Sixth Circuit's blatant and repeated disrespect for the rule of law, I respectfully dissent," Thomas said in his dissent.
Thomas' dissent focuses on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals' application of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA). The law limits federal courts' power to review state criminal convictions.
Thomas said this case is the latest in a "long line" of AEDPA errors made by the Sixth Circuit. The Supreme Court has reversed the lower court's decisions at least two dozen times for misapplying the statute, according to Thomas.
...
David Smith, an Ohio man, was convicted of attempted murder, felonious assault, aggravated robbery, and aggravated burglary after he attacked Quortney Tolliver in her mobile home in 2015.
Before the trial, Smith asked the court to suppress Tolliver's identification of him as the suspect, arguing that law enforcement was "unnecessarily suggestive" when interviewing her. The motion was unsuccessful and the evidence was admitted.
Quote:Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister running to succeed Justin Trudeau as Canada's prime minister, said on Monday that Canada should release a "retaliation list" of American goods to target if U.S. President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to impose a 25 percent tariff on Canadian products.
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Trump has vowed to slap both Mexic[o] and Canada with steep tariffs beginning next month, which would upend the U.S.'s trade relationship with both its neighbors.
The president claims the tariffs won't affect Americans, but most economists disagree and say U.S. consumers could end up paying a significant price for Trump's tariffs.
The Washington Post also published a lengthy report last October detailing how, if implemented, Trump's tariff plan could be disastrous for the U.S. economy, with American consumers bearing the brunt of the cost.
...
Freeland said in a statement that listing products worth $200 billion Canadian dollars (US $139 billion) would effectively communicate to U.S. exporters the detrimental impact such tariffs would have on them.
"Being smart means retaliating where it hurts," Freeland said Monday. "Our counterpunch must be dollar-for-dollar — and it must be precisely and painfully targeted: Florida orange growers, Wisconsin dairy farmers, Michigan dishwasher manufacturers, and much more."
"Now is the moment when Canada must make clear to Americans the specific costs that will accompany any tariff measures by the Trump administration," she added.
Freeland said that listing products worth $200 billion Canadian dollars ($139 billion U.S. dollars) would show American exporters how tariffs could negatively affect them.
Quote:Tens of thousands of people protested across Germany against the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) on Saturday, the same day that tech entrepreneur Elon Musk gave a speech to members of the far-right party.
A huge crowd denounced the AfD at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, and also protested against the far right around Europe and the Donald Trump administration. Meanwhile, Musk gave a surprise video address at the party's campaign launch ahead of next month's elections.
It came days after Musk, the owner of X, provoked fierce debate in Germany after making a gesture at the inauguration of President Donald Trump that was denounced by some as a Nazi salute.
The German economy, which lies at the heart of the EU, is facing turbulence after Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party governing coalition collapsed last year. A federal election will be held on February 23.
Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union has 30 percent support, followed by Alice Weidel's AfD at 21 percent and Scholz's Social Democrats with 16 percent, according to the latest poll by research institute INSA published by Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
As the country goes to the polls, mainstream parties have said they refuse to work with the AfD, which has in Musk a powerful supporter who controls the influential social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Quote:The United Kingdom would have "first dibs" on Greenland, before the U.S, according to Greenland's last Danish minister.
Tom Høyem, Copenhagen's last permanent representative in Greenland, said Trump would have to get approval to buy the island from U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer—because of an agreement made in 1917.
... The Context
Trump has threatened to take control of Greenland with military force or economic action, declaring the autonomous territory of Denmark an "absolute necessity." Greenland's Prime Minister Múte Egede has insisted it is "not for sale" and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the idea "absurd" in 2019, when Trump made the suggestion during his first term.
...
Høyem told The Sunday Times: "If Trump tried to buy Greenland, he would have to ask London first. The United Kingdom demanded in 1917 that if Greenland were to be sold then the U.K. should have the first right to buy it."
This undertaking exists because Canada, which is only a few miles from Greenland, was still part of the British Empire at the time—although it was self-governing.
Why Does Trump Want Greenland?
Greenland is strategically important for the U.S. military and its ballistic missile early-warning system as the island is on the shortest route from Europe to North America.
It also comes at a time when Trump has signaled a strong "America First" approach to trade and foreign policy for his second term, pushing for rebalanced deals on U.S. foreign financial commitments.
The U.S. has previously made inquiries about buying Greenland. In 1867, a report from the State Department said that the island's location and natural resources would make it an ideal acquisition.
President Harry Truman offered to purchase Greenland from Denmark in 1946 for $100 million in gold.
In the 1970s, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller also discussed buying Greenland for its mineral resources, according to The Washington Post.
Quote:Lithuania and Estonia have become the first NATO members to pledge an increase in defense spending to five percent of GDP, according to a report by the Financial Times.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys and Estonian Prime Minister Kristan Michal confirmed their countries' commitment to strengthening defense capabilities in response to regional security concerns, the report said.
Why It Matters
The decision comes amid growing pressure from the U.S. President Donald Trump for allies to boost military expenditure while he seeks to end of the war in Ukraine and turn American military resources increasingly toward China and the Asia-Pacific.
According to the report, Budrys stated that his country plans to allocate between five percent and six percent of its GDP to defense starting in 2026 and continuing through at least 2030. He described U.S. pressure to boost military spending as "good and constructive," emphasizing the importance of strengthening defense capabilities in the face of growing regional threats.
The new policy will make Lithuania and Estonia the highest defense spenders in NATO in percentage terms, surpassing Poland, which currently allocates over four percent of its GDP to defense.
What Pressure Has Trump Put on NATO Allies?
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged NATO members to substantially increase their defense budgets, advocating for a minimum threshold of five percent of GDP, a significant jump from the current two percent target.
I won't blame people for not reading the next 2 articles in full.
Quote:Atop ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin has advised him to remove Vladimir Lenin's body from a mausoleum in Moscow in order to seal his legacy as Moscow's leader.
Alexander Dugin, a far-right political philosopher, has advised the president to remove Lenin's body from the burial site in order to "make room there for the real Emperor" and make other changes to the mausoleum, according to the Telegram post by the account Kremlin Snuffbox.
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Dugin's advice to Putin to remove Lenin's body from the Moscow mausoleum to make room for the president's own suggests that Putin's legacy has not yet been cemented, which could potentially damage their relationship.
As this idea has been discussed for years and no change has been made, there is a possibility Dugin's efforts will be in vain, and Lenin will remain in the mausoleum.
...
The philosopher reportedly told the Kremlin Snuffbox that he approached Putin with the suggestion and said: "I once wrote that faith in Putin is like faith in the Emperor. I believe that our Emperor lacks a number of attributes that would finally make his role in the history of Russia sacred.
"And the future place of his burial, a place of worship for all the successes of modern Great Russia - that is what is sorely lacking now."
This was in reference to a post on Dugin's own Telegram channel in which he wrote: "Faith in Putin is like faith in the Emperor. No, not in God, but not in just a man. It is faith in Russia. The better the people who believe, the better the one they believe in. Sounds like the code of the samurai. If your struggle is true, then its goal is true."
The Russian philosopher also reportedly advised Putin to make improvements to the mausoleum by rebuilding the structure, decorating it with military trophies accumulated during the special military operation (SVO), and preparing it for his eventual burial.
Dugin added that "Putin's Mausoleum can already be worshiped. And when Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] finishes his earthly journey, there will be queues at his coffin. We will bring here the flags of the European states that we will conquer in the coming years and decades. And Western tanks taken from our enemies."
The Kremlin has allegedly confirmed that they received Dugin's proposal to the Kremlin Secrets Telegram account, and did not provide a comment on the matter. The channel said that Russia's government only noted that the president "will outlive many more."
Rumors about Putin, 72, and his health began to circulate after the beginning of the war, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the president has no health problems following a hospital visit for "ordinary medical examinations" in October 2024.
Dugin, 63, is known for his influence on Putin and has been credited as the key architect of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He has also been referred to as "Putin's brain" has been sanctioned by the U.S. and the EU, and has been charged by the Security Service of Ukraine in connection with his support of the Kremlin's war.
Quote:Anew school textbook introduced in Moscow on Monday claims Russia was "forced" to send soldiers into Ukraine in 2022, according to Reuters.
Why It Matters
Russian President Vladimir Putin has often characterized his war in Ukraine as an attempt to thwart Western forces backing Kyiv against Russia.
After launching his invasion of the country in February 2022, he has called the conflict a "special military operation," and he has compared it to the Soviet battle against Nazis.
Meanwhile, Kyiv and its allies accuse Putin of an unjustified attack in order to seize more territory for his country.
According to Reuters, the book is the third volume in the Military History of Russia series and was published to educate children aged 15 and older.
The textbook series was edited by Vladimir Medinsky, an adviser to Putin who was once involved in peace negotiations with Ukraine soon after the war broke out. Those peace talks eventually fell apart.
A section of the book that discusses how Russia was "forced" to send its military into Ukraine appears in a chapter entitled "Professionalism, indomitability and courage: Russian troops in the Special Military Operation."
Quote:Russia's military on Monday reported its forces had retaken control of the village Nikolayevo-Darino in the Kursk region.
Why It Matters
Nikolayevo-Darino had been captured by Ukrainian soldiers during last summer's cross-border incursion into the southwestern Russian region that borders Ukraine's Sumy Oblast.
On August 6, Kyiv began the military operation into Kursk, which appeared to take Russian President Vladimir Putin and even Ukraine's allies by surprise. Kyiv later announced it had seized 500 square miles at what was then the lightly-defended border of the Russian region.
While Moscow was slow to respond at first, it later deployed 50,000 troops there, drawing away considerable resources from its operations on the Donbas front.
According to the Agence France-Presse (AFP), thousands of Kursk residents have been evacuated from the region since Ukraine began its offensive there.
What To Know
Russia's Defense Ministry on Monday said its forces had recaptured control of Nikolayevo-Darino, which sits on the border and has a population of less than 150 people.
According to the AFP, Russia has managed to gain back territory in Kursk seized by Ukraine during its incursion after bringing reinforcements to the region. Some of these reinforcements reportedly include thousands of North Korean soldiers.
Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry also announced that its forces had captured the strategically significant settlement of Velyka Novosilka in the west of Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast. However, Ukraine's military only acknowledged there had been a partial withdrawal and said fighting was ongoing elsewhere in the settlement.
Quote:North Korean troops have pulled back from at least one section of the frontline in the Kursk region of Russia, according to members of Ukraine's military.
Sky News on Monday reported a Ukrainian special forces commander said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's servicemen fighting on behalf of Moscow had temporarily withdrawn from the Kursk frontline after suffering heavy casualties.
The Kyiv Independent followed up by speaking with Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, a spokesperson of Ukraine's Special Operations Forces, who said Kim's soldiers had seemingly withdrawn from only one section of the Kursk frontline.
...
North Korea has been supplying large quantities of artillery and other conventional weapons to Russia, and according to U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence reports, it sent approximately 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia in October 2024.
Officials in Seoul, Washington and other capitals are concerned that Moscow could reciprocate by providing Pyongyang with advanced weapons technology that could further enhance its nuclear capabilities.
Fighting In Kursk
Last summer, Kyiv began a military incursion into the southwestern Russian region, which borders Ukraine's Sumy Oblast. The operation appeared to take Russian President Vladimir Putin and even Ukraine's allies by surprise. Kyiv later announced it had seized 500 square miles at what was then the lightly-defended border of the Russian region.
However, Russia responded by deploying more troops to Kursk—reportedly including members of Kim's military—and have regained control of portions of the area seized by Ukraine's forces.
What To Know
A Ukrainian special forces commander, who goes by the call sign "Puls," told Sky News that North Korean troops seemingly retreated from Kursk because they had either learned from past battlefield errors, they are treating their wounded members or they are holding back until more soldiers arrive.
Quote:Japan plans to deploy anti-air missiles on the front line of China-Taiwan tensions, Tokyo's defense chief says.
...
Why It Matters
Type 03 Chu-SAM surface-to-air missiles are set to be deployed on Japan's westernmost island of Yonaguni, 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Taiwan. Yonaguni is part of Okinawa Prefecture and the first island chain, which stretches southward to the Philippines and which Washington considers key to hemming in Chinese forces in the event of a conflict.
China claims Taiwan as its territory, though the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled there, and Chinese threats toward the democratic island are a source of friction between Tokyo and Beijing.
...
Japan will construct facilities to house the domestically developed Type 03 missiles, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told press Wednesday while visiting Yonaguni as part of a tour of the country's outlying islands.
"Strengthening the defense system in the Nansei area is an urgent issue," he said.
Nakatani also discussed the plan with Yonaguni mayor Kenichi Itokazu.
"I hope the government will address the issue firmly," said Itokazu, who reportedly asked the defense chief for help building air raid shelters for the island's 1,700 residents.
Quote:Chinese state media on Saturday published rare footage showing one of the country's long-range radars that is designed for detecting missiles from thousands of miles away.
...
The revelation of the Jiamusi Large Phased Array Radar (LPAR) station, located in the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang, came after the United States test-launched an unarmed but nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2024.
The radar station can be used for tracking satellites and space surveillance in addition to providing early warning against launches of nuclear ballistic missiles. China has seven known LPAR stations, according to the Alabama-based China Aerospace Studies Institute.
...
On Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping extended his Spring Festival—commonly known as the Chinese New Year—greetings to all servicemen via video link when he inspected the People's Liberation Army Northern Theater Command, Xinhua News Agency reported.
According to report and footage from the Chinese military, one of the units that Xi spoke to is an aerospace force's "monitoring and early warning station." China established the aerospace force in April 2024, which is responsible for nearly all the Chinese military's space operations.
While the report did not reveal the full name of the station, Joseph Wen, a defense analyst in Taiwan, identified it in a post on X (formerly Twitter) as the Jiamusi Monitoring and Early Warning Station, which was built before 2011 and had renovations completed in 2021.
This is the first time China has unveiled the radar station, capable of detecting targets up to "thousands of kilometers away," Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group reported, serving as an essential part of China's anti-intercontinental ballistic missile system.
According to the same report, China, the U.S, and Russia are currently the only countries capable of developing such long-range radars for early warning against incoming nuclear missiles. China conducted at least seven anti-ballistic missile tests from 2010 to 2023.
In its report on Chinese military power, the Pentagon said the LPARs supported China's implementation of the early warning counterstrike nuclear posture, which provides missile warning that leads to the country's counterstrike before an enemy first strike can detonate.
Quote:The Philippines says it was forced to halt a scientific survey after Chinese maritime forces intercepted the mission and created "hazardous conditions."
...
The Filipino ships had been en route to Sandy Cay, a collection of three sandbars a few miles west of the Philippines-administered Thitu Island, the only permanently populated feature in the contested Spratly Islands.
Beijing's claims to most of the heavily trafficked South China Sea overlap with those of several neighboring states, including the Philippines.
The U.S. ally's pushback under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has prompted forceful responses from China, which on several occasions left Filipino servicemen injured and raised the specter of Manila's Mutual Defense Treaty with Washington.
Two vessels belonging to the Southeast Asian country's fisheries bureau "encountered aggressive maneuvers" by three Chinese coast guard ships, Philippine Coast guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Saturday.
Video footage released by both the Philippine and Chinese coast guards shows one of the heavily armed Chinese ships coming within a few meters of a fisheries bureau ship in what Tariella called a "blatant disregard" for the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, established by the United Nations' International Maritime Organization in 1972.
In a separate video, a People's Liberation Army Navy low-flying helicopter can be seen hovering just overhead the pair of inflatable rafts transporting the Philippine researchers to one of the sandbars.
Quote:President Donald Trump's proposal to "clean out" Gaza has sparked a backlash from the Arab nations he would need to help implement it.
Egypt and Jordan have spoken out against Trump's plan to resettle Palestinians in their countries, stating that it would not achieve peace sought by many in the region, according to their foreign ministries. Trump's idea has provoked widespread opposition from people not directly affected, and an ally of his has also branded the plan not "overly practical."
...
Why It Matters
Trump has repeatedly called for an end to the Gaza war and promised to facilitate a ceasefire during his 2024 election run, drawing support from both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian voters. But his proposal to 'clean out' Gaza has faced a fierce backlash, with some opponents labeling it "ethnic cleansing." Trump said such a population movement could be either temporary or long-term.
...
Trump introduced his plan to "clean out" Gaza in a 20-minute interview with reporters aboard Air Force One, saying that the region is a "demolition site right now." Trump said he would "rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change."
The president proposed resettling Palestinian refugees in Egypt and Jordan and said, "You're talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, 'You know, it's over.'"
Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to Trump's proposal and said that they "affirm Egypt's adherence to the constraints and determinants of the political settlement of the Palestinian issue, stressing that it remains the central issue in the Middle East, and that the delay in settling it, ending the occupation, and usurping the rights of the Palestinian people, is the basis of the instability in the region."
"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:Trump blames predecessors for crash during White House press conference
Reading from prepared remarks, President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed sympathy for the families of the victims who died in Wednesday's Washington DC plane crash before quickly shifting focus to imply that the policies of his predecessors Barack Obama and Joe Biden were to blame for the crash because they had "politicized" the hiring of air-traffic controllers.
Venting frustration, Trump claimed DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) policies had led to hiring "people with severe psychiatric and intellectual disabilities" as air-traffic controllers. He railed against former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, too, saying he was a terrible leader with "a good line of bullshit."
Trump then moved on to second-guessing pilots at length before introducing his new secretaries of transportation and defense as well as the vice-president.
The three echoed Trump's own assessment that DEI hiring policies were to blame for the tragedy and praised his leadership. None offered evidence to back their claims.
When confronted by reporters with the question of how he could be so sure that DEI hiring policies were to blame for the crash, Trump said he didn't have any evidence but that "it could have been," later saying his assessment was based on, "common sense."
Asked if he felt it comforted the mourning families of victims to blame DEI hiring policies for the crash before an investigation had even begun, Trump called the question stupid and moved on.
Trump names acting FAA director to fill vacant position
During his Thursday press conference, Donald Trump announced that he had appointed a new acting director to head the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is in charge of controlling US skies.
US Air Force veteran Chris Rocheleau has been tapped by Trump to lead the department, which he was part of for 20 years before becoming chief operating officer of the National Business Aviation Association, a lobbying group.
On January 20, the previous director, Mike Whitaker, stepped down early from his five-year posting after Elon Musk demanded he resign.
Musk, Trump's biggest donor, one of his closest advisors, and the owner of Space X — a private space company with massive government contracts — complained about Whitaker's oversight of rocket launches.
Whitaker had been unanimously confirmed as FAA boss in October 2023. The post of FAA administrator has been vacant for the past 10 days as a result of his resignation.
Investigators say more time needed to establish facts
US investigators said it will take time to understand what caused a deadly midair collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter over Washington, D.C.
"We conduct an important safety mission where we take a very careful approach," National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy told journalists.
"We look at facts... and that will take some time."
Meanwhile, NTSB board member Todd Inman also said there would be no immediate conclusions about the cause of the disaster.
The statements come after US President Donald Trump earlier in the day blamed the crash on the helicopter's pilots, night-vision goggles and diversity hiring, without providing any evidence.
Investigators recover data recorders from plane
Cockpit voice and flight data recorders have been recovered from the plane that crashed in Washington, D.C., according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
"NTSB investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the Bombardier CRJ700 airplane involved in yesterday's midair collision at DCA," board spokesperson Peter Knudson said late on Thursday.
"The recorders are at the NTSB labs for evaluation."
The agency has also begun the process of collecting wreckage, including parts of the helicopter, and storing it in a hangar at Reagan National Airport.
Quote:US President Donald Trump's administration has revoked a decision that would protect some 600,000 Venezuelans from deportation, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Wednesday.
Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, had ordered an extension of the deportation relief from April 2025 to October 2026.
What do we know about the Trump administration's plan to deport Venezuelans?
Noem told the Fox News broadcaster that she had rescinded the Biden administration's extension, which also gave Venezuelans access to work permits through the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program.
Trump had already attempted to block the program during his first term in 2017-2021, but the move was stymied by federal courts.
On Wednesday, Noem said she was working with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to find ways to deport Venezuelans and migrants from other countries that limit the number of deportees they accept.
She said that Washington was evaluating the possibility of sending migrants to the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The area houses a migrant camp that had at times been used by the US to house Haitians and Cubans picked up at sea. The facility is separate from the Guantanamo Bay military prison for alleged terrorism suspects, many without formal charges.
...
Quote:US President Donald Trump threatened BRICS member states with 100% tariffs on Thursday to dissuade them from replacing the US dollar as reserve currency.
Trump had made a similar statement right after winning the November 2024 elections.
"We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs," he said on his Truth social media platform.
"There is no chance that BRICS will replace the US dollar in international trade, or anywhere else, and any country that tries should say hello to tariffs, and goodbye to America!" he added.
BRICS and the US dollar
The BRICS group consists primarily of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. In the last few years, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran and Indonesia have also joined the group, bringing the number of members to eleven.
It was formed in 2009 as a counter to dominance by the US and western allies.
BRICS represents nearly half of the world's population and is considered as a counterpart to the G7 group of countries.
The economic bloc has been in talks about introducing another reserve currency, but the idea took momentum especially after the West imposed sanctions on Russia due to its war in Ukraine.
The power of the US dollar in the world has strengthened recently. It remains the world's primary reserve currency and there is a huge worldwide reliance on it.
Trump threatens tariffs for Canada, Mexico
Meanwhile, Trump said that 25% tariffs would be imposed on imports from Canada and Mexico from Saturday, but he's still considering whether to include oil from those countries as part of his import taxes.
"We may or may not," he told reporters at the Oval Office on Thursday.
His decision is supposed to be based on whether oil prices charged by Washington two North American trade partners is fair.
However, his decision is also influenced by his bid to stop illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals used for fentanyl. The drug and other synthetic opioids have caused tens of thousands of deaths in the US alone.
Quote:The Trump administration on Wednesday rescinded a sweeping directive to freeze all federal grants and aid after the move was temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
The funding freeze, which came into action on Tuesday, is believed to have disrupted tens of billions of dollars in spending across healthcare, education, disaster relief, housing assistance and other programs.
A memo sent by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to government agencies included a series of yes or no questions including "does this program promote gender ideology?" and "does this program promote or support in any way abortion?"
The move set off a wave of confusion and panic, and raised the possibility of a constitutional crisis.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the OMB memo had been rescinded.
However, she claimed the funding freeze remained in force.
"This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo," she said on social media.
Funding freeze faces legal challenges
The rescission of the memo came shortly before a federal judge in Rhode Island was set to consider a request by 22 mostly Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia for a temporary restraining order.
They argued that the policy was announced with little notice and could have devastating effects on their budgets.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Washington D.C. paused the measure until Monday in response to a lawsuit filed by a coalition of non-profit groups.
Quote:In a contentious Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's nominee to steer the FBI, refused to say that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
The Context
Patel, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, is widely considered one of Trump's most controversial nominees, given his criticism of the FBI's Russia investigation and his previous pledges to fire top agency personnel who investigated Trump during his first term.
...
Democratic Senator Peter Welch repeatedly tried to get Patel to say Biden won the 2020 election.
"What so hard about saying Biden won the 2020 election?" Welch asked. "What's hard about that?"
"Senator, as I've said before that President Biden was certified and sworn in, that he was the president," Patel said. "I don't know how else to say it."
"Well, the other way to say it is he won," Welch fired back.
"He was the president," Patel said.
"The other way to say it is he won," Welch repeated. "I can say Trump won. I didn't vote for him, but he won. You know, Al Gore said [George W.] Bush won when they were having that recount in Florida," he said, referring to the chaotic 2000 election that required intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Vermont Democrat continued: "We have had a peaceful transfer of power here in very contested elections. And I'll just be very direct with you about why I think this is of consequence. When Trump—Donald Trump has never acknowledged that he lost in 2020 and he invited people to come to the Capitol on January 6 to 'stop the steal.' And after that happened, police officers died. People were injured. It created enormous ongoing bitterness within the country and that's your boss."
"Do you believe that the 2020 election was stolen, as President Trump says it is?" Welch pressed.
"Sir, my opinions on the 2020 election have been expressed in this hearing and he's entitled to whatever opinions he wants," Patel said.
The FBI nominee continued deflecting when Welch asked him, again, if he agreed with Trump that the 2020 election was stolen.
"Senator, millions of Americans expressed concern going back to multiple elections, over election integrity—" Patel began, before Welch cut him off.
"You know, you're so skillful," the Vermont senator said. "You understand what I'm asking you. Can you say the words, 'Joe Biden won the 2020 election?'"
"Joe Biden is the—was the president of the United States," Patel said. Welch appeared exasperated, leaning back in his seat and laughing out loud.
Quote:Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Thursday he would respond in kind if US President Donald Trump were to deploy tariffs against Brazil.
"It is very simple: if he taxes Brazilian products, there will be reciprocity," Lula told a press conference in Brasilia.
What else did Lula say?
Lula added that he would prefer to "improve [Brazil's] relationship with the United States."
He also called for Trump to "respect" Brazil.
"Trump was elected to run the US and I was elected to run Brazil. I will respect the US and want Trump to respect Brazil. That's all," Lula said.
"I have governed Brazil while the US had Republican and Democratic presidents, and our relationship has always been between two sovereign countries," Brazil's president stressed.
Lula also criticized Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, calling the move a "step back for human civilization."
Brazil is set to host the COP30 UN climate talks in November 2025 in the Amazonian city of Belem.
What did Trump say about potential tariffs?
Earlier this week, Trump named Brazil as one of the countries he believed was doing "harm" to the US economy.
"China is a tremendous tariff maker, and India, Brazil, so many countries," Trump said in a speech on Monday.
"So we're not going to let that happen any longer, because we're going to put America first."
Trump had earlier threatened to impose 100% tariffs on members of the BRICS group of countries, including Brazil.
The United States had a $253 million (€242.8 million) trade surplus with Brazil last year, according to the Brazilian government.
Brazil is Latin America's most populous country and largest economy. The US is its second-largest trading partner after China.
Quote:Earlier this month, the Iranian foreign minister traveled to Afghanistan for the first time since the Taliban took power in August 2021. According to Iranian officials, the aim of Abbas Araghchi's one-day visit to Kabul was to hold diplomatic talks about the tensions on the two countries' shared 950-kilometer (590-mile) border, the situation of Afghan refugees in Iran and the use of water resources in the Helmand River, which flows from Afghanistan into Iran.
Although Iran has not yet officially recognized the Taliban government, it does maintain diplomatic relations with Afghanistan. The Iranian Embassy in Kabul is open, as is the Afghan Embassy in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
As migration from Afghanistan to Iran has increased, Tehran has been seeking to cooperate more with the Taliban in Kabul. Iran is currently deporting up to 3,000 refugees a day back to Afghanistan.
Many migrants fear returning to Afghanistan
"Afghans are being arrested at random, sometimes beaten, and then deported," Marzia Rahimi, an Afghan who fled to Iran with her family two years ago, told DW.
"I am a journalist and worked in the profession for 10 years. When the Taliban returned, I was unemployed. My life was suddenly turned upside down. I was afraid for myself and my family. Then, secondary schools were banned for girls from the sixth grade onwards. So, I fled to Iran with my husband and our five children because I wanted to save them. But they can't go to school here either.”
Rahimi currently has no documents: she did not register as a refugee for fear of being deported. She would have had to go to the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants' Affairs to apply for asylum, but said she was reluctant.
"Anyone who tries to make an application there is treated very badly and arrogantly, even insulted. In the end, there is hardly any chance of being accepted."
It's unclear exactly how many Afghan nationals, who have been fleeing civil war, poverty and now the Taliban for 40 years, are currently living in Iran. But the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that their number stands around 3 million. About 750,000 are officially registered as refugees and around 500,000 are immigrants with short-term residence permits and/or restricted work permits.
Many others have no papers and are in Iran illegally. They are often exploited, working for very low wages on construction sites or in companies on the outskirts of large cities.
Anti-refugee rhetoric rife in Iran
Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, said in December that there were "more than 6 million Afghans in Iran," and that this had put a strain on the country's limited resources. He complained that the annual cost to Iran was more than $10 billion (€9.6 billion), and that there was not enough support from the international community.
Iranian society generally is not particularly favorable toward Afghans. There are almost daily posts in social networks, as well as reports in the traditional media, about supposed "criminal refugees," or the alleged burden they put on the health system. Refugees are blamed for the shortages of subsidized foods such as bread.
But Iran has suffered from an ongoing economic crisis for years, one that has been exacerbated by mismanagement, corruption and international sanctions.
Marzia Rahimi and her family receive no support from the Iranian state, and have been forced to find low paying jobs to feed themselves.
"We are committed to the Afghans in Iran," Abdul Rahman Rashid, the Afghan minister for refugees and repatriation, told DW. "Refugees who have valid documents must have access to education and opportunities to work legally in Iran. We have communicated this to the Iranian authorities. We support returnees who come to Afghanistan."
Afghanistan not prepared for return of refugees
But it's not known what resources there are for this support. Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, an independent humanitarian organization helping people forced to flee and one of the few international NGOs still active in Afghanistan, has warned that Afghanistan is not prepared for the return of the numerous refugees from Iran, and also Pakistan.
In response to a DW inquiry, the Norwegian Refugee Council wrote that on a visit to Afghanistan , Egeland had met families with young children who had returned to the country from Iran without knowing how they would survive. It said economic insecurity and a lack of employment opportunities were the biggest concerns for many of those who had returned and did not know what the future held.
Quote:Israeli army confirms that the Red Cross has 7 hostages
The Israeli army says that the Red Cross confirms it now has seven hostages, two Israelis and five Thai nationals.
The seven hostages were transferred to the Red Cross "and are on their way toward IDF and ISA forces in Gaza," the Israeli Defense Force posted on X.
Israeli TV broadcast the release of German-Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, according to Reuters news agency.
Channel 12 showed footage of 29-year-old Yehoud surrounded by a densely packed and loudly shouting crowd as she was escorted by armed Palestinian militants in southern Gaza on Thursday.
Palestinian militant group Hamas had previously released Israeli soldier Agam Berger earlier on Thursday as the third hostage-prisoner exchange of the Gaza ceasefire got under way.
The Thai nationals were Watchara Sriaoun, Pongsak Tanna, Sathian Suwannakham, Surasak Lamnau, and Bannawat Saethao, according to the Israeli prime minister's office.
In exchange, 110 Palestinians held in Israeli jails are set to be released.
Netanyahu slams 'shocking' chaos of hostage handover
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticized what he described as "shocking scenes" during the handover of seven hostages on Thursday, including two Israelis.
"I view with great severity the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages. This is yet another proof of the unimaginable cruelty of the Hamas terrorist organization," Netanyahu said in a statement posted on X.
Israeli TV footage showed gunmen struggling to control hundreds of Gazans who had gathered to witness the hostage handover in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
"We came to witness these historic moments of handing over the prisoners," Mohammed Al-Astal, 32, told AFP news agency in Khan Younis earlier on Thursday.
Israel delays release of Palestinian prisoners
Israel has suspended the expected release of 110 Palestinian prisoners "until further notice," Israeli army radio has reported.
"The political echelon announced the suspension of the operation to release the terrorists until further notice," the radio said citing a security source.
It did not specify the reason for the suspension, which comes in the middle of a third hostage-prisoner exchange with Palestinian militant group Hamas under a recent ceasefire deal.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he wants to delay the return of the prisoners until the "safe release" of hostages is assured.
Netanyahu had earlier criticized the handover of hostages by Hamas in Gaza amid swarming crowds.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have released all eight of the hostages they had agreed to free on Thursday, including three Israelis and five Thai nationals.
Thai PM says 'elated' at release of abducted citizens
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has celebrated the release of five Thai nationals who were held in Gaza for over a year.
The five Thais were abducted during the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
A total of 31 Thai citizens were taken captive during the attack.
"Elated to get confirmation from our Thai Ambassador in Israel who informed me on the phone just now that five of our Thai nationals were indeed released today from Gaza," she said in an English-language statement published on several official social media accounts.
"The Thai Government, including everyone here in Thailand, have long been waiting for this very moment," she said, adding that she hoped the remaining Thais in Gaza would be released soon.
Paetongtarn said Thailand "deeply appreciates" the work done by Qatar, Egypt, Iran, Turkey and the United States to secure the hostages' release. She also thanked Israel for taking care of them and facilitating their return to Thailand.
Around 30,000 Thai citizens live in Israel, most of whom work in the country's agricultural sector.
...
Quote:The United Arab Emirates is aiming to connect all seven emirates through a 900-kilometer (559-mile) high-speed rail network.
The Etihad Rail passenger service will connect two of the largest cities in the Middle East, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, making the journey between them less than an hour.
...
The UAE's investment in high-speed rail comes amid other international investments in the technology. Southeast Asia currently leads the global community in rail infrastructure, with China alone accounting for the majority of the world's high-speed rail. Etihad Rail is the UAE's chance to keep up with other infrastructure projects in the region.
...
Etihad Rail has entered into a partnership with Spain's Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) to design, manufacture, supply and maintain the passenger trains.
Each train is designed to accommodate over 400 passengers and will operate at speeds reaching up to 350 kilometers per hour (217 mph). The trains will include first class, business class and economy sections.
The network is designed to significantly reduce travel times across the emirates. For instance, journeys from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and from Dubai to Fujairah are expected to take approximately 50 minutes each.
Additionally, travel from Abu Dhabi to Al Ruwais will take around one hour and 10 minutes, while the trip from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah is projected to take one hour and 40 minutes.
By itself the article above looks pale, boring, but we gotta think about what their next project might be. I mean, it could be another railway for cargo to replace the Suez Canal... And it's interesting to notice that this isn't the only railway is being planned or constructed around the world right now.
Quote:India is nearing the completion on its first undersea high-speed rail project after eight years of construction.
The underwater segment of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project is set to finish being built in the next few months, bringing the rail system one step closer to coming online.
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India's breakthrough comes at a critical time for high-speed rail advances across the world. Southeast Asia has led the international community in rail infrastructure, with China, Japan, Vietnam and the Korean Peninsula all investing heavily in high-speed rail.
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad project is India's most prominent infrastructure project, and it's a chance for the nation to catch up with its neighbors.
...
The undersea rail tunnel, part of a 21-kilometer (13-mile) underground stretch, is being constructed between the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai and Shilphata in Maharashtra.
Engineered to endure the high-pressure conditions of the marine environment, the tunnel will link seamlessly with the larger Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor, a high-speed rail project aimed at enhancing connectivity between two of India's most important economic hubs.
With the bullet trains expected to reach speeds of up to 320 kilometers an hour (199 mph), the project will slash travel times dramatically, providing commuters with a quick and efficient alternative to existing modes of transport.
By drastically reducing the travel time between two of India's most important urban areas, the rail system hopes to provide a boost for businesses, foster tourism and promote regional trade.
The construction phase has generated thousands of jobs, while the long-term operation of the rail system promises to sustain employment and create ancillary industries. It was first launched in 2017, with the goal of being partly operational by 2026.
Quote:Morocco is launching a $9.6 billion investment plan to reform its railway infrastructure using high-speed rail.
Announced by Abdessamad Kayouh, the country's minister of transport and logistics, the Rail Investment Plan aims to boost connectivity, economic growth and sustainability in the African nation.
...
The project is expected to significantly boost the national economy, enhance regional trade and expand access to key urban areas. With plans to connect 87 percent of Morocco's population and major economic centers by 2040, the initiative has the potential to reshape the country's logistics and tourism sectors while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Morocco is locked in a drive to develop its logistics sector as it prepares to co-host games at the 2030 soccer World Cup, along with Spain and Portugal.
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Kayouh revealed the plan during a presentation to the Chamber of Representatives in the capital Rabat on Tuesday. The meeting, which was part of the Infrastructure, Energy, Mining, Environment, and Sustainable Development Commission, laid out ambitious goals for 2030 and beyond.
Key components of the plan include building a high-speed rail connecting the port city of Kenitra in northwestern Morocco to Marrakech, purchasing 18 high-speed trains and 150 multi-service trains, and upgrading a network of 40 railway stations across the country.
The broader rail development strategy aims to improve nationwide connectivity by 2040. It plans to increase the number of cities served by rail from 23 to 43 and boost coverage from 51 percent of the population to 87 percent.
Notably, the plan includes linking 12 international airports and 12 ports to the rail network, compared with the current coverage of just one airport and six ports.
Economic projections estimate that 300,000 jobs will be created during its implementation phase.
Quote:NATO has said its pledge for tens of billions of dollars in security aid for Ukraine will be fulfilled by the end of 2025.
The alliance announced on Wednesday that 40 billion euros ($41.6 billion) which had been agreed by the bloc's 32 members during its Washington, D.C. summit last July would be sent to Kyiv this year.
...
Amid doubts about continuing U.S. assistance for Ukraine under the Trump administration, the alliance's commitment comes at an important time for Kyiv as the war started by Vladimir Putin enters its fourth year.
...
NATO Deputy secretary-general Radmila Shekerinska discussed the alliance's commitment to Kyiv at a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council in Brussels attended by Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna.
Stefanishyna also met with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte and they discussed the situation on the front lines, Ukraine's reform efforts, and continued NATO support for Ukraine's defense, the alliance said in a press release.
Shekerinska said that allies were on track to deliver on the pledge at the Washington Summit of delivering 40 billion euro ($41.6 billion) in security assistance.
Rutte last week pledged to maintain NATO support for Kyiv and increase Europe's share of alliance spending. Last week, he said that the U.S. should continue supplying weapons to Ukraine, and that Europe would pay the bill.
Rutte has warned alliance members that if the Russian invasion of Ukraine is allowed to succeed, the cost of reestablishing NATO's international credibility would be measured in the trillions, not billions, of dollars.
Emphasizing the economic argument for helping Ukraine, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the secretary-general said that if Ukraine lost the war, the cost of restoring NATO's deterrence could cost trillions of dollars.
Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO members for not spending enough on their military and for relying too much on the U.S. which has the world's biggest defense budget.
While the future of U.S. military aid remains uncertain under Trump Ukraine continues to prioritize joining NATO as an essential security guarantee.
Quote:A "small number" of Coca-Cola and Appletiser have been recalled in the UK because the products may contain high levelsof a chemical called chlorate.
The recall affects 330 ml cans of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, and Sprite Zero distributed exclusively to restaurants and cafes, as well as multipacks containing six 250 ml cans of Appletiser, which is sparkling apple juice.
Coca-Cola's bottling partner said Wednesday that standard-size cans, and all glass and plastic bottles sold in the UK were not impacted by the order.
The company said it was taking a precautionary step by recalling some of its soft drinks, writing that potentially high levels of chlorate "poses a low food safety concern, especially when consumed only occasionally."
But the company warned of adverse health effects for people sensitive to chlorate especially young children and consumers with pre-existing medical conditions like thyroid and kidney diseases.
Move follows similar recall in European countries earlier this week
The recall follows a similar move by the company earlier in the week when batches of Cola-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Minute Maid and Fuze Tea were among the products recalled in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Coca-Cola's bottling partner said Monday it recalled those drinks in those countries after detecting higher-than-normal levels of chlorate at a production plant in Belgium.
Health authorities in Denmark, Portugal and Romania were also notified by the European Union's rapid alert system to investigate whether shop shelves or vending machines had been stocked with potentially contaminated soft drinks.
"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.
News of the World
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Is it just a coincidence that both guys served at the same base?
Especially under Mayorkas' supervision.![[Image: SP1-Scripter.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Scripter.png)
![[Image: SP1-Writer.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Writer.png)
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But the story doesn't end there...
