‘These tears are…’: Congress on Sakshi Malik announcing retirement after Brij Bhushan associate wins WFI polls
The opposition party said this after wrestler Sakshi Malik, with tears in her eyes, announced her retirement from wrestling, saying she has lost in the battle for justice for fellow women wrestlers, who she alleged were ”harassed” by former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Delhi-NCR: Noida metro likely to get connected to Ghaziabad; check DMRC’s route plan for Blue line extension
The 5.2-kilometer Metro route will culminate at Sahibabad and merge with the Namo Bharat station across the Link Road, offering commuters a smooth transition.
‘We want to show…’: INDIA bloc leaders to protest today against 146 suspensions of MPs from Parliament | Full details
AAP MPs including ND Gupta, Sandeep Pathak, Sant Balbir Seecehwal, and Sanjeev Arora will join the INDIA bloc protest today.
Seattle Children’s Hospital sues Texas Attorney General over trans patient records
Suspecting the Washington-based hospital of providing gender-affirming care to Texas children, which is now banned in Texas, AG Ken Paxton issued investigative subpoenas demanding medical information.
Former prosecutor accused of limiting questions about Joe Biden denies politics played a role in Hunter probe
FIRST ON FOX: The former assistant U.S. attorney who allegedly worked to ‘limit’ questions about Joe Biden denied that politics played a role in the Hunter Biden investigation during her interview at the House Judiciary Committee, according to a transcript reviewed by Fox News Digital. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf, though, testified that she would “not be permitted to answer most of the questions you have for me” due to the ongoing nature of the federal criminal investigation into the first son. HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATORS LIMITED QUESTIONS ABOUT ‘DAD,’ ‘BIG GUY’ DESPITE FBI, IRS OBJECTIONS: WHISTLEBLOWER Wolf, who recently left the Justice Department—a decision that “long predated” allegations against her, was subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee to appear for a deposition. Wolf appeared before the House Judiciary Committee last week for a voluntary transcribed interview after the Justice Department negotiated terms with the panel. Fox News Digital reviewed a transcript of her interview Thursday night. After her interview, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Wolf “refused to answer most of our questions.” “She refused to answer based on instructions she was given from the Justice Department,” Jordan said. IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley, who led the IRS’ portion of the Hunter Biden probe, and Joseph Ziegler, a special agent within the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division, alleged political influence surrounding prosecutorial decisions throughout the Hunter Biden investigation, which began in 2018. Shapley alleged that Wolf sought to block investigators from asking questions related to President Biden throughout the years-long federal investigation into his son, Hunter Biden. But during her interview, Wolf testified that “at no time did politics play a role in or in any way impact my work as a federal prosecutor.” Wolf also said that prosecutorial decisions were “never made in a vacuum and were always guided by principles of justice and fairness.” JORDAN SAYS FORMER PROSECUTOR WHO ALLEGEDLY SCUTTLED HUNTER INVESTIGATION ‘REFUSED’ TO ANSWER QUESTIONS “My voluntary appearance here today is not without an overwhelming feeling of frustration and disappointment because as much as I would invite the opportunity to explain the decisions made and accurately describe the actions taken, I will not be permitted to answer most of the questions you have for me,” Wolf said. “It should come as no surprise to the committee that as a former DOJ employee, I am significantly constrained by and must strictly adhere to the authorization provided by the Department of Justice, as well as those obligations independently imposed by the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure, including rule 6e, and the relevant laws governing disclosure of tax information.” Wolf explained that, “in light of the ongoing nature of the investigation,” she was “legally obligated at this time to largely remain silent as to those allegations, beyond stating the truth, which is, at all times while serving as an AUSA, I acted consistently with the Justice Manual, DOJ policy directives, and my statutory legal and ethical obligations.” “I followed the facts where they led and made decisions in the best interests of the investigation,” Wolf said. “This includes, but is by no means limited to, policies and rules governing politically sensitive investigations, election year sensitivities, attorney search warrants, search warrant filter requirements, and professional conduct rules barring contact with represented parties.” But when faced with specific questions by investigators, Wolf repeatedly said she could not answer or speak to “particulars or details about anything” relating to the ongoing Hunter Biden probe, led by now-Special Counsel David Weiss, and repeatedly said she was “not authorized” to discuss the matter. Shapley alleged earlier this year that Wolf worked to “limit” questioning related to President Biden and apparent references to Biden as “dad” or “the big guy.” But according to a Fox News Digital review of the transcript, investigators did not ask her about that specific allegation. Shapley and Ziegler also alleged that in October 2020, Wolf reviewed an affidavit for a search warrant of Hunter Biden’s residence and “agreed that probable cause had been achieved.” However, Shapley said Wolf ultimately would not allow a physical search warrant on the president’s son. Shapley said Wolf determined there was “enough probable cause for the physical search warrant there, but the question was whether the juice was worth the squeeze.” Wolf allegedly said that “optics were a driving factor in the decision on whether to execute a search warrant,” Shapley said, adding that Wolf agreed that “a lot of evidence in our investigation would be found in the guest house of former Vice President Biden, but said there is no way we will get that approved.” LESLEY WOLF, PROSECUTOR ACCUSED OF WORKING TO ‘LIMIT’ QUESTIONS ABOUT ‘BIG GUY’ IN HUNTER PROBE, OUT AT DOJ Wolf also allegedly tipped off Hunter Biden’s legal team ahead of a planned search of his storage unit. During her interview, Wolf did acknowledge that “Political Figure 1”–a term used in several communications between Hunter Biden investigators–was, in fact, a reference to then-Vice President Joe Biden. Wolf was asked about an email exchange with FBI Special Agent Joshua Wilson, in which she stated: “There should be nothing about political figure 1 in here.” Wolf said “Political Figure 1” is “described as former Vice President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., now President Biden,” but would not specifically elaborate on why she gave that directive. Wolf was asked: “To the extent you didn’t–you asked the agents to take out political figure 1, there was no political motivation in requesting that?” “I refer you back to my opening statement where I said at no time there was politics playing a role in those decisions.” Wolf’s testimony came as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden, which was formalized last week. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.; Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., are leading the investigation as the House gathers evidence and considers whether to draft articles of impeachment against President Biden. The committees are investigating the alleged politicization of
NYC Mayor blames, in part, rat infestation on why people are leaving the Big Apple
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that the reason residents are leaving the Big Apple in droves is, in part, due to the ongoing rat infestation. “Some people who have children and families decide they want to go to a place where their children can play outdoors, larger green spaces, you want to see animals — you don’t see animals except for rats in New York,” Adams said when asked about the plunging population data. “So there’s a combination of things,” he said. “And we are getting rid of those rats, by the way.” NEW YORK LOST MORE RESIDENTS IN A YEAR THAN ANY OTHER STATE IN THE COUNTRY, US CENSUS DATA SHOWS The Democratic mayor said that there has been “perfect storm” of reasons why people are leaving New York City-including the cost of living, COVID-19, remote job opportunities along with the rats. “Well, I think there’s a combination on why people are leaving the city. The city and cities have become unaffordable,” Adams said. “And people left the city during COVID-19 for a short period of time and some decided that they no longer want to come back into cities. Then you have the remote work option where you don’t have to be in an office space to do the job. You could do it from wherever.” NYC MAYOR ADAMS MIGRANT CRISIS WILL LEAD TO ‘EXTREMELY PAINFUL’ BUDGET CUTS; DOESN’T EXPECT FEDS TO HELP “And so there’s a perfect storm of reasons that cities are losing their population. And at one time you may have lost 20,000 here, 15,000 here. But now when you start to add up all of those dynamics, it’s a different way of life,” Adams said. The mayor said that the continued influx of migrants may help the floundering census data. “So, we don’t want people to leave, but people are also moving into the city. I see first-time New Yorkers over and over again, people are moving in and there are 152,000 migrants,” Adams said. “If you were to do an analysis of those who are behind me, an overwhelming number of them are immigrants. They come from first generations. “So, they went from their parents coming here trying to be citizens to now they’re in charge of what happens to citizens.” Of the eight states that saw their populations fall in 2023, New York lost the most residents, seeing 101,984 people depart the Empire State. RED STATES SEE 2023 POPULATION GROWTH AS AMERICANS FLEE BLUE STATES, CENSUS DATA SHOWS That was followed by California, which lost 75,423 residents, Illinois, which lost 32,826, and Louisiana, at 14,274. Pennsylvania saw 10,408 residents leave the state, while Oregon saw 6,021 move away. Hawaii lost 4,261, and West Virginia lost 3,964, according to the new Vintage 2023 population estimates. South Carolina and Florida were the two fastest-growing states in the nation, growing by 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively, in 2023. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said the mass exodus from New York demonstrated “the consequences of Far Left Democrat leadership.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Far Left [Governor] Kathy Hochul and Albany Democrats have made New York so unlivable that our state leads the nation in population loss with more than 102,000 residents leaving in one year alone,” Stefanik said in a statement. “With record crime and cost of living far beyond the national average, New York’s mass exodus is far from over. If Far Left Democrats in Albany don’t start putting the safety and prosperity of New Yorkers before their extremist agenda, there will be no more residents left to tax and fund their radical, socialist programs.” Mayor Eric Adams’ office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
China tries to ‘bury the memory’ and trauma of zero-COVID era
When Evelyn Ma’s two-year-old daughter had a persistently high fever and a bad cough earlier this month, she and her husband began to worry. The couple decided to take their daughter to a nearby children’s hospital in the city of Jinan. But as Ma walked through the doors with her daughter in her arms, she found a scene of chaos. “Doctors and nurses were rushing around everywhere between long lines of patients waiting their turn, and people were even sitting on the floor and against the walls,” Ma, who is 36 and works as a sales representative in China’s northeastern Shandong province, told Al Jazeera. China experienced a sharp rise in cases of influenza, pneumonia, RSV and common cold viruses, particularly among children, in early October. By the next month, the surge in the number of people seeking medical attention had put a strain on hospitals, especially those catering to children. “We arrived at the hospital in the early morning, but we didn’t get to see a doctor until the late afternoon, and I think that was only because my daughter’s symptoms were quite bad and my husband and I made a fuss,” Ma said. The rising infections and reports of undiagnosed pneumonia sparked concern that the world was on the cusp of another novel pandemic outbreak spreading from China, after COVID-19 also first appeared as undiagnosed pneumonia in the central city of Wuhan. But after requesting data from China, the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded there was no cause for alarm because the evidence suggested there was no new pathogen. The jump in cases, it appears, was more a reflection of the return of illnesses that had been suppressed by the country’s prolonged pandemic lockdowns. Ma’s daughter soon recovered, but the experience brought back upsetting memories. “Last time I was at the hospital was in late December last year, and I was also sitting in a crowded waiting room filled with coughing people,” she said. “Back then I was holding the hand of my grandmother who was very sick with COVID,” Ma said. The sudden U-turn on the zero-COVID policy followed a series of rare protests across the country [File: Thomas Peter/Reuters] Just a few weeks before that, the Chinese authorities had abandoned the strict COVID measures that were a pillar of the country’s so-called zero-COVID policy after protests in several Chinese cities against the continued enforcement of lockdowns. For three years until then, the zero-COVID policy had defined – and limited – Chinese people’s interactions with each other and the outside world in the name of combatting the pandemic. “So many people suffered under the zero-COVID policy, and so many people died when it ended,” Ma said. “Because of that, my family and I are traumatised to this day.” Mental health struggles Ma’s grandmother succumbed to COVID-19 in early January. At about the same time, 29-year-old translator Lily Wang from Shenzhen also lost her grandmother to the virus. She blames the authorities’ abrupt decision to abandon the zero-COVID policy for her death. “If they had just given us a warning or given us time to prepare, we might have been able to save her,” Wang told Al Jazeera. A wave of infections swept across China after the sudden end of the policy posing a particular hazard to elderly Chinese of whom only 40 percent had received a booster shot by December 2022. In the months that followed, upwards of almost two million more people died compared with the same period in previous years, according to a study by Hong Xiao and Joseph Unger of the Public Health Sciences Division at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center that was published in August. While the death of Wang’s grandmother was traumatic for her whole family, the strict lockdowns of China’s cities, which became a recurring phenomenon throughout 2022, were traumatic for Wang personally. Her neighbourhood in the southern city of Shenzhen was repeatedly placed under total lockdown for months on end to quell flare-ups of COVID infections. “We were not allowed to go outside – not even to stretch our legs, do grocery shopping or take out the garbage,” she said. Regular and relentless testing was a key feature of the zero-COVID strategy [File: Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo] Wang was living alone in a small apartment at the time, and food supplies, provided by the authorities, were often late to arrive at her building. “I was hungry, lonely and trapped, and I started to suffer from panic attacks,” she added. As soon as the COVID policy ended, she moved out of the apartment and back home with her parents. “After zero-COVID, I just couldn’t stay in the apartment any more,” she said. “Even today, it is still difficult for me to be alone for more than a few days.” Ma from Jinan has also struggled to recover mentally. “I am much more concerned about the future than I was before 2022,” she said. During the lockdown of her family’s neighbourhood, they also experienced food supplies arriving late. “Now I get nervous when we don’t have much food left in the apartment, so I make sure that we have lots of meals available in the freezer and the refrigerator in case something happens,” she explained. Hou Feng, a 31-year-old programmer from Shanghai, has also had trouble sleeping since the strict lockdown of Shanghai that took place from April until June 2022. “During that time, people in my building contacted the authorities to accuse each other of breaking the COVID rules,” Hou told Al Jazeera. Residents of Shanghai, China’s biggest city, were required to undergo constant COVID-19 testing, and it was obligatory to report to one of the city’s quarantine centres if the result was positive. Hou witnessed his screaming neighbour getting dragged out of her home by the authorities when she refused to leave of her own volition after testing positive. He still has nightmares about people in white hazmat suits breaking down his door and taking him away to a quarantine
Ed Burke, former Chicago Democratic alderman, found guilty in corruption trial
Ed Burke, who was once one of the most powerful Democratic City Council members in Chicago, was found guilty Thursday in a corruption trial. A federal judge found Burke guilty on all but one of 14 corruption counts, including racketeering, federal program bribery, and attempted extortion. The jury, which comprised nine women and three men, had deliberated all week. The trial centered around Burke’s attempts to extort company executives of a Burger King in 2017 that they’d get building permits if they signed on as clients at his property tax law firm. CHICAGO MAYOR SAYS TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT ‘ATTACKING OUR COUNTRY’ BY SENDING MIGRANTS TO DEM CITIES, STATES Per reporting from Chicago’s FOX 32, federal prosecutors alleged that Burke wouldn’t sign off on the permits until he met face-to-face with the owners. Federal prosecutors said the company eventually obtained the permits and began building, but Burke soon shut them down. “Elected officials are responsible for serving with honesty and integrity, with a moral responsibility to their constituents to uphold and abide by the law,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement. “In the case that they fail to do so, it is imperative that they are held accountable. That is what the jury decided today.” Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Burke “should rightfully be remembered as a man who elevated personal ambition and greed over doing other people’s work.” TEXAS BEGINS FLYING MIGRANTS TO SANCTUARY CITIES WITH FIRST FLIGHT TO CHICAGO Lightfoot said others were complicit in Burke’s corruption, including the “pernicious” practice of aldermanic prerogative, and other elected officials who “looked the other way as Burke systematically monetized the Finance Committee for his own personal benefit.” “But like many before who feasted on their gluttonous power, Burke was felled because this total lack of accountability made him foolishly think he was invincible,” Lightfoot said. “So he grossly overplayed his hand. He dug his own grave and jumped in.” Burke is due back in court for a post-trial hearing on June 19. Burke had been on the council in Chicago for more than 50 years and chaired its finance committee for the last three decades. Since the 1970s, nearly three dozen aldermen have been convicted. A common joke in Chicago is that so many aldermen had gone to prison that when they saw each other behind bars they’d holler, “Quorum call!”
Dem Senator calls for cease-fire shortly after meeting with group pushing to cut aid to Israel
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., called for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war just days after meeting with a group pushing for cuts to military aid to the Jewish state. Baldwin held a meeting with World Beyond War in the second week of December, where activists reportedly pressed Baldwin to “call for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine now, work to cut military aid to Israel, and call on Israel to lift the siege on Gaza,” according to the anti-war group’s website. When asked about the meeting, Baldwin initially told the Washington Examiner, “We know that Hamas will not agree to a cease-fire. So you’re really asking Israel to unilaterally stop, and we know Hamas won’t, both through words and actions.” Despite stating Hamas will not agree to a cease-fire with Israel, Baldwin is changing her tune, saying Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing and military approach has led to unacceptable bloodshed.” ETHICS COMPLAINT ALLEGES DEMOCRATIC SEN. TAMMY BALDWIN USED TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO FUND PERRSONAL TRIPS Baldwin called for a cease-fire Thursday, releasing a statement saying Netanyahu’s government’s actions do not “appear to be moving us closer to our ultimate goals of removing Hamas from power and achieving a lasting peace in the region through a two-state solution.” World Beyond War, which joined members from Jewish Voice for Peace and the Madison Rafah Sister City Project during the Baldwin meeting, launched in 2014 to create “a global movement to abolish the institution of war itself, not just the ‘war of the day,’” according to its website. HAMAS SAYS ‘NO TALK ABOUT PRISONERS OR EXCHANGE DEALS’ UNTIL ISRAEL STOPS GAZA CAMPAIGN: REPORT “Since October 7th, Israel’s assault with U.S. weapons has resulted in tens of thousands of Gazans killed or wounded and 1.7 million people displaced, including almost a million in 154 UNRWA shelters, some of which Israel has bombed,” the group wrote in a post pressuring Baldwin to support a cease-fire. “In the words of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, ‘Gaza has become a graveyard for children.’” After Israel launched a counterattack against Hamas following its deadly Oct. 7 attack on innocent Israelis, World Beyond War called for an immediate cease-fire. “The blood of everyone who has died over the past few days is not only on the hands of the Hamas and the Israeli military, but on our own government which arms, supports, and funds Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and which is currently applauding the military escalation promised by the Israeli government,” the group’s Canadian branch wrote three days after Hamas attacked the Jewish state. In December, World Beyond War also staged a “blockade” of a Canadian arms manufacturer that provides weapons to Israel. Baldwin did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment by the time of this publication.
Entire Gaza population facing hunger crisis, famine risk: UN-backed report
The proportion of households affected by acute food insecurity is largest ever recorded globally, the report says. The entire 2.3 million population of Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger and the risk of famine is increasing each day, a United Nations-backed report says. The proportion of households in Gaza affected by high levels of acute food insecurity is the largest ever recorded globally, according to the report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) published on Thursday. The extent of hunger in Gaza has eclipsed even the near-famines in Afghanistan and Yemen of recent years, according to figures in the report. ‘Everybody in Gaza is hungry’ “It doesn’t get any worse,’’ the World Food Programme’s chief economist, Arif Husain, said. “I have never seen something at the scale that is happening in Gaza and at this speed – how quickly it has happened in just a matter of two months.” #GazaUrgent action is needed. Hostilities, including bombardment, ground operations & besiegement of the entire population have caused catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity. There is a risk of Famine. Read more ➡️https://t.co/b358hNlY4i pic.twitter.com/e9C155XqAP — The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (@theIPCinfo) December 21, 2023 The report by 23 UN and nongovernmental agencies found that the entire population in Gaza is in a food crisis with 576,600 people at catastrophic – or starvation – levels. “It is a situation where pretty much everybody in Gaza is hungry,” Husain said. “People are very, very close to large outbreaks of disease because their immune systems have become so weak because they don’t have enough nourishment,” he said. International aid agencies say Gaza is suffering from shortages of food [Fatima Shbair/AP] The report said every single person in Gaza is expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity in the next six weeks. The 23 agencies forecast that in the “most likely scenario”, the entire population of the Gaza Strip would be at “crisis or worse” levels of hunger by February 7 after four months of war. Under the IPC’s five-phase food insecurity classification, crisis in phase three, emergency is phase four and catastrophe or famine is phase five. “This is the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given area or country,” the report said. The international humanitarian organisation CARE called the figures “alarming”. Risk of famine The humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated rapidly since Israel began a major military operation on October 7 with heavy air strikes and a ground offensive laying waste to wide areas of the enclave. “There is a risk of famine, and it is increasing each day that the current situation of intense hostilities and restricted humanitarian access persists or worsens,” the IPC for Gaza said. The IPC sets the global standard for determining the severity of a food crisis using a complex set of technical criteria. The report warned that the risk of famine is “increasing each day”, blaming the hunger on insufficient aid entering Gaza. Trucks bringing aid from Egypt have delivered some food, water and medicine, but the UN says the quantity of food is just 10 percent of what is needed for the territory’s inhabitants, most of whom are displaced. Distribution of aid within Gaza has been hampered by military operations, inspections of aid demanded by Israel, communications blackouts and shortages of fuel. Some desperate Palestinians in Gaza have jumped onto aid trucks to try to grab scarce supplies of food and other goods. There have been reports of residents eating donkey meat and emaciated patients begging for food. Meanwhile, the death toll from Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza has surpassed 20,000, 70 percent of them women and children. About 1.9 million Gaza residents – more than 80 percent of the population – have been driven from their homes. More than a million are cramming UN shelters. The war has also pushed Gaza’s health sector into collapse. Only nine of its 36 health facilities are still partially functioning – and all are located in the south, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. Adblock test (Why?)