Parliament security breach case: Conspiracy been going on since 2 years, police tells court
He was part of the conspiracy. He attended approximately all the meetings held between them.
‘What India needs today is a bomb’: Social media posts of security breach suspect Lalit Jha under scrutiny
Lalit Jha’s social media are full of similar inflammatory posts, as a reason the Special Cell is investigating Lalit’s social media links.
‘A partnership for future’: PM Modi, Oman Sultan adopt new joint vision
The two leaders adopted a new ‘India-Oman joint vision, a partnership for future’ under which both countries will work in ten different areas.
‘We didn’t politicise, Delhi Police…’: Congress leader KC Venugopal on Parliament security breach
Addressing a media briefing at the AICC headquarters in the national capital on Saturday, KC Venugopal said Delhi Police, which reports to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, called the security breach on December 13, Wednesday, a terror attack.
Indian Navy counter hijacking incident in Arabian Sea, here’s how
The hijacking attempt was reported on Thursday and the Indian Navy sent its mission-deployed platforms to the area of the incident early on Friday.
Behind in the polls, Vivek Ramaswamy is barnstorming Iowa, bashing the GOP as he goes
“If I win Iowa, I’m your next president,” Vivek Ramaswamy says. Ramaswamy has been adding that bold phrase to his stump speeches, one of many signs his campaign’s going all-in on Iowa. But there’s another phrase he’s added. “Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the RNC, should be fired for five failed years of leadership in a party that has become a party of losers,” Ramaswamy said. VIVEK RAMASWAMY’S QUADRUPLES DOWN ON FIERY ATTACKS AT FOURTH GOP DEBATE, CALLS HALEY ‘FASCIST’ In the critical weeks before the Iowa caucus, the Ohio biotech entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate has retooled his stump speech, adding harsh jabs at GOP leaders. In his appeal to “non-establishment” voters, he is the only Republican presidential candidate calling for McDaniel’s resignation. “I would have a role in making sure that she was sidelined and was no longer the chairwoman of the RNC [as president],” Ramaswamy said during a recent gaggle with reporters. “If you took an average person off the street, they would do a better job at that role than Ronna McDaniel. You’d be hard-pressed to say with that record that she’s the best person for the job.” Ramaswamy is also calling out Republican Party leaders at the local level. He called out popular Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, challenging her to be forthright about her stance on eminent domain for carbon capture projects in Iowa. The use of eminent domain would allow the government to intervene to force landowners to allow the installation of carbon capture pipelines on their property. Iowa residents are overwhelmingly against the installation of pipelines and praise Ramaswamy for his stance. He spent nearly an entire 25-minute gaggle Nov. 29 in Des Moines, Iowa, on the issue, calling it “unconstitutional and illegal.” “The deafening silence of other Republicans who have not even been able to articulate a stand on this issue. It says a lot about the broken — and I would go so far as to say corrupt — state of the establishment of the Republican Party in Republican politics today,” said Ramaswamy. “I challenge Gov. Reynolds to make clear — is she really on the side of eminent domain or not?” RAMASWAMY SPARKS SOCIAL MEDIA FIRESTORM OVER ‘NIKKI = CORRUPT’ SIGN AT GOP DEBATE One attendee at Ramaswamy’s speech on the pipeline issue agreed. Amy said she campaigned for Gov. Reynolds and is disappointed in the lack of dialogue from the governor on the issue. “I’d like to see the governor of our state follow through and be more open to the public about this issue,” said Amy. “I’m just going to urge her to be the person that we elected.” Following his fourth debate appearance, Ramaswamy is back in the Hawkeye State creating an aggressive ground game in Iowa, holding more than two dozen campaign events in one week. He moved his campaign headquarters from Ohio to New Hampshire and Iowa. Earlier this month, he held the grand opening for his Des Moines-based campaign headquarters. This came after he rented an apartment in the Hawkeye State. The looming question is will Ramaswamy’s last-minute effort make a difference. Jordan, from Mt. Ayr says he believes Ramaswamy’s efforts will matter in the upcoming caucus. “He wants to move the country forward, and I think that’s what we need right now,” said Jordan. “I’m with him all the way down the line. He’s just. He will touch, and he is ready to engage on things, no other politician will touch,” said Bill Rob from Webster City, Iowa. RAMASWAMY SWIPES ‘GOP ESTABLISHMENT’ IN IOWA FOR SUPPORTING CO2 PIPELINES AS PART OF CLIMATE ‘HOAX’ Ramaswamy says he is on track to complete the “Full Grassley” twice by the Iowa caucus. The term, coined by longtime Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, is a staple in Iowa politics. The senator travels to all 99 counties in Iowa annually. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just completed the 99-county tour, saying, “I think I’m the only candidate that said he’s going to do it.” Ramaswamy said he’s already completed it. “It’s a very different mentality from the way other candidates think. My guess is it’ll end up being whatever the expression is, ‘Full Grassley’ and then some. But I’m not doing this to check a box and then wear a T-shirt and say I did it,” said Ramaswamy. With the Iowa caucus nearly a month away, Ramaswamy is polling at 4% nationally and in Iowa, according to a Monmouth University Poll and Des Moines Register/NBC News Poll. He is trailing Nikki Haley and DeSantis, who are tied for second in Iowa polls but are still double digits below frontrunner former president Donald Trump. RAMASWAMY’S NEW HAMPSHIRE-BASED POLITICAL DIRECTOR JOINS TRUMP CAMPAIGN Ramaswamy has made a point to broaden his stump speech to include topics from carbon capture pipelines to foreign policy and faith. Recently, he has suggested his audience at campaign stops ask him about his faith and foreign policy. The border and religion rank among the most popular topics asked at his campaign events. But one attendee at Ramaswamy’s event was not on board with the candidate’s stance on these issues. Lou from Lake Mills, Iowa, says Ramaswamy does not have the right experience. “I honestly think it lacks substance,” said Lou. “He didn’t serve in the military. He built businesses. He’s never had to stake anything or go over there and see what it’s like. So, I would say that he probably needs somebody to advise him better.” Ramaswamy has been trying to win over Iowans on his Hindu faith and has not held back when discussing the topic. One member at a town hall in Ida Grove took the bait, asking if he believed in the “Judeo-Christian God of this country.” Ramaswamy thanked him for the question, before adding: “Thank you for asking because this feels like it’s an elephant in the room.” Ramaswamy delves into long-winded answers about his faith, often quoting the bible. RAMASWAMY BLASTS GOP RIVAL DESANTIS FOR ‘SHAMEFUL’ BAN OF PRO-PALESTINIAN CAMPUS
House leaves for the year with critical battles still on horizon
It’s going to be a busy first half of 2024 for the U.S. House of Representatives, with leaders punting several critical battles into the new year before leaving Washington. The Senate is expected to stay an extra week to hash out a deal on border policy and foreign aid. But even if a deal is struck, the House will likely reckon with it when they return. Lawmakers left Capitol Hill for the end-of-year holiday recess on Thursday after passing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a must-pass annual bill that lays out Pentagon policy for the next fiscal year. HOUSE PASSES BILL TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, SPEAKER JOHNSON NOTCHES FIRST BIG LEGISLATIVE WIN Included in this year’s NDAA is a short-term extension of a key provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) known as Section 702. The tool allows the intelligence community to spy on foreign nationals outside the U.S. without a warrant, even if the person on the other side of their communications is an American citizen. The NDAA punted the FISA debate into April, and it’s expected to be tricky. Opponents of Section 702, mainly hardliners on the right and left, are seeking to vastly restrict the measure; they’re arguing it impedes the civil rights of private U.S. citizens. MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS AGAIN TOP 10K IN A SINGLE DAY AS LAWMAKERS EYE NEW BORDER LIMITS Others have lauded the tool as critical to preventing terror attacks. Ahead of that, House lawmakers have given themselves until March to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), another key U.S. program set to expire this year but given a short extension. The Senate is expected to take that up next week. SCHUMER ANNOUNCES SENATE WILL CANCEL PART OF HOLIDAY RECESS AS BORDER TALKS CONTINUE And the yet-unsolved government funding fight will be one of Congress’s most immediate problems, with a stopgap federal spending bill known as a continuing resolution (CR) forcing lawmakers to fund some agencies by Jan. 19 and the rest by Feb. 2. The House has passed five of 12 single-subject appropriations bills they have promised to finish, while the Senate passed three in a combined “minibus.” But there’s still a long road ahead – negotiators in the House and Senate are still at odds on a topline number they’ll ultimately have to compromise on.
Missouri senator says ‘left has taken over’ Dem party as Congress faces ‘real disconnect’ on Israel, Ukraine
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congress has yet to strike a deal on President Biden’s $106 billion supplemental combining aid for Ukraine, Israel and our southern border — but Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., believes these crucial issues should be dealt with separately. The Republican senator postulates the Senate’s inability to talk about Ukraine, Israel and the necessary security measures at the southern border individually is due to “the left” having “taken over” the Democratic Party. In an exclusive sit-down interview with Fox News Digital, Schmitt said that border security is the top issue in the aid supplemental. “I’ve been very clear. I think all these issues should be dealt with separately,” Schmitt told Fox. “The issues on the ground, the realities on the ground, the strategies, the political coalitions, the likelihood of success are very different for Israel versus Ukraine. I think that having a real debate about those things one by one would really be a more informed debate in supposedly the most deliberative body in the history of the world. That’s not where we’re at right now, which I think is frustrating for a lot of people.” GOP LAWMAKERS BLOCK BIDEN SECURITY AID TO UKRAINE, ISRAEL AND INDO-PACIFIC, PRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING This month saw the most migrant encounters ever recorded in a single day at the southern border, with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources reporting encountering 12,000 illegal immigrants on Dec. 5. While Schmitt supports discussion on individual aid for our allies, he emphasized the need to secure America’s border before sending money overseas. “The truth is they hear a lot about the sovereignty of other countries’ borders and maintaining the integrity of that, but not our own. I mean, we have an open border,” Schmitt urged. “You’ve got policy changes that need to be made. You also have to have an executive willing to enforce the law. Joe Biden has not done that on day one.” Schmitt said Democrats are “the party of open borders,” which results in real threats of potential terrorism on American soil. “The Democrats aren’t serious about closing the border. The left has taken over that party. It’s the party of open borders now. And we’re fooling ourselves if we don’t think there are terrorists in this country that want to do harm. And it’s — I think we’re going to look back, and I hope I’m wrong about this, but really regret the Biden administration’s decision. But again, this is sort of who they are,” he said. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., recently pressed Harvard president Claudine Gay over whether the calling for genocide of Jews violated the Ivy League school’s code of conduct — and Gay refused to directly say that such calls would qualify as harassment. The heated exchange erupted in response to an extreme rise in antisemitism on college campuses amid the war in Israel, but Schmitt said Americans really “shouldn’t be all that surprised” of the rhetoric. STEFANIK SHREDS HARVARD OVER ‘COMPLETE MORAL FAILURE’ AFTER ALLOWING CLAUDINE GAY TO REMAIN PRESIDENT “I think a lot of people are surprised to see what’s happening on college campuses right now, with chants of ‘from the river to the sea’ and this really antisemitic rhetoric. But if you’ve been paying attention, you shouldn’t be all that surprised,” the senator said, suggesting college campuses have long been allowing such a culture. Schmitt recently spoke on the Senate floor to condemn the antisemitic protests on college campuses and highlight the “dangers” of diversity, equity,and inclusion (DEI) teachings in schools. “These colleges have become indoctrination camps for cultural Marxism, and they view the world as oppressor versus oppressed. And depending on how you score on the oppression matrix will define if you’re right or wrong, what truth is. And the color of your skin matters more than who’s right or wrong. And this is the logical consequence now,” Schmitt told Fox News Digital. The senator also said that he believes “people are waking up to the idea of how poisonous this is, which is why we’ve been so aggressive in pushing back on DEI, aggressive on pushing back on critical race theory that’s found its way into the schools.” Reinfusing American ideals into college campuses is the path towards rebuilding the education system and bringing people together, according to the Missouri Republican. “The truth is, the way home here in what can unify us is a rebirth of believing in this American idea: that each one of us has value, that each one of us has dignity as human beings. And there’s different layers. There’s a lot of things that define us. You know, we like certain things. We’re of different races and religions. We are not one thing in this kind of obsession with race essentialism, where the only thing that matters is the color is your skin is really backwards, and I think we ought to fight back with everything we got,” said Schmitt.
‘Callous’ Soros-backed DA slammed by new GOP challenger over progressive activism: ‘He should be embarrassed’
EXCLUSIVE: A criminal defense attorney in Austin, Texas, has launched a campaign as a Republican to unseat the county’s Soros-backed district attorney who has been heavily criticized for prosecuting police officers, being soft on crime and promoting policies that make the city less safe. Daniel Betts, a criminal defense attorney practicing in Austin at the state and federal level for the last 13 years, spoke to Fox News Digital in his first on-camera interview since filing his candidacy petition. He said he is running in part due to what he has heard from the families of crime victims in Austin who have said they have been treated poorly by the office of Travis County DA Jose Garza. “I don’t think that if you talk to anybody in the community, especially anybody who’s been affected by the violent crime that is running rampant through Austin and the surrounding cities, that they would agree with him and his approach at all,” Betts said. FAMILY OF MURDERED TX MAN SAYS SOROS DA IGNORED THEIR WISHES, CUT DEALS WITH SUSPECTS: ‘ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED’ Garza took office in Travis County in January 2021 after running on a platform of “reimagining” policing in Austin, promoting progressive sentencing policies and pledging to prosecute police officers. Since taking office, Austin set an all-time record for homicides, and Garza has faced intense scrutiny in the community for the way he has handled crime and “cherry-picked” charges based on politics. “I think it’s manifestly clear that it’s more dangerous,” Betts said. “The only thing that may make it look like it’s about as dangerous is the fact that regular citizens don’t feel like reporting crime matters anymore. “There’s so much crime that goes unreported — property crime and even violent crime — that because of the lack of investment in the police, because the police are being undermined systematically by District Attorney Garza, as a result, the citizens don’t feel like it’s worth their effort, that their investigation, if an investigation is done, isn’t going to be prosecuted. And the police feel the same way, that if they do an investigation, then nothing’s going to come of it.” SOROS DA PUT MURDER CASE ON ‘BACK BURNER’ BECAUSE IT DOESN’T ‘FIT’ LIBERAL AGENDA: VICTIM’S FAMILY Betts told Fox News Digital the “sad reality” of life on the streets of Austin is that “criminals are more afraid of other criminals” than they are of being prosecuted by DA Garza’s office. “That is, in my estimation, that’s the beginning of the end,” Betts said. “And I think once great American cities like Detroit and San Francisco — I really see us heading there. And I see us heading there in a hurry. And I don’t think that Austin can stand to have another four years of Garza if we want to survive as a city.” Garza has been criticized for the data his office has presented that he says shows he has “increased the conviction rate for violent crimes from 38% to 91%. A recent analysis by KXAN-TV cast doubt on those numbers and how they were calculated and if his office was not including cases that were dropped or pleaded down. “When you put the focus on convictions and statistics like that, you’re hiding the ball at best, and you’re really making misrepresentations at worst. And this is a self-inflicted wound,” Betts said. “He didn’t need to bring up these false statistics. But what I believe he said was that their conviction rate for violent crimes is 91%, that they got it up to 91%. And, by reference, I believe in Margaret Moore’s administration, it was around 38%.” AUSTIN’S SOROS-BACKED DA SLAMMED AFTER WOMAN CONVICTED IN PLOT TO MURDER IN-LAWS DODGES PRISON “And KXAN, when they got the raw data and they said, ‘Well, where possibly are you getting these numbers?’ Then they finally got back the formula and they caught him red-handed, essentially because the pandemic had created three years of cases that were backlogged and couldn’t be tried and hadn’t been resolved for years. “He was taking all the cases that they had resolved this year and putting that in the numerator. And as the denominator of the fraction, he was putting all the cases that were filed this year. So he wasn’t tracking the same cases. It wasn’t how you do math. It wasn’t how you do statistics.” Policing has been a focal point in Austin since the city council defunded the department in 2020, which critics say has cratered morale and disrupted staffing in ways that will take years to recover. At the same time, Garza has made it a top priority to prosecute officers and indicted over 20 cops for their involvement in quelling a Black Lives Matter riot in 2020 despite the Austin Police Department exonerating their actions. Garza recently dropped 17 of those indictments after years of legal back and forth that sparked outrage from critics who said the officers were wrongly accused in the first place. It’s a sentiment Betts agrees with. “Indictments are almost a deadly weapon in and of themselves,” Betts said. “They destroy people’s lives, especially when it’s directed at someone who did not commit a crime. And it is such a heinous abuse of our criminal justice system that he would force those through, especially once he had seen the evidence.” SOROS-BACKED DA GIVES TEXAS MAN 10 DAYS IN JAIL FOR DUI CRASH THAT KILLED PASSENGER Betts said he was “thankful” to the officers for “stepping into the fray” during the riot in a situation where they fired less than lethal munitions into the crowd after being attacked by activists with rocks, bottles, frozen water bottles, bottles containing bodily fluids and bottles containing bleach. “Rioting is not free speech, and there are consequences when it happens,” Betts said. “And it’s just a terrible situation all around. But, you know, you talked about dollars being spent, dollars and tears and sleepless nights. I imagine some of those officers are now divorced
Bipartisan congressional resolution calls on US officials to drop charges against Julian Assange
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., introduced a resolution expressing that “regular journalistic activities” are protected by the First Amendment and that the U.S. government should end its prosecution against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is accused of publishing classified U.S. military documents. The bipartisan resolution introduced Wednesday was co-sponsored by Reps. James McGovern, D-Mass.; Thomas Massie, R-Ky.; Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.; Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla.; Eric Bulsison, R-Mo.; Jeff Duncan, R-S.C.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Clay Higgins, D-La. “Whereas regular journalistic activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, are protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States,” the resolution reads. Assange is facing 17 charges for allegedly receiving, possessing and communicating classified information to the public under the Espionage Act and one charge alleging a conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. The charges were brought by the Trump administration in connection with the 2010 publication of cables U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning leaked to Wikileaks detailing war crimes committed by the U.S. government in the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp, Iraq and Afghanistan. The materials also exposed instances of the CIA engaging in torture and rendition. SQUAD AND MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE JOIN 16 LAWMAKERS CALLING ON BIDEN TO FREE ASSANGE Wikileaks’ “Collateral Murder” video showing the U.S. military gunning down civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists, was also published 13 years ago. The resolution cites that Assange, an Australian citizen, was charged by the U.S. government for the alleged conspiracy to commit computer intrusion on accusations he helped Manning access Defense Department computers without authorization even though Manning “already had access to the mentioned computer, that the purported breaching of the Defense Department computers was impossible, and that there was no proof Mr. Assange had any contact with” Manning. “Whereas, in 2010, WikiLeaks, a media organization established by Julian Assange, published a cache of hundreds of thousands of pieces of information including Guantánamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, State Department cables, rules of engagement files, and other United States military reports,” the resolution said. “Whereas the disclosure of this information promoted public transparency through the exposure of the hiring of child prostitutes by Defense Department contractors, friendly fire incidents, human rights abuses, civilian killings, and United States use of psychological warfare.” Assange has been held at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison since he was removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy on April 11, 2019, for breaching bail conditions. He had sought asylum at the embassy since 2012 to avoid being sent to Sweden over allegations he raped two women because Sweden would not provide assurances it would protect him from extradition to the U.S. The investigations into the sexual assault allegations were eventually dropped. If he is extradited to the U.S. after exhausting all his legal appeals, Assange would face trial in Alexandria, Virginia, and could be sentenced to up to 175 years in an American maximum-security prison. The resolution comes after multiple other bipartisan efforts this year by lawmakers in the U.S. and Assange’s home country of Australia demanding the U.S. drop the charges and end its extradition requests. AUSTRALIAN DELEGATION MEETS WITH US OFFICIALS, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO DEMAND JULIAN ASSANGE’S FREEDOM Last month, more than a dozen U.S. lawmakers signed a letter spearheaded by McGovern and Massie that was sent to President Biden urging him to end the prosecution against Assange. In September, a delegation of Australian lawmakers visited Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. officials and advocate for Assange’s freedom. And on the four-year anniversary of Assange’s arrest in April, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., led a letter to the Justice Department signed by some House members demanding it drop the charges. In 2020, a similar resolution was introduced by Massie and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who was a Democrat while in office, that defended the free press and called for the charges against Assange to be dropped. Massie has also previously sponsored bipartisan legislation to reform the Espionage Act and protect whistleblowers and journalists. No publisher had been charged under the Espionage Act until Assange, which many press freedom advocates describe as a dangerous precedent intended to criminalize journalism. U.S. prosecutors and critics of Assange have argued WikiLeaks’ publication of classified material put the lives of U.S. allies at risk, but there is no evidence that publishing the documents put anyone in danger. “Whereas the successful prosecution of Mr. Assange under the Espionage Act would set a precedent allowing the United States to prosecute and imprison journalists for First Amendment protected activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, something that occurs on a regular basis,” Wednesday’s resolution said. “Whereas First Amendment freedom of the press is essential to promote public transparency and is a crucial safeguard for our Republic.” “Whereas numerous human rights, press freedom, and privacy rights advocates and organizations have disclosed their sincere and steadfast support for Mr. Assange,” the resolution added. AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER SAYS GOVERNMENT STANDS FIRM AGAINST US PROSECUTION OF JULIAN ASSANGE Additionally, the editors and publishers of these U.S. and European outlets that worked with Assange on the publication of excerpts from more than 250,000 documents he obtained in the Cablegate leak — The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País — wrote an open letter last year calling for the U.S. to drop the charges against Assange. The Obama administration decided not to indict Assange in 2013 over WikiLeaks’ publishing the classified cables in 2010 because it would have had to also indict journalists from major news outlets who published the same materials. Former President Obama also commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence for violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses to seven years in January 2017, and Manning, who had been imprisoned since 2010, was released later that year. But Former President Trump’s Justice Department later moved to indict Assange under the Espionage Act, and the Biden administration has continued to pursue his prosecution. During the Trump administration, the CIA allegedly had plans to kill Assange over the publication of sensitive