Tanzania opposition party leader Tundu Lissu charged with treason
Lissu’s lawyer Rugemeleza Nshala said the charges against his client were politically driven. A court in Tanzania has charged opposition party leader Tundu Lissu with treason after his arrest at a public rally in which he called for electoral reforms. The charges against the chairman of the Chadema party will bring new scrutiny to President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s bid for re-election in October as critics accuse the government of cracking down on the opposition. The opposition leader was forced into a police vehicle late on Wednesday after he had finished addressing a public rally in Mbinga in southern Tanzania. “I came here, we held a peaceful meeting and now I understand the tactics of the police. We are now clear on the situation. I will not enter the vehicle. There is no need for that. We will sleep here. What is the problem?” Lissu asked the police, moments before his supporters were tear-gassed. Lissu on Thursday afternoon arrived at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in the commercial capital Dar-es-Salaam, appearing in high spirits and in the company of his lawyers and opposition party politicians. Advertisement He was, however, not allowed to enter a plea on the treason charge. He did plead not guilty to a separate charge of publishing false information and is due back in court on April 24. Lissu’s lawyer Rugemeleza Nshala said the charges against his client were politically driven. “You cannot separate these charges from politics,” Nshala told the Reuters news agency. “He was doing campaigns to educate Chadema supporters, but they have turned it into charges.” According to the charge sheet, Lissu, who survived being shot 16 times in an assassination attempt in 2017, made the comments in question in Dar-es-Salaam on April 3. The charge sheet quoted him as saying: “It is true we say we will prevent the election. We will inspire rebellion. That is the way to get change.” “So we are going to spoil this election. We are going to really disrupt. … We are going to spoil it very badly,” the charge sheet accused him of saying. Hassan won plaudits after coming to power in 2021 for easing repression of political opponents and censorship of the media that proliferated under her predecessor John Magufuli, who died in office. But she has faced mounting criticism from human rights activists over a series of arrests and unexplained abductions and killings of political opponents. Hassan has said the government is committed to respecting human rights, and she ordered an investigation into reported abductions last year. Adblock test (Why?)
Who is Vinod Sehwag? Former India explosive opener Virender Sehwag’s brother granted bail in cheque bounce case amounting to…
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Ex-NCB director Sameer Wankhede withdraws defamation case against actor Rakhi Sawant and her lawyer
Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Sameer Wankhede who had earlier filed a defamation suit against actor Rakhi Sawant and her lawyer Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh has now withdrawn it before the Dindoshi civil court.
Trump tariff spike fuels new House bill to lock China out of US government tech
FIRST ON FOX: A bipartisan duo of House lawmakers is moving to ensure the U.S. government is free from Chinese-made technology after President Donald Trump hiked tariffs against Beijing. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, is leading the Securing America’s Federal Equipment (SAFE) Supply Chains Act alongside Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. It would impose new guardrails on the technology the U.S. government is able to purchase by forcing a federal agency or office to only purchase it from “original equipment manufacturers” or “authorized resellers,” according to the bill text obtained by Fox News Digital. TRUMP SAYS HE’LL ‘TAKE A LOOK’ AT EXEMPTING SOME LARGER US COMPANIES HIT ESPECIALLY HARD BY TARIFFS The bill targets U.S. government technology purchased through the “gray market,” an alternative channel for purchasing and selling genuine goods without the authorization of the manufacturer. Fallon said his bill “dovetails” with Trump’s hawkish stance on China. “With the rising threat posed by Chinese aggression, not only in the Indo-Pacific, but here at home by means of artificial intelligence and cyberattacks, it’s critical that the Department of Defense secure its vital infrastructure,” Fallon explained to Fox News Digital. “In order to do so, we must ensure that the U.S. military only purchases electronic equipment from approved vendors that are free from adversarial, particularly [Chinese Communist Party], influence.” He praised Trump’s “bold leadership” in the U.S. “breaking its dependency on Communist China.” “The SAFE Supply Chains Act dovetails with this endeavor and is in the best interest of U.S. national security,” he said. The White House said Thursday it had imposed 145% in new tariffs on China, up from the 125% Trump announced the day before. DONALD TRUMP’S ALLIES, SUPPORTERS AND DONORS, LED BY ELON MUSK, PUSH TO END TARIFF WAR While hiking rates on China, Trump said he would reduce tariffs on other countries that did not retaliate against the U.S. to his baseline of 10%. “Look, for years we’ve been ripped off and taken advantage of by China — and others, in all fairness — but by China, there’s a big one. And it’s just one of those things,” Trump said Wednesday. Fallon’s bill has a counterpart in the Senate led by senators John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Gary Peters, D-Mich.
Musk says DOGE set to top $150B in fraud savings in FY 2026
DOGE Chief Elon Musk says the organization is set to save the U.S. government more than $150 billion in cuts to waste and fraud in FY 2026. Musk made the comment during a public Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump on Thursday. “We anticipate savings in FY 26 from reduction of waste and fraud by $150 billion. And, I mean, and some of it is just absurd. Like people getting unemployment insurance who haven’t been born yet,” Musk said. “People ask me how are you going to find waste and fraud in a government? I’m like, well, actually, just go in any direction. That’s how you find it. It’s very common. It’s, as a military would say, a target-rich environment,” he continued. TRUMP SAYS HE’LL ‘TAKE A LOOK’ AT EXEMPTING SOME LARGER US COMPANIES HIT ESPECIALLY HARD BY TARIFFS “So, I think we’re doing a lot of good, and in excellent collaboration with the Cabinet, to achieve these savings. And it will actually result in better services for the American people. And then we’re going to be spending their tax dollars in a way that is sensible and fair and good,” he added. DOGE SLASHES NEARLY $1M FOR ALPACA FARMING IN PERU, OTHER QUESTIONABLE GRANTS IN LATEST WASTEFUL SPENDING CUT Thursday’s Cabinet meeting comes less than a day after DOGE announced the cancelation of 108 “wasteful contracts” on Wednesday. DOGE said the contacts had a ceiling value of $250 million and a savings of $70 million. The problem contracts included a $14,000 commitment by the Department of Health and Human Services for an “executive transformational leadership training program.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Another was a $5.2 million contract with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the human resources agency for the federal government, to “provide strategic advisory and assistance to improve and transform current processes and organizational systems.”
FDA phasing out some animal testing in ‘win-win’ for ethics and public health: commissioner
FIRST ON FOX — The Food and Drug Administration is phasing out an animal testing requirement for antibody therapies in favor of testing drugs on “lab-grown human ‘organoids,’” the FDA announced on Thursday. “For too long, drug manufacturers have performed additional animal testing of drugs that have data in broad human use internationally. This initiative marks a paradigm shift in drug evaluation and holds promise to accelerate cures and meaningful treatments for Americans while reducing animal use,” FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary, said in comment provided to Fox News Digital. “By leveraging AI-based computational modeling, human organ model-based lab testing, and real-world human data, we can get safer treatments to patients faster and more reliably, while also reducing R&D costs and drug prices. It is a win-win for public health and ethics.” The phase-out focuses on ending animal testing in regard to researching monoclonal antibody therapies, which are proteins made in a lab that are meant to stimulate your immune system to fight diseases such as cancer. Instead, according to the FDA’s press release obtained by Fox Digital, the FDA will test on “organoids,” which are artificially grown masses of cells. “The FDA will promote the use of lab-grown human ‘organoids’ and organ-on-a-chip systems that mimic human organs – such as liver, heart, and immune organs – to test drug safety. These experiments can reveal toxic effects that could easily go undetected in animals, providing a more direct window into human responses,” the press release says.
American victims of terrorism could soon sue international orgs if Cruz’s bill passes
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is introducing legislation that would allow American victims of terror groups to hold the organizations that fund those groups accountable in a court of law. The Texas Republican is reintroducing the Limiting Immunity for Assisting Backers of Lethal Extremism (LIABLE) Act, which is similar to a bill he introduced during the last Congress. That version had the backing of then-Sen. Marco Rubio. As of now, Americans are able to sue foreign governments in specific cases outlined in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), but they are unable to sue international organizations, which enjoy immunity under the International Organization Immunities Act (IOIA). However, the LIABLE Act would create an exception in the IOIA, allowing Americans to sue organizations that knowingly provide support or resources to terrorist groups. TRUMP CUTS US OFF FROM UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL, BANS UNRWA FUNDING “UNRWA has knowingly provided salaries and materials to Hamas for decades. That support enabled Hamas to arm itself, create its vast underground terrorist infrastructure, and launch its October 7th atrocities on Israel,” Cruz said in a statement on the original piece of legislation introduced in 2024. “That attack included the murder and kidnapping of dozens of Americans. The victims and their families deserve the ability to hold UNRWA accountable in court for its support of Hamas and for what happened on October 7th.” The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a major target of this legislation. UNRWA has faced accusations of aiding Hamas before, during and after the terror group carried out its Oct. 7 massacre. In August 2024, the agency fired nine workers who were allegedly involved in the attacks, which left 1,200 dead and 251 taken hostage. “The legislation is premised on a false narrative that was debunked more than a year ago by the U.S. National Intelligence Council, which confirmed that UNRWA is not aligned in any way with Hamas,” William Deere, Director of UNRWA’s Representative Office in Washington, told Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital did not provide Deere with a copy of the updated legislation and used the 2024 bill as a reference in its request for comment. “The report also noted that Israeli dislike of UNRWA serves to mischaracterize its assessments of the agency resulting in distortions. Rhetoric equating UNRWA with Hamas is factually incorrect, disrespectful, and dangerous to the UNRWA workforce providing health, education and social services in the multiple conflict zones across the Agency’s five operating areas,” Deere said. CRITICS SAY UN’S GLOBAL COMMS OFFICE PROMOTES ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), identified Hamas Nukhba commander Mohammad Abu Itiwi, who was involved in the Oct. 7 massacre, as a former UNRWA employee. U.N. watchdog organization U.N. Watch published a report in November 2023 that detailed instances of UNRWA teachers celebrating the Oct. 7 attacks on their personal social media accounts. One such example was Rawya Halas, Director of the UNRWA Khan Younis Training Center, who called one of the alleged Oct. 7 perpetrators a “hero” and the “prince of Khan Younis.” Halas was featured in an UNRWA campaign just weeks after the deadly attacks in Israel. However, alleged ties between UNRWA and Palestinian terror groups, like Hamas, were uncovered long before Oct. 7, 2023. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In 2008, Reuters reported that UNRWA science teacher Awad al-Qiq allegedly built rockets for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The outlet reported at the time that al-Qiq’s family denied he was involved in terrorism, but militant leaders hailed him as a martyr and the head of PIJ’s “engineering unit.” The U.S. paused its funding to UNRWA in 2024 under then-President Joe Biden, prior to the completion of the agency’s investigation into its staff’s possible involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks. In 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that pulled U.S. funding from several U.N. organizations, including UNRWA.
Trump ends Biden-era water regulations to ‘make America’s showers great again’
President Donald Trump is making “America’s showers great again.” On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order ending a Biden-era conservation measure that placed “excessive regulations” on water pressure. The restrictions were previously imposed by former President Barack Obama. While Trump attempted to loosen the water-saving measures during his first term, his efforts to restore “shower freedom” were eventually reversed by former President Joe Biden. “I like to take a nice shower, take care of my beautiful hair,” Trump said as he signed an executive order at the White House. “I have to stand in the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. Comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.” LARRY KUDLOW: TRUMP IS MAKING SHOWERS GREAT AGAIN “What you do is you end up washing your hands five times longer, so it’s the same water,” he added. “And we’re going to open it up so that people can live.” During the Obama-Biden administration, the former presidents “aggressively” limited the amount of water that could be discharged from appliances such as showerheads, washing machines and toilets, the White House said. “These changes served a radical green agenda that made life worse for everyday Americans,” the White House said in a statement. TRUMP REVERSES BIDEN CRACKDOWN ON LIGHTBULBS AND DISHWASHERS, RETURNING TO ‘COMMON SENSE STANDARDS’ With the new executive order, Trump will be resetting the definition of “showerhead” from a 1992 energy law, which sets a simple 2.5-gallons-per-minute standard for showers. “The Order frees Americans from excessive regulations that turned a basic household item into a bureaucratic nightmare,” the White House said. “No longer will showerheads be weak and worthless.” PRESIDENT TRUMP’S PRO-ENERGY AGENDA WILL UNLEASH AMERICAN JOBS AND ENERGY SECURITY The White House added “these appliances worked perfectly fine before Biden’s meddling piled on convoluted regulations that made those appliances worse.” The U.S. Department of Energy previously said conservation standards would significantly cut energy waste and harmful carbon pollution while also saving Americans billions of dollars per year on energy and water bills. “Almost every U.S. household has a water heater, and for too long outdated energy efficiency standards have led to higher utility bills for families,” said former U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm in a 2024 statement.
Trump praises Dem Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after slamming her last year: ‘Very good person’
President Donald Trump said Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has “done an excellent job” and called her a “very good person” during remarks on Wednesday. “We’re honored to have, uh, Gretchen Whitmer,” he said before going on to praise the Democratic governor. The president apparently made the comments while Whitmer was in the Oval Office. TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL’ TAX AGENDA SCORES MAJOR VICTORY IN HOUSE DESPITE GOP REBELLION THREATS The president’s glowing remarks stood in stark contrast to his assertion last year that she is a “terrible governor.” “President Trump will always put party aside to put America first! As the President has said, he is a president for all Americans, and is willing to come to the table with any state officials that want to make America greater,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Thursday. “Governor Whitmer recognizes that the President is flooding Michigan with more jobs, new investments, and economic prosperity—great achievements every governor should want for their state.” HARRIS LAUNCHED ‘DARK-ARTS OPERATION’ AGAINST OPPONENTS FOR VP SPOT IN 2020, NEW BOOK CLAIMS Whitmer backed then-Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 White House contest. But the governor met with Trump on Wednesday. “At the White House today, Governor Whitmer had a meeting with Speaker Hall and President Trump to discuss the northern Michigan ice storm, investing in Michigan’s defense assets, like Selfridge Air National Guard Base, tariffs and the importance of creating good-paying American jobs and bringing back critical supply chains, and keeping our Great Lakes clean and safe,” a Whitmer spokesperson noted in a statement, referring to Wednesday. “Governor Whitmer thanks President Trump for his acknowledgements on protecting the Great Lakes from invasive carp, his work on Selfridge, and his openness to our request for help in northern Michigan. GRETCHEN WHITMER SOUNDS OFF ON PUSH TO CONDEMN US SUPREME COURT’S GAY MARRIAGE RULING: ‘HELL NO’ CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “This morning, the governor delivered a speech in Washington, D.C. about the devastating effects tariffs were having on Michiganders — from companies increasing prices and laying off workers to retirement accounts being wiped out. This afternoon the 90-day pause was announced, and that is a step in the right direction and will provide relief to so many businesses across the state, but we remain concerned about tariffs that will hurt American auto companies,” the statement noted, again referring to Wednesday.
WH slams Dems’ ‘partisan games’ after Trump-foe Schiff calls for insider trading investigation over tariffs
The White House slammed Democrats for playing “partisan games” and calling for an investigation into alleged insider trading after President Donald Trump paused customized reciprocal tariffs for 90 days on Wednesday. “It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security in the face of nonstop media fearmongering. Democrats railed against China’s cheating for decades, and now they’re playing partisan games instead of celebrating President Trump’s decisive action yesterday to finally corner China,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in comment to Fox Digital when asked about Democrats claiming Trump manipulated the market. Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., wrote a letter on Thursday to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, as well as Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, calling for an investigation into potential insider trading. “This sequence of events raises grave legal and ethics concerns. The President, his family, and his advisors are uniquely positioned to be privy to and take advantage of non-public information to inform their investment decisions,” the senators wrote. TRUMP SAYS HE’LL ‘TAKE A LOOK’ AT EXEMPTING SOME LARGER US COMPANIES HIT ESPECIALLY HARD BY TARIFFS Trump, ahead of pausing the reciprocal tariffs, posted to Truth Social, “BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!” and “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.” The president had previously said he would not pause tariffs but was open to negotiating with other nations. Trump paused only the higher, customized tariffs he placed on nations that historically installed trade barriers on U.S. goods, with nations across the world instead facing a lower 10% tariff on goods, as the Trump administration and world leaders hash out negotiations for the reciprocal tariffs. DONALD TRUMP’S ALLIES, SUPPORTERS AND DONORS, LED BY ELON MUSK, PUSH TO END TARIFF WAR China, however, was not part of the tariff pause and was instead hit with a higher 125% tariff after retaliating with its own additional tariffs against the U.S. “I’m going to do my best to find out,” Schiff, who has long been a Trump foe, told Time of investigating the president for alleged insider trading. “Family meme coins and all the rest of it are not beyond insider trading or enriching themselves. I hope to find out soon.” CHARLIE GASPARINO BREAKS DOWN TRUMP’S TARIFF PAUSE: ‘THIS IS WHAT FORCED THE HAND’ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the customized tariffs were paused due to Trump wanting to be “personally involved” in negotiations as dozens of nations contacted the White House to strike deals. “We’ve had more than 75 countries contact us. And I imagine after today, there will be more. So it is just a processing problem. Each one of these solutions is going to be bespoke. It is going to take some time. And President Trump wants to be personally involved. So, that’s why we’re getting the 90-day pause,” Bessent said during a gaggle with the media outside the White House on Wednesday afternoon. Trump added on Wednesday that he was watching the volatile bond market, calling it “tricky” and making people a “little queasy,” but denied it persuaded him to change course on customized tariffs. “I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy. You know, they we’re getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid, unlike these champions, because we have a big job to do. No other president would have done what I did. … I know the presidents, they wouldn’t have done it, and it had to be done,” Trump added in his remarks.