2025 – Page 1592 – Texas Weekly Online

‘Deeply saddened’: MEA responds to Nepali student’s death at Odisha’s KIIT

Following the death of a 20-year-old Nepali student at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University in Odisha, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Friday expressed deep sorrow and extended condolences.

Kash Patel lays out FBI’s top two priorities in letter to subordinates

Ahead of his swearing-in as FBI director on Friday, Kash Patel laid out his top priorities for the agency in a letter to subordinates obtained by Fox News Digital, vowing to bolster the bureau’s resources and “rebuild the American people’s trust in the FBI.” “I am honored to have been nominated and confirmed as your new Director,” Patel wrote to colleagues. “While I’m new to the Bureau’s ranks, I’ve spent my career in government service and the past decade in national security, working shoulder to shoulder with the FBI and many of its partners throughout the law enforcement and intelligence communities. My commitment has always been — and always will be — to pursuing justice and upholding the rule of law, and I look forward to continuing that commitment alongside all of you.” Patel also reiterated that keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad, is a “no-fail mission” that the FBI must continue to support in the coming months. FBI NOMINEE KASH PATEL CONFIRMED IN NARROW SENATE VOTE The letter continued, “As I take on this new role, my priorities for our organization are twofold. First is to provide you with the tools and resources you need to keep our communities safe. This will include streamlining our operations at Headquarters while bolstering the presence of field agents across the nation and collaborating even more closely with our essential partners in state and local law enforcement. “Second is to ensure we rebuild the American people’s trust in the FBI. We’ll do that by committing ourselves to full transparency with the people’s representatives in Congress and by upholding the highest standards in all that we do, ensuring rigorous obedience to the Constitution and a single standard of justice for all.” “I know that you, the dedicated men and women of the FBI, are courageous warriors of justice,” he wrote. “I will always have your backs, because you have the backs of the American people. I look forward to serving with you in the years to come.” TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL PICKS UP SUPPORT FROM KEY GOP SENATOR Patel – nominated by President Donald Trump – was confirmed as the ninth FBI director in a narrow Senate vote on Thursday, succeeding former Director Christopher Wray. He is set to be sworn in on Friday afternoon. During the first Trump administration, Patel worked as a deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism. He played a key part in missions to take down high-ranking al Qaeda and ISIS leaders, including planning the operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in these positions. Patel also contributed to efforts to capture some of the most-wanted terrorists and bring them to the U.S. for prosecution. 4 OF THE BIGGEST CLASHES BETWEEN PATEL, SENATE DEMS AT HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING Patel was the principal deputy at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), where he helped with the transition of leadership between acting DNI Ric Grenell and John Ratcliffe prior to his role as deputy to Trump and on the National Security Council. He also focused on intelligence related to counter-narcotics and transnational threats. Prior to ODNI, Patel served as national security advisor and senior counsel for counterterrorism on the House Intelligence Committee. There, he led the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, exposing FISA abuse and illegal surveillance of Americans, including Trump campaign members. Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Yogi govt gears up for final Mahashivratri bath at Mahakumbh Mela, check details here

The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has intensified preparations for the last major bath of Maha Shivratri, scheduled for February 26, at the ongoing Mahakumbh.

Join us March 4 for a conversation on blockchain technology and Texas’ future economy

We’ll learn more about the technology’s sustainability, its impact on the grid, and what the industry needs from Texas.

Joint Chiefs chairman heads to US-Mexico border to review troops

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. CQ Brown is visiting the U.S.-Mexico border to assess the military’s progress in fortifying sections of the wall, the Associated Press reported on Friday. The Defense Department deployed 1,500 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border just two days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. More servicemembers were sent to the border earlier this month. There are approximately 9,200 U.S. troops on the border, 4,200 of whom were deployed under federal orders, according to the Associated Press. The other 5,000 are National Guard troops. TRUMP STATE DEPARTMENT DECLARES TREN DE ARAGUA, MS-13, MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS AS FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS The Trump administration on Wednesday designated eight gangs and cartels, including Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel and MS-13, as foreign terrorist organizations. This move expands the U.S. government’s ability to crack down on criminal organizations operating in its territory. In a public notice on the matter, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that there was a “sufficient factual basis” under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to issue the designations. On Wednesday, U.S. NORTHCOM Commander Gen. Gregory M. Guillot and Mexican Secretary of National Defense Gen. Ricardo Trevilla Trejo spoke about coordinating along the border and signed a mutual agreement on cooperative activities, the Defense Department announced. NOEM MAKES AGGRESSIVE NEW MOVE TO RAMP UP ARRESTS, DEPORTATIONS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS The agreement allegedly calls for an increase in information sharing and improved communications methods, as well as a call for Mexico and the U.S. to respect each other’s sovereignty. Troop deployments and wall fortifications are parts of Trump’s crackdown on the southern border. Earlier this month, the Trump administration began sending flights of illegal immigrants to the Guantánamo Bay detention facilities in Cuba. Around 30,000 “criminal illegal aliens” could be held in the base that once housed hundreds of prisoners, only 15 of whom were left before Trump began sending migrants there.

Caesars Palace, MLB stadium, an ice cream truck: DOGE reveals how schools spent billions in COVID-relief funds

Schools spent hundreds of billions of COVID-relief funds on expenses that had “little” impact on students, such as Las Vegas hotel rooms and the purchase of an ice cream truck, according to the Trump administration’s cost-cutting department. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk to purge wasteful government spending, revealed on Thursday that schools have spent nearly $200 billion in COVID-relief funds “with little oversight or impact on students.” Granite Public Schools in Utah spent their COVID-relief funds on $86,000 in hotel rooms at Caesars Palace, a ritzy Las Vegas Casino, while Santa Ana Unified spent $393,000 to rent out a Major League Baseball stadium, according to a report by Parents Defending Education and shared by DOGE. The cost-cutting department also revealed that schools spent $60,000 of COVID-relief funds on swimming pool passes, while a California district used its funds to purchase an ice cream truck. DOGE PUTS DEI ON CHOPPING BLOCK WITH TERMINATION OF OVER $370M IN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT GRANTS “All of this money was drawn with zero documentation,” DOGE wrote in a post on X. DOGE highlighted that the Trump administration is implementing more thorough requirements for dishing out the $4 billion left from the funds, requiring that all grantees must “provide receipts for every purchase before funding is released.” WHITE HOUSE OUTLINES WHERE DOGE SAVINGS COULD GO AFTER TRUMP FLOATS RETURNING 20% TO AMERICANS While the Trump administration reworks the Department of Education’s issuing of funds, the revelations about where money has been spent have sparked outrage from local leaders and education groups across the country. “Recall those school board meetings when the ruling elites of Covidstan branded mothers as selfish disruptors simply for challenging their interpretation of “The Science” and scrutinizing how they allocated ESSER Funds? Never let them forget that we were right about everything,” Moms for Liberty said in response to the findings. Will O’Neil, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, called the funds being spent on renting the MLB stadium “an absolute joke.” “This is outrageous,” wrote the Republican Party of Bexar County. DOGE has taken specific aim at cutting spending by the Department of Education (DoEd), slashing $370 million in taxpayer dollars being spent on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) just last week. The department terminated 70 DEI training grants within the department, including one that funded training for teachers to “engage in ongoing learning and self-reflection to confront their own biases and racism, and develop asset-based anti-racist mindsets,” DOGE said.

AG Bondi says violent anti-Israel student protesters in US on visas ‘need to be kicked out’

Attorney General Pam Bondi said anti-Israel student protesters who are in the United States on visas and threatening American students “need to be kicked out of the country.” “All of our students deserve to be safe,” Bondi said on Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) near Washington, D.C., while joining the stage with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and radio show host Ben Ferguson on a live podcast of the “Verdict with Ted Cruz” podcast. “First of all, these students who are here on visas, who are threatening our American students, need to be kicked out of this country.” “Amen,” Cruz responded to Bondi. Bondi, who was sworn in as the nation’s 87th attorney general Feb. 5, added that carrying out the rule of law as the nation’s top cop is “pretty basic.” VP JD VANCE SPEAKS ON ‘FUNDAMENTAL GOAL’ OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AT CPAC ADDRESS Bondi added that the anti-Israel college protests that rocked the U.S. were anything but “peaceful protests.” “When I was just a citizen, before I had this job … I’m watching these — but these aren’t peaceful protests. We all believe in peaceful protest. Oh. I’m sorry, unless you’re a liberal, and you don’t want a parent to quietly pray outside an abortion clinic, or you’re a Catholic, or a parent at a school board, they’re going to call you a domestic terrorist,” she said, adding that the anti-Israel protests were “violent.” Agitators and student protesters flooded college campuses nationwide in 2024 to protest the war in Israel, which also included spiking instances of antisemitism and Jewish students publicly speaking out that they did not feel safe on some campuses. Protesters on Columbia University’s campus in New York City, for example, took over the school’s Hamilton Hall, while schools such as UCLA, Harvard and Yale worked to clear spiraling student encampments where protesters demanded their elite schools completely divest from Israel. ELON MUSK MAKES SURPRISE APPEARANCE AT CPAC Terrorist organization Hamas launched a war in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which initially fanned the flames of antisemitism on campuses in the form of protests, menacing graffiti and students reporting that they felt as if it was “open season for Jews on our campuses.” The protests heightened to the point that Jewish students at some schools, including Columbia, were warned to leave campus for their own safety. ‘WASTEFUL AND DANGEROUS’: DOGE’S TOP FIVE MOST SHOCKING REVELATIONS Bondi added, in her conversation with Cruz and Ferguson, that after her 15 days as attorney general, the “volume of how bad” and politicized the Department of Justice had become under former President Joe Biden “concerned” her “the most.” “What concerned me the most? It’s the volume of how bad it was, and it still is. We’re working on it. It’s day by day by day, but we’ve got a team of great people. And on day one, I issued 14 executive orders. And number one is the weaponization ends. And it ends now. And that’s what we do,” she said. Overall, however, Bondi said that “a lot” of DOJ employees have remarked to her that they are grateful for her leadership, arguing that the majority of employees want “to fight crime.” “The majority of the people are great people, who went to law school, became prosecutors, became law enforcement agents to fight crime,” she said.

AG Bondi says violent anti-Israel student protesters in US on visas ‘need to be kicked out’

Group of Venezuelans sue Trump admin for temporary immigration protections

A group of migrants is suing the Trump administration for ending a deportation shield for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the U.S., claiming that the move was illegal and driven by race. The 48-page federal suit names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. government for revoking Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 600,000 Venezuelans. TPS grants protection from deportation and allows work permits for nationals living in the U.S. from countries deemed unsafe for them to be returned. Then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced extensions for TPS for Venezuela, as well as El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine, for an additional 18 months in the final few days of the Biden administration. That move, if left in place, would have complicated President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport large numbers of those nationalities. KRISTI NOEM JOINS IMMIGRATION RAID TO CATCH ‘DIRTBAGS’ IN MAJOR SANCTUARY CITY “These actions have the effect of robbing 600,000 Venezuelan TPS holders of the right to live and work in this country for the next 18 months,” the lawsuit reads. Without the protection, at least 350,000 Venezuelan TPS holders stand to lose their legal status on April 7 and their work authorization as soon as April 2, per the lawsuit. Another 257,000 will also be affected by September, according to the Miami Harald. Venezuelans were among the top nationalities coming into the U.S. at the height of the 2021-2024 border crisis, with many also coming in through a separate parole policy for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans—a program now ended by the Trump administration. The program for TPS for Venezuelans was put in place amid the severe economic and political crises ongoing in the country, which has seen millions flee. The suit takes aim at Noem and comments she made when announcing the decision to revoke the TPS. “The Secretary’s decisions also were motivated at least in part by racial animus, in contravention of the Fifth Amendment,” the suit reads. “That is clear from statements the Secretary made when announcing the decisions themselves, labeling Venezuelan TPS holders as ‘dirtbags’ —an expression of racism made by the official decisionmaker as part of her explanation for the decision.” Noem made the comments while referring to a criminal illegal alien who had been apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on kidnapping, assault and burglary charges. TRUMP ADMIN ENDS DEPORTATION PROTECTIONS FOR MASSIVE NUMBER OF VENEZUELANS AMID ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN “Making matters worse, that statement is just one among a torrent of similar racist statements that Secretary Noem, President Trump, and members of the Trump campaign and administration have made to attack and marginalize nonwhite immigrants generally, and the Venezuelan TPS community in particular,” the suit continues. The plaintiffs accuse Noem of conflating many TPS holders as being members of the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) who have been terrorizing communities across the country. The plaintiffs claim that TdA’s threat to the U.S. are “overblown. They also accuse Noem of a “baseless assertion” that Venezuela emptied its mental health facilities and sent them to the United States. Additionally, they claim that she does not have the legal authority to revoke the TPS order. The plaintiffs are calling on the courts to cancel Noem’s actions and reinstate the extension. The suit was filed in San Francisco by the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network on behalf of eight Venezuelan TPS holders. The plaintiffs include two university students, a factory worker with a 12-year-old daughter and an instructional coach who’s been living in the U.S. for 12 years. The latter’s mother, father, brother, sister and nephews all live in the U.S. and are U.S. citizens, per the lawsuit. The lawsuit goes on to accuse Trump and his administration officials of embracing racist talking points, specifically White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who they accuse of supporting white nationalism and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio espoused an exaggerated depiction of TdA. “During President Trump’s first term, every federal district court to consider the question found ‘evidence that President Trump harbors an animus against non-white, non-European aliens which influenced his (and thereby the Secretary’s) decision to end the TPS designation[s]’ for El Salvador, Haiti, Sudan, and Nicaragua in 2017 and 2018,” the suit reads. “The evidence adduced in those cases further illustrates that the conduct challenged here is part of a premeditated effort to terminate TPS without regard to applicable law or standards, and to further a racist agenda.” Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Burgum says Interior Department ‘completely embracing the DOGE effort’

EXCLUSIVE: When it comes to President Donald Trump’s mission to overhaul and downsize the federal government through his recently created Department of Government Efficiency, which is known by its acronym DOGE, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is all in. “I think that we’re off to a great start in Interior, we’re completely embracing the DOGE effort,” Burgum emphasized in a national digital exclusive interview with Fox News. Burgum, a multi-millionaire former software company CEO and former two-term North Dakota governor who ran for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination before dropping out of the race and heavily supporting Trump, spotlighted government transparency when touting DOGE. “Part of what DOGE is bringing is just awareness to the republic, to the people that are in our country,” he said. “Great government is always transparent. And that’s what we’re doing.” FEDERAL DEPARTMENT CAFETERIA EMPTY FOR YEARS UNDER BIDEN: SOURCE Burgum also highlighted that when it comes to DOGE’s mission, “part of it is the federal government is so outdated on the technology… we have to get caught up. We’re decades behind.” Trump named Elon Musk — the world’s richest person and the chief executive of Tesla and Space X — to steer DOGE. DOGE has swept through federal agencies since Trump was inaugurated a month ago, rooting out what the White House argues was billions in wasteful federal spending. It has also taken a meat cleaver to the federal workforce, resulting in a massive downsizing of employees. The moves by DOGE have triggered a slew of lawsuits in response. WHAT THIS WELL-KNOWN REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR THINKS ABOUT DOGE And Democrats are taking aim. Gov. Ned Lamont argued on Thursday that DOGE appears to be aiming to “push costs down to the states and say, ‘You guys deal with it.’” “It has nothing to do with efficiency. It has everything to do with just cost shifting. And if that’s all they want to do, then it’s not DOGE. It ought to be called dodge, a way to just push the costs on to our people,” Lamont told reporters. The cuts by DOGE have hit Interior, which is responsible for the management and conservation of most federally held lands and natural resources. The department’s workforce has been downsized over the past week by roughly 2,000 jobs. “We’re trying to right size the full-time positions that we have,” Burgum said when asked about the job cuts at Interior. And in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier on “Special Report” a day earlier, Burgum added that “on a personal level, of course, I’ve got great empathy for anybody that loses a job… but I think we have to realize that every American is better off if we actually stop having a $2 trillion a year deficit.” WATCH: BRET BAIER GOES ONE-ON-ONE WITH DOUG BURGUM Roughly 1,000 of the cuts at Interior were newly hired National Park Service employees, who maintain and clean the parks, educate and inform visitors, and handle other duties. But Burgum said Interior is reinstating about 5,000 seasonal jobs that were originally rescinded last month. Seasonal workers are normally added during the spring and summer months to handle the more than 325 million annual visitors who visit the nation’s 428 parks, historic sites and other attractions. “We did post last week 5000 summer jobs. So, if someone is looking for one of the greatest experiences of your life and want to spend the summer working at a national park, we’re hiring,” Burgum told Fox News Digital, as he made his pitch. “And if you want to work as a wildland firefighter, we’re hiring. These are seasonal jobs. But again, an exciting way to get an experience in some of America’s most beautiful places.” ONE MONTH IN TO HIS SECOND TERM, NEW POLLS SUGGEST TRUMP’S POLL NUMBERS SLIPPING Burgum centered his short-lived presidential campaign on the economy, energy and national security. And now, as Interior Secretary, where he manages all oil and gas drilling leases on federal lands and waters, he’s a major salesman in Trump’s all-of-the-above energy agenda. “President Trump has a vision of what has been called energy dominance, but it’s really about how do we bring back the strength and the power of American energy in a way that lifts up all Americans,” he said. Burgum was interviewed minutes ahead of a Thursday appearance with the Republican Governors Association, and ahead of a Friday speech to the National Governors Association, which were both holding winter meetings in the nation’s capital. “The message to all these governors is, hey, the people in your state, regardless of which party you’re in, are all going to be happier. Because when President Trump lowers the price of energy, it lowers inflation for everyone,” he emphasized. And Burgum argued that “when we export more energy abroad to our friends and allies, that is going to help President Trump win the Nobel Peace Prize. I mean, part of the way he ends these wars is we sell energy to our allies so they can stop buying it from our adversaries who are using those oil sales to fund wars against us.”

Year: 2025