House committee withdraws James Comey subpoena for Jeffrey Epstein testimony
The House Oversight Committee has dropped its subpoena for former FBI Director James Comey, after he said he had no knowledge relevant to the panel’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, The Hill reported, citing a letter Comey sent to the committee. In the Oct. 1 letter sent to Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky, Comey said he had no “knowledge” or “information relevant to the Committee’s investigation” into the late pedophile. Comey was slated to sit for a deposition on Tuesday before the committee that is examining Epstein’s contacts and potential government ties dating back to the 1990s. SUPREME COURT DECLINES TO TAKE UP GHISLAINE MAXWELL’S SEX TRAFFICKING APPEAL “I offer this letter in lieu of a deposition that would unproductively consume the Committee’s scarce time and resources,” Comey wrote. Comey served as deputy attorney general from 2003 to 2005 and later as FBI director from 2013 to 2017 — two periods now under scrutiny by House Republicans seeking answers about Epstein’s federal connections. “At no time during my service at the Department of Justice or the FBI do I recall any information or conversations that related to Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell,” Comey wrote. Because the letter was submitted under penalty of law — making any false statements a potential federal crime — Comer accepted Comey’s response and withdrew the subpoena. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Oversight Committee for a copy of Comey’s letter and confirmation of the subpoena’s withdrawal. The late pedophile Epstein committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting prosecution on federal sex trafficking charges, though questions continue to swirl about the circumstances surrounding his death. Comer issued a wave of subpoenas in August tied to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation — including to Comey and former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. EPSTEIN DOCUMENTS RELEASED BY HOUSE DEMOCRATS NAME ELON MUSK, STEVE BANNON AND PETER THIEL Comer also subpoenaed the Justice Department for records related to Epstein’s case. Others ordered to appear include former FBI Director Robert Mueller and former Attorneys General Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, William Barr, Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales. Holder and Attorney General Merrick Garland sent letters similar to Comey’s, denying any knowledge of Epstein and prompting Comer to withdraw those subpoenas as well, per The Hill. It’s unclear if sessions for the Clintons will proceed. The committee’s work comes amid growing partisan tension over how to handle the Epstein investigation, and the GOP base has fractured over the current administration’s handling of the case. Top Republicans, including President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., support continuing the Oversight inquiry as the fastest route to uncover new information. Comer has already released thousands of pages of subpoenaed documents from the Justice Department and Epstein’s estate. Critics, however, accuse the GOP of shielding certain figures by selectively releasing records. Several lawmakers are instead pushing legislation to declassify all government files related to Epstein and Maxwell — a move endorsed by multiple Epstein victims. Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Supreme Court to decide if faith-based counseling on gender identity is protected speech
The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Tuesday in a case that examines whether counseling services for minors facing gender identity and sexual orientation questions are protected by the First Amendment. Kaley Chiles, a licensed Christian therapist, argues that her conversations with youth clients are a form of protected speech. The Colorado government, however, sees them as professional conduct that falls under its authority to regulate. Chiles’ lawyers describe her in court papers as a person who “believes that people flourish when they live consistently with God’s design, including their biological sex.” Chiles, whose practice is based in Colorado Springs, uses “faith-informed” counseling to engage in talk therapy with young people who are “seeking to reduce or eliminate unwanted sexual attractions, change sexual behaviors, or grow in the experience of harmony with one’s physical body,” her lawyers say. SUPREME COURT REJECTS SOUTH CAROLINA’S BID TO ENFORCE TRANSGENDER BATHROOM BAN The closely watched case centers on a law passed by Colorado in 2019 that bans what it describes as “conversion therapy.” About two dozen states have similar measures in place, and the outcome of this case could affect those. Chiles’ lawyers say the state law amounts to “viewpoint censorship,” arguing that “Colorado’s statute has undeniably silenced her.” They argue conversion therapy is an overly broad term and that the law puts therapists like Chiles at risk of thousands of dollars in fines and revocation of their licenses if they violate it. In a statement over the summer, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser defended the law, which the state claims only bans therapists from performing treatments that have the predetermined outcome of converting a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity. “So-called conversion therapy is an inhumane and abusive practice overwhelmingly shown to harm young people,” Weiser said. “We have a compelling interest in protecting children from this dangerous pseudoscience.” DEMOCRATIC STATES SUE TRUMP ADMIN OVER ENDING SEX CHANGE SURGERIES FOR MINORS The case is not the first to come out of Colorado in recent years that looks at how the First Amendment intersects with identity and sexual orientation. The Supreme Court found 6-3 in June 2023 that Colorado could not force web designer Lorie Smith to create designs that conflicted with her faith, namely wedding website designs for gay couples. Chiles v. Salazar has now become the next cultural touchpoint in the state. The Trump Department of Justice is backing Chiles in the lawsuit, along with the Association of Biblical Counselors and the Family Research Counsel. Meanwhile, nearly 200 congressional Democrats and major medical and mental health institutions support the Colorado law. Attorney Kate Anderson of Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative advocacy group representing Chiles in litigation, told reporters ahead of oral arguments that the Colorado web designer’s case gave her optimism. The conversion therapy law is “another example of Colorado trying to censor speech in a slightly different context, but very much related,” Anderson said. “And we’re hopeful that the Supreme Court will again give a bold vindication of free speech for everyone.”
Mamdani ripped for photo with anti-LGBTQ Uganda official: ‘If he’s smiling, he’s lying’
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blasted New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani on Sunday for smiling in a photo alongside a former Uganda official who once championed anti-LGBTQ policy. Photos resurfaced this weekend of Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, smiling alongside Uganda’s former parliamentary speaker and current first deputy prime minister, Rebecca Kadaga, who supported Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2014. The New York Post was first to report the photos. “How does a self-proclaimed progressive candidate for mayor of New York City — the birthplace of Stonewall, the city that led the fight for equality — find himself smiling beside one of the most notorious anti-LGBTQ figures on the planet? And how does he maintain dual citizenship in a country that criminalizes people simply for who they love?” Cuomo asked in a statement Sunday. Mamdani’s campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, but a spokesperson told The Post that Mamdani was “unaware” of Kadaga’s support for the anti-LGBTQ legislation. ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S POLICIES ‘WON’T WORK’ IN NEW YORK, ANDREW CUOMO ARGUES “Delighted to meet with Zohran Mamdani, incoming Mayor of New York City. Good luck in the next phase of elections,” Kadaga captioned the photo that circulated on social media this weekend. CUOMO TURNS TABLES ON MAMDANI AFTER HE DODGED QUESTION ADDRESSING ‘DESTRUCTIVE’ POLICY In a second post on July 31, Kadaga posed for another photo with Mamdani and the socialist candidate’s father, Mahmood Mamdani, a Columbia University professor. “Here with Zohran Mamdani and Prof Mamdani as Zohran returns to New York after his traditional wedding in Kampala,” Kadaga’s post read. Cuomo ridiculed Mamdani on Sunday for posing for the photo as New York City was grappling with a mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan. “Mamdani now claims he didn’t know who she was — that is laughable. Kadaga’s crusade against Uganda’s LGBTQ community has been condemned globally for well over a decade. Any serious public official, particularly one from Uganda, would know exactly who she is,” Cuomo said. According to the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2014, the legislation was created to prohibit “any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex.” Kadaga told Reuters in November 2012 that Ugandans wanted the law passed as a “Christmas gift.” “They have asked for it, and we’ll give them that gift,” Kadaga said. President Barack Obama denounced the bill as “odious” at the time. President Joe Biden called it a “tragic violation of universal human rights.” Uganda’s Constitutional Court struck down the 2014 law for lack of quorum, but the Parliament of Uganda passed the new version of the legislation in 2023, which criminalizes same-sex relations and imposes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.” “New Yorkers deserve a mayor who stands on principle, not one who hides behind excuses. Zohran Mamdani has shown one quality time and again: duplicity,” Cuomo said on Sunday. “And as we’ve learned, if he’s smiling, he’s lying.” Mamdani associating with an anti-LGBTQ activist stands in stark contrast to his campaign platform. A pillar of his “Trump-proofing” plan for New York City is “protecting LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers.” He has vowed to strengthen and protect “gender-affirming care” and protect LGBTQ youth, their families and New York City healthcare providers from legal persecution for receiving such care. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP While criticizing Mamdani’s photo with Kadaga on Sunday, Cuomo touted his own record supporting the LGBTQ community. “As governor, I was proud to make New York the first big state in the nation to pass marriage equality. We enacted GENDA to protect transgender New Yorkers, legalized surrogacy so families could grow with dignity, and built on the legacy of Stonewall to make equality not just a slogan but the law of the land,” Cuomo said. Fox News Digital reached out to Kadaga for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Biden didn’t want intel disseminated showing Ukrainian concerns over family’s ‘corrupt’ business ties: records
Then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2015 told the CIA he would “strongly prefer” an intelligence report documenting Ukrainian officials’ concerns with his family’s ties to “corrupt” business deals in the country “not be disseminated” — and so it wasn’t, according to a newly declassified email and records made public by the agency. CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified the heavily redacted records, which he said he believes is an example of “politicization of intelligence.” Fox News Digital obtained the declassified documents, which were discovered during a CIA review of historical agency records. A senior CIA official briefed Fox News Digital on the declassified documents and intelligence report, stating that the intelligence was discovered along with an email showing that Biden “expressed a preference to not share the report.” Representatives for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. FLASHBACK: BIDEN COMMITTED ‘IMPEACHABLE CONDUCT,’ ‘DEFRAUDED UNITED STATES TO ENRICH HIS FAMILY’: HOUSE GOP REPORT CIA officials discovered and declassified an email dated February 10, 2016, with the subject line stating: “RE: OVP query regarding draft [REDACTED].” The email was sent to the CIA. The classification of the email was listed, and crossed out, as “SECRET.” “Good morning, I just spoke with VP/ NSA and he would strongly prefer the report not/not be disseminated. Thanks for understanding,” the email states, signed by a redacted name, but with the title of “PDB Briefer.” The “PDB” is the presidential daily brief. The report in question included intelligence revealing that Ukrainian officials viewed the Biden family’s alleged ties to corrupt business practices in Ukraine “as evidence of a double-standard within the United States Government towards matters of corruption and political power.” “Intelligence officials agreed that, at the time of collection, it would have met the threshold [for dissemination], but based on the Office of the Vice President’s preference, the information was never shared outside of the CIA,” the official said. The CIA, during its review, confirmed that Biden’s request was granted and that the intelligence report “had not been disseminated.” The senior CIA official told Fox News Digital that it was “extremely rare and unusual” and “inappropriate to go outside of the intelligence community and inquire with the White House on the dissemination of a particular report for what appears to be political reasons.” The newly declassified intelligence report, which Biden sought to keep private, had a subject line of: “NON-DISSEMINATED INTEL INFORMATION: Reactions of [REDACTED] Ukrainian Government Officials to the Early December Visit of Senior United States Government Official.” The document states the date of the information came in December 2015. The document was created in 2016. At the time, Biden was vice president and was running U.S.-Ukraine relations and policy for the Obama administration. The intelligence document stated that “officials within the administration of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko expressed bewilderment and disappointment at the 7-8 December 2015 visit of the Vice President of the United States to Kiev, Ukraine.” “These officials highlighted that, prior to the visit, the Poroshenko administration and other [REDACTED] Ukrainian officials expected the U.S. Vice President to discuss personnel matters with Poroshenko during the visit, and had assumed that the U.S. Vice President would advocate in support of or against specific officials within the Ukrainian Government,” the intelligence states. FLASHBACK: BIDENS ALLEGEDLY ‘COERCED’ BURISMA CEO TO PAY THEM MILLIONS TO HELP GET UKRAINE PROSECUTOR FIRED: FBI FORM “After the visit, these officials assessed that the U.S. Vice President had come to Kiev almost exclusively to give a generic public speech, and had not had any intention of discussing substantive matters with Poroshenko or other officials within the Ukrainian government,” the intelligence states. “Following the visit of the U.S. Vice President, [REDACTED] officials within the Poroshenko administration privately mused at the U.S. media scrutiny of the alleged ties of the U.S. Vice President’s family to corrupt business practices in Ukraine,” the intelligence states. “These officials viewed the alleged ties of the U.S. Vice President’s family to corruption in Ukraine as evidence of a double-standard within the United States Government towards matters of corruption and political power.” Biden, on Dec. 9, 2015, gave a speech in Ukraine, in which he discussed corruption in the country. “And it’s not enough to set up a new anti-corruption bureau and establish a special prosecutor fighting corruption,” Biden said in the speech. “The Office of the General Prosecutor desperately needs reform.” In that speech, Biden also said Ukraine’s “energy sector needs to be competitive, ruled by market principles — not sweetheart deals.” “It’s not enough to push through laws to increase transparency with regard to official sources of income,” he said. “Senior elected officials have to remove all conflicts between their business interest and their government responsibilities. Every other democracy in the world — that system pertains.” DEVON ARCHER: HUNTER BIDEN, BURISMA EXECS ‘CALLED DC’ TO GET UKRAINIAN PROSECUTOR FIRED At the time, Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin was investigating Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings. Several months later, in March 2016, Biden successfully pressured Ukraine to remove Shokin. At the time Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, Hunter Biden had a highly lucrative role on the board, receiving tens of thousands of dollars per month. Biden, at the time, threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin was not fired. “I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.’ … I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,’” Biden recalled telling then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Biden recollected the conversation during an event for the Council on Foreign Relations in 2018. But during his first term, President Donald Trump was impeached after a July 2019 phone call in which he pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to launch investigations into the Biden family’s actions and business dealings in Ukraine, specifically Hunter Biden’s ventures with Burisma and Joe Biden’s successful effort to have former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin ousted. At the same time as that call, Hunter Biden was under
The only two Dems running for governor in 2025 are former roommates with mirroring political careers
The only two Democrats running for governor of their respective states this year are a pair of House lawmakers with a cozy friendship that was forged after they both won their first elections in 2018. Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger and New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill have emerged as prospective shining stars within the Democrat Party as they look to cinch gubernatorial victories in November amid ongoing internal turmoil within their party following 2024’s presidential election. The pair share a bond going back to their first terms in Congress, including rooming together as freshmen lawmakers on Capitol Hill, they previously told various media outlets. “I feel incredibly fortunate,” Sherrill told Elle magazine in June of their friendship. “Because who would’ve guessed when we entered Congress together that of the only two statewide races going on in the entire country all these years later, I’d be in it with a good friend of mine.” DEM GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE SLAMMED AS THE ‘KAMALA HARRIS OF NEW JERSEY’ AS ELECTION SLIDES INTO HOME STRETCH Both Spanberger, 46, and Sherrill, 53, were first elected to Congress during the 2018 midterm cycle, which marked the nation’s most recent “blue wave” election, when Democrats flipped the House and gained 40 seats. The pair first met during the height of their first congressional campaigns when Sherrill’s sister worked as one of Spanberger’s “super volunteers,” the gubernatorial hopefuls told Elle in June of their friendship. Spanberger is a former undercover CIA officer and Sherrill a former Navy pilot who forged a friendship over their shared focus on national security while on the campaign trail and upon their elections to the House, the outlet reported. “I think we had visions that we’d be hanging out,” Sherrill said of their friendship after winning their House elections in 2018. “Little did we know that as frontline members of Congress, there would be no hanging out. There was lots of late-night policy work, though.” TOP GUBERNATORIAL RACE ROCKED BY ALLEGATIONS OF LEAKS AND DIRTY TRICKS AMID IMPROPER MILITARY RECORDS RELEASE “Which, ultimately, I think can be fun!” Spanberger added. After moving to D.C. apartments on the same floor of a building on Capitol Hill in 2019, the pair decided to rent a shared apartment for the days they spent in the city, The Washington Post reported in 2024. “Some people seem to have fun in Congress,” Spanberger told The Washington Post at the time. “Speaking for both of us, while we’re here, we’re away from our families. We just work from the time we get up to the time we go to bed, and it’s meeting, meeting, meeting.” Spanberger noted the loneliness of spending a chunk of each month in a D.C. apartment where “the only sound is your own” before the two moved in together and “drank a lot of coffee, occasionally took a sauna and resolved to make more visits to the gym,” the outlet reported. The pair told both Elle and The Washington Post that they gravitated toward other female lawmakers from the 2018 election cycle — specifically, a group of five women dubbed “the badasses” by CNN during their freshman year — who shared national security and military backgrounds, noting they bucked the “every man for himself” mindset of D.C. VIRGINIA GOV. YOUNGKIN WARNS AGAINST DEM CANDIDATE’S CENTRIST LABEL, SAYS SHE’LL END COOPERATION WITH ICE “And I remember thinking, ‘Well I’m glad I’ve entered with this group of women, because we’re going to be able to work together.’ And that was true,” Sherrill said of working with like-minded female lawmakers. “Mikie and I are both the eldest of three sisters,” Spanberger told Elle of the pair’s work ethic on Capitol Hill. “So that’s the essential piece.” Spanberger threw her hat in the Virginia gubernatorial ring first, announcing a run in 2023 while forgoing a re-election effort to retain her seat in the House. NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR’S RACE: DEMOCRAT SHERRILL LEADS REPUBLICAN CIATTERELLI BY SIX POINTS IN 2026 BELLWETHER If elected, the self-described moderate would become the state’s first female governor. Spanberger is facing off against Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to succeed Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is term-limited. Sherrill announced her run to serve as the Garden State’s next governor in November 2024. She is facing off against Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli to succeed New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited from running a third campaign. The off-year 2025 elections are viewed as a bellwether for the midterms in 2026, and could deliver Spanberger and Sherrill Democrat star status if they prove victorious amid their party’s fallout from the 2024 presidential election. The Democratic Party was thrown into a tailspin after then-President Joe Biden dropped his re-election effort at the end of July 2024, leaving his running mate, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, 107 days to pick up the mantle and rally renewed support for the Democrat ticket. President Donald Trump ultimately won the popular vote and the Electoral College, sweeping all seven battleground states and leaving the Democratic Party in disarray as it looks for new leaders ahead of the midterms and 2028 federal election. Fox News Digital reached out to both campaigns Monday regarding the pair’s yearslong friendship but did not immediately receive replies.
Maine investigates claim that 250 unmarked ballots found in Amazon box
Maine authorities are investigating after a resident claimed her Amazon order arrived containing hundreds of unmarked absentee ballots last week. The ballots, sent out ahead of November’s election, were reported missing by the town of Elsworth, Maine, on the same day that the woman said she found the ballots on her doorstep. Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said that state law enforcement and the FBI are investigating the incident. “This year, it seems that there may have been attempts to interrupt the distribution of ballots and ballot materials,” Bellows said at a press conference. “I have full confidence that law enforcement will determine who is responsible, and any bad actor will be held accountable,” she added. NEW TWIST IN THE MOST COMBUSTIBLE REPUBLICAN SENATE PRIMARY IN THE COUNTRY Maine’s Nov. 4 election features a Republican-backed ballot initiative that would impose photo ID requirements for voting and reduce the reliance on drop boxes. TRUMP’S SHADOW LOOMS LARGE IN 2025 ELECTION SHOWDOWNS “What this means is that Mainers need to turn out in force, and every single person that supports voter ID and securing our elections needs to get out and vote between now and Nov. 4 to ensure that we secure our elections,” said Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. Maine Republicans called on the FBI and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the incident in a letter last week. Meanwhile, Amazon has said it is not responsible for the mishandling of the ballots. “Based on our initial findings, it appears that this package was tampered with outside of our fulfillment and delivery network, and not by an Amazon employee or partner,” the company said in a statement. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE 2025 ELECTIONS The company said it is cooperating with the state investigation. The Associated Press contributed to this report
India hits back at Pakistan’s allegations about Kashmiri women at UNSC: ‘Delusional Tirade’
Speaking at the UNSC debate, Permanent Representative of India to the UN, Parvathaneni Harish called out Pakistan for its “delusional tirade” against India, especially Jammu and Kashmir.
Abbott deploys ‘elite Texas National Guard’ after Trump calls for reinforcements: ‘Ever ready’
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday on X that the Lone Star State’s elite National Guard units are deploying “now” after receiving a request to help protect federal property. In the brief post, Abbott wrote, “The elite Texas National Guard. Ever ready. Deploying now.” The short but commanding message underlines the governor’s confidence in the state’s ability and willingness to act in defense of the nation. Texas officials say the deployment is being coordinated with the White House’s plans to reinforce security in several cities that have seen spikes in protests targeting federal facilities, including Chicago and Portland. PRITZKER SAYS TRUMP ORDERING 400 MEMBERS OF THE TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD TO ILLINOIS, OREGON AND OTHER LOCATIONS President Donald Trump called for the additional support from cooperating states, saying that the troops would “protect federal workers and property from escalating threats.” Democratic governors, however, are pushing back. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called the move “an invasion,” and Oregon officials are seeking to block deployments through court orders. “It started with federal agents. It will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops,” Pritzker said. CHICAGO ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS BLOCK VEHICLES, GET HIT WITH TEAR GAS AND PEPPER BALLS Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defended Trump’s decision, writing on X that he had “fully authorized the President to call up 400 members of the Texas National Guard to ensure safety for federal officials.” He added that federal and state leaders must “either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let the Texas Guard do it,” while praising the Guard’s “training, skill and expertise.” Legal challenges are continuing in some states, but in Texas, officials say they are ready. Abbott’s post has received millions of views within hours and struck a chord with supporters praising his decisive leadership. As legal battles play out, the governor’s message remains simple: “Ever ready.”
Day one of Gaza peace talks ends on ‘positive’ note in Egypt
Sources familiar with the mediated talks between Israel and Hamas say that progress was made on Monday, with negotiations to continue. The first day of resumed indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in Egypt ended on a positive note, amid hopes of a potential deal to implement US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war on Gaza, multiple sources told Al Jazeera and other media outlets. Negotiators are set to return for more discussions on Tuesday. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Sources told Al Jazeera Arabic that the meeting in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday was “positive” and that a roadmap was drawn up for how the current round of talks would continue. The Hamas delegation told mediators that Israel’s continued bombing of Gaza poses a challenge to negotiations on the release of captives, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. The Hamas delegation included Hamas leaders Khalil al-Hayya and Zaher Jabarin, two negotiators who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in central Doha that killed five people last month. Talks on day one covered the proposed exchange of prisoners and captives, a ceasefire, and humanitarian aid entering Gaza, according to Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also said Trump was pushing for an early exchange of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners, in a bid to build “momentum” to implement other parts of his plan to end the Gaza war. “The technical teams are discussing that as we speak, to ensure that the environment is perfect to release those hostages,” Leavitt said, adding that teams were “going over the list of both the Israeli hostages and also the political prisoners who will be released.” Advertisement Trump, speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Monday afternoon, said that “we have a really good chance of making a deal”, while also noting that he still has his own “red lines”. “But I think we’re doing very well. And I think Hamas has been agreeing to things that are very important”, Trump added. Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan reporting from Washington, DC, said that Trump had not “not given any details of how he thinks the discussions are going beyond his general positive assessment.” “The US President also was very complimentary of the joint Arab-Turkish support to keep Hamas at the bargaining table, he was complimentary of the Israeli people and of course, he was complimentary about his own special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who was leading the US delegation in these negotiations,” said Jordan. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, a real estate developer, is also reportedly part of the US delegation. Egypt’s Al-Qahera News, meanwhile, confirmed that the talks were expected to continue on Tuesday, which marks two years since the Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,139 people and saw about 200 people taken captive. Since then, Israeli forces have killed at least 67,160 Palestinians and wounded 169,679 in Gaza, in a war that has been described as genocidal by a United Nations inquiry, leading genocide scholars and leading human rights groups — including Israeli non-profits. And even as the talks were held on Monday, Israeli forces killed at least 10 Palestinians in attacks across Gaza, including three who were seeking humanitarian aid, according to Al Jazeera sources. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres shared a social media post late on Monday, New York time, acknowledging the two year anniversary of Hamas’s “abhorrent large-scale terror attack on Israel”, on October 7, 2023. Guterres also said that the “recent proposal” put forward by Trump “presents an opportunity that must be seized to bring this tragic conflict to an end.” “A permanent ceasefire and a credible political process are essential to prevent further bloodshed and pave the way for peace,” the UN chief wrote. Adblock test (Why?)
How Ladakh protest leader Sonam Wangchuk went from Indian hero to ‘traitor’
New Delhi, India — On the night of August 5, 2019, hundreds of Kashmiris were arrested amid a crackdown by Indian security forces that followed the Indian government’s decision to strip the region of its special rights and status as a state. Sonam Wangchuk celebrated, and thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “THANK YOU PRIME MINISTER,” he wrote on X, then Twitter, “for fulfilling Ladakh’s longstanding dream.” One of India’s best-known innovators and education reformers, Wangchuk was referring to a decades-long demand from many in Ladakh, for the cold desert bordering China to be separated from Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian-administered part of the disputed region that Pakistan also claims. Until August 2019, Ladakh was part of Jammu and Kashmir. With the Modi government’s move, it had been made a separate administrative entity, a so-called union territory to be governed federally by New Delhi. But while the rest of Jammu and Kashmir — also reduced to a union territory from a state — was allowed to keep a locally elected legislature, Ladakh was not. That lack of any say over their future would slowly turn the peaceful Ladakh into a tinderbox of political unrest against Modi’s government in the subsequent six years. And leading that protest movement is a disillusioned Wangchuk. On September 26, Wangchuk was arrested and transported more than a thousand miles from home to jail in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, charged with “anti-national” activities, conspiring to overthrow the government, after a breakaway group from his protest engaged in violent clashes with security forces. Indian paramilitary soldiers shot dead four protesters, after they had set the local office of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party on fire, and authorities accused Wangchuk of instigating the violence. Advertisement The same BJP and Modi government had previously turned to Wangchuk for promotional campaigns in Ladakh. BJP-led governments in other states had sought his advice as an educationist. Today, that one-time poster child, the inspiration for one of Bollywood’s most iconic and successful movies ever, stands accused of treason — with officials imputing a possible Pakistan hand behind his campaign for constitutional rights for Ladakh. “Suddenly, in a month, the same government that was decorating him is calling him an anti-national,” Gitanjali Angmo, Wangchuk’s wife, told Al Jazeera. “The writing is on the wall: this is to silence him, to scare him because they could not buy him.” A police vehicle is set on fire during a protest by locals demanding federal statehood from the Indian government, in the high-altitude Leh town, in the region of Ladakh, India, Wednesday, September 24, 2025 [AP Photo] ‘Grief in Leh’ Early in September, local activists in Ladakh, led by Wangchuk, began a hunger strike. It was the latest in a series of peaceful protests they had held in recent years demanding constitutional protections under what is known as the Sixth Schedule. That statute allows parts of India that are predominantly inhabited by Indigenous tribes autonomous administrative and governance structures. More than 90 percent of Ladakh’s population consists of such tribes. But on the 15th day of the strike, some youth-led demonstrators broke away and torched the BJP office in Leh, Ladakh’s capital, on September 24. Security forces fired back: Four people, including a veteran soldier, were killed and dozens were left injured. The administration then launched a massive crackdown, detaining over 80 people, including the protest leaders who had been earlier sitting on a peaceful hunger strike. Wangchuk was arrested under the National Security Act, a preventive detention law that allows imprisonment without trial for a year. Over a dozen local activists surrendered to the police in solidarity with Wangchuk and other detainees. It was the worst violence and crackdown in the modern history of Ladakh. Stanzin Dorje, a local businessman in Leh in his late thirties, had sat next to Wangchuk and others, joining the hunger strike. But amid the crackdown, he was — like the rest of Ladakh — restricted to his home under an unprecedented curfew-like deployment of armed forces on the streets of Leh. Dorje grew increasingly despondent, his friends said. On Wednesday, Stanzin died by suicide. He is survived by his wife and two children. Advertisement “He was Sonam’s fan. He kept asking about him, kept taking his name,” said Tsering Dorje, the president of Ladakh Buddhist Association, a local group central to protests. Stanzin was also a member of the association’s general council. “He felt agitated and very sad. We are all asking, ‘What was [Wangchuk’s] crime? He was just sitting there. Why did they arrest him and send him to a jail outside [Ladakh]?” said Dorje. Wangchuk’s rise from an engineer next door to an icon of Indian ingenuity and sustainable living made him a local icon, Dorje said, where young people looked up to him. “We are all grieving in Leh for our people, martyred or jailed,” he added. A national hero Born in Uleytokpo, a mountain village about 70km from Leh, in 1966, Wangchuk was home-schooled by his mother, Tsering Wangmo, till he was nine. In 1975, when his father, Sonam Wangyal, a politician, became a minister in the Jammu and Kashmir government, the family moved to Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir. But Wangchuk struggled in Srinagar schools because he spoke only Ladakhi, while classes were taught in Urdu and Kashmiri. So he moved to a school in New Delhi for high school, and went on to study mechanical engineering at the National Institute of Technology in Srinagar. In 1988, soon after graduating, he co-founded the alternative school model SECMOL, or Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh, with other students to reform the education system in Ladakh. Until then, nearly 95 percent of Ladakhi students failed their state exams amid a struggle with the curriculum which was in Urdu — a language alien to many in Ladakh — and other cultural barriers. Urdu, spoken much more widely in Kashmir, was the dominant language of the state when it was a unified entity. At SECMOL, the number of students clearing