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Trump denounces European recognition of Palestinian state as ‘reward’ for Hamas

Trump denounces European recognition of Palestinian state as ‘reward’ for Hamas

President Donald Trump sharply criticized a wave of European nations that recently recognized a Palestinian state, warning that such moves reward Hamas and encourage continued conflict in Gaza. “As everyone knows, I have also been deeply engaged in seeking a cease-fire in Gaza. Have to get that done. You have to get it done,” Trump said.  “Unfortunately, Hamas has repeatedly rejected reasonable offers to make peace. We can’t forget October 7th, can we? Now, as if to encourage continued conflict, some of this body is seeking to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state … this would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including October 7th.” His remarks came one day after French President Emmanuel Macron announced his nation would recognize a Palestinian state, hosting a meeting at the United Nations General Assembly along with Saudi Arabia on a two-state solution.  ISRAEL CALLS UN PUSH FOR PALESTINE STATEHOOD A ‘CHARADE,’ WARNS OF ‘CONSEQUENCES’ FOR RECOGNITION MOVES Several other longtime Israeli allies — the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada — did the same on Sunday, citing the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and expanding settlements and violence by settlers in the West Bank. The U.S. remains squarely on the side of Israel, and Trump said such recognition undermines efforts to free hostages held in Gaza and risks emboldening Hamas. “Even while they refuse to release the hostages or accept the cease-fire, instead of giving to Hamas and giving so much because they’ve taken so much, they have taken so much. This could have been solved so long ago,” Trump said. “Instead of giving in to Hamas as ransom demands, those who want peace should be united with one message: release the hostages now. Just release the hostages.” Trump said he always knew the last 20 remaining hostages would be “the hardest” to get back — but said the bodies of the deceased were just as important to reclaim. “Those parents came to me and they want them back … as though they were alive. They want them every bit as much as if their son or daughter were alive.” On Monday, France became the first major Western nuclear power and a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council from the G7 to formally recognize Palestine. MACRON STAKES ANTI-TRUMP GLOBAL ROLE WITH GAZA INITIATIVE AT UN SUMMIT Macron said: “The time has come to no longer talk about the existence of Israel — it’s self-evident. The time has come to do justice to the Palestinians, to recognize the state of Palestine.” “We must do this to save lives.” Meanwhile, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon warned there will be “consequences” for nations that recognize Palestine.  On Tuesday, Trump will hold a closed-door meeting with Arab leaders who are expected to implore him to urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do more to end the war in Gaza. Trump is expected to present his Middle Eastern counterparts with the U.S. outlook for peace and post-war governance in Gaza.

Jurors begin deliberations in Trump golf course assassination attempt trial

Jurors begin deliberations in Trump golf course assassination attempt trial

Jurors in Fort Pierce, Florida, began deliberations Tuesday in the federal criminal trial of Ryan Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at his Palm Beach golf course last year. Routh, 59, faces five federal charges, including attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, and multiple firearms offenses. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted, he could face life in prison. Prosecutors used their closing arguments Tuesday to emphasize both the digital and forensic evidence presented at trial and what they described as Routh’s clear intent: to kill Trump.  “This was not a publicity stunt,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Browne told the jury. “The evidence has shown one thing and one thing only — the defendant wanted Donald Trump dead,” Browne said, adding that the worst part was that he “almost got away” with it. Browne told jurors that Routh “excessively” stalked Trump’s locations and whereabouts in the weeks before the alleged assassination attempt on Sept. 15, 2024.  He noted that Routh allegedly traveled on 17 separate occasions to scope out the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. These were “reconnaissance” missions, Browne argued. TONY HAWK, TAIWAN AND A FLASHLIGHT: TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SUSPECT’S BIZARRE DEFENSE Browne reminded jurors that there were 19 rounds found in the magazine of the SKS rifle recovered at the scene, including one in the chamber.  There is “no doubt, no reasonable doubt, no doubt whatsoever that it was the man,” Browne said, pointing at Routh, “who was hiding” in the sniper’s nest.  Browne told jurors that his motives were also on clear display, pointing to lyrics from a rap song Routh wrote about killing Trump with a sniper rifle — one he penned after he was caught and arrested by the FBI.  “It’s not every case where the defendant writes down his intent on a piece of paper,” Browne said. The prosecution spent most of its time Tuesday focusing on count one of the five federal criminal charges Routh is facing: Attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate.  JURY SEATED IN TRIAL OF MAN ACCUSED OF TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT The contrast between Routh’s defense and federal prosecutors is a dynamic that has been on stark display throughout the trial.  Federal prosecutors spent roughly two weeks walking jurors through hundreds of exhibits and testimony from 38 witnesses to make their case against Routh. Prosecutors methodically built their case with cellphone data placing Routh at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, where they said he created a “sniper’s nest” near the sixth hole. They also introduced bank records, burner phone purchases, and DNA evidence linking him to the SKS rifle recovered at the scene. TRUMP TRIAL CONTINUES WITH MORE FBI TESTIMONY AFTER RIFLE CALLED ‘PREPARED TO FIRE’ CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has grown increasingly frustrated with Routh’s decision to represent himself without a law degree or formal training. Before adjourning Monday, she warned him that any arguments must be “reasonably tied to the admitted evidence.” Routh confirmed he understood and told Cannon he would not testify on his own behalf, despite her repeated offers for him to reconsider and consult with standby counsel. Fox News’ Samantha Daigle and Jennifer Johnson contributed to this report.

Israel killed my spouse. Now I raise alone a son who’ll never have a father

Israel killed my spouse. Now I raise alone a son who’ll never have a father

In Gaza, the war will not end when the bombs stop falling. It will continue to hurt us from within, having left behind wounds that cut deep – wounds that are not reported in casualty figures or news broadcasts. For my family, one of the cruellest reminders of this truth is my youngest son, Malik. At one year and four months, he has never seen his father. Anas, his father and my husband, was killed by an Israeli air strike while he was reporting as a freelance journalist in Gaza City. I was four months pregnant at that time. When I discovered I was expecting just before the genocide started, Anas was overjoyed. We spent evenings dreaming together of building a future for ourselves and our children, of having a new home, of continuing our studies – him pursuing a PhD and I: a master’s degree. We discussed baby names and agreed that if the baby were a boy, he would be called Malik. We never settled on a girl’s name. Israel did not only take my husband from me and the dream of growing old together, but also silenced a voice dedicated to exposing its crimes in Gaza. After his death, many urged me to name the baby after him, but I could not. I wanted to honour Anas’s own choice, so I named him Malik. Before the war shattered our lives, Anas had poured himself into fatherhood. With our first son, Ibrahim, now three years old, he was not just a father but a constant companion. I have countless photos and videos of the two together: Anas feeding him, taking him along to prayers, carrying him to work. When I attended university classes, Anas proudly stayed home with Ibrahim, tending to him with patience and devotion. Advertisement Those memories are now priceless treasures. Ibrahim has a living memory of his father’s love that he can turn to whenever absence becomes too difficult to bear. He can watch his father’s smile, hear his laughter, and feel his presence through the moments captured before war took him away. Malik, however, was born into his father’s absence. He has no photo, no video, no moment where his father’s face meets his eyes. He came into this world carrying a void that only stories can attempt to fill. Each time I look at Ibrahim’s images with his father, my heart breaks a little more. Not only because Anas is gone, but because Malik’s inheritance is emptiness. How will he find strength in a father he never knew? How will he build resilience without even a single memory to cling to? I will tell him, of course, how Anas longed for him even before he was born, how he imagined holding him and planned a bright future for him. But words alone cannot replace the tangible comfort of a father’s embrace, the warmth of his voice, or the touch of his hand. Our story is not an exception. It is part of a broader reality lived by thousands of children in Gaza. Children born orphans, or losing their mothers or fathers in their early years, deprived of the most basic right: to have a memory of the people who brought them into this world. These are not merely personal tales, but a collective wound that deepens every day. The Israeli occupation does not stop at killing the living – it robs future generations of memory, of connection, of even a single image or fleeting moment. A photo, a video, a shared smile – such simple things, taken for granted elsewhere, are impossible for so many children here. These are children who grow up with fragments, stories passed down to fill the voids left behind by their parents. I carry the weight of being a mother and a father, a caretaker and a memory-keeper. I work multiple jobs to feed them and try to secure a childhood for them, despite the genocide and the death of their father. I try to build Malik’s connection to his father through words, weaving a story strong enough to overcome the absence. Yet I know that despite my stories, he will never know what it is like to hear Anas’s laugh or feel the warmth of his embrace. This is the hidden cruelty of this genocidal war: It not only kills, it robs us of memories. It forces us to fight for remembrance as fiercely as we fight for survival. For children like Malik, memory must be invented, patched together from stories, to resist the erasure of their parents’ lives. Advertisement I write this story not to drown in grief, but to preserve what fragments I can for my sons. I write because, in a time when we are being silenced and erased, writing itself becomes resistance. Perhaps these words will give Malik something that ties him to his father. Perhaps, they will get the world to pay attention, to take action, to stop the massacres that leave children like my son struggling in the absence of a parent. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Adblock test (Why?)

Ugandan President Museveni, in power since 1986, to seek another term

Ugandan President Museveni, in power since 1986, to seek another term

Yoweri Museveni urges supporters to back his vision for the future as he seeks to run for a record seventh term. Published On 23 Sep 202523 Sep 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Uganda’s long-time President Yoweri Museveni has been confirmed to stand in the January 2026 elections, as he seeks to extend his nearly 40-year rule in the African country. Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, on Tuesday urged supporters to back his vision for the future after electoral officials near the capital, Kampala, announced that the 81-year-old leader would be on the ballot. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The governing National Resistance Movement (NRM) party officially confirmed him in June as its presidential candidate. In a post on X, Museveni thanked his supporters for entrusting him to run again for the 2026-2031 term. “In this economy, the GDP of Uganda has doubled currently in the recent Kisanja from $34 billion to $66 billion,” he wrote. He has promised to make Uganda a $500bn economy in the next five years. “You have everything today that you lacked in the past: electricity, roads, telephones, manpower, the educated people, and peace. That’s why we are being flooded by many investors because they are looking for a peaceful and profitable area where to invest,” he added. In a list of pledges for the next term, Museveni said the party’s priorities would focus on wealth creation, education, infrastructure, crime, corruption, health and water. Our priorities for this term include: 1. Wealth creation: Everybody should be involved in the money economy. 2. Education: All children in government primary and secondary schools should study for free. 3. Infrastructure: Roads should be tarmaced on time and maintain the… pic.twitter.com/KhDcNeyJaH — Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) September 23, 2025 Advertisement Museveni came to power in 1986 after his NRM party waged a rebellion to depose the military regime of General Tito Okello. After the NRM won the war, Museveni, the then-leader of the movement’s armed group, declared himself president. Since then, the president has been elected in subsequent elections. In 2017, an amendment to the constitution removed the age limit for presidential candidates, which had been set at 75, allowing Museveni to continue ruling the country. But the leader’s main political opponent, Bobi Wine, a former musician, is expected to be announced as a candidate in the upcoming election later this week. During the 2021 elections, Wine secured 35 percent of the vote, with Museveni taking 58 percent in his worst-ever result. While Wine accused Museveni of alleged voter fraud and ballot stuffing, his performance during the election placed him as the strongest challenger to Museveni’s rule. Wine also has a large following among working-class communities in urban areas, with his National Unity Platform party holding the most seats of any opposition party in the national assembly. Adblock test (Why?)

House Oversight probes whether American retirees’ pension funds are being weaponized: ‘Progressive playbook’

House Oversight probes whether American retirees’ pension funds are being weaponized: ‘Progressive playbook’

FIRST ON FOX: The House Oversight Committee is setting its sights on insurance companies that may have discriminated against entities with right-wing views. The panel is also looking into whether retirees’ pension accounts were being used to invest in progressive policies they may not necessarily agree with, Fox News Digital has learned. “The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating improper restrictions on access to capital and capital markets of individuals and entities based on political viewpoints or involvement in certain industries (such as cryptocurrency, energy, and firearms),” Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., wrote to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). “The Committee has engaged with whistleblowers who had their insurance policies cancelled for widely-held political positions or for operating legal businesses considered out of favor by progressive activists.” HOUSE PASSES TRUMP-BACKED PLAN TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN The move is an expansion of the House Oversight Committee’s ongoing investigation into whether public financial institutions engaged in debanking against people and entities with right-wing views. Comer is also probing whether companies implementing progressive policies are doing so at the expense of millions of retired Americans’ personal investments. He wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in his capacity as acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), that his panel “is investigating the prolific use of proxy proposals and other activism targeting corporate boards of directors by activists pursuing political agendas at the expense of the retirement and personal savings of Americans.” BILL BARR TESTIFIES HE DIDN’T SEE INFO THAT WOULD ‘IMPLICATE’ TRUMP IN EPSTEIN CASE, COMER SAYS “Specifically, the Committee seeks to understand how giant investment managers and pension fund managers, aided by proxy advisory firms, sidestepped or abandoned their fiduciary duties to beneficiaries to pursue a political agenda and whether new legislation is needed to protect investors,” Comer stated. “At a minimum, Americans deserve to fully know if their hard-earned savings are being used in a progressive playbook.” The letter accused certain large asset management firms like BlackRock of putting clients’ money into green energy initiatives, for example, rather than more profitable areas, in order to promote a left-wing agenda. BlackRock pushed back on such accusations in a public statement on its website, however. “One of the most critical tasks of an asset manager is to provide clients with insights on short- and long-term trends in the global economy that can impact their portfolios. We do this across all sectors – from healthcare to technology to energy,” the company wrote. “Climate risk is one such trend given its implications for the economy. We believe that companies that better manage their exposure to climate risk and capitalize on opportunities will generate better long term financial outcomes.” BlackRock’s website also asserted that the “choice of where to invest ultimately rests with our clients.” “We are bound to adhere to their investment guidelines and objectives. We do not dictate particular investment strategies,” it said. And on a broader scale, the committee looking into whether publicly-traded companies are running afoul of President Donald Trump’s executive order outlawing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices by simply listing it under another name. “[T]he Committee remains concerned following reports of publicly traded companies intentionally camouflaging or rebranding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies to hide such discrimination from “the Trump Administration, courts or influential activists,’” Comer wrote to several organizations opposing corporate discrimination, including the Alliance Defending Freedom.  “At minimum, shareholders and retirement plan beneficiaries deserve transparency around discriminatory practices employed by corporate directors and officers as such behavior is rebranded. Replacing DEI and ESG titles with ’employee engagement’ or ‘inclusion and impact’ represents yet another deceptive practice.” Trump’s order, signed in January 2025, barred financial institutions, major corporations, colleges and universities, law enforcement agencies and specific industries like medicine and commercial airlines from promoting or implementing DEI standards. Comer accused the previous White House of promoting discriminatory practices, however, in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The Oversight Committee is investigating discriminatory practices in the American financial system and the Biden Administration’s role in supporting them,” he wrote. “Whether it is using the boardroom to achieve what the political left could not accomplish at the ballot box, or canceling Americans’ insurance policies and debanking them for their political views, these actions are wrong and deprive Americans of their constitutional rights.” Fox News Digital reached out to the IRS and NAIC for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Donald Trump attacks United Nations during UNGA speech

Donald Trump attacks United Nations during UNGA speech

NewsFeed US President Donald Trump attacked the United Nations as he told the UN General Assembly that he has helped to end seven wars – and complained about a faulty UN escalator. Published On 23 Sep 202523 Sep 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)