‘Impressive’: PM Modi congratulates Thalapathy Vijay’s TVK after blockbuster performance in Tamil Nadu elections 2026
In his X post, PM Modi said he was grateful to the voters of Tamil Nadu who supported the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the TN elections. “We will always remain at the forefront in addressing people’s issues and improving their lives,” he said.
Assembly Elections Results 2026 Live Update: PM Modi hails BJP’s win in West Bengal, Assam, by-elections, calls its win ‘Trust in Democracy’
Assembly Elections Results 2026 Live Update:
West Bengal Election Results 2026: Mamata Banerjee concedes defeat after trailing Suvendhu Adhikari, claims TMC ‘will bounce back’
West Bengal Election Results 2026 Live Updates: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has conceded defeat after trailing her rival BJP’s Suvendhu Adhikari in her Bhabanipur seat. She was constantly leading in her seat till late evening.
How the unreported killing of an American by ICE shattered two Texas families
Josh Orta was the sole witness of Ruben Martinez’s death to dispute the government’s account. Months later, he died in a crash after learning an ICE agent killed his friend. Their mothers blame the government for their loss.
How the Voting Rights Act reshaped Texas’ electoral maps by empowering voters, candidates of color
The Supreme Court weakened Section 2, the linchpin of the 1965 civil rights legislation that prohibits diluting the electoral power of voters of color. But the statute’s fingerprints can be seen all over Texas’ maps.
Texas’ 18th Congressional District Democratic runoff: Who is running and what to know
The Democratic runoff for the Houston-based seat — a longtime bastion of Black political power — pits the Texas delegation’s newest member, Christian Menefee, against one of its longest-tenured, Al Green.
Socialist Mayor Mamdani bashes ICE after chaotic protest leads to arrests: ‘Cruel and inhumane’
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani ripped into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a crowd of anti-ICE demonstrators attempted to disrupt the arrest of an illegal immigrant accused of assault and drug possession, according to a local outlet. Mamdani, a prominent socialist and immigrant politician, told Gothamist on Sunday that he had not seen videos circulating online of the anti-ICE protesters at the hospital, but said, “I’ve said time and time again, ICE raids are cruel and inhumane.” He added, “They do nothing to serve in the interest of public safety,” per the outlet. Nine demonstrators were detained Saturday night after protests erupted in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood over ICE’s arrest of Chidozie Wilson Okeke, an illegal immigrant from Nigeria with previous arrests on assault and drug possession charges, according to the Department of Homeland Security. ANTI-ICE DEMONSTRATORS DETAINED AFTER PROTESTING ARREST OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT FACING ASSAULT, DRUG CHARGES Mamdani was not the only New York City politician to criticize the ICE operation. Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso posted on X that “ICE’s presence in Bushwick is deeply alarming.” He encouraged followers to report federal agents, writing, “If you see ICE in your neighborhood, call or text the Hands Off NYC hotline.” Reynoso applauded the demonstrators, writing, “To our neighbors who quickly mobilized last night, thank you for making it loud and clear that ICE is not welcome in Brooklyn.” Democratic state Sen. Julia Salazar, who represents Brooklyn, also posted on X encouraging residents to report ICE agents’ presence. She also called it “concerning” that so many New York Police Department officers were deployed for what she called “clearly a justified gathering by local residents.” According to DHS, Okeke refused to comply with ICE agents’ commands to exit his car and attempted to hit them with the vehicle. He is accused of being “physically combative” and attempting to punch and elbow ICE agents. PROTESTS ERUPT AS ICE AGENTS RAID NYC CHINATOWN STREET VENDORS ALLEGEDLY SELLING COUNTERFEIT GOODS “Our officers followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to make the arrest,” DHS said in a statement. After his arrest, Okeke was taken to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center for a medical evaluation. Okeke “remained non-compliant during the medical evaluation, throwing himself to the floor and screaming,” DHS said, adding that he was eventually cleared by medical staff. Okeke entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2023 and overstayed his visa that required him to leave the country by Feb. 26, 2024, DHS said. Video shows ICE agents dragging Okeke out of the hospital following his medical evaluation. During the medical evaluation, a crowd of anti-ICE protesters gathered outside the hospital. DHS said the group damaged several ICE vehicles and assaulted agents, causing minor injuries. New York City Councilmember Sandy Nurse, a Democrat, posted on X that she was among the crowd of protesters on Saturday night from 11 p.m. to 3 in the morning. She referred to the arrest as a “kidnapping,” writing, “We did not have any information about the person ICE had detained, although we tried many times to get information.” She observed that through coordination with the NYPD, ICE was able to transport the arrestee back into federal vehicles and depart. Nurse thanked the New Yorkers “who dropped everything and showed up to demand ICE out of our neighborhood.” She also encouraged locals to report ICE agents’ presence in the area. NEW YORK CITY ICE RAID NETS 9 ARRESTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS FROM WEST AFRICA, 4 PROTESTERS ALSO ARRESTED Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani for comment. Fox News Digital also reached out to Reynoso, Salazar and Nurse for comment. Mamdani has previously said on ABC’s The View, “I am in support of abolishing ICE.” “What we see is an entity that has no interest in fulfilling its stated reason to exist,” he continued. “We’re seeing a government agency that is supposed to be enforcing some kind of immigration law, but instead what it’s doing is terrorizing people — no matter their immigration status, no matter the facts of the law, no matter the facts of the case.” Of the nine people taken into custody on Saturday night, eight were arrested and charged with resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief, the NYPD said. One person was issued a summons and released.
6 months to midterms: The Senate seats that could tip the balance of power
With six months to go until this year’s midterm elections, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chair, Sen. Tim Scott, says he believes the GOP can not only hold but expand its current 53–47 majority. “There’s no doubt the climate has gotten more and more difficult by the day,” Scott, R-S.C., acknowledged in a recent Fox News Digital interview. But he emphasized he remains “incredibly optimistic” heading into the midterms as he defends the GOP’s Senate majority. Republicans — as the party currently in power — were already up against traditional political headwinds that lead to a loss of congressional seats. Add to that the challenging climate fueled by persistent inflation, rising gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and President Donald Trump’s underwater approval ratings. Scott’s rival and counterpart at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, is optimistic that Democrats can flip the chamber. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital earlier this year she sees “all the makings of a blue wave.” DEMOCRATS BUILD MIDTERM MOMENTUM BUT REPUBLICANS STILL IN DRIVER’S SEAT IN SENATE MAJORITY BATTLE Here’s a look at the 10 Senate seats most likely to flip and potentially flip the balance of power in the chamber. Republican Sen. Susan Collins is running for re-election for a sixth six-year term in blue-leaning Maine. Collins is the only Republican senator running for re-election this year in a state that then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried in her 2024 presidential election defeat to Trump. And Collins has seen a deterioration of her poll numbers among Mainers from her last re-election six years ago. But Collins, who has long been a top DSCC target, has proven tough to beat. STRATEGY SESSION: TRUMP TEAM HUDDLES ON MIDTERM MESSAGING Facing Collins will likely be veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner, the all-but-certain Democratic nominee after two-term Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race last week. Platner is backed by progressive champions Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Republican groups supporting Collins are already blasting Platner over controversial comments he made over a decade ago on Reddit about rape, and a well-publicized tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol. Republicans are defending an open seat in the southeastern battleground state, with GOP Sen. Thom Tillis retiring at the end of this year. Democrats landed their top recruit when former two-term Gov. Roy Cooper launched a Senate campaign last summer. Cooper enjoys tons of name ID in North Carolina and is 6-0 when running statewide races. Republicans are rallying around former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley, who has the president’s backing. The Cook Report, a top nonpartisan political handicapper, recently shifted the race from toss-up to lean Democrat. Democrats scored another major recruiting victory when former longtime Sen. Sherrod Brown announced he would challenge Republican Sen. Jon Husted. A former lieutenant governor, Husted was appointed to the Senate a year ago after then-Sen. JD Vance stepped down to serve as vice president. Ohio, once a premier general election battleground, has turned red over the past decade, and Democrats view Brown as their only competitive candidate in the race to serve the final two years of Vance’s term. Brown lost re-election in 2024 by roughly four points while Trump carried Ohio by 11 points. But the Cook Report last month shifted its ranking from lean Republican to toss-up, noting that “even recent GOP polling” has indicated the race is all knotted up. Republicans view first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Democrat seeking re-election in 2026. But Ossoff has built a massive war chest while the GOP faces a nasty three-way primary battle for its nomination in the crucial southeastern battleground state. The Cook Report recently shifted the race in Georgia from toss-up to lean Democrat. The GOP’s aiming to flip an open seat in battleground Michigan, where Sen. Gary Peters is retiring. Former Rep. Mike Rogers, who won the 2024 GOP Senate nomination in Michigan but narrowly lost to Rep. Elissa Slotkin, is making a second straight bid and is the all-but-certain GOP nominee. Democrats are dealing with a three-way fight between center-left Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a self-described “pragmatist,” and progressive physician Abdul El-Sayed, who is backed by Sanders. The primary has already exposed numerous Democratic Party divisions and provided Rogers, who is backed by Trump, with plenty of ammunition, and the nominee won’t be decided until August. Democrats were given a big boost in the red-leaning state when former Rep. Mary Peltola announced in February that she would challenge GOP incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan. Peltola lost re-election 15 months ago in the at-large district that covers the entire state by three points, while Trump carried Alaska by 11 points. Longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is in the middle of a competitive and combustible GOP nomination runoff battle against state Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton. Trump, to date, has stayed neutral in the runoff, which will be held in late May. Cornyn enjoys the backing of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and the NRSC, which worries that the seat would be vulnerable if Paxton, who has plenty of political baggage, wins the primary. The Democrats, who are eyeing the seat in the right-leaning state, nominated state Rep. James Talarico, a rising star in the party. Talarico hauled in an eye-popping $27 million in fundraising the first three months of this year. Republicans are hoping to flip the long-held Democratic Senate seat in New England’s only swing state, thanks to the retirement of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the first woman in the nation’s history to be elected governor and senator. Four-term Rep. Chris Pappas is expected to capture the Democratic Senate nomination in the state’s early September primary. There’s a primary race on the Republican side between two former senators seeking a return to Capitol Hill. Former Sen. John E. Sununu, an older brother to former Gov. Chris Sununu, has the backing
Blanche turns the tables on Comey indictment critics: ‘Rest assured’ case goes beyond Instagram post
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche insisted Sunday that the indictment against former FBI Director James Comey rests on more than just an “8647” Instagram picture, saying new evidence would come to light in court to support the government’s claim that Comey’s post amounted to a criminal threat against the president. Blanche provided the remarks during a “Meet the Press” interview as he was grilled about the credibility of the high-profile case and whether it was politically motivated. The charges hinge on whether prosecutors can prove the former FBI director’s intent, a key legal threshold. Blanche signaled the Department of Justice will present broader evidence in court to support the charge while rejecting claims the prosecution was driven by President Donald Trump’s past clashes with Comey. “You prove intent like you always prove intent,” Blanche said. “You prove intent with witnesses. You prove intent with documents, with materials. … This is not just about a single Instagram post. This is about a body of evidence that the grand jury collected over the series of about 11 months.” The term “86” is understood as slang to get rid of someone or something, rooted in restaurant usage for an unavailable item or refused customer. Prosecutors allege that, paired with “47” — a reference to Trump as the 47th president — Comey’s post amounted to a threat. HOW JAMES COMEY’S INDICTMENT COULD GO SOUTH FOR THE DOJ Blanche noted that threatening the president was a common criminal charge. But he said the DOJ does not prosecute everyday mentions of “8647,” such as paraphernalia featuring the numbers being sold on Amazon, and that other factors were in play in Comey’s case. “Rest assured that the career assistant United States attorneys in North Carolina, the career FBI agents, the career Secret Service agents that investigated this case didn’t just look at the Instagram post and walk away…. So I am not permitted to get into the details of what the grand jury heard or found,” Blanche said. “But rest assured that it’s not just the Instagram post that leads somebody to get indicted.” The DOJ brought two charges against Comey in federal court in North Carolina last week alleging an Instagram post he made last year of seashells on the beach amounted to a threat to harm or kill Trump. The post prompted an outcry from social media users, who accused Comey of threatening Trump, his longtime political nemesis, leading Comey to immediately delete the image and issue an apology. Comey said at the time he did not realize the number “86” was associated with violence. FORMER FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY MEETS WITH SECRET SERVICE AFTER CONTROVERSIAL ’86 47′ POST Then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem responded by announcing that U.S. Secret Service would investigate the post, and Comey voluntarily met with federal agents at the time for an interview, though no charges were brought. The case marks the Justice Department’s second recent prosecution of Comey, after a separate indictment alleging he lied to Congress was tossed on procedural grounds. The DOJ is appealing that decision. Blanche was also questioned over whether Comey was charged because Trump explicitly called for the DOJ to bring criminal charges against him and other political foes in a Truth Social post last fall, calling them “guilty as hell” and saying “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” “Do the American people think that nothing was done on those cases until President Trump posted that Truth in September?” Blanche asked. “No, these are ongoing investigations.” The latest indictment against Comey has faced widespread criticism as Democrats and some Republicans argue the charges present a free speech problem and do not rise to the “true threat” standard established by the Supreme Court. Comey’s attorney said in court that he plans to ask the judge to toss out the charges because they were selective and vindictive. Still, the DOJ and Trump allies are standing firmly behind the charges as they warn critics to wait to hear evidence before jumping to conclusions. Comey’s arraignment is slated for May 11 in Greenville. Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ and Comey’s lawyer for comment.
Rashida Tlaib’s new ‘Unhoused Bill of Rights’ would protect homeless camping
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., introduced legislation last week that would significantly expand rights for the homeless and overhaul how the government treats Americans living on the streets by siphoning billions from defense spending. The “Unhoused Persons Bill of Rights” calls for government-led intervention to end homelessness over the next three years and introduces more than a dozen protections for homeless people. If passed, Tlaib‘s legislation would include freedom of movement for homeless people in public spaces, affordable housing, “livable” wages, universal healthcare and panhandling. Under the resolution, homeless individuals would have the “right to uninhibited access” to public parks, transportation, facilities, sidewalks, buildings, restrooms and other spaces — meaning they could legally set up camp in such public spaces. LEFTIST LAWMAKERS WANT TO MAKE HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS A NATIONWIDE CRISIS The homeless population would also be given the right to internet access and the necessary technology to achieve that. A spokesperson for Tlaib did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment regarding how that provision would work in practice. While the resolution is nonbinding, meaning it does not carry the force of law, Tlaib’s recommendations indicate how the left could push for changes to homeless policy if Democrats retake power in Washington after the 2026 midterms. Tlaib’s proposal would, however, grant the homeless population “freedom from harassment” by law enforcement, private businesses, property owners and “housed residents.” Specifically, homeless individuals would be given protections against “banishment” from private property, which the Michigan Democrat’s measure characterizes as a violation of an individual’s “fundamental civil and human rights.” The homeless population grew to more than 771,000 in January 2024, its highest-ever recorded level, according to a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) report released that year. EX-‘SQUAD’ DEM APPEARS TO BE LEANING ON RADICAL ACTIVIST AT CENTER OF DAMNING TLAIB REPORT IN COMEBACK BID Several provisions of Tlaib’s resolution appear to directly challenge a Supreme Court ruling in 2024 that made it easier for cities to crack down on homelessness by allowing local ordinances to enforce bans against camping on public property. More than 100 local governments across the United States prohibited homeless camping following the court’s decision, NPR reported. Tlaib’s measure sharply criticizes state and local governments that have banned “panhandling, loitering, sleeping in tents or vehicles,” among other activities associated with the homeless population. The resolution also directs the federal government to achieve a long-shot goal of ending the “unhoused crisis” by 2029. Among Tlaib’s recommendations is requiring the Trump administration to siphon off at least $168 billion in defense spending to “permanently end and prevent” individuals from experiencing homelessness. Her resolution does not specify what the nearly 20% of annual defense spending would be used for. “Having access to a safe place to live is a human right,” Tlaib said in a statement upon introducing the legislation. “Every year, Congress passes another record-breaking military budget, and President Trump just requested a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget this year. Experts say it would cost a fraction of this to end homelessness in our country.” Tlaib’s measure is similar to a resolution first introduced by former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., in 2021. Bush, a one-time member of “the Squad,” is mounting a comeback bid to reclaim her St. Louis-based House seat in November’s midterm elections.