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World Citizenship Report predicts 3rd term for Modi Govt with enhanced majority

World Citizenship Report predicts 3rd term for Modi Govt with enhanced majority

As India moves toward the result of the biggest election on June 4, early predictions favour the return of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for the third term. The groundbreaking research of World Citizenship Report 2024 delved into the current dynamics of the Indian election and cited that the Modi government is poised to secure an even greater majority than in previous years.

Hunter Biden’s criminal trial on federal gun charges begins with jury selection

Hunter Biden’s criminal trial on federal gun charges begins with jury selection

Hunter Biden’s criminal trial will begin with jury selection Monday morning in Delaware. The trial stems from federal gun charges brought against him by special counsel David Weiss.  Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to federal gun charges in U.S. District Court for Delaware after Weiss charged him with making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a licensed firearm dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.  With all counts combined, the total maximum prison time for the charges could be up to 25 years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release.  The trial begins nearly a year after presiding Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned a plea deal between prosecutors and Hunter Biden, which subsequently fell apart. JUDGE BARS PROSECUTORS FROM USING SOME SALACIOUS EVIDENCE IN HUNTER BIDEN’S GUN TRIAL The agreement, blasted as a “sweetheart” deal by congressional Republicans, appeared to convey broad immunity to the president’s son on a host of potential criminal charges. According to an indictment, Hunter Biden bought a Colt Cobra revolver Oct. 12, 2018, and “knowingly made a false and fictitious written statement, intended and likely to deceive that dealer with respect to a fact material to the lawfulness of the sale of the firearm … certifying he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious.”  The indictment also charges Hunter Biden with possessing that gun, which was “shipped and transported in interstate commerce,” for nearly a week despite being addicted to narcotics. HUNTER BIDEN IS IN COURT IN DELAWARE. HERE’S WHAT HE DOESN’T WANT THE JURY TO HEAR Fox News first reported in 2021 that police had responded to an incident in 2018, when a gun owned by Hunter was thrown into a trash can outside a market in Delaware. A source with knowledge of the Oct. 23, 2018, police report told Fox News it indicated that Hallie Biden, who is the widow of President Biden’s late son, Beau, and who was in a relationship with Hunter at the time, threw a gun owned by Hunter in a dumpster behind a market near a school. Hallie Biden may be required to testify during Hunter Biden’s trial.  A firearm transaction report reviewed by Fox News indicated Hunter purchased a gun earlier that month. On the firearm transaction report, Hunter answered in the negative when asked if he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance.” Hunter was discharged from the Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine. HUNTER BIDEN PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO FEDERAL GUN CHARGES OUT OF SPECIAL COUNSEL DAVID WEISS’ PROBE Judge Noreika ruled ahead of the trial that Weiss’s team cannot use some salacious evidence in the first son’s criminal trial, including references to the Navy discharge and his child support case for his out-of-wedlock daughter in Arkansas.  Noreika also said Weiss must show Hunter Biden was addicted to drugs but not necessarily using drugs the day he purchased the gun.  Noreika said the government may use part of Hunter Biden’s book in which he discusses his addiction to drugs.  The prosecution does not plan to bring out the entire infamous laptop containing details of Hunter Biden’s life but will introduce certain portions. Noreika ruled that Hunter Biden’s team will be able to question aspects of the laptop in front of the jury. The laptop, which leaked in 2020 just before the presidential election, was decried as Russian disinformation by 51 former intelligence officials. Noreika also ruled that the special counsel cannot mention Hunter Biden’s pending federal tax trial in California during the trial in Delaware, which is also part of Weiss’s investigation and scheduled for a September trial. Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to those charges — specifically, three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid. Weiss alleged a “four-year scheme” when the president’s son did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports.  HUNTER BIDEN TAX TRIAL POSTPONED TO SEPTEMBER Judge Mark Scarsi heard arguments during a pre-trial hearing in California last month. That criminal trial was scheduled for June 20, but Hunter Biden’s attorneys requested to delay the trial.  Scarsi sided with Hunter Biden’s attorneys, and moved the tax trial to Sept. 5, when jury selection will begin. 

Pentagon’s ‘barbaric’ drug testing on beagles raises hackles of pet-loving politicians

Pentagon’s ‘barbaric’ drug testing on beagles raises hackles of pet-loving politicians

Pet lovers in Congress are outraged over a new discovery that the Pentagon is reportedly funding painful experimental drug tests on beagles in pursuit of FDA approval of a pharmaceutical. A White Coat Waste Project (WCW) investigation found that the Department of Defense has spent nearly $1 million on the testing, which runs through July and involves force-feeding dogs large doses of an experimental drug to treat Lou Gehrig’s Disease. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., a founding member of the Congressional Dog Caucus, criticized the report, saying taxpayer dollars should fund innovation, not animal abuse. Mace added that she and other lawmakers previously successfully pressured then-NIAID chief Dr. Anthony Fauci to stop similar painful drug tests on puppies and solicited an admission that alternative means of testing would be possible. DOGS MAY ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND WORDS FOR THEIR FAVORITE TOYS: STUDY “It’s time to put an end to these cruel practices,” Mace said. “These barbaric and archaic practices must be stopped, and that is why we are leading the charge by introducing bills like the PAAW Act to keep our furry friends out of the hands of the NIH.” Mace’s Preventing Animal Abuse and Waste Act (PAAW Act), would amend the Public Health Service Act and prohibit the director of the NIH from conducting or funding research that causes significant pain or distress to dogs or cats. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., a top Democratic co-founder of the canine caucus, said he was disheartened to hear that beagles in particular were being experimented on in such a way: “I’ve had beagles visit my office that were rescued from cruel testing conditions, and hearing what they’ve been through is incredibly upsetting,” he said. “Taxpayers don’t want their money spent on unnecessary and harmful experiments. I will continue to work across the aisle with my colleagues to end inhumane testing on dogs.” NEW STUDY SHOWS THE EFFECT OWNING PETS HAS ON OWNERS’ BRAINS Justin Goodman, senior vice president of the taxpayer watchdog group WCW, told Fox News Digital in a Thursday interview that there is no federal mandate to test human experimental drugs on dogs, and went on to criticize the Pentagon for funding such testing anyway. “The testing is being conducted ostensibly to gain FDA approval for human trials of this drug, when the FDA has said explicitly that this kind of dog testing is not mandated to test the safety of human drugs,” he said. Goodman explained that researchers at WCW had scoured federal spending databases and recently discovered the contract. “I think a lot of this wasteful animal testing is entrenched in the fabric of these bureaucracies,” he added. “And that’s why groups like White Coat Waste are working with Congress to shake things up and stop wasteful spending on outdated and unnecessary testing on dogs and other animals that is opposed by the supermajority of taxpayers – and it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP According to WCW’s findings, the Army commissioned the experiment, and the watchdog said that such tests typically “abuse dozens of puppies and then they are killed and dissected at the end.” The Defense Department’s project began in 2023 and will run through July 31, Goodman said. The Pentagon acknowledged but did not formally respond to a request for comment by press time, and Spinogenix – the company that was listed as the grant recipient on a document obtained by WCW – did not respond to an inquiry. Fox News Digital also reached out to top members of both parties on the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus for additional comment.

China ‘afraid’ of Trump winning re-election, Taiwanese defense expert says

China ‘afraid’ of Trump winning re-election, Taiwanese defense expert says

TAIPEI, Taiwan – A Chinese government that is poised to attack Taiwan would be “afraid” of former President Trump being elected to the White House again, a Taiwanese defense expert said. Dr. Ming-Shih Shen, director of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s national security division, told Fox News Digital that Beijing’s ruling Chinese Communist Party likely views President Biden’s policy toward China as more moderate than Trump’s. “If China’s attitude is…to maintain the stability and peace in [the] Taiwan Strait and increase relations between the United States and China, then either is no problem,” Shen said. “But if China [shows] increased aggressive posture, I think China [would be more] afraid of Trump than Biden.” ‘SHUT DOWN THE WORLD’: MCCAUL WARNS OF GLOBAL ECONOMIC CATASTROPHE IF CHINA INVADES TAIWAN Shen said Trump is viewed as likely to have a “very strong” response to a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan. However, it was not just Trump himself, Shen argued, but also the officials he surrounded himself with. That includes China hawks like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Matthew Pottinger, who served on Trump’s National Security Council. China sanctioned 28 members of the former Trump administration on the same day Biden took over the White House in January 2021, including Pompeo and Pottinger, accusing them of having “violated China’s sovereignty.” Dr. I-Chung Lai, of the Taiwanese think tank The Prospect Foundation, told Fox News Digital that Taiwan has “appreciation” for both Trump and Biden’s handling of the situation between their island and China. CHINA’S THREATS, ‘NAKED AGGRESSION’ LOOM LARGE AS HOUSE LAWMAKERS MEET TAIWAN’S NEW PRESIDENT He noted, however, that there was a significant expansion of U.S.-Taiwan relations under Trump. “We…notice that it is during Trump, when he became president in the year 2016, the whole policy over time has experienced fundamental changes, as well as policy toward China, and actually for the better for Taiwan,” Lai said. “It is also under Trump that the U.S. started to regularly sent ships through the Taiwan Strait, which helped to address the security issues here tremendously.” “A lot of people here, they really appreciate what President Trump did to Taiwan, but they also expressed the similar appreciation for [what] the Biden administration [is] doing for Taiwan.” However, Trump’s more bombastic comments have made people in Taiwan nervous as well, Lai said, pointing to remarks last year in which Trump claimed the Taiwanese semiconductor industry was “stealing” jobs from the U.S. “Those are words that are a little bit concerning to us,” Lai said. HOUSE LAWMAKERS VISIT TAIWAN AS CHINA WARNS US TO STAY OUT The U.S.-Taiwan partnership in that industry is viewed as critical to both governments, with Taiwan producing roughly 60% of the world’s semiconductors. Trump made those comments after the Biden administration reached an agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd to expand its operations into Arizona. Biden’s Commerce Department signed the $6.6 billion deal, which is expected to create over 25,000 new jobs across manufacturing and construction, this past April.