Republicans blast Biden administration’s snub of request for info on terror watchlist nationals
Republicans are reacting with outrage to the Biden administration’s refusal to reveal information about details of those on the terror watchlist encountered at the southern border after officials cited privacy interests for turning down a Fox request on the matter. “What is Joe Biden, this administration and the Democrats, what are they hiding?” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wondered on the “Verdict with Ted Cruz” podcast. “They have not released what countries they came from. I assume, based on their refusal to do so, that the country list is really damning.” BIDEN ADMIN REFUSES TO REVEAL TERROR WATCHLIST NATIONALITIES AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION EXPLODES ON HIS WATCH Fox News filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in October seeking the nationalities of suspects on the FBI terror watchlist arrested at the southern border entering between ports of entry by Border Patrol. The Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS) contains sensitive information on terrorist identities. It initially contained only known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) but now also includes additional individuals who represent a “potential threat to the United States, including known affiliates of watchlisted individuals. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM FOREIGN ADVERSARY HIT NEW HIGH AMID NATIONAL SECURITY FEARS Over six months later, CBP told Fox it would not provide the information, although it acknowledges the information is maintained in the Terrorist Screening Dataset. A letter from CBP says it is applying exemptions to protect the disclosure of files that may create a “clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” and must balance a public’s right to disclosure against an individual’s right to privacy. “The privacy interests of the individuals in the records you have requested outweigh any minimal public interest in disclosure of the information. Any private interest you may have in that information does not factor into the aforementioned balancing test,” it says. It also cites exemptions that protect records that would disclose techniques or procedures for law enforcement investigations and those that could be expected to endanger the life or safety of any individual. There have so far been 80 encounters of people between ports of entry this year by Border Patrol who are on the TSDS, compared to 172 in fiscal year 2023 and 98 in fiscal 2022. The response immediately brought reaction from Republicans. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS “Wow: DHS thinks the “privacy” of potential national security threats is more important than the American people’s right to know where these individuals are coming from,” Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee said on X, formerly Twitter. Following the request, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wrote to DHS and CBP that it is “critical to retain data on the number of and nationalities of gotaways who have entered the United States and remain in the country.” Issa made his own request for the nationalities of those on the TSDS and nationalities of those within and surrounding his district. “I urge you to share this critical information with me, as a Member of Congress, and with American citizens as required by FOIA.” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, had previously requested a briefing on the matter, and in a follow-up letter this week, obtained by Fox News Digital, renewed that request for a briefing. His office told Fox DHS had only offered a briefing within a sensitive facility. “There is no reason to reject providing this critical information to the public,” he said, while reiterating his request for a briefing.
Iranian president experiences ‘hard landing’ in helicopter: Iranian media
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi experienced a “hard landing” on Sunday, according to Iranian state media. Iranian media, according to multiple reports, said rescue teams were dispatched to the site, though there have been multiple conflicting reports regarding the incident. Raisi was traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province near the city of Jolfa at the time of the incident. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and the governor of the East Azerbaijan province were traveling with the president, along with other officials. “The esteemed president and company were on their way back aboard some helicopters and one of the helicopters was forced to make a hard landing due to the bad weather and fog,” Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in comments aired on state TV. SEVERAL COUNTRIES COME TO ISRAEL’S AID TO STOP IRAN BARRAGE “Various rescue teams are on their way to the region but because of the poor weather and fogginess it might take time for them to reach the helicopter,” he added. “The region is a bit (rugged) and it’s difficult to make contact. We are waiting for rescue teams to reach the landing site and give us more information,” he continued. WORLD LEADERS COLLECTIVELY CONDEMN IRAN’S ‘RECKLESS’ ATTACK AGAINST ISRAEL: ‘WE SUPPORT ISRAEL’ One local government official used the word “crash” to describe the incident, but he acknowledged to an Iranian newspaper that he had yet to reach the site himself. Raisi had been in Azerbaijan early Sunday to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third one that the two nations built on the Aras River. The visit came despite fragile relations between the two countries, including over a gun attack on Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Tehran in 2023, and Azerbaijan’s diplomatic relations with Israel, which Iran’s Shiite theocracy views as its main enemy in the region. This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
At least 66 dead as new floods hit Afghanistan’s Faryab province
Flooding damaged more than 1,500 houses, swamped more than 400 hectares of agricultural land and killed livestock. Fresh floods have killed at least 66 people in Faryab province in northern Afghanistan, says a provincial official, in the latest deadly string of disasters to hit the country in recent days. Heavy floods in multiple districts of Faryab province on Saturday night “resulted in human and financial losses”, Asmatullah Moradi, spokesman for the Faryab governor, said in a statement on Sunday. “Due to the floods 66 people were killed,” he said, adding that at least five people were injured and several others missing. The flooding damaged more than 1,500 houses, swamped more than 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of agricultural land and killed livestock in their hundreds, he said. Another 18 people had also died in floods in the same province on Friday, Moradi added. The latest disaster in Faryab came just a day after provincial authorities said 50 people were killed in flash flooding just south of the province in Ghor. According to the Kabul-based TOLONews, up to 80 percent of the city of Ferozkoh in Ghor was destroyed by the flooding. Afghanistan is prone to natural disasters, and the United Nations considers it among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Just over a week ago, more than 300 people were killed in flash flooding in northern Baghlan province, according to the UN World Food Programme and Taliban officials. The disasters are the latest to hit the impoverished country, which has seen above-average rainfall this spring. Even before the latest spate of floods, about 100 people had been killed from mid-April to early May as a result of flooding in 10 of Afghanistan’s provinces, authorities said. Farmland has been swamped drowning thousands of cattle in a country where 80 percent of the more than 40 million people depend on agriculture to survive. The rains come after a prolonged drought in Afghanistan, which is one of the least prepared nations to tackle climate change impacts, according to experts. Amid the disaster, Afghanistan is also facing a shortfall in aid after the Taliban took over as foreign forces withdrew in 2021. Development aid, which formed the backbone of government finances, was slashed. The shortfall has worsened in subsequent years as foreign governments grapple with competing global crises and growing condemnation of the Taliban’s curbs on Afghan women. Adblock test (Why?)
Arsenal, Man City: All you need to know about the EPL final day title fight
EXPLAINER Al Jazeera’s Sohail Malik speaks to former Manchester City player Nicky Summerbee about what to expect on the final day. The Premier League title race comes down to the final day with Manchester City and Arsenal separated by only two points. We take a look at how the last match day of the season shapes up and what the permutations are. Who are Manchester City and Arsenal playing on the final day? Table-topping Manchester City host West Ham at the Etihad Stadium as they seek to secure an unprecedented four Premier League titles in a row. The Hammers will finish ninth in the league no matter the outcome of the match at City as they trail Manchester United in eighth by five points while they are four points clear of 10th-placed Bournemouth. One carrot dangling for West Ham is to help out their former midfielder Declan Rice, who switched the London Stadium for Arsenal last summer. The Gunners entertain Everton at the Emirates Stadium where the pressure, similar to the Hammers, is off the Toffees. The Merseyside club are 14 points clear of the relegation zone which had been a season-long battleground following their points deduction by an independent commission which found they had breached the league’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules. What do the title rivals need to do to be crowned Premier League champions? The equation for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is quite simple: beat West Ham and they will retain the Premier League crown. Should City draw with West Ham, or worse, then the opportunity passes to Arsenal. The Gunners know that, with a two-point gap to City going into the game, they simply have to beat Everton. What Mikel Arteta’s north Londoners do have in their favour is a superior goal difference. So, should City draw and Arsenal win then the sides will finish level on points but the trophy will be heading to the Emirates for the first time in 20 years. Who will be next, @ManCity or @Arsenal? 🏆 pic.twitter.com/e9X0uFSjer — Premier League (@premierleague) May 17, 2024 How much does this title mean to Manchester City and Arsenal? It was hard to top Manchester City’s achievement in 2023, when they lifted five trophies. A domestic treble is still on the cards for the Cityzens this season, having already lifted the EFL Cup while an FA Cup final against rivals Manchester United awaits. The history that City would dearly love to make is that no side has ever won four consecutive Premier League titles. Should Guardiola’s side lose then it is an unprecedented achievement that even they could surely only ever dream of achieving in the future. So many of the greats of the game have won the three league times in a row – including Manchester United and Arsenal – but not have been able to secure a four-year stint as champions of England. For Arsenal, who won three in a row in the 1930s under Herbert Chapman, coming out on top of the table on Sunday would end a 20-year wait for a Premier League title. They last lifted the trophy under Arsene Wenger. It was the Frenchman’s third league title with the Gunners, who created their own piece of history by going through the season unbeaten when they lifted the second of Wenger’s three trophies. Has the Premier League come down to the final day before? There have been some thrilling final-day finishes in the title race, but the most famous example was Sergio Aguero’s late winner for Manchester City in 2011-12. The Argentinian netted a stoppage-time winner against bottom-of-the-table Queens Park Rangers to hand City their first league title since 1967-68. It denied Sir Alex Ferguson back-to-back titles that season and delayed the Scot’s retirement plans as he stayed on one more year to win back the trophy for a 13th and final time. The bad news for Arsenal is that no side has come from second to win the Premier League on the final day of the season. To that extent, they would create history themselves if they denied City the unprecedented fourth consecutive crown. Adblock test (Why?)
Helicopter carrying Iran’s president suffers ‘hard landing’: State TV
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, Iranian state media say search operations are under way after incident near Jolfa in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has suffered a “hard landing”, state television reported, saying more details will follow soon as search operations are under way for the helicopter. Iranian state media said the incident occurred on Sunday near Jolfa in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. A day earlier, Raisi was in neighbouring Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam alongside President Ilham Aliyev. State-linked media said three helicopters were in the convoy, and the two others made it back safely. Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of the Iranian supreme leader to the province, are believed to have been in the same helicopter as Raisi. Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Housing and Transportation Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash were in the other helicopters that made it back safely. People who were with the president inside the helicopter managed to make an emergency call, according to the semi-official Tasnim news website. Tasnim reported that the increased hopes that the incident can be concluded “without fatalities”. Adblock test (Why?)
Swati Maliwal assault case: AAP says police seized CCTV DVR from CM Kejriwal’s home, planting stories to…
Delhi Police has booked Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s PA Bibhav Kumar for molestation and attempted culpable homicide after AAP MP Swati Maliwal’s complaint.
Trump plans audacious Bronx rally but Congressman says his borough won’t be fooled
Deep blue New York is in play. In a major throwdown to Democrats, former President Trump will host a campaign rally in the Bronx on Thursday as he sets his sights on flipping the Empire State Red this November, a situation that would have been unfathomable in 2021 when he departed the White House. Trump’s campaign announced Friday night that Thursday’s rally will take place at 6 p.m. in Crotona Park, a 127 acre public park just blocks away from the boundary line of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district. The New York Post reports that the campaign has a permit to fit 3,500 people into the space. The move comes on the heels of a record-breaking Trump rally which brought up to 100,000 supporters together in the Democratic stronghold of New Jersey last week. BIDEN RETURNS TO CAMPAIGN TRAIL AS TRUMP FORCED TO REMAIN IN COURT FOR SECOND DAY OF NEW YORK HUSH MONEY TRIAL It will mark Trump’s first rally in the state since an upstate Buffalo event in 2016. Biden topped Trump with 76% of the city’s vote in the 2020 election. Statewide, Biden took 60.87% of the vote. In announcing the rally, Trump’s campaign took several swipes at President Biden’s record over the last three and a half years in relation to crime and inflation. “Both New York City and the state at large have been ravaged by monumental surges in violent crime as a direct result of Biden’s and Democrats’ pro-criminal policies,” the campaign said in the announcement. “Murders in New York City are up 23.1 percent from 2019 levels, while felony assault is up 35.4 percent. These upticks are incomprehensible and devastating.” The campaign highlighted Trump’s fondness of the state he once called home until he switched his permanent residence to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida in 2019. Although he has been forced back to stand trial in his “hush money” case and his defamation case with E Jean Carroll. TRUMP PROSECUTORS’ CASE IS ‘DEAD’ AND CANNOT BE REVIVED, SAYS FORMER MICHAEL COHEN ADVISER “The Empire State, a place near to President Trump’s heart, has been decimated by Biden,” the statement continues. “President Trump will ease the financial pressures placed on households and re-establish law and order in New York! We can Make America Great Again by tackling lawlessness head-on, ceasing the endless flow of illegal immigrants across our southern border, and reversing the detrimental effects of inflation by restoring people’s wealth.” The rally announcement has been met with mixed responses. Rep. Ritchie John Torres, a Democrat who represents New York’s 15th congressional district where the rally is being held, blasted the former president in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The South Bronx has no greater enemy than Donald Trump, who is on a mission to dismantle the social safety net on which Bronx families depend for their survival,” Torres said. “Trump is and has always been a fraud. The South Bronx – the most Democratic area in the nation – will not buy the snake oil that he is selling. Many business owners in the borough, however, didn’t know that the rally would be taking place when contacted by Fox News Digital this morning. Liz Adreu, a manager at the Bronx restaurant Chocobar Cortes was one of those unaware but said she would “probably” vote for Trump. Reggie O, the owner of Aduanipa African & Caribbean Grill, said he supported Trump’s policies when he was in office, although he didn’t want to say who he would be voting for, adding that he thinks there’s a very real chance that the state could be flipped at some point in the future, adding that his eatery has just opened and hasn’t been on the receiving end of any crime. Inflation is putting many businesses under financial strain, especially after they weathered the economic storms of pandemic-era lockdowns. Families too are suffering, Trump’s campaign said. “New Yorkers have suffered greatly thanks to Biden’s failed policies. With prices in the Empire State up by 17.5 percent since Biden took office, New York families continue to suffer from high inflation on everyday goods,” the statement reads. Trump last month telegraphed he would be campaigning in the Big Apple when he visited Sanaa Convenience Store in Upper Manhattan. A former clerk, Jose Alba, was attacked by an ex-con there in a July 2022 incident before he infamously stabbed the perp to death in self-defense. “We’re going to come into New York, we’re making a big play for New York,” Trump told reporters outside. “I love this city, and it’s gone so bad in the last three years, four years, and we’re going to straighten New York out.”
College students lament interrupted and canceled commencement ceremonies due to anti-Israel unrest
Several Jewish university undergraduate students, many of whom had already experienced 2020 COVID-19 high school graduation cancellations, didn’t have the college graduation ceremony they had hoped for amid a wave of anti-Israel unrest on campuses nationwide. Students who spoke to Fox News Digital shared their experiences over the last few weeks, ending with abrupt commencement cancellations and surprise anti-Israel protests during ceremonies. Yola Ashkenazie, a recent Barnard College of Columbia University graduate, told Fox News Digital, “It has just been theatrics that are completely unnecessary,” when asked about the female graduate who marched across the stage at the School of Social Work commencement ceremony and tore up her diploma in an act of protest. CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY-LINKED NETWORK BEHIND ‘WELL-FUNDED’ ANTI-ISRAEL CAMPUS PROTESTS, GROUP SAYS “They have really soured the experience of me and many others at Columbia. At the end of the day, Columbia is a place of learning. It’s a place of fruitful debate, and it hasn’t been a place of learning … over the past few weeks,” Ashkenazie said. “A couple of students have posted photos of me online, holding an Israeli flag sort of like in a way to intimidate me or cyberbully me and that’s been quite unnerving.” At the University of Southern California (USC), recent master of science and green technologies graduate Mark Rayant’s commencement ceremony was canceled due to anti-Israel demonstrators that had taken over the campus. JEWISH STUDENT DEFIES ANTI-ISRAEL RADICALS WHO ‘STALKED’ HIM ON CALIFORNIA CAMPUS: WON’T BE ‘SILENCED’ The university noted that individual school commencement ceremonies, doctoral hooding ceremonies and other celebrations and activities were being held on separate dates, though it warned students and their families to “allow more time” to get to their commencements due to heightened security measures. The announcement came as USC faced intense backlash in April for barring its valedictorian, Muslim biomedical engineering student Asna Tabassum, from speaking at the commencement ceremony over safety concerns after her critics accused her of promoting anti-Israel rhetoric on social media. “So, they definitely shouldn’t have done that, because that made things really, really scary on campus,” Rayant said of USC’s decision to cancel commencement. “And the other thing I should mention is that because of their submission to these agitators, it really harmed every student’s ability to study and to get to their classes. “They have a playbook,” Rayant said. “It’s well documented that these people have been distributed materials that are essentially anarchist cookbooks.” Rayant said from his experience doing humanitarian work in Israel, “the real legitimate Palestinian people who are struggling through this,” are not the “people who are out screaming for destruction and tearing things down. “They understand the reality of the situation. They don’t want the war either. They don’t want the violence. People who have an actual stake in the conflict are likely to be the ones who want the most reasonable solutions.” Isabel Allard, a recent business administration graduate from the University of Michigan, told Fox News Digital that her commencement ceremony was also disrupted by a group of anti-Israel protesters who orchestrated a protest in the middle of the ceremony. They were greeted by a chorus of boos from the thousands in attendance. Law enforcement confronted the protesters and pushed them toward the back, where they stayed for the rest of the event, but Allard said students “couldn’t hear anything on stage.” COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT IN HANDCUFFS RIPS UP DIPLOMA ON COMMENCEMENT STAGE IN ACT OF PROTEST “Our grad speaker was Brad Meltzer. He gave an amazing speech. I didn’t hear a single word of it. They were chanting there the entire ceremony,” Allard said. Prior to the ceremony, Allard said, “we were kind of holding our breath for the very worst.” Alanna Peykar, a recent economics graduate from Duke University, shared a similar experience to Allard. Peykar’s commencement speaker, Jerry Seinfeld, was interrupted by anti-Israel agitators. “They were echoing throughout the stadiums, and they were so loud that our president had to pause because we just weren’t able to hear him,” Peykar told Fox News Digital. Peykar called the experience “deeply disappointing” as Palestinian flags were waved by protesters shouting slogans and chants. “It’s simply because he’s a Jewish man,” Peykar said of Seinfeld. “It is an American school. If there’s any flag that should be waving at our commencement, it should be an American flag. Their protests do absolutely nothing to actually help anyone.” Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
Arizona AG confirms Rudy Giuliani served in elections case amid former Trump associate’s 80th birthday party
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes confirmed that Rudy Giuliani was indicted in connection to the 2020 election case centered around former President Trump. “The final defendant was served moments ago. @RudyGiuliani nobody is above the law,” Mayes, a Democrat, wrote on X late Friday, confirming Giuliani is the 18th defendant charged in the state’s fake electors case. Mayes responded to a since-deleted post by Giuliani that read, “If authorities can’t find me by tomorrow morning: 1. They must dismiss the indictment; 2. They must concede they can’t count votes,” FOX 10 Phoenix reported. The former New York City mayor was celebrating his 80th birthday over the weekend. Sharing photos of party-goers and 80th birthday balloons in another post Saturday, Giuliani wrote to his 1.7 million followers, “FAKE NEWS ALERT: Contrary to reports from journalists who weren’t there, our early 80th birthday celebration wasn’t ‘ruined’ or interrupted. It was an incredible night w/ friends, including Steve Bannon & Roger Stone. It felt like a strategy session on how to save America!” RUDY GIULIANI FILES FOR CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY AFTER BEING ORDERED TO PAY $148M Giuliani political adviser Ted Goodman, however, confirmed in a statement reported by the Associated Press that Giuliani was served Friday night after his 80th birthday celebration as he was walking to the car. “We look forward to full vindication soon,” Goodman said in a statement Saturday. The attorney general’s spokesman Richie Taylor said in an email to the Associated Press on Saturday that Giuliani faces the same charges as the other defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges. The indictment alleges that Giuliani “pressured” Arizona legislators and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to change the outcome of Arizona’s election and that he was responsible for encouraging Republican electors in Arizona and six other contested states to vote for Trump.Taylor said an unredacted copy of the indictment will be released Monday. He said Giuliani is expected to appear in court Tuesday unless he is granted a delay by the court. Mark Meadows, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, is among others who have been indicted in the case. Neither Meadows nor Giuliani were named in the redacted grand jury indictment released earlier because they had not been served with it, but they were readily identifiable based on descriptions in the document. The Arizona attorney general’s office said Wednesday that Meadows had been served and confirmed that he was charged with the same counts as the other named defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges. With the indictments, Arizona becomes the fourth state where allies of the former president have been charged with using false or unproven claims about voter fraud related to the election. HUNTER BIDEN SUES RUDY GIULIANI OVER LAPTOP, ACCUSES EX-TRUMP LAWYER OF ‘HACKING’ Among the defendants are 11 Arizona Republicans who submitted a document to Congress declaring that Trump won in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election — including a former state GOP chair, a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate and two sitting state lawmakers. The other defendants are Mike Roman, who was Trump’s director of Election Day operations, and four attorneys accused of organizing an attempt to use fake documents to persuade Congress not to certify Biden’s victory: John Eastman, Christina Bobb, Boris Epshteyn and Jenna Ellis. Trump himself was not charged but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator. Giuliani faces other legal proceedings, and a bankruptcy judge this past week said he was “disturbed” about the status of the case and for missed deadlines to file financial disclosure reports. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay $148 million to two former election workers for spreading allegedly false information about their role in the 2020 election. Giuliani was also indicted last year by a grand jury in Georgia. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Pune: Tanker explodes in Pimpri Chinchwad, nearby hotels, houses and parked trucks damaged
A case has been registered, and police are further investigating the incident.Further details are awaited.