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Dem mayor’s spox defends meeting with controversial Chinese diplomat who praised CCP

A spokesperson for a Democrat mayor is defending a recent meeting with a controversial Chinese diplomat, who has repeatedly praised the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). “Met with Philadelphia’s Mayor Parker together with Tianjin’s Executive Deputy Mayor Liu Guiping,” Huang Ping, who’s been the consul general of China’s New York Consulate since 2018, recently posted on X. “Exchanges at the subnational level keeps fueling China-US relations. Let’s keep it going,” he added. Over the last year, Huang has appeared at several prominent universities to meet with officials despite his past statements as well as rising concerns from the American public about China’s aggressive presence in the United States. HUANG PING, ‘PURVEYOR OF CCP PROPAGANDA,’ JOINS SCHUMER, TOP NEW YORK DEMS AT CHINESE NEW YEAR PARADE Huang, who met with Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, has previously called the CCP a “great party” and has denied that China is targeting the Muslim Uyghur population in China. “There are lots of lies here, fabricated by some people with their own political agenda,” Huang said in an August 2021 interview, denying the existence of genocide and internment camps targeting Uyghurs. “As I said, there’s no genocide, not a single evidence to prove that there’s a genocide or something there. It’s just a slandering.” The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the State Department under both the Trump and Biden administrations have assessed that China is committing genocide against the Uyghurs. Since 2017, the Chinese government has reportedly imprisoned more than a million Uyghurs in concentration camps where, according to leaked documents from inside China, detainees are subjected to rape, torture, forced labor, brainwashing and forced sterilization. PROMINENT NYC VENUES REPEATEDLY HOST CHINESE OFFICIAL WHO PRAISED CCP, DENIED UYGHUR GENOCIDE “The Mayor and city officials engaged, as protocol and respect dictates, with the official representatives of China,” a spokesperson for Mayor Parker’s office told Fox News Digital in a statement when asked if the mayor was aware of Huang’s previous statements when she met with him. “This meeting was about greeting and welcoming the representatives of our Sister City Tianjin and celebrate our 45th anniversary as Sister Cities – as we were amongst the first pairs of sister cities to be established following the reestablishing of diplomatic relationships between the U.S. & China,” the spokesperson added. “Also the occasion to cheer the 50th anniversary of the first tour of the Philadelphia Orchestra in China.” In addition to praising the CCP, Huang has repeatedly promoted CCP talking points on X and amplified the agenda of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Huang previously met with Democrat lawmakers in Pennsylvania as well as with a local economic council. He has also met with a long list of officials at Ivy League and other prestigious universities. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Huang’s visits with top officials come amid growing concerns about China’s presence in the United States in a variety of sectors, from academia to government to health care to social media. “The Chinese Communist Party is playing for keeps at the nuclear level and every layer below that,” Michael Sobolik, author of “Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance,” told Fox News Digital. “And it’s not just the universities. The Chinese Communist Party is looking to infiltrate every aspect of American society.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “If we try to edit undo our way out of this whole list of infiltrations and threats that the CCP sends our direction that’s good policy work. We need to insulate ourselves. But good housekeeping is the bare minimum of waging a cold war and winning a cold war,” Sobolik continued.  “If we’re serious about winning a cold war, it’s not enough to just address these problems that the Chinese Communist Party has created for America. American policymakers need to go on the offensive and create problems for the CCP to respond to. We need to seize the initiative of this competition.” “Mayor Parker cares about the many different communities and groups in our respective cities, and will engage with stakeholders who serve and may represent them,” Parker’s office told Fox News Digital when asked about her concerns over China’s growing presence in the U.S. “President Biden and the Biden administration handle the foreign relations of the United States.” Fox News Digital reached out to Huang’s office but did not receive a response.

Boxer and MMA fighter Francis Ngannou’s 15-month-old son Kobe dies

‘Too soon to leave but yet he’s gone,’ Ngannou wrote in a social media post annoucing his son’s death. Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou’s 15-month-old son Kobe has died, the boxer said in a social media post. Ngannou, 37, posted a black and white photo with his son late on Monday and wrote, “Too soon to leave but yet he’s gone. My little boy, my mate, my partner Kobe was full of life and joy.” “Now, he’s laying without life. I shouted his name over and over but he’s not responding. “I was my best self next to him and now I have no clue of who I am. Life is so unfair to hit us where it hurts the most,” Ngannou added. 💔 pic.twitter.com/aHD685fbMQ — Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) April 29, 2024 After leaving the UFC, the French Cameroonian fighter switched to professional boxing. Ngannou was knocked out by Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia last month, his second heavyweight defeat since switching from MMA. Ngannou had pushed world champion Tyson Fury during a controversial points defeat in his first professional boxing match in Saudi Arabia last October. A few hours before revealing Kobe’s death, Ngannou had posted on X, without reference to his son: “What’s the purpose of life if what we’re fighting tooth and nail to get away from is what finally hit us the hardest? “Why is life so unfair and merciless?” The fight world reacted with messages of condolence. “I am so sorry to hear of your loss Francis, my prayers are with you and your family at this time,” wrote fellow UFC fighter Conor McGregor on X. The fighter’s manager, Marquel Martin, posted: “Please respect @francis_ngannou and his family during this traumatic time. I along with millions (of) others will be praying for their strength.” Veteran ring announcer Michael Buffer said on social media: “The entire world of sports and beyond stand crushed and painfully supportive with Francis at this time. “Please know that millions of us embrace little Kobe with our prayers.” Adblock test (Why?)

Gunman kills at least six in attack on mosque in Afghanistan’s Herat

Government spokesman says unknown armed person shot at worshippers in a mosque in Herat province, killing at least six people. A gunman stormed a mosque in western Afghanistan and killed six people, a government spokesman says. Ministry of Interior Affairs spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said “an unknown armed person shot at civilian worshippers in a mosque” at about 9pm (16:30 GMT) on Monday in Andisheh town of Guzara district in Herat province. “Six civilians were martyred and one civilian was injured,” he wrote on social media platform X early on Tuesday morning. The state-run Bakhtar News Agency gave the same death toll for the attack. Citing local sources, local media channel Tolo reported the mosque belonged to Afghanistan’s minority Shia community. A prayer leader, known as Imam, was also killed in the attack, local media reports said. The Iranian embassy in Kabul condemned the attack. While no group has yet claimed the attack, the regional chapter of ISIL (ISIS) is the largest security threat in Afghanistan and has frequently targeted Shia communities. The Taliban government has pledged to protect religious and ethnic minorities since returning to power in August 2021, but rights monitors say they have done little to make good on that promise. The most notorious attack linked to ISIL since the Taliban takeover was in 2022, when at least 53 people – including 46 girls and young women – were slain in the suicide bombing at an education centre in a Shia neighbourhood of Kabul. Taliban officials blamed ISIL for the attack. Kabul’s new rulers claim to have eliminated ISIL from Afghanistan and are highly sensitive to suggestions the group has found safe haven in the country since the withdrawal of foreign forces. Taliban authorities have frequently given death tolls lower than other sources after bombings and gun attacks, in an apparent attempt to downplay security threats. A United Nations Security Council report released in January said there had been a decrease in ISIL attacks in Afghanistan because of “counter-terrorism efforts by the Taliban”. But the report also said ISIL still had “substantial” recruitment in the country and that the armed group had “the ability to project a threat into the region and beyond”. The ISIL’s chapter spanning Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia claimed responsibility for the March attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow, where more than 140 people were killed. It was the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades. Adblock test (Why?)

NBA playoffs: LeBron’s Lakers eliminated as Nuggets’ Murray hits late hoop

Jamal Murray hit a tiebreaking 14-footer with less than four seconds left to send the host Denver Nuggets to the Western Conference semifinals with a 108-106 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of a first-round playoff series. The second-seeded Nuggets won the best-of-seven series 4-1 and will face the third-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference semifinals beginning on Saturday in Denver. “This series definitely got us ready for the next series,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said, “but that being said, we’re going to have to play much better if we want to beat Minnesota.” As he did in Game 2, Murray came alive in the fourth quarter and beat Los Angeles with a clutch jumper. He finished with a game-high 32 points, 12 in the fourth quarter, despite playing on a strained left calf. Murray said of the deja vu moment, “It’s amazing. Those are shots that you dream of as a little kid and practise in your back yard, at the playground.” Nikola Jokic had 25 points, 20 rebounds, nine assists and seven turnovers, Michael Porter Jr. scored 26 points and Aaron Gordon grabbed 13 rebounds for the Nuggets. LeBron James put up 30 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds for the seventh seeded Lakers. Anthony Davis had 17 points and 15 rebounds while playing through an injured left shoulder. The game was tight throughout the fourth quarter. Jokic hit a tiebreaking runner with 2:34 left before Austin Reaves drained a 3-pointer to give the Lakers a 102-101 lead with 2:12 to go. The teams traded baskets to keep Los Angeles in front, but Murray’s 3-pointer put the Nuggets ahead 106-104 with 1:07 remaining. James made two free throws with 26.3 seconds left to tie the score before Murray dribbled down the clock and hit a fadeaway. Los Angeles’ Taurean Prince missed a long 3-point attempt for the win at the buzzer. “It sucks to lose to the same team,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said, referring to his team’s sweep at the hands of Denver in the 2023 Western Conference finals. “Happy we broke that ice and was able to get one. Overall we won a battle and they won the war.” TALLY ‘EM UP #MileHighPlayoffs | #Road2Gold pic.twitter.com/ZovWpIL7wv — Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) April 30, 2024 LeBron James tight-lipped on future with Lakers Shortly after the game, James was asked if there was any thought he might have played his last game with the Lakers. James paused a long time before replying, “Uhhh, I’m not gonna answer that.” Asked about taking any confidence moving forward from the Lakers pushing the defending champion Nuggets, James said, “No, ‘cause we lost. … I’m not a ‘participation’ guy. We lost and you move on and see how you can get better. “Our season has been derailed all season with … injuries and guys in and out. I talked about it all year. … It’s hard to say who we are, what we can be ‘cause we have yet to be whole. I think we were only probably whole one or two times this year. I know one of them was during the in-season tournament, we got whole and we showed what we (are) capable of doing. “But we were just hit with injuries after injuries after injuries, and it’s just hard to come back from that.” If he decides to come back, James could decide whether to hit free agency or to pick up a $51.4m player option for the last year of his deal with the Lakers. James just completed his 21st NBA season, which included his 20th consecutive All-Star Game selection. He is a four-time NBA champion, a four-time NBA Finals MVP and a four-time regular-season MVP. Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) in the third quarter against the Denver Nuggets [Isaiah J Downing/USA Today Sports via Reuters] Oklahoma City Thunder sink New Orleans Pelicans, Boston Celtics beat Miami Heat Elsewhere, Jalen Williams put on a 24-point performance as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the New Orleans Pelicans 97-89 night to complete a four-game sweep of their first-round playoff series. Top-seeded Thunder advance to face either the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers or the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals. In Miami, Derrick White scored a career-high 38 points on 15-for-26 shooting, including 8-for-15 success from 3-point range, and Boston Celtics cruised to a win over Miami Heat. Jayson Tatum added 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Celtics, who seized a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. However, Boston lost Kristaps Porzingis to a calf injury in the first half. ▪️ BOS takes a 3-1 lead▪️ OKC advances▪️ DEN advances The #NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel continue Tuesday on TNT and NBA TV! pic.twitter.com/HnWiwVnezB — NBA (@NBA) April 30, 2024 Adblock test (Why?)

Columbia backs off as Trump blames Biden for antisemitic protests

College campuses are the new southern border. The way in which so many university presidents have surrendered to a small subset of Israel-hating protesters is the hottest issue in America. It signals, without question, the breakdown of order in this country, especially at our elite institutions that once commanded respect and now are paragons of cowardice. The tide is turning with hundreds of arrests – from NYU to Yale, from USC to the University of Texas – just as much of the public is fed up with students and outside agitators paralyzing one campus after another. LAW ENFORCEMENT MOVES IN ON ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS AT UT-AUSTIN At the epicenter, Columbia University, one day of arrests 10 days ago was followed by endless negotiations with demonstrators – including a few faculty members – who have effectively shut down the campus, with the school switching to hybrid classes and most Jewish students having fled the place. That impasse dragged on yesterday. House Speaker Mike Johnson, knowing he’d been heckled, created a moment by visiting Jewish students at Columbia and then addressing the media mob, calling for the resignation of the school’s leader, Minouche Shafik. President Biden should have gone there first. The White House keeps saying Biden has denounced campus antisemitism, but he hasn’t in a meaningful way; these are mostly statements from a deputy press secretary. The only time the president has said something on camera was with a couple of hard-to-hear sentences in response to a question shouted by a reporter. I get that the politics of the Israel-Hamas war are treacherous for Biden, but he knows how to get in front of the cameras when he wants to, such as claiming victory for the foreign aid bill for Israel and Ukraine (with crucial help from Speaker Johnson). Biden could have had a Sister Souljah moment for his candidacy. During the 1992 campaign, the activist said after the L.A. riots: “If Black people kill Black people every day, why not have a week and kill White people?” Bill Clinton, speaking to Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition, denounced her: “If you took the words ‘White’ and ‘Black,’ and you reversed them, you might think David Duke was giving that speech.” (Some Democratic lawmakers visited Columbia and denounced the demonstrators before Johnson did.) Fast-forward to last January, when a Columbia student and protest leader, Khymani James, met with university officials and said this, capturing it on video: “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” just like Nazis and White supremacists. “And so, yes, I feel very comfortable, very comfortable calling for those people to die.” THE ANTI-TRUMP MOVEMENT’S SECRET ZOOM CALLS GIVE THEIR TARGET AMMO What did the university do? Absolutely nothing. It wasn’t till last week, when the Daily Wire resurfaced the video, that the school put out a statement decrying the comments as unacceptable and barring James from the campus. Why no whisper of outrage earlier? Because Columbia was comfortable covering it up. And now it’s reported that the school gave James an “interim suspension.” What do you have to say to get kicked out of Columbia? Calling for millions of Jews to die isn’t enough? Does anyone believe that if a student called for Blacks to be killed or gays to be killed, he or she would be gone in an instant? The double standard could not be more blatant. (Khymani later issued a non-apology, saying he respects life but accusing Israel of genocide.) Look, I’m a free speech guy. Peaceful protest is a fundamental right, no matter how odious the message, but setting up tent encampments in the middle of a quad is a violation of the rules. So is harassing law-abiding students with chants such as “Burn Tel Aviv to the ground” and that the Oct. 7 atrocities will happen “not 10 more times, not 100 more times, not 1,000 more times, but 10,000 times.”  And there are consequences. USC has canceled its graduation. Jewish students have now essentially evacuated some of these campuses. I went to Columbia Journalism School, and I’m now a bit embarrassed by that.  Some of this is Orwellian. Two months after the 9/11 attacks, Shafik said she could understand how terrorism is protest. But terrorism is the furthest thing from protest. It’s the murder of innocent civilians. Columbia is infamous for the protests of 1968, when extremist elements of the anti-Vietnam War movement engaged in violence. But there are echoes today, and a Democratic convention heading for Chicago. The political fallout can be measured in a pair of stories yesterday. STUDENT REACTS AFTER COMMENCEMENT CANCELED DUE TO STUDENT PROTESTS The Washington Post says Donald Trump and other Republicans are “seizing on the eruption of campus protests across the country to depict the United States as out of control under President Biden.” Beyond the “disruption,” the paper says, “top Republicans have highlighted the anti-Semitic chants that have occurred at some of the protests. The issue is complicated by a debate over what constitutes anti-Semitism — and when criticism of Israel crosses that line — while some student organizers have denounced the chants or said they are coming from outside activists.” Let me stop right there. The issue is not complicated. These are not just “chants.” It’s perfectly clear what antisemitism is, what the virulent harassment of Jewish students is, what   Trump “has cited the protests to accuse Biden and Democrats of being unable to maintain order or quash lawlessness.” And that’s a fair political argument. Of course the former president, whose criminal hush money trial resumes today, has his own baggage on the law-and-order front.  The New York Times looks at Biden’s party, saying the protests “are exposing fresh tensions within the Democratic Party over how to balance free speech protections and support for Gazans with concerns that some Jewish Americans are raising about anti-Semitism.” Okay, gotta throw a flag here too. “Support for Gazans” is really support for Hamas, the terrorist group that launched the war, especially among those who engage in “from the river to

JD(s) to suspend NDA Hassan candidate Prajwal Revanna: Kumaraswamy

Prajwal (33) is the BJP-JD(S) alliance candidate for the Lok Sabha election Hassan, which went to the polls on Friday.

‘Unwarranted, unsubstantiated claims’: India slams US media report on alleged Pannun murder plot

The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, named a RAW officer in connection with the alleged plot to assassinate Pannun

Uttarakhand suspends licences of 14 products sold by Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali citing…

In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the licensing body said that it had suspended the license of 14 products manufactured by Patanjali’s Divya Pharmacy in the misleading advertisement case

BJP, Congress seek more time to respond to EC notice regarding MCC violation

ECI has invoked Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act and held party presidents responsible, as a first step, to reign in star campaigners.

Texas GOP and UT-Austin leaders shift from championing free speech to policing protesters’ intentions

The arrest of dozens of Pro-Palestinian demonstrators since last week has left First Amendment advocates asking who gets to enjoy speech protections in Texas.