James to headline another US ‘Dream Team’ at the Paris 2024 Olympics
Thirty-nine-year-old LeBron James will team up with a host of other top NBA players to go for gold at the Paris games. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer LeBron James and reigning most valuable player Joel Embiid headline an all-star lineup named to the United States men’s basketball team for the Paris Olympics. James, who has won two Olympic golds and a bronze but sat out the last two Games, will be joined by Los Angeles Lakers teammate Anthony Davis, Phoenix Suns three-time Olympic champion Kevin Durant and Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, USA Basketball announced on Wednesday. Also named to the squad were Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves), Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers), Jrue Holiday (Boston Celtics), Kawhi Leonard (LA Clippers) and Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics). All 12 members of the Paris “Dream Team” have been NBA All-Stars and include four recipients of the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and six NBA champions. “I’m grateful to these 12 men for their commitment to represent USA Basketball,” said USA Basketball men’s national team Managing Director Grant Hill in a statement. “The United States is home to some of the best basketball players in the world and I appreciate the vast interest in being part of this roster. “We have the utmost respect for the level of competition we will face this summer. The Olympics represent the pinnacle of sport and the world will be watching the USA as we play in the toughest basketball tournament in history.” The US will play in Group C with Serbia, South Sudan and the winner of a qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico on August 3. The Paris Olympics are scheduled for July 26 to August 11. Adblock test (Why?)
Chennai North Lok Sabha Election 2024: Check polling date, candidates list, past election results
The counting and announcement of results for the Chennai North Lok Sabha Constituency Election 2024 will take place on June 4.
Lok Sabha Election 2024: Campaign ends for Phase 1 polling on April 19, check state-wise schedule, key constituencies
In the first phase, numerous key constituencies will go to polls. Check out the states and constituencies that will vote on April 19:
Senators to be sworn in for Mayorkas impeachment trial ahead of expected dismissal
Senators are set to be sworn in as jurors at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday to begin consideration of the House-passed articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a process that Republicans have warned that their Democratic colleagues will try to quickly end. House impeachment managers officially delivered the articles of impeachment, which passed the lower chamber in February, to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Tuesday on the Senate floor. HOUSE DELIVERS MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT ARTICLES TO SCHUMER, SETTING UP TRIAL PROCEEDINGS The long-awaited delivery set into motion a procedure in the Senate, requiring that lawmakers be sworn in as jurors the following day to address the articles. However, Republicans have spent the last few weeks speculating that their Democratic counterparts will look to off-ramp the impeachment trial before arguments begin. This was confirmed by Schumer on the Senate floor on Wednesday morning when he confirmed his intention to seek dismissal. “For the sake of the Senate’s integrity and to protect impeachment for those rare cases, we truly need it. Senators should dismiss today’s charges,” Schumer said. “So when we convene in trial today to accommodate the wishes of our Republican Senate colleagues, I will seek an agreement for a period of debate time that would allow Republicans to offer a vote on trial resolutions, allow for Republicans to offer points of order and then move to dismiss.” Several Democratic senators have voiced support for dismissing the articles in the lead up to the trial’s consideration, including Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in a recent speech on the chamber floor. Schumer had previously stated his plans to “expeditiously” deal with the impeachment trial proceedings, without indicating the specific route the caucus was planning to take. SENATE DEMS REVEAL MASSIVE $79M AD SPEND TO PROTECT MAJORITY AHEAD OF KEY MATCHUPS Republicans have expressed outrage at the likely refusal of their colleagues to allow a full impeachment trial against Mayorkas to play out. They have even threatened to shut down the Senate by making constant objections to requests for unanimous consent on regular business if a trial isn’t seen all the way through. At a press conference following the article delivery on Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, previewed that “we’re going to see Chuck Schumer throw out 200 years of history [and] ignore the Constitution,” referencing the fact that an impeachment trial has never been tabled by the Senate. GOP SENATOR EYES LEGISLATION TO DEFUND ‘PROPAGANDIST’ NPR AFTER SUSPENSION OF WHISTLEBLOWER “He does not want these [House impeachment] managers to present the evidence of the people dying because of their policies,” he added. Several vulnerable Democratic senators were expected to be the deciding factors on whether a trial was allowed to play out. But in recent days, multiple Democrats in highly competitive races in battleground states have revealed they want to see the trial dismissed. Casey expressed his opinion for the first time on Tuesday, telling CNN, “I think we should move on and get to work on a bipartisan border security deal.” There have also been multiple Republicans whose planned votes were considered a mystery. Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, are concerns on the right, despite the conference being largely united. This unity was evidenced by 43 Republicans signing onto a letter last week calling on Schumer to allow the trial to be seen all the way through. With a narrow split in the upper chamber, agreement among the parties can be easily disrupted by just a few senators. Democrats hold the majority with just 51-49 over Republicans.
House Dems ‘very open to a deal’ to save Johnson from losing speakership
House Democrats are signaling that they are open to making a deal to help House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., keep his job if Republican rebels file a motion to oust him from leadership. Several Democrats who spoke with Fox News Digital said they think their colleagues would insulate the Louisiana Republican if he put legislation on foreign aid on the House floor for a vote – specifically singling out Ukraine and Israel – though they all maintained that they would follow the lead of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and other Democratic leaders. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters, “I think it’s unlikely I would support vacating him. We’ll see.” “The big thing is, I want a vote on Ukraine. More to the point, I want Ukraine to get the aid. We waited months longer than we should have for highly questionable reasons. Now we’re down to the last minute, Ukraine’s hanging on by their fingernails,” Smith said. ‘DEFINITION OF INSANITY’: FRUSTRATED HOUSE REPUBLICANS BLAST GOP REBELS’ THREAT TO OUST JOHNSON Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., became the second GOP lawmaker after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to threaten to file a motion to vacate against Johnson, which would trigger a vote on his ouster. Massie told Johnson in a closed-door Tuesday House GOP meeting that Johnson should step aside after a vote happens on his recently announced foreign aid plan or face the threat of losing his gavel. Democrats do not necessarily have to vote against ousting Johnson. Any vote on vacating him would likely be preceded by a vote to table the motion, which would effectively kill it. Likewise, simply not showing up to vote on a motion to vacate would make the margins more favorable for Johnson. The Louisiana Republican is leader of a razor-thin House GOP majority of just two seats. While that means that just a small amount of dissent can cost him the job, it also means he would likely only need a few Democrats to help him keep it. JOHNSON LIKELY FORCED TO GET DEM HELP ON FOREIGN AID PLAN AS REPUBLICANS DECRY LACK OF BORDER MEASURES “I think Democrats are very open to a deal, but that has to come from Republicans,” Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., said on Tuesday. When asked if Johnson would have to reach out to Democrats to initiate that deal, Moulton said, “Of course, he’s the Speaker of the House. It’s his f—ing job.” Moulton, however, said passing aid to Ukraine would not be enough in exchange for the Democrats’ help. “The bar’s been pathetically low for the Republican Party for a long time. But no, in my personal opinion, simply doing his job and allowing a democratic vote on legislation is not enough for a deal,” he said, though he did not elaborate on what a deal should entail. Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., told Fox News Digital that Jeffries signaled there is a way forward for Johnson to make a deal with Democrats. “Hakeem Jeffries has made that clear a number of times. You know, I’ve said same thing – I hate the idea of punishing Mike Johnson for doing the right thing,” Beyer, a progressive, told Fox News Digital in regard to a foreign aid plan. “The one I think most of us care the most about is Ukraine aid, and then secondarily, some kind of Israel-Gaza package.” Beyer would not say if Johnson’s proposal on foreign aid would be enough for Democrats to help him, given the lack of legislative text, but he did not rule it out, either. Meanwhile, Johnson has faced bipartisan pressure to take up the Senate’s $95 billion supplemental aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and Gaza. MASSIE THREATENS TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON IF HE DOESN’T STEP DOWN OVER FOREIGN AID PLAN “Hopefully he’s found a way to manage his disruptive caucus by breaking it into pieces…without having to put the whole Senate bill on the floor, which is apparently not a winning strategy from his perspective,” Beyer said. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said he would consider voting to table a motion to oust Johnson if he put foreign aid up for a vote – if only not to empower the right wing of the Republican conference. “At the end of the day, if my job is to make sure that we can continue the world order, and that my job is to make sure that we get our allies the aid that they need so that our allies don’t look at the U.S. as a non-functioning body anymore, and turn to China and turn to Russia, if the idea is voting for a motion to table or letting [Massie and Greene] take this all down, yeah, I would vote for motion to table,” Moskowitz said. However, Republicans were skeptical about that being a permanent safety net. “I don’t think that works,” Massie told reporters on Tuesday. “I think for every Democrat that comes to save him he’ll lose at least two or three more in our conference, and that makes it toxic.” Another GOP lawmaker who spoke with Fox News Digital suggested Johnson would lose control of the House GOP conference if Democrats saved him during a vacate vote. “I think it’s a different conference then,” the GOP lawmaker said. “If I’m the Democrats and I get asked to do that, the quid pro quo on that would make it enormously difficult to lead the conference. I mean, he’s really gonna be the leader of the uniparty then.” Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson and Jeffries’ offices for comment.
Arizona Gov Katie Hobbs vetoes ‘Women’s Bill of Rights,’ Ten Commandments bills: ‘Abandoning God’
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, vetoed bills on Tuesday that would have codified biological sex definitions and permitted teachers in public schools to read or have a copy of the Ten Commandments in their classrooms. The move drew criticism from the state Senate Republican caucus, who said Hobbs is “abandoning God” and that laws “should be based in objective reality and uniform for all Arizonans.” “Instead of helping these confused boys and men, Democrats are only fueling the disfunction by pretending biological sex doesn’t matter,” Republican Senate president Warren Petersen said in a statement. “Our daughters, granddaughters, nieces, and neighbors are growing up in a dangerous time where they are living with an increased risk of being victimized in public bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms because Democrats are now welcoming biological males into what used to be traditionally safe, single-sex spaces.” COLLEGE ATHLETICS ORGANIZATION BANS TRANS ATHLETES FROM PARTICIPATING IN WOMEN’S SPORTS SB 1628, called the “Arizona Women’s Bill of Rights,” would have made the definition of biological sexes, either male or female only, “objective and fixed.” It would exclude gender identity “or any other term that is intended to convey a person’s subjective sense of self and may not be used as a synonym or substitute for the term sex.” It would also have maintained single-sex spaces “to ensure girls’ and women’s protection and privacy in those spaces, while not changing current law or creating new restrictions on anyone’s legal rights,” according to the Republican Caucus. “As I have said time and again, I will not sign legislation that attacks Arizonans,” Hobbs said in a letter explaining her veto. TENNESSEE SENATE CLEARS BILL MAKING IT ILLEGAL TO ASSIST MINORS SEEKING ABORTIONS Another bill in the Arizona state senate, SB 1151, would have amended the state law to permit educators or administrators in any school to read or post in any school building copies or excerpts of the Ten Commandments. Hobbs wrote in her veto letter that she had “serious concerns” about the constitutionality of the bill and called it “unnecessary.” “I’m appalled the state’s top elected official is abandoning God and the very foundation our country was built upon by not allowing teachers to expose their students to the morals and ethics outlined in the Ten Commandments,” Sen. Anthony Kern, one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a statement. “When children are exposed to good, noble, honest, and righteous ideas, they are more prone to being better human beings with sound character, able to navigate life’s problems with grace, and have a greater chance of treating each other with respect and dignity throughout life.” ARIZONA SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS NEAR-TOTAL ABORTION BAN During Hobbs’ term as governor so far, she has reaffirmed her support for LGBTQ+ issues. Hobbs signed an executive order making gender transition surgeries and hormones covered under state healthcare plans last year.
GOP bill cracks down on ‘loophole’ allowing foreign donors to pump dark money into US elections
FIRST ON FOX: Senate Republicans are introducing a bill on Wednesday that aims to prevent foreign nationals from improperly influencing American elections in response to a report outlining how a foreign billionaire allegedly funneled almost $250 million into a liberal dark money network that poured almost $100 million into nationwide ballot campaigns. The Prevent Foreign Interference in American Elections Act, being introduced by Tennessee GOP Sen. Bill Hagerty, states that it will “amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to further restrict contributions of foreign nationals.” The move comes after the Senate was briefed on a new report from Americans for Public Trust that shows Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss has sent more than $243 million to the Sixteen Thirty Fund which then invested $97.6 million in ballot campaigns across 25 states over the past decade. Those states included the key swing states of Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, and Nevada. The tens of millions of dollars from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which has also been funded by George Soros, went into ballot measures promoting abortion access, lessening drug penalties and prison sentences, raising the minimum wage, automatic voter registration and other progressive causes. SWISS BILLIONAIRE HANSJÖRG WYSS RECENTLY POURED OVER $60M INTO PROPPING UP LEFT-WING GROUPS AND CAUSES Wyss, who is referred to by some as the “new George Soros”, also allegedly gave more than $135 million between 2016 and 2020 to a nonprofit that gave tens of millions to Super PACs that supported Joe Biden in 2020 and has steered tens of millions of dollars to Democratic fundraising committees, get out the vote efforts, and Democratic candidates via nonprofits. “A single Swiss billionaire, Hansjörg Wyss, has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into various left-wing causes meant to influence American politics,” Honest Elections Project Executive Director Jason Snead told Fox News Digital last year. “Since 2016 he has given at least $245 million to Arabella Advisors’ dark money behemoths New Venture Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund. In 2020 alone, CTCL (Center for Tech and Civic Life) received $25 million from New Venture Fund. CTCL and its new Alliance are opening avenues for foreign billionaires to pump funds directly into the heart of US elections.” Caitlin Sutherland, who told Fox News Digital last year that Wyss is the “most influential figure in politics that you’ve never heard of”, wrote in the report’s forward that Sixteen Thirty Fund is using Wyss’s money as part of its “war chest” to “support massive get out the vote drives, issue advocacy campaigns bolstering President Biden’s agenda, liberal pet projects from abortion to immigration, and attack ads against Republican lawmakers.” LIBERAL SWISS BILLIONAIRE’S EXTENSIVE NONPROFIT CASH TARGETED AHEAD OF 2024 ELECTION: ‘NEEDS TO BE STOPPED’ Hagerty’s bill would clarify that the existing foreign-national ban on “indirect” contributions covers attempts to circumvent the ban through intermediaries or instructions which conservatives have long argued poses a threat to Democracy when funds are dumped into dark money groups inside the U.S. from abroad. “Foreign nationals are prohibited from donating to U.S. political candidates, committees and super PACs but there is no federal law prohibiting foreign nationals from donating to ballot committees,” the report’s conclusion explains. “Some state laws exist to try to prevent this type of foreign influence, but in a majority of states, foreign nationals like Hansjorg Wyss, are allowed to write blank checks to fund ballot issues that could prioritize their interests over those of the residents of the state.” “If state and federal law permits a Swiss billiionaire to fund ballot initiative campaigns, there is nothing stopping U.S. adversaries from Communist China, Russia, or North Korea from doing the same.” The bill would prohibit foreign nationals from funding ballot harvesting and GOTV efforts, prohibit foreign nationals from funding U.S. election administration, and prohibit foreign nationals from spending money to influence ballot measures. “After years of hysteria over Russiagate and alleged foreign influence in American elections, it turns out Democrats have recently benefited from hundreds of millions of dollars in election-related contributions from a shadowy foreign billionaire, sidestepping the federal ban on foreign-national contributions in U.S. elections,” Hagerty said in a statement to Fox News Digital. SWISS BILLIONAIRE-BACKED ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SPENT BIG TARGETING MILLIONS OF BIDEN VOTERS “This type of influence undermines democracy and self-government here in America, and its staggering scope should be alarming. I’m pleased to introduce this commonsense and critical legislation that will put an end to covert foreign influence on our elections and protect Americans’ voice in electing their leaders.” In a statement, Sutherland said that “it is irresponsible and alarming that our laws leave the door open to foreign nationals and U.S. adversaries influencing American politics.” “Our report reveals that Sixteen Thirty Fund alone is acting as a conduit for massive amounts of money from a foreign billionaire with an expressed desire to reshape U.S. politics to align with his out-of-touch worldview. After years of national discourse about fears of foreign influence in our elections, this commonsense proposal to close the foreign influence loophole should be something everyone can support.” In a statement to Fox News Digital, Sixteen Thirty Fund President Amy Kurtz said, “APT is Leonard Leo’s attack machine and is targeting Sixteen Thirty Fund because they oppose our work to support progressive causes.”
Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Rahul Gandhi predicts BJP tally in upcoming polls, says it will be limited to…
Congress is contesting 17 seats in Uttar Pradesh in alliance with Samajwadi Party.
Georgia parliament advances controversial ‘Russian law’ targeting media organizations
Georgia’s parliament has voted in the first reading to approve a proposed law that would require media and non-commercial organizations to register as being under foreign influence if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. Opponents say the proposal would obstruct Georgia’s long-sought prospects of joining the European Union. They denounce it as “the Russian law” because Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatize independent news media and organizations seen as being at odds with the Kremlin. “If it is adopted, it will bring Georgia in line with Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus and those countries where human rights are trampled. It will destroy Georgia’s European path,” said Giorgi Rukhadze, founder of the Georgian Strategic Analysis Center. GEORGIA PARLIAMENT DESCENDS INTO CHAOS AS LAWMAKERS THROW PUNCHES OVER PUTIN-STYLE ‘FOREIGN AGENT’ BILL Although Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili would veto the law if it is passed by parliament in the third reading, the ruling party can override the veto by collecting 76 votes. Then the parliament speaker can sign it into law. The bill is nearly identical to a proposal that the governing party was pressured to withdraw last year after large street protests. Police in the capital, Tbilisi, used tear gas Tuesday to break up a large demonstration outside the parliament. The only change in wording from the previous draft law says non-commercial organizations and news media that receive 20% or more of their funding from overseas would have to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” The previous draft law said “agents of foreign influence.” Zaza Bibilashvili with the civil society group Chavchavadze Center called the vote on the law an “existential choice.” He suggested it would create an Iron Curtain between Georgia and the EU, calling it a way to keep Georgia “in the Russian sphere of influence and away from Europe.”
Ohio judge temporarily blocks law banning sex-reassignment surgeries, hormone therapies for minors
An Ohio judge temporarily blocked an impending law on Tuesday that would ban gender reassignment surgery and certain hormone therapy for minors. The decision came weeks after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged the Saving Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, or House Bill 68, on behalf of two transgender girls and their families, the Columbus Dispatch reported. The measure prevents doctors from prescribing hormones, puberty blockers or gender reassignment surgery to patients under 18. It also bans transgender players from joining women’s sports teams in high school and college. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, in a statement following the decision, said, “This is just the first page of the book” and said he was “confident” the law would ultimately be upheld. OHIO GOV. DEWINE DELIVERS CHILD-FOCUSED STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS “We will fight vigorously to defend this properly enacted statute, which protects our children from irrevocable adult decisions,” he said. Harper Seldin, staff attorney for the ACLU, praised the ruling, calling it “a victory for transgender Ohioans and their families.” “Ohio’s ban is an openly discriminatory breach of the rights of transgender youth and their parents alike and presents a real danger to the same young people it claims to protect,” Selding said. In Tuesday’s decision, Franklin County Judge Michael Holbrook indicated that the law could be tossed out because of a single-subject violation, the Dispatch reported. WEST VIRGINIA AG VOWS TO KEEP DEFENDING GIRLS’ SPORTS DESPITE COURT RULING AGAINST TRANSGENDER BAN “It is not lost upon this Court that the General Assembly was unable to pass the (Saving Ohio Adolescents from Experimentation) portion of the Act separately, and it was only upon logrolling in the Saving Women’s Sports provisions that it was able to pass,” Holbrook wrote. House Bill 68 was set to go into effect on April 24 after a GOP-led state legislature overrode Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto on the law. DeWine’s opposition sparked outrage from conservatives, who blasted him as a “coward” for his decision. COLORADO COULD BECOME THE FIRST STATE TO BUILD SEPARATE PRISON UNITS FOR TRANSGENDER FELONS “Were I to sign Substitute House Bill 68 or were Substitute House Bill 68 to become law, Ohio would be saying that the State, that the government, knows what is best medically for a child rather than the two people who love that child the most, the parents,” DeWine said in his veto message. He cited the “profound” consequences the bill could have on children struggling with gender dysphoria and said his decision boiled down to input from parents who believed their children’s lives depended on the treatment they received. “Ultimately, I believe this is about protecting human life. Many parents have told me that their child would not have survived, would be dead today if they had not received the treatment they received from one of Ohio’s children’s hospitals. I’ve also been told by those who are now grown adults that but for this care, they would have taken their life when they were teenagers,” he said. Among DeWine’s criticizers was Chloe Cole, a detransitioner who is now one of the most outspoken activists against the practice. Cole, who formerly took steps to complete a female-to-male transition and has since been among the most outspoken critics against gender reassignment health care for minors, claimed DeWine’s veto came just days after she shared her story with him during a Zoom call. “When I was describing every step of the treatment, and especially when I brought up how young I was during every step, having been 13 when my puberty was suppressed, when I was drawn to androgens, and that I was 15 when my breasts were surgically removed, he was visibly disturbed,” she previously told Fox News Digital. “Parents don’t have a right to abuse their children. This is no different from any form of abuse,” Cole said in an interview on “Fox & Friends Weekend.” The state is expected to appeal. DeWine’s office did not return a request for comment. Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley contributed to this report.