Qatar to ICJ: Israel carrying out “genocidal war” on people of Gaza
NewsFeed Qatar told the ICJ “Israel’s genocidal war on the people of Gaza” is the most pressing threat to international peace and security. Qatar presented its argument on day 5 of the UN top court’s hearing into legal consequences over Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Published On 23 Feb 202423 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine two years on: towards an endless and wider war?
In an UpFront special, we discuss where the war in Ukraine currently stands and where it is heading. It’s been two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, causing mass destruction and a mounting civilian death toll. Even with support from the West, Ukraine is facing increased weapons and infantry shortages as its fight against Russian forces carries on, seemingly with no end in sight. So what future lays ahead for Ukraine and could the war spill over into neighbouring countries? Are peace negotiations even possible or does it run the risk of becoming an endless war? In an UpFront Special, Marc Lamont Hill discusses the fallout of Russia’s war on Ukraine with Ukrainian Member of Parliament Lesia Vasylenko, political scientist Ilya Matveev, and journalist Aaron Mate. Adblock test (Why?)
Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Denton principals for electioneering on district emails
The two principals encouraged colleagues to vote for candidates who oppose school vouchers.
Fox News Politics: A very special prosecutor indeed
Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. What’s Happening? – Trump pushes for dismissal of classified docs case – Biden allegedly considered taking board seat on CCP linked company, – Schumer goes to Ukraine amid funding battle Nathan Wade appears to have made far more visits to the neighborhood of Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis than previously admitted in court. A Friday filing from the attorney of former President Trump claims to show at least 35 visits by Wade to Willis’ neighborhood before he was hired as a key special prosecutor on the Trump case. Wade testified last week that he did not visit Willis’ condo more than 10 times before being hired in November 2021. Willis and Wade maintain that their relationship began in early 2022. But his phone appeared to be near Willis’ address at late hours on some nights before he was hired, according to cell phone data. FROM BEHIND BARS: Joe Biden allegedly considered joining board of CCP-linked company, witness testifies from prison …Read more ‘STAGED Q&A SESSIONS’: Biden’s reliance on notecards to answer questions at fundraisers worries some donors …Read more FEEBLE FAILURE: Biden admits ‘broken’ immigration system in meeting with governors as migrants mass-released in California …Read more RELIEF AT THE PUMP: Biden admin scraps eco friendly fuel rules as gas prices remain high …Read more ‘PLAYBOOK OF CRUELTY’: Democrats go after Biden for considering asylum restrictions amidst the border crisis …Read more ‘ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY’: Biden brags Supreme Court ‘didn’t stop’ him from canceling student loans …Read more MEAN JOE: Biden’s GOP-Strom Thurmond comparisons anger conservative social media users …Read more SCHUMER PLEDGES SUPPORT: Schumer visits Ukraine, says he will ‘make clear’ to House Speaker Johnson ‘what is at stake’ …Read more LOSING FAITH: Republicans losing faith in Johnson to score conservative wins in government shutdown fight …Read more OFF TO JAIL: House investigators heading to prison to interview ex-Hunter Biden biz associate amid impeachment inquiry …Read more GIRL POWER: Haley says US will have ‘female president’ — either herself or Kamala Harris …Read more ‘IT’S CRAZY’: Trump says it’s ‘crazy’ how Christians, people of faith can vote for Democrats …Read more ‘PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY’: Trump’s lawyers push for dismissal of classified documents case …Read more ON DECK: Kristi Noem offers 5 requirements to serve as Trump’s VP …Read more GOOGLE BIAS: Google executive’s posts about ‘White privilege,’ ‘systemic racism’ resurface after team’s botched AI launch …Read more WOKE LESSONS: New York school gives children ‘Black Lives Matter’ coloring book that promotes trans affirmation …Read more BAD OPTICS?: Migrants mass-released in San Diego as Newsom heads to White House …Read more ‘FRENEMIES’: Calif judge torches Biden admin for ‘colluding’ with left-wing immigration group on asylum rule …Read more CRACKING DOWN: Florida legislature passes bill to ban left lane driving …Read more ‘CAN’T BELIEVE IT’: San Francisco hardware store requires customers to shop with an employee escort to stop ‘rampant shoplifting’ …Read more Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
White House says Republicans are obstacle to border security: ‘We did our job’
The White House on Friday insisted that House Republicans stand in the way of a solution to what President Biden has called a “broken” immigration system. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would not comment on reports that Biden may take executive action to secure the border, other than to blame House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and the House GOP conference for inaction on immigration. “For the past several months, we worked with Republican senators and also Democrats in the Senate to try to come up with a fair and tough piece of legislation that would deal with border security,” Jean-Pierre told reporters at the daily White House press briefing. She noted that a bipartisan deal reached last month had been endorsed by the Border Patrol union before it was declared “dead on arrival” by Johnson. “Speaker Johnson has gotten in the way of this,” she added later. “We did our job. The Senate did their job in a bipartisan way. BIDEN ADMIN WEIGHS EXECUTIVE ACTION ON BORDER CRISIS, DRAWING FIRE FROM LEFT AND RIGHT The Senate bill endorsed by Biden would have increased staffing and resources at the border while limiting the ability of migrants to claim asylum and providing additional funding to communities and NGOs receiving migrants. However, conservatives have said the bill does not go far enough and would normalize high levels of illegal immigration. Earlier Friday, Biden told members of the National Governors Association that Congress needs to pass bipartisan immigration reform. “Congress has had a long, proud history — a bipartisan history — on immigration reform and abiding by our international treaty obligations, which we signed related to immigration. These reforms made America a nation of laws, a nation of immigrants and the strongest economy in the world,” the president said. “But something changed. Over time, our laws and our resources haven’t kept up with our immigration system, and it’s broken. And our politics has failed to fix it.” He described the failed Senate bill as the “most fair and humane reforms in a long time.” 7.2M ENTERED THE US UNDER BIDEN ADMIN, AN AMOUNT GREATER THAN POPULATION OF 36 STATES “I didn’t get everything I wanted in it. It also included the toughest set of reforms to secure the border ever in history. The Border Patrol chief himself said, ‘We need more people. We need more agents on the line,’” he said. “Our bipartisan bill got the Border Patrol the agents they need. It funded and hired 1,500 more agents and officers, 100 more immigration judges, 4,300 more asylum officers to get asylum decisions in months instead of years,” he continued. SEN BILL HAGERTY SAYS DEMS ENGAGING IN ‘SHEER POWER GRAB’ BY TOLERATING BORDER ‘CARNAGE’ He also blamed Johnson for the bill’s failure. “But then, as we all know, petty politics intervened. The speaker of the House has refused to vote on the bill, even though, again, there’s significant support,” Biden said. “Talk to your Republican colleagues, there are the votes on that floor to pass that bill. All of a sudden, people started to go silent, but they’re in a tough spot. Tell that to the Border Patrol that we can’t get this done.” With immigration reform stalled in Congress, multiple outlets reported that the White House is eyeing potential executive action to tackle the migrant crisis. An administration source told Fox News that the president is considering executive action to restrict the ability of migrants to claim asylum, but that it’s one of “several” plans being looked at. Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday that no final decisions have been made and refused to comment on any “individual policy option” that’s being considered. “We want to make sure, the president has been very clear, he wants to make sure that our country is safer and we need more border security, obviously, to secure our border. And we want to do it while treating people fairly and humanely.” Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.
Pelosi’s husband made over $1.25 million on Nvidia stock bet in just three months
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who has received widespread scrutiny over her husband’s stock purchases, is making bank on another well-timed bet on a familiar corporation. The California Democrat’s husband, Paul, who owns a San Francisco investment and consulting firm, scooped up between $1 million and $5 million worth of call options in computer chip company Nvidia on Nov. 22. Pelosi, however, held off on reporting the transaction until right before Christmas. Nvidia is not new to the Pelosis. In 2022, Paul grabbed more than $1 million in Nvidia call options — which give investors the right to buy shares of a company at a specific price — just weeks before a congressional vote on providing massive subsidies to the chip manufacturing industry. He sold them after she received criticism over their timing. At the time, Pelosi said that her husband had never made stock purchases based on information she had given him when pressed by Fox News Digital. Her office also distanced her from Paul’s financial decisions. NANCY PELOSI SAYS BIDEN’S AGE IS AN ‘OBJECTIVE FACT,’ ARGUES IT’S ‘ALL RELATIVE’: ‘HE’S YOUNGER THAN I AM’ “The Speaker does not own any stocks,” Pelosi’s communications director told FOX Business in 2022. “The Speaker has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions.” But long after the storm had calmed, Paul re-invested in the company, with the most recent contract from late last year. The company’s stock has since taken off. In early January, Nvidia announced mass production of slower AI chips to be sold to China that complied with U.S. export rules. Weeks later, the U.S. government announced Nvidia would be one of several companies they would partner with on an AI research program, Yahoo Finance reported. Christopher Josephs, co-founder of Autopilot, an app that allows individuals to track and copy a politician’s trades, told Fox News Digital he estimates the most recent Pelosi investment to be around $2.5 million and said the shares are up over 50% in just three months, netting them roughly $1.25 million. PELOSI SAYS HER HUSBAND NEVER MADE STOCK PURCHASES BASED ON INFO SHE GAVE HIM Pelosi’s office did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment. The former House speaker had previously grabbed attention over her husband’s stock timing. Lawmakers’ spouses can trade in companies or industries their partner may help regulate, but it’s illegal for family members and members of Congress to profit from inside information. Paul cashed in on Big Tech shortly before the House Judiciary Committee voted to curtail the “unregulated power” of companies like Google and Amazon in 2021, Fortune reported. The move wasn’t considered a threat to the companies, and the tech firms’ stock prices continued to rise. Paul purchased 4,000 shares of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, by exercising call options a week before the vote. The call options allowed him to snag the shares of Alphabet at $1,200 a piece as they closed that day at just over $2,500, according to Fortune. Paul earned $5.3 million on the investment. A few months before the Alphabet purchase, Paul picked up millions of dollars worth of Microsoft stock days before the company announced a lucrative government contract. Paul exercised call options and paid $1.95 million to buy 15,000 shares of Microsoft at a strike price of $130 on March 19, FOX Business reported. That same day, Paul paid $1.4 million for 10,000 shares valued at $140. Microsoft announced a government contract worth nearly $22 billion to supply U.S. Army combat troops with augmented reality headsets just 12 days after Paul’s purchase, and the company’s share prices increased from about $230 to roughly $255 — or close to 11% — in the weeks following the announcement. PELOSI FACES BACKLASH FOR DEMANDING SWARMING PROTESTERS ‘GO BACK TO CHINA’: ‘SLANDEROUS ACCUSATIONS’ And months before the Microsoft purchase, Paul grabbed between $500,000 and $1 million in Tesla investments in December 2020, roughly a month before President Biden announced the federal government would transition its fleet to electric vehicles. Biden, who was open about moving toward electric vehicles, in late January 2021 “directed federal officials to devise a plan for converting all federal, state, local and tribal fleets, including 225,000 Postal Service vehicles, to ‘clean and zero-emission vehicles,’” The Washington Post first reported at the time. Biden’s infrastructure plan later set aside more than $170 billion for electric vehicle subsidies.
Sen. Tom Cotton torches Google AI system as ‘racist, preposterously woke, Hamas-sympathizing’
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., slammed Google’s AI chatbot Gemini as “preposterously woke” on Friday for its refusal to produce any images of White people. The company paused the chatbot’s image generation on Thursday after social media users pointed out that the system was creating inaccurate historical images that sometimes replaced White people, like the Founding Fathers, with images of Black, Native American and Asian people. “Google deserves condemnation for creating a racist, preposterously woke, Hamas-sympathizing AI system,” Cotton said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. “Republican lawmakers will remember this the next time Google comes asking for antitrust help.” Cotton pointed out that “the problem also lies at the White House,” which pushed an executive order last year that bolsters “AI safety and security, protects Americans’ privacy, advances equity and civil rights,” according to an October Biden-Harris fact sheet. “This debacle is a good reminder of why federal control over AI would be a disaster,” Cotton continued. “It would force every AI system to be as broken and as dishonest as Google’s.” GOOGLE TO PAUSE GEMINI IMAGE GENERATION AFTER AI REFUSES TO SHOW IMAGES OF WHITE PEOPLE On Wednesday, Google apologized for the errors. “We’re aware that Gemini is offering inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions,” Google said on Wednesday. Gemini, formerly known as Google Bard, is one of many multimodal large language models (LLMs) currently available to the public. As is the case with all LLMs, the human-like responses offered by these AIs can change from user to user. Based on contextual information, the language and tone of the prompter, and training data used to create the AI responses, each answer can be different, even if the question is the same. GOOGLE APOLOGIZES AFTER NEW GEMINI AI REFUSES TO SHOW PICTURES, ACHIEVEMENTS OF WHITE PEOPLE In a statement to Fox News Digital, Gemini Experiences Senior Director of Product Management Jack Krawczyk addressed the responses from the AI that had led social media users to voice concern. “We’re working to improve these kinds of depictions immediately,” Krawczyk said. “Gemini’s AI image generation does generate a wide range of people. And that’s generally a good thing, because people around the world use it. But it’s missing the mark here.” Prior to Krawczyk’s tenure with Google, he allegedly tweeted that “white privilege is f—king real” and America is rampant with “egregious racism,” according to posts circulating on X that appear to be his. “White privilege is f—king real,” Krawczyk allegedly wrote in a tweet on April 13, 2018, according to screenshots on X. “Don’t be an a—hole and act guilty about it – do your part in recognizing bias at all levels of egregious.” One alleged post, which Elon Musk also shared a picture of, referenced President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. “I’ve been crying in intermittent bursts for the past 24 hours since casting my ballot. Filling in that Biden/Harris line felt cathartic,” the Google director allegedly wrote. FOX Business’ Nikolas Lanum, Chris Pandolfo and Reuters contributed to this report.
DeSantis sending Florida National Guard to Texas border
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is sending in the Florida National Guard to aid in securing the Texas-Mexico border. DeSantis confirmed Friday the deployment of personnel from the state’s National Guard to various locations in Texas to bolster efforts launched by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. “We have another round of personnel heading to the southern border today,” DeSantis announced Friday. “This is part of a yearslong effort for us to help do what the federal government has refused to do – which is to actually defend this country’s borders. You’ve seen numbers that have been astronomical over these last three years.” CHINESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ON PACE TO BREAK RECORDS AT US SOUTHERN BORDER “I know that what has been happening in Texas has been effective. You have seen the numbers go down, and that is really because you have Texas putting forth a huge effort and all these other states coming by to help,” DeSantis said. The personnel sent to Texas will also include 76 Florida Highway Patrol troopers, who will be assisting border patrol efforts in San Antonio. The governor continued, “So we want to be a part of that. We think that this is an American issue, partially just because we should just have a secure country, and then partially the effects of this border invasion go to all 50 states.” CHINESE MIGRANTS ECLIPSE MEXICAN NATIONALS IN KEY SOUTHERN BORDER SECTOR DeSantis also addressed the drastic rise of Chinese nationals crossing the Mexican border, which has generated entirely new concerns among national security experts. “You got massive numbers of now Chinese coming across the border,” he said. “This is incredible that we would be allowing people from all over the world who we have no idea who they are, that they are just being able to pour into this country.” Over a dozen states have announced that they support Abbott’s agenda on illegal immigration and have said they will provide resources to help him secure the border amid record levels of illegal immigration. Abbott is currently fighting multiple legal battles with the Biden administration. The federal government has threatened legal action over Texas’ seizure of Shelby Park near Eagle Pass, while lawsuits are ongoing over the administration’s cutting of razor wire set up by Texas and the establishment of buoys in the Rio Grande. The U.S. Supreme Court recently found in the administration’s favor when it granted an emergency appeal to allow agents to keep cutting border wire set up by Texas along the border. Texas this week published images of it strengthening physical barriers along Eagle Pass. Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Joe Biden allegedly considered joining board of CCP-linked company, witness testifies from prison
EXCLUSIVE: Joe Biden was allegedly considering joining the board of a joint venture created by Hunter Biden and his business associates with ties to the Chinese Communist Party after he left the vice presidency. Joe Biden’s involvement would bring “political access in the United States and around the world,” a former business associate of the first son testified from prison Friday. Fox News Digital exclusively obtained Jason Galanis’ opening statement delivered Friday morning to congressional investigators from an Alabama prison as part of the impeachment inquiry against President Biden. Galanis is serving a 14-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to securities fraud based on bonds issued by a company affiliated with a Native American tribe in South Dakota. The funds were reportedly supposed to be used for certain projects but were instead used for his personal finances. He was sentenced in 2017. HOUSE INVESTIGATORS HEADING TO PRISON TO INTERVIEW EX-HUNTER BIDEN BIZ ASSOCIATE AMID IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY Galanis said he worked with Devon Archer and Hunter Biden between 2012 and 2015. Their business together, he said, included the acquisition of Burnham & Co, a division of Drexel Burnham Lambert, combined with “other businesses in insurance and wealth management.” Galanis testified the three “owned and acquired with total audited assets of over $17 billion.” “Our objective was to build a diversified private equity platform, which would be anchored by a globally known Wall Street brand together with a globally known political name,” Galanis testified. “Our goal — that is, Hunter Biden, Devon Archer and me — was to make billions, not millions.” Galanis testified that “the entire value-add of Hunter Biden to our business was his family name and his access to his father, Vice President Joe Biden. “Because of this access, I agreed to contribute equity ownership to them — Hunter and Devon — for no out-of-pocket cost from them in exchange for their ‘relationship capital,’” he told investigators. Hunter Biden served as vice chairman of the Burnham group “and brought strategic relationships to the venture, including from Kazakhstan, Russia and China.” BIDEN MET WITH CHAIRMAN OF CHINESE ENERGY FIRM HUNTER DID BUSINESS WITH IN 2017, EX-ASSOCIATE TESTIFIES “Burnham was the focal point for integrating a ‘Biden family office’ into a large-scale financial company with international influence,” he explained, adding that they acquired some of Hunter Biden’s companies like RSP Investments and Rosemont Seneca Advisors. Galanis testified that, in 2014, he “agreed with Hunter and Devon that the Burnham & Company enterprise would be significantly enhanced by forming a partnership with Harvest Fund Management, a $300 billion Chinese financial services company closely connected to the Chinese Communist Party.” Harvest, at that time, had already agreed to be a founding partner of BHR Partners, he explained. Fox News Digital has previously reported that Joe Biden met with Jonathan Li, who worked for BHR Partners, in China in 2013. Galanis explained that Henry Zhao, the director of Harvest, was a contact of Hunter Biden’s. HUNTER BIDEN WAS PAID $100K THROUGH JOINT VENTURE WITH CHINESE ENERGY FIRM, EX-ASSOCIATE TESTIFIED “Mr. Zhao was interested in this partnership because of the game-changing value-add of the Biden family, including Joe Biden, who was to be a member of the Burnham-Harvest team post-vice presidency, providing political access in the United States and around the world,” Galanis testified. Galanis pointed to a draft email dated Aug. 23, 2014, from Hunter Biden, which states: “Please also remind Henry [Zhao] of our conversation about a board seat for a certain relation of mine. Devon and I golfed with that relation earlier last week and we discussed this very idea again and as always he remains very very keen on the opportunity.” Fox News Digital obtained that draft email. Galanis testified that email was “struck from the final version” but “was drafted with an understanding of what had transpired regarding this effort.” Galanis said the email was forwarded to him by Devon Archer with the words: “FYI … example of lean in on Henry from Hunter … this is email drafted for him to send to Henry.” Galanis testified that the words “lean in” were “used often by Devon and Hunter in our business dealings as a term for access to Vice President Biden’s political influence.” “As Devon Archer is mentioned as a direct party to the conversation with the vice president on the golf course, it is clear from his email that Devon believed this was an accurate representation of that conversation,” Galanis said in his opening statement. “I am certain that the phrase ‘a certain relation of mine’ refers to Vice President Biden, and Devon told me about this conversation on the golf course shortly after it happened,” Galanis testified. “And it was one of many conversations that I understood the vice president had expressing his willingness to join Harvest board after his vice presidency.” HUNTER DEMANDED $10M FROM CHINESE ENERGY FIRM BECAUSE ‘BIDENS ARE THE BEST,’ HAVE ‘CONNECTIONS’ The draft email does not specifically mention Joe Biden’s name or refer to the “certain relation” as Hunter Biden’s father. However, there is an infamous photo of Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and Devon Archer on the golf course. That photo was taken in mid-August 2014, which would have been a week or so prior to the draft email. News reports indicate the vice president was in the Hamptons at the time. Galanis went on to testify that Zhao “regularly sought reassurance about what he termed the ‘intangible goods’ that Vice President Biden serving on the Harvest board would bring to the business plan.” “He wanted assurances so that he would not ‘lose face,’” Galanis said. “In my opinion, there was no other reason for this massive Chinese enterprise to have been interested in doing business with Burnham other than the Biden name.” Zhao also worked with Hunter Biden in a separate joint venture with Chinese energy company CEFC. Zhao is the recipient of a now-infamous text message Hunter Biden sent after requesting a $10 million wire for the joint-venture,
Former FBI informant accused of lying about Bidens’ business dealings to be transferred to California
An ex-FBI informant accused of lying about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s alleged business dealings with a Ukrainian energy company will be transferred to California, where he is expected to face a judge. Alexander Smirnov, 43, has been ordered transferred to California where he will appear in court at 9 a.m. Monday local time. He was released by a Nevada judge earlier this week. HUNTER BIDEN WAS PAID $100K A MONTH THROUGH CHINESE FIRM VENTURE, EX-ASSOCIATE TESTIFIED A California judge ordered him arrested again on Thursday after federal prosecutors argued Smirnov, who holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, was a flight risk. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors said Smirnov peddled lies “that could impact U.S. elections” while asking a judge to keep him locked up ahead of trial on charges alleging he lied to the FBI about a phony multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving the Bidens and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Prosecutors say Smirnov falsely told his handler that Burisma executives paid Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, $5 million each around 2015. The claim became central to the Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress. FBI REPORTEDLY INVESTIGATING CONTROVERSIAL DEMOCRATIC MAYOR WHO SCHMOOZED WITH BIDEN LAST MONTH However, federal prosecutors said Smirnov had only routine business dealings with the company starting in 2017 and made the bribery allegations after he “expressed bias” against then-presidential candidate Biden. Special Counsel David Weiss said Smirnov’s untruths were made in an effort to impact the 2024 presidential election. He is charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record. The charges were filed in Los Angeles. Smirnov was arrested Thursday at the law offices of his attorneys in downtown Las Vegas. Fox News Digital has reached out to Smirnov’s lawyers. Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.