Could a Southern African military force help bring stability to DRC?
South Africa is deploying thousands of troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to help the country resist rebel attacks which are driving one of Africa’s most serious humanitarian crises. On Thursday, the South African military said two of its soldiers had been killed and three wounded by a mortar bomb that landed inside a military base. “As a result of this indirect fire, the SANDF [South African National Defence Force] suffered two fatalities and three members sustained injuries. The injured were taken to the nearest hospital in Goma for medical attention,” it said in a statement. In the past week, fighting between DRC armed forces and the M23 rebel group has forced thousands of people to pack up what belongings they can carry and flee – often on foot – to safer areas such as the regional capital, Goma, even though the rebels are closing in on the city. On Wednesday, the South African government said that 2,900 SANDF soldiers were being mobilised for its part in a regional push by the South African Development Community (SADC) to support DRC’s forces against the armed group. The new effort comes after a separate regional military mission to combat the M23 by East African countries, which the DRC government perceived as a failure and which ended last year. However, speculation remains as to whether the South African soldiers will be able to make any more progress than their East African counterparts did. People fleeing the ongoing conflict between DRC government forces and M23 rebels reach the outskirts of the eastern city of Goma on February 7, 2024 [Moses Sawasawa/AP] Here’s a breakdown of what’s happening in DRC and how SADC might perform. What is the conflict in the DRC over? The DRC has been fighting a host of rebel groups in its resource-rich eastern region – around 100 of them in all – for decades, following regional wars in the 1990s that erupted as Rwanda pursued genocidaires responsible for the 1994 mass killings of Tutsis into Congolese territory. Most of the groups are seeking control over natural resources like cobalt and copper, both of which are materials crucial for manufacturing electronics. Among them is the fearsome M23 group – or the March 23 Movement, named after a March 23, 2009 peace treaty that integrated a precursor armed group (the National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP) into the Congolese army. M23 rebels broke away from the army in 2012. It operates in the hills close to the Rwandan border and says it is fighting in defence of ethnic Congolese Tutsis who, it claims, face tribal discrimination in the DRC. The United Nations and the DRC, however, say the group is being funded by Rwanda to control Kinshasa’s minerals, causing a serious diplomatic rift in the region. The armed group went quiet after it was pushed out of DRC in 2013, but resurfaced again in 2021, possibly because of renewed Rwandan support. In March 2022, M23 launched a major bombing and heavy artillery offensive against army forces and any civilians caught in their way. Since then, the violence in the volatile eastern DRC has only worsened, with fighting continuing through general elections in December which saw President Felix Tshisekedi sworn in for a second term. M23 fighters have also seized at least four towns in the eastern North Kivu province, and are advancing towards Goma, the provincial capital which is home to two million people. Last week, M23 fighters attempted to take Sake, a strategic town 25km (16 miles) from Goma. On Tuesday, a local official told AFP that the rebels are now occupying a part of Sake, while government forces remain in the other areas of the town. The humanitarian toll of the fighting has been severe: Dozens have died and thousands have been displaced by the violence this year alone, adding to a previously displaced population of 2.4 million in North Kivu, and a combined seven million uprooted during various conflicts across the DRC. Many of the displaced are living in informal, makeshift camps where there is little food or protection. Many say they suffer from hunger and aid organisations are struggling to reach those in need. “Just getting sufficient food to eat is a major challenge for people with all roads to Goma having been cut off by the fighting,” Eric Batonon of the Norwegian Refugee Council told reporters on Thursday. Why have military interventions failed to reign in the rebels? Two separate military missions have attempted to support the Congolese forces, but have now pulled out of the country or are in the process of doing so, seen as failures by the government and the Congolese people. Troops from the regional economic bloc, the East African Community (EAC) which the DRC is part of, were deployed in July 2022. The aim of the 12,000-strong force, led by Kenya, was to see a 2022 ceasefire arrangement through and ensure the withdrawal of multiple rebel groups from eastern DRC, including M23. However, the mandate was interpreted differently by both sides. While the Congolese government pressed for more offensive action from the troops, and demanded that EAC troops attack and push back M23 rebels, the soldiers mostly operated defensively. In the early days of their deployment, the troops did force some militia groups out of the area, but new offensives since then by M23 fighters have seen those gains reversed. When the EAC forces mandate expired in December 2023, Kinshasa refused to renew it. Separately, a UN peacekeeping force, MONUSCO (the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), has been present in the DRC for more than 25 years. Its 13,500-strong force was supposed to help quell insecurity in the region but has become deeply unpopular in recent years due to its inability to hold back rebel groups. Congolese have questioned why the force has not protected them from the M23 and other violent rebel groups, and those frustrations have spurred
Bharat Bandh tomorrow: Know what will remain shut on nationwide protest by farmers
The Bharat Bandh call comes even as hundreds of farmers marching from Punjab have been stopped at the state’s border with Haryana near Ambala.
Vulnerable Dem senator flip-flops on supplying energy to China in middle of re-election campaign
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who is locked in a toss-up re-election bid, expressed concern this week about U.S. energy exports benefiting China despite voting against a bill in 2022 that would have prohibited the sale of emergency oil reserves to China. Brown remarked on Tuesday that he supported President Biden’s recent actions pausing permitting for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects, saying those projects could ultimately benefit China. The comments separate Brown from other more moderate Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pennsylvania senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman, who opposed the actions. “My focus is on protecting Ohio workers in the natural gas industry and manufacturers and lowering costs for all Ohioans, and I continue to review this rule and the impact it would have on achieving those goals,” Brown told Politico. “I have concerns around letting American liquid natural gas fuel China’s state-sponsored industries that consistently try to undermine American production.” According to the most recent federal data, just 6.7% of U.S. LNG exports are shipped to China. The vast majority of exports are sent to Europe, which has relied on U.S. natural gas to wean itself off Russian energy amid the Ukraine war, and other Asian countries like Japan and South Korea. DOZENS OF FORMER TOP FEDERAL OFFICIALS CALL ON CONGRESS TO STRIKE DOWN BIDEN’S NATURAL GAS CRACKDOWN While Brown supports a pause on LNG export permits, energy industry associations have argued it will harm the U.S. economy and energy security. According to the Energy Information Administration, Ohio is among the nation’s top 10 natural gas producers, and American Petroleum Institute estimates suggest the state’s energy industry supports roughly 351,530 total jobs. In August 2022, Brown voted against an Inflation Reduction Act amendment offered by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, which would have blocked the Department of Energy (DOE) from selling petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to Chinese entities unless their bid was 10 times higher than the next highest bid received. STATE AGS WARN BIDEN’S NATURAL GAS MORATORIUM VIOLATES FEDERAL LAW, DEMAND REVERSAL While Brown voted against the amendment, other Democrats, including senators Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., joined Republicans in voting in favor of it. The bill ultimately failed after receiving 56 votes in favor, failing to reach the required two-thirds majority. “Sherrod Brown is happy to stand by as Joe Biden caves to green energy activists and drives up prices for Americans already struggling with inflation,” Philip Letsou, a spokesperson for the National Republican Senate Committee, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Brown will quickly regret his decision to run as a far-left progressive Democrat in a state Donald Trump will handily win in November.” Brown didn’t respond to a request for comment. BIDEN ENERGY SECRETARY GRANHOLM PRESSED ON TALKS WITH TOP CCP OFFICIAL BEFORE SPR RELEASES Late last month, Biden ordered the DOE to pause pending permits for LNG export facilities while federal officials conduct a rigorous environmental review assessing the projects’ carbon emissions, which could take more than a year to complete. The action represents a major victory for activists who have loudly called for such a move, even threatening to hold large protests over the issue. The president said the pause on LNG permitting was a part of his sweeping climate agenda, adding the action “sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time.” However, he didn’t mention the importance of restricting exports to China after taking the action. And the Biden administration has faced pressure over the last two years to stop SPR sales to China. Overall, Biden has ordered the DOE to release a total of about 260 million barrels of oil stored in the SPR, which was established in the 1970s to be used in times of energy supply disruptions, since taking office to combat record fuel prices hitting American consumers. As part of that effort, the DOE sold at least 2 million barrels of oil from the SPR to Unipec, an affiliate of the state-controlled China Petrochemical Corporation. The first such sale was part of a 20-million-barrel SPR sale awarded to eight companies in September 2021. The other two — both sales for 950,000 barrels of oil — came in April 2022 and July 2022. “The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was intended to ensure that America had sufficient oil reserves in the event of an emergency,” Cruz said last year. “Under no circumstances should we sell any part of this stockpile to the Chinese Communist Party or any company under its control.”
CA Dems ripped by experts for dodging debate question on progressive policies impacting crime: ‘In denial’
Three Democrats vying for an open California Senate seat denied in a recent debate that progressive policies have gone “too far” in the Golden State amid surging crime which experts tell Fox News Digital flies in the face of reality and the data. “Have progressive reforms like doing away with bail for nonviolent crimes or reducing certain felonies to misdemeanors, have those progressive reforms gone too far?” KTLA’s Frank Buckley asked Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, and the other 2 Democrats and 1 Republican on the debate stage Monday night. The three Democrats on the stage, Schiff, Rep. Katie Porter, and Rep. Barbara Lee, all declined to directly connect California’s crime surge to progressive prosecutors and policies and instead outlined other changes they would like to see. Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Cully Stimson and Legal Fellow Zack Smith, authors of the new book “Rogue Prosecutors: How Radical Soros Lawyers Are Destroying America’s Communities”, told Fox News Digital that it is impossible to ignore the effects progressive policies have had on crime in California. REPORT SHOWS BLUE COUNTIES HAVE HIGHER MURDER RATE THAN RED, CALLS OUT ‘FLAWED’ STUDIES PROMOTED BY TOP DEMS “Adam Schiff and Miss Porter and Miss Lee are in denial because they don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them which is the Soros money which funded the progressive prosecutor movement and the bail reform movement and so there’s no way they can commit political suicide by criticizing the policies,” Stimson told Fox News Digital. Over the past few decades, California voters have passed ballot measures supported by prominent Democrats, including Prop 47, that turned felonies into misdemeanors and lowered the threshold for parole. Schiff acknowledged in the debate there’s “no question” the state has a “crime problem” but said the “data doesn’t show” that progressive reforms or propositions are to blame. Lee argued that enhanced sentences “don’t reduce crime.” CALIFORNIA SHERIFF BLASTS NEWSOM’S ‘PRO-CRIMINAL AGENDA’ AFTER COURT BLOCKS LATEST GUN CONTROL LAW Stimson and Smith told Fox News Digital the opposite is true. “The data that they suggest supports their argument actually undercuts their argument,” Stimson told Fox News Digital. “The data that’s out there actually shows that prosecuting people helps reduce crime and when Lee says enhanced sentences don’t reduce crime she has it exactly wrong,” Stimson said. “The U.S. Sentencing Commission has seven studies in a row that says longer sentences result in lower recidivism rates. People with ten years or more sentences compared with mass offenders have a 29% lower recidivism rate and people with five or more years of a sentence have a 19% lower recidivism rate for people who are mass offenders who serve less than five years.” During her response to the crime question, Porter warned that the state shouldn’t go back to the “so-called tough on crime” sentencing policies of the 1990s because of the “terrible racial discrimination that setback communities of color for generations.” CRIME EXPERTS RESPOND TO SOROS DEFENDING SUPPORT FOR PROGRESSIVE DAS AMID CRIME WAVE: ‘DISASTROUS’ “That’s nonsense,” Smith told Fox News Digital. “If you look at the data, actually crime rates and incarceration rates were falling for many, many years prior to the crime surge over the past several years.” “If you listen to some of what they were saying, you know, Adam Schiff in particular was focused on organized retail theft, Katie Porter said we shouldn’t go back to the law and order tough on crime policies, that sort of thing,we know what works to bring down violent crime rates,” Smith said. “Broken windows policing. You put police officers on the street. Allow them to do their jobs and then have proactive prosecutors who are willing to appropriately prosecute cases that come in front of them.” Progressive prosecutors in cities like Oakland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco have faced intense criticism as crime has spiked in recent years which Stimson and Smith write about extensively in their book outlining their conclusion that the prosecutors, some backed by Soros, are attempting to “reverse engineer” the criminal justice system. San Francisco voters recalled Soros-backed DA Chesa Boudin in 2022 and Los Angeles residents narrowly fell short of putting a recall of Soros-backed DA George Gascon on the ballot. PROGRESSIVE CALIFORNIA MAYORS BACK EFFORT TO AMEND CRIME LAWS AMID ‘RAMPANT’ DRUGS AND THEFT Lee’s response to the question about progressives going “too far” included the claim that getting AK-47s and “assault weapons” off the streets is a main reason why crime in her hometown of Oakland has spiraled out of control in recent years. “Her idea of getting AK-47s off the streets is a joke,” Stimson told Fox News Digital. “It’s illegal handguns used by thugs against thugs and drug dealers. She won’t criticize Pamela Price, the Soros rogue prosecutor in her county, because she can’t. But, if she had a spine, she would.” The only Republican on the stage Monday night, former baseball star Steve Garvey, did point to some district attorney in the state not doing their job and police officers who have told them their hands are tied by certain policies. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told Fox News Digital last year that voters were “lied to” about Prop 47 and other ballot measures and that crime took a turn for the worse when the state “stopped enforcing drug rules and laws.” Progressives have pointed to a variety of studies they say show crime rates and recidivism have been improved by progressive reforms which Smith said must be taken with a grain of salt which he and Stimson have written about in the past. “The data and science that I’m aware of actually supports things like enhanced penalties, like California’s three strikes law,” Smith said. “The data and science that so many on the left might decide to cite, be careful because the studies don’t always say what they purport to say, or here are very serious methodological problems.” Smith said that many Democrats like the three on stage Monday night “unfortunately feel”
Illegal immigration could have major impact on House seats, Electoral College: experts
Immigration experts are raising the alarm about how the increasing flow of migrants illegally crossing into the U.S. may significantly impact states’ representation in the House of Representatives and Electoral College. Shortly after taking office in January 2021, President Biden signed an executive order requiring that the U.S. Census Bureau factor in all residents, including noncitizens, as part of its decennial calculation of the U.S. population. As a result, the apportionment of House seats and, therefore, electoral votes for presidential elections, could be swayed as migrants continue to pour over the southern border. “Illegal immigration has all kinds of effects and among them is that it distorts the mechanics of democratic government,” Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Illegal immigrants aren’t even supposed to be here, so their inclusion in the census count for purposes of apportionment really is outrageous.” “There are a lot of close votes in Congress, more than there used to be. So, it can, in fact, make a difference,” Krikorian said. “It shouldn’t be a question of: Does this give you personally more influence in Washington? The question should be: Is it right? Is it healthy for our democratic process to be distorted this way? The answer is no.” REPUBLICANS PROBE DHS SECRETARY MAYORKAS OVER ROLE IN HOUSING MIGRANTS ON FEDERAL LANDS Overall, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, there are an estimated 16.8 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. as of June 2023. Therefore, because every House seat represents 761,168 residents on average, the total number of illegal immigrants account for roughly 22 seats in the House. And the most recent census, which was conducted in 2020, reduced the number of House seats apportioned to New York from 27 to 26. The state, according to the Census Bureau, would have needed just 89 more residents to maintain its previous apportionment, a calculation that highlights how fragile states’ House seat levels are. REPUBLICANS ACCELERATE PROBE INTO BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S ACTIONS TO HOUSE MIGRANTS ON FEDERAL LANDS In addition, electoral votes for presidential elections are distributed to states based on how many representatives in Congress they have. Therefore, a state with a larger number of House seats has greater influence during presidential elections every four years. “It doesn’t get enough attention, and with millions coming in right now, it deserves a bright, hot spotlight,” Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital in an interview. Earlier this month, Ries published an essay alongside RJ Hauman, the president of the Immigration Center For Enforcement, warning that illegal immigration is triggering a “warped representation” in Congress. “Barring the Census from including noncitizens in apportionment is critical in making sure that American citizens — the only population who can and should vote in U.S. elections — are picking America’s leaders,” Ries and Hauman wrote. “Biden’s intentional border crisis has produced unprecedented apportionment issues, distorting the representation that states have in the House, and how many electoral votes they have in presidential elections.” MAYOR’S OFFICE AVOIDS SAYING WHETHER IT BACKS NONCITIZENS VOTING AFTER WARNING MIGRANT CRISIS WILL DESTROY NYC The pair argued that prohibiting the Census Bureau from counting illegal immigrants toward its apportionment population would discourage sanctuary policies in Democrat-led cities and states. They further argued that such a policy would ensure that only American citizens “shape our political landscape” and prevent foreign nationals from determining the political destiny of the U.S. Ries and Hauman also called for Congress to pass the Equal Representation Act, which Sens. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Bill Cassidy, R-La., and 20 fellow Senate Republicans introduced late last month. Under the legislation, the Census Bureau would be required to include a citizenship question in any future census and prohibit noncitizens from being counted for congressional district and Electoral College apportionment. Reps. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, introduced companion legislation in the House days later. “It is unconscionable that illegal immigrants and noncitizens are counted toward congressional district apportionment and our electoral map,” said Hagerty. “While people continue to flee Democrat-run cities, desperate Democrats are back-filling the mass exodus with illegal immigrants so that they do not lose their seats in Congress and maintain electoral votes for the presidency and hence artificially boost their political power, which in turn dilutes the power of other Americans’ votes,” he added. REPUBLICANS FUME AT BIDEN FOR VACATIONING AS BORDER CROSSINGS EXPLODE: ‘DERELICTION OF DUTY’ Hagerty’s bill comes years after former President Trump attempted to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census questionnaire. Trump’s effort sparked widespread criticism and condemnation from Democrats and left-wing immigration groups who argued that a citizenship question was unlawful and was designed to help Republicans in future elections. The Trump administration ultimately abandoned the effort in July 2019 after an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling. Trump said at the time that allowing noncitizens to be counted was “part of a broader left-wing effort to erode the rights of the American citizen.” “It obviously helps states that have a high illegal immigrant population. The best way to say it is it’s a perverse incentive to states to grow their population through illegal immigration,” Eric Ruark, the director of research for NumbersUSA, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Federal dollars are also based upon population. States who have a higher illegal immigrant population are going to see more federal funding.” “To have a democratic society, you need to recognize limits on who qualifies as a citizen or as someone who has representation,” Ruark continued. “And I don’t know if Americans really believe that anyone who shows up and comes over the border should be represented equally in Congress as compared to American citizens.” Meanwhile, in January, the federal government reported more than 156,000 migrant encounters at the U.S. southern border, a slight year-over-year uptick but a decrease compared to the month prior. In December, more than 302,000 migrants were encountered crossing the border, by
GOP Senate hopeful kept ties to George Soros-backed group where Hunter Biden served on board
A Republican running to replace Mitt Romney as Utah’s junior senator kept ties to a group partially funded by liberal billionaire George Soros and where Hunter Biden served as a board member, a Fox News analysis has found. Trent Staggs, the Republican mayor of Riverton, Utah, who announced his Senate run last year, previously served on the Utah Advisory Committee for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC), a coalition of corporations and non-governmental organizations, some of which promote liberal and left-leaning policies. According to the Open Society Foundations network, Soros’ network of nonprofits through which he finances his political agenda, it has given nearly $1.2 million to the USGLC since 2017, covering at least some of the years Staggs served on the advisory committee, as well as in 2022, when he received its Global Statesman Award “for his leadership and advocacy for U.S. leadership in the world.” WATCH: VULNERABLE REPUBLICAN LAMPOONED FOR ‘EMBARRASSING’ EXCHANGE WITH REPORTER, ‘LIE’ ABOUT DISTRICT FUNDING In his acceptance speech, Staggs said he appreciated the work of the USGLC, including promoting “increased support for development, diplomacy and defense that contribute to strong U.S. leadership in the world.” He also praised America’s defense spending, charitable giving and the overall “generous, compassionate nature of the United States.” The previous year, Staggs issued a mayoral proclamation declaring Dec. 14, 2021, to be Global Engagement Day 2021, asking his community’s residents “to support the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s efforts to strengthen diplomacy and America’s international affairs programs.” A 2020 report by The Daily Caller found that Hunter Biden served on USGLC’s board of directors from 2012 to 2018, during which time the group lobbied for more spending on Ukraine while Hunter was also serving on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings. VULNERABLE HOUSE DEM BACKPEDALS AFTER REFUSING TO CONDEMN PHRASE SEEN AS CALLING FOR ‘EXTERMINATION’ OF JEWS In addition to Soros, the USGLC is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, two other prominent liberal organizations. According to the Rockefeller Foundation, it awarded a $750,000 grant to the U.S. Center For Global Leadership, a close affiliate of the USGLC, in October 2021, just months before Staggs was awarded the Global Statesman Award. “Greg Hughes and other Utah conservatives serve on a local advisory council I was asked to be part of. I will take every opportunity to talk about the importance of the free market, free and fair trade and U.S. global dominance. Now, we need to elect Donald Trump, get our economy back on track and once again lead the world,” Staggs told Fox News Digital in a statement, referencing a well-known former Utah congressman. His campaign did not share information on how long Staggs had served on the advisory council for the organization, but a source told Fox News Digital the mayor was no longer serving on it and that he left in early 2023. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The source also pointed to other conservatives with recent connections to USGLC, including former Trump officials Bill Stepien and Kenneth Braithwaite. Staggs is running as an “America First” candidate, often referred to as “MAGA,” and is facing a crowded field of Republican primary hopefuls. The primary election will be held June 25. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Johnson forced to delay House vote on controversial surveillance tool after GOP mutiny threats
EXCLUSIVE: Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was forced to backpedal on holding a House vote on renewing and revising a key surveillance tool of the U.S. government after a bloc of GOP lawmakers threatened a mutiny, Fox News Digital has learned. The House Rules Committee had been partially through considering a bill to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) when Johnson’s spokesperson announced that a planned House-wide vote would not happen this week as expected. The Rules panel, which had to approve the bill before it hit the House floor, abruptly called off the rest of its session with no explanation. But four sources told Fox News Digital that all progress on the FISA bill would be postponed until a later date because members of the House Intelligence Committee threatened to tank a procedural vote to effectively kill the legislation. “Instead of playing the game through Rules and regular order, Intel decided to take their ball and go home, walking away from the negotiated text and amendment plan without any understanding of why,” one source said. Three more sources close to the Intelligence Committee challenged that narrative to Fox News Digital, saying the bill text was changed over the weekend without their consent or the consent of the House Judiciary Committee, which also worked on the bill. They said the issue was primarily with an amendment offered by Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, a member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus who does not sit on either committee. One of those two sources said Davidson’s amendment was not “germane” to the compromise text, meaning it was ineligible for consideration because it was not deemed relevant to the bill – until the text was allegedly altered over the weekend. PUBLIC TRUST IN FBI HAS REACHED ‘THE RED ZONE,’ US INCHING CLOSER TO ‘MAYHEM, CHAOS, ANARCHY:’ WSJ COLUMNIST “Someone in leadership staff ended up drafting text that got inserted into the base text over the weekend, so they basically airdropped … this one paragraph into the base text that now makes that amendment germane,” that source said. “The amendment totally screws FISA, the text that was added totally screws FISA in terms of its ability to be a national security tool.” That source said taking a chance on whether Davidson’s amendment will pass was like “playing Russian roulette.” Section 702 has been both credited with preventing terror attacks on U.S. soil and accused of being a vehicle for spying on U.S. citizens. It lets the government keep tabs on specific foreign nationals outside the country without first obtaining a warrant to do so, even if the party on the other side of those communications is an American on U.S. soil. Davidson’s proposed amendment would have forced feds acting within FISA to seek a warrant before trying to obtain third-party-owned communications and location data of a U.S. citizen. The bill intended to come to the floor this week was the product of monthslong talks between the Judiciary and Intelligence panels. Both sides agreed that Section 702 needs to be reformed, and a task force of seven lawmakers was created to hash out the compromise, two sources said. Judiciary members, along with a coalition of GOP hard-liners and progressives, saw FISA as a tool abused to spy on Americans and sought severe restrictions. Intelligence Committee members argued their restrictions would have rendered it ineffective as a tool to stop terror attacks. GUN RIGHTS GROUP URGES SENATORS TO PRESS YELLEN OVER TREASURY TARGETING GUN TRANSACTIONS Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., who is on Intelligence, agreed FISA needs reforms and defended his panel’s work on the matter but insisted the warrant aspect could hinder efforts to prevent threats to Americans. He said the committee’s proposed emphasis on more transparency and oversight of the FISA court would “help remedy these problems and puts us on the best path forward to protect national security, and secondly, to hold the FBI accountable.” LaHood also pointed to a letter signed by Trump-era national security officials affirming support for his committee’s version of the bill. “This was airdropped in there,” the second source close to the Intelligence Committee said of text related to Davidson’s amendment. “This was not something that the seven members of the working group had ever digested, ever looked at. So really, it was disingenuous to think that that would be a part of that. And essentially, [House GOP leadership] agreed.” That source said Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., were “surprised” to hear that the legislative text was altered. The third source said, “What they’re asking for is a secondary requirement, a warrant which would be a warrant for the query of a database of already lawfully collected data … that would be the equivalent of a police officer needing a warrant before running a license plate.” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., an ally of Davidson’s who supported his warrant amendment, hit back at the Intelligence Committee’s reform efforts, saying, “Intel didn’t want the Judiciary [amendments]. See, the Judiciary Committee is the committee of jurisdiction. That’s where it should’ve gone.” But the third source close to the Intelligence Committee said those on the panel “are the ones that see the threats to our nation up close and personal every day.” It’s not immediately clear when House GOP leaders plan to bring the bill back up. House leadership has until April 19 before Section 702 expires. Johnson’s and Davidson’s offices did not immediately provide comment.
‘He was nameless’: Orphaned children lose family, identity in Gaza
Khan Younis, Gaza – Lying on a bed at the European Hospital in southern Gaza, hidden behind bandages that enveloped his disfigured face, five-year-old Ahmed Abu Zariaan remained unidentified for more than a week. The injured boy was one of a growing number of children in the war-torn enclave to be registered as “unknown”, or under the acronym WCNSF – wounded child, no surviving family. Ahmed’s family was wiped out in an Israeli air raid as they travelled southwards along Salah al-Din Street, a route Israel designated for safe passage from northern Gaza, in early November. Heeding the Israeli army’s order for residents in the northern part of the enclave to evacuate to the south, the family of five left Beit Hanoon on a donkey cart and headed for Rafah, on the border with Egypt. A strike targeting a nearby house along the way killed the whole family but spared the five-year-old. Nour Lafi, a 28-year-old nurse at the European Hospital, said the boy was in intensive care for two weeks after sustaining severe injuries and burns. “His face was not visible at all and no one recognised him. He was nameless,” she said. “None of his family were there. I could hear him moaning in pain. We tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t say a word.” Doctors examine an injured child brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after an Israeli attack on the Maghazi refugee camp in Deir el-Balah on December 6, 2023 [Doaa Albaz/Anadolu via Getty Images] The boy was recognised 10 days later by his grandmother. UNICEF, the UN agency for the protection of children, estimates that at least 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip are unaccompanied or have been separated from their immediate relatives since the beginning of the conflict on October 7 – about 1 percent of the overall displaced population of 1.7 million people. In Gaza, where Israel’s brutal war has passed the four-month mark, parents have long resorted to writing their children’s names on their bodies so they can be identified if killed or injured. When no indication of their identity is immediately available, hospitals send out alerts on social media networks in the hope that relatives come forward. Yet, sometimes a child’s injuries are so severe that their own families would struggle to recognise them. In the course of the conflict, NGO Save the Children found, more than 10 children a day lose one or both of their legs. ‘Missiles destroy people outside and inside’ Samira Abu Zariaan, 60, is still in shock that her daughter was killed but she has taken on caring for her grandson, whose physical and psychological wounds are life-altering. [embedded content] “His emotional state is still very difficult,” Samira told Al Jazeera. “He hasn’t talked much. His voice trembles with fear. He’s scared of any sounds near him.” Ahmed has asked about his mother, but Samira could not bring herself to tell him the truth. “He doesn’t know she was killed. I told him she’s injured and needs to rest.” “I don’t know how Ahmed will overcome his shock. These missiles destroy people outside and inside,” she said. “He turned from a cheerful, impish, chattering child to a silent, still child.” The UN estimates that some 40 percent of the people in Gaza have lost their identification cards and other documents, making it harder to identify unaccompanied children and reunite them with their families. “Forced separation exposes children to various dangers and heightened risks of exploitation, neglect, and abuse,” Ammar Ammar, spokesperson for UNICEF, told Al Jazeera. A 2022 assessment by Save the Children found that the psychosocial well-being of children in Gaza had reached alarming levels due to protracted conflicts, a global pandemic and a crippling blockade. The needs are now “unimaginable”, Soraya Ali, a regional spokesperson at Save the Children, told Al Jazeera. “Children have an increased sense of anxiety and depression after going through conflict and this leads to long-term consequences.” Injured children often have to deal with the loss of their families as well as the pain of their wounds. Pictured here is a child at the Kuwaiti Hospital after an Israeli attack on al-Ghoul family home in Tal as-Sultan, Rafah on January 25, 2024 [Doaa Albaz/Anadolu] By UNICEF’s estimate, about 500,000 children were already in need of mental health and psychosocial support in Gaza before the assault began. Today, it estimates that the number has doubled to more than one million children – as a result of what it describes as “a war on children” that has made the Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. More than 28,000 people have been killed, including more than 12,000 children, during Israel’s war on Gaza. Life-threatening shortages As children face a mental health crisis, critical medical and food supplies remain largely unable to enter Gaza. Aid convoys carrying lifesaving supplies have come under fire from Israeli forces, despite being clearly labelled. According to the latest UN assessments, 13 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functional, operating at several times their capacity while facing critical shortages of basic supplies and fuel. Humanitarian organisations have called for an end to the hostilities to allow the humanitarian aid trickling in to be scaled up. “UNICEF can scale up its support, but we urgently need full access to communities and families to properly identify, register, provide temporary care arrangements and conduct family tracing and reunification services for children,” Ammar said. “An immediate and long-lasting ceasefire is the only way to end the killing, injuring and separation of children and their families.” Save the Children has also been calling for a permanent ceasefire, Ali said, “so that we can go into Gaza and start providing the mental and psychosocial support that is desperately needed”. (Federica Marsi reported from Italy for this article.) [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
One person killed in shooting at Kansas City Super Bowl victory parade
One person was killed and children were among the 21 injured after a mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade triggered panic among huge crowds of fans. Shots rang out on Wednesday in Kansas City in the United States moments after jubilant Chiefs players addressed a vast, cheering crowd, sending shocked fans fleeing in a tragic end to what had been a joyous morning of celebrating the NFL champions. Police said three people had been taken into custody after the attack near Union Station, but the motive behind the shooting was still under investigation. Fire department chief Ross Grundyson told a news conference that many of the victims had suffered “life-threatening injuries”. A local DJ, Lisa Lopez, was killed in the assault, her radio station said. The authorities said more than one million people were expected for the parade, which was held in unseasonably sunny, warm conditions in central Kansas City. Mass shootings are common in the US, where there are more guns than people and about a third of adults own a firearm. The attack in Kansas City was not the only shooting to grab national headlines on Wednesday. Four students were also shot outside a high school in Atlanta, while three police officers were shot during a standoff in the national capital Washington, DC. All are expected to survive, according to media reports. The shootings came six years to the day after 17 people were killed in an attack at a high school in Parkland, Florida. Polls show a majority of Americans favour stricter gun regulations, but the powerful firearms lobby and mobilised voters supporting the country’s culture of strong gun rights have repeatedly stymied lawmakers from acting. The Chiefs were celebrating their third Super Bowl title in five seasons after beating the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas on Sunday. Adblock test (Why?)
UK economy slips into recession, official data shows
Britain’s gross domestic product shrank by 0.3 percent in the last three months of 2023, after contracting 0.1 percent in the third quarter. The United Kingdom slipped into a technical recession in the second half of last year after its economy registered two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, official figures have shown. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement on Thursday that Britain’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.3 percent in the last three months of 2023, after contracting 0.1 percent in the third quarter. A technical recession is commonly defined as back-to-back quarters of contracting GDP. Sterling weakened moderately against the United States dollar and the euro shortly after the GDP data release. The ONS said the fall in GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023 was the biggest since the first three months of 2021. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to a smaller 0.1 percent fall in the October-to-December period. Economic output dropped by 0.1 percent in monthly terms in December, after 0.2 percent growth in November, the ONS said. The Reuters poll had pointed to a 0.2 percent fall in December. Britain’s economy has been stagnating for nearly two years. The Bank of England has said it expects it to pick up slightly in 2024, but slow growth this year would still represent a difficult backdrop for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s attempts to woo voters ahead of a national election expected later in 2024. “Businesses were already under no illusion about the difficulties they face, and this news will no doubt ring alarm bells for government,” said Alex Veitch, director of policy and insight at the British Chambers of Commerce. “The chancellor must use his budget in just under three weeks’ time to set out a clear pathway for firms and the economy to grow.” Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said there were “signs the British economy is turning a corner” and “we must stick to the plan – cutting taxes on work and business to build a stronger economy”. Media reports said Hunt was seeking to cut billions of pounds from public spending plans to fund pre-election tax cuts in his March 6 budget, if penned in by tight finances. Adblock test (Why?)