Meet woman who led all women contingent of Armed Forces Medical Services during Republic Day 2024 parade
India’s national capital witnessed a parade showcasing the nation’s rich cultural diversity, unity, and military might stemming from growing indigenous capabilities and the growing influence of Nari Shakti
White House halts enormous natural gas projects in victory for environmentalists
The White House is halting the permitting process for several proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal projects over their potential impacts on climate change, an unprecedented move environmentalists have demanded in recent months. In a joint announcement Friday morning, the White House and Department of Energy (DOE) said the pause would occur while federal officials conduct a rigorous environmental review assessing the projects’ carbon emissions, which could take more than a year to complete. Climate activists have loudly taken aim at LNG export projects in recent weeks, arguing they will lead to a large uptick in emissions and worsen global warming. “As our exports increase, we must review export applications using the most comprehensive up-to-date analysis of the economic, environmental and national security considerations,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters on a press call. “This action includes a pause on pending applications for exports of U.S. natural gas as LNG to non-free trade agreement countries until the department can update the underlying analyses for authorizations.” “The U.S. is committed to affordable energy and economic opportunities for all Americans. We are committed to strengthening energy security here in the U.S. and with our allies,” Granholm continued. “And we’re committed to protecting Americans against climate change as we lead the world into a clean energy future.” ENERGY DEVELOPER AXING KEY COAL POWER PLANTS TO MEET ECO GOALS, JEOPARDIZING POWER FOR MILLIONS While it is unclear which proposed projects the action will affect, a senior administration official told reporters at least two have a larger capacity and two have a smaller capacity. Another official added that the pause implemented Friday will only impact projects that have gone through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) lengthy approval process and are ripe for DOE approval. According to federal data updated this week, there are 11 projects that have been green-lit by FERC but are not yet under construction. An additional four projects are pending before FERC and two are in the pre-filing stage. Those six projects wouldn’t be impacted by the pause since they are not before DOE yet, but they would be impacted if approved by FERC. BIDEN ADMIN ABRUPTLY REVERSES PROPOSAL OPENING PUBLIC LANDS TO FOREIGN OWNERSHIP AFTER GOP OPPOSITION “From day one, we have looked out for frontline communities from day one,” White House climate czar Ali Zaidi said. “From day one, we have stood with our allies and partners. That’s how Joe Biden leads on climate change. And when it comes to the climate crisis, we square our shoulders, we take on the challenge in front of us, we lean into the solutions and, yes, we transition globally away from fossil fuels. That is the solution, that is the strategy that the president has articulated.” “As the department steps forward in this way under Secretary Granholm’s leadership, I think it’s important to note the context in which this happens,” Zaidi added. “We’re doing this weeks removed from a U.N. climate conference where the United States, under President Biden’s leadership, was out front making sure that the global community was clear-eyed about the need to transition globally away from fossil fuels.” LNG export terminals have been opposed by Democrats and environmentalists who argue they would create harmful pollution and contribute to global warming. The issue has led to activists posting videos on social media which, over the last two months, have generated tens of millions of views. Additionally, in December, dozens of environmental groups wrote to Granholm, imploring her to reject the LNG development “for the sake of our climate and communities.” Days later, 170 scientists penned a letter to President Biden, asking him to reject pending LNG facilities. ENVIRONMENTALISTS CALL ON BIDEN ADMIN TO TANK NATURAL GAS PROJECT AMID NATIONWIDE ARCTIC BLAST Climate activist Bill McKibben recently announced he was organizing a civil disobedience protest outside the DOE’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., over the permitting of new LNG export terminals. He said the action would mimic the protests that helped nationalize the Keystone XL pipeline fight during the Obama administration. But proponents of additional LNG export facilities say the projects are vital to help meet energy demand in Europe and Asia as nations look to wean off Russian natural gas supplies. In the weeks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Biden traveled to Europe and struck a deal with the European Union, vowing to send more U.S. LNG to the bloc. “I think they’re really making a miscalculation here. This isn’t just bad policy, it’s bad politics,” former FERC Chair Neil Chatterjee told Fox News Digital. “We made a commitment to our European allies, to Germany, that we would be there and help them. You really should not be playing politics with energy security.” “What’s really frustrating from the environmental perspective is that U.S. LNG actually displaces more intense fossil sources of fuel overseas,” Chatterjee said. “We have a much cleaner process than the Russians do. So, not only are we providing geopolitical assets to our allies, but U.S. LNG displacing dirtier sources of fuels actually lowers global carbon emissions. And the activists seem to be just kind of brushing over that.” BIDEN ADMIN APPEARS TO FABRICATE PAPER TRAIL IN PURSUIT OF MAJOR CHEMICAL PLANT SHUTDOWN: COURT DOCS This month, energy associations Eurogas and the Asia Natural Gas & Energy Association (ANGEA) issued strong statements of support for continued permitting of U.S. LNG export terminals. Eurogas reiterated such exports were critical for ensuring the full phase down of Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas, while ANGEA added U.S. LNG is needed to meet Asia’s decarbonization goals. The German state-owned energy company Securing Energy for Europe said in a recent letter to Granholm that U.S. LNG is “vital for Germany’s energy security.” That company has already entered into a purchase agreement with at least one proposed LNG export terminal project in Louisiana. “This would be a win for Russia and a loss for American allies, U.S. jobs and global climate progress,” American Petroleum Institute (API) CEO Mike Sommers
Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 112
EXPLAINER An Israeli attack killed 20 waiting on aid in Gaza, heavy fighting is under way at the enclave’s hospitals. Here’s how things stand on Friday, January 26, 2024: Latest updates The International Court of Justice will deliver its response to South Africa’s request for emergency measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza from “irreparable harm” today at 1pm local time in The Hague (12:00 GMT) An Israeli overnight air attack on a house in the al-Hassayna neighbourhood of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza has killed at least 11 people, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. The United Nations trade body sounded an alarm on Thursday that global trade is being disrupted by attacks in the Red Sea, the war in Ukraine and low water levels in the Panama Canal. Lawmakers in Georgia, United States, passed a bill on Thursday that would define anti-Semitism in state law, The Associated Press news agency reported. The proposal seeks to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that would help prosecutors identify hate crimes and illegal discrimination targeting Jewish people. Human impact and fighting Heavy fighting is under way in the vicinity of the Al-Aqsa, Nasser, al-Amal and al-Khair hospitals in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Thursday. On Thursday, a large group of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian assistance at a roundabout in Gaza City were fired on by Israeli forces. At least 20 were killed and 150 injured, many seriously, OCHA reported. At least 200 people were killed and 370 injured in Gaza in a 24-hour period between Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health. A least 13 people were killed and 56 injured after Israel struck a UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) training centre on Wednesday, the agency confirmed on Thursday. Israel said it was conducting an investigation into the incident, but has “currently ruled out” that Israeli aircraft or artillery were responsible. Diplomacy The heads of the intelligence services of Israel, Egypt and the US, along with Qatar’s prime minister, are negotiating a deal between Israel and Hamas for a pause in fighting and the release of captives, Al Jazeera correspondents in Jerusalem reported early on Thursday. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, via phone call on Thursday. Austin reiterated US support for Israel’s “right to defend itself” and the US’s endeavours to ensure aid is made accessible to Gaza, along with resolving tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border, according to a US Department of Defense statement. On Thursday, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on US President Joe Biden to denounce the Israeli attack on people lining up to receive aid in Gaza City, which killed at least 20. Hamas official Osama Hamdan told reporters in Lebanon on Thursday that Israel’s efforts to create a buffer zone along its border with Gaza constitute a “crime” and act of “blatant aggression” against the Palestinian people. Adblock test (Why?)
Has Israel realised that it can’t ‘eradicate’ Hamas?
In early January, Israel announced that it was withdrawing some of its forces from northern Gaza after “dismantling” Hamas’s military activities in the region. Three months had passed since the start of its war on Gaza, more than 20,000 Palestinians had been killed and Israel had increasingly turned its attention to central and southern Gaza, here it has surrounded and targeted the city of Khan Younis in particular. But on January 16, Hamas launched 25 rockets from the northern Gaza strip at the southern Israeli city of Netivot. While no civilians were killed, the attack punched holes in the Israeli claim that it was on its way to destroying Hamas, even after more than 100 days of war. Since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israeli communities and military outposts on October 7, in which 1,139 people were killed, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that it wants to “eradicate” the Palestinian armed group. At the time, many analysts warned that destroying the group was an unrealistic aim that would only compound the costs imposed on Gaza’s civilian population. Now, the fresh signs of Hamas regaining the ability to target Israel from northern Gaza further bolster those predictions. “I think [the rocket attacks] sends a message to Israelis at large that their goal at eradicating Hamas is failing,” said Omar H Rahman, an expert on Israel-Palestine with the Middle East Council on Global Affairs think tank. “If you can still fire rockets and if you can still attack troops – in the north of all places where Israel has laid siege for 112 days – then [the war aim of destroying Hamas] is failing,” he told Al Jazeera. Eliminating the tunnels? Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas’s vast tunnel network under Gaza. But so far, Israel has failed to substantially impede the movement of Hamas fighters underground, according to Oren Ziv, an Israeli commentator and a journalist with +972 magazine, a publication based in Tel Aviv. “I would estimate that Israel doesn’t have the full picture of where the tunnels connect from and how. And the fact we still see attacks from northern Gaza means that the tunnel system is still operating,” Ziv told Al Jazeera. According to Israeli military officials, as well as previous statements by Palestinians in Gaza and official statements by Hamas, the tunnels in the Gaza Strip are hundreds of kilometres long. For decades, they have been used to smuggle all sorts of civilian supplies, as well as weapons from Egypt. Hiding the captives Hamas has used the tunnels for other means, including to ambush Israeli troops in Gaza and hide many of the 240 captives its fighters captured on October 7. Many of the captives were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a short pause in fighting brokered in November. Israel believes that about 100 captives remain inside the tunnels and estimates that 25 have been killed in captivity – possibly as a result of its own heavy and indiscriminate bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Despite the danger that Israel’s war tactics pose to the captives, the Israeli military has tried to blow up a number of tunnels in Gaza and flood some with water from the Mediterranean. But released captives fear that this strategy could drown the Israelis still down there, according to conversations between them and Netanyahu, which were leaked to the press. “The Israeli government continues to oversell what it can accomplish through military means. It said that it can release Israeli hostages through military means, but with the exception of one hostage that has not proven to be the case,” said Hugh Lovatt, an expert on Israel-Palestine relations with the European Council on Foreign Relations. “Military action has actually killed hostages,” he told Al Jazeera. Human cost Despite the ordeal captives face, Palestinian civilians have borne the brunt of Israel’s loosely defined and unrealistic war aims, said Lovatt. He said that Israel claims to have killed 9,000 Hamas fighters out of a total of more than 25,000 Palestinians killed in the enclave, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. However, 70 percent of the victims are believed to be women and children. “My feeling is that Israel is treating every dead male [in Gaza] as Hamas,” Lovatt told Al Jazeera. Lovatt said he doubted the Israeli figure of 9,000 Hamas fighters killed so far. But “even if we take that number as accurate”, he said, that still leaves the vast majority of the armed group’s personnel alive and ready to fight. According to the CIA, Hamas has about 35,000 fighters in Gaza alone, Lovatt pointed out. “That shows there are still a lot of fighters in Gaza that will outlast Israel’s military operations.” While analysts agreed that Hamas won’t be “eradicated”, they acknowledged that the group’s military capabilities have been downgraded and risk being further reduced. But they stressed that Israel’s war tactics will ultimately embolden – not destroy – Hamas. “Israel is capable of reducing Hamas’ military capacity, but its collective punishment on Gaza’s civilian population is feeding the generational drivers of resistance in every way possible,” Rahman, from the Middle East Council for Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera. “And when it comes to capacity, that is one thing that can always be rebuilt.” Adblock test (Why?)
Pacific island Tuvalu votes as ties with Taiwan in spotlight
Poll in nation threatened by climate change closely watched as China and the United State vie for influence in region. The tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu has voted in a national election that is being closely watched by China, Taiwan, the United States and its ally Australia, amid a tussle for influence in the region. There are only a little over 6,000 registered voters in the country of about 11,200 people. Polls have closed and the results from Friday’s election are expected later in the day. Tuvalu, where the population is spread across nine islands, has campaigned at international conferences for greater action to help low-lying nations address climate change as scientists have warned that its capital, Funafuti, risks being inundated by tides by 2050. Most of Tuvalu is forecast to be flooded by high tides by 2100, says the United Nations Development Programme, which is working with Tuvalu to bolster its coastline. A contest for influence in the Pacific between China and the US has seen Tuvalu courted, with Washington recently pledging to connect its remote population by undersea cable to global telecommunications for the first time. Tuvalu is one of three remaining Pacific allies of Taiwan after Nauru severed ties with Taipei this month and resumed diplomatic relations with China, which pledged more development support. Fight for influence Taiwan on Thursday said China was trying to influence the Tuvalu election and “seize our diplomatic allies”. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and not entitled to diplomatic ties. Taiwan rejects China’s sovereignty claim. Contenders for Tuvalu’s leadership have all advocated for climate change action on the world stage, but differ in approaches to ties with Taiwan, a diplomatic ally since 1979. Tuvalu’s Finance Minister Seve Paeniu, who has secured a seat in the new parliament as one of only two candidates for the Nukulaelae island electorate, told the Reuters news agency that he expects Taiwan ties to be reviewed after the election. The new government should decide whether Taiwan or China can best respond to Tuvalu’s development needs, he said. Prime Minister Kausea Natano has told Taiwan he continues to support relations. Enele Sopoaga, overthrown as prime minister by Natano at the 2019 election, and former Foreign Minister Simon Kofe have previously pledged support for Taiwan. There are no political parties, and two lawmakers will be chosen by voters in each of eight island electorates. After the votes are counted, government boats collect the new lawmakers from the islands and bring them to Funafuti, a journey that can take up to 27 hours. The prime minister is chosen by the newly elected lawmakers. Natano and Kofe are running for the Funafuti seat. Kofe attracted global headlines in 2021 when he delivered a speech to the United Nations climate change summit standing knee-deep in water to highlight the plight of the low-lying nation. Tuvalu signed a security and migration agreement with Australia in November that allows Canberra to vet security ties. Sopoaga has rejected the Australia deal, while Kofe said some aspects should be revised. Adblock test (Why?)
Meet India’s first woman elephant mahout honoured with Padma Shri, also known as..
At the age of 14, She was introduced to the field of elephant management by her late father Prakritish Chandra Barua.
Several senior House Republicans still silent on Trump 2024 amid growing pressure for party unity
Former President Trump’s decisive victory in the New Hampshire primary this week spurred several new endorsements from lawmakers on Capitol Hill who have so far been silent on the race. Among the most notable pivots was House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, R-Va., who endorsed Trump over the weekend minutes after his preferred candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, dropped out of the race. As of Thursday afternoon, Trump has more than 120 House Republican endorsements – the majority of the House GOP Conference and far outpacing former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley’s one backer. Fox News Digital took a look at some of the senior House Republicans who have yet to weigh in despite mounting calls to unify behind the former president. RAMASWAMY: HALEY SHOULD DROP OUT FOR GOOD OF COUNTRY AS OBSERVERS SAY SHE’S STILL ‘ALIVE AND KICKING’ Comer has not weighed in on the 2024 presidential primary publicly so far. It’s worth noting his hands have been full on Capitol Hill leading an impeachment inquiry into Trump’s rival, President Biden. Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., who are also leading the inquiry, have both endorsed Trump. Fox News Digital reached out to Comer’s office but did not immediately hear back. HALEY AND PHILLIPS OUTPERFORMED IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, BUT IT’S STILL A TRUMP VS BIDEN HORSE RACE Fitzpatrick, a more moderate member from a Pennsylvania swing district, also hasn’t picked a side in the 2024 primary. When Trump was indicted in June over his handling of classified documents, Fitzpatrick was one of the few Republicans who did not rush to his defense. The former FBI agent urged people to respect the legal process and not rush to judgment. “No one is above the law or beyond prosecution,” he said. “No one should be targeted for prosecution merely because of their status, position or affiliation.” Fitzpatrick’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. McMorris Rodgers is seen as one of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, but unlike Johnson, R-La., she has yet to weigh in on the 2024 presidential primary race. Johnson endorsed Trump late last year. In December 2019, she was named a state honorary co-chair for Trump’s reelection bid, according to the Spokesman-Review newspaper. She made clear there was some distance between them after the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot, reportedly telling constituents in August 2023 that efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss that day were “un-American.” BIDEN CHALLENGER DEAN PHILLIPS BLASTS PRESIDENT AS ‘UNELECTABLE AND WEAK’ AS BIDEN SET TO SKIP NEW HAMPSHIRE But she reportedly said, “I also believe that Donald Trump, or any American, deserves due process.” Fox News Digital reached out to McMorris Rodgers’ campaign for comment. Roy went into the 2024 presidential primary cycle as one of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ most enthusiastic supporters. But unlike Freedom Caucus Chair Good, Roy has not stepped behind Trump so far in the two-candidate race. Trump threatened to recruit a primary challenger against Roy, who is popular in his district and running unopposed, for his support of Trump’s former rival. Roy said on CNN in late December, “I was just at multiple events with Ron DeSantis, where he’s shaking their hands and looking them in the eye while Donald Trump hangs out in his basement in Florida, afraid to actually debate.” He said on “Fox Across America” on Thursday that Trump is “likely going to be the nominee” and called on him to “stand up in defense of the hardworking American family getting steamrolled by corporate America and by Republicans too weak-kneed to fight for them.” Roy’s office pointed to his earlier comments when reached by Fox News Digital on Thursday afternoon. Moore stepped into House leadership after a crowded race for a position left by Johnson when he took the gavel in October. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP He’s rarely spoken out about Republican Party politics in the 2024 presidential primary, preferring to keep election discussions focused on the House of Representatives. With his recent leadership role, Moore is also the highest-ranking House Republican to have voted in favor of a Sept. 11-style bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Fox News Digital tried to contact his campaign but did not immediately hear back. Fox News Digital also reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Haley faces growing calls to leave 2024 race as RNC nearly considers declaring Trump the presumptive nominee
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is facing growing calls for her to leave the 2024 presidential race as the Republican National Committee (RNC) nearly considered a resolution to declare former President Trump the party’s presumptive nominee for president in 2024. Trump trounced his rivals with convincing wins in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary this month, and experts agree there is likely little hope for Haley, the only alternative to the former president remaining in the race, in the upcoming South Carolina primary despite it being her home state. During an appearance on Fox News immediately following Trump’s New Hampshire victory on Tuesday, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was the first to publicly state it was time for Haley to make her exit. RECORD GOP TURNOUT, CALLS FOR HALEY TO LEAVE RACE ROUND OUT TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARIES “In my view, the general election really begins tonight. I think the Republican primary, for all intents and purposes, is over tonight. And I think the party and the country are better off if we see that for what it is,” he said. RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel followed shortly after, also telling Fox News she didn’t see a path for Haley going forward. “I think she’s run a great campaign, but I do think there is a message that’s coming out from the voters which is very clear: We need to unite around our eventual nominee, which is going to be Donald Trump, and we need to make sure we beat Joe Biden,” she said. GOP STRATEGISTS SAY HALEY NEEDS ‘REALISTIC PATH’ TO WIN PRIMARIES AFTER NEW HAMPSHIRE LOSS TO TRUMP “It is 10 months away until the November election, and we can’t wait any longer to put out foot on the gas to beat the worst president, to beat a president that’s kept our borders open, allowed fentanyl to pour through, allowed inflation to go rampant. He is hurting the American people, and we need to do everything we can to unite so that we can defeat him,” she added. Others quickly fell in line, including Andy Sabin, a major Republican donor, who said Haley needs to heed the advice of the late country singer Kenny Rogers and “know when to walk away,” and Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., a Trump supporter, told Fox there was “no path” for her to move forward. Sens. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., have also called for Haley to end her campaign. HALEY ALLIES ADMIT SHE HAS ‘STEEPER ROAD AHEAD’ FACING TRUMP IN SOUTH CAROLINA The increased calls for Haley to leave the race come as the RNC was set to consider a resolution that, if approved, would have declared Trump to be the party’s presumptive nominee for president. Fox News Digital obtained a copy of the resolution on Thursday, but it was later withdrawn. Haley’s campaign told Fox News Digital it was up to the millions of Republican voters across the country to decide who the party’s nominee will be, “not a bunch of Washington insiders.” “Who cares what the RNC says?” Haley campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said. “If Ronna McDaniel wants to be helpful, she can organize a debate in South Carolina, unless she’s also worried that Trump can’t handle being on the stage for 90 minutes with Nikki Haley.” In a statement, RNC spokesperson Keith Schipper said, “Resolutions, such as this one, are brought forward by members of the RNC. Chairwoman McDaniel doesn’t offer resolutions. This will be taken up by the Resolutions Committee, and they will decide whether to send this resolution to be voted on by the 168 RNC members at our annual meeting next week.” Trump addressed the resolution ahead of its withdrawal, expressing gratitude on Truth Social to those supporting it, but declaring he wanted to win the nomination through support from voters. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
House members press Biden to withdraw court nominee with ties to 9/11 hijacker sympathizers: ‘Grave concerns’
FIRST ON FOX — A group of House Republicans are urging President Biden to withdraw a controversial nominee who has ties to 9/11 hijacker sympathizers. In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, a group of 10 GOP members who represent districts over which the Third Circuit Court of Appeals presides wrote to the president about judicial nominee Adeel Abdullah Mangi, who has garnered significant criticism from lawmakers for troubling affiliations. The “grave concerns” raised by Chief Deputy Whip Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., and nine of his colleagues from Pennsylvania and New Jersey stem from 2019 to 2023, when Mangi served as a member of the board of advisers for the Center for Security, Race, and Rights at Rutgers Law School. The center has a “deep history of amplifying antisemitic speech, terrorist propaganda, and anti-American rhetoric,” the lawmakers said in the letter. BIDEN ABANDONS HIS OWN JUDICIAL NOMINEE WHO ONCE RELEASED MAN LATER INVOLVED IN MURDER OF 10-YEAR-OLD “During his tenure as a board member, the Center supported efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel by pushing for the boycott, divestment, and sanction (BDS) movement and calling for resistance in Palestine,” they wrote. “In 2021, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey stated that one of the Center’s events sought to ‘delegitimize Israel and to push their antisemitic agenda into a mainstream discourse.’ The Jewish News Center, among other organizations, labeled a 2021 center event as ‘pro-Hamas’ and a ‘terrorist-whitewashing webinar.’” The Coalition for Jewish Values, the Zionist Organization of America, Americans Against Antisemitism and others have thus opposed his nomination. Additionally, the center has a record of sympathizing with radical terrorist organizations, the lawmakers said. BIDEN JUDICIAL NOMINEE APPEARS STUMPED BY BASIC LEGAL TERMS: ‘I’M NOT SURE’ On the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the center sponsored an event titled “Whose Narrative? 20 Years since September 11, 2001.” The event, which sought to challenge the “exceptionalization” of the attacks, included speakers with ties to terrorist organizations, according to the lawmakers. The Republicans informed the president that Sami Al-Arian, a convicted felon who provided support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), was a featured speaker. At the event, Al-Arian blamed the 9/11 attack on the United States and its support for Israel. “As your Administration is aware, PIJ is a foreign terrorist organization and was involved in the atrocities committed against Israel on October 7, 2023,” they wrote. WHO ARE SOME OF THE BIDEN-APPOINTED JUDGES THE SENATE JUST CONFIRMED? The lawmakers go on to argue that “while Mr. Mangi’s affiliation and financial support for the Center is cause for alarm, we also find it deeply troubling that he has failed to denounce the Center and its radical ideology.” “On numerous occasions in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Mangi was given ample opportunity to denounce examples of antisemitic rhetoric espoused by the Center,” they said. “He failed to do so in his written responses and oral testimony to the committee every single time.” Mangi advanced out of the committee on an 11-10 party-line vote. His nomination now proceeds to the full Senate for a vote. Mangi, a New Jersey resident and partner at the law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, has been praised by Democrats for possibly being the nation’s first Muslim-American federal appellate judge. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Mangi is a standout figure in New Jersey’s legal landscape. It speaks volumes that his exceptional legal abilities are only exceeded by his character and unwavering commitment to fairness in the administration of justice,” Democrat Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said in a statement. White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital that “President Biden is deeply proud” to have nominated Mangi, calling him “an indisputably qualified and experienced attorney who has lived the American dream and is devoted to our Constitution and the rule of law.” He called the Republicans’ criticisms “vile, unconscionable smears”, noting that they have “been discredited by the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, and the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, among many others.” Bates accused the GOP lawmakers of applying a “religious litmus test,” targeting Mangi for his Muslim faith – which, he noted, the Constitution “forbids.”
Nonpartisan watchdog releases report outlining top election security threats for 2024: ‘A lot can go sideways’
FIRST ON FOX: A nonpartisan election integrity watchdog has released a detailed report outlining over a dozen “critical reforms” that need to be undertaken in states across the U.S. leading up to the 2024 election in order to “secure voter integrity.” “We believe very strongly in making it easier to vote and harder to cheat, and in order to do that, there’s a comprehensive set of basic rules and safeguards that I believe every state should adopt and should follow,” Honest Elections Project (HEP) Executive Director Jason Snead told Fox News Digital about the “Safeguarding Our Elections” report released on Friday. “We’ve built everything in this report out over the last few years, talking with experts, working with states, seeing what works and what doesn’t work, just as importantly, and then trying to bring it all together into a single, consolidated, concise piece of literature that you can drop this on the desk of lawmaker, and they can go out and they can get these reforms passed and make their elections work better the voters.” The report calls for “honest rules for honest elections” and lists 14 main areas that states should address, including banning ranked choice voting, blocking “Zuck Bucks 2.0,” banning non-citizens from voting in elections, consolidating election dates, requiring voter ID, and protecting vulnerable mail ballots. WYOMING SECRETARY OF STATE WARNS OF ELECTIONS’ VULNERABILITY TO FOREIGN MONEY: ‘DEEPLY DISTURBING’ The Honest Elections Project has long spoken out against left-wing nonprofit organizations funneling money into elections across the country, including what is known as “ZuckBucks” and its latest iteration, which is known by critics as “ZuckBucks 2.0.” “Elections should be accountable to the public, not to special interest groups and liberal megadonors,” the report states. “In 2020, left-wing nonprofits pumped more than $400 million from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg into thousands of election offices, giving more money to places that ultimately voted for Joe Biden.” “Dozens of states have banned or restricted private election grants, but the same left-wing group behind “Zuck Bucks” in 2020, the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), has already created a new $80 million program, the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, to skirt these laws and influence election offices across America.” ZUCKERBERG-FUNDED GROUP VIOLATED GEORGIA LAW WITH $2M FOR ELECTIONS BOARD: WATCHDOG The report also discusses what is known as ranked choice voting, which HEP says should be banned by each individual state. “RCV makes it harder to vote, harder to understand the results of elections, and harder to trust the voting process,” the report states. “States across the country are banning RCV and dissatisfied cities are repealing it, but a coordinated campaign driven by left-wing megadonors is promoting RCV to skew politics to the left.” “We’ve seen at this point possibly a dozen states are facing ballot measure fights to bring ranked choice voting to future elections,” Snead told Fox News Digital. “We’ve seen Zuck Bucks 2.0 launch in earnest and they’ve got the new $80 million program. We wanted to make sure that those issues were elevated for policymakers and for folks in the media as well, so that they can understand what these new threats and challenges are.” ‘DECEPTIVELY WORDED’ MICHIGAN BALLOT PROPOSAL WILL EFFECTIVELY ‘BAN’ VOTER ID IN THE STATE, CRITICS SAY Recent polling shows that a vast majority of Americans oppose foreign influence in elections, which Honest Elections Project says occurs in the United States despite laws on the books against it. “Federal and state laws bar candidates and campaigns from receiving foreign donations, but these laws generally do not apply to ballot measures,” the report states. “Left-wing groups like the 1630 Fund routinely pour tens of millions into ballot measure campaigns while simultaneously accepting substantial donations from foreign nationals such as Hansjörg Wyss.” Fox News Digital has reported extensively on Wyss and other liberal dark money networks funneling tens of millions into elections promoting left-wing causes. Across the country, states like Ohio, Utah, Oklahoma, Mississippi and others have made moves to tighten election integrity, and Snead told Fox News Digital that many of the changes recommended in the report can be made fairly easily. Ohio and Georgia have taken action against issues recommended in the report since the beginning of this year. “A lot of states are looking for what to do this year that doesn’t involve significant rewrites of election law, doesn’t raise the age-old concern that you’ll get from election clerks and officials that you’re changing things in the middle of an election and that it’s a potential disruptor,” Snead told Fox News Digital. “You can ban ranked choice voting, you can shut off Zuck Bucks 2.0, you can shut off foreign influence in elections by closing foreign influence in polls at the state level. You can bring process audits to your elections and empower secretaries of state to actually go in and make sure that election laws are being followed. None of that is disruptive to elections and it will have meaningful positive impacts for security, transparency and public confidence in the voting process.” Snead said the report is not based on “platitudes” or “virtue-signaling” but rather information that is thoroughly researched and “backed up” in order to serve as a handbook or guide to state governments and legislatures on how to ensure their elections are as secure as possible. “I hope at least that as far as 2024 is concerned, things will work better than they did in 2020,” Snead said. “We certainly don’t have a global pandemic hanging over us; that alone is a big boon. But there’s still a lot that can go sideways and, of course, in the future, we always need to be mindful of how we can keep improving our elections.”