Ayodhya Ram Mandir LIVE Updates: Cyber crimes rise as Pran Pratishtha event draws closer
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the chief guest at the ceremony, where many people, including celebrities, saints, and politicians, have received invitations.
Hindu Sena activists affix poster of ‘Ayodhya Marg’ on Babar Road in New Delhi
The idol of Ram Lalla was placed in the ‘Garbha Griha’ of the Ram Temple on Thursday amid joyous chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram.’
Tim Scott endorsement of Donald Trump latest sign GOP is consolidating around former president
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina – minutes after endorsing Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination – telling Fox News it’s time for the GOP to rally around the former president. “It’s time for us to unite our party so that we make sure that the only target we’re talking about is firing Joe Biden,” Scott emphasized after formally backing the former president at a Trump campaign rally in New Hampshire’s state capital city. “The best way for us to get rid of Joe Biden as our president is to unite our party now behind Donald Trump,” Scott added. Scott, who ended his own White House bid in November, became the third former Republican presidential candidate in the past week to endorse Trump. TIM SCOTT ENDORSES DONALD TRUMP FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum teamed up with Trump at a rally in Indianola, Iowa last weekend as he backed Trump. And multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy endorsed Trump on Monday night, as he suspended his own campaign following a dismal finish in Iowa’s caucuses. Ramaswamy joined Trump at a rally in Atkinson, New Hamphire the next evening. RON DESANTIS ARGUES TIM SCOTT ENDORSEMENT OF DONALD TRUMP IS ‘A BLOW’ TO NIKKI HALEY And it’s not just former Republican presidential nomination rivals. Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, becomes the 26th GOP lawmaker in the upper chamber to back Trump. Nearly 120 House Republicans are also supporting Trump, as are 10 governors. Trump, the commanding front-runner for the nomination as he makes his third straight White House run, is leagues ahead of his two remaining GOP 2024 rivals – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N.ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – when it comes to endorsements. “It’s weird to see such an outsider having everyone in D.C. behind him, and unifying the party at such an early stage,” veteran Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett told Fox News. HALEY TURNS UP THE HEAT ON TRUMP AS SHE TRIES TO CLOSE THE GAP WITH THE GOP FRONT-RUNNER Pointing to Tuesday’s New Hampshire GOP presidential primary, where surveys suggest Trump holds a double-digit lead over Haley with DeSantis a distant third in single digits, Bartlett said “we’ll see what happens on Tuesday, but right now this looks like a general election campaign.” A year ago, at the dawn of 2023, the former president was the only declared candidate in the race for the Republican nomination. However, he was far from a sure thing. DeSantis, fresh off an overwhelming gubernatorial re-election less than two months earlier, was neck and neck with Trump in some of the early 2024 polls. The former president was still facing plenty of criticism by fellow Republicans for contributing to the GOP’s lackluster performance in the 2022 midterms. Additionally, Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign launch at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, a couple of weeks after the midterms was panned by many pundits. But Trump’s four indictments last year, including charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss, have only boosted his support among Republican presidential primary voters. On Monday, Trump squashed the competition in the Iowa caucuses, the first contest on the GOP nominating calendar. While Haley and DeSantis remain in the fight for the Republican nomination, Matt Mowers told Fox News “a lot of folks are starting to look past the primary.” But Mowers, a veteran of the Trump State Department who later won the 2020 Reublican nomination in New Hampshire’s first congressional district, highlighted that “New Hampshire has a tendency to surprise at times too, so we’ll see how it all shakes out.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Democrat lawmakers sound the alarm over Biden’s campaign: ‘Not real comfortable’
Several Democrat lawmakers have expressed unease with President Biden’s campaign and its operations as he faces sagging poll numbers and low popularity. It’s a viewpoint that aligns with other left-leaning individuals who have previously sounded the alarm, including a former aide to first lady Jill Biden. Still, Biden’s re-election vehicle appears to have not made any significant changes despite the public outcry. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is one such politician who worries about how Biden has approached the election. The Vermont independent, who caucuses with Democrats, said Biden needs to change course and believes the Israel-Hamas war has hurt the president’s standing among younger voters. “There is no question, it is very hard for young people, I think for most Americans, to be excited about what is going on right now,” Sanders previously told CNN. “President [Biden] has got to change course.” BIDEN’S TOP OUTSIDE GROUP HAULS IN OVER $200M TO AID UPHILL RE-ELECTION FIGHT Other Democrats in Congress’ lower chamber, such as former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, have also signaled apprehension over the campaign’s direction. “We all have concerns. We want to make sure it’s a victorious campaign,” Hoyer recently said, according to Roll Call. “I think Joe Biden has had as successful an administration as any president, perhaps since Franklin Roosevelt,” he said. “And our job is to make sure the American people know how it affected them and their families so positively.” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he’s “not real comfortable” with where the campaign is and feels the team needs more diversity. “Well, I think those of us who helped Joe Biden get elected president are not real comfortable at this point with what we’re seeing,” Thompson recently said. “It just appears that the people who were engaged in helping craft the message and direction of the 2020 campaign are not actively involved in this campaign.” “Now, that doesn’t mean — it’s not too late to broaden the participation.” he continued. “But I think part of that discomfort is, in order to win, you have to have your best team effort. That team effort includes who he has, but he also needs men and women of color in the room, Latino, Asian. I think it’s that the tent is too small right now.” BIDEN HAS BEEN SECRETLY MEETING WITH DONORS TO EASE CONCERNS, INCLUDING HIS AGE AND ENERGY: REPORT Like Hoyer, Thompson praised Biden’s accomplishments, but said the campaign has failed to articulate them to the American people. “The Biden administration has a rich portfolio that they’ve accomplished,” Thompson said to the same publication. “I think there’s some continued concern about how that portfolio is being delivered, and who’s delivering it. And so I think it’s just a matter of, you know, getting some more people under the tent. And, so, how can we do this better?” The lawmaker’s concerns follow others who have exited the Biden orbit and can seemingly speak more freely. Michael LaRosa, a former top aide and spokesperson for first lady Jill Biden, has criticized Biden’s team for the president’s crumbling poll numbers and cautioned he needs a shakeup with his aides around him. FORMER JILL BIDEN SPOX EXPLODES AT BIDEN’S TEAM AMID CRUMBLING POLL NUMBERS: ‘THIS IS INEXCUSABLE’ “New CNN Poll: Trump has higher favorables+Biden has higher unfavorable,” LaRosa wrote on social media in November. “This is inexcusable for man universally known for his character+intregity. It’s a result of failing to respond to smears, lies, conspiracies, and disinfo for months allowing a void of info to be filled.” “Shameful that POTUS’s team has allowed this narrative to congeal over the past two years,” LaRosa continued. “The only people who can help change the people around [President Biden] is [Jill Biden]. It’s up to her. These are the same people who got him 4th in Iowa, 5th in [New Hampshire], and a distant 2nd to a socialist in [Nevada].” Democratic strategists David Axelrod and James Carville have also expressed concerns about Biden’s re-election chances. Carville also sounded the alarm late last year, telling a CNN audience that Biden’s poll numbers were “troubling” and a clear expression of voter apprehension. “Well, I guess, to say the least, the polls were not great,” Carville said. “And it tells us that voters are expressing some apprehension here. It’s pretty clear. There’s not much else you can say when you look at them.” “You can’t look at this and not say that you’re concerned,” he continued. “For me to come on television and say I don’t find this alarming or troubling at all, it’d be stupid of me.” Biden faces an uphill battle in the 2024 elections. Several polls have shown him underwater, and his popularity remains low. Biden’s campaign did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment. Fox News’ Jeffrey Clark and Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
Sanders targets pharma CEOs to testify in Senate, but some see ‘retaliation’ for lawsuit against Biden admin
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced this week he plans to hold a vote on Jan. 31 to subpoena the CEOs of two big Pharma companies for a hearing on drug pricing in front of the Health, Education Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee after they refused to testify last year. The subpoenas for Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato and Merck CEO Robert Davis would have them testify about why their costs for medicine are “substantially higher” compared to other countries, the announcement said. But some executives see the pending subpoenas as a form of retaliation for a court battle over Medicare price negotiations. “It is absolutely unacceptable that the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson and Merck have refused an invitation by a majority of members on the HELP Committee to appear before Congress about the outrageously high price of prescription drugs,” Sanders said. “These CEOs may make tens of millions of dollars in compensation. The pharmaceutical companies they run may make billions in profits.” SEN. BERNIE SANDERS ADMITS IT’S ‘VERY HARD’ FOR AMERICANS TO BE EXCITED WHEN PRESSED ON BIDEN ISRAEL STANCE In November, Sanders requested Duato and Davis for testimonies on drug pricing, but they insisted that a “senior pharmaceutical executive best positioned to address and provide Johnson & Johnson’s position regarding the issues” should instead appear, according to a letter Johnson & Johnson attorney Brian D. Smith sent to Sanders this week in response to the subpoena announcement. “Johnson & Johnson offered to make available for the hearing the senior pharmaceutical executive best positioned to address and provide Johnson & Johnson’s position regarding the issues posed in your invitation letter,” Smith wrote. “Throughout these discussions, Johnson & Johnson has also made clear its concerns with the direction the Committee is taking with the hearing, including the reasons that the company’s chief executive is not the appropriate witness for this hearing. We appreciate the opportunity to reiterate the concerns that we have previously conveyed to your staff over the past three months, and we urge you to consider permitting the Committee to hear from the appropriate executive for these topics.” BERNIE SANDERS TO FORCE SENATE VOTE ON RESOLUTION THAT COULD FREEZE AID TO ISRAEL The two Pharma companies, alongside others, are currently suing to freeze Medicare drug price negotiation under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Merck Executive Vice President Jennifer Zachary also sent a letter to Sanders this week suggesting the request to have the CEOs testify in front of the Senate panel is a form of “retaliation” for the ongoing lawsuit. “We appreciate that many Committee members have expressed their disagreement with our lawsuit, and we respect their good-faith views. That said, your public criticisms of the Companies for challenging the IRA and comments regarding hearing witnesses indicate that the invitations to testify have been extended as retaliation for the Companies’ exercise of their constitutional right to seek relief in court,” Zachary wrote. Joe Grogan, who served as a domestic policy advisor to former President Trump, told Fox News Digital in an interview that “CEOs are not the subject matter experts in the company who can explain all the different aspects of the pharmaceutical supply chain” and negotiations with other governments. “To put a fine point on it, it’s completely un-American,” Grogan said. “I mean, these companies have every right to avail themselves of the courts, they have every right to sue and to be for him to target these three companies is not a coincidence.”
Here are the top 4 moments from the 2024 March for Life
The annual March for Life on Friday was the second one in post-Roe v. Wade America, and a snowy one at that. But the weather didn’t stop droves of people from coming out to march against abortion in Washington, D.C. The major pro-life event featured speakers ranging from religious leaders to the highest echelons of the American government. ‘MARCH FOR LIFE’ REVEALS THEME FOR 2024 EVENT IN POST-ROE UNITED STATES Here are the top four moments from the 2024 March for Life. The snow may have deterred some, but it didn’t stop a large crowd of pro-life Americans from marching on Washington. Pro-life Americans descended on Washington even amid the snowfall that blanketed the nation’s capital on Friday. March for Life president Jeanne Mancini told Fox News Digital that seeing “huge crowds in the snow, especially the young people; the powerful personal testimonies — from Aisha to Jean Marie to Antonio to the wonderful surprise visit from Coach Jim Harbaugh, the day has been beautiful!” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who ascended to the gavel in October, spoke at the March for Life, saying it is a “pivotal time to promote quality healthcare for both women and their unborn children.” Johnson noted that the House passed the Pregnant Students Rights Act this week to cheers and took a jab at the Biden administration’s proposed rule to restrict “pregnancy resource centers” funding. “Because being pregnant while finishing your degree can be really difficult,” Johnson said. “But women should not be presented with a false choice of being a mom or being a student.” “Right now, you should know, the Biden administration is proposing a regulation to restrict funds to pregnancy resource centers,” he also said. “We know that those are the centers that states rely on to assist expecting moms and dads.” “And that action would undercut that important work, the important material support that expecting and first-time mothers get from these centers,” Johnson continued, adding that the House-passed Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act would “prevent that regulation from coming into effect.” “Who could be opposed to that?” he pondered. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment. Declaring the snowy day “football weather,” 2024 national title champion and University of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh gave a surprise address at the March for Life on Friday. Harbaugh joined the stage to introduce former NFL tight end Benjamin Watson, who was slated to speak. “It’s a great example that you’re setting,” Harbaugh said to the crowd. “It’s testimony for the sanctity of life.” “It’s a great day for a march!” the champion coach exclaimed to cheers. “It’s a great day, this is football weather!” GOP lawmakers in Congress were not afraid to show their support for Friday’s March for Life and its participants, with several senators and House members posting videos about the event. “Today is the 51st annual [March for Life], where Americans from across the country gather in Washington to celebrate and stand for the life and rights of the unborn,” Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, wrote Friday on X. “We must create a culture of life throughout our country not just to uphold the Constitution, but to honor God – the author of life,” he continued. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., posted on X, “Less than 2 yrs ago, SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade. Because of this, tens of thousands of innocent babies in our country have been saved. “It wouldn’t have been possible without decades of hard work, advocacy, & unbroken faith from pro-life advocates like those at [March for Life].” “Welcome to all our Tennesseans who are in our nation’s capital for the 2024 March for Life!” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote on X. “Thank you for [the] great work you are doing every day to defend life.”
Top border Dem reveals what negotiations need to be made to solve migrant crisis
An influential House Democrat whose district is along the southern border says the ongoing migrant crisis needs increased repercussions for illegal entry, an end to “catch and release” and more pressure on Mexico by the Biden administration. “I think the asylum law, the criteria for letting people in, can be adjusted, No. 1. No. 2, I think Title 8 should be enforced,” Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said in an interview with Fox News Digital, referring to regular border authorities. “I think even if you don’t change the criteria for asylum, there’s enough under Title 8 that can get the job done, and that includes expedited removal. So, you got to have repercussions at the border, absolutely,” he said. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT POPULATION SOARS UNDER BIDEN: GOVERNMENT DATA Cuellar, a moderate Democrat, has been a key bipartisan voice in finding solutions to the ongoing crisis that has engulfed the area since 2021, often finding himself opposing some of the moves the Biden administration has taken to handle the crisis. Congress is debating a supplemental funding request from the White House that includes $14 billion for processing, aid to states and increased expedited removal. But Republicans have called for stricter limits on asylum, greater deportation and a limit on the release of migrants into the interior. But Cuellar also said one thing was missing from discussions about the border in general, and that’s the need to put more pressure on Mexico to stop the flow north. “We have to make sure that we put a constant pressure on Mexico, where Mexico slows down and holds people down there on the southern border. Then, naturally, there will be less people at our border,” he said, later adding that the pressure has to be “constant, constant, constant.” He stressed that “catch and release” remained a pull factor for many migrants. Fox News recently reported that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said that more than 85% of migrants are being released into the U.S. There were over 300,000 migrant encounters at the border in December, a new record. Overall in fiscal year 2023 there were over 2.4 million migrant encounters. “If you have in one year millions of individuals that are encountered, and then you let hundreds and hundreds of thousands of them in, that becomes the pull factor. That catch and release, where people are released into the U.S., is the pull factor that I’m referring to,” Cuellar said. Cuellar also had advice for the White House on how to tackle the crisis. “If I was advising the president, I would look at the American public and say, ‘There’s an immigration crisis at the border, and we’ll get on it. I’ll work with Democrats and Republicans. We’re going to get it done. I’m on it.’” he said. BIDEN ADMIN EYES MORE DEPORTATION FLIGHTS TO VENEZUELA AS MIGRANT NUMBERS SHATTER RECORDS “And then make sure that you get rid of that pull factor, which is catch and release, letting people in, waiting for five, six years in the future before they go to an immigration judge,” he said, citing statistics the vast majority will ultimately be rejected for asylum. “So, why are we allowing hundreds of thousands of them in when, at the end of the day, most of them are going to be rejected?” He said border walls do not work in the Texas area because the river is the international boundary. So, by the time migrants have gotten to the wall, they are in the country already and can request asylum. He also said adding more Border Patrol agents isn’t the answer without changes to catch and release. “You can add 1,000, 2,000 more, but if you don’t have the right policy, then you get more people helping them manage and processing people. That’s not what Border Patrol should be doing,” he said. The Biden administration has pointed to increased removals it has undertaken since May, claiming it has removed more illegal immigrants since May than in fiscal 2019. It has also pointed to the resumption of direct flights to Venezuela among moves to increase consequences for illegal entry. It has also praised Mexico for resuming flights to Venezuela.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 696
These are the main developments as the war enters its 696th day. Here is the situation on Saturday, January 20, 2024. Fighting Ukraine has attacked an oil depot in western Russia, where four oil reservoirs with a total capacity of 6,000 cubic metres (212,000 cubic feet) caught fire, a Ukrainian security services source told the AFP news agency. The attack targeted the facility in Klintsy, about 70km (45 miles) from the Ukrainian border. An official in Ukraine’s intelligence service claimed Ukrainian drones attacked a gunpowder mill in Russia’s Tambov, local media has reported. Russian shelling in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region has killed a 57-year-old woman and a man was killed by a land mine, the Ukrainian president’s office confirmed. The Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border cancelled its traditional Orthodox Epiphany festivities on Friday due to the threat of Ukrainian drone strikes. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that landmines are once again surrounding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which is in Russian hands. Mines at Europe’s largest nuclear facility had been removed in November by the United Nations nuclear watchdog. Ukrainian rescuers work in a residential building damaged after an attack in Kupiansk, Kharkiv region [File: Ukrainian Emergency Service/AFP] Diplomacy and politics The European Union has said it will drastically increase ammunition production this year in response to Ukraine’s growing pleas for support in its war against Russia. The EU also aims to impose a new round of sanctions on Russia next month to mark the second anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the AFP news agency and Bloomberg News reported. The bloc has already hit Russia with 12 rounds of sanctions. Finland does not see any immediate military threat from Russia, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said at a news conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. “We in Finland sleep peacefully at night because we are well prepared,” Orpo said. Ukraine has called on Western nations to stop Russia from sourcing key parts for its own weapons production. The Kremlin has said there is no prospect of reviving the Black Sea grain deal – which was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey – and that alternative routes for shipping Ukrainian grain carried huge risks. The lower house of Russia’s parliament plans to formally ask France’s National Assembly if it is aware that French mercenaries have been fighting on Ukraine’s side. France has denied the allegations, calling them a “disinformation” plot. A court in Siberia sentenced a truck driver to 19 years in prison for shooting a military enlistment officer in 2022, while prosecutors in Saint Petersburg asked for a 28-year sentence for a woman charged in the bombing of a cafe last April that killed a prominent military blogger, with both cases underscoring the tensions in Russian society over the war. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 106
Footage and witness accounts shared with Al Jazeera reveal how Israeli forces carried out summary executions in Gaza. Here are the other major updates. Here’s how things stand on Saturday, January 20, 2024: Latest developments The United States has said it is investigating the killing by Israeli forces of a 17-year-old with American citizenship east of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. Hezbollah has warned Israel that it will receive “a real slap in the face” if its forces step up fighting along the southern Lebanon border. Displaced Palestinians in four evacuation zones in Gaza City have been ordered by the Israeli military to leave and head towards the central areas. Clashes have broken out as Palestinians resisted an Israeli military raid on the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, where homes were searched and an Israeli military bulldozer destroyed civilian infrastructure, according to the Palestinian media. An armed Palestinian group allied to Hamas has claimed that a captive held in Gaza has died of injuries due to an Israeli air strike. A 20-year-old Palestinian man has been shot and injured by Israeli forces during a raid on the Rafidia area, west of Nablus. Palestinian fighters have claimed attacks on Israeli forces in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza for a fourth consecutive day, amid assessments by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) that armed groups in Gaza are “re-infiltrating” areas in the north. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has accused Israel of firing at a hospital in Khan Younis, as a major advance in the main city in the southern Gaza Strip threatened the few healthcare facilities still open. The Israeli army shelled the al-Katiba area and the al-Amal neighbourhood in Khan Younis. US Central Command forces have conducted strikes against three Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch, according to the US army. Human rights Footage and witness accounts shared with Al Jazeera reveal how Israeli forces carried out summary executions in Gaza City last month. Dozens of Democratic Party politicians sign a letter calling on US President Joe Biden to affirm his opposition to Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. United Kingdom government legal advisers have been unable to conclude that Israel complied with international humanitarian law in its war in Gaza, according to the Guardian newspaper, citing court documents. The United Nations women’s agency reports 70 percent of those killed in Gaza are women and girls, and two mothers are being killed “every hour” amid the Israeli onslaught on the Palestinian territory. Adblock test (Why?)
Ayodhya Ram Mandir LIVE Updates: Cyber crimes on rise as Pran Pratishtha event draws closer
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the chief guest at the ceremony, where many people, including celebrities, saints, and politicians, have received invitations.