Delhi-NCR weather: Thick fog engulfs north India, several flights delayed due to low visibility
The low visibility and foggy conditions at Delhi airport caused several flight operations to be delayed
PM Modi sends gifts, personal letter to Ujjwala beneficiary Meera Manjhi after Ayodhya visit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now written a letter and sent gifts for Majhi and her family after surprise visit in Ayodhya
Justice Department sues Texas over law to let police arrest illegal immigrants
The Justice Department on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Texas over a state law allowing authorities to arrest illegal immigrants, pitting Republican Gov. Greg Abbott against the Biden administration as both remain at odds over how to handle the escalating crisis at the southern border. The lawsuit, filed in an Austin federal court, came after Abbott signed into law last month a measure challenging the federal government’s authority over immigration matters. In addition to Biden, several blue cities like New York and Chicago have pushed back against Abbott for having thousands of migrants bussed from his state to their jurisdictions. “The United States brings this action to preserve its exclusive authority under federal law to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens,” the lawsuit states. “Texas cannot run its own immigration system. “Its efforts, through SB 4, intrude on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens, frustrate the United States’ immigration operations and proceedings, and interfere with U.S. foreign relations.” JOHNSON CALLS MIGRANT CRISIS ‘TRULY UNCONSCIONABLE’ DURING VISIT TO BESIEGED SOUTHERN BORDER Texas is also fighting a separate court battle over the installation of razor wire on the Rio Grande and a floating barrier, which has angered Mexican leaders as well. Under the Texas law, migrants could either agree to a judge’s order to leave the U.S. or be prosecuted on misdemeanor charges of illegal entry. Those who don’t leave could face serious felony charges if arrested again. Those ordered to leave would be sent to ports of entry along the border with Mexico, even if they are not Mexican citizens. The law can be enforced anywhere in Texas but some places are off-limits, including schools and churches. HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE SETS FIRST MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT HEARING Fox News Digital has reached out to Abbott’s office. Last week, the Justice Department sent Abbott a letter threatening legal action unless Texas reversed course. In response, Abbott posted on X that the Biden administration “not only refuses to enforce current U.S. immigration laws, they now want to stop Texas from enforcing laws against illegal immigration.” The governor has repeatedly accused the Biden administration of failing to address issues at the border amid record numbers of migrants crossing into the United States. The bussing program has angered Democrats in blue cities, who say their jurisdictions lack sufficient resources to care for migrants they’ve received. Illegal crossings along the southern U.S. border topped 10,000 on several days in December, a number that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Troy Miller called “unprecedented.” U.S. authorities closed cargo rail crossings in Eagle Pass and El Paso for five days last month, calling it a response to many migrants riding freight trains through Mexico to the border. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Magician David Copperfield allegedly had dinner with Epstein and victims, did ‘magic tricks’: Court docs
Famed American magician David Copperfield allegedly had dinner with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and a few of his victims, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday. Attorney Sigrid McCawley asked an accuser of Epstein — Johanna Sjoberg — and his former lover and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell if she ever met Copperfield. “Yes,” she said. The document is part of a May 2016 deposition. “Someone called me from the house and said that he would be there, and if I wanted to come have dinner, then I could meet him,” Sjoberg said. “So when I arrived at the house, he wasn’t there yet … and there was another girl there which I had never met and never seen. She seemed young.” Sjoberg then said Copperfield “did some magic tricks” at dinner and said he was a friend of Epstein’s. Sjoberg said Copperfield, who was previously accused of sexually assaulting a teen model in 1988, questioned her whether she “was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls,” the court document read. “Did he tell you any of the specifics of that?” McCawley asked. “No,” Sjoberg said. Fox News Digital has reached out to Copperfield for comment. JEFFREY EPSTEIN LIST: DEADLINE FOR ASSOCIATES TO APPEAL UNSEALING HAS PASSED, NAME DROPS COULD BEGIN TODAY Dozens of names that had previously been redacted from court documents in a lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein’s former lover and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell have been made public on orders of a federal judge in New York. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ordered their release in December but gave the Jane and John Does two weeks in case they wanted to appeal. The names were unveiled in a series of 40 documents that have been posted to the docket without previous redactions that hid big names, including former President Bill Clinton, his estranged longtime aide Doug Band, Prince Andrew, and the French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who like Epstein died while awaiting trial. JEFFREY EPSTEIN LIST: COURT UNSEALS NAMES IN GHISLAINE MAXWELL LAWSUIT Epstein had many high-profile connections, including former U.S. presidents, foreign prime ministers and Britain’s Prince Andrew, as well as Hollywood stars, leading academics, people in the modeling and fashion industries and other public figures. Some of the names were previously known through other means despite having been withheld from the public’s eye in the lawsuit. Many of the names belong to people who have not been accused of wrongdoing, including Clinton, who also declined to ask the court to have his name remain sealed. Fox News’ Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal likely to be arrested by ED today, claim AAP ministers
Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also posted on X, claiming speculations about Kejriwal’s arrest by the ED
Biden campaign staffers issue letter protesting Israel-Hamas war, call for cease-fire, end of aid to Israel
Over a dozen of President Biden’s campaign staffers, hired to re-elect the president, issued an anonymous letter Wednesday, protesting Biden’s approach to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. In a letter shared on Medium, 17 current Biden for President staffers called for Biden to advocate for an immediate cease-fire in the war started by the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas’ surprise attack on innocent Israelis. “As your staff, we believe it is both a moral and electoral imperative for you to publicly call for a cessation of violence,” the staffers wrote in the letter. The anonymous letter argued that the deaths of Palestinians “cannot be justified.” BIDEN TAKES GROWING HEAT FROM DEMOCRAT ALLIES, FAR-LEFT ‘SQUAD’ ON ISRAEL DECISION “Complicity in the death of over 20,000 Palestinians, 8,200 of whom are children, simply cannot be justified.” The staffers said that Israel’s “indiscriminate” bombings in Gaza are “fundamentally antithetical” to Biden’s belief in justice, empathy and the dignity of human life. “We joined this campaign because the values that you — and we — share are ones worth fighting for. Justice, empathy, and our belief in the dignity of human life is the backbone of not only the Democratic Party, but of the country,” the letter said. “However, your administration’s response to Israel’s indiscriminate bombing in Gaza has been fundamentally antithetical to those values — and we believe it could cost you the 2024 election.” In addition to calling for an immediate cease-fire, the 17 individuals urged Biden’s administration to end unconditional military aid to Israel and advocated for a deescalation in the region, including the release of hostages. MOST ISRAELIS OPPOSE US PUSH FOR ISRAEL TO SCALE BACK HAMAS WAR: POLL The letter also urged the Democratic president to investigate whether Israel’s actions in Gaza violate the Leahy Law, which prohibits the U.S. military from funding foreign military forces implicated in gross violations of human rights. The aides argued that a majority of Democrats support an end to Israel’s bombings in Gaza. BIDEN OFFICIAL GETS HEATED IN CLASH WITH REPORTER WHO ASKS IF US HAS ESCALATED GAZA WAR WITH RED SEA PRESENCE “Americans, especially young Americans, feel extraordinarily passionate about this issue. In fact, 72% of voters under 30 — a key Democratic voting bloc — disapprove of your handling of the conflict in Gaza,” the letter said. The staffers argued that it is not “merely enough to be an alternative to Donald Trump,” but Biden needs to support a cease-fire. “It is not enough to merely be the alternative to Donald Trump,” the letter said. “The campaign has to shift the feeling in the pits of voters’ stomachs, the same feeling that weighs on us every day as we fight for your reelection. The only way to do that is to call for a cease-fire.” Earlier in Dec, dozens of staffers protested their boss’s Israel policy. “Ceasefire” was spelled out with lit candles in front of the protesters with a sign behind them reading, “President Biden, your staff demands a cease-fire.”
Jeffrey Epstein allegedly said Bill Clinton ‘likes’ young girls, documents reveal
Former President Bill Clinton was alleged to prefer young girls and to have a close personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in documents released Wednesday related to the lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre against former Epstein lover and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. In one document, the deposition of Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg, revealed that Sjoberg alleged Epstein had said the former president likes younger girls. BILL CLINTON TO BE IDENTIFIED IN PREVIOUSLY REDACTED JEFFREY EPSTEIN DOCUMENTS: REPORT During questioning by Sigrid McCawley, the lawyer for Virginia Giuffre, Sjoberg was asked if she knew if Clinton was a friend of Epstein. “I knew he had dealings with Bill Clinton,” she said. “I did not know they were friend until I read the Vanity Fair article about them going to Africa together.” “Did Jeffrey ever talk to you about Bill Clinton?” McCawley asked. “He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls,” Sjoberg said. The former president has not been accused of anything improper related to Epstein. In another document, a motion by Virginia Giuffre to depose further witnesses, Giuffre justifies calling Clinton because of what is described as his “close personal relationship” with Epstein. Clinton spokesperson Angel Urena said Clinton and Epstein did not have a close personal relationship. He pointed to his 2019 statement regarding Epstein, saying that Clinton last had contact with Epstein 20 years ago. Last month, a New York federal judge ordered that dozens of documents with the names of people linked to Epstein be unsealed. Clinton was one of dozens of John Does whose names were unsealed under the court order. Some of the names will remain under seal, including those belonging to minor victims who never spoke publicly about the case and a person whom the judge said was wrongly identified as an alleged perpetrator by a reporter. At least one person asked the court not to release her name, arguing that it could put her at risk of physical harm. The order came as part of a 2015 lawsuit between Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre and his former lover and accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. The case was settled in 2017, but the judge indicated in hearings in 2021 and 2022 that the names would not remain sealed indefinitely. Giuffre has alleged that Epstein and Maxwell trafficked her when she was 17 years old. She is now in her 30s. Epstein, already a convicted sex offender in Florida, died at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York while awaiting federal trial for sex trafficking in 2019. His death was ruled a suicide. Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood contributed reporting..
Pritzker names new head of embattled Illinois family services agency
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday named his director of juvenile justice to take over the troubled Department of Children and Family Services. Heidi Mueller, 49, will replace Marc D. Smith, who has been at the helm since 2019 and has been held in contempt of court numerous times for improper housing of young people under the agency’s care. Smith, who announced his resignation in October, will help with the transition through January. Mueller has been director of the Department of Juvenile Justice since 2016. The agency oversees the custody of young people committed to the state by Illinois courts. HEAD OF EMBATTLED ILLINOIS CHILD SERVICES AGENCY TO RESIGN AT YEAR’S END “I have witnessed firsthand the critical importance of a strong and supportive safety net for our state’s most vulnerable residents and the tragedy that results when there are holes in that net,” Mueller said in a statement. She thanked Smith for “driving real progress at DCFS.” Mueller, who currently makes $173,250, was chosen after a nationwide search. Pritzker said her “transformative” work at Juvenile Justice has gained her national attention. “Heidi’s care and compassion for the most at-risk young people in our state and her exceptional leadership are hallmarks of her career and I know that her passion and expertise will be a significant asset as we continue to improve our state’s child welfare system,” Pritzker said in a statement. Smith, 54, whose salary is $210,000, began his tenure months into Pritzker’s first term. The Democrat had pledged reforms, releasing an outside report on agency failures including the deaths of three children under its care in just a few months. But the department continued to struggle. In 2022, Smith was held in contempt of court on numerous occasions for failing to find proper placement for young people in the agency’s care. Pritzker repeatedly blamed his Republican predecessor for the dismantling of private social-service agencies capable of proper youth housing during a budget stalemate with Democrats in the Legislature from 2015 to 2017. The situation has seen little improvement. DCFS’ own annual report on placement released last week showed that during the fiscal year that ended last June, hundreds of children were kept in so-called temporary quarters, in some cases for months, or held in psychiatric hospitals beyond need for treatment or juvenile incarcerations past their release dates because DCFS had no place to put them. The DCFS inspector general’s annual report released last week indicated that during the same fiscal year, 160 children with some level of involvement with the department had died. PRITZKER ADMIN SCRAPS CHICAGO MIGRANT CAMP PLAN OVER SOIL CONTAMINATION CONCERNS “The DCFS director has arguably the hardest and most important job in state government. Heidi Mueller has an outstanding reputation as a reform-minded manager and brings substantial child welfare experience to the task,” said Charles Golbert, the Cook County public guardian, whose office has filed class-action lawsuits over lengthy placements in psychiatric hospitals and juvenile justice incarceration. He urged Mueller to make the expansion of DCFS’s placement capacity an urgent priority. Heidi Dalenberg, interim legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which also has legal action against DCFS, said Mueller “must embrace the challenge of finding a safe place to stay — preferably with the child’s family members” and turn away from large, institutional settings. “This is a challenging job that requires a leader with vision and a commitment to transformational change,” Dalenberg said. Robert Vickery, currently deputy director of programs at Juvenile Justice, will serve as interim director of the agency during a search for Mueller’s permanent replacement.
Why temples are a top campaign stop in Taiwan’s election
New Taipei City, Taiwan – At Lixing Fude temple, one of the largest in the densely-packed district of Zhonghe in New Taipei City, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate William Lai Ching-te and DPP legislative candidate Wu Zheng lit incense and prayed for health, safety and peace for Taiwan. Left at the altar were offerings for the community’s local god: fresh fruit baskets, green flags and water bottles with Lai’s and Wu’s faces on them. After an opening ceremony, temple leaders offered the candidates large bunches of garlic sprouts – symbolising the popular phrase “dongsuan” that is often heard at campaign rallies and means “frozen garlic” in Mandarin, but sounds like “be elected” in Taiwanese. Then Lai and Wu, surrounded by local party and temple leaders, addressed the crowd of about 200 people packed into the temple’s atrium. “For a long time, Taiwan has been an orphan in the world. But now it’s different. Everyone is looking at Taiwan,” Wu said. “We have to vote for Lai so we can continue the last eight years of [current president] Tsai’s politics that make us well-known in the world.” The fusion of political and religious life, marked by dozens of temple visits, meetings with religious leaders, and attendance at religious events and festivals, is a cultural staple during the Taiwan elections. Lai and Wu left offerings at the temple including bottles of water with their faces printed on them [Jordyn Haime/Al Jazeera] According to the American Institute in Taiwan, nearly 28 percent of Taiwanese follow folk religions (such as local deity worship), 20 percent practise Buddhism, and 19 percent Taoism, while 25 percent identify as non-believers. Many of Taiwan’s local places of worship fuse Buddhist, Taoist and even Christian practices. More than just religious organisations, temples have long been the cornerstones of their local community, especially in rural areas. The Ministry of Interior estimates that there are 33,000 places of worship in Taiwan, averaging about one every square kilometre. Taiwan’s faithful is such an important class of voters that Foxconn founder Terry Gou invoked deities numerous times while floating the idea of running for president in 2019 and 2023, claiming earlier this year that the Buddhist-Taoist seafaring goddess Mazu came to him in a dream and told him to join the election to promote peace across the Taiwan Strait. (Gou qualified to appear on the ballot this year but withdrew from the race in November.) Candidates also make stops at Taiwan’s major religious establishments with huge followings such as Buddha Light Mountain, whose late leader, the “political monk” Hsing Yun, endorsed President Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly KMT and met Chinese President Xi Jinping several times. As Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections draw closer, some of Taiwan’s major candidates have been making campaign stops at temples nearly every day. On January 13, the self-ruled island of nearly 24 million people will choose a new president and legislature in an election that will determine the future of its relations with China, which views Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its goal. Hsu Ci-ting and Tseng Tong-ping are local volunteers at Lixing Fude. They say temples are not only convenient locations for candidates to meet voters but also a way for candidates to show their respect for local deities by praying for good fortune during the elections. “The candidates who come here can close the distance between themselves and the local people here,” said Tseng. Lin Kuan-jen, the temple’s director, says temples have long been “a public place for Taiwan’s democratic development and freedom of speech”. Lin says he has known Lai since he was mayor of the southern city of Tainan from 2010 to 2017. He also supported young people during 2014’s Sunflower Movement, a student protest against a proposed free trade agreement with China, where he met Wu. Hou Yu-ih, the candidate for the KMT and current mayor of New Taipei City, has also been invited to the temple before campaigning ends. KMT candidate Hou Yu-ih at the Buddha Light Mountain temple complex last month [Courtesy of the Hou Yu-ih campaign] Local temple leaders are commonly involved in local politics and are well-connected in the community, receiving funding from influential elites, says Richard Madsen, a professor emeritus at the University of California San Diego and author of a book about religious development since Taiwan embraced democracy. “Temples give out things like charitable donations and so forth … so [if] you’re a politician, you want to tap into those kinds of networks,” he said, adding a note of caution. “[In] some places, these temples have been funded by local gangs, [and used for] for money laundering.” Many of Taiwan’s major religions and religious organisations also have historical and organisational ties to China, making them fertile ground for the Chinese Communist Party’s influence and election interference. But a lack of government supervision of donations to temples and their exemption from property and income taxes makes that influence difficult to track, according to Lin Hsien-ming, an assistant professor at the Center of Teacher Education at National Pingtung University. According to the Reuters news agency, Taiwan’s government is on high alert for evidence of Chinese efforts to sway Taiwanese voters by funding China-friendly campaigns conducted via apps or group tours. Sources identified temples as one area of risk, particularly those that worship Mazu, who has a strong following on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. China frequently uses “one family” rhetoric in its discourse around Mazu, using the goddess’s origins in China to show that “both sides of the strait are one family,” and like Mazu, people in Taiwan come from China, said Lin. Taiwan’s legislature has attempted numerous times to draft new laws to modernise its religious regulation while maintaining democratic principles, often sparking an outcry. About 10 million people in Taiwan are followers of Mazu [File: James Pomfret/Reuters] In 2022, the legislature passed a law allowing religious institutions to change property registration from individuals
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 680
As the war enters is 680th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Thursday, January 4, 2024. Fighting Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in the biggest single release of captives since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Ukrainian officials said that 230 of its prisoners were released while Russia said 248 of its soldiers were returned following mediation by the United Arab Emirates. Russia said Ukraine launched attacks on its Belgorod and Kursk regions, as well as the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow invaded and annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Belgorod regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the situation remained “tense” after 12 missiles were shot down over the region. Some 25 people were killed in an air attack on Belgorod on Saturday. There were no reports of casualties from Wednesday’s attacks. Two people were killed and one injured after 134 Russian strikes hit the Zaporizhia region over the 24 hours to Wednesday, according to Yuriy Malashko, the head of Ukraine’s regional military administration. One person was killed in heavy Russian shelling of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region including its main city. One person was killed and one injured after Russia launched four missiles on the eastern town of Avdiivka, Donetsk regional head Vadym Filashkin said in a Telegram message. The town, not far from Donetsk, which is occupied by the Russians has been the scene of intense fighting for weeks. The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence said Russia’s military might have changed its strike strategy in Ukraine to target the country’s defence industry rather than energy infrastructure as it did last winter. “Russian planners almost certainly recognise the growing importance of relative defence industrial capacity as they prepare for a long war,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of the Ukrainian army’s ground forces, said Russian forces were continuing their offensives in Bakhmut and Kupyan on the eastern front with fighting in Bakhmut particularly intense. Syrskyi said Russian forces had suffered losses in Lyman and were regrouping in preparation for a new offensive. Russia said four people were injured after its aircraft accidentally bombed the village of Petropavlovka in southwest Russia on Tuesday. There was also damage to houses, a school and some administrative buildings as well as to vehicles. Politics and diplomacy The European Union imposed sanctions on Alrosa, the world’s biggest diamond miner, to further squeeze Russian sources of revenue. The company’s CEO, Pavel Alekseevich Marinychev, was also sanctioned. Alrosa accounts for more than 90 percent of all Russian diamond production, according to the EU. Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the country will need more than $37bn in foreign funding this year, and that Kyiv was counting on “stable and timely assistance” from its international partners to help keep its economy going. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said inspectors had been denied access to parts of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station for two weeks and had yet to receive 2024 maintenance plans for the facility. Weapons Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Western countries should tighten sanctions against Russia and provide Kyiv with long-range missiles that will enable it to target “launch sites and command centres”. Norway will send two F-16 fighter jets to Denmark so Ukrainian pilots can train to use the US-made aircraft. Ten Norwegian instructors have already been sent to Denmark to help train the pilots. Adblock test (Why?)