Texas 2023: Our 25 most engaging stories this year
We came up with an “engagement score” to determine our most engaging stories of the year.
Fox News Politics: The year of ‘stop Trump’
Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox. What’s Happening? – Dem blasts decision to remove Trump from ballot – DOJ threatens to sue Texas – Haley walks back on slavery comment – COLD BLOODED: Biden admin targets refrigerators, freezers Former President Trump faced unprecedented legal challenges as a frontrunner candidate of a major political party, and the year is ending with various state officials throwing fresh obstacles against his re-election. In the last remaining business hours before 2024, Maine’s secretary of state moved to block Trump from the GOP primary ballot. Colorado also recently moved to block Trump from its primary ballot, but backed off pending the GOP’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. ‘NOT THE SECOND COMING’: Biden was ‘not certain’ about Carter’s re-election chances, floated replacing him: ‘That man’s in trouble’ …Read more BORDER BATTLE: DOJ threatens to sue Texas over anti-illegal immigration law; Abbott prepared for Supreme Court fight …Read more FISCAL HELL: Freedom Caucus warns GOP leaders against spending ‘agreement’ with Dems as shutdown deadline looms …Read more GOLDEN STATE WIN: California secretary of state leaves Trump on the ballot after calls to remove him …Read more RECORD TURNOUT?: Iowa GOP chair predicts ‘potential for a record turnout’ in 2024 caucuses as new voters ‘surge’ …Read more ‘SUPER SCARY’: Former WH comms director admits 2024 looks ‘really scary’ for President Biden …Read more SQUEEZED: Don Lemon hits Haley walking back slavery comment after previous clash: ‘Didn’t offer me that same grace’ …Read more DEMOCRATS DENIED: Hochul vetoes Democrat-backed bill changing state campaign financing program …Read more ELECTION PROPOSALS: Arkansas group advocating for paper ballots resubmits proposal to state attorney general …Read more AMNESTY ON THE TABLE?: US-Mexico migration meeting included talks on ‘regularizing’ illegal immigrants living in US …Read more HARVARD BLUE: All but 3 of more than 100 high dollar donations from Harvard employees go to Democrats: report …Read more WHAT IS SWATTING?: What is ‘swatting,’ the ‘criminal harassment’ that has targeted three Republican lawmakers since Christmas? …Read more BUCKEYE BATTLE: Riley Gaines puts heat on Republican Ohio governor to sign trans bill …Read more BACK TO SCHOOL: Key moments that defined education in America in 2023 …Read more FOLDING: New Hampshire casino faces shutdown following alleged COVID-19 relief fund fraud by state senator …Read more ‘WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED’: Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones becomes latest victim of ‘swatting’ incident: ‘I will not be intimidated’ Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Biden admin unveils string of eco regulations in latest appliance crackdown targeting fridges, freezers
The Biden administration unveiled environmental regulations Friday targeting multiple popular home and commercial appliances in an action that will impact millions of Americans, but which federal officials said would help curb carbon emissions. The Department of Energy (DOE) both finalized new energy efficiency standards for residential refrigerators and freezers, and proposed standards for commercial fans and blowers. Overall, the agency said the actions would eliminate 420 million metric tons of “dangerous carbon dioxide emissions” over the next three decades and save households and businesses $5 billion a year on utility bills. “Today’s announcement is a testament to the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to lowering utility costs for working families, which is helping to simultaneously strengthen energy independence and combat the climate crisis,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. “DOE will continue to move quickly in 2024 — together with our industry partners and stakeholders — to update and strengthen outdated energy efficiency standards, which is critical to innovation, more consumer options, and healthier communities,” she continued. BIDEN ADMIN LAUNCHED AN AGGRESSIVE CAMPAIGN TARGETING HOME APPLIANCES WITH ECO REGULATIONS IN 2023 DOE’s standards for refrigerators and freezers will be implemented between 2029 and 2030, and mark the first update to standards impacting those appliances in more than a decade. According to the announcement, the updated standards, which will take less efficient but cheaper models off the market, will in 30 years remove the amount of emissions generated by the combined annual emissions of 12.7 million homes. And the standards targeting fans and blowers are the first-ever federal regulations targeting those appliances. DOE said that proposal “follows the lead” of efficiency standards established by California and will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 318 million metric tons in the next 30 years. BIDEN ADMIN AIMS TO PUSH TOWNS, CITIES TO ADOPT GREEN ENERGY BUILDING CODES: ‘VERY SUSPICIOUS’ “Refrigerator standard are much like dishwashers and clothes washers, where there’ve been so many standards over the decades that we’re either at the point of diminishing returns or negative returns,” Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday. “And there is a tendency for the agency’s own analysis to inflate the benefits.” “Consumers are perfectly capable of making these decisions on their own, including consumers who want to buy extra efficient refrigerators or other models,” he continued. “What these standards do is they force that choice on everyone, whether it makes sense for them or not. And we know from history that, in some cases, these standards raise the upfront cost more than you’re likely to earn back in the form of energy savings.” In addition to potentially increasing upfront costs for consumers purchasing new appliances, Lieberman said the new efficiency standards may harm product performance. For example, he said new standards for dishwashers have led to cycles taking as much as twice as long to finish. According to DOE, meanwhile, the standards mean the administration proposed or finalized a grand total of 30 such regulations in 2023 as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and “underscore the administration’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis.” The agency projects that its regulations introduced since early 2021 will provide nearly $1 trillion in consumer savings and curb emissions by 2.5 billion metric tons. DOE also pledged to continue moving forward with more such regulations in 2024. WHITE HOUSE UNVEILS STRICT HYDROGEN REGULATIONS IN VICTORY FOR ENVIRONMENTALISTS Experts, including Lieberman, have repeatedly warned over the last 12 months that the Biden administration’s energy efficiency actions will ultimately harm consumers and drive prices higher since manufacturers will be forced to adopt newer technologies to achieve the standards. In April, Lieberman led a comment letter alongside more than 15 other consumer organizations, arguing DOE’s efficiency standards for stovetops proposed in February “almost certainly compromise some of the features that gas stove users want, and all for the sake of saving an insignificant amount of energy.” According to the agency’s analysis, those standards would effectively ban half of all available stoves. In the months after DOE released its proposed stovetop regulations, it proposed regulations in February for clothes washers and refrigerators that it said would reduce emissions by 233 million metric tons; finalized standards for air conditioners in March; proposed regulations cracking down on dishwashers in May; issued a proposal targeting water heaters in July; and proposed standards for furnaces in September. “They are trying to reshape the place that you live to make it look like the home they would like you to live in,” O.H. Skinner, the Alliance For Consumers’ executive director, told Fox News Digital in October. “They’re really trying to impose what are progressive preferences from places in coastal enclaves and make it so that everyone has to live like that. And that affects you every day.” “What’s crucial is to understand this administration isn’t just tweaking regulations. They’re doing things that effectively ban whole categories of things that exist on the market,” Skinner continued. “Almost all of these decisions, as you work through it, are influenced by the overall climate agenda and the green agenda and the desire for us to change our lives.” Environmentalists have long argued in favor of appliance and energy efficiency regulations given their high use of electricity and natural gas. Green energy groups have called for the electrification of homes and businesses, reducing reliance on natural gas and simultaneously replacing current fossil fuel-fired power with alternatives like wind and solar. According to federal data, the commercial and residential sector accounts for 30% of total end-use carbon emissions in the U.S., the largest share of any sector including industry, transportation and agriculture.
Tens of thousands forced to flee again as Israel expands Gaza offensive
Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to flee again towards the south after Israel intensified assaults in the centre of the besieged enclave killing more than 180 people in the past 24 hours. The Israeli army on Friday said in a post on X that it was “expanding the operation in the Khan Younis area” of Gaza, previously sheltering hundreds of thousands of people displaced from the north – initially the focus of Israel’s ground assault. Israeli shelling near El Amal hospital in Khan Younis killed 41 people over the past two days, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Thursday, adding that the casualties in repeated Israeli attacks near the facility include “displaced persons seeking shelter”. The UN humanitarian office said an estimated 100,000 more displaced people had arrived in the already-teeming southern border city of Rafah in recent days following the intensification of fighting around both Deir el-Balah in central Gaza and Khan Younis to its south. Earlier this week, Israeli forces ordered Palestinians out of the crowded central districts of Bureij, Maghazi and Nuseirat, as tanks advanced from the north and east. Attacks on those areas have intensified in recent days, with many residents fleeing to the already-crowded Deir el-Balah, pitching makeshift tents made from sheets of plastic on whatever open ground they could find. “We suffered a lot. We had the whole night without shelter, under rain and it was cold, we were with our kids and elderly women,” Um Hamdi, a woman cooking porridge over an open woodfire, surrounded by children, told the news agency Reuters. Nearby, grey-bearded Abdel Nasser Awadallah stood inside a wooden frame set up to be wrapped in plastic to make a tent, and spoke of the family he had lost. “I buried my children, a child 16-year-old, another one aged 18. Something I really can’t believe, I buried my children at 6:00am while their bodies were still warm. Also my nephew was two years old, I buried him, I buried my wife,” he said. ‘Death or displacement’ Addressing the UN Security Council on Friday, the Palestinian UN envoy Majed Bamya said the widescale destruction of Gaza by Israeli operations has made it clear their sole goal is forced displacement. “They want to make sure that Palestinians in Gaza have no homes to return to,” he said. “They want to make sure they have no life to return.” “They want to make sure that life in Gaza is no longer possible, with one aim, what they call ‘voluntary migration’ … the codename for forced displacement. These are the options for Palestinians: Destruction or displacement, death or displacement,” he said. On Christmas Eve, the Maghazi refugee camp witnessed one of the deadliest attacks since Israel launched its military offensive on October 7. While the official number of those who were killed stands at 90, residents of the camp near Deir el-Balah told Al Jazeera that in reality, the figure is much higher as entire residential blocks were wiped out. Israel issued a rare apology on Thursday for killing civilians in the massive air raid that triggered one of the biggest exoduses of the war so far, saying the munitions used were not appropriate for a packed refugee camp and that the high death toll “could have been avoided”. Displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to Israeli attacks, shelter in a tent camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, December 29, 2023. [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] Rafah hit ahead of Egypt talks The UN says more than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, and many are now fleeing for the third or fourth time. Many now live in cramped shelters in the 365sq km (141sq miles) of land or in makeshift tents around the southern city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt – which has also not been immune from Israeli attacks. Rafah was hit by new air raids on Friday as Egypt prepared to host a high-level Hamas delegation for talks to try and end the nearly 12-week war that has devastated the besieged Palestinian territory. Reuters journalists at the scene of one air raid that obliterated a building in Rafah saw the head of a buried toddler sticking out of the rubble. The child screamed as a rescue worker shielded his head with a hand, while another swung a sledgehammer at a chisel, trying to break up a slab of concrete to free him. Neighbour Sanad Abu Tabet said the two-storey house had been crowded with displaced people. After morning broke, relatives came to collect the dead wrapped up in white shrouds. Israel’s relentless aerial bombardment and ground invasion in Gaza have killed at least 21,507 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Egypt has taken more of a leading role in pushing for a ceasefire, including introducing a plan to end the fighting. It includes captive and prisoner exchanges between Israel and Hamas. Egypt’s State Information Services chief Dia Rashwan said the plan was “intended to bring together the views of all parties concerned, with the aim of ending the shedding of Palestinian blood”. Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said on Thursday that the group will not release more Israeli captives without a “complete and full ceasing of aggressive activities against our people through negotiations that are aligned with our people’s interest”. #Gaza – Israeli soldiers fired at an aid convoy as it returned from Northern Gaza along a route designated by the Israeli Army – our international convoy leader and his team were not injured but one vehicle sustained damage – aid workers should never be a target.@UNRWA — Thomas White (@TomWhiteGaza) December 29, 2023 UN convoy comes under fire The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza (UNRWA), Thomas White, said on Friday that a UN aid convoy had come under fire by the Israeli military on Thursday. While there
US opioid crisis: Hope for new approach as naloxone machines spread in 2023
Washington, DC – It was a hot summer day in July when Shekita McBroom received a phone call from a local hair salon. The stylist on the other end of the line urgently needed a resupply — not of hair dye or shampoo, but of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone. Commonly known by the brand name Narcan, naloxone is a life-saving medication, often taken as a nasal spray to counteract the symptoms of opioid consumption. That a hair salon had a backroom supply of the drug came as no surprise, though, to McBroom, a community advocate in Washington, DC, who campaigns to prevent overdoses. If anything, she would like to see naloxone available more widely — including through vending machines. “I try to connect people with more supply because they don’t always know where to find it,” she told Al Jazeera. But with vending machines, she sees a convenient solution: a quick and easy way to dispense emergency care at all hours of the day, in neighbourhoods where services might otherwise be limited. More and more communities in the United States are adopting that approach. In 2023, there has been a boom in vending machines dispensing overdose reversal drugs for free — as well as fentanyl testing strips, clean needles and other “harm reduction” items. Community advocate Shekita McBroom helps to connect people in the community with Narcan, in an effort to prevent overdoses [Joseph Stepansky/Al Jazeera] US ‘behind everyone’ in adopting method Washington, DC, was among several cities to launch a vending machine programme this year. It currently has seven vending machines overseen by two local community health organisations. Four of those machines, overseen by the Family and Medical Counseling Service Inc, dispensed 204 packages of Narcan from October to November. That meant, on an average day, about three boxes of Narcan, each containing two doses, made their way to those in need. “We’ve been surprised at the amount of activity that the machines actually can get,” said Angela Wood, the group’s chief operating officer. She pointed out that the vending machines do not require users to produce any personal information — or even interact with a real person, thereby reducing the potential for stigma. “It’s a way for people to gain access to these products in their own time, in their own way, without having to fully engage with a programme,” she told Al Jazeera. Chicago likewise introduced a pilot programme for naloxone vending machines in November, and New York City opened its first machine in Brooklyn in June. There were also advances on the state level. West Virginia, Wisconsin, Vermont, Missouri, Kansas and Connecticut all either unveiled or approved deployments of the vending machines this year. Even tribal governments have embraced the strategy. In April, the Pala Band of Mission Indians installed what it described as the first naloxone vending machine on tribal land in the US. Four months later, the Tulalip reservation in Washington state set up its own machine. The spread of the vending machines has been dramatic, according to Rebecca Stewart, an assistant professor at the Penn Center for Mental Health who studies substance abuse treatment. “They’re really popping up all over the country,” she said. The trend began in the US only five years ago, in 2017, with a vending machine programme in Nevada. But as Stewart pointed out, similar programmes had already existed for years in Europe, Australia and even Puerto Rico. “The United States is sort of behind everyone in this aspect,” she said. “In terms of harm reduction vending machines, these have been implemented for decades all over the world. And so these implementations in the United States are just beginning.” Four of the seven naloxone vending machines in Washington, DC, dispensed 204 packages of the medication over two months alone [Joseph Stepansky/Al Jazeera] Escaping the ‘moral hazard’ argument One of the biggest hurdles to adopting the vending machines has traditionally been public opinion. Stewart said many Americans — including politicians and policymakers — feared that the vending machines would encourage drug use by making the practice safer. She calls it the “moral hazard” argument. Even this year, officials echoed that line of thinking. Kentucky installed its first naloxone vending machine in 2022, but some local politicians remain opposed to their expansion into neighbouring counties. “You’re basically promoting and enabling the people that’s got the problem with the drugs instead of maybe trying to help them get off the drugs,” Nelson County Judge-Executive Tim Hutchins told the TV news station WHAS11 in February. Still, overdose deaths continue to rise in the US. Every year since 2021, more than 100,000 people have died from drug overdoses — double what was recorded in 2015. The majority of those overdose deaths have been linked to opioids, with experts blaming the emergence of synthetics like fentanyl for sending the death toll skyrocketing. Ryan Hampton, an activist and organiser who focuses on addiction, sees the increase in vending machines as evidence of the immediacy of the opioid crisis. He fears the US continues to overlook “harm reduction” strategies as a tool to bring the death rate down. The term “harm reduction” is used broadly to describe methods that can help prevent overdoses or other knock-on effects of drug use, like disease transmission through needle sharing. “For too long, harm reduction has been a stigmatised strategy,” Hampton said. Instead, he explained that the US has invested more in a “prevention/interdiction” model that discourages drug use in the first place. The result, he added, has been few resources dedicated to stopping overdoses and other drug-related harms. “What is being invested by no means meets the demand for the services or the scale for what’s needed right now,” he said. “With the toxic drug supply that we’re faced with, harm reduction has to be a mechanism that we deploy in every setting that we can, whether that be in vending machines or community care settings.” For her part, Stewart has noticed a shift away from perceptions that naloxone is
Poland says Russian missile briefly entered its airspace
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says organisation is ‘monitoring the situation’ as Poland says it has confirmed incident. Polish military authorities have said that a Russian missile briefly passed through the country’s airspace before leaving, prompting concern from the country that borders Ukraine on the day Russia carried out attacks across several Ukrainian cities killing at least 30 people. Poland, a member of the NATO military alliance, says that the object entered from the direction of Ukraine on Friday morning, entering about 40 kilometers (24 miles) before leaving after about three minutes. “Everything indicates that a Russian missile intruded in Poland’s airspace,” said Poland’s defence chief, General Wieslaw Kukula. “It was monitored by us on radars and left the airspace. We have confirmation of this on radars and from [NATO] allies.” Russian officials have yet to comment on the incident, which comes at a time of high tensions between Russia and European nations located near Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2022. Spoke with President @AndrzejDuda about the missile incident in #Poland. #NATO stands in solidarity with our valued Ally, is monitoring the situation & we will remain in contact as the facts are established. NATO remains vigilant. — Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) December 29, 2023 Polish officials say they are working to further verify their findings and rule out the possibility of a technical malfunction. In a social media post on Friday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the security alliance is monitoring the situation and communicating with Polish officials. “I spoke with President Andrzej Duda about the missile incident in Poland. NATO stands in solidarity with our valued ally, is monitoring the situation and we will remain in contact as the facts are established. NATO remains vigilant,” Stoltenberg said. Operational commander of the Polish army Maciej Klisz said that the country’s air defence network had been on high alert due to recent Russian missile and drone attacks in Ukraine and that fighter jets were sent to intercept the missile before it left Polish territory. The military also said that a ground search was being carried out in the area where the missile disappeared off the radar. The White House on Friday said that US President Joe Biden was closely following the development in Poland. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan “expressed the United States’ solidarity with Poland, our close NATO ally” and pledged technical assistance as needed in a call with Polish Secretary of State Jacek Siewiera, according to a statement from the White House. The incident is not the first time that the war in Ukraine has threatened to spill over into Polish territory. In November 2022, an errant Ukrainian air defence missile killed two civilians when it landed in the border village of Przewodow. Poland’s newly elected Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who won the election with a bloc of pro-EU and pro-Ukraine parties that overthrew the country’s far-right government after eight years in power, has promised full support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. That war has ground on for nearly two years, with little end in sight as Ukraine fights to expel Russian forces that have established strong defences along the captured territory. While Ukraine still has substantial support from many Western governments, schisms have started to emerge over the provision of further military assistance, including in the US, which has provided more support than any other country. On Friday, the British defence ministry said that it would send 200 air defence missiles to Ukraine, which is currently under heavy bombardment from Russian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that he visited Avdiivka, an eastern town near the front line that has seen heavy fighting. “This is one of the most difficult areas of the front line,” he wrote on Telegram along with a video of him in front of a sign with the name of the town, giving medals to soldiers. “I thank all those who are at the first line [of fire] for their service, for this year during which the entire country survived thanks to its soldiers,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Border numbers for December break monthly record, as Biden admin talks amnesty with Mexico
Migrant numbers at the southern border in December have broken the record for monthly encounters, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources tell Fox News — just as U.S. and Mexico officials met this week and discussed the benefits of “regularizing” those in the country illegally. Sources say there have been more than 276,000 migrant encounters in December so far, already making it the highest month on record. The previous record was set in September when officials saw 269,735 encounters. The number includes illegal immigrants encountered between ports of entry and migrants entering at ports of entry via the CBP One app. US-MEXICO MIGRATION TALKS INCLUDED BENEFITS OF ‘REGULARIZING’ ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS LIVING IN US It means that since the new fiscal year began on Oct. 1st, there have been more than 760,000 migrant encounters at the southern border, making the first quarter of FY 24 the highest quarter on record. It caps a year at the southern border where multiple records have been repeatedly smashed, and where Border Patrol have consistently been overwhelmed by the numbers they are seeing. Republicans have blamed the surge on the policies of the administration, including the ending of Trump-era policies, while the administration says it is dealing with a hemisphere-wide challenge and needs more funding and immigration reform legislation from Congress. LIBERAL MAYORS PUSH BIDEN FOR EMERGENCY DECLARATION, ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO DEAL WITH MIGRANT CRISIS It has adopted a strategy of expanding “lawful” pathways for migration, cracking down on smugglers and increasing what it says are consequences for illegal entry. A DHS official told Fox this month that there have been 400,000 removals between May and the end of November — nearly the number of removals in all of FY19. However, officials have also told lawmakers that they are releasing 5,000 illegal immigrants a day into the U.S., and that doesn’t include those being paroled in at ports of entry. Currently the White House is requesting $14 billion in border funding as part of the emergency supplemental funding request, but that has stalled as Republicans demand additional restrictions on asylum and the government’s use of parole to stop the interior releases. This week Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas were part of a U.S. delegation to Mexico City where they met with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. In the joint statement, the countries affirmed their commitments to “orderly, humane and regular migration” and stressed their efforts to tackle “root causes” of migration, disrupt human smuggling and promote private investment while also investing in “ambitious development programs” in the region. But the statement also said that officials discussed the “benefits” of granting some form of legal status for illegal immigrants already in the U.S., including those protected by the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — an executive order signed by President Barack Obama, which shielded some illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as minors. “The delegations also discussed the benefits of regularizing the situation of Hispanic migrants who have been undocumented for several years and the DACA beneficiaries, who are a vital part of the US economy and society,” the joint statement said, adding that the delegations will meet again in January. That immediately drew criticism from Republicans, who warned that such moves would only exacerbate the crisis. MIGRANT CRISIS INCREASING STRAIN ON BORDER OFFICIALS, IMMIGRATION COURTS WITH MASSIVE NUMBERS “At a time when America is experiencing the worst border crisis in our nation’s history, it is unconscionable to hear the Biden Administration’s announcement that Secretaries Mayorkas and Blinken discussed with the President of Mexico amnesty for illegal immigrants,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said. “The United States must focus on policies that deter — not attract — people attempting to come here illegally, and the smugglers who profit from the catastrophe at our border.” “This development further demonstrates the Administration has no real intention of solving the humanitarian disaster and immediate national security crisis their policies have created. President Biden needs to stop vacationing and take immediate steps to stop the flow of illegal immigration into our country. Our nation’s security and sovereignty depend upon it, and the American people demand it,” he said. Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
Chinese spy craft communicated with China via US internet provider: report
A new report revealed that the Chinese spy craft that flew over the U.S. at the beginning of this year was communicating with mainland China via an American internet provider. Two current and one former Biden administration officials told NBC News in a Thursday report that the craft used a U.S. internet provider to receive mainly navigational communications. NBC News did not name the internet provider in the report. The company denied that the Chinese spy craft used its services and had come to that conclusion via its own investigation as well as talking to U.S. officials. BIDEN ADMIN’S TOP OFFICIALS ATTEMPTED TO ‘CONCEAL’ CHINESE SPY BALLOON FROM PUBLIC, CONGRESS EXPOSED: REPORT One official said the spy craft, which was shot down by the U.S. military off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, used high-bandwidth data collections known as burst transmissions to send information. The report also said the Biden administration asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a highly secretive order to collect intelligence on the craft as it flew over several states. The officials said that order would have allowed the government to monitor the spy craft’s communications during its journey. Several officials said in the report that, in the past, China has secretly used commercial internet providers in different nations as backup communications networks. Encrypted networks are often sought out for their security. Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu claimed to NBC News that the craft was a weather balloon that had drifted off-course. “As we had made it clear before, the airship, used for meteorological research, unintentionally drifted into U.S. because of the westerlies and its limited self-steering capability,” Liu said. “The facts are clear.” The office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment to Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Chinese Embassy for comment. Despite Biden administration officials assuring the American public that the Chinese spy balloon did not collect and transmit data, a previously unreported phone call paints a different picture of top officials hiding information about the balloon. According to NBC News, a Jan. 27 phone call between President Biden’s top military adviser, Gen. Mark Milley, and NORAD chief Gen. Glen VanHerck sheds new light on China’s surveillance balloon. The network also reported that the administration initially hoped to keep the balloon’s existence a secret from Congress and the public, citing multiple former and current administration and congressional officials. “Before it was spotted publicly, there was the intention to study it and let it pass over and not ever tell anyone about it,” one former senior U.S. official told NBC. A senior Biden administration official denied allegations of an attempt to conceal the incident, saying decisions were made to protect sensitive intelligence capabilities. Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
Ayodhya Ram Mandir inauguration: Know booking process for ‘Aarti Pass’, timings, and other details
The free passes for the “Aarti” can be booked offline and online. According to the website of Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra, offline passes can obtained from the Camp Office at Shri Ram Janmbhoomi after showing a valid government ID proof.
Covid-19 in India: Maharashtra reports 129 fresh cases; number of people infected with JN.1 variant remains at 10
The recovery rate in the state is 98.18 per cent, while the case fatality rate in the state is 1.81 per cent.