This Congress MP once claimed Lionel Messi was ‘born in Assam’; know what exactly happened
On Monday, Messi wrapped up his three-day India tour with an event in Delhi. Thousands of fans gathered at a stadium in the capital city to get a glimpse of the Inter Miami forward. Here’s more on this.
Pahalgam terror attack case: Pak handler Sajid Jatt among 7 named in NIA chargesheet; details inside
In its chargesheet, NIA has also invoked the penal section against the accused for waging war against India.
Texas universities deploy AI tools to review and rewrite how some courses discuss race and gender
Records obtained by The Texas Tribune show how universities are using the technology to reshape curriculum under political pressure, raising concerns about academic freedom.
Trump’s pardon of Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar leaves local Republicans surprised and disappointed
Some county GOP officials said the president’s pardon could complicate their plans to unseat the Laredo Democrat in South Texas’ battleground 28th Congressional District.
In North Texas, game of musical chairs culminates in primary between Democrats Colin Allred and Julie Johnson
The primary between predecessor and successor arose from a combination of redistricting and the entry of Rep. Jasmine Crockett into the U.S. Senate race, which prompted Allred to drop out.
One chart lays bare the sprawling fraud network Minnesota officials missed
What had been a modest stream of taxpayer dollars to Feeding Our Future suddenly became a flood, surging 2,800% in a year, an abrupt spike now at the center of mounting scrutiny and oversight concerns. The explosive growth occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the organization exploited a federally funded children’s nutrition program run by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), siphoning off money intended to feed low-income kids. It now stands as the nation’s largest COVID-19 fraud case. MINNESOTA’S ANTI-FRAUD SPENDING HAS QUIETLY BALLOONED, LEAVING TAXPAYERS TO PAY FOR FAILURE TWICE Data from the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor sheds light on how the scheme went unchecked for so long, finding that the MDE oversight was “inadequate” and that its failures “created opportunities for fraud.” State records chart the rise in payments and reveal how the fraud ballooned in plain sight. According to data from the state audit, payments to Feeding Our Future began in 2019 at $1.4 million. That figure rose to $4.8 million the following year before topping out at $140.3 million in 2021, a staggering 2,818% increase. Even before the pandemic, Feeding Our Future was already an outlier. READ ADDITIONAL FOX NEWS COVERAGE OF THE MINNESOTA FRAUD EXPOSE By the end of 2019, it sponsored more than six times the number of Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) sites as its peers. When federal nutrition dollars surged during COVID-19, that gap only widened. While funding to all meal sponsors increased, Feeding Our Future’s growth far outpaced the rest of the system. According to the legislative auditor, in 2021, nearly four out of every 10 dollars sent to nonprofit meal sponsors in Minnesota flowed to Feeding Our Future alone. Taken together, the numbers show that Feeding Our Future was expanding faster, adding more sites and collecting a vastly larger share of federal meal funds than any comparable organization, long before state regulators intervened. And the oversight failures were just as striking. Flawed applications sailed through, complaints were never investigated, and the nonprofit kept expanding despite repeated red flags. What’s more, in the wake of a years-long $250 million welfare fraud scheme, Minnesota taxpayers will now finance a pricey state-level cleanup effort, effectively paying for the failure twice after state officials missed warnings. Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota has said in the past that he is ultimately accountable for the fraud that took place under his administration.
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin reveals he underwent surgery to remove skin cancer from his face
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin disclosed that he had skin cancer removed from his face, using his personal experience as an opportunity to urge people to wear sunscreen and regularly visit a dermatologist. “PSA: Wear sunscreen and get your skin checked. I’m grateful to the incredible medical team at Walter Reed Medical Center who recently fully removed basal cell carcinoma (BCC) from my face,” he wrote in a post on X. “It started as a small, pearl-colored, dome-shaped lesion on my nose. After a biopsy, it came back positive for BCC.” He noted that he is “relieved to be cancer-free,” and explained that his “dermatologist removed it using Mohs surgery, a precise technique that ensures all cancerous tissue is eliminated.” LEE ZELDIN: TRUMP’S EPA CLEARING THE REGULATORY PATH FOR AMERICA TO DOMINATE THE GLOBAL AI REVOLUTION Zeldin divulged that a plastic surgeon reconstructed a portion of his nose. “Following the surgery, a plastic surgeon reconstructed part of my nose using cartilage from behind my ear and a local skin flap to restore the area,” he explained, including a photo of himself in the post. He recognized the “mistake” he made by spending time out in the sun sans sunscreen. ZELDIN, MCCAIN HAMMER CROCKETT ON EPSTEIN DONATIONS CLAIM “Like many people, there were plenty of moments in my life when I spent time in the sun without sunscreen. That was a mistake. Consistently using SPF 30 or higher and getting regular skin checks can go a long way in preventing this,” he wrote. “Please encourage your friends and family to wear sunscreen and see a dermatologist regularly. Early detection matters,” he asserted. COMMON VITAMIN SHOWN TO SLASH SKIN CANCER RISK IN SOME GROUPS, STUDY SUGGESTS Zeldin lost the 2022 New York gubernatorial race to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. He served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from early 2015 until early 2023.
Democratic heavyweights Harris, Newsom turn heads, fuel 2028 speculation
It appears to be game on in the race for the next Democratic presidential nomination, as two of the party’s most high-profile politicians, who are considered potential top-tier 2028 contenders, stirred more speculation at a major Democratic Party summit. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ 2024 standard-bearer after then-President Joe Biden exited the race, showcased an edgier stump speech as she railed against both major parties and the political status quo in an address at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) winter meeting this past weekend. And California Gov. Gavin Newsom landed the red carpet treatment, as he mingled with delegates during the opening day of the DNC’s confab, which was held this year in Los Angeles, home turf to both Harris and Newsom. The main focus for the hundreds of committee members and party officials who attended the summit was reviewing the party’s decisive victories in last month’s 2025 elections and better than expected performances in this year’s special elections, and training sessions to prepare for next year’s crucial midterm contests. 21 DEMOCRATS WHO MAY RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2028 But with the unofficial start of the next White House race less than a year away, and what’s likely to be a bruising battle among Democrats over the party’s presidential nominating calendar getting underway, 2028 was also in the spotlight. “Obviously, we must focus on the midterms,” Harris said in her Friday speech. “But Democrats, we must also have a clear vision for what comes after the midterms. And then after Trump. We need to answer the question. We need to answer the question: what comes next for our party and our democracy?” Harris argued that “both parties have failed to hold the public’s trust” and that “people are done with the status quo, and they’re ready to break things to force change.” 2028 LOOMS LARGE: HARRIS, NEWSOM, PRITZKER CONVERGE AT MAJOR DNC MEETING And Harris, who was swept by President Donald Trump in all key battleground states in the 2024 election, said that Trump is representative of a bigger problem plaguing the nation’s politics. “He and the rise of the MAGA movement, I believe, are a symptom of a failed system that is the result of years of outsourcing and offshoring, financial deregulation, growing income inequality, a broken campaign finance system and endless partisan gridlock all contributing to how we got here today,” she emphasized. “The vice president received a very warm and enthusiastic reception,” a committee member told Fox News Digital. And when she alluded to who would be in contention for the 2028 nomination, some in the room shouted, “You.” According to those in the room, Harris also landed a warm welcome less than 24 hours earlier as she spoke at the United Farm Workers annual gala. Expect to see more of Harris in the new year, helping Democrats from coast to coast as the party works to win back congressional majorities in the midterms. And Harris has added more 2026 stops to her book tour promoting “107 Days,” her reflections on her abbreviated 2024 presidential campaign. Among the stops is one in South Carolina, a crucial early-voting primary state in the Democratic Party’s presidential nominating calendar. SUCCEEDING TRUMP IN 2028: SIX REPUBLICANS TO KEEP YOUR EYES ON While Newsom didn’t address the delegates at Friday’s general session, he was treated like a VIP on Thursday as he held meetings and mingled with delegates during the opening day of the winter meeting. A DNC committee member who witnessed the commotion told Fox News Digital, “Newsom received a rock star reception as he was mobbed by party leaders and activists alike while he attempted to walk from meeting to meeting.” Newsom on Thursday met with the Democratic Party chairs from New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state, and Nevada, another crucial early voting state. “We had a great discussion on a wide range of issues,” longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley told Fox News Digital. Newsom’s stature in his own party has soared this year, thanks to his very vocal and visual pushback against the president, including his viral social media trolling of Trump and his successful California push to counter the Republican congressional redistricting effort. “Newsom has shown an ability to stand up to Trump in a bold and highly effective manner without shying away from core democratic values,” veteran Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital. While both Newsom and Harris made a splash at the DNC winter meeting, they both have plenty of detractors who worry that neither would be electable in 2028 when the Democrats try to win back the White House. And if one or both of them launch presidential campaigns, they’ll likely be joined by a large crowd of other contenders. One of those possible White House hopefuls is Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who was also making the rounds during the opening day of the DNC meeting. Fox News Digital confirmed that the billionaire governor helped raise over $1 million for the DNC at a fundraiser Thursday night. A DNC insider said the appearances by Harris, Newsom and Pritzker gave “them an opportunity to start honing in on a winning message for Democrats in 2028.” There are more than a dozen other Democrats thought to be potential 2028 White House contenders. And most of them have also been paying visits to the early voting states, as well as parachuting onto the 2025 campaign trail. Among them are Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Wes Moore of Maryland and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan; Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut; progressive superstar Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rep. Ro Khanna of California, another leading progressive; and two moderate Democrats, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and former Chicago mayor and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
House Republicans allege DC police downgraded crime classifications to manipulate statistics
The top police official in Washington, D.C., pressured commanders to lower classifications of crime and retaliated against those who reported spikes, creating a widespread culture of fear and distorted public data, according to a new congressional report. An interim report from the House Oversight Committee released on Sunday claims that outgoing Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Pamela Smith, who announced her resignation on Dec. 8, oversaw an unprecedented system of intervention in crime reporting. The Republican-led committee alleges that Smith, who is expected to remain in the position through the end of the year, pressured commanders on numerous occasions, and at times instructed them to downgrade offenses and avoid classifications that would appear on the city’s Daily Crime Report. “By pressuring her command staff to alter classifications for the sole purpose of artificially reducing crime numbers reported out to the public, Chief Smith incentivized the manipulation of crime numbers, which do not adequately account for the crime taking place in D.C.,” the report reads in part. TRUMP PRAISES DEMOCRATIC DC MAYOR FOR WORKING WITH HIS ADMINISTRATION ON CRIME CRACKDOWN The findings, based on eight transcribed interviews with MPD district commanders, describe a toxic management environment in which accuracy was sacrificed for optics, and career officials faced public humiliation or demotion for presenting Smith with unfavorable crime statistics. MPD did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about the report. “Briefings with Chief Smith involved public chastisement to the point commanders expressed feeling like they were being treated as if they had committed the crimes themselves,” the report stated. THREE DC HOMICIDES IN SIX HOURS TEST TRUMP’S CLAIM OF SAFER WASHINGTON “On two occasions I had… robbery sprees, and I think I had, like, 13 robberies in over a night period, a day period,” said one MPD commander who is identified only as “Commander E” in the report. “And, yeah, I was – usually you have, there’s – an order of how you brief out, but at the very beginning of the crime briefing, the chief said, ‘I need to see [Commander E] up front to brief first.’ So I got up there and I was basically admonished. I was like, ‘How could I let these robberies happen?’ It was embarrassing, but it happened. And then it stemmed other meetings after that to sit down and kind of drill down to what’s happening. I did feel like I did the robberies after I left. I literally was, like, I swear I did not commit them.” The committee’s investigation unfolded against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s federal crime crackdown in the nation’s capital. In August, Trump issued an executive order to address the “epidemic of crime” in the district and deployed federal law enforcement personnel, including the National Guard. DC ARRESTS SURPASS 1,000 AS TRUMP-BACKED CRACKDOWN ENTERS 12TH HOMICIDE-FREE DAY Several commanders told the committee the surge had been helpful in supplementing the department’s resources. Mayor Muriel Bowser noted last week that D.C. homicides are down 30% this year. Bowser told Fox News Digital in a statement: “The men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department run towards danger every day to reduce homicides, carjackings, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and more. The precipitous decline in crime in our city is attributable to their hard work and dedication and Chief Smith’s leadership.” “I thank Chief Smith for her commitment to the safety of DC residents and for holding the Metropolitan Police Department to an exacting standard, and I expect no less from our next Chief of Police,” she added.
Democrats press hard on Epstein files after years of sporadic interest under Biden
With less than a week before the Department of Justice must release a tranche of case files related to Jeffrey Epstein, Democrats have continued to seize on the politically expedient topic, which has roiled the Trump administration and caused fractures in the Republican Party. On Friday, House Democrats released 19 photos from Epstein’s estate that included several images featuring President Donald Trump and other public figures. The White House blasted the move and reiterated its position that the Epstein matter is a “Democrat hoax.” Friday’s disclosure came as Democrats have claimed all year that Epstein’s case has newfound salience because Trump, once among Epstein’s many wealthy friends before Epstein was accused of trafficking underage girls, tried to suppress the files when he took office. Republicans counter that Democrats had full access to the documents for four years under the Biden administration and neither released them nor uncovered information damaging to Trump. FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS UNSEALING OF EPSTEIN CASE GRAND JURY RECORDS Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital claims of Democratic inconsistency “are seriously detached from reality” and pointed to his own investigations dating back to 2019 into former Trump Labor Secretary Alex Acosta’s handling of a 2008 plea deal with Epstein. Raskin argued the Democratic Party has not shifted, but rather that the Trump administration has. “Trump abruptly killed the ongoing federal investigation into Epstein’s co-conspirators when he took office,” Raskin said, alleging the administration undertook a “massive redaction project” to hide evidence of Trump’s ties to Epstein. The forthcoming file release is expected to contain significant redactions and include reasons for each one. “Democrats have always fought to support an investigation of Epstein’s co-conspirators,” Raskin said. “We have always been on the side of full transparency and justice for the victims.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., repeated that point Friday after the photos were published, saying, “All we want is full transparency, so that the American people can get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” COMER ACCUSES OVERSIGHT DEMS OF ‘CHERRY-PICKING’ EPSTEIN ISLAND FILES: ‘CHASING HEADLINES’ The heightened Democratic push for transparency comes after years during which the party showed more intermittent interest in Epstein’s case, which some Democrats have attributed to the sensitivity of seeking information while Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking case was pending and while some of Epstein’s victims were pursuing litigation. But the Democrats’ new, unified fixation on Epstein this year came as Republicans struggled to manage the issue. The files became a political thorn for the administration after Attorney General Pam Bondi‘s chaotic rollout in February of already-public files by the DOJ, which enraged a faction of Trump’s base who had been expecting new information. The DOJ said at the time that it would not disclose further files because of court orders and victim privacy and said the department found no information that would warrant bringing charges against anyone else. In a turnabout, however, Bondi ordered a review, at Trump’s direction, of Epstein’s alleged connections to Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton. The president, who was closely associated with Epstein but was never accused of any crimes related to him, also relented to monthslong pressure to sign a transparency bill last month that ordered the DOJ to release all of its hundreds of thousands of Epstein-related records within 30 days. Among the most vocal supporters of the bill was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., which resulted in her highly public falling out with the president, whom she once fervently supported. The Epstein saga has also plagued the administration because some of Trump’s allies, now in top roles in the DOJ, once promoted the existence of incriminating, nonpublic Epstein files, including a supposed list of sexual predators who were his clients. FBI Director Kash Patel, for instance, said in 2023 the government was hiding “Epstein’s list” of “pedophiles.” But the DOJ leaders failed to deliver on those claims upon taking office. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., meanwhile, faced accusations from Democrats that he kept the House in recess for about two months to avoid votes on Epstein transparency legislation. Johnson shot back that Democrats had, in his view, been lax on the Epstein case until this year. “We’re not going to allow the Democrats to use this for political cover. They had four years,” Johnson told reporters at the time. “Remember, the Biden administration held the Epstein files for four years and not a single one of these Democrats, or anyone in Congress, made any thought about that at all.” The House Oversight Committee has also spurred infighting over how Epstein material has been handled, as it has been actively engaged in subpoenaing, reviewing, and releasing large batches of Epstein-related records from both the DOJ and Epstein’s estate, including Friday’s photos. In response to the photos, which were released by committee Democrats, committee Republicans said the Democrats “cherry-picked” them and that they “keep trying to create a fake hoax by being dishonest, deceptive, and shamelessly deranged.”