House Republican plans to leave Congress after more than 2 decades in office
Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas will not run for re-election in 2026. The long-serving lawmaker noted during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” that he will serve the rest of his current term but is seeking a “new challenge.” McCaul has previously chaired the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. ‘JUST EVIL’: TOP REPUBLICAN DETAILS RUSSIA’S ‘HORRIFIC’ MASS ABDUCTIONS OF UKRAINIAN CHILDREN “It has been the honor of a lifetime to represent the people of central Texas and to chair the prestigious Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs Committees,” the congressman said in social media posts. “My father’s service in World War II inspired me to pursue a life of public service, with a focus on defending our great nation against global threats, and I have been proud to carry out that mission in Congress for more than two decades. I am ready for a new challenge in 2027 and look forward to continuing to serve my country in the national security and foreign policy realm,” he noted. GOP REP MCCAUL URGES TRUMP ADMIN TO PRIORITIZE ‘AGGRAVATED FELONS’ WHEN DETAINING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS McCaul has served in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than two decades. The lawmaker from the Lone Star State took office in 2005. GOP REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL ‘BRIEFLY DETAINED’ BY POLICE AT AIRPORT FOR ‘APPEARING INTOXICATED’ CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, described McCaul as “a great Congressman, a great American and a great friend.”
‘Gradually and then suddenly’: Reagan speechwriter talks political violence in aftermath of Kirk’s death
The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk signals a troubling new chapter in America’s political violence, former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan said. Kirk, 31, died after he was shot in the neck during his “American Comeback Tour” at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. The assassination comes a year after two attempts to take the president’s life. “We like to say that something happened gradually and then suddenly,” Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. “It’s from Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Sun Also Rises’: A character, asked how he went bankrupt, says, ‘Two ways, gradually and then suddenly.’ That’s how political violence in America has been growing in this century. I would say the 2024 assassination attempts on Donald Trump, and now the assassination of Kirk, are the ‘suddenly’ moments. The reality continues while the dark tempo is picking up.” CHARLIE KIRK WARNED ‘ASSASSINATION CULTURE IS SPREADING ON THE LEFT’ IN EERIE ONLINE POST MONTHS BEFORE MURDER “We know this can’t continue and we don’t know how to stop it,” Noonan wrote. “That is our predicament.” Noonan, now a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, served as President Ronald Reagan’s head speechwriter from 1984 to 1986. Kirk’s assassination is one of multiple examples of political violence – or attempted political violence. For example, 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on Trump from a rooftop during a campaign rally in July 2024, and one of the eight bullets shot grazed Trump’s ear. The gunman also shot and killed Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, father and husband attending the rally, and injured two others. CHARLIE KIRK HAD ‘NO FEAR’ GOING INTO UTAH EVENT WHERE HE WAS ASSASSINATED, FRIEND SAYS Likewise, Ryan Routh was apprehended and charged with attempting to assassinate Trump at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September 2024. Routh was charged with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, among other things, and his trial is currently underway. Other instances include an assassination plot against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Nicholas John Roske, 29, pleaded guilty in April to attempting to kill Kavanaugh in June 2022, according to the Justice Department. CHARLIE KIRK’S MURDER THE LATEST IN INCREASING POLITICAL VIOLENCE NATIONWIDE, FROM PA GOVERNOR TO SCOTUS Trump said Friday on “Fox & Friends” that an arrest had been made in Kirk’s assassination, and Utah officials confirmed the suspect as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. “I hope he’s going to be found guilty, I would imagine. And I hope he gets the death penalty,” Trump said Friday. “What he did, Charlie Kirk was the finest person, he didn’t deserve this. He worked so hard and so well. Everybody liked him.”
Prosecution presses forward as Ryan Routh trial resumes on Day 6
The federal trial of Ryan Routh, accused of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump during a round of golf in September 2024, resumes Monday after a week that saw jurors seated, opening statements delivered and a flurry of early testimony. In just two days of testimony last week, prosecutors called 13 witnesses — mostly FBI and Secret Service agents — to walk jurors through the investigation and security response to the alleged attack. Prosecutors opened Thursday by reading Ryan Routh’s own words — “Trump cannot be elected” and “I need Trump to go away” — to argue he plotted for months, traveled from Hawaii, and positioned himself at Trump International Golf Club with a rifle chambered and ready to fire. RYAN ROUTH TRIAL: JURY SELECTION BEGINS IN TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT CASE Routh, representing himself, delivered a seven-minute opening statement that Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon cut short after he veered into rambling remarks about Adolf Hitler and the Wright brothers, at one point telling jurors, “This case means absolutely nothing. A life has been lived to the fullest.” The week’s witnesses included a Secret Service agent who testified Routh smiled at him while pointing a rifle “directly at my face,” a civilian who identified Routh fleeing in a black Nissan Xterra, and bomb squad and FBI agents who described the alleged sniper’s hideout — backpacks clipped to a fence, a camera zip-tied to it, and Vienna sausages on the ground. RYAN ROUTH TRIAL OPENS WITH BIZARRE JURY QUESTIONS AND WITNESS DRAMA Jurors were also shown photos prosecutors said linked Routh’s clothing to the scene, including pants with a red stain prosecutors compared to red paint on a bag recovered from the brush. Routh’s cross-examinations were brief and sometimes bizarre, from asking witnesses “Is it good to be alive?“ to quizzing them on AK-47 mechanics. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, told jurors to expect the trial to go until 5:30 p.m. daily. More FBI agents and law enforcement witnesses are expected to take the stand Monday as the government continues presenting evidence.
Iryna Zarutska killing exposes GOP split on possible federal intervention in Charlotte
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. warned he would have a problem if the White House decided to focus its attention on his state as scrutiny grows on Democratic policies and their connection to crime. Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, was killed in Charlotte, North Carolina, last month while taking public transit. The suspect in the crime, Decarlos Brown Jr., had previously been arrested 14 times before being arrested and charged with murder. CHARLOTTE TRAIN MURDER FRONT AND CENTER IN CRUCIAL 2026 SENATE BATTLE: ‘SOFT-ON-CRIME POLICIES’ As the story, propelled by a harrowing video of the alleged interaction between Brown and Zarutska, has spread nationally, so too has criticism of Democratic crime policies in blue cities like Charlotte. President Donald Trump charged that “blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who directed Justice Department prosecutors to federally prosecute Brown, contended that Zarutska’s “horrific murder is a direct result of failed soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people.” Their sentiment comes as the Trump administration has pushed for federal intervention in Democratic-led cities. The administration has already sent troops into Washington, D.C., and is planning to send the Guard to Memphis and possibly Baltimore next. CHARLOTTE MAYOR SCORES PRIMARY RE-ELECTION VICTORY AMID NATIONAL BACKLASH OVER GRUESOME TRAIN MURDER Tillis told Fox News Digital that there were “a lot of cities that we should be going to before Charlotte.” “And I, for one, don’t think that we should be the nation’s police force, because, you know what happens? We’re going to mask the failure of Democrat leaders that are making their cities less safe,” Tillis said. “But we also have to be realistic and see that there are some cities and red states that are also in the top 20 list.” “All I’m saying is we’ve got an issue, and I’m down there working before it became a national thing, work that we need to do down there to fix basically the free ride of the subway there,” he continued. “But it doesn’t rise to a level of national intervention. I think that’d be an overreach that I’m against, generally.” TRUMP SAYS DEMOCRATS HAVE ‘BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS’ AFTER DEADLY CHARLOTTE TRAIN STABBING Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., had a different view of the situation. He argued that it was “broken policies” encouraged by former Gov. Roy Cooper, who is running for Tillis’ seat, and current Gov. Josh Stein, D-N.C., that led to “this reimagining criminal justice nonsense.” “What I want to see is local government to operate like it should,” Budd said. “That’s city government without these leftist, cashless bail crimes on the streets turning a blind eye to homelessness and drugs. If they will stop doing that, those crazy policies, then sure there’s no need to send in the National Guard.” “I would say being negligent, like those local governments have been in that case, invites greater rule,” he continued. “And that’s the feds, and they’re doing it in Chicago, they’re doing it in Washington, D.C. That’s because it’s been negligent locally. So policy matters, and policy matters at home, too.” Fox News Digital reached out to Stein’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Trump heads to UK for rare second state visit, then to Arizona for Charlie Kirk’s funeral
President Donald Trump will make a state visit to the U.K. this week, marking his second such stop during his presidency. Later in the week, Trump will travel to Arizona to attend the funeral of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Trump’s return to England is unusual, as U.S. presidents rarely make more than one state visit during their time in office, underscoring both the political and symbolic weight of the occasion. KING CHARLES PLANNING ROYAL SPECTACLE FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP, WITH STAR-STUDDED GUEST LIST Trump and first lady Melania Trump will be hosted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle. Buckingham Palace is under renovation. The Trumps will also meet with Prince William and Princess Catherine of Wales during their visit. Following a formal welcome, Trump will take part in a series of ceremonial events, including a carriage procession, a gun salute and a flyover by military fighter jets. Festivities will culminate with a lavish state dinner. An estimated 150 guests are typically invited to the state dinner based on their cultural, diplomatic or economic links to the country being hosted. Darren McGrady, who was a personal chef to the late Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana and her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, told Fox News Digital there is no room for error when it comes to the menu. He served as a royal chef for 15 years and cooked for five U.S. presidents. CHARLIE KIRK HONORED AS ‘GENERATION’S GREATEST’ AT MASSIVE LONDON RALLY Trump will head to Chequers on Thursday, the country house of the sitting U.K. prime minister, where he’ll meet Keir Starmer for a series of bilateral meetings, followed by a joint news conference later that day. Trump, 79, and King Charles, 76, have known each other for decades, dating back to Charles’s visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in the late 1980s. More recently, Charles sent Trump a personal note after he survived an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pa. COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CHARLIE KIRK Trump will end his week traveling to Arizona to attend the funeral of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on Wednesday. Kirk, the charismatic founder of Turning Point USA, was shot during an outdoor debate on the Utah Valley University campus. In the wake of his death, Kirk’s widow, Erika, vowed to carry on her husband’s mission. “To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die,” Kirk said in a video statement on Friday. “I refuse to let that happen. No one will ever forget my husband’s name. And I will make sure of it. It will become stronger. Bolder. Louder and greater than ever,” Kirk said. Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” wrote on X that in the past 48 hours, Turning Point USA has received more than 32,000 inquiries from people wanting to start new campus chapters. In a separate post, Kolvet wrote, “This is the Turning Point.”
New UPI rule starts from today: UPI transaction limits increased to Rs 5 lakh, Rs 10 lakh; check full list of categories
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced a hike in transaction limit for specific categories in Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The UPI transaction limits for certain categories of payments have been raised to Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, effective from 15 September 2025, according to the latest circular issued by NPCI.
India vs Pakistan Asia Cup match hit by ‘no handshake’ controversy
Dubai, UAE – The wide-ranging ramifications of an ongoing political standoff between India and Pakistan have led to a controversial conclusion of the archrivals’ cricket match at the Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai, where India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav confirmed that his squad opted against shaking hands with their opponents as a mark of protest. When Sunday’s Group A fixture between the South Asian archrivals was confirmed after long deliberations from the Indian government, fans and experts had hoped that the on-field action could help cool the off-field heat. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Yadav, though, crushed all expectations by saying his team’s thumping seven-wicket win in the T20 match was a “perfect reply” to Pakistan in the wake of the intense four-day cross-border conflict that brought both countries to the brink of an all-out war in May. “Our [Indian] government and the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] were aligned on the decision to play this match. We came here just to play the match and gave them [Pakistan] a perfect reply,” Yadav told the media shortly after the match. What happened at the end of the India vs Pakistan match? Yadav, who hit the winning runs for India, walked off the field alongside his batting partner, Shivam Dube, without approaching the Pakistani captain and team for the traditional post-match handshakes. Pakistan’s players trudged off in a group and waited for the Indian squad and support staff to come out and shake hands, as is the norm at the end of cricket matches. However, the Indian contingent only shook hands with each other before walking into their dressing room and shutting the door as the waiting Pakistan players looked on. No handshakes between the teams. Salman Agha looked to lead Pakistan over to the India dressing room, but nothing doing. They all headed straight in #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/0BbJtYdkAf — Paul Radley (@PaulRadley) September 14, 2025 Advertisement Why did Indian team refuse to shake hands with Pakistani players? The Indian captain was asked to clarify his team’s actions and whether they were in contradiction with the spirit of the sport. “A few things in life are above sportsman’s spirit,” the 35-year-old swiftly responded. “We stand with all the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and with their families, and dedicate this win to our brave armed forces who took part in Operation Sindoor.” Yadav was referring to the Indian armed forces’ multiple missile attacks on six locations inside Pakistan. India said the missiles were in response to the April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir in Pahalgam, in which 26 men were killed. An armed group called The Resistance Front (TRF), which demands independence for Kashmir, claimed responsibility for the attack, but India had alleged Pakistani involvement. Two days later, Pakistan responded to the missile strikes by attacking military installations across its frontier with India and Indian-administered Kashmir, striking at least four facilities. The conflict ended four days later, thanks to an internationally-brokered ceasefire. While the exchange of aerial fire came to a halt, the diplomatic ties between the neighbours remained suspended, and the political tension spilled over into cricket when the fixture between India and Pakistan was announced by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). Did India break any rules by not shaking hands? As a result, the match was played under a highly charged political climate, and when both captains did not indulge in the customary handshake at the pre-match toss, the focus swiftly shifted to the interactions between the teams. However, Al Jazeera has learned that the match referee, Andy Pycroft, had asked Yadav and his counterpart, Agha, to skip the pre-toss ritual. “The match referee requested both captains to not shake hands at the toss,” an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), requesting anonymity, told Al Jazeera after the match. Match officials also granted India permission to skip the post-match handshakes with Pakistan, but did not inform Agha or his team, according to the source. This resulted in an awkward-looking post-match scenario, where the Pakistani players followed Yadav off the pitch and waited for the Indians to emerge, only to watch them shut the dressing room door. How did Pakistan respond? Pakistan’s manager Naveed Akram Cheema lodged a protest against the Indian cricket team’s actions with Pycroft, who is an International Cricket Council (ICC) accredited match referee. Advertisement “The umpires had allowed the Indians to walk off the field without shaking hands for which the match referee apologised after the protest of our team manager,” the official said. Additionally, Pakistan captain Agha did not speak at the post-match captain’s chat with the host broadcaster in a mark of protest. Mike Hesson, Pakistan’s head coach, confirmed that Agha’s refusal to show up for the talk and the media briefing was a “follow-on effect” of the Indian team’s actions. “We were ready to shake hands at the end of the game, but our opposition did not do that,” Hesson said. “We sort of went over there to shake hands, and they had already gone into the changing room.” Indian and Pakistani players stand for their national anthems before the start of the match [Fadel Senna/AFP] Why are handshakes important in cricket, and what’s the protocol? As per the norm in cricket, the two on-field players of the team batting second shake hands with the fielding team and the umpires before walking off. And in what is now a common practice in all international cricket matches, the batting team then enters the ground to shake hands with their opponents. It offers both sides to end the match on a friendly note and exchange words of encouragement. In the same manner, both teams’ captains shake hands before the toss, which takes place 30 minutes before the start of play. The toss is conducted by the match referee on the pitch and usually broadcast live. Both captains and the match referee can also indulge in a pre-match chat regarding team lineups or any other matters of
Suspect in Charlie Kirk’s murder has ‘leftist ideology’, Utah governor says
The suspect in the assassination of the conservative American activist Charlie Kirk espoused left-wing views, Utah’s governor has said, amid heightened tensions and recriminations over surging political violence in the United States. In an interview with NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said the arrested suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, had a “leftist ideology” despite growing up in a conservative family. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “We can confirm that, again, according to family and people that we’re interviewing, he does come from a conservative family. But his ideology was very different than his family, and so that’s part of it,” Cox said. Cox, a Republican, did not elaborate on Robinson’s suspected motive, but said the suspect had spent time in “dark places” online. “We do know, and again, this has been well publicised, that this was a very normal young man, a very smart young man,” Cox said. According to public records, Robinson registered as a nonpartisan voter in Utah, while his parents are registered Republicans. In a separate interview with CNN’s State of the Union, Cox said the information about Robinson’s left-wing views had come from interviews with family members and friends. “I really don’t have a dog in this fight. If this was MAGA, and a radicalised MAGA person, I would be saying that as well,” Cox said, referring to US President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. “That’s not what they’re sharing.” Cox also confirmed reports that Robinson had a romantic relationship with his transgender roommate, who was transitioning from male to female. Advertisement “This partner has been incredibly cooperative, had no idea that this was happening, and is working with investigators right now,” he said. Cox said he was not aware if Robinson’s relationship had any relevance to the assassination, but that authorities were investigating. “We’re trying to figure it out. I know everybody wants to know exactly why, and point the finger, and I totally get that. I do too,” he said. Kirk, the leader and cofounder of youth activist group Turning Post USA and a close ally of Trump, was shot dead on Wednesday during a speaking appearance at Utah Valley University. A key figure on the political right, Kirk was described in media profiles as a “rock star” among young conservatives, and played a pivotal role in driving the youth vote in Trump’s November re-election. A polarising figure, Kirk was lionised by conservatives as a defender of traditional values and a champion of free speech, but seen by liberals as an incendiary figure who stoked hatred towards racial minorities and members of the LGBTQ community. While both Republican and Democratic leaders have condemned Kirk’s murder, the killing has drawn attention to the extreme political polarisation pitting everyday Americans against one another. In the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, some left-leaning Americans took to social media to celebrate, prompting outrage from conservatives and the launch of online campaigns to get people deemed disrespectful of Kirk’s memory fired from their jobs. On the right, some figures invoked the rhetoric of retribution and war. “If they won’t leave us in peace, then our choice is to fight or die,” tech billionaire Elon Musk said on X. Trump, who swiftly denounced the rhetoric of the “radical left” after Kirk’s killing, has declined opportunities to stress the need for unity and avoid partisan blame since the assassination. Speaking on Fox News’s Fox & Friends on Friday, Trump sought to paint left-wing extremism as worse than extremism on the right. “The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime,” Trump said. “The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious and they’re horrible, and they’re politically savvy.” In an interview with NBC News on Saturday, Trump said that while he would like to see the country heal, “we’re dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don’t play fair and they never did”. Kirk’s assassination has prompted fears of further violence amid a documented increase in politically motivated attacks. Advertisement According to a tally by the Reuters news agency, the US experienced at least 300 instances of political violence between the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol and the 2024 presidential election, marking it out as the worst period for such violence since the 1970s. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,299
Here are the key events on day 1,299 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Published On 15 Sep 202515 Sep 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Here is how things stand on Sunday, September 14: Fighting Russian forces killed two people in Ukraine’s Kherson, including a 49-year-old woman who was found dead in the rubble of her home, authorities said, a day after Russian attacks killed six people across the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian soldiers were advancing in the border areas of the northern Sumy region, and said Russian forces had suffered significant losses in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions along the 1,000km (620-mile) front line. Ukrainian forces said they had regained control of the village of Filia in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, and reported bringing down a Russian ballistic missile and 164 drones of different types over the past day. Ukraine’s military also claimed a strike on Russia’s Kirishi oil refinery in the northwestern Leningrad region, causing “explosions and a fire”. The governor of the Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko, said the fire on the refinery’s grounds was caused by “falling drone debris”, after Russian forces shot down three Ukrainian drones. The fire was extinguished, and no one was injured, Drozdenko added. Drozdenko also said that two trains derailed in the Leningrad region due to “sabotage”, with one driver dying of his injuries while being transported to a hospital. The death toll from an explosion on another railway line in Russia’s Oryol region on Saturday has risen to three. All of the victims were Russian national guard troops, said Alexander Khinstein, the governor of the Kursk region. A Ukrainian military source claimed responsibility for the attack in Oryol, but not the deadly derailment in Leningrad, the AFP news agency reported. The Russian Ministry of Defence reported intercepting 361 Ukrainian drones and four aerial bombs and rockets from a US-made high mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS) in a 24-hour period, according to the TASS news agency. Five people were injured in a Ukrainian attack on the city of Horlivka, in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, Russian-appointed local official Ivan Prikhodko said in a post on Telegram. Cyberattacks Advertisement Russia’s Central Election Commission said that it experienced an “unprecedented attack” on its digital systems during elections on Sunday for dozens of regional officials, including 21 out of the country’s 80 governors. Russian officials did not immediately comment on who they thought might be behind the alleged attacks. Politics and Diplomacy United States President Donald Trump again said he was willing to impose sanctions on Russia, but said Europe must do more, including ceasing to buy oil from Russia. “Europe is buying oil from Russia. I don’t want them to buy oil,” Trump told reporters. “And the sanctions… that they’re putting on are not tough enough, and I’m willing to do sanctions, but they’re going to have to toughen up their sanctions commensurate with what I’m doing.” Romania summoned Moscow’s envoy after a drone breached its airspace during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, informing him that “such recurring incidents contribute to the escalation and amplification of threats to regional security”. Annalena Baerbock, the new president of the United Nations General Assembly, said that UN peacekeepers could play a role in supporting a peace solution to the war in Ukraine. “If a peace treaty is reached, it must be secured as best as possible,” Baerbock told the Sunday edition of the Bild newspaper. Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for European troops to be deployed on Ukrainian soil in an interview with the Kyiv Independent. “If they don’t want foreign troops on Ukrainian soil, I’ve got a brilliant idea – they bog off,” Johnson said. Adblock test (Why?)
BIG trouble for sacked IAS officer Puja Khedkar as missing truck driver found at her Pune-based home, here’s what happened
In September last year, the centre had dismissed Puja Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) after she was accused of wrongly availing the benefits of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and disability quotas.