Bus carrying Vaishno devi pilgrims fall into gorge in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba, here’s what we know so far
At least 1 dead and several injured after a bus carrying pilgrims to the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi falls off the Jammu-Pathankot highway into a gorge in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district on August 21.
BIG Relief to Bengaluru Commuters: Uber, Rapido resume services after 2-month ban
The Karnataka High Court has directed the state government to decide on creating a comprehensive bike taxi policy, prompting the development of new guidelines for the industry within a month’s time.
Amid political buzz, Ajit Pawar makes BIG statement on MNS chief Raj Thackeray and CM Devendra Fadnavis’ meeting: ‘There is no need to…’
MNS president Raj Thackeray and CM Devendra Fadnavis’ meeting came after the first joint contest by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in the BEST Employees’ Co-operative Credit Society elections ended in a humiliating defeat.
Good News: Patna-Purnia Expressway becomes Bihar’s pride as 9th National Expressway, check routes, travel time and other details
The project includes 21 major bridges, 140 minor bridges, 11 railway overbridges, 21 interchanges and 322 underpasses.
Online gaming bill passed in Rajya Sabha, THESE Indian apps likely to be affected
Parliament has passed ‘The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025’ on the last day of the Monsoon Session today.
Boat capsizes in Maharashtra’s Raigad, rescue operation underway
The fishing vessel, believed to be from Gujarat, was caught in the rough waters.
Lawmakers are debating GOP congressional maps. What does redistricting mean for Texans?
From urban cores to rural regions, Texans’ needs differ. Experts worry new districts encompassing geographically distant communities will dilute their voices.
Health insurance carriers request raising ACA premiums by more than 20% on average in Texas
Health insurers are hiking policy premiums in response to proposed federal cuts and rising costs in various parts of the health care sector.
Ex-Biden spin doctor Ian Sams, slammed by Trump as ‘below average,’ grilled in House autopen probe
An eleventh former Biden administration aide is appearing before House Oversight Committee investigators on Thursday morning as Republicans continue to investigate allegations of a “cover-up” in the previous White House. Ian Sams is a longtime Democrat communications operative who most recently served as a senior spokesman for former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign. Before that, he served as a senior advisor and spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office under former President Joe Biden, where his primary role entailed responding to congressional probes mainly launched by Republicans. RON KLAIN DODGES REPORTERS AFTER MARATHON GRILLING IN BIDEN COVER-UP PROBE “You were a first line of defense to spin negative stories about the president and his mishaps,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., wrote to Sams in late June. He pointed out that Sams’ tenure in that role, which lasted from May 2022 to late August 2024, stretched across much of the latter half of Biden’s term. “The scope of your responsibilities—both official and otherwise—and personal interactions within the Oval Office cannot go without investigation, given the mounting evidence that President Biden was incapacitated for much, if not all, of his single term,” Comer wrote. “If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive’s condition—or to perform his duties—Congress may need to consider a legislative response.” LONGTIME BIDEN AIDE SAYS HE STOOD TO EARN UP TO $8M HAD PRESIDENT WON RE-ELECTION Comer’s committee is investigating whether Biden’s top White House aides covered up signs of mental decline in the former president from both the media and fellow Democrats. Of particular interest to House investigators is the myriad clemency orders that Trump signed in the latter half of his four-year term, and whether those decisions and others signed via autopen were made with Biden’s full awareness. Biden maintained he “made every decision” in a recent interview with The New York Times. Sams was also notably thrust into the spotlight during his time as a Harris 2024 spokesman after being called out by name by President Donald Trump. “Sams is just a below-average guy, with memorized FAKE NEWS soundbites, almost all of which are WRONG,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after one of Sams’ appearances on Fox News Channel last year. While Sams is the eleventh former Biden White House aide appearing, he is just the eighth to come in for a voluntary interview. Three other former Biden officials – ex-White House physician Kevin O’Connor and former senior advisors Anthony Bernal and Annie Tomasini – were compelled to appeal via subpoena. Like the sit-downs before his, Sams’ interview will be taking place behind closed doors and is expected to be led by lawyers for both Republicans and Democrats on the committee.
Trump-aligned legal group probes Biden-era organ transplant program over ethical concerns
FIRST ON FOX — A Trump-aligned legal group founded by White House aide Stephen Miller filed Freedom of Information Act requests Thursday targeting a Biden organ transplant program that critics warn could be open to abuse. The requests from America First Legal went to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. At issue is the Increasing Organ Transplant Access Model, a six-year mandatory program finalized in December 2024 and set to take effect in July 2025, which aims to expand access to kidney transplants but has drawn criticism from Trump officials who warn it may be vulnerable to outside influence. The model builds on earlier payment experiments, testing whether financial rewards and penalties can improve care and expand access for Medicare and Medicaid patients. Trump officials and allies, including America First Legal, argue the system risks distortion by outside interests — a charge that prompted AFL’s FOIA requests as part of a broader investigation. TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON VOTING BLOCKED BY FEDERAL JUDGES AMID FLURRY OF LEGAL SETBACKS They cited in part recent findings from an HRSA-led probe published earlier this year. That investigation suggested third-party groups or for-profit organizations “may have unduly influenced the IOTA Model”— though their exact role or the extent they may have done so is unclear. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also cited concerns from the study, which the department said in a statement “revealed clear negligence and disturbing practices” by a large organ procurement organization in the U.S., prompting him to launch a new reform initiative. In previewing the FOIA requests to Fox News Digital, AFL cited related concerns about patient safety, ethical misconduct, and discrimination in organ allocation, among other things. The requests ask HHS, CMS and HRSA for a long list of information regarding the program and related correspondence — including emails, letters and memos between agency personnel and third-party representatives about the development or implementation of the IOTA Model. They also seek meeting records, agendas and summaries of discussions involving agency staff and outside officials. The payment model will affect more than 100 U.S. transplant hospitals over six years, imposing mandatory financial incentives and penalties tied to a final performance score. FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BAN FOR ALL INFANTS, TESTING LOWER COURT POWERS IOTA was touted as a way to help increase access to organ donors and transplants in the U.S. and help address the long waiting list of patients awaiting a transplant, which as of last fall stood at roughly 90,000 people. Participating hospitals are evaluated for their performance in three key areas, according to CMS’s final rule, which took force in July, including the volume of kidney transplants, their matching efficiency, and post-transplant outcomes of their patients. But the role outside groups have played, including during the process of drafting the final rule, has prompted criticism and calls for additional scrutiny from Trump allies, including AFL. “Self-interested third parties should play no role in shaping America’s organ transplant policy,” AFL counsel Laura Stell told Fox News Digital in a statement previewing the FOIA requests and broader investigation. “Where monetary incentives and penalties come into play, there must be utmost certainty that CMS developed the program without influence from entities with improper motives.” America First Legal, though not officially part of the Trump administration, was founded by longtime Trump adviser Stephen Miller after Trump’s first presidential term. Miller stepped down from AFL before rejoining the White House in 2025 as Trump’s deputy chief of staff.