This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A reporter's video of her visit to the home of New Orleans terror suspect Shamsud Din Jabbar, now dead, has raised a long list of questions about investigators who visited the site, and why it was left unsecured for visitors to enter.
Video is from the New York Post's Jennie Taer, who described how she entered, saw various "work stations" with "chemicals" and "electronics," a Quran and other religious books as well as a prayer rug, and even the Department of Justice's search warrant.
"The head-scratching walk-through revealed a house reasonably intact despite an alleged search warrant being served," explained a report at the Gateway Pundit.
That's even though the structure "should have been a secure crime scene."
Later, the report said, a Fox report said the bomb squad from the Harris County sheriff's office was en route to "collect evidence."
That report said, "Deputies just closed down the street in north Harris County where Shamsud-Din Jabbar was living. A source tells me HCSO bomb squad is on the way to collect evidence. This comes days later, when the door was left open and people were inside the home taking pictures and freely roaming around. Sources also say precursor chemicals were found inside the home when they first raided it, which are typically used for making home made explosives. The question now becomes why come back and collect evidence and not do this days ago?"
Fox's Brooke Taylor then added, "An FBI spokesperson tells me, 'I can confirm FBI Houston is currently at the north Harris County location conducting law enforcement activity. No acknowledgement or answers as to why this wasn't treated as a secure crime scene all day yesterday, leaving people to roam freely with now potential evidence left behind.'"
Ultimately, the report said, "Journalist Breanna Morella said on social media the FBI had examined the location and "released it back to the property owner," who has discretion to allow people in, or not.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – The topic of the largely Muslim grooming gangs that operated in working-class areas of the U.K. and in which thousands of white girls and barely pubescent young women were routinely sexually abused over a more than 30-year period is one of the most shameful in recent British history. The issue apparently had died down a little, until two interconnected events brought it rocketing back above the surface.
GB News, which has taken a clear moral stance and reported the assailants predominantly are men of Pakistani origin – although you would be hard-pressed sometimes to glean this from the reporting of mainstream outlets – reacted with consternation bordering on disgust when the Labour Party's Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips MP rejected a call for a public inquiry into grooming gangs in Oldham. This city near to Manchester in northern England was one of the main loci of the systematic abuse over a prolonged period of young white girls.
On learning of Phillips' rejection of an inquiry, Elon Musk, who is as much of a lightning rod for issues as is President Trump, decried the government's inaction, and attacked Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer into the bargain. Starmer was the director of public prosecutions between 2008-2013 and there is no doubt the grooming gangs issue would have crossed his desk. He didn't do anything about it then, was Musk's contention, and he wouldn't do anything about it now, up to and including the prevention of a thorough investigation into one of Britain's vilest episodes.
Musk calls for Tommy Robinson's release, amid YouTube crackdown on disseminating Peterson interview
The new co-head of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency was not finished with his tirade against the British establishment. Musk liked a post from Rebel News' Avi Yemini, who called Tommy Robinson a "political prisoner."
He also called for the prosecution of politicians or those in law enforcement who helped cover up decades of abuse.
Robinson was one of those people who most vociferously called out the evil which was the grooming gangs, and he has paid for this truth-telling with his liberty. This particular aspect took another turn as Jordan Peterson, who interviewed Robinson twice, attempted to repost the first time he did so on YouTube, found the Google-owned video platform had shadow-banned it. Peterson's daughter, Mikhaila, also took to X to say she'd tried to share her father's first interview with Robinson, only to find YouTube had disabled sharing and comments. "YouTube," she wrote, "you realize you're on the side of the rapists, right?"
The fallout did not end there, as social media has been on fire all day covering and responding to the grooming gangs story. GB News presenter Matt Goodwin posted on X saying he couldn't read some of what he'd posted on air "because it was too graphic." A former prosecutor within the Crown Prosecution Service, who worked under Starmer, made an astonishing admission. "Let me clarify an issue," he posted on X.
"I was told by some officers that Home Office circular 17/2008 had led others interpreting it as permitting them to allow a child, past the age of puberty, to continue engaging in sexual activity where the officer perceived them to understand the dangers."
As if the facts of these cases could not get worse, some fathers who managed to track down their daughters to these rape dens in an attempt to rescue them, not only found the police would not help them, but in at least two instances they were themselves arrested!
It isn't clear what will happen now, not just to Tommy Robinson, but to the U.K. too. The government is wildly unpopular, not just because of the grooming gang issue, which has been at least in the background for successive governments of all colors, but the issue is clearly coming to a head.
People in the U.K. will continue to lose trust in Starmer, with Musk's intervention in the long-running grooming gang scandal coming but a few short months after he baldly lied to the British people about the background of the attacker in Southport, who left three little girls dead after going on a demented stabbing spree at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party. The political and cultural elites have gaslit the British working class for decades, labeling them as far-Right thugs; with regard to the grooming gangs, perhaps they were on to something.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The well-known critics of all things religious, especially anything connected to Christianity, at the Freedom from Religion Foundation now are being accused of adopting the very ideology the group was created to fight.
It is because the organization censored from its website an article from Jerry Coyne, professor emeritus of ecology in Chicago, an atheist and a board member.
Coyne wrote "Biology is not bigotry" to critique an early column promoting transgenderism.
Coyne's response was to point out to the FFRF, "The gender ideology which caused you take down my article is itself quasi-religious, having many aspects of religious and cults, including dogma, blasphemy, belief in what is palpably untrue ('a women is whoever she says she is'), apostasy, and a tendence to ignore science when it contradicts a preferred ideology."
Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University, has written about such contradictions in his book, "The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage."
And he said the censorship agenda at the FFRF came from "transgender activists" over Coyne's simple explanation that human sex is "binary" and his work to separate the science from the "politics" of the transgender ideology, which has been promoted widely by Joe Biden.
His criticisms took aim at Kat Grant's earlier claim that "A woman is whoever she says she is."
Turley explained, "Coyne offered a view shared by many that '[i]n biology … a woman can be simply defined in four words: 'An adult human female.'…Because some nonbinary people — or men who identify as women ('transwomen') — feel that their identity is not adequately recognized by biology, they choose to impose ideology onto biology and concoct a new definition of 'woman." While Coyne supports equal rights for transgender people, he argued that, as a scientist, 'feelings don't create reality.'"
One result was the resignations of biologist Richard Dawkins and Harvard Professor Steven Pinker in support of Coyne, Turley noted.
Even so, FFRF "caved into the pressure" and removed Coyne's comments.
The essay now is appearing on "Reality's Last Stand."
In Pinker's resignation note, he charged, the foundation "is no longer a defender of freedom from religion but the imposer of a new religion, complete with dogma, blasphemy, and heretics."
Turley wrote, "The intolerance for opposing views is so great that the FFRF is willing to engage in atheist orthodoxy, which not long ago would have been viewed as a contradiction in terms. It is a disgraceful position for a group that once defended those banned or canceled for their views. It is a moment that reminds one of what Robert Oppenheimer said about physicists, but it is particularly poignant for these atheists who have joined a mob to silence: they 'have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.'"
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Joe Biden called a briefing he gave to the nation about terrorist attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas as "this damn thing" and fretted about missing the kickoff to the Sugar Bowl:
"The Sugar Bowl is back on. Kick off is going to take off very shortly. If I don't get this damn thing done we're gonna be in real trouble," he said. And he checked his watch.
On X, Libs of TikTok said, "He's annoyed he has to update the country on a t*rrorist attack because he wants to watch football. Sick."
Other commenters: "no way this is real! What is wrong with this man?"
"He's disgraceful."
"It's always about him."
And, "Oh, those pesky presidential duties … always so inconvenient."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A politician who was punished by her own political party for stating a scientific fact now is suing for damages.
A report in the Times reveals Natalie Bird is seeking £90,000 in damages from her own Liberal Democrats political coalition in the United Kingdom after officials punished her – by banning her from standing for office in 2029 – and calling her a "bigot."
Her offense was to wear a shirt with the slogan: "Woman: adult human female."
The report explained, "Natalie Bird has told a judge that activist members of Sir Ed Davey's party targeted her because she expressed the gender-critical view that men cannot transition to become women."
The single mother had been a candidate to represent Wakefield, and chose to pursue "safe spaces for vulnerable women" because of her own experiences with domestic abuse.
The name-calling erupted after she wore the shirt, and included a description of her as a "trans-exclusionary radical feminist," and the party suspended her and then barred her from seeking election.
The report said, "Representatives of the party 'conceded the claim' this year."
But it's back in court as Bird seeks damages for "injury to feelings" because the party breached her membership contract and her rights.
Her lawyer said in the report she had been further attacked with "silencing, intimidating and bullying" because of her beliefs.
Those beliefs, the court case argues, are protected under the nation's Equality Act 2010.
"Bird told the judge, Karen Walden-Smith, that she was removed as a prospective parliamentary candidate in 2019 and banned from standing for 10 years. Two senior Liberal Democrats have already admitted the party's culpability and the amount of damages to be paid to Bird are being assessed," the report said.
The party is accused of demonstrating "a pattern of behavior" of intentional shunning of Bird "for holding a view which she has every right to hold."
The Christian Institute said Bird had been threatened by the party with exclusion if she "did not agree that 'trans women are women,'" a popular catch phrase for those who support men calling themselves women if they choose.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Pretty soon it's "President Trump" again. Not former president. Not president-elect. When Donald Trump repeats the oath on Jan. 20, he's back in office. Celebration time.
We'll have a man in the White House who plugs the border, tames inflation, keeps men out of women's sports, discolors the green new scam, drills baby drills, jettisons the Education Department to the states and cuts spending like a DOGE.
That's on the home front. This is the America First president, after all.
Still, the commander in chief oversees plenty on the globe. And this is where President Trump will especially buttress his bio while lasting as long as Jimmy Carter.
Call it the Art of the Real. DJT's common sense and force of nature will spell peace on Earth. Let's go through the map:
Korea. Free and red Korea are still technically at war. Fighting ended in 1953, but only with an armistice. It's not a peace treaty.
It sure will be when President Trump steps across the 38th parallel again and shakes hands with Kim Jong-un, this time with real results. Their 2018 and 2019 meetings were warmups to cold, hard negotiations to convince Little Rocket Man the good life comes from ditching nukes and building beachfront property.
Can the 47th president engineer a One Korea? Yes. Even John Bolton wrote in the Washington Times in 2017 before he joined the Trump administration and subsequently turned on his former boss, "The Korean Peninsula will be reunified. Its division in 1945 was purely expedient, intended to be temporary, and just as unnatural as Germany's contemporaneous partition. The only questions are when and how Korean reunification will occur. China, through its massive economic power over North Korea, could itself quickly remove any Pyongyang regime."
There you have it. The key is Xi. Use Mr. Trump's favorite word, tariffs, to pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping into helping make Korea great again.
Seems impossible? So it was with Germany by the late 1980s. No one saw the commie East capitulating.
Well, almost no one. President Ronald Reagan sure did in 1987 when he pushed USSR boss Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." And plenty of Germans hoped the Soviet would.
But having lived in Germany back then, I know the man in the street didn't think the Berlin Wall was falling in his lifetime. Yet it did with a thud two years after Reagan's exhortation.
So it is with Korea. Most people figure North is red, and South is fed, and never the twain shall meet.
Yet if the Germans could do it, so can the Koreans. They need a Trump Thrust and Xi Charge to remake that land across the Yalu River into One Korea.
It'll be President Trump's grandest deal.
Ukraine. Peace between Zelenskyy and Putin requires the Trump Touch. He'll put the belligerents on speakerphone and tell them to quit the nonsense. America's upcoming oil dominance will give DJT the requisite ammo to stop the fighting on the eastern front. Best of all for Americans: no more $50 billion checks going down that Ukraine rat hole.
Israel. Simple equation for 47. He'll revert to shutting the cash spigot to Arab terrorists, namely Hamas. As for the big bully brother, Iran can forget slurping oil millions. As he did in his first term, the Donald will halt any energy dealings with the Persians. No money equals no guns, no missiles, no posters screaming death to America/Israel. When the fighting ends, the Abraham Accords shift into higher gear.
Mexico. Our southern sister is crucial in DJT's aim to Make America Great Again. If the Mexicans stop millions from around the world in their tracks, happy days are here again. The invasion ends. The ouster starts. Message to migrants: This isn't home. It's Homan, ready to boot you. Our schools and hospitals will have enough room to properly teach and care for Americans. The budget bust caused by the illegal throngs will come to a screeching halt. ISIS skirting the border door will become WASWAS.
On Inauguration Day, this all starts. President Trump's America atop the world.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President-elect Donald Trump unleashed on what he considers the failed Democrat leadership in America under Joe Biden, following two terror attacks on America on New Year's Day.
In the first, a man drove a truck through the Bourbon Street crowd in New Orleans, killing 15 and injuring dozens more. The second was an exploding truck outside a Trump building in Las Vegas, in which the perpetrator died and other people were injured.
On Truth Social, Trump wrote, "Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World! This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership.
"The DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job. They are incompetent and corrupt, having spent all of their waking hours unlawfully attacking their political opponent, ME, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside violent SCUM that has infiltrated all aspects of our government, and our Nation itself.
"Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to our Country. The CIA must get involved, NOW, before it is too late. The USA is breaking down – A violent erosion of Safety, National Security, and Democracy is taking place all across our Nation."
He said, "'Only strength and powerful leadership will stop it. See you on January 20th. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
The New York Post described his comments as "a fiery social media post."
Police are investigating the two terror attacks for possible links, as both trucks were rented through Turo, and both were EVs.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said, "Do I think it's a coincidence? I don't know. We're absolutely looking into any connections to New Orleans."
The Daily Mail explained Turo issued a statement expressing the company's "heartbreak" at the violence and a promise to work with law enforcement to investigate.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The New Orleans terrorist, Shamsud Din Jabbar, being blamed now for the deaths of 15 and injuries to dozens after he drove a truck through the crowded streets of New Orleans early New Year's Day, had wanted to harm his family too.
But he backed off because he was concerned that the horror over that news would overshadow what he called the "war between believers & disbelievers."
Evidence is showing that the onetime soldier was radicalized into Islam, and was taking the Quran's instructions to destroy those who don't follow Islam's ideologies literally.
Authorities now are confirming that Jabbar, who was shot and killed when he got out of the truck and started shooting at police and others, left multiple videos online in the hours before his murderous spree.
Reports said he posted five videos proclaiming his support for the terrorists of ISIS.
They also report he joined ISIS last year, provided a will and testimony, and more.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief
Was Syria's former president Assad the victim of an attempted poisoning?
The U.K.'s Sun newspaper published an unverified report that Syria's former dictator Bashar al-Assad, who sought refuge in Moscow following his ouster from Damascus in early December, was the victim of an attempted poisoning.
Online account General SVR — supposedly run by a former top spy in Russia – says he was taken ill on Sunday.
It claims Assad, 59, asked for medical help then almost immediately began to "cough violently and choke."
The source said: "There is every reason to believe an assassination attempt was made." Assad was said to have been treated in his apartment and his condition supposedly stabilized on Monday.
The story is intriguing as there are competing narratives over who might have carried this alleged attack out. The Sun implied Assad's wife, Asma, who has reportedly filed for divorce from the deposed tyrant, could be behind it. Other possibilities include his Russian hosts – by no means averse to using poisoning to get rid of political opponents or inconvenient individuals – becoming potentially embarrassed by his presence. Perhaps a more far-fetched idea is it was done by a Syrian national, who somehow managed to be in close enough proximity to him to carry it out.
Hundreds call for intifada in Times Square demo
On the same day a disciple of the Islamic State tore over pedestrians on a New Orleans street, hundreds of pro-Hamas, anti-Israel Islamists – and their useful idiot followers – gathered in New York's Times Square to call for "intifada."
The protest – organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the People's Forum – was led in a chant of "There is only one solution: Intifada revolution," according to the Jewish News Syndicate.
Videos posted online captured a keffiyeh-clad woman shouting racial and antisemitic slurs at counter-demonstrators, including at a black woman in the small pro-Israel gathering.
"Palestine will be free and f**k you all and we are sending you back to Europe, you white b*tches. Go back to Europe! Back to where you came from. Germany is your homeland," the keffiyeh-clad woman shouted.
Hamas police chief and his deputy said killed in IDF strike on Gaza humanitarian zone
The Israel Air Force overnight Thursday eliminated Hamas Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Salah, director general of the police in the Gaza Strip, and his deputy, Brig. Gen. Hussam Mustafa Shawan "Abu Shurooq," reported the Jewish Press.
Eleven were killed and 12 injured in the bombing attack in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
In a separate statement, the Hamas-run interior ministry condemned the killing of the two police officers, saying "they were performing their humanitarian and national duty in serving our people."
The Hamas-run police force is used to enforce strict discipline among the Gazan civilian population. There have been complaints about Hamas taking over supply convoys and brutally abusing anyone suspected of stealing the free goods distributed by international agencies and subsequently sold by the terrorist group.
Israeli victims of New Orleans terrorist remain in hospital
Two Israeli nationals remain hospitalized and on ventilators following a deadly ramming and shooting attack in New Orleans' French Quarter early New Year's Day, Elad Shoshan, Israel's consul to the U.S. Southwest and deputy consul general, told Ynet on Thursday.
One victim is stable and not in life-threatening condition, while the other is in moderate to serious condition. Both remain unable to communicate. "We hope to speak with them tomorrow," Shoshan said.
Capture of Hamas documents show terrorist organization's tactical depth, deficiencies in Israeli intelligence
Prior to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on southern Israel, which have had the unintended consequence of upending the Middle Eastern order, the terrorist group reportedly spent up to seven years collecting intricate intelligence details ahead of its offensive.
Israel's Channel 12 News exposed documents that were found during the ground operation that showed years of effort on Hamas' part to gather intelligence about border towns and villages in Israel, including the movements and habits of leading local figures and security officers. Through meticulous information-gathering, Hamas was not only able to execute a surprise offensive but a precise one, reported The Media Line.
According to the Channel 12 News report, documents and sensitive information were collected for years. Hamas hacked surveillance cameras throughout southern Israel, and the organization managed to infiltrate sensitive systems, allowing them to diligently monitor the movements of critical security figures in the border area.
"Hamas did an excellent job using OSINT (open-source intelligence) and gained access to CCTV cameras, which are so prevalent today," said Prof. Kobi Michael, a researcher at the Institute of National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy,. "Together, this was an endless source of intelligence."
Palestinian Authority kicks out Al Jazeera for fomenting unrest in Judea and Samaria
The Palestinian Ministerial Committee, comprising representatives from the Ministries of Culture, Interior, and Telecommunications, on Wednesday announced the suspension of the broadcast operations of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera Media Network in the PA, the Jewish Press reported.
The committee also ordered the temporary suspension of work by all journalists, staff, and associated channels affiliated with Al Jazeera.
On May 4, 2024, the Israeli government shut down Al Jazeera's operations in Israel and authorized the confiscation of its equipment. This action followed the passage of a new law granting the prime minister and communications minister the power to temporarily close foreign media outlets on national security grounds. Later, on Sept. 22, 2024, Israeli military authorities shut down Al Jazeera's bureau in Ramallah. In response, the Foreign Press Association's Board of Directors stated, "Restricting foreign reporters and closing news channels signals a shift away from democratic values."
High-ranking Syrian delegation visits Saudi Arabia as part of charm offensive
The new Syrian government continued its push for acceptance and legitimacy via meetings with top level diplomats from European countries, as well as the United States and Arab states, as was highlighted on Wednesday by the arrival of a high-ranking delegation to Saudi Arabia, reported Israel National News.
Syria's new Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shibani, expressed optimism about fostering stronger ties with Saudi Arabia during his visit to the kingdom on Wednesday, which marked the first foreign trip by Syria's new leadership following their rise to power last month, AFP reported.
"I have just arrived in the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, accompanied by the Minister of Defense Murhaf Abu Qasra and the Head of the General Intelligence Service Anas Khattab," al-Shibani said in a statement on X.
Last month, a Saudi delegation met with Syria's new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus, according to a source close to the Saudi government.
Is Hamas regrouping in the Gaza Strip?
Hamas is making a substantial comeback by recruiting new forces, Channel 12 reported and The Jerusalem Post confirmed on Wednesday night.
Combined with forces from Palestinian Islamic Jihad together, Channel 12 said on Wednesday night that Hamas was up to between 20,000-23,000 fighters.
Information obtained by the Post indicated that recently, numbers were closer to around 12,000.
Over the last 15 months, there has been a gulf of a few thousand between the IDF and Netanyahu, casting doubt on the estimates.
In June, the IDF said that between 14,000-16,000 Hamas fighters had been wounded.
Elon Musk raises issue of U.K. grooming gangs, demands Tommy Robinson's release after Labour MP shuts down call for public inquiry
Elon Musk has turned up the temperature on an explosive row over grooming gangs after GB News revealed that Labour's Jess Phillips had shut down calls for a public inquiry into the scandal.
GB News exclusively revealed the Government had formally rejected repeated requests for a Home Office-led inquiry into historic child abuse in Oldham – sparking uproar on social media.
The Home Office had stressed the need to "learn from past mistakes and do everything possible to prevent future failures."
But in a domestic political row which has now gone international, Musk made the incendiary claim that the Birmingham Yardley MP should be imprisoned.
IDF suicide rate climbs after nearly 15 months of war
The IDF announced Thursday that 891 soldiers have been killed since the Hamas-led assault on October 7, 2023, marking one of the deadliest conflicts in Israel's history. The toll includes deaths from combat, accidents and suspected suicides and is the largest number since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Of the 891 fatalities, 528 occurred in 2023, with 512 attributed to operational activity. Most deaths happened around October 7, when 329 soldiers were killed, including local rapid-response teams, reported Ynet. Another 226 deaths were recorded in 2024.
Suicide cases have also surged, with 17 suspected cases in 2023–seven conscripts, four career soldiers and six reservists –compared to 14 in 2022. In 2024, suicides increased to 21 cases, including seven conscripts, two career soldiers and 12 reservists, all men.
Former defense minister Gallant resigns from Knesset, decries upcoming bill to exempt ultra-Orthodox from IDF service
Less than two months after being dismissed as defense minister, MK Yoav Gallant resigned from the Knesset on Wednesday evening, attacking the current government for undermining the security of the country even while insisting he would remain a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling Likud party, reported the Times of Israel.
In an announcement carried live on Israeli television, the senior Likud lawmaker recalled his decades of military and political service and took credit for destroying Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran's military capabilities – while also stating that he takes responsibility, as the former defense minister, for the lead up to the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault and the current war.
Gallant noted that he had spent "35 years in the Israel Defense Forces, a decade as a member of Knesset and minister in Israeli governments, including two dramatic years as defense minister."
Erdogan's son says 'Gaza will win' at Istanbul rally drawing tens of thousands
"Gaza will emerge victorious," the son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told tens of thousands of attendees at an anti-Israel rally in Istanbul on Wednesday.
Businessman Bilal Erdoğan, 43, said in his speech on Istanbul's Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn: "Muslims in Syria were determined, patient, and they achieved victory. After Syria, Gaza will emerge victoriously from the siege."
Demonstrators waved Turkish and PLO flags and chanted "Free Palestine" at the rally organized by the National Will Platform, a coalition of more than 300 pro-Palestinian and Islamic groups.
In July, Turkish President Erdoğan threatened to invade Israel. "We must be very strong so that Israel can't do these things to Palestine. Just as we entered Karabakh, just as we entered Libya, we might do the same to them. There is nothing we cannot do," he said.
Iran to renew nuclear talks with European powers
Britain, France, and Germany will begin a new round of talks with Iran over its nuclear program in Geneva on January 13, Iranian foreign ministry announced on Tuesday, according to Iran International.
The announced date is a week before Donald Trump's inauguration and may be viewed by both sides as the final opportunity for a breakthrough before U.S. policy hardens.
Trump is expected to resume his first term strategy of Maximum Pressure upon returning to the White House on January 20.
Meanwhile, Iran has agreed to stricter monitoring by the U.N. nuclear agency at its Fordow site after significantly accelerating uranium enrichment to near weapons-grade levels, the watchdog stated in a report seen by Reuters.
Ireland's top Catholic cleric attacks Israel for 'merciless, disproportionate' Gaza war
Ireland's most senior Catholic figure has lambasted Israel's military campaign in Gaza as "merciless" and a "disproportionate" response to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas's invasion of the Jewish state last Oct. 7, according to the Algemeiner.
The New Year's message by Archbishop Eamon Martin came amid deteriorating relations between Israel and Ireland, the latter of which has been accused of normalizing antisemitism in daily life.
"In the past 15 months, for example, we have witnessed not only the egregious 7th October 2023 terror attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Israel, including the taking of hostages — 100 of whom are still held captive in Gaza — but we have also seen a merciless and disproportionate response by Israel," Martin said in his remarks.
Martin — the Archbishop of Armagh who has been Primate of All Ireland since 2014 — then cited casualty figures provided by Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry, which according to recent analyses have been inflated to defame Israel and support claims of genocide, to support his argument.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Joe Biden has used the power of the president's office in America to pardon his son Hunter for crimes committed over a 10-year period, right after promising repeatedly he would not do that.
The move gave Hunter a free pass on his tax and gun felony convictions. And there are reports – and speculation – about how Biden yet will provide pardons to other family members and friends to protect them from possible charges for their various schemes once President-elect Donald Trump takes over the White House.
And now there are honors for friends of Biden who may or may not also ultimately be recipients of pardons.
And for one of those decisions, Biden is getting excoriated.
It was his decision to give Liz Cheney a Presidential Citizen medal even though there are those in Trump's incoming administration and high up in Congress, as well as a majority of Americans, who suggest she should be investigated by the FBI for possible criminal charges.
The Daily Mail reported Cheney, who represented Wyoming in Congress until she turned on Trump during his first term and her voters promptly gave her primary opponent a landslip victory, is among 20 picked by Biden to be given the special honor.
Cheney, along with the other leader of the anti-Trump January 6 investigation committee, set up in a partisan fashion then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Bennie Thompson are being honored for their "investigation" of those events.
The committee was partisan as Pelosi refused to let Republicans nominate their own members for the commission, instead picking two radically anti-Trump members of the party.
Then the committee staged televised events and issued reports that suppressed information exonerating Trump, and tried to make it look as though he was responsible for the violence, despite his urging supporters to protest "peacefully."
In fact, Democrats at that time refused Trump's suggestion for more National Guard troops to be on hand, and Pelosi later admitted in a video that was released that Democrats bore much of the responsibility for that day.
Biden's decision to honor Cheney was "pathetic," according to senior Trump adviser Jason Miller.
"With attacks happening in the United States and around the world, THIS is how Biden is spending his time today?" Miller wrote on X. He cited the two terror attacks on America on New Year's Day, which together left 16 dead and dozens injured.
And Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said, "President Biden was either going to pardon Liz Cheney or give her an award. She doesn't deserve either. She represents partisanship and divisiveness – not Wyoming."
The report said other recipients will include those to lobbied for Biden's far-left social agenda on LGBT and abortion issues.
Trump has called for Cheney and the other eight committee members to be jailed for their political antics in "investigating" the Jan. 6 events.
In fact, members of Congress also have called for Cheney to be investigated on claims she tampered with one of the committee witnesses who suddenly changed her testimony to try to damage Trump, testimony that subsequently was debunked by the Secret Service.
Those committee members also have been accused of destroying evidence about events that day.