PM Modi launches ‘Mission Mausam’, stresses need for advanced earthquake warning systems
Addressing a function to celebrate 150 years of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), PM Modi also launched ‘Mission Mausam’ for developing cutting-edge weather surveillance technologies and systems.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat makes BIG statement, says Bharat got ‘true independence’ on Ram temple consecration day
This movement was started to awaken the “self” (swa) of Bharat so that the country could stand on its own feet and show the path to the world, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief said.
TikTok says reports of potential sale to Elon Musk are ‘pure fiction’
Video-sharing platform dismisses reports that the Chinese government is considering its sale to Tesla and SpaceX CEO. TikTok has dismissed as “pure fiction” reports claiming that the Chinese government is considering allowing the sale of the platform to Elon Musk so it can continue operating in the United States. Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Chinese officials have discussed allowing the sale to the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to avoid a ban scheduled to take effect on Sunday unless China-based owner ByteDance sells off TikTok’s US operations. While Beijing officials would “strongly prefer” that TikTok remains under the control of Beijing-based ByteDance, senior Chinese officials have begun to debate “contingency plans”, Bloomberg said. Beijing has not communicated its contingency plans to ByteDance, The Wall Street Journal reported citing unnamed people familiar with the discussions. The Bloomberg report, which also cited unnamed people familiar with the matter, said one scenario being discussed would involve TikTok being combined into Musk’s social media platform X. Bloomberg said it was not clear how Musk, the world’s richest person with an estimated net worth of more than $400bn, would carry out the transaction or if he would need to sell some of his other assets to complete any sale. Advertisement Responding to the reports on Tuesday, a TikTok spokesperson told Al Jazeera: “We cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction.” The US Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of the looming ban after TikTok filed a legal challenge against the related Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. During oral arguments on Friday, the court appeared to be inclined towards upholding the ban, with a majority of judges seeming unconvinced by TikTok’s argument that forcing a sale would be a violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which upholds free speech. Outgoing President Joe Biden signed the TikTok bill in April amid bipartisan concerns about alleged national security risks. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have expressed concern that the platform could be used to hoover up Americans’ personal data and manipulate the public discourse. President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to be inaugurated on January 20, pledged to “save” the platform during his presidential campaign, a reversal from his attempt to ban the app during his first term in office. Adblock test (Why?)
Sierra Leone declares emergency over mpox outbreak
The West African country has confirmed two cases of mpox in recent days. Sierra Leone has declared a public health emergency after two cases of mpox were reported. The West African country’s health minister announced the move on Monday after the second case of the deadly viral disease was confirmed. “The confirmation of two cases of mpox in the country has prompted immediate action as mandated by the Public Health Act,” Health Minister Austin Demby told reporters in the capital, Freetown. “On behalf of the government of Sierra Leone, I am declaring a public health emergency.” Last week, Sierra Leone reported its first confirmed case of mpox since the African Union’s health watchdog declared a public health emergency over the growing mpox outbreak on the continent last year. A second case was confirmed after a 21-year-old man showed symptoms on January 6, the National Public Health Agency said on social media. Neither case had known recent contact with infected animals or other sick individuals, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation said. Only the first case involved recent travel, limited to the airport town of Lungi in the northern Port Loko District between December 26 and January 6. Both patients are receiving treatment at a hospital in Freetown. Advertisement The public health emergency “allows us to act immediately to mobilise the resources needed to contain the disease, prevent further spread and provide care to those affected”, the minister said. Demby also announced increased border surveillance and testing, as well as the launch of a national awareness campaign. He added that Sierra Leone’s medical system was ready to respond to cases, pointing to experience gained during the Ebola and COVID-19 outbreaks. “We urge all citizens to remain calm, stay informed and report any suspected cases promptly to healthcare authorities,” Demby said. Mpox is caused by a virus from the same family as smallpox, manifesting in a high fever and skin lesions, called vesicles. Also known as monkeypox, it was first identified by scientists in 1958 when outbreaks of a “pox-like” disease in monkeys occurred. Until recently, most human cases were seen in people in Central and West Africa who had close contact with infected animals. In 2022, the virus was confirmed for the first time to spread via sex, as outbreaks were triggered in more than 70 countries across the world that had not reported mpox previously. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has borne the brunt of the epidemic, with a vast majority of the roughly 43,000 suspected cases and 1,000 deaths in Africa this year. A decade ago, Sierra Leone was the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak that ravaged West Africa in an epidemic killing some 4,000 people, including nearly 7 percent of the country’s health workers, between 2014 and 2016. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Firefighter village sprouts on Malibu beach
A huge village has sprung up on the golden sands of a beach in Malibu, housing thousands of firefighters. Firefighters from all over North America eat, sleep and recuperate on Zuma Beach when they aren’t battling the wildfires across Los Angeles. About 5,000 first responders mingle among the trailers and tents. The camp comes to life before dawn, as thousands line up for breakfast. The standards of dozens of firefighting battalions mark the presence of crews from across California and the western United States, as well as a contingent of newly arrived Mexicans. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for many, a chance to load up on calories before their shift. The food is prepared by a team of inmates from California’s prisons, brought in to help in one of the biggest disaster responses the state has ever seen. Correctional Officer Terry Cook, who supervises inmates at the base, said he occasionally sees a familiar face among the regular firefighters, someone who got themselves back on the straight and narrow after serving their sentence. Advertisement “I’ve run into inmates that were at my camp two years ago, and I see them in line here, and I shake their hands, and I say ‘congratulations,’” he said. Two huge fires in Los Angeles have scorched 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) since erupting in fierce winds last Tuesday. At least 24 people have died in the blazes, which have destroyed more than 12,000 structures and forced 92,000 people from their homes, including the well-to-do Pacific Palisades, just a few miles from the firefighters’ camp. After breakfast, teams prepare their vehicles and arm themselves with snacks, sandwiches, drinks and sweets. With the threat of dangerous winds across a swath of the region, some units are charged with pouncing on new outbreaks, while others are tasked with tamping down the original blaze. Orders in hand, each team sets off, fanning out along streets into Pacific Palisades, or up into the untamed brush of Topanga Canyon. For some, it is their first time in the field as part of this firefighting effort; for others, it is one more day in an already long week. As he readies to climb into Mandeville Canyon, Jake Dean says he has never seen a fire as destructive as this in his 26 years as a firefighter. “After the first day, many people that I’ve known for a long time in base camp barely recognised me,” he said. “My phone didn’t recognise me to turn on, I was so tired and dirty.” But with huge air operations eating into the fire on all fronts, Dean can feel the work paying dividends. “Today will be not so bad,” he said. “We’ll pace ourselves and drink lots of water and be ready for a long haul of work here and the next fire.” Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Like Mahakumbh Mela in Prayagraj, devotees also throng THIS shrine in South India, know reason, significance, rituals
This festival serves not only as a sacred occasion for worship but also as a time for spiritual awakening, as devotees undergo a series of rigorous rituals and austerities in preparation for the day.
DOJ releases Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on investigation into Trump election interference case
The Justice Department made public Volume I of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his now-closed investigations into President-elect Donald Trump, days before he is set to be sworn into office. Attorney General Merrick Garland released the first volume, which focuses on the election case against Trump, of Smith’s report on Tuesday at midnight after back-and-forth in the federal court system. An opening letter from Smith to Garland said that it is “laughable” that Trump believes the Biden administration, or other political actors, influenced or directed his decisions as a prosecutor, stating that he was guided by the Principles of Federal Prosecution. “Trump’s cases represented ones ‘in which the offense [was] the most flagrant, the public harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain,’” Smith said, referencing the principles. FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH FROM RELEASING FINAL REPORT In the lengthy report, Smith said his office fully stands behind the decision to bring criminal charges against Trump because he “resorted to a series of criminal efforts to retain power” after he lost the 2020 election. Smith said in his conclusion that the parties were determining whether any material in the “superseding indictment was subject to presidential immunity” when it became clear that Trump had won the 2024 election. The department then determined the case must be dismissed before he takes office because of how it interprets the Constitution. “The Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind,” the report stated. In an early Tuesday morning post on Truth Social, Trump called Smith “desperate” and “deranged” for releasing his “fake findings” in the middle of the night. APPEALS COURT WILL NOT BLOCK PARTIAL RELEASE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S TRUMP REPORT Garland appointed former Justice Department official Jack Smith as special counsel in November 2022. Smith, a former assistant U.S. attorney and chief to the DOJ’s public integrity section, led the investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving the White House and whether the former president obstructed the federal government’s investigation into the matter. Smith was also tasked with overseeing the investigation into whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021. Smith charged Trump in both cases, but Trump pleaded not guilty. FLASHBACK: ATTORNEY GENERAL GARLAND NAMES SPECIAL COUNSEL TO INVESTIGATE TRUMP ON MAR-A-LAGO DOCUMENTS, JAN. 6 The classified records case was dismissed in July 2024 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Smith charged Trump in the U.S. District Court for Washington D.C. in his 2020 election case, but after Trump was elected president, Smith sought to dismiss the case. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted that request. FLASHBACK: TRUMP SAYS HE ‘WON’T PARTAKE’ IN SPECIAL COUNSEL INVESTIGATION, SLAMS AS ‘WORST POLITICIZATION OF JUSTICE’ This month, though, Cannon temporarily blocked the release of Smith’s final report. A federal appeals court reversed her ruling, allowing the Justice Department to make Smith’s report public. In the classified records probe, Smith charged Trump with 37 federal counts including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements. Trump pleaded not guilty. FLASHBACK: FBI SAID IT HAD ‘PROBABLE CAUSE’ TO BELIEVE ADDITIONAL CLASSIFIED DOCS REMAINED AT MAR-A-LAGO, AFFIDAVIT SAYS Trump was also charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment out of the investigation: an additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts. In the 2020 election case, Smith charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; violation of an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. Trump pleaded not guilty. The cases brought by Smith against Trump never made it to trial in either jurisdiction. Despite efforts by Trump attorneys to prevent the report’s release, Attorney General Merrick Garland had maintained that he would make at least one volume of Smith’s report public. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Republic Day 2025: Is it 76th or 77th Republic Day? Know here
The Republic Day parade will cover the distance from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate and will showcase various contingents from the Indian Armed Forces and paramilitary forces.
Weiss Report: Hunter’s drug use can’t explain away not paying taxes on money earned by ‘last name’
Special Counsel David Weiss’ final report on his years-long investigation into Hunter Biden determined the first son’s drug abuse could not explain away not paying taxes on millions of dollars of income earned off of his “last name and connections.” “As a well-educated lawyer and businessman, Mr. Biden consciously and willfully chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over a four-year period. From 2016 to 2020, Mr. Biden received more than $7 million in total gross income, including approximately $1.5 million in 2016, $2.3 million in 2017, $2.1 million in 2018, $1 million in 2019 and $188,000 from January through October 15, 2020,” Weiss wrote in his final report, which was released Monday. “Mr. Biden made this money by using his last name and connections to secure lucrative business opportunities, such as a board seat at a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate, Burisma Holdings Limited, and a joint venture with individuals associated with a Chinese energy conglomerate. He negotiated and executed contracts and agreements that paid him millions of dollars for limited work,” Weiss continued. Hunter Biden, 54, had a busy year in court last year, when he was convicted of two separate federal cases prosecuted by Weiss. He kicked off his first trial in Delaware in June, when he faced three felony firearm offenses involving his drug use, before pleading guilty in a separate felony tax case in September. DOJ RELEASES SPECIAL COUNSEL DAVID WEISS’ REPORT ON HUNTER BIDEN Hunter Biden’s September trial revolved around charges of three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court for the case, however, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea. Weiss continued in his report that Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” and that he “willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes.” Weiss added that the first son’s previous drug abuse could not explain his failure to pay the taxes. HUNTER BIDEN: A LOOK AT HOW THE SAGA SPANNING OVER SIX YEARS UNFOLDED “These are not ‘inconsequential’ or ‘technical’ tax code violations,” Weiss wrote. “Nor can Mr. Biden’s conduct be explained away by his drug use-most glaringly, Mr. Biden filed his false 2018 return, in which he deliberately underreported his income to lower his tax liability, in February 2020, approximately eight months after he had regained his sobriety. Therefore, the prosecution of Mr. Biden was warranted given the nature and seriousness of his tax crimes.” Hunter has a well-documented history of drug abuse, which was most notably documented in his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things.” The book walked readers through his previous addiction to crack cocaine, before getting sober in 2019. The memoir featured extensively in his separate firearms case in June, when a jury found him guilty of three felony charges related to his purchase of a gun while addicted to substances. BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE “The evidence demonstrated that as Mr. Biden held high-paying positions earning him millions of dollars, he chose to keep funding his extravagant lifestyle instead of paying his taxes. He then chose to lie to his accountants in claiming false business deductions when, in fact, he knew they were personal expenses. He did this on his own, and his tax return preparers relied on him, because, among other reasons, only he understood the true nature of his deductions and he failed to give them records that might have revealed that the deductions were bogus,” Weiss continued. The tax case charges carried up to 17 years behind bars, but the first son would likely have faced a much shorter sentence under federal sentencing guidelines. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16, but he was pardoned by his father, President Biden, earlier that month. BIDEN WON’T PARDON HUNTER, WHITE HOUSE REAFFIRMS, BUT CRITICS AREN’T SO SURE Hunter Biden’s blanket pardon encompassed a decade-period applying to any offenses he “has committed or may have committed” on a federal level. Weiss’ report also took issue with the president’s pardoning of Hunter Biden, specifically with how President Biden characterized prosecutions of Hunter Biden as “selective” and “unfair.” HUNTER BIDEN FOUND GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS IN GUN TRIAL “This statement is gratuitous and wrong,” Weiss wrote in his report. “Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations.” “Politicians who attack the decisions of career prosecutors as politically motivated when they disagree with the outcome of a case undermine the public’s confidence in our criminal justice system,” Weiss wrote in another section of the report. “The President’s statements unfairly impugn the integrity not only of Department of Justice personnel, but all of the public servants making these difficult decisions in good faith.” The DOJ sent Weiss’ report to Congress Monday evening, officially bringing the years-long investigation into the first son to a close. Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Sen. Liz Warren lays out more than 100 questions she wants Pete Hegseth to answer during confirmation hearing
Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Defense Secretary, laying out a bevy of accusations and about 100 questions that she expects him to answer at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, penned the 33-page letter last week to Hegseth. It describes why she thinks he is “unfit” to serve, referring to him at one point in the letter as “an insider threat” due to a tattoo Hegseth has that Warren claims is tied to “right-wing extremism.” “Your confirmation as Secretary of Defense would be detrimental to our national security and disrespect a diverse array of servicemembers who are willing to sacrifice for our country,” Warren writes in the letter. “I am deeply concerned by the many ways in which your behavior and rhetoric indicates that you are unfit to lead the Department of Defense.” ARE PETE HEGSETH’S TATTOOS SYMBOLS OF ‘CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM?’ The letter starts off with accusations against Hegseth that include claims of financial mismanagement during his work operating two nonprofits, and accusations of heavy drinking and sexual assault. The Massachusetts Democrat accused Hegseth of “gross mismanagement” in running up debt and using business funds at the nonprofits he ran for personal expenses. She cited past colleagues of Hegseth’s who claimed to be privy to what took place. Warren also claimed in her letter that some of Hegseth’s past colleagues had shared he may potentially have a drinking problem, citing “at least 11 separate incidents in which [Hegseth has] been described as drinking excessively or inappropriately in public.” Warren asks in the letter if Hegseth would resign if he were to be caught drinking again. NEW GOP SENATOR TEARS INTO DEMS ‘SEEKING TO DELAY’ PETE HEGSETH DOD CONFIRMATION Warren also went after Hegseth’s policy positions in the letter, several of which were made during media appearances and in books. Warren slammed Hegseth for previous comments about women in the military, including remarks he made that only men should be allowed in combat roles. Warren questioned Hegseth about other aspects of women in the military as well, including whether he thinks single women in the military should have access to birth control. Hegseth, an advocate for getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the military, was slammed by Warren in her letter for calling for the firing of “any general, admiral, whatever, that was involved in any of the DEI woke s–t,” during a podcast interview in November. Warren added that in addition to potentially firing Defense Department officials promoting DEI, she also detailed fears about Hegseth’s willingness to help aid Trump in going after his political opponents. In one of Warren’s questions, she requested that Hegseth share his thoughts on the 2020 election and whether he believes Trump won, or lost fairly. At one point in the letter, Warren highlighted that Hegseth had been removed from President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 because of concerns he was “an insider threat” following reports that his tattoo with the words “Deus Vult,” was allegedly a “Christian expression associated with right-wing extremism.” AMERICAN HEROES MAKE POWERFUL MOVE AHEAD OF HEARING FOR TRUMP’S PENTAGON PICK Other sections seek to harp on Hegseth’s alleged unwillingness to work with allies, including those within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Warren suggested Hegseth will not adequately support considering his “skepticism” over aiding Ukraine in its fight against Russia. Warren devoted an entire line of questioning to whether Hegseth will “undermine” veterans’ benefits, and questioned what Hegseth might do to the Department of Defense Education Activity, the part of the agency that educates troops’ children. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Trump Transition spokesperson Bran Hughes said that Hegseth “looks forward to answering Senators’ questions and detailing his many qualifications at his hearing tomorrow.” “Senator Warren’s letter to Pete Hegseth is exactly what the American voters rejected on November 5,” Hughes said. “Instead of focusing on ‘woke’ policies that have weakened our national defense, the voters gave a mandate to rebuild our military, and that’s exactly what a reform-minded Secretary of Defense like Pete Hegseth will do. Senator Warren’s letter proves why ideologically driven college professors have no place driving their social agenda at the Department of Defense.” Efforts to reach Warren for comment for purposes of this story were unsuccessful.