Dozens of Christians Slaughtered Christmas Day in Nigeria — and the Horror Doesn’t End There– www.cbn.com Source Link Excerpt:
More than a dozen Christians were reportedly killed by armed men on Dec. 22 after a Christmas carol service in Nigeria.
The horrific event — aimed at the predominately Christian Irigwe tribe — took place at the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), 22 miles from the Nigerian city of Jos.
Tragically, a 1-year-old baby named Sheba Ernest and a pregnant woman were among the 14 slain, according to persecution watchdog International Christian Concern (ICC).
REPORT: Pete Hegseth Has the Votes to Be Confirmed As Secretary of Defense!– wltreport.com Source Link Excerpt:
This just in: it’s looking like Pete Hegseth will be confirmed as President Trump’s Secretary of Defense!
According to several sources, John Thune has privately told President Trump that Pete Hegseth has the votes to be confirmed by the Senate.
Check it out:
🚨 #BREAKING: Senate Majority Leader John Thune has privately confirmed with President Trump that Pete Hegseth DOES have the votes to be confirmed as Secretary of Defense
Man who died in Tesla Cybertruck explosion was active-duty US Army solider, officials say– www.nydailynews.com Source Link Excerpt:
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The person who died in the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck packed with explosives outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel was an active-duty U.S. Army soldier, three U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Two law enforcement officials identified the man inside the futuristic-looking pickup truck as Matthew Livelsberger. The officials spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Three U.S. officials said Livelsberger was an active-duty Army member who spent time at the base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a massive Army base in North Carolina that is home to Army special forces command. The officials also spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details of his service.
The FBI said Thursday in a post on X that it was “conducting law enforcement activity” at a home in Colorado Springs related to Wednesday’s explosion but provided no other details.
Turo-rented cars were involved in 2 deadly incidents this New Year’s. Here’s what we know– abcnews.go.com Source Link Excerpt:
NEW YORK — Two deadly incidents on New Year’s Day — an attack being investigated as an act of terrorism in New Orleans and an explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck in Las Vegas — both involved vehicles that were rented on Turo, a peer-to-peer car sharing company.
Early Wednesday, 42-year-old Army veteran Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar rammed a pickup truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter — killing 14 people who were celebrating the New Year. And police fatally shot Jabbar in a following firefight. Just hours after, outside of President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas, a Tesla Cybertruck packed with explosives also burst into flames. The person inside, identified as active-duty U.S. Army Green Beret Matthew Livelsberger, died. Officials later said he suffered a gunshot wound to the head before the explosion.
Alleged Trump Hotel Bomber’s Uncle Makes Jaw-Dropping Statement– trendingpoliticsnews.com Source Link Excerpt:
The uncle of an Army Special Forces officer who killed himself in a Cybertruck explosion outside of the Las Vegas Trump International Hotel opened a new can of worms on Thursday, offering an explanation for why his nephew might have detonated the bomb.
The Independent spoke with Dean Livelsberger, uncle of 38-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, a Green Beret who was recently promoted and appeared to have a bright future ahead of him before he was found dead inside the charred remains of a rented vehicle on New Year’s Day. The recognizable Cybertruck was filled with gasoline tanks, camping fuel, and fireworks mortars though contained most of the blast, according to FBI investigators who questioned why an elite soldier would use that vehicle if he intended to inflict mass destruction. According to Dean Livelsberger, his nephew was distressed and only intended to make a political statement through his suicide.
New Details Emerges About Man Who Tried to Kill Brett Kavanaugh at His Home– slaynews.com Source Link Excerpt:
Conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh dealt with a scary incident in 2022 when a man showed up outside of his private residence with the intent to assassinate him.
According to The Hill, new details have emerged regarding the suspect.
The suspect, Nicholas Roske, reportedly told authorities killing Kavanaugh would “make the world a better place.”
Roske also admitted that he had planned the assassination attempt for a month prior to the incident.
Biden Downplays Link Between New Orleans Attack and Las Vegas Cybertruck Explosion: ‘Nothing to Report on That Score’– slaynews.com Source Link Excerpt:
Authorities are investigating the possible links between an exploding Tesla Cybertruck outside President Donald Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas and the attack on New Year’s partygoers in New Orleans.
Both attackers have a direct link via the military which the FBI is investigating, the Associated Press reported.
However, President Joe Biden sought to downplay any connections, telling the press:
“There’s nothing to report on that score at this time.”
In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, a pickup truck driven by 42-year-old Islamic terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar plowed into a crowd on New Orleans’ famous Bourbon Street.
After ISIS Attack, MSNBC Blows That ‘Young White Men’ Are The Problem– www.newsbusters.org Source Link Excerpt:
New York Times columnist Charles Blow joined MSNBC’s Joy Reid on Thursday’s installment of The ReidOut to react to the reaction to the New Orleans New Year’s truck attack by an ISIS supporter that killed 14 people where he claimed that the big problem is that the attack was “one crime committed by one name that sounds exotic,” and that allows people to ignore the “really big problem, which is young white men in America.”
Reid led Blow with a statement rather than a question, “And last word to you on this, Charles, because this is the challenge. It’s very difficult to feel safe when, on top of everything that Mayor Landrieu just said, you have politicians that have a self-interest in lying about everything because it helps them with the political narrative, not concerned about the human narrative that could actually be really helpful.”
Suspect in Cybertruck Explosion Outside Trump Hotel Connected to New Orleans Suspect › American Greatness– amgreatness.com Source Link Excerpt:
Police have identified the suspect behind an attempted terror attack outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, including two startling connections to the suspect in the New Orleans terror attack on New Year’s Eve.
According to the Daily Mail, although law enforcement has not yet released the suspect’s name, they did carry out a raid of his home in Colorado Springs on Wednesday. The 37-year-old suspect, who was the sole casualty of the Cybertruck explosion, served at the same military base as Shamsud Din Jabbar, the terrorist who deliberately crashed his truck into a crowd of New Year’s Eve revelers in New Orleans on Tuesday. Jabbar was gunned down by the police after his rampage.
The Vegas suspect had multiple addresses connected to his name in the Colorado Springs area, which led to multiple neighbors being evacuated from the vicinity as the raid was conducted on his townhouse complex.
Cybertruck bomber Matthew Livelsberger’s wife left him six days before attack | The Post Millennial– thepostmillennial.com Source Link Excerpt:
“He used to have all patriotic stuff on Facebook, he was 100 percent loving the country,” Livelsberger’s uncle said.
The wife of Cybertruck bomber Matthew Livelsberger reportedly broke up with him just six days before the New Year’s Day incident where he blew himself and the Tesla vehicle up outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas.
According to a report from the New York Post, sources familiar with the investigation told the outlet that he and Jennifer Davis split after an argument about infidelity the day after Christmas. He and his Davis had a baby daughter together, but she reportedly accused him of cheating.
Corrupt FBI Has No Business Leading New Orleans Investigation– thefederalist.com Source Link Excerpt:
In his New Year’s press conference concerning the New Orleans terrorist attack that took the lives of 15 people and injured dozens of others, President Joe Biden expressed confidence from Camp David that the FBI is “working nonstop to investigate this heinous act.”
“The FBI is leading the investigation to determine what happened, why it happened, and whether there was any continuing threat to public safety,” Biden said.
South Korean president claims he can’t be prosecuted, authorities seek warrant– www.washingtonexaminer.com Source Link Excerpt:
The request was made by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials on Monday. No decision on whether the warrant will be granted has been made public.
The president’s lawyer, Yoon Kap-keun, has argued that while the investigation may be legitimate, there cannot be any possibility of a prosecution.
“An incumbent president cannot be prosecuted for abuse of power,” the president’s lawyer said.
In this photo provided by the South Korea Presidential Office, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a press briefing at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (South Korea Unification Ministry via AP).
“Of course, there are differing academic opinions on whether a president can be investigated for abuse of power, and some assert that investigations are possible. But even when investigations are allowed, the prevailing opinion is that they should be exercised with the utmost restraint,” the lawyer continued.
Downing of Azerbaijan plane reflects Ukraine war’s growing footprint– www.latimes.com Source Link Excerpt:
The deadly crash this week of an Azerbaijani passenger jet — with Russian air defenses as the suspected culprit — brings into focus a little-noticed aspect of the war in Ukraine: a battle zone that extends deep into Russia.
Ukraine for months has been using domestically tooled drones to strike Russian targets hundreds of miles from the front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine, often taking aim at fuel depots and military airfields.
The Kremlin tends to play down these attacks, and has a history of offering unconvincing explanations for massive explosions that sometimes result.
On Friday, Russian authorities acknowledged that Ukrainian drones were targeting Grozny, provincial capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, as an Azerbaijani commercial airliner with 67 people aboard was attempting to land there on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan demands Russia admit guilt for downing plane, pay compensation – The Washington Post Source Link Excerpt:
Azerbaijan’s president on Sunday demanded that Russia admit responsibility for the incident that led to the Christmas Day crash of a passenger plane that killed 38 people and pay compensation to the government and affected families.
President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243, which departed from Baku on Wednesday morning with 67 passengers and crew members bound for Grozny in Russia, “suffered external damage” in Russian airspace and was rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare. The tail of the Embraer 190, he said in televised remarks, was seriously damaged “as a result of shelling from the ground.”
Stanford Researchers Create Virtual Lab with AI Scientists to Automate Scientific Discovery – INDIAai Source Link Excerpt:
In an effort to automate scientific discovery using artificial intelligence (AI), researchers from Stanford University in California have created a virtual laboratory that combines several ‘AI scientists’ — large language models with defined scientific roles — that can collaborate to achieve goals set by human researchers.
The system, described in a preprint posted on bioRxiv last month, was able to design antibody fragments called nanobodies that can bind to the virus that causes COVID-19. Nearly 100 of these structures were proposed in a fraction of the time it would take an all-human research group.
“These virtual-lab AI agents have shown to be quite capable at doing a lot of tasks,” says study co-author James Zou, a computational biologist at Stanford University in California. “We’re quite excited about exploring the potential of the virtual lab across different scientific domains.”
The experiment “represents a new paradigm of taking AI as collaborators, not just tools”, says Yanjun Gao, who researches the healthcare applications of AI at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. But she adds that human input and oversight are still crucial. “I don’t think we can fully trust AI to make decisions at this stage.”
Now that Assad has fallen in Syria, a northern part of Syria called Rojava is facing widescale threats from Turkey, who hopes to eradicate both the semi-autonomous authority as well as the Kurds who are the majority of people in that region. Recent threats by Turkey’s President Erdogan suggest the fear of a potential genocide of Kurds is not unfounded.
Erdogan added to those fears when he directly stated “The separatist murderers will either bid farewell to their weapons, or they will be buried in Syrian lands along with their weapons. We will eradicate the terrorist organization that is trying to weave a wall of blood between us and our Kurdish siblings.”
Erdogan Warns Kurds Will Be ‘Buried in Syrian Lands Along with Their Weapons’– www.breitbart.com Source Link Excerpt:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Kurdish militias in Syria on Wednesday to either lay down their arms or be “buried.” On the same day, the Turkish military said it killed 21 Kurdish militants in northern Syria and Iraq – including members of the People’s Defense Units (YPG), the leading Syrian Kurdish force allied with the United States against the Islamic State.
Erdogan and other Turkish officials have adamantly insisted for years that the YPG is allied with, or merely a branch of, the violent separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PKK is banned in Turkey and classified as a terrorist organization by many other nations, including the United States.
Most other countries, however, regard the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia as a separate entity from the PKK. The YPG holds a leadership role in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which was instrumental in the fight against ISIS and remains a U.S. ally.
Erdogan repeated Turkey’s view that the YPG and PKK are one and the same in remarks to members of his ruling AKP party on Wednesday.
“The separatist murderers will either bid farewell to their weapons, or they will be buried in Syrian lands along with their weapons,” he said.
“We will eradicate the terrorist organization that is trying to weave a wall of blood between us and our Kurdish siblings,” he added, seeking to draw a distinction between the YPG militia and civilian Kurds, whom Turkey claims to have no problem with.
Last week, the SDF admitted for the first time that PKK fighters are in Syria and were allies against the Islamic State, although the SDF insisted it had no operational links with the PKK.
SDF commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi told Reuters last week that Kurdish fighters came to Syria from across the Middle East to defend Kurdish lands against the Islamic State, including members of the PKK. He said that while many of the PKK fighters returned home after the fall of ISIS, some “decided to stay and help us.”
Abdi said he was agreeable to Turkey’s demand that non-Syrian Kurdish fighters must leave Syria but said that would not be possible until there was “a total ceasefire between us and the Turkish forces and their affiliated factions.”
“On the other hand, we are preparing ourselves to repel any attack if it happens,” Abdi said.
The major offensive Abdi described has not happened yet, but on Wednesday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said 21 Kurdish militants were killed in northern Syria by Turkish forces, including both PKK and YPG members. One Kurdish fighter was also killed in Iraq.
“Our operations will continue effectively and resolutely,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
Some of Turkey’s colleagues in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are growing queasy with Erdogan’s war against the Kurds. On Monday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that a resurgent ISIS could benefit from Turkey weakening Syrian Kurdish forces.
“It would help no one if the Islamic State terrorists were the ones to benefit from a conflict with the Kurds. This would pose a security threat to Syria, Turkey and Europe,” Baerbock said.
Writing at the Hill on Thursday, Georgetown University adjunct professor David L. Phillips asserted it was time for the United States to stand up for its Kurdish allies in Syria.
Phillips wrote:
Defeating ISIS is still a work in progress; the Kurds are guarding thousands of ISIS prisoners in northeast Syria. If they redeploy to counter a Turkish invasion, the SDF will have a stark choice: either defend their families from a Turkish-backed invasion or stand guard over the ISIS detainees. Defending their homes and families will have priority.
Turkey actually has an answer to that argument, as Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan insisted last weekend that the insurgent government in Syria is perfectly capable of running the ISIS prison camps.
Phillips said the Kurds have provided an “island of stability amid the chaos” by providing a component administration in northeastern Syria during the civil war and warned the U.S. would “incur a reputational cost” if it abandons an effective ally who has largely followed the American model for anti-extremist government.
“Who will join U.S.-led counterinsurgency efforts if we abandon the Kurds now?” he wondered.
“Moral clarity is called for at this perilous moment. Kurds are America’s allies and friends with whom we share strategic interests and values. Kurds are a force for good in Anatolia and Mesopotamia. To secure U.S. interests and reputation, Washington must deter Turkey’s aggression,” he urged.
The moribund Biden administration has said little on the matter of the Syrian Kurds, but there is a bipartisan bill in the Senate to impose sanctions against Turkey if it launches a major operation against the SDF.
Thousands flee violent post-election unrest in Mozambique to neighboring Malawi – Anadolu Agency | English Source Link Excerpt:
Thousands of Mozambicans have fled ongoing violence in their country to neighboring Malawi after months of unrest over disputed presidential election results, government officials told Anadolu on Thursday.
Dominic Mwandira, a senior civil official in Malawi’s Nsanje district, which borders Mozambique, said some 2,000 households have entered the territory since Monday.
“They are coming as families and we have, so far, sheltered them in schools waiting for proper arrangements. The number is likely to rise,” Mwandira told Anadolu over the phone.
Violent protests have rocked Mozambique since presidential polls were held on Oct. 9, resulting in the death of 248 people, including 33 in a prison break on Wednesday, according to Plataforma Decide, an election monitoring group.
6,000 inmates escaped from a high-security prison in Mozambique. What to know – National– globalnews.ca Source Link Excerpt:
At least 6,000 inmates escaped from a high-security prison in Mozambique’s capital on Christmas Day after a rebellion, the country’s police chief said, as widespread post-election riots and violence are roiling the country.
Police chief Bernardino Rafael said 33 prisoners died and 15 others were injured during a confrontation with the security forces.
The prisoners fled during violent protests that have seen police cars, stations and infrastructure destroyed after the country’s Constitutional Council confirmed the ruling Frelimo party as the winner of the Oct. 9 elections.
The escape from the Maputo Central Prison, located 14 kilometers (9 miles) southwest of the capital, started around midday on Wednesday after “agitation” by a “group of subversive protesters” nearby, Rafael said.
Russia appears to have shot down an Azerbaijan airlines passenger plane that killed all 38 people on board. The incident occurred in Western Kazakhstan, about two miles from the city of Aktau.
Russia is now blaming Ukrainian terrorist activity that led to the plane being shot down, claiming, “Ukrainian military drones were carrying out terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure… at the time… The pilot was offered alternative airports. He took the decision to go to Aktau airport”
‘Ukrainian military was carrying out terrorist attacks when Azerbaijani flight tried to land’: Russia claims– timesofindia.indiatimes.com Source Link Excerpt:
Russia on Friday claimed that Ukrainian drones were attacking the city of Grozny as an Azerbaijani Airlines plane attempted to land, before its subsequent crash in Kazakhstan.
Chief of Russia’s civil aviation authority Dmitry Yadrov via Telegram noted that severe fog enveloped Grozny during the plane crash incident, stating that “conditions that day and in those hours around the airport were very complicated”.
The Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft crashed in western Kazakhstan, resulting in the death of 38 amongst the 67 occupants. Various news sources have reported Azerbaijani officials suggesting that a Russian air defence missile might have caused the incident, AFP reported.
“Ukrainian military drones were carrying out terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure… at the time,” Yadrov said, adding that the plane made two unsuccessful attempts to land.
Plane crash probe in Kazakhstan underway as speculation mounts about possible Russian involvement– www.cbsnews.com Source Link Excerpt:
Azerbaijan on Thursday observed a nationwide day of mourning for the victims of the plane crash that killed 38 people and left 29 survivors injured, as speculation mounted about the cause of the disaster — including whether possible Russian air defense operations may have played a role.
Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted, for reasons that are still unclear, and crashed while trying to land in Aktau, in western Kazakhstan, after flying east across the Caspian Sea. The plane went down about 2 miles from Aktau.
A U.S. official told CBS News there are early indications a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the plane. The official, who asked not to be publicly identified, said that if these indications prove true, it would further underscore Russian recklessness in its invasion of Ukraine.
Cellphone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage and photos showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rear half of the aircraft lying upside down in the grass.
Japanese Scientists Unveil Game-Changing 3D Printing Breakthrough for Lightweight Cars – SciTechDaily Source Link Excerpt:
Tohoku University developed a durable steel-aluminum alloy via 3D printing, overcoming brittleness challenges with advanced laser techniques, paving the way for innovative, lightweight automotive components.
Metal 3D printing involves building objects layer by layer, binding metal layers together using heat. This technique offers remarkable precision, enabling the creation of unique, highly customizable shapes while minimizing material waste compared to traditional manufacturing processes.
