Author: Press Room

Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that Turkey sold almost all of its U.S. Treasury holdings in March as part of a strategy to prop up its currency during the Iran crisis. “The amount of Treasuries held by Turkey fell to $1.8 billion by the end of March, down from $16 billion the previous month,” Bloomberg reported, citing “estimates based off official U.S. data.” These estimates included both Turkey’s central bank and private entities. In addition to selling off its U.S. securities, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has been selling other foreign exchange holdings, selling its gold reserves,…

Friday on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” former National Security Adviser John Bolton said President Donald Trump’s ceasefire of military operations in the Gulf region has only “benefited” Iran. Host Wolf Blitzer said, “Ambassador CNN is also learning that Iran has already restarted some of its drone production during the six week ceasefire and is reconstituting its military much faster than initially estimated. How concerning is that to you, and how would you advise President Trump to address this specific issue right now?” Bolton said, “Well, if these reports are accurate, I think it’s very concerning that the six weeks of ceasefire,…

Reports in South Korean media this week claimed that genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping is planning to visit North Korea in the near future for only the second time since seizing power in China and may arrive in Pyongyang next week. Neither the governments of China nor North Korea have offered any confirmation of such a visit. The Chinese Foreign Ministry explicitly rejected the chance to clarify if a visit was imminent during a regular press briefing on Thursday. The government of South Korea, meanwhile, has responded to the reports seeking some role in helping maintain the peace on the…

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Mike Flood (R-NE) talked about prices and said that even if the situation with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz is “solved next week, it’s still going to take another month or two just to get all that traffic moving in that important corridor. So, this is not over, right away, but I do see light at the end of the tunnel, and I’m hopeful that we can land the plane and finish this operation in Iran.” Flood said, “Well, prices are too high. The gas price is too high. Grocery prices…

Several foreign-born Democrat Congresspeople went on the attack after South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace filed a resolution “proposing a constitutional amendment” that would prevent foreign-born, naturalized U.S. citizens from serving in Congress or as federal judges. In a post on X from Wednesday, Mace pointed out that Democrat Reps. Ilhan Omar, Shri Thanedar, and Pramila Jayapal, are “all born in foreign countries, none were citizens by birth,” and added, “All sitting in the United States Congress. All making clear every single day their loyalty is not to America.” In response, several Democrats quickly went on the attack against Mace’s…

Kiev’s UAVs are violating the bloc’s airspace by accident, Ulf Kristersson has said, blaming Moscow Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said NATO states should help Kiev “direct” its drone attacks “in the right directions,” blaming a string of Ukrainian UAV incursions into the airspace of the US-led bloc on Moscow.Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said this week that Latvia allowed Ukraine to use its territory for potential drone attacks on Russia. Baltic officials have rejected the allegation, while insisting that Ukraine has the right to defend itself. However, they also asked Kiev to control its drones better.Ukraine “must be more precise”…

Israel established a secret elite intelligence task force in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre to track down and kill or capture every terrorist involved in the attack — from senior commanders who orchestrated the assault to individual gunmen who crossed into southern Israel during the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. According to a detailed Wall Street Journal report published Wednesday, the unit — known as NILI, a Hebrew acronym derived from a biblical verse meaning “The Eternal One of Israel Does Not Lie” — was formed by Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service and military…

The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that Spencer Pratt’s mayoral campaign paid more than $15,000 to the Hotel Bel-Air, prompting the candidate to respond with a nearly $55,000 temporary-fence estimate for the burned-out lot in the Palisades where his home once stood. The L.A. Times reported that Pratt’s campaign for Los Angeles mayor paid the Hotel Bel-Air more than $15,000 since April 7, according to Pratt’s latest campaign finance filings. The campaign made 10 separate payments to the hotel, including nearly $14,900 for “Candidate Travel, Lodging and Meals” and approximately $600 for “Fundraising Events.” The filing also listed $1,800 spent…

Dozens of minors were rescued during an operation in which investigators posed as teenage girls in online chat rooms Hundreds of suspected child predators have been apprehended and dozens of minors rescued in a sweeping multi-agency crackdown across Southern California targeting internet-facilitated child exploitation, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has said.A total of 341 suspects were arrested and 40 minors rescued during Operation Firewall, which was spearheaded by the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and ran from April 19 through May 3 across Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties.According to a Thursday press…

Speaking at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, on Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “no country in the world should accept” Iran’s latest scheme to control the Strait of Hormuz in perpetuity and extort “tolls” from international shipping. “Iran is trying to create a tolling system. They’re trying to convince Oman, by the way, to join them in this tolling system in an international waterway. There is not a country in the world that should accept that,” Rubio said after meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. “I don’t know of a country in the world…