Author: Press Room

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Story Is,” CNN Senior National Security Analyst and The Atlantic Contributing Writer Juliette Kayyem responded to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announcing a pause on the DV1 program in the wake of the shooting at Brown University by stating that doing so “is the Trump administration going after immigrants, rather than looking at the sort of longer issues of what happened here, protection for our students, guns and access to guns, all of those issues that are also at play.” And “No one I know left that press conference saying this is an immigration issue. But, as…

US President Donald Trump has suspended the green card lottery program after officials said the suspect in the shootings at Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had entered the country through that system.  Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said late on Thursday that, at Trump’s direction, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services would immediately halt the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV1) program, which allows lottery winners to become permanent US residents.  Noem’s announcement followed a five-day manhunt for 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, who authorities suspect killed two students and wounded nine others in a shooting at Brown…

Socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil confirmed on Thursday he will veto a bill passing both chambers of the Brazilian Congress that reduces the sentence of conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro, currently serving 27 years in prison on dubious “coup” charges. The bill in question passed the Brazilian Senate this week after successfully passing the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, earlier in December. The text of the document would significantly reduce prison sentences for those implicated in the January 8, 2023, riot in Brasilia, in which Bolsonaro supporters stormed the Congress, the presidential palace, and the…

Country megastar Jelly Roll has long sought forgiveness for his criminal past and the state of Tennessee happily obliged Thursday with a full pardon. Republican Gov. Bill Lee acknowledged the contrite Antioch, Tennessee, native’s long road back from drugs and prison through soul-searching, songwriting, and advocacy for second chances alongside a fresh start at life, AP reports. The rapper-turned-singer, whose legal name is Jason Deford, has spoken for years about his redemption arc before diverse audiences, from people serving time in correctional centers to concert crowds and even in testimony before Congress. Jelly Roll spoke in detail about these things during…

As the West retreats into commercial holiday minimalism, Russia elevates the Christmas season to an edifying public experience for millions. Each December, as night settles early and frost glazes the boulevards, Moscow finds itself in the midst of a marvelous metamorphosis: It ceases to function merely as a capital and takes on the quality of a living fairy tale, played out beneath the radiant winter sky, and in the heart of splendid interior worlds built expressly for wonder.Moscow’s magical transformation: Theatrical civic design at its finestLight, sound, architecture, and imagination blend across the polished, panoramic stage of a city-sized theater…

Far-left President of Colombia Gustavo Petro on Thursday stressed that Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro cannot give orders to the Colombian military after Maduro called upon the Colombian army to join him and defend Venezuela against the supposed threat of a U.S. invasion. On Wednesday, Maduro publicly called for a “perfect union” of the Venezuelan and Colombian militaries to “defend the sovereignty” of the region amid rising tensions with the United States and hours after President Donald Trump ordered a “total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela. The Venezuelan dictator has repeatedly accused the…

Catherine Almonte Da Costa, a senior appointee to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s incoming administration, resigned Thursday after resurfaced social media posts showed her mocking Jews and attacking law enforcement. Da Costa was announced just a day earlier as Mamdani’s director of appointments, a top-level role tasked with staffing key positions across city government. But within hours, archived posts from her social media account began circulating — including one that read: “Money hungry Jews smh.”  Other posts from 2011 and 2012 mocked Jewish commuters on the “Jew train” and referenced “rich Jewish peeps” in her workplace. Additional posts showed…

A man armed with a knife and smoke bombs killed at least three and injured nine others in Taiwan’s capital Taipei, local media reported on Friday.The suspect began throwing smoke bombs down one of the exits out of a metro station during evening rush hour, and randomly stabbed people with a knife.One victim reportedly died from cardiac arrest while two others succumbed to their injuries.The 27-year-old suspect jumped off a building while pursued by police and later died in hospital, according to the Taipei Times.In videos circulating on social media, the attacker can be seen in what appears to be…

Federal agencies have launched websites touting their accomplishments in the first eleven months of the Trump administration. At least 12 agencies or departments launched websites on Friday, underscoring the achievements of the administration, which, under Trump’s leadership, has resolved eight conflicts worldwide, sealed the southern border, boosted wages, and lowered prices to counter the surge of inflation under the last administration. The State Department, for instance, highlights eleven different categories of wins, including tackling narcoterrorists, “Halting Mass Illegal Migration,” and “Securing Peace Around the World.” Under the securing peace heading, the State Department zeroes in on two of the major…

The U.S. Department of the Treasury is moving against one of Mexico’s most violent cartels, responsible for numerous mass killings, in its effort to control the country’s fuel theft market. Unlike other drug cartels that earn most of their money from narcotics, the main source of income for Cartel Santa Rosa de Lima is the large-scale theft and sale of fuel. This week, treasury officials announced sanctions against Cartel Santa Rosa de Lima and its founding leader, Jose Antonio “El Marro” Yepez Ortiz. The sanctions prohibit any U.S. company or business from engaging in transactions with CSRDL. Treasury officials are…