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Tag: country

  • Kristi Noem grilled over L.A. Purple Heart Army vet who self-deported

    The saga of a Los Angeles Army veteran who legally immigrated to the United States, was wounded in combat and self-deported to South Korea earlier this year, became a flashpoint during a testy congressional hearing about the Trump administration’s immigration policy.

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was grilled Thursday on Capitol Hill about military veterans deported during the immigration crackdown launched earlier this year, including in Los Angeles.

    “Sir, we have not deported U.S. citizens or military veterans,” Noem responded when questioned by Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.).

    Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) speaks while joined on a video call by a man who he said was a U.S. military veteran who self-deported to South Korea, during a hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security on Thursday.

    (Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press)

    An aide then held up a tablet showing a Zoom connection with Purple Heart recipient Sae Joon Park in South Korea. The congressman argued that Park had “sacrificed more for this country than most people ever have” and asked Noem if she would investigate Park’s case given her discretion as a cabinet member. Noem pledged to “absolutely look at his case.”

    Park, reached in Seoul on Thursday night, said he was skeptical that Noem would follow through on her promise, but said that he had “goosebumps” watching the congressional hearing.

    “It was amazing. And then I’m getting tons of phone calls from all my friends back home and everywhere else. I’m so very grateful for everything that happened today,” Park, 56, said, noting that friends told him that a clip of his story appeared on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show Thursday night.

    The late-night host featured footage of Park’s moment in the congressional hearing in his opening monologue.

    “Is anyone OK with this? Seriously, all kidding aside, we deported a veteran with a Purple Heart?” Kimmel said, adding that Republicans “claim to care so much about veterans, but they don’t at all.”

    Park legally immigrated to the United States when he was 7, grew up in Koreatown and the San Fernando Valley, and joined the Army after graduating from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks in 1988.

    Photo of Sae Joon Park, an Army veteran with a Purple Heart, who self-deported to South Korea under threat of deportation.

    Photo of Sae Joon Park, an Army veteran with a Purple Heart, who self-deported to South Korea under threat of deportation.

    (Courtesy of Sae Joon Park)

    The green card holder was deployed to Panama in 1989 as the U.S. tried to depose the nation’s de facto leader, Gen. Manuel Noriega. Park was shot twice and honorably discharged. Suffering PTSD, he self-medicated with illicit drugs, went to prison after jumping bail on drug possession charges, became sober and raised two children in Hawaii.

    Earlier this year, when Park checked in for his annual meeting with federal officials to verify his sobriety and employment, he was given the option of being immediately detained and deported, or wearing an ankle monitor for three weeks as he got his affairs in order before leaving the country for a decade.

    At the time, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Park had an “extensive criminal history” and had been given a final removal order, with the option to self-deport.

    Park chose to leave the country voluntarily. He initially struggled to acclimate in a nation he hasn’t lived in since he was a child, but said Thursday night that his mental state — and his Korean language skills — have improved.

    “It hasn’t been easy. Of course, I miss home like crazy,” he said. “I’m doing the best I can. I’m usually a very positive person, so I feel like everything happens for a reason, and I’m just trying to hang in there until hopefully I make it back home.”

    Among Park’s top concerns when he left the United States in June was that his mother, who is 86 and struggling with dementia, would pass away while he couldn’t return to the county. But her lack of awareness about his situation has been somewhat of a strange blessing, Park said.

    “She really doesn’t know I’m even here. So every time I talk to her, she’s like, ‘Oh, where are you,’ and I tell her, and she’s like, ‘Oh, when are you coming home? Oh, why are you there?’” Park said. “In a weird way, it’s kind of good because she doesn’t have to worry about me all the time. But at the same time, I would love to be next to her while she’s going through this.”

    Seema Mehta

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  • Jelly Roll felt he was months away from death before beginning dramatic 300-pound weight loss journey

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    For Jelly Roll, losing weight was a life-or-death matter.

    The country superstar spoke about his 300-pound weight loss during an appearance on “Joe Rogan Experience,” and according to him, he felt like he could only have lived another six to 12 months at his former weight.

    “I don’t think I’m making this up when I say I think I was six to 12 months away from missing it,” he told Rogan. “Especially traveling – you know, I travel 280 days a year. At 500-something pounds, 200-something flights a year, 250 flights a year?”

    JELLY ROLL UNVEILS DRAMATIC TRANSFORMATION WITHOUT SIGNATURE BEARD AFTER WEIGHT LOSS

    Jelly Roll is seen in November 2022 (left) and November 2025 (right). (Getty Images)

    “So bad for you,” Rogan agreed.

    Jelly Roll continued, “I wasn’t going to be able to do it, I knew it.”

    The “Save Me” singer, who turned 41 on Dec. 4, explained that he first began seriously considering losing weight on his 39th birthday because “I knew my next one was 40 … I don’t think I’ve ever met a 500-pound 40-year-old.”

    He said that he’d felt like he’d “already cheated the game” after dealing with “multiple heart issues.”

    “I was like, ‘Man, I should really start trying to figure this out’ … I could feel myself dying, Joe,” he said.

    Jelly Roll performing on stage at the Strummingbird Festival in November 2025.

    Jelly Roll performs on stage at Strummingbird Festival on Nov. 2, 2025 in Perth, Australia. (Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)

    Jelly Roll shared that he’s “been trying to lose this weight my whole life,” but this time around, he approached the issue differently – instead of thinking of his overeating as “a failure of willpower,” he started looking at it as “a biological loop that I didn’t know how to interrupt.”

    “I spent most of 2022 between 480 and 560 pounds,” he explained. “That’s how much I fluctuated in a year, just up and down.”

    This time around, he decided not to make any big promises to himself or to his family, and instead started small. With the help of an expert, his first step towards weight loss was to start cold plunges and getting in 10,000 steps a day.

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    Jelly Roll and wife Bunnie XO

    Jelly Roll spoke about how his wife, Bunnie XO, and his kids have supported him in his weight-loss journey. (Taylor Hill)

    He became emotional when talking about how his family cheered him on when he went for his first big walk, saying, “I realized then how much my addiction had been hurting this family.”

    He admitted that his sex life with his wife, Bunnie XO, was “terrible” as an example, telling Rogan, “I married the kind of woman that makes you smile when you’re crying, Joe, and I couldn’t even get aroused, I was so big.”

    Another thing he couldn’t do was throw around a football with his son — he said that his brother did it with him instead.

    “I was like, ‘That’s what my addiction has done to these people, and here they are cheering for me. No, dude, we’re turning up … we’re going to figure this out.’”

    Jelly Roll performing in Times Square on New Year's Eve

    The country singer also shared that he has 35 pounds of extra skin from losing so much weight. (JOHN LAMPARSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

    In addition to those small changes, he started changing his diet — he said he hasn’t had any bread in two years, except on Thanksgiving — and he also began therapy to begin working through his food addiction.

    “I never planned on living, Joe,” he confessed to Rogan. “Like, ever. It was never in my plan of life. Even as I was getting successful, like I was coming out here and life was getting good for me, and in my mind, I was like, ‘OK, good, at least when I die my kids might be OK, and they won’t be ashamed of me … at least their daddy died of obesity because he had mental health issues, but he was a cool f—ing dude, man, who did some cool stuff, you know?”

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    He added, “I never would have thought I could have this kind of life.”

    Jelly Roll wears black hat on the howard stern show.

    Jelly Roll admitted that a few years ago, he didn’t think he’d live much longer, but now he can see himself becoming a 70-year-old man. (Jason Kempin)

    Even the last time he saw Rogan, he thought to himself that he’d never see him again.

    “It’ll probably go any day for me,” he remembered thinking. “Like, my heart could quit any day. I could relapse and overdose. I’m not thinking right most of the time.”

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    Now, Jelly Roll said that his thought process is completely different.

    “To like, sit here and look at you now, I’m like, ‘Dog, I’m going to be a 70-year-old man with you, bubba.’ … It’s going to be cool.”

    Emily Trainham is an entertainment editor for Fox News Digital.

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  • DACA was once a lifeline for undocumented youth. It’s leaving the next generation behind

    Alex immigrated to the U.S. as a toddler and has long felt haunted by his undocumented status.

    In 2017, when he turned 15, he was finally old enough to apply for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, only for it to slip from his grasp right before he started the paperwork, when it was rescinded by the Trump administration.

    Then, in 2020, Alex was set to graduate at the top of his class and had racked up a slew of college acceptances, including a full ride to Harvard University. He ultimately declined because of his status, worried about travel restrictions. Instead, he enrolled in a nearby University of California campus.

    “It was almost like the system was taunting me,” said Alex, who is now a Cal State University graduate student and chose to use his middle name for fear of being targeted by immigration authorities. “No matter how you excel, the system always comes back to haunt you, to remind you that you did all of that, and yet you really don’t have a choice.”

    A promise of work authorization and deportation protection pulled a generation of undocumented youth out of the shadows when DACA first went into effect in 2012. Yet, hundreds of thousands of today’s students like Alex are largely left out because of the ongoing legal battle that has largely frozen applications since 2017.

    These students’ lives are further upended by the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement strategy this year. DACA recipients and international students have been targeted, which has cast a cloud over higher education attainment for undocumented youth with even less protections.

    Gaby Pacheco, who was undocumented while in high school and helped spearhead organizing efforts that led to DACA in the 2000s, said the current undocumented youth are “experiencing the same kind of heartbreaks” and limitations that her generation did.

    “It is keeping people chained and, in a sense, locking up their potential and their dreams,” said Pacheco, who serves as president and chief executive of TheDream.US, a scholarship program. Among the most prominent barriers are being barred from federal aid, certain scholarships and work opportunities, she said.

    Many of these concerns aren’t new, but “they feel so much bigger and closer than they ever have before” because of the hostile immigration strategy and rhetoric, said Corinne Kentor, a senior manager of research and policy at the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.

    Undocumented youth have long been at the center of the country’s immigration debate. What has resulted is a web of shaky piecemeal legislation determining their status, which is being challenged nationwide.

    DACA survived President Trump’s 2017 legal challenge when the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that his administration didn’t take the proper steps to end the program.

    This year, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that would uphold DACA nationwide but remove work authorization for recipients residing in Texas. Protections would stay the same in all other states, and applications could potentially reopen. The ruling is pending a decision by a judge in the lower courts on how its implementation will work.

    Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), along with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), reintroduced the Dream Act in early December, the most recent attempt of many over the last two decades to provide young immigrants a path to citizenship.

    The current Trump administration is attempting to further close the door by suing California in November, alleging that the state’s decades-long offering of in-state tuition to undocumented students is unlawful. The action follows similar legal steps taken by the federal government to end tuition equity laws in states across the country.

    “I feel like my family and I have been tossed into a video game,” Alex said. “Like the console gets turned on every morning, you know, and it’s a challenge and it’s a game and I’ve got to survive.”

    Who are today’s undocumented students?

    There hasn’t yet been a noticeable decline in the 80,000 undocumented students enrolled in the state.

    Undocumented students can apply for state financial aid through the California Dream Act, but applications have dropped by 15% this academic year, with just over 32,000 applications submitted. Applications have steadily declined since 2018.

    Advocates warn that this drop is a result of DACA’s legal challenges and young people being increasingly nervous about sharing their personal information with government-run programs.

    More than half a million undocumented people are enrolled in higher education, but less than 30% of them qualify for DACA, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal. Most current high school students were born after 2007 and are automatically aged out of the program.

    The average age of the more than 500,000 active DACA recipients is 31, with nearly 90% being older than 26. The population has also shrunk, down from its peak of more than 700,000 recipients, with some adjusting their status through marriage or children, said Javier Carbajal-Ramos, a coordinator for the Dream Resource Center at Los Angeles Valley College.

    “We call them the original undocumented students,” Carbajal-Ramos said. “They’re people that really had an opportunity and they most likely took it. But then, the system changed.”

    Alex, who was brought to the country by his mother from El Salvador in the early 2000s, couldn’t qualify for DACA because he was five years shy of the minimum age to apply.

    “I grew up feeling silenced, and then there was this period of time where I felt like I could speak and I could take back my voice. … Now, I feel like I’ve been shut up,” Alex said. “My story is being determined by everybody else except myself. My past, my present and my future are all being negotiated by people who legitimately don’t see humanity in me.”

    Higher education is a gamble

    Attending college is a risk for undocumented students. Many opt to go straight into the workforce instead, a choice that Alex said “is pretty clear for most” of his peers.

    Those who do take that gamble are often committed to the importance of education, said Iliana Perez, a former DACA recipient and the executive director of Immigrants Rising. Many immigrant families, like Alex’s, are initially drawn to the U.S. with aspirations for education access and social mobility.

    “My mom’s biggest mistake has always been thinking that there were going to be people on this side of the border who believed in her child just as much as she does,” Alex said. “They’ve done all that they can to continue to believe for me and for themselves that something has to work.”

    School has always felt like a “veil of protection” for Alex. A fear of entering the workforce was one factor that motivated him to continue in academia.

    Often, an education can also afford students more leverage in legal battles and allow them to pursue work opportunities abroad or paths such as self-employment and entrepreneurship, Perez said.

    Many schools now offer support services and fellowships that can provide financial compensation in the form of stipends, largely due to the organizing efforts of previous generations of undocumented students, Carbajal-Ramos said.

    One undocumented college senior worked at a summer program for her Cal State University campus after her first year because it was paid through a stipend. A yearlong academic position was also available but paid an hourly wage, meaning she was not eligible.

    The department leaders, however, were committed to offering her the position and paid her through a scholarship instead, she said, which allowed her to generate income while in school.

    “It wasn’t something that I asked for. They did it themselves. For that, I’m really, really grateful,” said the senior, who requested The Times not use her name because she doesn’t have legal status. “It was surprising seeing a group of people that really wanted to help me out.”

    Colleges and universities across the country also have established dream resource centers, which provide services, grants and support to immigrant students. There are 161 centers at campuses across the state, including nearly all community colleges and every Cal State and UC campus; 14 private universities also have dream centers in California.

    Carbajal-Ramos, who is the regional representative for centers across the Los Angeles area, said it’s important to meet students where they are and not shy away from the precarious realities they live in. He serves at least 1,000 undocumented students in his role as a coordinator at Los Angeles Valley College.

    “When somebody really tells you that you can’t, you either give up or you fight, right? And we came here because of the fight,” Carbajal-Ramos said. “They have the ganas. They have the drive. It’s my responsibility to keep it that way.”

    Alex, who is now only months away from finishing his master’s degree, is hoping to enroll in a PhD program next fall. The applications often require he plan out what the next five years of his academic journey could look like, a task that has proved exceptionally difficult.

    “I really can’t think about my life for the next five years,” he said. “I can’t even think about my life tonight. The drive home scares me. Coming to campus scares me. Walking from my car terrifies me. I live my life between breaths.”

    Itzel Luna

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  • After National Guard shooting, administration cracks down on legal immigration

    WASHINGTON — Sophia Nyazi’s husband, Milad, shook her awake at 8 a.m. “ICE is here,” he told her.

    Three uniformed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were downstairs at the family’s home on Long Island, N.Y., on Tuesday, according to a video reviewed by The Times that she captured from atop the staircase.

    Nyazi said the agents asked whether her husband was applying for a green card. They told her they would have to detain him because of the shooting of two National Guard members a week earlier in Washington, D.C.

    “He has nothing to do with that shooting,” Nyazi, 27, recalled answering. “We don’t even know that person.”

    Her protests didn’t matter. The Trump administration has put into motion a broad and unprecedented set of policy changes aimed at substantially limiting legal immigration avenues, including for immigrants long considered the most vulnerable.

    Unfortunately, I think the administration took this one very tragic incident and politicized it as a way to shut down even legal immigration

    — Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, of the American Immigration Lawyers Assn.

    Milad Nyazi, 28, was detained because, like the man charged in the shooting which left one National Guard member dead, he is from Afghanistan.

    The administration has paused decisions on all applications filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, by people seeking asylum. The visa and immigration applications of Afghans, whom the U.S. had welcomed in 2021 as it pulled all troops from the country, have been halted.

    Officials also froze the processing of immigration cases of people from 19 countries the administration considers “high-risk” and will conduct case-by-case reviews of green cards and other immigration benefits given to people from those countries since former President Biden took office in 2021.

    Immigration lawyers say they learned that dozens of naturalization ceremonies and interviews for green cards are being canceled for immigrants from Haiti, Iran, Guinea and other countries on the list.

    In a couple of cases, immigration officers told immigrants that they had been prepared to grant a green card, but were unable to do so because of the new guidance, said Gregory Chen, government relations director at American Immigration Lawyers Assn.

    Although it is unclear exactly how many people could be affected by the new rules, 1.5 million immigrants have asylum cases pending with USCIS.

    “These are sweeping changes that exact collective punishment on a wide swath of people who are trying to do things the right way,” said Amanda Baran, former chief of policy and strategy at USCIS under the Biden administration. “I worry about all the people who have dutifully filed applications and whose lives are now on hold.”

    Administration officials called the Nov. 26 shooting a “terrorist attack” and defended the changes as necessary to protect the country. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, faces charges stemming from the shooting that killed Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounded Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24.

    “The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies,” Joseph Edlow, director of USCIS, said in a message posted Nov. 27 on X. “American safety is non-negotiable.”

    Lakanwal pleaded not guilty last week and his motive remains under investigation. In Afghanistan, he served in a counterterrorism unit operated by the CIA.

    Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 through a Biden administration program that resettled nearly 200,000 Afghans in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal, officials said. He applied for asylum in December 2024 and it was approved under the Trump administration in April, according to a statement by the nonprofit #AfghanEvac.

    Afghans who worked with U.S. troops were believed to face danger if left behind under the Taliban-run government. Along with undergoing routine security screening, they submitted to additional “rigorous” vetting, which included biometric and biographic checks by counterterrorism and intelligence professionals, the Department of Homeland Security said at the time.

    Two federal reports from 2024 and this year pointed to some failings of the screening, including data inaccuracies and the presence of 55 evacuees who were later identified on terrorism watch lists, though the latter report noted that the FBI had then followed all required processes to mitigate any potential threat.

    It’s unclear exactly how the administration will carry out reviews of thousands of people who already live legally in the U.S. The federal government can’t easily strip people of permanent legal status. The threat of reopening cases, however, has sparked alarm in immigrant communities across the country.

    About 58,600 Afghan immigrants call California home as of 2023, far more than any other state, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Interviews with a dozen local community advocates, immigration attorneys and family members of those detained paint an aggressive effort by the federal government to round up recent Afghan immigrants in the wake of the D.C. shooting.

    “Unfortunately, I think the administration took this one very tragic incident and politicized it as a way to shut down even legal immigration. And it’s definitely gone much broader than the Afghan community,” said Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, the director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Assn.

    Trump administration officials cited the shooting in a spate of policy changes last week.

    On Friday, USCIS announced it had established a new center to strengthen screening with supplemental reviews of immigration applications, in part using artificial intelligence. The USCIS Vetting Center, based in Atlanta, will “centralize enhanced vetting of aliens and allow the agency to respond more nimbly to changes in a shifting threat landscape,” the agency said.

    On Thursday, USCIS said work permits granted to immigrants would expire after 18 months, not five years. The change includes work permits for those admitted as refugees, with pending green card applications and with pending asylum applications.

    In a memorandum Tuesday outlining the pause on asylum applications and the immigration cases of people from the 19 countries also subject to a travel ban, USCIS acknowledged that the changes could result in processing delays but had determined it was “necessary and appropriate” when weighed “against the agency’s obligation to protect and preserve national security.”

    Immigrants already had been on high alert as the Trump administration canceled temporary humanitarian programs, cut back refugee admissions — except for a limited number of white South African Afrikaners — and increased attempts to send those with deportation orders to countries where they have no personal connection.

    Before the Washington shooting, a Nov. 21 memo showed that the administration planned to review the cases of more than 200,000 refugees admitted under the Biden administration. Although asylum seekers apply after arriving in the U.S., refugees apply for admission from outside the country.

    Nyazi questioned why Afghans are being singled out, noting that a white person allegedly assassinated Charlie Kirk, but “I don’t see any ICE agents going into white people’s houses.”

    Asked why Milad Nyazi was detained, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant public affairs secretary for Homeland Security, called him a criminal, citing two arrests on suspicion of domestic violence.

    “Under Secretary [Kristi] Noem, DHS has been going full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and criminal illegal aliens that came in through Biden’s fraudulent parole programs and working to get the criminals and public safety threats OUT of our country,” McLaughlin said in a statement.

    Nyazi said the charges, which did not stem from incidents of physical violence, were dropped and his record was later expunged.

    She and her husband got engaged in 2019 in Afghanistan and applied for a fiance visa, because Nyazi is a U.S. citizen. Their application was approved in 2021. Soon after, with the Taliban takeover in full force, the U.S. government allowed Milad Nyazi to fly to the U.S. He has a pending green card application, Nyazi said.

    On Tuesday, the couple’s 3-year-old daughter screamed and cried as her father was handcuffed and taken away. He has a court hearing this week.

    Zahra Billoo, executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and others say Afghans in various stages of their legal immigration process — not only those with deportation orders — have been targeted. She said at least 17 Afghans in the Bay Area have been detained since Monday.

    Lawyers said many of the Afghans detained last week had arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, where they had sought asylum.

    Paris Etemadi Scott, legal director of the Pars Equality Center in San José, said three of her clients, an Afghan mother and her two sons who are both in their early 20s, were detained Dec. 1 during a routine check-in with ICE. All have pending asylum applications, she said.

    Rebecca Olszewski, managing attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said her Afghan client, who also has a pending asylum case, reported for his monthly virtual check-in Friday and was told to show up in person the next day, where he was detained.

    Since the shooting, administration officials and the president have used dehumanizing language to describe immigrants. In announcing the 19-country travel ban Dec. 1, Noem posted on X that she was recommending a “a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.”

    In a Cabinet meeting the next day, Trump referred to Somali immigrants as “garbage” who “contribute nothing.” (A few days later, Noem said the administration would expand the travel ban to more than 30 countries.)

    On Thanksgiving Day, Trump had said on his social media platform that he intends to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries” and deport those who are “non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

    In recent days, a ghostly quiet has overtaken Shafiullah Hotak’s regular haunts in North Sacramento, where the Afghan population in the city is especially dense. Hotak, 38, is an Afghan immigrant who served as a program manager at refugee resettlement organization Lao Family Community Development until layoffs due to federal cuts forced him out of work in May.

    On Thursday, immigration agents banged on doors at an apartment complex on Marconi Avenue, where hundreds of Afghans have resettled. Just one employee sat in an Afghan-owned tax and bookkeeping business that was typically buzzing with clients. A nearby park, where teenagers kick around soccer balls and giggling packs of children roam after school, was empty. And the lines at a halal market known for its sesame-topped Afghan bread had disappeared.

    “The situation we have in our community reminds me of when we used to go to work in Afghanistan,” Hotak said. “We had to take different routes every day because people who were against the U.S. mission in Afghanistan were targeting people. There were bombings and shootings.”

    Hotak said “Kill the eyes,” is what the enemies of the U.S. in Afghanistan used to advise as to how to deal with local Afghans aiding the military, in order to blind their operations.

    “But nowadays those ‘eyes’ are here in the U.S. and the U.S. government is looking to pick them up and put them in jail,” Hotak said.

    Times staff writers Castillo reported from Washington and Hussain and Uranga from Los Angeles.

    Suhauna Hussain, Andrea Castillo, Rachel Uranga

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  • Trump announces death of National Guard member after shooting, ramps up scrutiny of refugees

    President Donald Trump announced the death of one National Guard member on Thanksgiving and said another is still “fighting for his life.” Police say both soldiers were shot while on patrol down the street from the White House on Wednesday. Trump announced the death of Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old from West Virginia, during a call with troops on Thursday night. The White House says the president spoke with Beckstrom’s parents later that evening.”She was savagely attacked. She’s dead, not with us. An incredible person, outstanding in every single way, in every department. It’s horrible,” Trump said on the call with troops. The charges against the alleged shooter are now expected to be upgraded to first-degree murder. The Justice Department has also suggested that it will seek the death penalty. “The death penalty is back,” Attorney General Pam Bondi posted Thursday night. FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooting is also being investigated as an act of terrorism. Authorities say Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, were shot in a targeted attack, although a motive has not been revealed. The alleged shooter has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old from Afghanistan. “What we know about him is that he drove his vehicle across the country from the state of Washington with the intended target of coming to our nation’s capital,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said at a press conference on Thursday morning.The Associated Press reports that Lakanwal was approved for asylum under the Trump administration, but officials say he first entered the country through a Biden administration resettlement program after the U.S. withdrew from the war in Afghanistan. Before arriving in America, Lakanwal worked with the CIA, according to John Ratcliffe, the spy agency’s director. Ratcliffe said the relationship ended shortly after the evacuation of U.S. service members.”We are fully investigating that aspect of his background as well to include any known associates that are either overseas or here in the United States of America,” FBI Director Kash Patel said Thursday. Asked about the CIA connection and the screening procedures involved with that, President Trump continued to insist that the alleged shooter entered the U.S. unvetted.”He went nuts,” Trump said. “It happens too often with these people.”In a statement, the group #AfghanEvac, which assists with the resettlement process, said Afghan immigrants and wartime allies “undergo some of the most extensive security vetting of any population entering the country.” “This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” #AfghanEvac president Shawn VanDiver said. After the shooting, Trump said his administration would be reviewing every Afghan who entered the country under the Biden administration. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has indefinitely paused processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals, “pending further review of security and vetting protocols.” On Thursday, USCIS also said there would be “a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.” Additionally, the agency released new guidance outlining new vetting standards for prospective immigrants from “19 high-risk countries.”Meanwhile, Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric in a social media post just before midnight Thursday, promising to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover.”Trump said he would terminate what he described as illegal admissions under the Biden administration, end all federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens, and “denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility.” “HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long,” Trump said.

    WASHINGTON —

    President Donald Trump announced the death of one National Guard member on Thanksgiving and said another is still “fighting for his life.” Police say both soldiers were shot while on patrol down the street from the White House on Wednesday.

    Trump announced the death of Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old from West Virginia, during a call with troops on Thursday night. The White House says the president spoke with Beckstrom’s parents later that evening.

    “She was savagely attacked. She’s dead, not with us. An incredible person, outstanding in every single way, in every department. It’s horrible,” Trump said on the call with troops.

    The charges against the alleged shooter are now expected to be upgraded to first-degree murder. The Justice Department has also suggested that it will seek the death penalty.

    “The death penalty is back,” Attorney General Pam Bondi posted Thursday night.

    FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooting is also being investigated as an act of terrorism.

    Authorities say Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, were shot in a targeted attack, although a motive has not been revealed.

    The alleged shooter has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old from Afghanistan.

    “What we know about him is that he drove his vehicle across the country from the state of Washington with the intended target of coming to our nation’s capital,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said at a press conference on Thursday morning.

    The Associated Press reports that Lakanwal was approved for asylum under the Trump administration, but officials say he first entered the country through a Biden administration resettlement program after the U.S. withdrew from the war in Afghanistan.

    Before arriving in America, Lakanwal worked with the CIA, according to John Ratcliffe, the spy agency’s director. Ratcliffe said the relationship ended shortly after the evacuation of U.S. service members.

    “We are fully investigating that aspect of his background as well to include any known associates that are either overseas or here in the United States of America,” FBI Director Kash Patel said Thursday.

    Asked about the CIA connection and the screening procedures involved with that, President Trump continued to insist that the alleged shooter entered the U.S. unvetted.

    “He went nuts,” Trump said. “It happens too often with these people.”

    In a statement, the group #AfghanEvac, which assists with the resettlement process, said Afghan immigrants and wartime allies “undergo some of the most extensive security vetting of any population entering the country.”

    “This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” #AfghanEvac president Shawn VanDiver said.

    After the shooting, Trump said his administration would be reviewing every Afghan who entered the country under the Biden administration. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has indefinitely paused processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals, “pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”

    On Thursday, USCIS also said there would be “a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.” Additionally, the agency released new guidance outlining new vetting standards for prospective immigrants from “19 high-risk countries.”

    Meanwhile, Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric in a social media post just before midnight Thursday, promising to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover.”

    Trump said he would terminate what he described as illegal admissions under the Biden administration, end all federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens, and “denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility.”

    “HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long,” Trump said.

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  • National Guard members shot in DC identified; shooting investigated as terrorism

    An Afghan national has been accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence at a time when the presence of troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has become a political flashpoint.Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said at a Thursday news briefing that the guard members shot were Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. The guard members were hospitalized in critical condition after Wednesday afternoon’s shooting.Pirro said that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, drove across the country to launch an “ambush-style” attack with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver. The suspect currently faces charges of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Pirro said that “it’s too soon to say” what the suspect’s motives were.The charges could be upgraded, Pirro said, adding, “We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree. But make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge.”The rare shooting of National Guard members on American soil, on the day before Thanksgiving, comes amid court fights and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to Washington.Video below: Trump condemned National Guard shooting as ‘heinous assault’The suspect who was in custody also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.Attack being investigated as terrorist actFBI Director Kash Patel said the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. Agents have served a series of search warrants, with Patel calling it a “coast-to-coast investigation.”Pirro said: “We have been in constant contact with their families and have provided them with every resource needed during this difficult time.”Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser interpreted the shooting as a direct assault on America itself, rather than specifically on Trump’s policies.“Somebody drove across the country and came to Washington, D.C., to attack America,” Bower said. “That person will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”Suspect worked with CIA during Afghanistan WarThe 29-year-old suspect, an Afghan national, entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said.The initiative brought roughly 76,000 people to the U.S., many of whom had worked alongside U.S. troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators. It has since faced intense scrutiny from Trump and his allies, congressional Republicans and some government watchdogs over allegations of gaps in the vetting process and the speed of admissions, even as advocates say it offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.Lakamal has been living in Bellingham, Washington, about 79 miles north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord, Kristina Widman.Prior to his 2021 arrival in the United States, the suspect worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” John Ratcliffe, the spy agency’s director, said in a statement. He did not specify what work Lakamal did, but said the relationship “ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation” of U.S. servicemembers from Afghanistan.Kandahar in southern Afghanistan is in the Taliban heartland of the country. It saw fierce fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 following the al-Qaida attacks on Sept. 11. The CIA relied on Afghan staff for translation, administrative and front-line fighting with their own paramilitary officers in the war.Wednesday night, in a video message released on social media, President Donald Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration.“If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” he said, adding that the shooting was “a crime against our entire nation.”Jeffery Carroll, an executive assistant D.C. police chief, said on Wednesday that investigators had no information on a motive. He said the assailant “came around the corner” and immediately started firing at the troops, citing video reviewed by investigators.Troops held down the shooterThe shooting happened roughly two blocks northwest of the White House near a metro station. Hearing gunfire, other troops in the area ran over and held down the gunman after he was shot, Carroll said. “It appears to be a lone gunman that raised a firearm and ambushed these members of the National Guard,” Carroll said, adding that it was not clear whether one of the guard members or a law enforcement officer shot the suspect.“At this point, we have no other suspects,” Carroll said at a news conference.At least one of the guard members exchanged gunfire with the shooter, said another law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.Social media video shared in the immediate aftermath showed first responders performing CPR on one of the troops and treating the other on a sidewalk covered in broken glass.

    WASHINGTON —

    An Afghan national has been accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence at a time when the presence of troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has become a political flashpoint.

    Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said at a Thursday news briefing that the guard members shot were Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. The guard members were hospitalized in critical condition after Wednesday afternoon’s shooting.

    Pirro said that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, drove across the country to launch an “ambush-style” attack with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver. The suspect currently faces charges of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Pirro said that “it’s too soon to say” what the suspect’s motives were.

    The charges could be upgraded, Pirro said, adding, “We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree. But make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge.”

    The rare shooting of National Guard members on American soil, on the day before Thanksgiving, comes amid court fights and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.

    The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to Washington.

    Video below: Trump condemned National Guard shooting as ‘heinous assault’

    The suspect who was in custody also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

    Attack being investigated as terrorist act

    FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. Agents have served a series of search warrants, with Patel calling it a “coast-to-coast investigation.”

    Pirro said: “We have been in constant contact with their families and have provided them with every resource needed during this difficult time.”

    Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser interpreted the shooting as a direct assault on America itself, rather than specifically on Trump’s policies.

    “Somebody drove across the country and came to Washington, D.C., to attack America,” Bower said. “That person will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

    Suspect worked with CIA during Afghanistan War

    The 29-year-old suspect, an Afghan national, entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said.

    The initiative brought roughly 76,000 people to the U.S., many of whom had worked alongside U.S. troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators. It has since faced intense scrutiny from Trump and his allies, congressional Republicans and some government watchdogs over allegations of gaps in the vetting process and the speed of admissions, even as advocates say it offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.

    Lakamal has been living in Bellingham, Washington, about 79 miles north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord, Kristina Widman.

    Prior to his 2021 arrival in the United States, the suspect worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” John Ratcliffe, the spy agency’s director, said in a statement. He did not specify what work Lakamal did, but said the relationship “ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation” of U.S. servicemembers from Afghanistan.

    Kandahar in southern Afghanistan is in the Taliban heartland of the country. It saw fierce fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 following the al-Qaida attacks on Sept. 11. The CIA relied on Afghan staff for translation, administrative and front-line fighting with their own paramilitary officers in the war.

    Wednesday night, in a video message released on social media, President Donald Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration.

    “If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” he said, adding that the shooting was “a crime against our entire nation.”

    Jeffery Carroll, an executive assistant D.C. police chief, said on Wednesday that investigators had no information on a motive. He said the assailant “came around the corner” and immediately started firing at the troops, citing video reviewed by investigators.

    Troops held down the shooter

    The shooting happened roughly two blocks northwest of the White House near a metro station. Hearing gunfire, other troops in the area ran over and held down the gunman after he was shot, Carroll said.

    “It appears to be a lone gunman that raised a firearm and ambushed these members of the National Guard,” Carroll said, adding that it was not clear whether one of the guard members or a law enforcement officer shot the suspect.

    “At this point, we have no other suspects,” Carroll said at a news conference.

    At least one of the guard members exchanged gunfire with the shooter, said another law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

    Social media video shared in the immediate aftermath showed first responders performing CPR on one of the troops and treating the other on a sidewalk covered in broken glass.

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  • Why Pope Leo XIV’s Lebanon visit matters amid Israeli bombardment

    BEIRUT  — When Pope Leo XIV visits the Middle East this week, he comes to a conflict-weary region struggling to find peace even as the specter of war stalks it once again.

    In his first international trip since assuming the papacy in May, the Chicago-born pope will travel Thursday to Turkey, where he will celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, where the Nicene Creed — a foundational declaration of Christian belief and unity — was written in AD 325.

    But perhaps the real test of Leo’s international debut lies in Lebanon. His coming fulfills a promise to visit the country made by his boldly charismatic predecessor Pope Francis, who raised the papacy’s international profile with dozens visits abroad and a propensity for frankness in his commentary that endeared him to the faithful, especially in the Middle East.

    But Christians — estimated to be about 30% of Lebanon’s population — are not the only ones looking forward to Leo’s arrival.

    A view of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, which Pope Leo XIV will see during his visit to Turkey, which begins Nov. 27, 2025.

    (Arif Hudaverdi Yaman / Anadolu / Getty Images)

    Many here hope his visit will be a portent for peace, bringing attention to this tiny Mediterranean nation as it contends with a Job-like succession of crises: First the economy, which crashed in 2019, tanking the banking system and the currency with it; then the port explosion in 2020; and the war between the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah and Israel, which flared in 2023 before intensifying late last year and left thousands dead and wide swaths of Lebanon’s south and east pulverized.

    Despite a ceasefire brokered last November, Israel has launched near-daily attacks on its northern neighbor, justifying its strikes as a bid to stop Hezbollah from reconstituting itself, even as the United Nations tallied more than 10,000 air and ground violations in Lebanese territory and 127 civilians killed in the year since the ceasefire took effect.

    Israel’s attacks have also paralyzed reconstruction efforts, meaning most residents of Lebanese border towns — whether dominated by Christians, Muslims or Druze — have been unable to piece back their prewar lives. The U.N.’s human rights office says around 64,000 Lebanese remain displaced.

    The Israeli army violated the ceasefire by launching more than ten airstrikes on the town of al-Musaylih

    The Israeli army launched more than 10 airstrikes on the town of al-Musaylih in southern Lebanon, causing extensive damage, on Oct. 11.

    (Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    Safety concerns for the pope have been paramount in people’s minds for months. In October, in what appeared to be a hot mic moment, Jordan’s Queen Rania asked the pope during a photo-op at the Vatican whether it was safe to go to Lebanon. “Well, we’re going,” Leo gruffly replied.

    Alarms were raised again over the weekend when Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, barely two miles away from where the pope would be landing on Sunday. The attack, the first one in months near the capital, killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander and coincided with a general uptick in Israeli strikes and drone activity in recent weeks — all indicators, observers say, of an impending all-out assault.

    Nevertheless, the trip is still on, Lebanese officials say.

    For Oumayma Farah, development director of the Order of Malta Lebanon, which aids communities of all religions and nationalities through humanitarian projects, that’s a “sign of courage and resilience to the Lebanese population and Christians in the region as a whole.”

    “Whatever happens, the pope will come,” Farah said.

    “The Church teaches us to not be afraid, so he’s the first example.”

    A woman walks her dog past a billboard displaying a picture of a man in white religious robes

    A woman walks her dog past a billboard in Beirut touting Pope Leo’s upcoming visit to Lebanon.

    (Anwar Amro / AFP/Getty Images)

    Like most of the countries where Christianity first took hold, wars and economic lethargy — not to mention a relatively easier path to emigration — have dwindled Lebanon’s Christian population over the decades.

    Across the Middle East, the number of Christians has gone from 20% of the population to a mere 5%; Lebanon remains the Arab country with the highest proportion, with Christians making up about 30% of the population, according to estimates from various research groups and the U.S. State Department.

    The pope’s insistence on coming to Lebanon, Farah said, was “re-centering the importance of this country” and a “wake-up call” for its politicians. After spending three days in Turkey, the pope will arrive in Lebanon on Sunday and depart Tuesday.

    In the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and other areas on the pope’s itinerary, signs abound of furious logistical activity and preparations: Police and security personnel have intensified their presence. A two-day holiday was announced to allow participation in public prayer events, even as parishes and schools across the country have been involved in bringing the faithful to attend Mass near the site of the Beirut port blast, which was deemed an accident caused by negligence, and elsewhere.

    Meanwhile, roadworks and maintenance, all but abrogated in recent years due to the government’s financial woes, have been in full swing. The joke around town is that people want another papal visit if only so the government finishes repaving all the country’s pothole-stricken streets. A bitter corollary is another joke that the refurbished roads will last only till the pope leaves — because they’ll be destroyed in a new Israeli campaign.

    People in dark clothes standing in the foreground of a grand white mosque with blue domed roofs

    Along with visiting the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Pope Leo will travel to the Turkish city of Iznik, ancient Nicaea, to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

    (Arif Hudaverdi Yaman / Anadolu / Getty Images)

    The gallows humor reflects the uncertainty of the moment, with the U.S. and Israel pushing the Lebanese army to fully disarm Hezbollah, even as the group insists it will disarm only in the country’s south.

    Lebanon’s government, in turn, says that it cannot persuade Hezbollah to give up its arms so long as Israel keeps occupying Lebanese territory, and that doing so by force would lead to civil war.

    The hope is that the pontiff can help break the logjam. But though few expect change to come so quickly, the visit is still important, said a Maronite parish priest, Father Tony Elias, from Rmeish, a village located just across the border from Israel.

    “When the pope visits a country that has been in pain for so long, this is truly enough to lift that pain,” Elias said.

    Rmeish, which maintained a resolutely neutral stance during the war, is relatively unscathed, an exception in the wasteland that has become Lebanon’s border area after years of Israeli bombardment.

    Elias said he would have wanted the pope to visit the south, but he wasn’t disappointed, as he and about 200 others from the village would travel to Beirut and join the pontiff.

    “If he can’t come to the south, we can come to him,” Elias said.

    Nabih Bulos

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  • Randy Travis’ wife calls his voice ‘God-given’ as he releases first Christmas music since stroke

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Randy Travis knows the reason for the season – faith, family and friends.

    After suffering a stroke more than 12 years ago that limited his speaking abilities, the legendary country singer leaned on artifical intelligence to create music once again and reconnect with fans.

    Taking a step away from AI, Travis’ wife, Mary, exclusively told Fox News Digital that the couple reminisced about Christmas’ past while taking a deep dive through the vaults of his recordings to bring life to uncovered holiday recordings.

    RANDY TRAVIS’ WIFE DEFIED MEDICAL ADVICE TO ‘PULL THE PLUG’ DURING COUNTRY STAR’S STROKE RECOVERY BATTLE

    More than 12 years after Randy Travis suffered a near-fatal stroke, the country legend released new music from uncovered recordings. (David A. Smith)

    WATCH: Randy and Mary Travis discuss his new Christmas song

    “It’s been a while since he’s had a Christmas album,” Mary said. “We didn’t know where we were going to be as far as farther down the road than we ever expected after the stroke 12 and a half years ago. And Christmas is something that’s, well, it’s a sweet time of the year for so many.”

    She added, “And to have a new Christmas song, it just, you know, I get in the mood for Christmas by playing Randy Travis’ Christmas music. 

    “We didn’t know where we were going to be as far as farther down the road than we ever expected after the stroke 12 and a half years ago.”

    — Mary Travis

    “So this one, I’m really excited about that I get to put this one on and be at home for Christmas this year after being on the road so much. So it’s just time.”

    Grammy Award winner Randy Travis suffered a near-fatal stroke in 2013

    Grammy Award winner Randy Travis suffered a near-fatal stroke in 2013 (Steve Granitz/WireImage)

    “Where My Heart Is” was recorded prior to Randy’s stroke. In 2013, the “Forever and Ever, Amen” singer was hospitalized for congestive heart failure tied to viral cardiomyopathy.  A blood clot that formed in his heart caused the stroke, which left him with partial paralysis and also affected his speech.

    RANDY TRAVIS’ KEY TO LASTING LOVE INCLUDES PET NAME HE STILL CALLS WIFE

    Hearing the sound of Randy singing once again brought back a number of emotions for the Travis family.

    Randy Travis with a horse on the cover art for his new single, "Where My Heart Is."

    Randy Travis’ new Christmas single is titled “Where My Heart Is.” (117 Entertainment)

    “You get to go and be where you want to, where your heart is for Christmas,” Mary noted. “I think it’s just, it’s a greater appreciation for life, for time, with those that you love.”

    “And like I always say, you love the ones that God loans you because one day He’s gonna need them back, and it’s the perfect time at Christmas to hold them tight. They put all the pieces back together that were broken over the year.”

    Randy Travis and wife Mary at an event

    Mary and Randy Travis married in 2015. (John Shearer/Getty Images for ACM)

    She admitted that it “took a while” for the family to get used to not hearing Randy’s voice, but revisiting the recordings reminded Mary how strong her husband truly is. 

    “And like I always say, you love the ones that God loans you because one day he’s gonna need them back.”

    — Mary Travis

    “The voice is just so iconic, it’s one of a kind. I know that he’d give anything in the world to be able to sing like that again,” she said. “But the fact that he’s OK with not singing just, to me, just makes him more of a mountain of a man, if you will. That he has accepted it for what it is, and he can go back and appreciate the talent that he was given, God-given.”

    LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

    Mary agreed that Randy’s faith anchored their family throughout recovery. Releasing new holiday music has been a “cathartic” experience.

    WATCH: Randy Travis never took singing for granted before 2013 stroke

    “Not only just to have the country music and whatever music he’s done and the movies he’s done, but the Christmas was always, it’s just warm,” Mary recalled. “It means a lot because of the time of year that it is and ties into your faith, your family, your friends, all of the things … and fans, obviously, Randy’s fans. 

    “The voice is just so iconic, it’s one of a kind. I know that he’d give anything in the world to be able to sing like that again.”

    — Mary Travis

    “They’ve waited for him and they’ve been kind to do that, so it is a time when you can slow down enough to catch up.”

    Above all else, Mary and Randy are grateful the country star had a chance to help shape the genre prior to his stroke with songs and lyrics that will be around for an eternity.

    CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

    “Our finite talents are not defined by the infinite fact that we have that music recorded, and it will be there for all of history,” Mary said. “And it’s like everything else in life, we don’t really appreciate it until it’s gone. 

    Randy Travis with a guitar

    Mary Travis said her husband’s voice is “one of a kind.” (Frederick Breedon IV/WireImage)

    “His voice was for sure God given. And I don’t think Randy ever took it for granted because he didn’t take anything for granted that I know of. He was full of humility.”

    She added, “But I think after the stroke, you do have a better understanding that it was it was a gift it was, it had its time. And now we move on and enjoy what we’ve done, but you never quit trying to create something new and something different.”

    “Where My Heart Is” is available now. 

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Tracy Wright is an entertainment reporter for Fox News Digital. Send story tips to Tracy.Wright@fox.com.

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  • News Analysis: How the Saudi crown prince went from pariah to feted White House guest

    BEIRUT  — Seven years ago, he was virtually persona non grata, any link to him considered kryptonite among U.S. political and business elite for his alleged role in the killing of a Washington Post columnist and Saudi critic.

    But when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came to Washington this week, he cemented a remarkable comeback, positioning himself as the linchpin of a new regional order in the Middle East, and his country as an essential partner in America’s AI-driven future.

    During what amounted to a state visit, the crown prince — Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader — was given the literal red carpet treatment: A Marine band, flag-bearing horsemen and a squadron of F-35s in the skies above; a black-tie dinner attended by a raft of business leaders in the prince’s honor; a U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center the next day.

    Throughout, Bin Salman (or MBS, as many call him) proved himself a keen practitioner of the brand of transactional politics favored by President Trump.

    President Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman walk down the Colonnade on the way to the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday.

    (Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

    He fulfilled Trump’s ask, first floated back in May during the Riyadh edition of the U.S.-Saudi Forum, to raise the kingdom’s U.S. investment commitments from $600 million to almost $1 trillion.

    And the prince managed to mollify Trump in his oft-repeated call for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, the normalization pacts with Israel brokered during the president’s first term, even while changing nothing of his long-stated position: That establishing ties with Israel be accompanied by steps toward Palestinian statehood — an outcome many in Israel’s political class reject.

    “We believe having a good relation with all Middle Eastern countries is a good thing, and we want to be part of the Abraham Accords. But we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path [to a] two-state solution,” Bin Salman said.

    “We want peace with the Israelis. We want peace with the Palestinians, we want them to coexist peacefully,” he added.

    President Trump greets Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, at the White House.

    President Trump greets Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, at the White House on Tuesday.

    (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)

    At home in Saudi Arabia, the trip was touted as an unequivocal triumph for the prince. Saudi state media boasted the country’s emergence as a major non-NATO ally for the U.S., and the signing of a so-called Strategic Defense Agreement as demonstrating Riyadh’s centrality to American strategic thinking.

    This touting came despite little clarity on what that agreement actually entails: Its text wasn’t published, and it was mentioned only in passing in a White House “fact sheet,” which emphasized Saudi Arabia would “buy American” with significant purchases of tanks, missiles and F-35s; the latter would be the first time the U.S.’ most advanced jet is sold to an Arab country.

    Saudi Arabia will also be given access to top-line AI chips, enabling it to leverage plentiful land and energy resources to build data centers while “protecting U.S. technology from foreign influence,” according to the White House.

    Talks over Riyadh’s civilian nuclear program, stalled for a decade over concerns from previous administrations, yielded a framework that in theory allows Saudi Arabia to build a nuclear plant. Uranium enrichment, which in theory would allow weaponization, isn’t part of the agreement, U.S. officials say.

    Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and President Trump watch a flyover.

    Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Trump watch a flyover of F-15 and F-35 fighters before meeting at the White House.

    (Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

    On the regional politics front, Bin Salman got a pledge from Trump to help broker an end to the war in Sudan.

    The visit capped Bin Salman’s stunning redemption arc from the nadir of his reputation seven years ago.

    Back then, his image as a dauntless reformer — reversing bans on women driving, neutering the country’s notorious religious police — was already crumbling after he sought to silence not only foreign opponents, but anyone domestically who questioned Vision 2030, his far-reaching (and hugely expensive) plan for transforming Saudi Arabia.

    Then came the 2018 strangulation and dismemberment in Turkey of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi insider-turned-mild-critic and Washington Post columnist.

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seen inside a vehicle.

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seen inside a vehicle while leaving the White House after a meeting in the Oval Office with President Trump.

    (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)

    Trump appeared more inclined to side with the prince, who denied any involvement in the killing, but the CIA said in a leaked report it had high confidence the prince ordered Khashoggi’s assassination.

    Association with Bin Salman, once Washington’s Middle East darling, became toxic. International companies rushed to pull out of the kingdom. Politicians made it clear he was unwelcome. Then-candidate Joe Biden vowed to make the Saudi government “a pariah.”

    In time, the prince stepped back from his more pugilistic policies, while geopolitics, energy concerns and a turbulent Middle East forced Biden to moderate his rejectionist stance.

    In 2022, Biden visited the prince — giving him a tepid fist bump — to coax him into lowering energy prices.

    That same year, Riyadh helped broker a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine. Later, a China-brokered agreement saw the prince calm his country’s stormy diplomatic relations with Iran. Just last month, he reportedly worked behind the scenes to push through a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

    His White House visit seemed to cement his comeback, but little of what was promised is a done deal.

    For one, whether Saudi Arabia can pony up $1 trillion — a figure amounting to 80% of its annual GDP and more than twice its foreign exchange reserves — is an open question.

    Crucially, the prince didn’t specify when the money would be invested.

    Though the investment pledge is big, “how much and over what period of time is completely unclear,” said Tim Callen, an economist and former International Monetary Fund mission chief to Saudi Arabia.

    Saudi Arabia is also pulling back on its government spending, with deflated oil prices forcing it to downsize many of its gigaprojects, Callen added.

    “The pot of money available to push out all these projects and investments has shrunk, relative to 2022 and 2023,” he said.

    “My take on it is that things are going to advance both on the investment and trade side [between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia] because there are mutual economic interests between the two countries,” he said. But in the short term, he added, $1 trillion “is too big a number for the economy of Saudi Arabia.”

    As for F-35s, seeing them on Saudi runways is likely to take years. Congress has to approve F-35 sales, and some opposition could arise if they’re seen to jeopardize Israel’s qualitative military edge.

    Israel, the only nation in the F-35 program allowed to use certain specialized technology, would expect Saudi Arabia to receive “planes of reduced caliber,” Trump said on Tuesday, with the prince on his side.

    “I don’t think that makes you too happy,” he said to the prince.

    “As far as I’m concerned,” Trump added, “I think [Israel and Saudi Arabia] are both at a level where they should get top of the line.”

    But the bigger obstacle may be Saudi Arabia’s links to China, said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory and an aviation analyst.

    Saudi security forces stand at attention beneath a portrait of Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

    Saudi security forces stand at attention beneath a portrait of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, during a military parade as pilgrims arrive for the annual pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca on May 31.

    (AFP via Getty Images)

    In recent years, Saudi Arabia has run military exercises with the Chinese navy and fielded Chinese-made weapons in its armed forces. Ensuring it doesn’t get a look at the aircraft’s capabilities presents “a different set of challenges,” Aboulafia said. Similar concerns scuttled the United Arab Emirates’ attempts to acquire the jet, he added.

    Another issue is that a backlog in aircraft delivery means another recipient would need to give up their production slots in Saudi Arabia’s favor.

    Also key to Bin Salman’s return to the U.S.’ full embrace was his treatment by Trump at the White House.

    When a reporter asked the prince about the Khashoggi killing, it was Trump who put up a vociferous defense, and called Khashoggi “extremely controversial.”

    “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it,” Trump said, pointing to the crown prince.

    President Trump, right, and Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's crown prince, shake hands.

    President Trump, right, and Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, shake hands during their meeting in the Oval Office.

    (Nathan Howard / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    Trump also took a swing at Biden’s fist bump, engaging in an awkward hand-grabbing game with Bin Salman.

    “I grabbed that hand,” Trump said. “I don’t give a hell where that hand’s been.”

    Nabih Bulos

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  • Race for California governor continues to heat up, with Trump critic Rep. Eric Swalwell jumping in

    San Francisco Bay Area Democrat Eric Swalwell, a nettlesome foil and frequent target of President Trump and Republicans, on Thursday announced his bid for California governor.

    The congressman declared his bid during an appearance on the ABC late-night show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, adding a little Hollywood flourish to a crowded, somewhat sleepy race filled with candidates looking for ways to catch fire in the 2026 election.

    Voter interest in the race remains relatively moribund, especially after two of California’s most prominent Democrats — former Vice President Kamala Harris and current U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla — opted to skip the race after months of speculation. About 44% of registered voters said in late October that they had not picked a preferred candidate to lead California, which is the most populous state in the union and has the fourth-largest economy in the world.

    The lack of a blockbuster candidate in the race, however, continues to entice others to jump in. Earlier this week, billionaire hedge fund founder Tom Steyer announced his bid, and other well-known Democrats are exploring a possible run.

    Swalwell, a 45-year-old former Republican and former prosecutor who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020, said his decision was driven by the serious problems facing California and the threats posed to the state and nation with Trump in the White House.

    “People are scared and prices are high, and I see the next governor of California having two jobs — one to keep the worst president ever out of our homes, streets and lives,” Swalwell said in an interview with The Times. “The second job is to bring what I call a new California, and that’s especially and most poignantly on housing and affordability in a state where we have the highest unemployment rate in the country, and the average age for a first-time homebuyer is 40 years old, and so we need to bring that down.”

    Gov. Gavin Newsom cannot run for reelection because of term limits, and he is currently weighing a 2028 presidential bid.

    None of the candidates in the race, including Swalwell, possess the statewide notoriety, success or fundraising prowess of California’s most recent governors: Newsom, California political icon Jerry Brown and movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    “If you look at the past three governors, they’ve all had personalities,” said Jim DeBoo, Newsom’s former chief of staff, at a political conference at USC on Tuesday. “When you’re looking at the field right now, most people don’t know” much about the candidates in the crowded race despite their political bona fides.

    Nearly a dozen prominent Democrats and Republicans are running for governor next year, including: former Rep. Katie Porter of Irvine, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond; former Controller Betty Yee and conservative commentator Steve Hilton. And speculation continues to swirl about billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso and Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta possibly entering the race.

    On Thursday, Thurmond proposed a tax on the wealthy to fund education, healthcare, firefighting and construction. The proposal was seen in part as a subtle dig at Steyer and Caruso, both of whom have used their wealth to fund previous runs for office.

    “The naysayers say California’s ultra wealthy already pay enough, and that taxing billionaires will stifle innovation and force companies to leave our state,” he said in an online video. “I don’t buy it.”

    Steyer painted his decision to leave the hedge fund he created in California as an example of his desire to give back to the state’s residents in an ad that will begin airing on Friday.

    “It’s really goddamn simple. Tackle the cost-of-living crises or get the hell out of the way. Californians are the hardest-working people in the country. But the question is who’s getting the benefit of this,” he says in the ad, arguing that he took on corporations that refused to pay state taxes as well as oil and tobacco companies. “Let’s get down to brass tacks: It’s too expensive to live here.”

    Porter also went after Steyer, another sign that the intensity of the race is heating up as the June primary fast approaches.

    “A new billionaire in our race claims he’ll fight the very industries he got rich helping grow — fossil fuel companies, tobacco and private immigration detention facilities — at great cost to Californians,” she wrote on X on Wednesday.

    The former congresswoman was the subject of recent attacks from Democratic rivals in the governor’s race after videos emerged of her scolding a reporter and swearing at an aide. Yee said she should drop out of the race and Villaraigosa blistered her in ads.

    Villaraigosa also attacked Becerra for his connection to the scandal that rocked Sacramento last week, involving money from one of his campaign accounts being funneled to his former chief of staff while Becerra served in the Biden administration.

    “We don’t have a strong or robust opposition party in California, so you end up like seeing a lot of this action on the dance floor in the primary, obviously, between Democrats, which is going to be interesting,” said Elizabeth Ashford, who worked for Schwarzenegger, Brown and Harris and currently advises Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. “There’s obviously a lot of longtime relationships and longtime loyalties and interactions between these folks. And so what’s going to happen? Big question mark.”

    The ability to protect California from Trump’s policies and political vindictiveness and deal with the state’s affordability, housing and homelessness crisis will be pivotal to Swalwell’s potential path to the governor’s mansion. His choice to announce his decision on Kimmel’s show was telling — the host’s show was briefly suspended by Walt Disney-owned ABC under pressure from Trump after Kimmel made comments about the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

    Kimmel thanked Swalwell for his support during that period, which included the congressman handing out pro-Kimmel merchandise to his colleagues in Washington, D.C., before the two discussed the future of the state.

    “I love California, it’s the greatest country in the world. Country,” Swalwell said. “But that’s why it pisses me off to see Californians running through the fields where they work from ICE agents or troops in our streets. It’s horrifying. Cancer research being canceled. It’s awful to look at. And our state, this great state, needs a fighter and a protector, someone who will bring prices down, lift wages up.”

    There is a history of Californians announcing campaigns on late-night television. Schwarzenegger launched his 2003 gubernatorial bid on “The Tonight Show,” hosted by Jay Leno; Swalwell announced his unsuccessful presidential bid on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

    As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Swalwell said, he traveled to nearly 40 countries, and he would try to leverage the relationships he formed by creating an ambassador program to find global research money for California given the cuts the Trump administration has made to cancer research and other programs.

    The congressman is perhaps best known for criticizing Trump on cable news programs. But he’s faced ample attacks as well.

    In 2020, Swalwell came under scrutiny because of his association with Chinese spy Fang Fang, who raised money for his congressional campaign. He cut off ties with her in 2015 after intelligence officials briefed him and other members of Congress about Chinese efforts to infiltrate the legislative body. He was not accused of impropriety.

    He is also being investigated by the Department of Justice over mortgage fraud allegations, which he dismissed as retribution for him being a full-throated critic of Trump.

    Swalwell served on the City Council of the East Bay city of Dublin before being elected to Congress in 2012 by defeating Rep. Pete Stark, a fellow Democrat.

    An Iowa native, Swalwell grew up in Dublin, which he said was “a town of low-income expectations” that was smeared as “Scrublin” at the time. He said that after graduating from law school, he served on the local planning commission that helped transform Dublin. The town increased housing, attracted Fortune 500 employers, exponentially improved the number of students going to college and leveraged developers to improve schools, resources for senior citizens, and police and fire services.

    “We have a Whole Foods, which no one can afford to shop at,” he said.

    Seema Mehta

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  • Jelly Roll unveils dramatic transformation without signature beard after weight loss

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Jelly Roll is showing off a whole new look.

    The 40-year-old “Save Me” singer, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, took to Instagram on Thursday to share his new look, after shaving off his beard, which he has had for over a decade.

    “By now you have probably figured out that I look like a ninja turtle,” he said in the video. “Crazy. One of the reasons I even started growing a beard is I was so obese, it was just easier to cover up what was happening here.”

    Fans flooded the comments section with positive messages for the singer, telling him he is an inspiration. “Somebody call Gillette ‘cause Jelly lookin’ SHARP!” one fan wrote, while another added, “You are so deserving, Jelly. You truly are. 🙏.”

    Jelly Roll debuted a new look without his signature beard. (Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)

    JELLY ROLL’S WIFE BODY SLAMS HIM IN PLAYFUL TIKTOK VIDEO AFTER SINGER SHEDS 200 POUNDS

    “You are an amazing human. You’ve come a long way in the right direction An inspiration for all be proud Brother 🤘💯♥️,” a third fan wrote.

    His unrecognizable transformation comes after the 2026 Grammy Award nominations were announced. Jelly Roll received three nominations ahead of the award show, including best contemporary country album and best country duo/group performance.

    Jelly Roll in a black outfit and hat without his beard

    Fans congratulated Jelly Roll in the comments section. (Jelly Roll Instagram)

    In the video, the singer gets emotional as he discusses what these nominations mean to him, calling it “probably the craziest thing that’s ever happened in my life.”

    “When i made it to my first Grammy of the year i had new artist i thought to myself this is the only time I’ll ever be at the Grammys, and to be coming back three years later with more nominations than I’ve ever had is just…first of all the gratitude.”

    Jelly Roll with a clean shaven face

    Jelly Roll got emotional while discussing his Grammy nominations. (Jelly Roll Instagram)

    “I don’t care what artists say, I don’t care what artists act like, I’m gonna tell you the real truth,” he added. “There’s not an artist in the world that didn’t grow up watching the Grammys when they were a kid and walk in their bedrooms afterwards and rehearse their speech.”

    CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

    He later held back tears as he embraced his nomination for country album, saying “win, lose or draw, dude, holy f— we won,” referring to him and his team.

    Jelly Roll speaking to the camera with a clean-shaven face

    Jelly Roll said there is no artist out there who didn’t pretend to win a Grammy when they were younger. (Jelly Roll Instagram)

    Jelly Roll began his weight-loss journey in December 2022, and has been open with his fans about his progress over the years.

    In April, he told fans during Pat McAfee’s “Big Night AHT” event that he had lost 183 pounds telling a cheering crowd, “I started at 540 pounds. I’m 357 pounds this morning, baby.” He added that he wants to lose another 100 pounds so that he could go skydiving with his wife, Bunnie XO.

    JELLY ROLL AND WIFE REMAIN FAITHFUL DURING DIFFICULT JOURNEY TO GET PREGNANT: ‘WE PUT IT IN GOD’S HANDS’

    A before and after split of Jelly Roll

    Jelly Roll before and after his over 200 pound weight loss.  (Getty Images)

    The “Church” singer then spoke with Fox News Digital at the 2025 Academy of Country Music Awards in May, noting that his biggest challenge when it comes to losing weight is food.

    LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

    “If you’re really battling obesity, you got to start at the dinner table, man. The walking’s great, all the other stuff’s great, but you got to fight that addiction at the dinner table,” he said.

    WATCH: JELLY ROLL CONFESSES BIGGEST CHALLENGE OF LOSING WEIGHT

    JELLY ROLL BATTLES SEVERE ISOLATION AND ILLNESS DURING GRUELING FOREIGN TOUR

    In September, Jelly Roll celebrated another major weight-loss milestone, sharing with his Instagram followers that he can now fit into designer clothes, joking with his fans to “Pray for my bank account.”

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    Lori Bashian is an entertainment production assistant for Fox News Digital. 

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  • Elizabeth Hurley, Billy Ray Cyrus steal CMAs grooving to Chris Stapleton as Kenny Chesney rocks the stage

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    The 2025 CMA Awards are here.

    Luke Combs kicked off country music’s biggest night with a performance of “Back in the Saddle.”

    Lainey Wilson hosted the show on Wednesday night. The “Heart Like a Truck” singer took the stage after Combs’ performance in a white and gold, bell-bottom look. She tied the look together with a white cowboy hat and a large CMA Awards belt buckle.

    Lainey Wilson is the host of the 2025 CMA Awards. (Getty Images)

    Wilson walked up to country music stars in the audience and got the icons to sing their songs along with her. Lainey approached Miranda Lambert, Ella Langley and Shaboozey, among others, before Keith Urban took the stage for a performance with her.

    LAINEY WILSON SPILLS DETAILS OF INTIMATE PROPOSAL, EYES ‘VERY SIMPLE’ WEDDING

    The 59th annual CMA Awards were held at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The entertainer of the year award, the biggest award of the night, was presented by Urban at the very end of the show. He gave the prestigious award to Wilson.

    Billy Ray Cyrus took the stage with Elizabeth Hurley to present the single of the year award to Ella Langley and Riley Green for “You Look Like You Love Me.”

    Lainey Wilson and Keith Urban

    Lainey Wilson and Keith Urban performed at the 2025 CMA Awards. (Getty Images)

    Luke Combs at the CMA Awards 2025 red carpet

    Luke Combs attended the 59th Annual CMA Awards. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

    During the show, Cyrus shared photos of himself and Hurley on the red carpet to Instagram. “Our first date in Nashville. Actually in the US! So grateful for tonight,” the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer captioned his post.

    Megan Moroney then took the stage in a very pink performance of “6 Months Later.”

    19-time CMA Award winner and this year’s entertainer of the year nominee, Chris Stapleton, took the stage and performed “Bad As I Want to Be.” Hurley and Cyrus were seen grooving to Stapleton, clapping their hands. 

    Elizabeth Hurley, Billy Ray Cyrus and Kenny Chesney

    Elizabeth Hurley, Billy Ray Cyrus and Kenny Chesney all attended the 2025 CMA Awards. (Getty Images)

    Wednesday night’s show marks the first time Wilson has hosted the CMA Awards solo. Last year, she was joined by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning. She is one of three women to host the CMA Awards alone.

    Wilson joins Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire as she made history on Wednesday night.

    During a bit, Wilson joked on stage that she received texts from Bryan and Manning.

    Luke Bryan, Lainey Wilson and Peyton Manning illustration

    Luke Bryan, Lainey Wilson and Peyton Manning hosted the 2024 CMA Awards. (Getty Images)

    “Lainey, you’re doing great. Love the show,” she said Manning texted her. Then said she received this text from Bryan, “Lainey, what night is the show?” 

    Lainey Wilson in green at the CMA Awards in 2025

    Lainey Wilson on the CMA Awards red carpet. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

    Zach Top won the CMA for best new artist of the year. He accidently brought his can of beer up on stage with him. 

    Zach Top

    Zach Top won the CMA for best new artist of the year. He accidently brought his can of beer up on stage with him.  (Michael Buckner/Billboard via Getty Images)

    Wilson was joined by Billy Bob Thorton to present the musician of the year award. Thornton joked with Wilson that he has to get to church on Sundays, so he makes sure to go to bed early on Saturday night after starring in Carter Faith’s “Bar Star” music video.

    Before welcoming Riley Green to the stage, Wilson crowned “Reacher” star Alan Ritchson as her cowboy of the night.

    Cody Johnson took home the male entertainer of the year award. Wilson took home the award for female vocalist of the year.

    Lainey Wilson and Billy Bob Thornton

    Lainey Wilson and Billy Bob Thornton at the 2025 CMA Awards. (Getty Images)

    Dustin Lynch told Fox News Digital on the red carpet that Wilson is the “best one” to host the award show. “Lainey is such a natural and so fun. She’s funny and confident and she’s going to represent us well tonight,” Lynch said.

    WATCH: Dustin Lynch calls Lainey Wilson a ‘natural’ at hosting

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    Brantley Gilbert and his wife, Amber, celebrated a date night on the CMA red carpet. Brantley told Fox News Digital that their kids are usually “attached” to their hips, so he was very excited to get his wife to himself on Wednesday night.

    WATCH: Brantley Gilbert calls CMA Awards ‘date night’

    “I’m kinda eating it up a little bit tonight. Daddy’s trying to cuddle,” Brantley said, which got a laugh out of his wife.

    LeAnn Rimes spoke to Fox News Digital prior to the big show and called returning to CMAs a “full circle moment” after she first attended the awards show as a teenager in the late 1990s.

    WATCH: LeAnn Rimes reflects on her first CMA Awards appearance 

    The award show also featured performances by Kelsea Ballerini, Ella Langley, Miranda Lambert and Kenny Chesney.

    Chesney rocked the stage with his hits, including “American Kids.”

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    Country music star Vince Gill was honored at the CMA Awards. He was introduced by country music legend George Strait, and received the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Country Music Association, which recognizes his career and influence.

    Actress Elizabeth Hurley poses on the red carpet wearing a deep red gown with a plunging neckline and thigh-high slit, accessorized with silver heels and statement earrings, at the 59th Annual CMA Awards in Nashville, Tennessee, on November 19, 2025.

    Elizabeth Hurley presented the single of the year CMA Award alongside her boyfriend, Billy Ray Cyrus. (Emma McIntyre/ Getty Images)

    Gill spoke to Fox News Digital on the red carpet, ahead of his legendary honor. The country star hopes his legacy will be in his music.

    “The songs seem to be what will live forever. The rest of us won’t. Artists will come and go, but the songs are forever,” Gill said.

    Strait took the stage at the 2025 CMAs to honor Gill. “His guitar playing is amazing. His songwriting is amazing. His singing is amazing,” Strait said.

    “There’s not a more deserving person of this honor than this man right here,” Strait continued before inviting Gill on stage to receive his award.

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

    Janelle Ash is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to janelle.ash@fox.com. 

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  • ‘Should not be like this’: Maryland woman who lived in US for 30 years gets deported to Vietnam

    Despite rallying the community’s support, a Maryland woman was deported after living in the country for more than 30 years.Melissa Tran, a wife, mother and business owner, was deported to Vietnam, her home country.”I love her to death. She has been just like a daughter to me,” said Kitty Chamos, a family friend.The community of Hagerstown has rallied to support Tran and her family over the last six months. Tran owns a local nail salon and is a wife and mother of four children.She moved to the United States from Vietnam in 1993.In 2001, when Tran was 20, she pleaded guilty to stealing money from her employer. She said she was pressured by an abusive boyfriend to do it. She paid restitution and served jail time.”She’s such a good person, and you know, she paid her debt. She did wrong, she paid her debt. It should not be like this,” Chamos said.Tran eventually moved on, started a family and opened the successful nail salon, never missing a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In May, though, she was arrested by ICE and held in detention for five months before a judge ordered her release because Vietnam had not issued her travel documents.”She has always helped everyone she can help. Always. There was a lady there who didn’t speak English at all, and she befriended her and was helping her,” Chamos said.At an ICE check-in Friday, Tran learned that Vietnam agreed to issue her a passport, and she was arrested and taken again to a detention center. Her husband said she was deported to Vietnam on Monday.”I think it’s just absolutely horrible to take her away from her family and her children. They’re going to suffer so bad. They already have. It has just been a terrible ordeal,” Chamos said.Tran’s friends said she has distant relatives in Vietnam, but they are not sure where she will live. In the meantime, they will continue to raise money for her lawyer to try to bring her back to the United States.

    HAGERSTOWN, Md. —

    Despite rallying the community’s support, a Maryland woman was deported after living in the country for more than 30 years.

    Melissa Tran, a wife, mother and business owner, was deported to Vietnam, her home country.

    “I love her to death. She has been just like a daughter to me,” said Kitty Chamos, a family friend.

    The community of Hagerstown has rallied to support Tran and her family over the last six months. Tran owns a local nail salon and is a wife and mother of four children.

    She moved to the United States from Vietnam in 1993.

    In 2001, when Tran was 20, she pleaded guilty to stealing money from her employer. She said she was pressured by an abusive boyfriend to do it. She paid restitution and served jail time.

    “She’s such a good person, and you know, she paid her debt. She did wrong, she paid her debt. It should not be like this,” Chamos said.

    Tran eventually moved on, started a family and opened the successful nail salon, never missing a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In May, though, she was arrested by ICE and held in detention for five months before a judge ordered her release because Vietnam had not issued her travel documents.

    “She has always helped everyone she can help. Always. There was a lady there who didn’t speak English at all, and she befriended her and was helping her,” Chamos said.

    At an ICE check-in Friday, Tran learned that Vietnam agreed to issue her a passport, and she was arrested and taken again to a detention center. Her husband said she was deported to Vietnam on Monday.

    “I think it’s just absolutely horrible to take her away from her family and her children. They’re going to suffer so bad. They already have. It has just been a terrible ordeal,” Chamos said.

    Tran’s friends said she has distant relatives in Vietnam, but they are not sure where she will live. In the meantime, they will continue to raise money for her lawyer to try to bring her back to the United States.

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  • Commentary: Justice has no expiration date. That’s why 2020 election fraud still matters

    In the days and weeks after the 2020 election, partisans across the country used lies and deceit to try to defraud the American people and steal the White House.

    Although Joe Biden was the clear and unequivocal winner, racking up big margins in the popular vote and electoral college, 84 fake electors signed statements certifying that Donald Trump had carried their seven battleground states.

    He did not.

    The electoral votes at issue constituted nearly a third of the number needed to win the presidency and would have been more than enough to reverse Biden’s victory, granting Trump a second term against the wishes of most voters.

    To some, the attempted election theft is old (and eagerly buried) news.

    The events that culminated in the violent assault on the Capitol and attempt to block Biden from taking office occurred half a decade ago, the shovel wielders might say, making them as relevant as those faded social-distancing stickers you still see in some stores. Besides, Trump was given a second turn in the White House by a plurality of voters in 2024.

    But it’s only old news if you believe that justice and integrity carry an expiration date, wrongdoing is fine with the passage of enough time and the foundational values of our country and its democracy — starting with fair and honest elections — matter only to the extent they help your political side prevail.

    It bears repeating: “What we’re talking about here is an attempt to overturn the outcome of a presidential election,” said Sean Morales-Doyle, who heads the Voting Rights and Elections Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a law and policy think tank at New York University. “If people can engage in that kind of conduct without consequence or accountability, then we have to worry about it happening again.”

    Which is why punishment and deterrence are so important.

    Last week, the Nevada Supreme Court unanimously reinstated the criminal case against six Republicans who signed certificates falsely claiming Trump had won the state’s electoral votes. Those charged include Nevada’s GOP chairman, Michael McDonald, and the state’s representative on the Republican National Committee, Jim DeGraffenreid.

    The ruling focused on a procedural matter: whether the charges should have been brought in Douglas County, where the fake certificates were signed in the state capital — Carson City — or in Clark County, where they were submitted at a courthouse in Las Vegas. A lower court ruled the charges should have been brought in Douglas County and dismissed the case. The high court reversed the decision, allowing the prosecution on forgery charges to proceed.

    As well it should. Let a jury decide.

    Of course, the Nevada Six and other phony electors are but small fry. The ringleader and attempted-larcenist-in-chief — Donald “Find Me 11,780 Votes” Trump — escaped liability by winning the 2024 election.

    This month, he pardoned scores of fake electors and others involved in the attempted election heist — including his bumbling ex-attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani — for any potential federal crimes. The move was purely symbolic; Trump’s pardoning power does not extend to cases brought in state courts.

    But it was further evidence of his abundant contempt for the rule of law. (Just hours after taking office, Trump pardoned nearly 1,600 defendants — including some who brutalized cops with pepper spray and wooden and metal poles — who were involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.)

    Efforts around the country to prosecute even those low-level schemers, cheaters and 2020 election miscreants have produced mixed results.

    In Michigan, a judge threw out the criminal case against 15 phony electors, ruling the government failed to present sufficient evidence that they intended to commit fraud.

    In New Mexico and Pennsylvania, fake electors avoided prosecution because their certification came with a caveat. It said the documentation was submitted in the event they were recognized as legitimate electors. The issue was moot once Trump lost his fight to overturn the election, though some in Trump’s orbit hoped the phony certifications would help pressure Pence.

    Derek Muller, a Notre Dame law professor, looks askance at many of the cases that prosecutors have brought, suggesting the ballot box — rather than a courtroom — may be the better venue to litigate the matter.

    “There’s a fine line between what’s distasteful conduct and what’s criminal conduct,” Muller said. “I don’t have easy answers about which kinds of things should or shouldn’t be prosecuted in a particular moment, except to say if it’s something novel” — like these 2020 cases — “having a pretty iron-clad legal theory is pretty essential if you’re going to be prosecuting people for engaging in this sort of political protest activity.”

    Other cases grind on.

    Three fake electors are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on forgery charges next month in Wisconsin. Fourteen defendants — including Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows — face charges in Georgia. In Arizona, the state attorney general must decide this week whether to move forward with a case against 11 people after a judge tossed out an indictment because of how the case was presented to grand jurors.

    Justice in the case of the 2020 election has been far from sure and swift. But that’s no reason to relent.

    The penalty for hijacking a plane is a minimum of 20 years in federal prison. That seems excessive for the fake electors.

    But dozens of bad actors tried to hijack an election. They shouldn’t be let off scot-free.

    Mark Z. Barabak

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  • ‘To me, it’s family’: Statue honoring Chinook the explorer dog unveiled

    ‘To me, it’s family’: Statue honoring Chinook the explorer dog unveiled

    Updated: 1:11 AM EST Nov 17, 2025

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    New Hampshire’s state dog was memorialized Saturday during a statue unveiling in Tamworth, to honor the heroic past of a breed that started in the Granite State.The Chinook became the official state dog in 2010 and is one of the few officially designated state dogs in the country. The name is adapted from a dog of the same name, owned by author and explorer Arthur Walden.State history tells that Walden owned property in Wonalancet in 1917, when Chinook was born. The Chinook Owner’s Association says that the two were the first sled dog team to summit Mount Washington successfully, and brought sled dog races to New England for the first time.In 1929, Walden and Chinook were enlisted for an Antarctic supply expedition. During the trip, Chinook is said to have wandered away, never to be seen again.Over the years, the Association says the breed faced endangered status, at one point, with numbers only in the hundreds registered nationwide. In recent decades, Chinooks have found a resurgence across the country as a dog known for its energy, intelligence, and kindness. Saturday afternoon, the Tamworth History Center unveiled a bronze sculpture of the original Chinook, modeled after surviving photographs of Walden’s dog.The sculpture took a year and a half to design and build.”It’s beyond flattering,” said sculptor Peter Dransfield. “I think, like a lot of bronze sculptures you see around town, it’s going to be here forever.”Chinook owners from all over the country were invited to the unveiling ceremony, with some coming from as far as Virginia and Washington state.“It’s the New Hampshire state dog for a reason, born and bred here. To me, it’s family,” said Tyler Sweeney of Alexandria, Virginia, originally from Weare, New Hampshire. “Ninety-six years later, we’re having the unique opportunity to bring Chinook home,” said sculptor Andrea Kennett, “if not in body, certainly in spirit.”The Tamworth History Center used local fundraising efforts to create the statue. Board members say it was one of the fastest fundraising goals they’ve ever reached.

    TAMWORTH, N.H. —

    New Hampshire’s state dog was memorialized Saturday during a statue unveiling in Tamworth, to honor the heroic past of a breed that started in the Granite State.

    The Chinook became the official state dog in 2010 and is one of the few officially designated state dogs in the country. The name is adapted from a dog of the same name, owned by author and explorer Arthur Walden.

    State history tells that Walden owned property in Wonalancet in 1917, when Chinook was born. The Chinook Owner’s Association says that the two were the first sled dog team to summit Mount Washington successfully, and brought sled dog races to New England for the first time.

    In 1929, Walden and Chinook were enlisted for an Antarctic supply expedition. During the trip, Chinook is said to have wandered away, never to be seen again.

    Over the years, the Association says the breed faced endangered status, at one point, with numbers only in the hundreds registered nationwide. In recent decades, Chinooks have found a resurgence across the country as a dog known for its energy, intelligence, and kindness.

    Saturday afternoon, the Tamworth History Center unveiled a bronze sculpture of the original Chinook, modeled after surviving photographs of Walden’s dog.

    The sculpture took a year and a half to design and build.

    “It’s beyond flattering,” said sculptor Peter Dransfield. “I think, like a lot of bronze sculptures you see around town, it’s going to be here forever.”

    Chinook owners from all over the country were invited to the unveiling ceremony, with some coming from as far as Virginia and Washington state.

    “It’s the New Hampshire state dog for a reason, born and bred here. To me, it’s family,” said Tyler Sweeney of Alexandria, Virginia, originally from Weare, New Hampshire.

    “Ninety-six years later, we’re having the unique opportunity to bring Chinook home,” said sculptor Andrea Kennett, “if not in body, certainly in spirit.”

    The Tamworth History Center used local fundraising efforts to create the statue. Board members say it was one of the fastest fundraising goals they’ve ever reached.

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  • South Africa investigates mystery of a plane that arrived with more than 150 Palestinians from Gaza

    South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.The actions of South African authorities in initially refusing to allow the passengers off the plane provoked fierce criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said the 153 Palestinians — who included families with children and one woman who is nine months pregnant — were kept in dire conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was an investigation to uncover how the Palestinians came to South Africa via a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.“These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.Palestinians being ‘exploited’The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement the flight was arranged by “an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”It didn’t name who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said an organization called Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by Al-Majd that brought Palestinians from a meeting point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Then buses from Al-Majd picked the Palestinians up and brought them to Ramon airport in Israel, where they were flown out of the country.South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled onward to other countries, without naming those countries, but 130 remained and were allowed in after intervention from South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers to accommodate them.“Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.Shadowy operationThe secretive nature of the flight raised fears among rights groups that it marked an attempt by the Israeli government to push Palestinians from Gaza.Israel’s foreign ministry referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories. It said the Palestinians on the charter plane left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.Around 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war under the policy.Israel’s government had embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.Trump has since backed away from this plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28. The arrival of that flight was not announced by authorities.Sooliman said the passengers on the latest plane did not initially know where they were going and were given no food for the two days it took to travel to Johannesburg.“They were given nothing on the plane itself and this must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israel and has led the international pro-Palestinian movement by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a highly contentious case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel denies committing genocide and has denounced South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas.The people that ended up in South Africa underlined the desperation of Palestinians following a two-year war that has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and reduced the territory to rubble. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.Jerusalem-based organizationAn organization called Al-Majd Europe has previously been linked to facilitating travel for Palestinians out of Gaza. It describes itself on its website as a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and rescue efforts to Muslim communities in conflict zones.The website does not list office phone numbers or its exact address. It states that Al-Majd Europe works with a variety of organizations including 15 international agencies, but no organizations are listed and a “will be announced soon” message was displayed in that section on Friday.Another message that appeared Friday on the website said people were impersonating it to request money or cryptocurrency “under the pretext of facilitating travel or humanitarian aid.” Al-Majd Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address given on its site. Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome contributed to this report.

    South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.

    The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.

    It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.

    The actions of South African authorities in initially refusing to allow the passengers off the plane provoked fierce criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said the 153 Palestinians — who included families with children and one woman who is nine months pregnant — were kept in dire conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was an investigation to uncover how the Palestinians came to South Africa via a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.

    “These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.

    Palestinians being ‘exploited’

    The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement the flight was arranged by “an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”

    It didn’t name who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said an organization called Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.

    The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by Al-Majd that brought Palestinians from a meeting point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Then buses from Al-Majd picked the Palestinians up and brought them to Ramon airport in Israel, where they were flown out of the country.

    South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled onward to other countries, without naming those countries, but 130 remained and were allowed in after intervention from South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers to accommodate them.

    “Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.

    Shadowy operation

    The secretive nature of the flight raised fears among rights groups that it marked an attempt by the Israeli government to push Palestinians from Gaza.

    Israel’s foreign ministry referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories. It said the Palestinians on the charter plane left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.

    Around 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war under the policy.

    Israel’s government had embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.

    Trump has since backed away from this plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.

    South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.

    They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.

    Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28. The arrival of that flight was not announced by authorities.

    Sooliman said the passengers on the latest plane did not initially know where they were going and were given no food for the two days it took to travel to Johannesburg.

    “They were given nothing on the plane itself and this must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.

    South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israel and has led the international pro-Palestinian movement by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a highly contentious case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel denies committing genocide and has denounced South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas.

    The people that ended up in South Africa underlined the desperation of Palestinians following a two-year war that has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and reduced the territory to rubble. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.

    Jerusalem-based organization

    An organization called Al-Majd Europe has previously been linked to facilitating travel for Palestinians out of Gaza. It describes itself on its website as a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and rescue efforts to Muslim communities in conflict zones.

    The website does not list office phone numbers or its exact address. It states that Al-Majd Europe works with a variety of organizations including 15 international agencies, but no organizations are listed and a “will be announced soon” message was displayed in that section on Friday.

    Another message that appeared Friday on the website said people were impersonating it to request money or cryptocurrency “under the pretext of facilitating travel or humanitarian aid.” Al-Majd Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address given on its site.

    Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome contributed to this report.

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  • South Africa investigates mystery of a plane that arrived with more than 150 Palestinians from Gaza

    South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.The actions of South African authorities in initially refusing to allow the passengers off the plane provoked fierce criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said the 153 Palestinians — who included families with children and one woman who is nine months pregnant — were kept in dire conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was an investigation to uncover how the Palestinians came to South Africa via a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.“These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.Palestinians being ‘exploited’The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement the flight was arranged by “an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”It didn’t name who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said an organization called Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by Al-Majd that brought Palestinians from a meeting point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Then buses from Al-Majd picked the Palestinians up and brought them to Ramon airport in Israel, where they were flown out of the country.South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled onward to other countries, without naming those countries, but 130 remained and were allowed in after intervention from South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers to accommodate them.“Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.Shadowy operationThe secretive nature of the flight raised fears among rights groups that it marked an attempt by the Israeli government to push Palestinians from Gaza.Israel’s foreign ministry referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories. It said the Palestinians on the charter plane left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.Around 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war under the policy.Israel’s government had embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.Trump has since backed away from this plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28. The arrival of that flight was not announced by authorities.Sooliman said the passengers on the latest plane did not initially know where they were going and were given no food for the two days it took to travel to Johannesburg.“They were given nothing on the plane itself and this must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israel and has led the international pro-Palestinian movement by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a highly contentious case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel denies committing genocide and has denounced South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas.The people that ended up in South Africa underlined the desperation of Palestinians following a two-year war that has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and reduced the territory to rubble. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.Jerusalem-based organizationAn organization called Al-Majd Europe has previously been linked to facilitating travel for Palestinians out of Gaza. It describes itself on its website as a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and rescue efforts to Muslim communities in conflict zones.The website does not list office phone numbers or its exact address. It states that Al-Majd Europe works with a variety of organizations including 15 international agencies, but no organizations are listed and a “will be announced soon” message was displayed in that section on Friday.Another message that appeared Friday on the website said people were impersonating it to request money or cryptocurrency “under the pretext of facilitating travel or humanitarian aid.” Al-Majd Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address given on its site. Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome contributed to this report.

    South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.

    The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.

    It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.

    The actions of South African authorities in initially refusing to allow the passengers off the plane provoked fierce criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said the 153 Palestinians — who included families with children and one woman who is nine months pregnant — were kept in dire conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was an investigation to uncover how the Palestinians came to South Africa via a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.

    “These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.

    Palestinians being ‘exploited’

    The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement the flight was arranged by “an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”

    It didn’t name who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said an organization called Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.

    The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by Al-Majd that brought Palestinians from a meeting point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Then buses from Al-Majd picked the Palestinians up and brought them to Ramon airport in Israel, where they were flown out of the country.

    South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled onward to other countries, without naming those countries, but 130 remained and were allowed in after intervention from South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers to accommodate them.

    “Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.

    Shadowy operation

    The secretive nature of the flight raised fears among rights groups that it marked an attempt by the Israeli government to push Palestinians from Gaza.

    Israel’s foreign ministry referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories. It said the Palestinians on the charter plane left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.

    Around 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war under the policy.

    Israel’s government had embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.

    Trump has since backed away from this plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.

    South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.

    They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.

    Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28. The arrival of that flight was not announced by authorities.

    Sooliman said the passengers on the latest plane did not initially know where they were going and were given no food for the two days it took to travel to Johannesburg.

    “They were given nothing on the plane itself and this must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.

    South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israel and has led the international pro-Palestinian movement by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a highly contentious case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel denies committing genocide and has denounced South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas.

    The people that ended up in South Africa underlined the desperation of Palestinians following a two-year war that has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and reduced the territory to rubble. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.

    Jerusalem-based organization

    An organization called Al-Majd Europe has previously been linked to facilitating travel for Palestinians out of Gaza. It describes itself on its website as a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and rescue efforts to Muslim communities in conflict zones.

    The website does not list office phone numbers or its exact address. It states that Al-Majd Europe works with a variety of organizations including 15 international agencies, but no organizations are listed and a “will be announced soon” message was displayed in that section on Friday.

    Another message that appeared Friday on the website said people were impersonating it to request money or cryptocurrency “under the pretext of facilitating travel or humanitarian aid.” Al-Majd Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address given on its site.

    Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome contributed to this report.

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  • Jelly Roll battles severe isolation and illness during grueling foreign tour

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Jelly Roll hit a breaking point on his music tour.

    During the Australia leg of his tour, the country star admitted he has reached one of the lowest points he’s faced in years — while thousands of miles away from his family and support system.

    The 40-year-old singer, born Jason Bradley DeFord, spoke candidly during an appearance on the “No Filter with Kate Langbroek” podcast, sharing that the long-distance trip challenged him in ways he didn’t expect.

    “I’m falling apart. It’s a horrible week. I’m doing the worst mentally I’ve done in a long time,” the “I Am Not Okay” crooner shared.

    JELLY ROLL AND WIFE REMAIN FAITHFUL DURING DIFFICULT JOURNEY TO GET PREGNANT: ‘WE PUT IT IN GOD’S HANDS’ 

    Jelly Roll performs onstage during Country Thunder Wisconsin on July 19, 2025, in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. (Joshua Applegate/Getty Images)

    “I’m really far from home and it’s really hitting me that I’m really far from home, like in an anxious way … I’m not having fun and I want to go home.”

    Jelly Roll performed six shows across Australia from Oct. 25 to Nov. 4 — his debut run in the country — before a scheduled final concert in Auckland, New Zealand, on Nov. 8.

    He canceled the Auckland show at the last minute due to illness, marking a rare instance of him missing a performance.

    JELLY ROLL’S WIFE BODY SLAMS HIM IN PLAYFUL TIKTOK VIDEO AFTER SINGER SHEDS 200 POUNDS

    On the podcast, Jelly Roll explained that his physical sickness had a domino effect on his mental state as the demanding travel schedule continued.

    He said the trip abroad had “f—ed my stomach up,” adding that his health issues quickly hit his overall well-being.

    “When my stomach’s not right, nothing’s right. My mind’s not right. Everything. I’m just not thinking clear,” he said.

    Jelly Roll

    Jelly Roll reaches lowest point in years while touring Australia, sharing candid details about health issues and missing his family support system. (Jelly Roll Instagram)

    JELLY ROLL CLAIMS LOUIS VUITTON EMPLOYEES TREATED HIM LIKE A ‘CRIMINAL’ DURING SYDNEY SHOPPING TRIP

    Jelly Roll additionally said the logistics of the Australia trip — especially the lack of tour buses — intensified his sense of feeling alone.

    “I’m having to be super isolated. I don’t like it,” he revealed. “I’m spending a lot of time in my hotel room by myself, just in my head. I don’t like it. I miss my family a ton.”

    He shared that he was using breathing exercises to steady himself and “talking myself through” the illness, but admitted that every part of him wanted to return to Tennessee.

    “Everybody wants to go home when they’re sick. That’s just in us,” he said. “I just don’t feel good, so I just want to go home.”

    The grueling tour also coincided with another tense moment overseas.

    CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER 

    Jelly Roll

    Jelly Roll said he was treated like a “criminal” while shopping at a Louis Vuitton store. (Getty Images/Jelly Roll Instagram)

    Jelly Roll recently claimed Louis Vuitton employees in Sydney treated him “like a criminal” during a shopping trip, sharing a video on social media describing the experience.

    Earlier this month, the Grammy-nominated star said employees looked at him as if he were about to “rob” the store.

    “Hey man, the Louis Vuitton in Sydney legitimately just treated us like we were finna [sic] come in and rob that place,” the musician, wearing a backward ball cap, said in the clip.

    LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

    “I have never been looked at more like a crim … Listen, the last time I was looked at like a criminal this bad … I was an actual criminal this bad,” he said.

    The “Save Me” singer has never shied away from discussing the darker chapters of his past, including legal troubles and previous addiction struggles.

    A before and after split of Jelly Roll

    Jelly Roll previously served more than a year behind bars, followed by seven years of probation. (Getty Images)

    In 2023, Jelly Roll said his first major run-in with the law happened as a teenager.

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

    He was 16 when he was arrested and charged as an adult with aggravated robbery and possession with intent to sell.

    Jelly Roll served more than a year behind bars, followed by seven years of probation.

    Stephanie Giang-Paunon is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to stephanie.giang@fox.com and on Twitter: @SGiangPaunon.

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  • California to revoke 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses issued to immigrants

    California will cancel 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses that had been issued to immigrants after officials said they extended beyond the date the drivers were allowed to work in the country — a violation of state law.

    California requires driver’s licenses and work permits to have the same expiration dates, officials said. Notices were sent out on Nov. 6 to affected drivers warning their licenses would expire in 60 days.

    The move comes amid an ongoing clash between the Trump administration and Gov. Gavin Newsom over California’s non-domiciled commercial driver’s licensing program. It also follows a nationwide audit of such programs after officials said a truck driver living in the U.S. illegally made a U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people.

    “This is just the tip of the iceberg. My team will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semi-trucks and school buses,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a written statement.

    State officials, however, said the drivers were not “illegal immigrants” and that they were authorized to work in the country by the federal government.

    “Once again, Sean ‘Road Rules’ Duffy fails to share the truth — spreading easily disproven falsehoods in a sad and desperate attempt to please his dear leader,” said Brandon Richards, a Newsom spokesman.

    California is one of 19 states, in addition to Washington, D.C., that issues driving licenses to immigrants without legal status. Doing so allows people to work and travel safely, immigrant rights advocates argue.

    But California — along with six other states, including Texas — came under scrutiny after an audit conducted by the Department of Transportation’s Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency responsible for preventing commercial motor vehicle-related deaths and injuries.

    That audit found irregularities in the issuance of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses.

    Duffy said the audit found 25% of the licenses issued in California violated federal rules, including by extending well beyond an individual’s work permit end date.

    In October, following the audit, Duffy withheld more than $40 million in transportation grants and claimed California was not only continuing to issue commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants living in the country illegally, but was also not enforcing new English language requirements for truckers.

    Officials have refuted Duffy’s claims and said the state has complied with federal laws and regulations. California’s Department of Motor Vehicles said on its website that it was not issuing or renewing non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses as of Sept. 29.

    Proposed new federal rules that would include mandatory federal immigration status checks, limiting the duration of the license and limiting eligibility to certain immigration visas, were temporarily put on hold by a federal appeals court this week.

    The ruling provided relief for thousands of immigrants who were at risk of losing their licenses.

    Ruben Vives

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  • Kid Rock honors Charlie Kirk by adding religious verse to country hit during rodeo performance

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    Kid Rock brought an unexpected yet powerful moment of faith and remembrance to the stage.

    During his concert at the Hondo Rodeo Fest in Arizona over the weekend, Kid Rock honored the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk with a brand-new verse added to Cody Johnson’s chart-topping hit, “’Til You Can’t.”

    The country rocker, who filled in for Johnson as the singer recovered from surgery for a burst eardrum, took the stage before a packed arena.

    KID ROCK CRITICIZES MAINSTREAM MEDIA ‘NUTHOUSES’ AFTER KIRK’S ASSASSINATION

    Kid Rock delivered an emotional tribute to Charlie Kirk during his performance at the Hondo Rodeo Fest in Arizona. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

    What began as a standard set quickly turned into a moving tribute.

    “Now, a few weeks ago, I woke up alone early on a Sunday morning and had this song stuck in my head,” Kid Rock said, according to a fan video. “And in that moment, someone or something spoke to me and told me there was still a verse missing from this song and to get up and write it down. So I did.”

    As Kid Rock addressed the crowd, the large video screens behind him suddenly lit up with Kirk’s image during his tribute.

    “And now I know exactly who was speaking to me that morning,” Rock continued, his voice heavy with emotion.

    LEADERS AND INFLUENCERS FLOOD SOCIAL MEDIA WITH TRIBUTES TO CHARLIE KIRK AS THOUSANDS PACK ARIZONA MEMORIAL

    Kid Rock smiles while wearing dark sunglasses and a white hat at the White House.

    Kid Rock filled in for Cody Johnson and added a new verse about faith to the chart-topping song, “‘Til You Can’t.” (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    The new verse focused on faith and forgiveness.

    “There’s a book that is sitting in your house somewhere that could use some dusting off / There’s a man that died for all our sins / Hanging from the cross /

    “You can give your life to Jesus / And He’ll give you a second chance /

    “’Til you can’t, ’til you can’t.”

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    Charlie Kirk speaking

    Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

    The audience was heard cheering loudly in response to Kid Rock’s new lyrics and special tribute to Kirk. 

    The Turning Point USA founder was assassinated on Sept. 10.

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    Charlie Kirk smiles onstage ahead of the Republican National Convention

    Kirk is remembered for his outspoken political commentary and deep faith. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

    Kirk was remembered for his outspoken political commentary and deep faith.

    Shortly after his death, Kid Rock criticized the mainstream media as “nuthouses” for continuing to fuel division.

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    “The mainstream media is fricking public enemy number one right now,” he previously argued on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

    Kid Rock’s comments come following national debate over what drove Tyler Robinson, the suspect in Kirk’s death, to allegedly want to kill the conservative activist.

    Stephanie Giang-Paunon is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to stephanie.giang@fox.com and on Twitter: @SGiangPaunon.

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