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FBI says bomb threats made against Trump nominees

FBI says bomb threats made against Trump nominees
Several members of Donald Trump's incoming administration have received threats including bomb alerts, the FBI said Wednesday, with one nominee reporting a pipe-bomb scare sent with a pro-Palestinian message. (AP/File)
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Updated 27 November 2024
AFP
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FBI says bomb threats made against Trump nominees

FBI says bomb threats made against Trump nominees
  • “The FBI is aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees,” the agency said
  • Elize Stefanik, a Trump loyalist congresswoman tapped to be UN ambassador, said her residence in New York was targeted in a bomb threat
Updated 27 November 2024
AFP
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WASHINGTON: Several members of Donald Trump’s incoming administration have received threats including bomb alerts, the FBI said Wednesday, with one nominee reporting a pipe-bomb scare sent with a pro-Palestinian message.
“The FBI is aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees, and we are working with our law enforcement partners,” the agency said in a statement.
Swatting refers to the practice in which police are summoned urgently to someone’s house under false pretenses. Such hoax calls are common in the United States and have seen numerous senior political figures targeted in recent years.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team, earlier said that several appointees and nominees “were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them.”
Elize Stefanik, a Trump loyalist congresswoman tapped to be UN ambassador, said her residence in New York was targeted in a bomb threat.
She said in a statement that she, her husband, and small son were driving home from Washington for the Thanksgiving holiday when they learned of the threat.
Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, said his home was targeted with a pipe bomb threat sent with a “pro-Palestinian themed message.”
The former congressman from New York said he and his family were not home at the time.
Fox News Digital quoted unidentified sources saying that John Ratcliffe, Trump’s nominee to head the CIA, and Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary pick, were also targeted.
Ahead of his return to the House in January, Trump has already swiftly assembled a cabinet of loyalists, including several criticized for a severe lack of experience.
The Republican, who appears set to avoid trial on criminal prosecutions related to attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss, was wounded in the ear in July in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally. The shooter was killed in counter-fire.
In September, authorities arrested another man accused of planning to shoot at Trump while he played golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Topics: Trump Returns FBI bomb threats President-elect Donald Trump

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Heavy snow and frigid Arctic blast put 70 million across the US under winter storm warnings

Heavy snow and frigid Arctic blast put 70 million across the US under winter storm warnings
Updated 22 sec ago
AP
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Heavy snow and frigid Arctic blast put 70 million across the US under winter storm warnings

Heavy snow and frigid Arctic blast put 70 million across the US under winter storm warnings
  • The colder temperatures will reach down into the South early this week, where as many as 30 million people starting Monday could see a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain
Updated 22 sec ago
AP

BOSTON: Tens of millions of residents along the East Coast are bracing for several inches of snow Sunday followed by dangerously cold temperatures that will take hold in much of the country from the Northern Plains to the tip of Maine.
Winter storm warnings issued by the National Weather Service have already gone into effect for parts of the Mid-Atlantic through Monday morning, with the forecast projecting up to a half-foot (15 centimeters) of snow. Warnings will begin in New England on Sunday afternoon, with parts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut seeing as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of snow.
Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park Maryland, projected that as many as 70 million residents will be under some kind of winter storm hazards warning in the coming days including in New England and the Mid-Atlantic. Large cities like Philadelphia, New York and Boston could see several inches of snow this evening with the highest totals being outside of major cities.
“There will certainly be some more hazardous road conditions anywhere from D.C. up the whole I-95 corridor and then inland from there later today and tonight,” Chenard said. “Then it gets quite cold behind that. By Monday morning, any roads that haven’t been treated or cleared will still likely be some hazardous travel conditions.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams urged city residents to take the subway and buses if they have to travel during the storm, to make it easier for crews to clear the streets. He said people who need help with heating or frozen pipes can call 311, and he asked residents to check on their neighbors during the frigid weather.
“Cold temperatures, high winds tomorrow, could be dangerous,” Adams told reporters on Saturday afternoon. “We have to be here for each other and make sure our pets and other parts of New York are safe as we navigate through this cold weather condition we expect.”
The weather service said there was a chance of snow showers Sunday afternoon and evening in western New York state, where the Buffalo Bills are set to host the Baltimore Ravens in an NFL playoff game starting at 6:30 p.m.. Heavier, lake-effect snow was expected in that part of the state Monday through Wednesday morning, with 2 feet to 3 feet (about 60 to 90 centimeters) possible in some areas including Oswego along Lake Ontario.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state emergency for all 21 counties in the Garden State. A winter storm warning was in effect for 10 counties in the northern part of the state, where 6 to 8 inches of snow is expected to fall from Sunday afternoon through the late evening.
Cities and towns were opening warming centers for the next several days to protect people from the freezing temperatures.
Return of the Arctic blast
But the snow is just the start of a chaotic week of weather.
Much of the Eastern half of the United States will be enduring some of the coldest temperatures this winter, if not for several years.
An area from the Rockies into the Northern Plains will see colder than normal temperatures starting Sunday into the coming week, with temperatures dropping to minus 30 degrees F (minus 34 degrees C) to minus 55 F (minus 48 C) on Sunday and Monday. Wind chills of minus 40 F (minus 40 C) were already being clocked in parts of North Dakota and Minnesota. Sub-zero wind chills are forecast to reach as far south as Oklahoma and the Tennessee Valley.
The cold weather forecasted for Monday for Washington, D.C., prompted President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural ceremony to be moved inside the US Capitol Rotunda.
“It’s going to be a cold day in Washington, D.C. on Monday. That’s for sure,” Chenard said, noting temperatures will be in the 20s with wind gust upwards of 30 mph (48 kph).
As happened earlier this month, this latest cold snap comes from a disruption in the polar vortex, the ring of cold air usually trapped about the North Pole.
The cold air will moderate as it moves southward and eastward, but the Central and Eastern US will still be cold with highs in the teens and 20s on Monday into Tuesday, Chenard said. The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast also will have highs in the teens and 20s, lows in the single digits and below zero degrees F (minus 18 C) and wind chills below zero.
Unusual wintry mix
The colder temperatures will reach down into the South early this week, where as many as 30 million people starting Monday could see a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. The unusual conditions are expected to stretch from Texas into northern Florida and the Carolinas. Impacts are expected to start in Texas on Monday night and spread across the Gulf Coast and Southeast on Tuesday into Wednesday.
A combination of frigid air with a low pressure system over the Gulf are behind the storm, which could bring heavy snow just south of the Interstate 20 corridor across northern Louisiana and into Mississippi and a mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain near the Interstate 10 corridor from Houston to Mobile, Alabama.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on Saturday issued a state of emergency in advance of the wintry weather. He encouraged Louisianans to be prepared and to monitor the weather forecast.

Topics: Snow fall Arctic winter storm

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TikTok is restoring service in US, thanks Trump

TikTok is restoring service in US, thanks Trump
Updated 19 January 2025
Reuters
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TikTok is restoring service in US, thanks Trump

TikTok is restoring service in US, thanks Trump
  • TikTok stopped working for US users late Saturday before law shutting it down on national security grounds took effect
  • US officials had warned that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans’ data being misused
Updated 19 January 2025
Reuters

WASHINGTON: TikTok said on Sunday it was restoring its service after President-elect Donald Trump said he would revive the app’s access in the US when he returns to power on Monday.
The statement came after US users reported being able to access the Chinese-owned service’s website while the far more widely used TikTok app itself began coming back online for some users with just a few basic services.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” TikTok said in a statement that thanked Trump for “providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties (for) providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”
TikTok stopped working for US users late on Saturday before a law shutting it down on national security grounds took effect on Sunday. US officials had warned that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans’ data being misused.
Trump said he would “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”
“I would like the United States to have a 50 percent ownership position in a joint venture,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Trump said the executive order would specify there would be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before his order.
Trump had earlier said he would most likely give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after he takes office, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to users on the app.
“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned,” a message notified users of TikTok, which disappeared from Apple and Google app stores late on Saturday.
Even if temporary, the unprecedented shutdown of TikTok is set to have a wide-ranging impact on US-China relations, US politics, the social media marketplace and millions of Americans who depend on the app economically and culturally.
Trump saving TikTok represents a reversal in stance from his first term in office. In 2020, he aimed to ban the short-video app over concerns the company was sharing Americans’ personal info with the Chinese government. More recently, Trump has said he has “a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” crediting the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 election.
In August 2020, Trump signed an executive order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell TikTok but then blessed a deal structured as a partnership rather than a divestment that would have included both Oracle and Walmart taking stakes in the new company.
Not everyone in Trump’s Republican Party agreed with efforts to get around the law and “Save TikTok.”
Republican senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts said in a joint statement: “Now that the law has taken effect, there is no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date. For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China.”
The US has never banned a major social media platform. The law passed overwhelmingly by Congress gives the incoming Trump administration sweeping authority to ban or seek the sale of other Chinese-owned apps.
Other apps owned by ByteDance, including video editing app CapCut and lifestyle social app Lemon8, were also offline and unavailable in US app stores as of late Saturday.
Apple and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
MOVE TO ALTERNATIVES
Under the law passed last year and upheld on Friday by a unanimous US Supreme Court, the platform had until Sunday to cut ties with its China-based parent or shut down its US operation to resolve concerns it poses a threat to national security.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington on Friday accused the US of using unfair state power to suppress TikTok. “China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” a spokesperson said.
Uncertainty over the app’s future had sent users — mostly younger people — scrambling to alternatives including China-based RedNote. Rivals Meta and Snap have seen their share prices rise this month ahead of the ban, as investors bet on an influx of users and advertising dollars.
‘HAIR ON FIRE’ MOMENT
Web searches for “VPN” spiked in the minutes after US users lost access to TikTok, according to Google Trends.
Users on Instagram fretted about whether they would still receive merchandise they had bought on TikTok Shop, the video platform’s e-commerce arm.
Marketing firms reliant on TikTok have rushed to prepare contingency plans in what one executive described as a “hair on fire” moment after months of conventional wisdom saying that a solution would materialize to keep the app running.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend the US presidential inauguration and attend a rally with Trump on Sunday, a source told Reuters.
Suitors including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt have expressed interest in the fast-growing business that analysts estimate could be worth as much as $50 billion. Media reports say Beijing has also held talks about selling TikTok’s US operations to billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, though the company has denied that.
US search engine startup Perplexity AI submitted a bid on Saturday to ByteDance for Perplexity to merge with TikTok US, a source familiar with the company’s plans told Reuters. Perplexity would merge with TikTok US and create a new entity by combining the merged company with other partners, the person added.
Privately held ByteDance is about 60 percent owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees own 20 percent each. It has more than 7,000 employees in the US.

Topics: TikTok ban tiktok ban US

Suspected Bangladeshi arrested in stabbing of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan

Suspected Bangladeshi arrested in stabbing of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan
Updated 19 January 2025
Reuters
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Suspected Bangladeshi arrested in stabbing of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan

Suspected Bangladeshi arrested in stabbing of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan
  • Thursday’s attack on Khan, one of India’s most bankable stars, shocked the nation’s film industry and Mumbai residents
  • The suspect, arrested on the outskirts of Mumbai, was using the name Vijay Das and was working with a housekeeping agency
Updated 19 January 2025
Reuters

MUMBAI: A man thought to be a citizen of Bangladesh was arrested in India’s financial capital Mumbai on Sunday and is considered the prime suspect in the stabbing of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan, police said.
Thursday’s attack on Khan, one of India’s most bankable stars, shocked the nation’s film industry and Mumbai residents, with many calling for better policing and security. He was out of danger, doctors said, and has left the hospital.
“Primary evidence suggests that the accused is a Bangladeshi citizen and after entering India illegally he changed his name,” Dixit Gedam, a deputy commissioner of police, told a press conference.
The suspect, arrested on the outskirts of Mumbai, was using the name Vijay Das but is believed to be Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad and was working with a housekeeping agency after having come to the city five or six months ago, Gedam said.
The police will seek custody of the suspect for further investigation, he added.
Khan, 54, was stabbed six times by an intruder during a burglary attempt at his home. He had surgery after sustaining stab wounds to his spine, neck and hands, doctors said.
Police in Mumbai detained a first key suspect in the attack on Friday, while police in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh detained a second person on Saturday.

Topics: Saif Ali Khan India

Afghanistan blames US invasion, sanctions for environmental damage, delayed climate action

Afghanistan blames US invasion, sanctions for environmental damage, delayed climate action
Updated 19 January 2025
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Afghanistan blames US invasion, sanctions for environmental damage, delayed climate action

Afghanistan blames US invasion, sanctions for environmental damage, delayed climate action
  • Afghanistan ranked 7th on global index of countries most vulnerable, least prepared to adapt to climate change
  • Use of bombs and mines during wars destroyed agricultural land, left toxic footprint on environment
Updated 19 January 2025
MODASER ISLAMI

KABUL: The US invasion of Afghanistan and subsequent sanctions exacerbated the impacts of climate change in the country, the National Environmental Protection Agency said on Sunday, as Kabul called on the international community for support in combating the ecological crisis.

Between the 2001 US-led invasion and its chaotic withdrawal in 2021, the US military had dropped tens of thousands of bombs on Afghanistan, many of which are munitions that can leave a toxic footprint on the environment.

“The presence of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan for 20 years has had a wide-ranging impact on Afghanistan,” Dr. Zainul Abedin Abed, technical and policy deputy director-general at NEPA, told Arab News.

“Among the environmental impacts, we can mention cases such as the destruction of agricultural land … These impacts have put pressure on the Afghan environment and accelerated climate change. The US and NATO have used weapons and chemical substances, which is irreparable.”

In April 2017, the US military dropped the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, known as “the mother of all bombs,” on Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province. It is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb ever used by Washington in a conflict.

“The adverse effects of the MOAB in Tora Bora district of Nangarhar province included an increase in premature births, skin diseases and neurological problems,” Abed said, adding that the bomb also destroyed homes and caused damage to the local economy.

Afghanistan has suffered through decades of war even before the US-led invasion, including a decade of Soviet invasion that also saw foreign forces deploying chemical weapons, such as napalm, to destroy crops.

The country lost around 80 percent of its forests in the conflicts, according to Taliban Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai.

“The destructive bombs that the Soviet Union used on our forests have destroyed a major part of the country’s forests. Our country faced another crisis as the US and NATO forces experimented with their weapons in Afghanistan, which couldn’t be used anywhere else, without any mercy on the people of Afghanistan,” Stanikzai said at the national climate change conference in Kabul on Wednesday.

“Now, I call on the world countries, the United Nations, the European Union, America as well as neighboring and regional countries to support Afghanistan in these difficult times. It’s their moral responsibility, especially those countries that contributed to climate change.”

Dr. Abdul Latif Nazari, Afghanistan’s deputy minister of economy, said at the conference that it was “important to lift sanctions and remove restrictions so the international organizations can work with our entities,” such as NEPA.

Afghanistan is one of the most vulnerable and least prepared countries to adapt to climate change, ranking seventh on the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index, despite being a country with the 11th lowest contributor per capita to global carbon emissions.

“Afghanistan’s contribution to global climate change has been inconsequential,” Kabul-based environmental expert Noorudin Jalali told Arab News.

“However, the impact of international interventions on Afghanistan has been huge. Consecutive drought, deforestation, air pollution and huge damage to the country’s ecosystem are some of the major effects that climate change has had on the country’s environment.”

The use of bombs and mines “devastated the country’s environment and agriculture” and will take years and billions of dollars to recover, he added.

Afghanistan is already suffering from the impacts of climate change. After three consecutive years of drought, Afghanistan experienced severe flooding in 2024 that killed hundreds of people, devastated vast agricultural land in its northern provinces and left millions of people without their primary source of income and food.

Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Afghanistan has been excluded from representation under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — which leads efforts in global climate cooperation — while major sources of funding for climate adaptation have also been suspended.

“Without the support of the international community and international organizations, Afghanistan will not be able to fight the climate change challenge. The sooner this support is facilitated, the better for the country and its people,” Jalali said.

Topics: environment Aghanistan climate

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Nigeria tanker truck blast toll rises to 86: rescuers

Nigeria tanker truck blast toll rises to 86: rescuers
Updated 19 January 2025
AFP
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Nigeria tanker truck blast toll rises to 86: rescuers

Nigeria tanker truck blast toll rises to 86: rescuers
Updated 19 January 2025
AFP

LAGOS: The death toll from the explosion of a petrol tanker truck in Nigeria that killed people rushing to gather fuel has risen to 86, emergency services said Sunday.
"The final death toll from the tanker explosion is 86," said Ibrahim Audu Husseini, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency in Niger state.
The truck carrying 60,000 litres of gasoline exploded after flipping over on a road in the centre of the country on Saturday, authorities said.

Topics: Nigeria fire explosion

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