Politics

Thousands of anti-government protesters violently faced off against riot police outside government buildings in Albania’s capital, Tirana, earlier this week, as people called for the resignation of the government following a massive corruption scandal. The main Albanian opposition party called for people to take to the streets and demand the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku after she was indicted by a special prosecutor who alleged she had been improperly influenced in her decision...

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., the lone Senate Democrat to join the GOP to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), accused his colleagues of choosing party over country in their shutdown vote. Senate Democrats dug their heels in against funding the agency on Thursday in their pursuit of stringent reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good during immigration operations in Minnesota. But Fetterman believed...

President Donald Trump’s administration fired a U.S. attorney the same day he was sworn in for the role by a federal court this week. A board of judges for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York tapped Donald T. Kinsella to serve as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, according to a court announcement that said Kinsella was sworn in on Wednesday. But Kinsella was then booted from...

With little time and no deal in sight to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a partial government shutdown by midnight is all but guaranteed. The battle to prevent the third government shutdown under President Donald Trump in less than six months was lost in the Senate on Thursday. Now, with Congress scattered across the U.S. and several senators headed abroad, there’s no chance that a shutdown will be averted. Senate Republicans were unable...

A new attack ad from Republicans targeting U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is slamming the vulnerable Democrat senator for requiring entrants at his political rallies to show proof of identification, but arguing that identification requirements for voting are a form of voter suppression.  ‘Want to get into a Jon Ossoff rally?’ the advertisement’s narrator begins, before it goes into a montage of staffers at Ossoff’s Feb. 7 rally asking for entrants’ IDs. ‘Don’t forget your...

: A trio of Republican senators are moving to overhaul how federal childcare funds are distributed after what they call ‘mass fraud’ in Minnesota exposed a system that paid providers before verifying children were ever in the room. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined by senators Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., is introducing the Payment Integrity Act, legislation that would require states to distribute federally funded childcare dollars based on verified attendance, not enrollment...

: A trio of Republican senators are moving to overhaul how federal childcare funds are distributed after what they call ‘mass fraud’ in Minnesota exposed a system that paid providers before verifying children were ever in the room. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined by Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., is introducing the Payment Integrity Act, legislation that would require states to distribute federally funded childcare dollars based on verified attendance — not...

Iran’s election as vice-chair of the United Nations Commission for Social Development is being slammed by human rights advocates and policy analysts, who have condemned the U.N.’s hypocrisy when it comes to its treatment of undemocratic regimes.  The leadership role was approved without objection during a meeting of the commission, where delegates adopted agenda items and organizational decisions by consensus. The United Nations has faced continued criticism over its inaction towards the regime’s violent crackdown...

Lawmakers are jetting from Washington, D.C., without a deal to prevent a partial government shutdown.  Their departure comes after the Senate was unable to send a full-year funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to President Donald Trump’s desk.  Senate Democrats doubled down on their demands for stringent reforms to immigration enforcement and bucked multiple attempts Thursday to keep the agency open. With both chambers now on their way to a weeklong recess,...

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is making an example of former President Barack Obama for encouraging voters and lawmakers to reject adopting national voter ID laws.  ‘You know how badly the Democrats are panicking when they bring out Obama to spread lies about voter ID,’ Leavitt posted to X Thursday. ‘The fact is that nearly 90% of voters support’ voter ID laws, she continued before posting two screenshots showing two polls reflecting Americans support...