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Iranian security forces escalated from pellet guns to live ammunition during protests, sharply increasing casualties, a doctor who treated wounded demonstrators told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). Speaking after fleeing the country, the doctor told CHRI the use of live fire increased the death toll days after protests erupted Dec. 28. ‘Law enforcement forces were firing pellet shotguns that scatter pellets. During those days, I received five or six calls per day...

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is facing backlash from the MAGA base after voting with Democrats and a small group of Republican senators to advance a war powers resolution related to Venezuela — marking a break with President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, the Senate is expected to hold a full vote on the resolution that would limit Trump’s ability to conduct future military operations against Venezuela without Congressional approval, teeing up a test for Hawley with...

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee pressed the Syrian government to hold perpetrators accountable amid accusations of grave human rights violations within Syria’s army during the seizure of two Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo. Some reports claim jihadist-aligned members of the army were responsible for the abuses.  Jim Risch, R-Idaho., wrote on Tuesday on X that ‘I am gravely concerned about the conduct of armed forces in Aleppo, Syria, over the past week and...

A 23-year-old student was shot in the head at close range during protests in Iran, according to Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based group, as the regime continues its violent crackdown on nationwide demonstrations. Rubina Aminian, a student of textile and fashion design at Shariati Technical and Vocational College for Girls in Tehran, was killed Jan. 8 after leaving college and joining the protests in the capital, according to Iran Human Rights. She is among the...

President Donald Trump said his administration will cease federal payments to sanctuary cities and states with sanctuary policies starting Feb. 1, while citing jurisdictions that protect criminals and fuel fraud and crime. Speaking at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump said the move was aimed at cities and states that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement and in the administration’s bid to stamp out fraud. ‘Starting Feb. 1, we’re not making any payments to sanctuary...

President Donald Trump unloaded on a cohort of Senate Republicans who voted to rein in his policing powers in Venezuela, arguing that they couldn’t give a good reason to vote against him. During remarks at the Detroit Economic Club following a tour of a Ford plant in Dearborn, Mich., Trump harangued Republicans for not staying unified, while declaring that, though congressional Democrats have bad policy, they ‘stick together like glue.’ ‘We got some real losers,...

The Senate quietly passed legislation on Tuesday that would create stiffer penalties for explicit AI-manipulated images, known as deepfakes.  The bill from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is designed to beef up federal penalties against the creation, distribution or solicitation of ‘non-consensual digital forgeries,’ or deepfakes. It’s geared to act as a companion to a previously passed bill targeting revenge porn. Durbin’s Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits, or DEFIANCE Act, passed unanimously through the...

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Tuesday suggested that the ‘meat and bones’ of President Donald Trump’s message of ‘help’ to Iran’s anti-regime demonstrators should include ‘military, cyber and psychological attacks’ against the regime. Graham issued the message in a post on X, describing Trump as ‘Reagan Plus’ and ‘certainly not Obama’ when it comes to protecting America’s national security interests. ‘There is no bigger threat to world order than the Iranian ayatollah’s religious Nazi regime...

A series of corporations have shared new details about donations to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom, in response to queries by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and other lawmakers regarding contributions.  Trump revealed in October 2025 that construction had gotten underway on the ballroom, which led to the demolition of the White House’s historic East Wing. He asserted the ballroom would be privately funded at an estimated cost of $300 million — up from the $200...

New York Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of state attorneys general sued the federal government Tuesday, claiming a new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) policy illegally pressures states to discriminate against transgender people or risk losing critical funding. The lawsuit challenges a new federal policy that conditions billions of dollars in health, education and research funding on compliance with a presidential executive order regarding sex and gender-related treatments. ‘The federal government...