The daughter of a senior Iranian official who publicly criticized U.S. involvement against President Donald Trump regarding intervening in Iran’s protests has reportedly been fired from her teaching post at a top U.S. college.

The Emory Wheel, Emory University’s news outlet, reported the School of Medicine Dean announced in an email Jan. 24 that Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani was no longer a university employee.  

Ardeshir-Larijani was an assistant professor in the department of hematology and medical oncology at Emory’s medical school.

‘The announcement follows a Jan. 19 protest where Iranian-American demonstrators gathered outside Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute to oppose the employment of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani by the University,’ the outlet said.

Ardeshir-Larijani’s Emory faculty page and her Emory Healthcare pages were also no longer visible online.

The nonprofit Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA) claimed that Ardeshir-Larijani had lived and worked in the U.S. for several years.

The group also cited the professional profile on Emory Healthcare’s official website as showing a listing for a woman called Ardeshir-Larijani who is a U.S.-trained hematologist-oncologist and practicing in Atlanta.

The claims had first drawn attention amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran following the outbreak of protests and reports of deaths during an intense crackdown from Dec. 28.

Trump warned of potential U.S. action in response.

In a Jan. 2 Truth Social post, the president warned that if Iran ‘violently kills peaceful protesters’ the U.S. ‘will come to their rescue,’ saying ‘we are locked and loaded and ready to go.’ 

Trump’s remarks prompted warnings from senior Iranian officials, who said any American interference would cross a ‘red line.’

Ali Larijani had posted on X that U.S. interference in Iran’s internal affairs would ‘[destabilize] the entire region’ and ‘[destroy] American interests.’

‘The American people must know that Trump is the one who started this adventure,’ he wrote, ‘and they should pay attention to the safety of their soldiers.’

AAIRIA responded by urging U.S. authorities to review the immigration and visa status of Ardeshir-Larijani and her husband.

The group urged officials to determine whether continued residence in the U.S. aligns with U.S. law, national security considerations and principles of accountability and human rights, in a statement shared online.

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., also called on Emory to dismiss Ardeshir-Larijani and the state’s medical board to revoke her medical license.

Ardeshir-Larijani’s dismissal also arrived two weeks after sanctions had been placed on her father by the Treasury Department, who said that he ‘is responsible for coordinating the response to the protests on behalf of the Supreme Leader of Iran and has publicly called for Iranian security forces to use force to repress peaceful protesters,’ and has publicly defended the regime’s actions.

Ali Larijani has portrayed the U.S. as a hostile power in the past.

A 2018 report by The Washington Times highlighted what critics described as a double standard among Iranian officials whose relatives live or work in Western countries.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for comment and Emory University for comment.

One of the key negotiators who helped end the last government shutdown won’t support a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill, further adding to the likelihood of another closure. 

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday that he could not support the current, six-bill funding package as is because it included the DHS funding bill. King was a pivotal figure in ending the last shutdown, and was one of only eight Senate Democratic caucus members to join Republicans to end it. 

King, like other members of the Senate Democratic caucus, is infuriated by the death of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old nurse who was shot dead by a border patrol agent in Minneapolis on Saturday. 

Congressional Democrats have railed against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents entering Minnesota and elsewhere, but begrudgingly agreed to support the DHS bill until the chaos over the weekend unfolded.

‘I hate shutdowns,’ King said. ‘I’m one of the people that helped negotiate the solution to the last — the end of the last shutdown, but I can’t vote for a bill that includes ICE funding under the circumstances.’ 

King’s resistance to the package comes after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that Senate Democrats would not support the legislation, increasing the odds of a partial government shutdown by the end of the week. 

It also comes on the heels of ICE entering King’s home state of Maine for operation Catch of the Day, where Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is running to beat Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in a pivotal Senate race that could determine the balance of power in the upper chamber.  

King argued that there was an ‘easy way out’ of the funding snafu — Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., could separate out the DHS funding bill and let lawmakers vote on the remaining five bills.

However, should that happen, the House would still have to weigh in. The lower chamber won’t return to Washington, D.C., until next month, all but ensuring a partial government shutdown by Friday unless lawmakers can reach a compromise agreement. 

‘Let’s have an honest negotiation,’ King said. ‘Put some guardrails on what’s going on, some accountability, and that would solve this problem. We don’t have to have a shutdown.’

President Donald Trump said Sunday that it was ‘too late’ to halt construction of a new ballroom at the White House, despite a newly filed lawsuit challenging the project.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump described the ballroom as ‘a GIFT (ZERO taxpayer funding) to the United States of America,’ estimating its cost at $300 million and saying it was financed through private donations.

Trump said the lawsuit was brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, criticizing the group for filing it after construction was already underway.

‘Why didn’t these obstructionists and troublemakers bring their baseless lawsuit much earlier?’ he wrote.

Trump added that the East Wing was ‘changed, built and rebuilt over the years’ and that ‘it bore no resemblance or relationship to the original building.’

On July 31, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the planned construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. The sprawling ballroom will accommodate approximately 650 seated guests and will stay true to the classical design of the White House.

The White House does not have a formal ballroom, and the new ballroom will take the place of the current East Wing of the White House. 

Since his return to office, Trump has wasted no time in reshaping the look and feel of the White House and the National Mall.

Trump has previously unveiled a new monument dubbed the ‘Arc de Trump,’ which is planned to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary next year.

He said the large arch, a near twin of Paris’s iconic Arc de Triomphe, will welcome visitors crossing the Arlington Memorial Bridge from Arlington National Cemetery into the heart of the nation’s capital.

Trump’s taste for opulence is unmistakable in the Oval Office, where golden accents now decorate the nation’s most iconic workspace, a reflection of his personal style.

Since then, Trump has added gold accents throughout the Oval Office to include decorative details along the ceiling and around the doorway trim. Even the cherubs inside the door frames were given a gilded makeover.

Outside the Oval Office, the Trump administration unveiled the ‘Presidential Walk of Fame,’ a series of portraits of past presidents now displayed along the West Wing colonnade.

The portrait of former President Joe Biden features his signature, created with an autopen, a machine that holds a pen and reproduces a person’s handwriting through programmed movements. The Trump administration has also installed several large mirrors in gold frames along the walkway.

Trump also said he renovated the Lincoln bathroom in the White House because it did not reflect the style of President Abraham Lincoln’s era. 

‘I renovated the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House. It was renovated in the 1940s in an art-deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era,’ Trump wrote in an Oct. 31 Truth Social post.

President Donald Trump praised the soldiers of the United Kingdom who served alongside the U.S. in Afghanistan on Saturday, clarifying his previous criticism of NATO allies.

Trump had earlier criticized NATO troops who served in Afghanistan, arguing they had stayed ‘a little bit back’ from the frontlines during the conflict. His statement was met with outrage in the U.K., however, where Prime Minister Kier Starmer called it ‘insulting and frankly, appalling.’

‘The GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America! In Afghanistan, 457 died, many were badly injured, and they were among the greatest of all warriors,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

‘It’s a bond too strong to ever be broken. The U.K. Military, with tremendous Heart and Soul, is second to none (except for the U.S.A.!). We love you all, and always will!’ he continued.

The social media post partially walks back his previous criticism of NATO, made during an interview on Fox Business.

‘We have never really asked anything of them,’ he said. You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that, and they did. They stayed a little back, little off the front lines.’

Starmer’s office says the prime minister raised the issue with Trump during a phone call this weekend.

‘The Prime Minister raised the brave and heroic British and American soldiers who fought side by side in Afghanistan, many of whom never returned home,’ a spokesperson said. ‘We must never forget their sacrifice.’

Trump’s initial remarks also drew a direct rebuke from Prince Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan.

‘I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there,’ Harry said.

‘Those sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect, as we all remain united and loyal to the defense of diplomacy and peace,’ he added.

The horrific regime slaughter in Iran and President Trump’s aggressive campaign to acquire Greenland have resulted in the neglect of a major case now underway at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The ICJ last week began hearings brought by Gambia against Myanmar alleging genocide against the Rohingya people—about 1.4 million of whom live in Myanmar. Several other states have intervened in support of Gambia, which has presented the court with evidence it contends proves that Myanmar’s military forces committed a genocide against the Rohingya population. Myanmar vehemently denies the allegation.

While this case does not concern Israel directly, the ICJ’s determinations may have major ramifications for the case Israel is now defending at the tribunal against South Africa.

This is especially true since one of the judges hand-picked by Gambia to sit on its ICJ panel is South African national Navi Pillay. That would be the same Navi Pillay who recently rushed to publish a report accusing Israel of genocide before retiring as head of the UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry—a panel widely criticized for its flagrant institutional bias against Israel and the anti-Semitic remarks of its members.

In reality, South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel is riddled with flaws. It is also pushing to redefine a term that been held sacrosanct since the end of the World War II.

The term ‘genocide’ was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Holocaust survivor who in 1944 strived for its incorporation into modern international law. That occurred in 1948 via the UN Genocide Convention.

The prohibition on genocide is considered a jus cogens norm—that is, a non-derogable rule accepted by all of the first-world community with no exceptions. The definition of ‘genocide’ requires no law degree to understand, and it should never, ever be politicized.

For a genocide to take place under Geneva, there must be acts committed ‘with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.’ The phrase ‘intent’ here is of paramount importance.

South Africa’s pending case before the ICJ alleges Israeli intent to destroy the Palestinian-Arab population of Gaza. Israel, by contrast, (correctly) maintains that its recent actions in Gaza have been a just and proper military response to the war of annihilationist jihad and unspeakable atrocities launched against it by the Hamas terrorist organization on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel’s ‘intent’ is to free Gaza from Hamas, to return hostages abducted and held by Hamas, and to ensure Hamas has no future role in Gaza and cannot undertake another October 7-style massacre. It repeatedly offered to end the war if Hamas laid down its arms and released all hostages.

Hamas, on the other hand, has shown a complete disregard for human life and has openly stated that its sacrifice of Gazan civilians is a cynical strategic necessity to turn public opinion against Israel. It has for years embedded military infrastructure within Gazan civilian infrastructure—schools, hospitals, UN facilities, mosques, and children’s bedrooms. Israel has waged a defensive campaign in one of the most complex operational environments of any modern war.

At the same time, it has worked with states and NGOs to allow and facilitate extensive amounts of humanitarian aid, rebuilt water supplies, coordinated the vaccination of young Gazans against polio, and helped coordinate and approve the evacuation of those in need of urgent medical care.

Israel repeatedly provides advanced warnings of impending military strikes and has held off strikes where intelligence of nearby civilians has come to light. For a fighting party to so often relinquish the element of surprise to reduce harm to the local civilian population of its enemy is extraordinary.

None of this constitutes a ‘genocide’—and clearly shows the lack of any intent by Israel to destroy the local Palestinian-Arab population in Gaza.

Nonetheless, since South Africa brought its case before the ICJ, numerous groups and states have leapt at the opportunity to join in on the anti-Israel campaign. This has ranged from tendentious so-called online genocide scholars to anti-Semitic mobs to deeply politicized NGOs. Amnesty International, for instance, shamelessly waited more than two years before publishing a report focusing on Hamas’ crimes on Oct. 7, while straining to remind readers of its slanderous accusation of genocide made against Israel a year prior.

Together, they have all been involved in a campaign to redefine the term ‘genocide’ to suit their narrative—all while ignoring the reality of Hamas’ own Nazi-esque barbarism.

The politically motivated efforts to undermine the concept should be of grave concern to us all. If successful, it will result in the ICJ’s further self-discrediting as an institution of political point scoring, rather than meaningful justice.

Israel has legitimately responded to genocidal attacks by a terrorist organization that has repeatedly called for its entire annihilation and the murder of all global Jewry—something it broadcast live to the world on Oct. 7, 2023.

The term ‘genocide’ is one too important to be cheapened. Those pushing for its redefinition must be stopped in their tracks.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both issued dire warnings about the pressing need to protect the endangered Syrian Kurdish population under attack by government forces in the war-torn nation.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who earlier this month ordered his army, which reportedly has a large jihadist element, to conquer territory controlled for more than a decade by the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF.)

Writing on the social media platform X, Graham declared, ‘There is strong and growing bipartisan interest in the U.S. Senate regarding the deteriorating situation in Syria. There is strong consensus that we must protect the Kurds who were there for us in destroying the ISIS caliphate, as well as many other groups.’

Pompeo responded to Graham’s post, stating, ‘Turning our backs on our Kurdish allies would be a moral and strategic disaster.’

The Trump administration is facing criticism from its long-standing ally, the Syrian Kurds, who played a crucial role in the defeat of the Islamic State in the heartland of the Middle East after a U.S. government announcement on social media that seemed to hint that the partnership had ended this past week with the Kurdish-run SDF in northern Syria.

The SDF formed as a bulwark against the rapid spread of the Islamic State’s terrorist movement in 2013. ISIS created a caliphate covering significant territory in Syria and Iraq. Al-Sharaa was a former member of the Islamic State and al Qaeda.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department regarding U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as the special envoy for Syria, for a response to his recent statement on X that indicated the U.S. partnership with the SDF was over.

Barrack wrote, ‘The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by Kurds, proved the most effective ground partner in defeating ISIS’s territorial caliphate by 2019, detaining thousands of ISIS fighters and family members in prisons and camps like al-Hol and al-Shaddadi. At that time, there was no functioning central Syrian state to partner with — the Assad regime was weakened, contested, and not a viable partner against ISIS due to its alliances with Iran and Russia.

‘Today, the situation has fundamentally changed. Syria now has an acknowledged central government that has joined the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (as its 90th member in late 2025), signaling a westward pivot and cooperation with the U.S. on counterterrorism.’

Iham Ahmed, a prominent Syrian Kurdish politician, told Fox News Digital, ‘We really wished to see a firm position from the U.S. The Kurdish people are at the risk of extermination. The U.S. does not give any solid or tangible guarantees.’

Ahmed cast doubt on statements like Barrack’s, warning the ‘Syrian army is still consisting of radical factions that no one can trust. Alawites, Christians, Sunnis and Druze cannot trust these factions. We could face massacres, which happened in other Syrian cities.’

When asked by Fox News Digital if the SDF wants Israel to intervene to aid the Kurds as it did to help the Syrian Druze and other minorities last year, Ahmed said, ‘Whoever wants to help us should do so. Today is the day.’ She said ‘the Islamic State is showing itself in the image of an official army. Everyone is threatened now.’

She urged a ‘special status for the Kurdish region’ in northeastern Syria.

Ahmed accused the Erdoğan government of nefarious involvement. 

‘Turkey stands behind the attacks on our region. Turkish intelligence and small groups are leading attacks. Statements from Turkey are encouraging the extermination of our people,’ she claimed.

Fox News Digital sent a press query to the Turkish embassy spokesman in Washington D.C.

The influential president of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, wrote on X, ‘Sen. Graham is right. I’ve been discussing the situation in NE Syria with Republican House leaders.  It is not in America’s interest for Islamist forces to seize territory once governed by trusted U.S. allies who protected minorities and advanced religious freedom. 

‘Yet this is happening as Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa’s forces move into northeast Syria, displacing the Syrian Democratic Forces — our partners in the fight against ISIS, who lost thousands of fighters, guarded U.S. bases, and detained ISIS prisoners.

‘Before we place trust in al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda insurgent who fought U.S. forces in Iraq and was held at Abu Ghraib, he has to show he is trustworthy.  So far, he is failing the test.’

Sinam Mohamad, the representative of the Syrian Democratic Council to the U.S., had harsh words for the administration, telling Fox News Digital, ‘American officials continue to describe the SDF as a reliable partner in that narrow mission. Washington avoids framing the relationship as a political alliance. The U.S. never intended a long-term political commitment to the Syrian Kurds. It was a military partnership without political guarantees. From Washington’s view, that’s consistency. From the Kurdish view, that’s betrayal.’

She added there has been an announcement of a 15-day extension of a ceasefire.

‘But both the SDF and outside observers noted continued [Syrian] government troop buildups near Kurdish-held areas, signaling that conflict could resume. The Kurds want to have peace and stability through negotiations.’

Senate Democrats are ready to break a fragile truce that would avert a partial government shutdown after a Minneapolis man was fatally shot by a border patrol agent on Saturday. 

Congressional Democrats were already leery of backing funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the wake of the agency’s presence in Minnesota and beyond, but the shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti during an immigration enforcement operation has shattered what little unity they had on the bill. 

Now, Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., plan to vote against the legislation, which is currently included in a broader funding package along with five other spending bills. 

Schumer, in a statement on Saturday, said that Democrats tried to get ‘common sense reforms’ in the DHS funding bill, but charged that ‘because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses’ of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

 ‘I will vote no,’ Schumer said. ‘Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.’

Schumer’s play call serves as a blow to Senate Republicans, who worked with their colleagues across the aisle to find compromises in the DHS bill, in particular. It also comes as the deadline to fund the government is rapidly approaching on Friday, Jan. 30. Further complicating matters is the arctic storm ripping across the country, which has already forced the upper chamber to cancel votes on Monday. 

A senior Senate aide told Fox News Digital that Senate Democrats had been for weeks saying that they weren’t interested in shutting the government down again, and had praised the bipartisan nature of the government funding process up until Saturday.

 ‘These bills were negotiated with Dems — they agreed to what’s in them,’ they said.

The agency would be fully funded in the current proposal with several restrictions and reporting requirements that if not met, would act as triggers to turn off certain cash flows. 

Ripping the bill from the current six-bill funding package would cause a domino effect of headaches in Congress, given that any changes to the package would have to go through the House.

The lower chamber is gone until Feb. 2, making the likelihood of a partial shutdown much higher. 

Before the shooting, a handful of Senate Democrats had already made their opposition to the legislation known, including senators Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Tim Kaine, D-Va.

Kaine, notably, crossed the aisle last year to join a cohort of Senate Democratic caucus members to reopen the government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

He was not the only member of that group of eight to voice opposition — senators Catherine Cortez Masto, D-N.V., and Jacky Rosen, D-N.M., both came out against the DHS bill’s inclusion in the broader package on Saturday. 

‘My personal guiding principle has always been ‘agree where you can and fight where you must,’ Rosen said in a statement. ‘And I believe this is a time when we must fight back.’

Meanwhile, House lawmakers are on a week-long recess after passing their latest spending package in two chunks — one standalone vote on DHS funding and another wrapping together funding legislation for the departments of War, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development — this past Thursday.

A provision was added to the legislation before it passed the House that would combine the bills into one large package for the Senate to consider at once. It was then expected to be paired with other bills the Senate has not yet considered but which passed the House this month.

Changing that ahead of the Jan. 30 shutdown deadline would mean House lawmakers must return to Washington early to go through multiple procedural hurdles and another vote on the legislation — something House GOP leaders are ruling out, at least for now.

‘We passed all 12 bills over to the Senate, and they still have six in their possession that they need to pass to the president,’ a House GOP leadership source told Fox News Digital on Saturday evening, referring to the lower chamber completing its portion of Congress’ annual appropriations process. ‘We have no plan to come back next week.’

Even if House leaders changed their plans, the impending snow storm would mean lawmakers may not return until Tuesday at the earliest. That would put final passage sometime Wednesday or Thursday, virtually guaranteeing Congress does not complete consideration of the bills until after the Friday deadline.

House GOP leaders would also likely be grappling with attendance issues if they did order a return, with various lawmakers on planned trips and over a dozen busy campaigning for higher office.

A partial government shutdown would mean only agencies that Congress has not yet funded would have to reduce or cease functions — in this case, payment to active duty troops, air traffic controllers, and border patrol agents could all be affected.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both issued dire warnings about the pressing need to protect the endangered Syrian Kurdish population under attack by government forces in the war-torn nation.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who earlier this month ordered his army, which reportedly has a large jihadist element in it, to conquer territory controlled for more than a decade by the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF.)

Writing on the social media platform X on, Graham declared, ‘There is strong and growing bipartisan interest in the U.S. Senate regarding the deteriorating situation in Syria. There is strong consensus that we must protect the Kurds who were there for us in destroying the ISIS caliphate, as well as many other groups.’

Pompeo responded to Graham’s post, stating, ‘Turning our backs on our Kurdish allies would be a moral and strategic disaster.’

The Trump administration is facing criticism from its long-standing ally, the Syrian Kurds, who played a crucial role in the defeat of the Islamic State in the heartland of the Middle East, following a U.S. government announcement on social media that seemed to hint that the partnership had ended this past week with the Kurdish-run SDF in northern Syria.

The SDF formed as a bulwark against the rapid spread of the Islamic State’s terrorist movement in 2013. ISIS created a caliphate covering significant territory in Syria and Iraq. Al-Sharaa was a former member of the Islamic State and al Qaeda.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department regarding U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, who also serves as the Special Envoy for Syria, for a response to his recent statement on X wrote that indicated the U.S. partnership with the SDF was over.

Barrack wrote, ‘The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by Kurds, proved the most effective ground partner in defeating ISIS’s territorial caliphate by 2019, detaining thousands of ISIS fighters and family members in prisons and camps like al-Hol and al-Shaddadi. At that time, there was no functioning central Syrian state to partner with — the Assad regime was weakened, contested, and not a viable partner against ISIS due to its alliances with Iran and Russia.’

He added, ‘Today, the situation has fundamentally changed. Syria now has an acknowledged central government that has joined the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (as its 90th member in late 2025), signaling a westward pivot and cooperation with the U.S. on counterterrorism.’

Iham Ahmed, a prominent Syrian Kurdish politician, told Fox News Digital that, ‘We really wished to see a firm position from the U.S. The Kurdish people are at the risk of extermination. The U.S. does not give any solid or tangible guarantees.’

Ahmed cast doubt on statements like Barrack’s, warning the ‘Syrian army is still consisting of radical factions that no one can trust. Alawites, Christians, Sunnis and Druze cannot trust these factions. We could face massacres, which happened in other Syrian cities.’

When asked by Fox News Digital if the SDF wants Israel to intervene to aid the Kurds as it did to help the Syrian Druze and other minorities last year, Ahmed said, ‘Whoever wants to help us should do so – today is the day.’ She said that ‘the Islamic State is showing itself in the image of an official army. Everyone is threatened now.’

She urged a ‘special status for the Kurdish region’ in northeastern Syria.

Ahmed accused the Erdoğan government of nefarious involvement. ‘Turkey stands behind the attacks on our region. Turkish intelligence and small groups are leading attacks. Statements from Turkey are encouraging the extermination of our people,’ she claimed.

Fox News Digital sent a press query to the Turkish embassy spokesman in Washington D.C.

The influential president of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, wrote on X that, ‘Sen. Graham is right. I’ve been discussing the situation in NE Syria with Republican House leaders.  It is not in America’s interest for Islamist forces to seize territory once governed by trusted U.S. allies who protected minorities and advanced religious freedom. Yet this is happening as Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa’s forces move into northeast Syria, displacing the Syrian Democratic Forces — our partners in the fight against ISIS, who lost thousands of fighters, guarded U.S. bases, and detained ISIS prisoners.’

He continued, ‘Before we place trust in al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda insurgent who fought U.S. forces in Iraq and was held at Abu Ghraib, he has to show he is trustworthy.  So far, he is failing the test.’

Sinam Mohamad, the representative of the Syrian Democratic Council to the U.S., had harsh words for the administration, telling Fox News Digital, ‘American officials continue to describe the SDF as a reliable partner in that narrow mission. Washington avoids framing the relationship as a political alliance. The U.S. never intended a long-term political commitment to the Syrian Kurds. It was a military partnership without political guarantees. From Washington’s view, that’s consistency. From the Kurdish view, that’s betrayal.’

She added there has been an announcement of a 15-day extension of a ceasefire, ‘But both the SDF and outside observers noted continued [Syrian] government troop buildups near Kurdish-held areas, signaling that conflict could resume.’ She added, ‘The Kurds want to have peace and stability through negotiations.’

Christians in Sudan are daily facing hunger, misery and terror. The new Open Doors World Watch List for 2026, which ranks the worst countries in the world for the persecution of Christians, placed the country at No. 4, up one place from last year’s report. 

There are an estimated 2 million Christians in the conflict-ridden northeastern African country. Sudan’s civil war has raged past the 1,000- day milestone with 150,000 people reported to have been killed and more than 13 million displaced. Christians have lived in Sudan since the late first century.

Many of Sudan’s Christians live in the Nuba Mountains, part of the Kordofan region. Rafat Samir, general secretary of the Sudan Evangelical Alliance, told Fox News Digital that the ‘Nuba Mountains now, where the majority of our church members are  coming from, is under siege and  bombing every day for the last six months or seven months. Last week, after Christmas, they bombed our church, hospital and school.’

Adding to the misery, a report by MEMRI, citing Christian Daily international, said 11 Sudanese Christians were killed, as they took part in a procession to their church for a religious celebration on Christmas Day by a drone operated by the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces. 18 others were injured in the attack. MEMRI reported the SAF are backed by the Muslim Brotherhood.

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, ‘Since the April 2023 outbreak of conflict in Sudan, we have witnessed significant backsliding in Sudan’s overall respect for fundamental freedoms, including religious freedom. This backsliding especially impacts Sudan’s oppressed ethnic and religious populations, including Christians.’ 

In a Fox News Digital report last year, Christians were said to be eating grass to survive. Samir says the position is even more bleak in 2026: ‘even the grass is gone now.’

‘The conflict is accelerating the erasure of ancient Christian communities and sacred heritage,’ Mariam Wahba, research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital. ‘These losses will be far harder to reverse than the rebuilding of roads or ministries once the guns fall silent,’ she said.

Ideologically, Sudan’s Christians face a hostile future, Samir of the Evangelical Alliance said. ‘Both sides in the civil conflict are daughters of the Islamist movement in Sudan, and the Islamic ideology of both of them is to not have tolerance for others. They consider everyone different from them is against them. The Christian is considered their enemy as part of their religious ideology, and opposing them their religious duty.’

He continued, ‘So whoever does something to harm Christians is considered favorable to the law or to Allah.’ Samir went on to say, ‘the country is getting back to the dark ages.’

Repeated and continuing attempts at getting the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the opposing militia, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to reach a ceasefire have failed. Both sides admit they are still fighting and, it’s clear, killing civilians with sustained energy, particularly in the central Sudanese region of Kordofan, home to many Christians.

‘The United States is committed to ending the horrific conflict in Sudan,’ a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, adding, ‘Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working with our allies and others to facilitate a humanitarian truce and bring an end to external military support to the parties which is fueling the violence. President Trump wants peace in Sudan.’     

The spokesperson continued, ‘The suffering of civilians has reached catastrophic levels, with millions lacking food, water and medical care. Every day of continued fighting costs more innocent lives. The war in Sudan is an enduring threat to regional stability.’

The U.N. says fighting is increasing in Kordofan, with U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk telling reporters in Port Sudan on Jan. 18, ‘I am very worried that the atrocity crimes committed during and after the takeover of El Fasher are at grave risk of repeating themselves in the Kordofan region, where the conflict has been rapidly escalating since late October.’

‘The Kordofan states are extremely volatile,’ he continued, ‘with relentless military engagements, heavy shelling, drone bombardments and airstrikes causing widespread destruction and collapse of essential services.’

Wahba said that ‘while the United States remains kinetically active across neighboring theaters, it is unlikely to wade directly into Sudan’s civil war.’

‘President Trump’, Wahba added, ‘has signaled a clear desire to see the conflict resolved —  an objective echoed by both Egypt and Saudi Arabia — but translating that consensus into outcomes on the ground has proven far more difficult than the rhetoric suggests.’

‘For now,’ Wahba continued, ‘U.S. policy is centered on convening regional stakeholders and pressing for alignment among them, while prioritizing humanitarian corridors, aid delivery and coordination with partners willing to host talks. Washington is acting as a facilitator, not an enforcer.’

‘This posture reflects both constraint and caution. Sudan presents few reliable leverage points, no unified opposition partner, and (there’s) little appetite in Congress or the White House for another open-ended entanglement in a fragmented civil war. The result is a policy that remains fluid and reactive, and is shaped less by strategy than by crisis management,’ she said.

Despite everything, the Sudan Evangelical Alliance’s Samir has hope, ‘The Holy Spirit is moving and God’s hand is working in our country. I can tell you through this evil, this darkness, the light of love of our God is lighting in many hearts. The devil is stealing people to death every day. We pray that let us Christians live for one day more, for one day more to proclaim Jesus’s message.’

President Donald Trump threatened on Saturday that he would implement 100% tariffs on Canada if it strikes a deal to become a ‘drop off port’ for China.

‘If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘drop off port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken. China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

‘If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A.,’ the president added.

Trump referred to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as a ‘governor,’ echoing comments he made while campaigning for a second term about annexing America’s northern neighbor. He previously used the same term when speaking about Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau.

Carney made his first official visit to China earlier this month as he and Chinese President Xi Jinping work together to forge an improved bond between their countries. 

During the Jan. 14-17 visit, the leaders of the two nations reached an agreement that would allow up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles to enter the Canadian market at a lower tariff rate of 6.1%, Carney’s office announced. 

‘At its best, the Canada-China relationship has created massive opportunities for both our peoples. By leveraging our strengths and focusing on trade, energy, agri-food, and areas where we can make huge gains, we are forging a new strategic partnership that builds on the best of our past, reflects the world as it is today, and benefits the people of both our nations,’ Carney said in the statement.

Additionally, by March 1, China is expected to drop its tariff on Canadian canola seed to a combined rate of 15%. Carney’s office said that Canada expects that its canola meal, lobsters, crabs, and peas will not be subject to relevant anti-discrimination tariffs beginning March 1 ‘until at least the end of this year.’

It is unclear what deal would trigger a response from Trump in the wake of the ones made during Carney’s trip to China.

Tensions between Carney and Trump have flared in recent days, as the leaders took swipes at one another at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — and at home after the conference.

Carney, fresh off his trip to China, delievered a speech that garnered international attention. While he did not mention Trump by name, he made a reference to the U.S., saying that ‘rules-based order is fading.’ Many, including the U.S. president, saw this as a jab at Trump.

‘Every day we’re reminded that we live in an era of great-power rivalry,’ Carney said. ‘That the rules-based order is fading. That the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.’ 

He admitted that there were benefits to U.S. leadership on the world stage, but painted the entire concept of a rules-based international order as a falsity that is actively failing. Additionally, in his address, Carney urged middle powers, like Canada, to assert themselves and take the opportunity to ‘build a new order that embodies our values.’

‘Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu,’ Carney said. 

When delivering his address on Wednesday, Trump did not shy away from taking aim at Carney. He said that Canada ‘should be grateful’ because the country gets ‘a lot of freebies’ from the U.S., though he did not say what he was referring to.

‘I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful,’ Trump said. ‘Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.’

In another apparent swipe at Carney, Trump issued an ‘open letter’ to the Canadian leader on Truth Social revoking Canada’s invitation to join the Board of Peace, a U.S.-led council tasked with managing Gaza’s post-war future.

‘Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time. Thank you for your attention to this matter!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The inauguration of the Board of Peace took place after Carney had already departed, according to The Associated Press.

Upon his return to Canada, Carney addressed a cabinet retreat and took the opportunity to reject Trump’s claim.

‘Canada and the United States have built a remarkable partnership in the economy, in security, and in a rich cultural exchange,’ Carney said on Thursday while speaking in Plains of Abraham, Québec, during a cabinet retreat. 

‘But Canada doesn’t ‘live because of the United States’,’ he said, referencing Trump’s remark. ‘Canada thrives because we are Canadian. We are masters in our own house. This is our country. This is our future. The choice is ours.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Carney’s office for comment.