Authorities make discovery inside New Orleans Airbnb linked to maniac killer
Bomb-making materials were reportedly found at a New Orleans Airbnb, as authorities investigate a possible connection to the truck-ramming terror attack that killed at least 15 people and injured over 30 others on Bourbon Street during a New Year’s celebration.
A small fire broke out at a suspected Airbnb property located in the 1300 block of Mandeville Street in the St. Roch neighborhood of New Orleans around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The New Orleans Fire Department evacuated dozens of people from nearby homes and contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, FOX 8 reported.
Bomb-making materials were discovered at the property, sources confirmed to the outlet.
SUSPECT IDENTIFIED AS FBI INVESTIGATES ACT OF TERRORISM AFTER BOURBON STREET ATTACK
“They said they found bomb-making material in the yellow house and wanted the bomb squad to look it over,” Bob Koenig, a neighbor, told FOX 8.
Investigators suspect the Airbnb was rented by the now-deceased attacker, sources told The New Orleans Advocate.
Fox News Digital reached out to the listed owner of the Airbnb rental but did not immediately hear back.
The FBI said it is investigating an “act of terrorism” after Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas, drove a Ford pick-up truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street at approximately 3:15 a.m. local time. Jabbar exited the vehicle and fired on law enforcement, who returned fire, and the suspect was declared dead at the scene, according to the bureau.
BOURBON STREET ATTACK ON NEW YEAR’S REVELERS JUST THE LATEST CASE OF TERRORISTS USING TRUCKS TO KILL
An ISIS flag, weapons and a potential improvised explosive device (IED) were found in the vehicle, and other IEDs were found in the French Quarter, the FBI confirmed.
Jabbar enlisted in the U.S. Navy on Aug. 12, 2004, in Houston and was discharged from a delayed entry program one month later on Sept. 13, 2004, meaning he did not go on to serve, a U.S. Navy spokesperson told Fox News.
The FBI is reportedly looking to track down associates of Jabbar who may have been involved in the attack.
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In Las Vegas early Wednesday, a Tesla Cybertruck loaded with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel, killing the driver and sole occupant inside and injuring at least seven others nearby. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Chief Kevin McMahill told reporters that authorities “are absolutely investigating any connectivity to what happened in New Orleans as well as other attacks that have been occurring around the world.”
FBI scours Bourbon Street terrorist’s house in nearby state
The FBI and local law enforcement partners searched the New Orleans attacker’s home in Houston on Thursday morning, the FBI Houston office said in a statement.
“At approximately 7:50 a.m., FBI Houston and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office concluded a court-authorized search and cleared the 12000 block of Crescent Peak Drive. At this time, there is no threat to residents in that area. Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, we are unable to provide any details. FBI New Orleans remains the primary field office responsible for investigating yesterday’s Bourbon Street attack,” FBI Houston said.
The FBI previously identified 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas, as the suspect who drove a Ford pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans early Wednesday morning. The driver crashed the truck and traded gunfire with three police officers before he was shot and killed. At least 15 people were killed in the attack and dozens were injured.
Investigators plan to hold a news conference at 11 a.m. ET to provide updates from the investigation into the attack.
The FBI no longer believes there are other suspects in the Bourbon Street terror attack, Fox News has confirmed.
Authorities now believe suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar acted alone when he drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Wednesday morning, killing 15 people before engaging in a brief shootout with police. Jabbar was shot and killed by officers who returned fire.
Federal investigators are conducting sweeps in three U.S. cities as part of the ongoing investigations into the New Orleans attack and an explosion outside Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday.
In New Orleans, authorities are searching an Airbnb believed to have been rented by shooting suspect Jabbar.
The FBI office in Houston also executed a search warrant at a home connected to the Bourbon Street suspect near the intersection of Hugh Road and Crescent Peak Drive on Wednesday. The area remained blocked off by law enforcement Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, in Colorado, the FBI Denver office executed a search in Colorado Springs related to the investigation into a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday.
The FBI said Thursday it is conducting a search in Colorado Springs related to the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday morning.
“FBI Denver; the Denver Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Colorado Springs Police Department are conducting law enforcement activity at a residential address in Colorado Springs,” the FBI Denver office announced.
“FBI Denver personnel and specialized teams will be on-site for several hours. This activity is related to the explosion in Las Vegas on Wednesday; due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, no further information will be provided out of Denver.”
One person is dead and seven others were injured after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in front of Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday morning, officials said.
The Las Vegas Police Department is investigating the explosion, which occurred this morning outside the hotel, located near S. Sammy Davis Jr. Drive and Fashion Drive. Officials are also looking at the incident as potential terrorism.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his senior team at Tesla investigated the explosion and concluded it was not due to a malfunction.
“We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself. All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion,” Musk wrote on X.
President Biden will meet with top national security officials in the Situation Room Thursday afternoon to receive an update on the Bourbon Street terror attack, the White House said.
“At 12:15pmET, @POTUS will convene members of his homeland security team in the Situation Room to receive an update on the investigation into the terrorist attack in New Orleans,” White House deputy press secretary Emilie Simons said.
Biden on Wednesday said suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar posted videos on social media hours before the attack indicating he was inspired by ISIS.
In brief remarks from Camp David, the president condemned the terror attack in New Orleans as “despicable” and said authorites were investigating any possible connection between the attack and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump International Hotel Las Vegas.
“The FBI is leading the investigation to determine what happened, why it happened and whether there’s any continuing threat to public safety,” Biden said.
New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said Thursday security for the Sugar Bowl will be beefed up to Super Bowl levels in the wake of a terror attack on Bourbon Street.
The Sugar Bowl between the Georgia Bulldogs and Notre Dame was postponed to 4 p.m. ET on Thursday evening after it was originally scheduled for Wednesday night.
Kirkpatrick appeared on NBC’s “Today” show and gave some insight on security.
“We are going to have absolutely hundreds of officers and staff lining our streets,” Kirkpatrick said, mentioning Bourbon Street as one of the places where security will be increased.
“We are staffing up at the same level if not more so than we were prepared for Super Bowl.”
Super Bowl LIX is set to take place in February at the Caesars Superdome – the same site where the Sugar Bowl is set to kick off.
The Superdome was also the host site for the Super Bowl that took place after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. Police officers and snipers were seen on top of high-rise buildings and the Superdome itself.
Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said Wednesday that “public safety is paramount.”
This is an excerpt from an article by Ryan Gaydos.
The 2025 Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia will be played less than 24 hours later than its initial start time after Wednesday’s deadly attack in New Orleans prompted the game’s postponement.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl officially announced Wednesday afternoon that the game will start at 3 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET) on Thursday. The game was initially set to kick off on 8:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday night, and earlier reports indicated the game would be postponed 24 hours.
Allstate Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley released a statement sending thoughts and prayers to all the victims of the attack, while thanking those who have accommodated the new start time.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families as we work through this,” said Jeff Hundley, the chief executive officer of the Allstate Sugar Bowl. “We have full faith and confidence in the governor and the mayor and all the federal, state, and local first-responders that they’ve applied to this horrific event. Any time we have an event like the Sugar Bowl, public safety is paramount, and all parties involved agree that could only be achieved with a postponement. Now we will move ahead to take care of the details to make the Sugar Bowl the first-class, fun, and safe event that it has been for over 90 years.”
“On behalf of the College Football Playoff, we are devastated by this morning’s attack, and our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those affected by this tragedy,” said Rich Clark, the executive director of the College Football Playoff. “We are grateful to the leadership of the Sugar Bowl, New Orleans, the State of Louisiana and federal authorities as we work together to ensure we can provide a safe environment for everyone. We are also appreciative of ESPN’s flexibility in moving the game to tomorrow afternoon.”
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said Thursday that New Orleans is safe from further terror after a man drove a pickup truck into a large crowd on New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people.
“I think one of the most important things is to make sure that each one of those victims, did not die in vain. All of them had come to the city in order to enjoy the city, in order to enjoy some entertainment and ring in the new year,” Landry said on “Fox & Friends.”
“Y’all had a guest earlier who was an eyewitness, who said the same thing is that: We can’t live in fear. We need to be able to live our lives. And what we plan to do is ensure that as we remember those folks, that we put New Orleans back in a position where people can come and have a good time. We believe that the city – I’m convinced that the city is safe.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., slammed the Biden administration’s border policies after the New Orleans terror attack in his home state.
In an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Johnson condemned the Bourbon Street attack as an “act of pure evil” and expressed confidence that the FBI and state investigators would find out how suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar planned and executed the attack, and if he acted alone. However, he said not enough attention is being paid to what he called a dereliction of duty by the Biden administration on the southern border.
“We all know that for the last four years the Biden administration has been completely derelict in its duty. The congressional Republicans, we here in the House and the Senate, have repeatedly asked the DHS under the Biden administration about the correlation, the obvious concern about terrorism and the wide-open border,” Johnson said.
The FBI said Jabbar is a U.S. citizen from Houston, Texas, who had declared support for ISIS before Wednesday’s attack.
The suspect who allegedly drove into a joyous crowd at a New Year’s celebration in New Orleans, Louisiana, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens, has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar by the FBI.
Jabbar—who died at the scene of the attack—was a U.S.-born citizen who lived in Texas, FBI Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Alethea Duncan said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference.
In 2012, Jabbar and Nakedra Charrlle Jabbar’s marriage came to an end. The New York Times reported that his second marriage also came to an end in 2022.
The Times also reported that the pair shared two children together. Court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital showed that Jabbar missed child support payments to the couple’s children.
The FBI also revealed that Jabbar was an Army veteran.
“What I can tell you, the person was an Army veteran,” Duncan said. “We believe he was [an] honorable discharge. But we’re working through this process to figure out all this information.”
Jabbar served in the Army as a Human Resource Specialist and Information Technology (IT) Specialist from March 2007 until Jan. 2015.
Following active duty, he served in the Army Reserves as an IT Specialist from Jan. 2015 until July 2020.
During his tenure, he deployed to Afghanistan from Feb. 2009 to Jan. 2010.
He was also awarded a variety of distinguishments throughout his service, including a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
His awards included the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign star, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon, NATO Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Parachutist Badge, and the Driver and Mechanic Badge.
Prior to his service in the Army, Fox News confirmed that he attempted to first join the Navy. He was discharged before he could have served in the Navy.
“Our records show that a Shamsuddin Bahar Jabbar enlisted on Aug. 12, 2004, in Navy Recruiting District Houston and was discharged from the Delayed Entry Program one month later on Sept. 13, 2004. He did not go to Recruit Training Command,” the spokesperson with the U.S. Navy said.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Brooke Curto, Jennifer Griffin and Liz Friden.
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Rich Groen, who served as the commanding officer over Bourbon Street attack suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar, expressed shock and disbelief at Wednesday’s horror in New Orleans.
“As I process the devastating events that unfolded in New Orleans, I am in utter disbelief,” Groen posted on X. “Shamsud-Din Jabbar served under my Troop Command during our deployment to Afghanistan.”
“He worked quietly and professionally in the S1 shop and as a mail clerk, ensuring the little things that kept us all connected to home were done with care and precision. He was a great Soldier, someone who showed discipline and dedication.
“To think that the same individual who once embodied quiet professionalism could harbor so much hate, leading to such unspeakable atrocities, is incomprehensible and heartbreaking. This transformation is a stark reminder of the dangers of unchecked anger, isolation, and hate.”
“Please watch out for one another,” Groen urged. “Be there for your brothers and sisters in arms, your friends, and even those who seem distant or troubled. Don’t let hate take root—either in your own heart or in the hearts of those around you. We must care for one another before it’s too late.
“My prayers go out to the victims and their families. May they find strength in this time of unimaginable grief. Let’s honor their memory by ensuring we stand together against hate in all its forms.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill believes the Sugar Bowl college football game should be postponed while persons of interest in the Bourbon Street terror attack may still be at large.
Murrill joined “Fox & Friends” on Thursday to discuss security in New Orleans after suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar allegedly drove a pickup truck into a large crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street, killing 15 people and injuring dozens more. The FBI has said it does not believe Jabbar acted alone.
“Yesterday there were discussions about whether to have the game last night, which I frankly thought was absurd. We still had bodies that had to be removed from the ground and an open investigation to secure the crime scene. And so, you know, it seemed to me that was not a hard decision to make,” Murrill said.
The attorney general said she will push federal law enforcement to keep this case a top priority until all possible suspects are apprehended and she expressed reservations about proceeding with the Sugar Bowl while the investigation is ongoing.
“I do feel like the city is secure,” Murrill said. “But, you know, we have 16 people who are dead. Their families are grieving. We have at least 10 more that are clinging to life in the hospital. And, you know, I think that there’s a certain degree of respect that we owe to the dead and to their families and the victims, and to acknowledge and recognize that this is an open investigation into a terrorist event.”
She also shared that the FBI has not provided her office with “a lot of information” about the investigation, noting it was a “fluid situation” on Wednesday and public officials were working to secure the city.
President-elect Trump late Wednesday weighed in after 15 people were killed in a terror attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and a cybertruck explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas killed another.
In a fiery post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called the U.S. a “disaster” and a “laughing stock all over the World!”
“This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership,” Trump wrote.
Authorities have identified the suspect in the Bourbon Street terror attack as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas, and a U.S. Army veteran. The identity or citizenship status of the suspect in the Cybertruck explosion is not clear at this time.
Trump also blasted the Justice Department, the FBI and Democrat state and local prosecutors.
“They are incompetent and corrupt, having spent all of their waking hours unlawfully attacking their political opponent, ME, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside violent SCUM that has infiltrated all aspects of our government, and our Nation itself,” Trump said. “Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to our Country.”
Trump called on the CIA to get involved “before it is too late.”
“The USA is breaking down – A violent erosion of Safety, National Security, and Democracy is taking place all across our Nation,” Trump said. “Only strength and powerful leadership will stop it. See you on January 20th. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The FBI late Wednesday released a more recent photo of Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the suspect in the New Year’s Day terror attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans that killed 15 people and injured others.
The FBI said 42-year-old Jabbar is a U.S. citizen and Army veteran from Texas.
“FBI special agents and our law enforcement partners are currently conducting a number of court-authorized search warrants in New Orleans and other states,” the bureau said in a statement. “The FBI’s Evidence Response Team continues to process the crime scene to meticulously gather all relevant evidence.”
The FBI said it plans to turn over the Bourbon Street crime scene to local authorities early Thursday morning.
President Biden said earlier Wednesday that the U.S. Army veteran who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans had posted videos to social media hours before the carnage saying he was inspired by the Islamic State group and expressing a desire to kill.
The driver killed 15 people as he steered around a police blockade and slammed into revelers before being shot dead by police.
The FBI said it does not believe the driver acted alone. Investigators found guns and what appeared to be an improvised explosive device in the vehicle along with other devices elsewhere in the French Quarter.
Louisiana’s top lawyer is vowing an eye-for-an-eye for those believed to be involved in the Bourbon Street terror attack.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill warns, “In Louisiana, we have the death penalty, and we will carry it out!” she writes in a post on X.
The post comes after a horrifying massacre where a suspect drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street, killing 15 people. The driver, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas and an Army veteran, is dead following a shootout with officers.
The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism.
Murrill tells Fox News there is evidence that multiple individuals are involved but declines to share further details.
Law enforcement remains stationed around the French Quarter and the Superdome, where the College Football Playoff quarterfinal, the Sugar Bowl, was postponed until today.
Is Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside Trump hotel linked to New Orleans massacre?
A Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in front of Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, killing one person and injuring seven others, contained gasoline and camp fuel containers, as well as large firework mortars, according to authorities.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a press conference on Wednesday that investigators know who rented the Cybertruck, which was acquired in Colorado, though they are not prepared to identify that person without 100% certainty.
McMahill also said investigators were able to trace the truck through Tesla charging stations. License plate readers in Las Vegas first detected the vehicle at about 7:30 a.m., and McMahill said it traveled up and down Las Vegas Boulevard before pulling into the Trump hotel valet area.
Within 15-20 seconds of pulling up to the hotel, the sheriff added, the vehicle exploded.
1 DEAD, 7 INJURED AFTER TESLA CYBERTRUCK EXPLOSING OUTSIDE TRUMP HOTEL IN LAS VEGAS: POLICE
During the press conference, the sheriff showed a video of the truck bed, which showed it was filled with gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars.
But the sheriff also pointed to the exterior of the truck and how it was still completely intact after the explosion.
“The fact that this was a Cybertruck, really limited the damage that occurred inside of the valet because it had most of the blast go up through the truck and out,” McMahill said. “In fact, if you look on that video, you’ll see that the front glass doors at the Trump hotel were not even broken by the blast.”
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While the blast did not damage the glass doors, seven individuals sustained minor injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital.
As for all the guests at the hotel, they were taken in by another hotel as the investigation into the explosion continues.
Like McMahill, Jeremy Schwartz, the FBI acting special agent in charge in Las Vegas, would not identify the person inside the vehicle, saying, “Our number one goal is to ensure that we have proper identification of the subject involved in the incident.”
The second objective, Schwartz said, was to determine whether the explosion was an act of terrorism, which is being investigated by a joint terrorism task force.
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The special agent said the task force is made up of law enforcement officials from the area.
“We’re not doing anything alone, and we wouldn’t do anything alone without our partners making sure that we’re all in lockstep,” Schwartz said. “We’ve learned from mistakes in the past, and we’re not going to do that again.”
The Cybertruck explosion was the second suspicious deadly incident in a major city since the start of 2025.
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Early Wednesday morning, a man later identified as Shamsud Din Jabbar, drove a pickup truck into a crowd on the famed Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing over a dozen people, and injuring dozens more.
The truck Din Jabbar drove was rented from the peer-to-peer car rental company Turo, as was the Cybertruck that burst into flames in Las Vegas. Din Jabbar’s rented vehicle also donned an ISIS flag on its trailer hitch.
A Turo spokesperson told Fox News Digital the company does not believe either renter in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had criminal backgrounds that would have identified them as a security threat.
“We are heartbroken by the violence perpetrated in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and our prayers are with the victims and families,” the spokesperson said. “We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards in risk management, thanks to our world-class trust and safety technologies and teams that include experienced former law enforcement professionals.”
Schwartz said the FBI believes the explosion in Las Vegas was an isolated incident.
SUSPECT IDENTIFIED AS FBI INVESTIGATES ACT OF TERRORISM AFTER BOURBON STREET ATTACK
“We do not believe that there’s a bunch of folks out there supporting this or helping this, and we don’t believe that there’s any other danger to the community right now,” he said, reassuring the community that over the next few hours and days, they will do what they can to get to the bottom of the incident.
McMahill said he did not know whether the two were connected but would not rule it out. He also said the Cybertruck did not have an ISIS flag like the truck in New Orleans, but every aspect is being investigated.
The preliminary investigation to this point involved input from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who McMahill said gave quite a bit of information about how the vehicle was locked after it exploded because of the force from the explosion.
Musk also helped when it came to capturing surveillance footage from Tesla charging stations across the country.
WHO IS SHAMSUD DIN JABBAR? WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE NEW ORLEANS NEW YEARS’ TERRORIST SUSPECT
The billionaire kept followers up to date about the Cybertruck explosion on his social media platform X.
“We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself. All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion,” Musk wrote in one post.
“The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards,” he said in another post. “Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken.”
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President Biden also weighed in on the Las Vegas explosion.
“We’re tracking the explosion of a Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas,” he said while speaking about the fatal crash in New Orleans. “Law enforcement and the intelligence community are investigating this as well, including whether there’s any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans. Thus far, there’s nothing to report on that score at this time.”
Report exposes shocking deliberate targeting and killing of Christians
EXCLUSIVE: Reports for years have indicated that religious intolerance is on the rise around the globe in the face of increasing authoritarian rule and the continued spread of Islamic extremism, but a report released Thursday indicates that Christianity, above all others, is taking the biggest hit.
“The world is seeing an increasing push toward oppressive control over religion, particularly Christianity, as a consequence of several modern and historical factors converging,” Jeff King, president of the International Christian Concern (ICC), a non-profit based in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital. “Christians face oppression in more countries than any other faith group, with significant challenges in regions like the Middle East, Africa and Asia.”
A report titled “The Global Persecution Index 2025,” released by the ICC on Thursday, outlined which nations have become the biggest offenders when it comes to religious oppression, particularly against Christian populations, and found the majority of religion-based persecution is carried out under authoritarian leaders and by Islamic extremist groups.
PRIEST STABBED IN THE FACE DURING MASS AS RELIGION-BASED HATE CRIME IS ON THE RISE WORLDWIDE
The greatest concentration of “Red Zone” nations, countries with the most severe actions taken against Christians, including torture and death, were found in a strip of land in Africa known as the Sahel, which includes places like Mali, Niger and Chad. However, other significantly dangerous nations for the Christian faith were identified as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Korea.
There is a mounting trend that shows authoritarian policies are on the rise globally – particularly as geopolitics enter an increasingly fragile period – and has meant more nations are clamping down on religion.
Christians and Muslims are the two largest religious groups in the world and consistently see the highest rates of “harassment” – both physical and verbal – over any other group, according to a Pew Research Center (PRC) report released this month, which analyzed findings from 2022 – data that King also referenced.
While neither the ICC report nor the PRC report were able to break down the exact rates of how many Christians, versus Muslims, or others, were targets of harassment, the PRC found that Christians are targeted in more countries by governments or “social groups” than any other religion, with Muslims coming in second and Jews third.
“In many authoritarian states, Christianity is seen as a proxy for Western influence and values, which regimes often reject as imperialistic or destabilizing,” King told Fox News Digital. “Christianity and other faiths emphasize allegiance to a higher moral authority, which inherently challenges authoritarian regimes that demand complete loyalty to the state.”
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However, while authoritarian attempts to control the hearts and minds of its citizens through oppressive policies are nothing new, emerging and increasingly accessible technology has upped the level to which nations can persecute perceived dissidence.
Technology like social media in many ways has improved freedom of speech and access to information worldwide, but the expansion of other technologies has also increased oppressive authoritarian systems of hyper-surveillance – even in regions not traditionally seen as religiously oppressive, like Latin America.
“Countries like Nicaragua and Venezuela, traditionally Christian-majority nations, saw a big increase in hostility toward religious groups critical of authoritarian regimes,” King said. “The targeting of religious citizens and suppression of dissenting voices marked a new and alarming trend.
“Nations like China exported sophisticated surveillance technology to other authoritarian regimes, enabling tighter control and monitoring of religious groups,” he added.
Some nations have increasingly viewed Christianity as a threat to their cultural norms, including India, which in recent years has seen a severe increase in the number of attacks against Christians, according to not only the ICC and the PRC reports, but also a report submitted to the United Nations General Assembly by the Human Rights Council in February.
“In countries like India and Pakistan, social media platforms were used to incite mob violence and spread disinformation about Christian communities, leading to targeted attacks,” King explained.
The violence and oppression against religious groups around the globe are not isolated events and are indicative of an increasingly growing threat reminiscent of historical atrocities carried out under similar oppressive policies.
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“Many nations are experiencing democratic backsliding, with authoritarian leaders consolidating power and silencing dissent, including religious voices,” King explained in reference to the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. “Economic crises, political unrest, and social inequalities create conditions where leaders seek scapegoats or distractions, often targeting religious minorities to unite the majority under their rule.
“Today’s regimes are drawing from this playbook as they face similar challenges to their authority,” he added. “Religion, with its ability to inspire freedom, hope and resistance, is viewed as a mortal enemy to their dominance.
“This trend is exacerbated by technological advancements, rising nationalism, and global instability, making the fight for religious freedom more urgent than ever,” King warned.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts issues warning weeks before Trump inauguration
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a warning on Tuesday that the United States must maintain “judicial independence” just weeks away from President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Roberts explained his concerns in his annual report on the federal judiciary.
“It is not in the nature of judicial work to make everyone happy. Most cases have a winner and a loser. Every Administration suffers defeats in the court system—sometimes in cases with major ramifications for executive or legislative power or other consequential topics,” Robert wrote in the 15-page report. “Nevertheless, for the past several decades, the decisions of the courts, popular or not, have been followed, and the Nation has avoided the standoffs that plagued the 1950s and 1960s.”
“Within the past few years, however, elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings,” Roberts said, without naming Trump, President Biden or any specific lawmaker. “These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected. Judicial independence is worth preserving. As my late colleague Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, an independent judiciary is ‘essential to the rule of law in any land,’ yet it ‘is vulnerable to assault; it can be shattered if the society law exists to serve does not take care to assure its preservation.’”
“I urge all Americans to appreciate this inheritance from our founding generation and cherish its endurance,” Roberts said.
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Roberts also quoted Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, who remarked that the three branches of government “must work in successful cooperation” to “make possible the effective functioning of the department of government which is designed to safeguard with judicial impartiality and independence the interests of liberty.”
“Our political system and economic strength depend on the rule of law,” Roberts wrote.
A landmark Supreme Court immunity decision penned by Roberts, along with another high court decision halting efforts to disqualify Trump from the ballot, were championed as major victories on the Republican nominee’s road to winning the election. The immunity decision was criticized by Democrats like Biden, who later called for term limits and an enforceable ethics code following criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices.
A handful of Democrats and one Republican lawmaker urged Biden to ignore a decision by a Trump-appointed judge to revoke FDA approval for the abortion drug mifepristone last year. Biden declined to take executive action to bypass the ruling, and the Supreme Court later granted the White House a stay permitting the sale of the medication to continue.
The high court’s conservative majority also ruled last year that Biden’s massive student loan debt forgiveness efforts constitute an illegal use of executive power.
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Roberts and Trump clashed in 2018 when the chief justice rebuked the president for denouncing a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an “Obama judge.”
In 2020, Roberts criticized comments made by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York while the Supreme Court was considering a high-profile abortion case.
Roberts introduced his letter Tuesday by recounting a story about King George III stripping colonial judges of lifetime appointments, an order that was “not well received.” Trump is now readying for a second term as president with an ambitious conservative agenda, elements of which are likely to be legally challenged and end up before the court whose conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump during his first term.
In the annual report, the chief justice wrote generally that even if court decisions are unpopular or mark a defeat for a presidential administration, other branches of government must be willing to enforce them to ensure the rule of law. Roberts pointed to the Brown v. Board of Education decision that desegrated schools in 1954 as one that needed federal enforcement in the face of resistance from southern governors.
He also said “attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed.”
While public officials and others have the right to criticize rulings, they should also be aware that their statements can “prompt dangerous reactions by others,” Roberts wrote.
Threats targeting federal judges have more than tripled over the last decade, according to U.S. Marshals Service statistics. State court judges in Wisconsin and Maryland were killed at their homes in 2022 and 2023, Roberts wrote.
“Violence, intimidation, and defiance directed at judges because of their work undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable,” he wrote.
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Roberts also pointed to disinformation about court rulings as a threat to judges’ independence, saying that social media can magnify distortions and even be exploited by “hostile foreign state actors” to exacerbate divisions.
Comedian Jim Gaffigan admits he has a regret about his old anti-Trump posts
Superstar stand-up comic Jim Gaffigan recently weighed in on his previous anti-Trump social media posts from 2020, saying he regrets that supporters of President-elect Donald Trump took his criticism personally.
Gaffigan, who recently played former Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., on “Saturday Night Live,” discussed his negative feelings surrounding the old tweets in a new interview with “The Daily Beast.”
“I regret that people think that I was criticizing people that support Trump. And that was never the intention. I regret – someone said like, now I can’t follow you anymore and I kind of said ‘F you’ to them,” the comedian stated.
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Gaffigan lashed out at Trump in a series of tweets back in 2020, when X was still Twitter and Trump was running for re-election. In one, he wrote, “Look Trumpers I get it. As a kid I was a cubs fan and I know you stick by your team no matter what but he’s a traitor and a con man who doesn’t care about you. Deep down you know it. I’m sure you enjoy pissing people off but you know Trump is a liar and a criminal.”
In another, he bashed Trump for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, writing, “You know Trump just creates enemies. You know you can’t trust him. You know he been incompetent during this crisis. You know all those people didn’t need to die. Trump talks about the Space Program and you can’t safely go to a movie. Wake up.”
Four years later, Gaffigan told the outlet his regrets about how the posts were taken by some people, but insisted he doesn’t regret posting them.
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“But it’s weird because I think authenticity is really an important thing, not only as a comedian, but also with your children,” he said, adding, “For me, I don’t regret it, but I also do acknowledge that there are true die-hard Trump fans who probably enjoyed my comedy, but because they feel so passionately will never forgive me.”
Gaffigan went on, acknowledging that alienating people in such a way is just part of being a comedian.
“But also, something I’ve noticed in doing stand-up for so long is, you’re going to lose people. You’re also going to attract people. But there are going to be people who are like, you know, ‘I don’t have kids, I think he’s funny, but I don’t get this.’”
When asked if he felt as if he had lost many fans following those posts, he replied, “I wouldn’t say it was measurable. But there were definitely comments on social media, and there are still some. My son, who’s so funny — I posted something, and my 18-year-old son commented, ‘I liked him until he went on his Trump rant.’”
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The outlet also asked the comedian how he felt about the flak he got for performing at the recent Al Smith Dinner in New York City. During his set, Gaffigan took shots at Trump, who was in attendance that evening, and at Vice President Kamala Harris, who declined the invite.
He remarked on being slammed by liberals who accused him of making light of Trump in the routine.
“I was ‘normalizing a fascist,’ right? I knew going into it that I was going to get criticism from both sides. I’m not a roast comedian. I mean, I love politics, but I just don’t talk about it,” he said.
“So I knew that if I did jokes about either side that there was going to be some blowback. But I also thought it was worth it.”
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Seat squatting on flight in New Year riles up passengers: ‘Couldn’t believe’ it
The “seat squatter” trend may have dominated travel experiences in 2024 — but it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon in this New Year of 2025.
Travelers continue to reveal their “seat-squatting” encounters on social media as commenters chime in and debate the hot issue.
An experience shared on Reddit in the “r/delta” forum with the caption, “Seat squatter caught and rude entire flight,” has continued to spark discussion.
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The term “seat squatters” has been used to refer to those who rob the seats that were selected and paid for by other travelers.
Discussing a flight from Cancún, Mexico, to Los Angeles, California, the traveler posted, “I couldn’t even believe my eyes after seeing all the seat squatter posts.”
The person added, “We’re finally boarding and this couple about our age (late 20s/early 30s) is in our row, which can’t be right because we’re [in] the middle and aisle [seats]. I tell them they’re in my seat … and they oddly start fumbling around and mentioning they have a dog with them.”
The user said she responded that she was allergic to dogs — and that she paid for the seats.
He placed his arm over the armrest, applying pressure to her arm, she said.
“They both start fumbling around more and [the] female, who was originally in the window seat [that] I presume they did actually book, and [the] male who was sitting in my seat, both get out of the row so the female and dog can go to the window seat behind us,” she added.
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The man, for his part, then moved to the window seat in her row, she said.
He placed his arm over the armrest, applying pressure to her arm — which prompted her to switch seats with her fiancé in the row, she said.
“Once we finally get off the plane … my fiancé tells me this guy silently fought with him over the armrest the same way he did with me for the entire flight,” she wrote in her post.
“I cannot rationalize how or why this man did this when we did absolutely nothing to him other than ask to sit in our own seats,” the poster added in her story.
Reddit users took to the comment section to assess the situation and share their own experiences with “seat squatters.”
“I doubt people that are already OK with breaking the rules are going to be great people.”
“It’s only happened to me once, thankfully. But my rule of thumb is that I’ll be polite on the initial interaction in case it’s a legitimate unintentional mistake [that] they’re sitting in my seat. In that case, they’ll get up and move and there’s no harm, no foul,” said one.
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Another added, “Omg, it sounds like you were flying with a bunch of bratty teenagers.”
“I doubt people that are already OK with breaking the rules are going to be great people, unfortunately,” commented yet another user.
Some users debated the notion of which passenger gets the armrests in the middle seat.
“The ‘middle seat gets both armrests’ thing is entirely an online knowledge thing. Yes, it’s courteous & makes sense if you think about it, but the average [person who] flies once/twice per year … likely doesn’t know or think about it,” commented one user.
Another stated, “Everyone knows the middle seat gets both arm rests.”
“The middle person does not in fact get both arm rests,” another user said. “That’s a made-up rule and you can’t get mad at someone who doesn’t follow that.”
Gary Leff, a Texas-based travel industry expert and author of the blog “View From the Wing,” told Fox News Digital that the person holding the seat assignment on their boarding pass is entitled to that seat.
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“[Flyers] may not be able to get what they want from the airline when reserving seats, or the airline may want a fee for the seats they want and the passenger doesn’t want to pay — so they’ll try their luck on board,” said Leff.
Leff suggested that instead of stealing seats, flyers can try asking others directly to swap seats with them.
California-based etiquette expert Rosalinda Randall told Fox News Digital that “it is never OK to seat-squat once on board. Eventually, the passenger with that seat assignment will claim it.”
“Immediately request assistance from the flight attendant.”
Randall said when dealing with a seat squatter, it is best to address the situation calmly and in good faith.
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“If the seat squatter refuses to move, do not engage; do not recruit other passengers to rally,” she said.
Rather, “immediately request assistance from the flight attendant.”