Three Israeli men were killed in a terrorist shooting attack at the Allenby Bridge Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank on Sunday morning, authorities said.

The attack was carried out by a Jordanian truck driver who had arrived from Jordan.

The crossing, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, is the West Bank’s sole crossing with Jordan.

The three victims were named Yohanan Shchori, 61, a father of six from the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Efraim, Yuri Birnbaum, 65, from the settlement of Na’ama, and Adrian Marcelo Podzamczer, from the settlement city of Ariel.

According to the military and Israel Airports Authority officials — the latter of which manages the land crossing — the gunman got out of the truck he was driving during an inspection at the terminal and opened fire at several of the crossing’s workers, killing three.

IAA security guards returned fire at the terrorist, killing him.

He was identified by Israeli security sources as Maher Dhiab Hussein al-Jazi, 39, a Jordanian national from the southern Jordan town of Udhruh, east of Petra.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said its medics treated the three men at the scene, but were forced to declare their deaths.

Footage circulating online purported to show the moment of the attack.

Watch:

תיעוד | פיגוע הירי במעבר אלנבי@bokeralmog

צילום: סעיף 27 א’ לחוק זכויות יוצרים pic.twitter.com/9KW4WUsXZx

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) September 8, 2024

The Israel Defense Forces described the shooting as a terror attack. It published an image of the handgun used by the terrorist.

IDF sappers dispatched to the scene later ruled out suspicions that the truck in which a terrorist arrived had been rigged with explosives, the military said.

Terror groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad both welcomed the attack.

Hamas hailed the attacker as “one of Jordan’s brave men.”

In a statement, it said that the attack was a “natural response to the holocaust carried out by the Nazi Zionist enemy against our people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and its plans for the Judaization of the Al Aqsa mosque.”

The terror group further called on people in Arab and Muslim countries to rise up in support of Palestinians.

On its Telegram channel, the PIJ described the attacker as a “hero” and said the assault is an “expression of the sentiments of the Jordanian people and the Arab and Muslim peoples towards the brutal massacres committed by the enemy.”

“This heroic attack and similar ones are the only response that the American administration understands,” the statement added, accusing the United States of being an “accomplice” to Israel.

Israeli and Jordanian authorities both announced that the crossing had been closed until further notice following the deadly shooting attack.

The Jordanian interior ministry also said that authorities had begun an investigation into the attack.

The IAA said that in addition to the closure of Allenby Bridge, the other land crossings with Jordan — the Rabin Crossing near Eilat and the Jordan River Crossing near Beit She’an — were closed at the request of security authorities.

Palestinians can only use the Allenby Bridge Crossing to enter Jordan from the West Bank, while Israelis generally use the Rabin and Jordan River crossings.

Violence in the West Bank has surged in the past year, following the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were massacred and 251 were taken hostage.

Since October 7, troops have arrested some 5,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,000 affiliated with Hamas.

According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 670 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.

During the same period, 32 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another six members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.

Police are searching the woods near Interstate 75 just north of London, Kentucky, after “numerous persons” were shot on the highway around 6 p.m. near exit 49, officials confirmed Saturday evening.

Joseph A. Couch, 32, a person of interest in the shooting, is considered armed and dangerous, police said.

“If you have any information regarding the whereabouts or location on this individual please contact the London-Laurel County 911 Center by calling 911 or 606-878-7000,” the London Police Department said.

The department warned that Couch shouldn’t be approached. He is described as a White man about 5 foot 10 inches, weighing around 154 pounds.

London Mayor Randall Weddle in an update said he had been told that seven people were injured in the shooting, but not all of them were shot.

“Some of them was due to an accident,” he said, adding that no deaths have been reported.

The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office said the highway was closed near the exit, which is nine miles north of London.

Police had originally responded to reports that a suspect was shooting at drivers from an overpass or a wooded area, multiple media accounts said.

London, around 80 miles south of Lexington, Kentucky, has a population of about 7,600.

Police officers will be escorting ambulances in and out of the area to take shooting victims to hospitals, FOX 56 reported, adding that a police helicopter is available.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told people to avoid the area.

“Kentucky, we are aware of a shooting on I-75 in Laurel County,” Beshear said. “Law enforcement has shut the interstate down in both directions at exit 49. Please avoid the area. We will provide more details once they are available.”

The governor said he was receiving updates from the Kentucky State Police and the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security. “[T]ogether we are actively monitoring the situation and offering support in any way possible. Please pray for everyone involved,” he wrote.

The highway was closed between exits 41 and 59, FOX 56 reported, citing the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

Kentucky, we are aware of a shooting on I-75 in Laurel County. Law enforcement has shut the interstate down in both directions at exit 49. Please avoid the area. We will provide more details once they are available.

— Governor Andy Beshear (@GovAndyBeshear) September 7, 2024

Weddle added that all first responders at the scene are safe and that both Gov. Beshear’s office and the White House had reached out to offer support.

“Just keep our first responders in your prayers,” he said.

“That is some rugged terrain and a lot of treeline,” the mayor added of the search for the suspect.

He said that residents should be “vigilant” while police search for Couch. “I’m not asking anybody to panic, there is no immediate danger here in the city, but again…we are asking everybody to be safe.”

Of the response from agencies in surrounding communities, he said “this goes back to showing you what a great, great state that we live in, what a great community we live in and all the residents that’s asked ‘What can we do?’”

The first showdown between Vice President Harris and former President Trump showcases a far different race than the debate that sunk President Biden’s campaign if voter enthusiasm is any measure.

Since Biden bowed out following his shaky debate performance, Harris has erased Trump’s comfortable lead in the polls, setting up a razor-thin election with less than two months to go.

The face-off Tuesday in Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center won’t have a live audience and also won’t feature live mics despite Harris’ push for the feature.

“Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor, will be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President,” her campaign told ABC in a letter The Washington Post obtained.

“We suspect this is the primary reason for his campaign’s insistence on muted microphones.”

Jason Miller, a Trump campaign senior adviser, told Axios in a statement that the campaign “accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate” planned when President Biden was still in the race.

The 90-minute debate will be moderated by “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis.

It will run at 9pm ET on ABC News with two commercial breaks and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu, per ABC News. Other networks, including Fox News, will also carry the debate live.

A coin flip that Trump won on Tuesday earned him the privilege of choosing either podium placement or closing statement order, ABC News reported.

The former president opted to go last, giving Harris her selection of podium positioning. Hers will be on the right side of the screen.

Rules dictate much of the structure of the debate from where candidates will stand (behind their podiums) to what they will be given (water, a pen and pad of paper.)

ABC maintains no candidate will have access to topics or questions early, there won’t be opening statements, and closing statements will be held to two minutes for each candidate.

No props or earlier drafted notes are allowed, and candidates won’t be able to ask each other questions.

They will have two minutes to respond to questions, the same for rebuttals, and they will have an extra minute for any followup.

The chief spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Southern District of New York (SDNY) was caught tearing into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and other prosecutors for carrying out a “perversion of justice” in targeting former President Donald Trump, hidden camera footage captured by an undercover journalist revealed.

Nicholas Biase, the public affairs director for the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York (SDNY), spilled his feelings about the liberal DA when speaking to an unidentified operative with podcaster Steven Crowder’s “Mug Club” on multiple occasions.

In one July 31 clip from what appears to be a bar, Biase said, “To be honest with you, I think the case is nonsense,” after Trump was convicted of 34 felonies for allegedly falsifying business records.

Telling the undercover woman he had known Bragg for 15 years as they used to work together in the SDNY office, Biase accused the DA of “stacking charges [against Trump] and, like, rearranging things just to make it fit a case.”

“He wants to be something … a mayor? I’m not sure what he wants to be, but I know he’s not happy just being the DA of New York County. Before he decided to prosecute Trump, did you know who he was? You do now,” the DOJ official said.

Another clip–this one from August 14–shared by Crowder shows Biase saying the “state level is like the f*cking wild west… they’re like idiots, they don’t care, they’re all political”:

“[Bragg] is probably gonna try to lock [Trump] up… it’s going to be ugly,” he said. “They’re so obsessed with getting him.”

“Who is they?” the operative asked.

Biase replied, “The Democrats.”

Another clip showed him saying, “Those felonies did nothing to stop Trump from running … In fact, they made him more relevant.”

He even commented on the separate civil fraud case about inflating asset value brought against Trump by state Attorney General Letitia James.

“Every real estate person in New York does what he [Trump] did. Nobody’s ever been charged with this … You know, it’s a perversion of justice.”

He also blasted Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis for carrying out a “travesty of justice” for indicting him on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.

“To put it mildly, it’s a mockery of justice. She is a joke … The whole thing is disgusting. They’re just out to get him [Trump],” the spokesman said of Willis.

After the videos went viral on social media, Biase told the New York Post that he had only “just met” the woman and was just trying to “impress” her with his remarks.

“I was recently made aware of a video where I regretfully made some statements in a private and social setting that don’t reflect my views about two local and state prosecutions,” he said in a statement.

“I said these things in an effort to please and impress someone I just met, who was secretly filming me. I’m deeply sorry to the local and state law enforcement officials working on these matters, who deserve more respect than I showed them. I should have known better.”

Evacuations were expanded Saturday as a wildfire with leaping flames scorched the foothills of a national forest east of Los Angeles, amid a days-long heat wave that pushed temperatures into the triple digits across the region.

The so-called Line Fire was burning uncontrolled along the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest, about 65 miles east of LA.

As of Saturday afternoon, the blaze charred about 11 square miles of grass and chaparral, leaving a thick cloud of dark smoke blanketing the area.

The fire began Thursday evening, and the cause is under investigation.

About 500 firefighters were battling the blaze, supported by water-dropping helicopters that hovered over homes and hillsides, along with aircraft.

Firefighters said the blaze had the “potential for large fire growth” in the next 12 hours.

The fire produced coiling clouds of dense smoke, and flames could be seen cresting hillside ridges.

No injuries were reported, and no homes or other structures had been damaged or destroyed.

The National Weather Service said downtown Los Angeles hit a high of 112 degrees Fahrenheit Friday, which marked the third time since 1877 that a high of 112 degrees or more has been reached there.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged an illegal immigrant from Guatemala for illegally voting in American elections and stealing the identity of an American citizen.

The Justice Department brought the charges against Angelica Maria Francisco, a 42-year old Guatemalan national illegally residing in Alabama, after it was found that she illegally voted in both the 2016 and 2020 primary and general elections despite not being an American citizen.

The DOJ stated in a press release that Francisco was charged with “false claims of citizenship in connection with voting, false statements in application for a United States passport, use of a United States passport obtained by false statements, and aggravated identity theft.” Francisco has agreed to plead guilty to all charges.

The plea agreement reveals that the Guatemalan national illegally assumed the identity of an American citizen in about 2011 before using that identity to illegally procure a passport and register to vote.

“She subsequently used the United States passport to travel to and from her native country of Guatemala in 2012, 2015, and 2018,” the DOJ explained. “Using the same false identity, Francisco also registered to vote in Alabama in 2016 and voted in the 2016 and 2020 primary and general elections.”

The charge from the DOJ comes as Republicans in the House and Senate are attempting to pass the SAVE Act, a piece of legislation that intends to further safeguard federal elections against illegal immigrant voting. Democrats like Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, however, have claimed that the problem of illegal immigrant voting “doesn’t exist” and that the act is unnecessary.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) recently warned that mass illegal immigration could mean that “Democrats win every election forever,” also accusing Vice President Kamala Harris and others in her party of leveraging illegal immigration “to fundamentally shift the policies of the United States of America and to move them dramatically to the left.”

Fraudulent voting by illegal immigrants, or a mass amnesty that allows those illegally in the country to become citizens and vote in our elections, could disproportionately affect some swing states. All 15 counties in Arizona, for example, were just named in a lawsuit from America First Legal, which claimed that they failed to remove illegal immigrants from the voter rolls. Arizona, which is worth 11 electoral college votes, is a crucial swing state that could determine the fate of the 2024 presidential election.

Elon Musk, meanwhile, has warned that even illegal immigrants who do not themselves vote could shift the balance of power in Congress in favor of the Democrats simply by being present in the country. The census does not account for citizenship status, meaning that the population figures that determine Congressional apportionment could result in the creation of additional Congressional districts in heavily Democratic areas.

The concerns that illegal immigration could influence our elections come as the Biden-Harris administration has presided over an unprecedented spike in illegal immigration. More than 10 million people have crossed the border under the Biden-Harris administration, with an estimated 1.7 million illegal immigrant gotaways recorded since Biden was inaugurated in 2021. There were 415,000 total reported gotaways for 2018, 2019, and 2020 during the Trump administration.

Thousands of Brazilians flooded city streets on Saturday to protest against the government’s censorship crusade against Elon Musk’s ‘free-speech’ X platform.

The demonstration, held Saturday on Independence Day, was led by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro – who said in response to Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes: “I hope that the Federal Senate puts the brakes on Alexandre de Moraes, this dictator who does more harm to Brazil than Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva himself.”

There’s a massive free speech protest in Brazil today.

The media coverage:

CNN – nothing
AP – nothing
Reuters – nothing
NYT – nothing

pic.twitter.com/UzeqZwGprG

— John LeFevre (@JohnLeFevre) September 7, 2024

Several notable X accounts, including journalist Michael Shellenberger, are reporting from Sao Paulo’s main boulevard, where tens of thousands have gathered today in opposition to far-left Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes that recently blocked X nationwide.

Here’s more from Shellenberger on the situation:

Brazilian President Lula and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes say they must block X to protect Brazil’s independence. X is a platform for dangerous, false, and hateful words, they say, and many of those words violate Brazil’s laws and Constitution.

But their censorship goes far beyond what Brazil’s constitution allows. The government demanded that X and other social media networks censor and ban individual people, including journalists and politicians. Such bans are immoral, illegal, and unconstitutional. They constitute election interference and undermine democracy by preventing candidates from getting the word out.

I agree that lying is wrong, hate speech is ugly, and there are limits to freedom of speech. We must not allow people to use words that directly result in physical violence.

But everybody lies, everybody engages in hate speech, and the limits to free speech must never include elections. Imagine what would happen if it were illegal to lie: everyone should go to prison starting with the journalists and politicians. As for hate speech, did Lula express hatred when he praised Adolf Hitler? Does he not express hatred every time he speaks of Elon Musk and Jair Bolsonaro?

People blame speech for the chaos of January 6 in the United States and January 8 in Brazil. But the events of those days resulted from inadequate security, not anything anyone said online. And if the government can censor disfavored election information, how would anyone ever know if the government stole an election?

Democracy and secure elections depend on freedom of speech. The idea that we must censor speech to protect democracy ranks with other Orwellian ideas like “War is peace” and “Slavery is freedom.” For thousands of years, democracy and freedom walk hand in hand, as do censorship and dictatorship.

Everybody knows in their heart that censorship is wrong. We all know that we are imperfect and do not know everything. We know that we rely on others to discover the truth. Why, then, do so many people want censorship?

Brazilian President Lula and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes say they must block X to protect Brazil’s independence. X is a platform for dangerous, false, and hateful words, they say, and many of those words violate Brazil’s laws and Constitution.

But their censorship… pic.twitter.com/mu1lROzzoN

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) September 7, 2024

In a separate X post, Shellenberger said, “The crowd was absolutely enormous. Without a doubt one of the largest free speech protests in history.”

The crowd was absolutely enormous. Without a doubt one of the largest free speech protests in history. pic.twitter.com/npVeBE5f6I

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) September 7, 2024

Rebel News journalists were also on the ground, capturing the massive crowds via drone footage.

HAPPENING NOW: Tens of thousands of patriots in Sao Paulo, Brazil to fight against censorship from the Lulu and judge Moraes’ regime on their independence day.

Former Pres Bolsonaro and his supporters came out for freedom.

Full report https://t.co/FpBGfLKD5C pic.twitter.com/NspYNDu13d

— Efrain Flores Monsanto (@realmonsanto) September 7, 2024

The leftist censorship campaign against political opponents is all too familiar Americans – with Democrats having spent years on a crusade to cancel political opponents under the guise of ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation.’

Challenging supreme court “executive type orders” former President @jairbolsonaro speaks ar a large rally in #Brazil on #freed

Via @MarioNawfal @BolsonaroSP pic.twitter.com/M0fyYQJZpp

— Dr Walid Phares (@WalidPhares) September 7, 2024

His son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, said Moraes plans to “end freedom of speech in the country” and called for the impeachment of the president. He added that Elon Musk “understands that the battle is for freedom of speech and transcends economic issues.”

The people of Brazil are sending a message! pic.twitter.com/OXsPYvVzyc

— Sir Doge of the Coin ⚔️ (@dogeofficialceo) September 7, 2024

Eduardo Bolsonaro recently spoke with conservative journalist Breanna Morello about the far-left government using the guise of ‘hate speech’ to kill the Bolsonaro movement.

Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes has banned X and is trying to lock up his political opposition.

Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro’s son is speaking out about being targeted.

Eduardo Bolsonaro (@BolsonaroSP) joined me to detail the corruption.

CC: @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/Cryg6wclHo

— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) September 5, 2024

Last week, shortly after X was banned in Brazil, in the US, the former Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Keith Ellison, wrote on X, “Thank you Brazil.”

Former Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee Keith Ellison thanks the Tyrants of Brazil for banning

The Party of Censorship pic.twitter.com/7yBAv6HC7K

— ALX (@alx) September 3, 2024

The far-left basically wants to ban any speech they disagree with.

If you’re someone who supports “FREE SPEECH” whether you’re a Democrat, Republican or Independent voter, you must make up your mind NOW!

Kamala says @elonmusk has lost his privileges and he must be stopped. Kamala will ban X when she is President.pic.twitter.com/afGbGB1HaD

— Laina Media (@media_laina) September 2, 2024

Democrats want to ban free speech. Concerning! pic.twitter.com/D5fd91t3F7

— BillAlphonso (@USAmericanAlpha) August 7, 2024

The bottom line is that far-left politicians across the Americas and the West have waged an all-out war against free speech and Musk’s social media platform because their political opponents and non-government-approved narratives are gaining too much traction. The censorship crusade shows the far-left is desperate and will resort to banning free speech to silence political opponents.

The left continues to push

Meanwhile, earlier Saturday, a senior MP from Germany’s Green Party, Anton Hofreiter, the chairman of the Bundestag’s European policy committee, told reporters from Funke Media Group that online radicalization is a major issue, emphasizing the need to stop the spread of “anti-constitutional content” on the internet. He stressed the importance of addressing the root causes of radicalization both online and within society. Hofreiter argued that social media platforms failing to comply with German laws and remove “extremist content” should be blocked, specifically pointing to X.

The vice president of Venezuela said on Saturday that opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia has left the country for political asylum in Spain.

Gonzalez went into hiding days after the contested results of Venezuela’s July election were announced by the government-controlled National Electoral Council (NEC) on July 28, which declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner with 52 percent support without releasing detailed voting data.

Meanwhile, the opposition published detailed voting tallies from a majority of voting precincts online, which it says is evidence that Gonzalez won by a convincing margin of over two-thirds. In response, Attorney General Tarek William Saab, a staunch Maduro ally, issued warrants for González’s arrest over charges of allegedly forging election documents and attempting to undermine the NEC.

Gonzalez had failed to appear three times in connection to the criminal electoral sabotage investigation.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Saturday that González had left Venezuela from the Spanish embassy where he was seeking asylum.

“After taking refuge voluntarily at the Spanish embassy in Caracas a few days ago, [Gonzalez Urrutia] asked the Spanish government for political asylum,” she said on Instagram. She added that Gonzalez’s request to leave the county had been granted by the government.

Gonzalez’s lawyer Jose Vicente Haro also confirmed the opposition leader’s departure to AFP.

Spain’s foreign minister said Gonzalez had requested asylum and that a Spanish air force plane was sent.

“Spain is committed to the political rights and physical integrity of all Venezuelans,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in a statement.

Gonzalez, 75, ran against Maduro in July as a widely unknown candidate who registered to run for president after the party’s president Maria Corina Machado was barred from running for public office in March by government authorities.

Experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center, which at the invitation of Maduro’s government observed the election, determined the results announced by electoral authorities lacked credibility. In a statement critical of the election, the U.N. experts stopped short of validating the opposition’s claim to victory, but they said the voting records it published online appear to exhibit all of the original security features.

The United States, the European Union, and several other countries—including from Latin America—have refused to recognize Maduro as the winner of the election without Caracas publishing a breakdown of the election results.

“Rather than recognizing his election loss and preparing for a peaceful transition in Venezuela, Maduro has now ordered the arrest of the democratic leader who defeated him overwhelmingly at the polls. Edmundo Gonzalez has promoted national reconciliation, and we join the growing list of international partners condemning this unjustified arrest warrant,” Ambassador Brian A. Nichols of the U.S. Department of State said on social media on Sept. 3.

Tally sheets have long been used for reporting election results in Venezuela. In previous presidential elections, the NEC published online the results of each of the more than 30,000 voting machines but the Maduro-controlled panel did not release any data this time, blaming an alleged cyberattack mounted by its opponents from North Macedonia.

Since Venezuela’s last election, which was not recognized as free and fair by many international observers and countries, Rodriguez has been sanctioned by several countries and entities—including the United States, the European Union, and Canada—over her involvement in human rights abuses and corruption, undermining democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela.

A Terror plot to kill Pope Francis has been uncovered with Indonesian cops swooping on seven suspects believed to be ISIS-inspired.

The foiled ploy targeted the Pope during his visit to Indonesia, where he started a 12-day tour of the Asia Pacific.

The suspects were arrested across September 2 and 3 after cops were tipped off by concerned citizens.

Cops raided one of the alleged militant’s houses to find bow and arrows, a drone and ISIS leaflets, according to The Straits Times.

The wannabe terrorists were apparently angered by the Pope popping into a Jakarta mosque.

Indonesian TV stations were reportedly asked not to broadcast the usual Islamic call to prayer while they showed Pope Francis’ visit, enraging the alleged maniac Jihadis.

The suspects have been named only as HFP, LB, DF, FA, HS, ER and RS.

It’s not yet clear whether they were all linked to one another.

A spokesman for Indonesia’s terror-crushing unit “Densus 88” – or Detachment 88 – said threats were aired on social media.

Colonel Aswin Siregar said: “We have a mechanism to monitor and filter.

“We had tip-off information from members of the public.

“Densus 88 has taken legal action against seven individuals … who made threats in the form of propaganda or terror threats via social media in response to the Pope’s arrival.

“There was also a threat to set fire to the locations.”

Over his 12-day tour, the 87-year-old Catholic Church leader is visiting Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.

He uses a wheelchair after suffering health issues over the last few years.

Speaking at the presidential palace in Jakarta earlier this week, he slammed religious extremism.

He said: “There are times when faith can be manipulated to foment divisions and increase hatred.

He added religious differences ought to be talked out, saying: “Prejudices can be eliminated, and a climate of mutual respect and trust can grow.”

Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world, has grappled with terrorism for decades.

It burned during the infamous bombings on holiday hotspot Bali in 2002 and suffered attacks on Jakarta hotels in 2009.

Islamic extremism is again attracting headlines across the globe.

Taylor Swift had to cancel shows in Vienna, Austria amid threats, while a frenzied knife attack in Solingen, Germany recently shocked Europe.

The Murdochs are fighting an attempt to televise their Succession-style legal battle in a row over the family’s right to privacy.

Rupert Murdoch and his children are preparing for a blockbuster two-week trial that is likely to determine the future direction of the family’s media empire.

The 93-year-old mogul is attempting to change the terms of the family trust to hand sole control to his eldest son, Lachlan, after he dies.

It has triggered a legal battle with his other children – James, Elisabeth and Prudence – who argue they will be robbed of their say in how the empire is run.

The legal showdown has sparked comparisons to Succession, the hit show about the inheritance struggles of a US media dynasty that was partly based on the Murdoch family.

But the trial, which begins in Nevada on Tuesday, could itself hit the small screen after a petition was filed to allow the proceedings to be televised.

Alexander Falconi, a software engineer and legal activist, has launched an attempt to unseal the court case and allow cameras into the courtroom.

In legal documents filed with the Second Judicial District Court, Mr Falconi argued that the press has a “constitutional right of access” to view the proceedings, citing the First Amendment.

He said: “It is inconsistent to seek the benefits of the public judicial system and its associated constitutional protections while simultaneously attempting to shield the proceedings from public scrutiny and constitutional protections of the press’ right to access,” the documents state.

“This approach is self contradictory and undermines the principles of open justice and transparency that are fundamental to the American legal system.”

Mr Falconi founded the campaign group Our Nevada Judges, which is aimed at improving transparency over the state’s legal system. Nevada is a popular location for family trusts because of favourable laws and privacy protections.

Mr Falconi scored a major victory in February, when the Supreme Court of Nevada ruled there was a constitutional right for family court proceedings to be open to the public. He is using this victory as precedent for his petition in the Murdoch trial.

But the Murdochs’ lawyers have pushed back against the move, arguing that there is a “compelling interest” in keeping the case out of the public eye to protect confidential information.

Edmund Gorman, the probate commissioner for Washoe County, has sided with the family, arguing that filming the case would harm their right to privacy and could put their safety and wellbeing at risk.

Mr Gorman wrote: “Certain parties and witnesses in this case are nationally prominent figures who have received significant media attention in the past.

“Electronic coverage of the hearings in this case could expose these persons’ whereabouts, travel plans, and other information that could be exploited by malicious actors.”

The final decision on whether to allow cameras at the trial will rest with Washoe County Judge David Hardy.

Media analyst Alex DeGroote says it is unsurprising that the Murdochs are resisting the petition.

“You don’t wash your dirty linen in public,” he said.

“There is so much at stake in terms of voting rights and control.”

Still, efforts by the Murdochs to rely on privacy arguments will raise eyebrows given the chequered history of the family’s own media empire.

The media empire has spent more than £1bn on damages and legal fees relating to historical phone hacking claims at the now-defunct News of the World.

In April, Hugh Grant settled his case against the publisher of The Sun for an “enormous” sum of money.

The Notting Hill actor insisted he did not want to accept a settlement over his accusations that journalists used private detectives to tap his phone and burgle his house, but that a trial would have proved too expensive.

News Group Newspapers denies the claims and said the settlement was reached without admission of liability.

Mr Murdoch’s attempt to overhaul the family trust, dubbed “Project Harmony”, will have significant implications for the future of the media empire, which includes the Sun and Times newspapers as well as Fox News in the US.

Lachlan has taken pole position to take over the reins in recent years after adopting the roles of chief executive and chairman of TV group Fox Corporation in 2019 and chairman of News Corp last year.

The 52-year-old is viewed as the most conservative of Mr Murdoch’s children and as such is most closely aligned with his father’s views.

James and Elisabeth, who were both previously regarded as potential candidates to take over the family business, are more liberal than their father and have both publicly criticised the nonagenarian’s newspapers and TV channels.

Lawyers for Mr Murdoch argue that handing sole control to Lachlan will be good for all the siblings, as it reduces the risk of divided control that could undermine the business and damage their inheritance.

But the move has been widely regarded as an effort by the tycoon to ensure there is no softening of the Right-wing politics that has come to define his media empire.

While the family trust is classed as “irrevocable”, it is believed to contain a provision allowing for changes to be made in good faith if they have the sole purpose of benefiting all of the beneficiaries. The two-week trial will be tasked with determining if Mr Murdoch is in fact acting in good faith.

Rupert Murdoch’s son James has endorsed Kamala Harris for president days before a succession battle over the future political direction of his family’s news empire.

James Murdoch, 51, added his name to a list of 88 US business leaders who have thrown their support behind the Democratic nominee in what they called an effort to preserve American democracy.

In a veiled attack on Donald Trump, they said Ms Harris would guarantee “fair and predictable policies that support the rule of law”.

It comes two days after Trump floated Elon Musk as a cabinet secretary overseeing government efficiency if he were to win in November.

The wave of endorsements for Ms Harris included former chief executives of PepsiCo and Ford. But James Murdoch’s inclusion is likely to raise eyebrows. He was the 21st Century Fox chief executive before being replaced by his more conservative elder brother Lachlan as head of the Murdoch empire.

The more liberal-leaning James put his name to the list of endorsements ahead of the courtroom showdown in Nevada over the Murdoch Family Trust.

The beneficiaries of the trust are the media mogul’s four oldest children, Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James, who have equal voting rights to select the head of the influential Fox News in the absence of patriarch Rupert, 93.

But Rupert Murdoch is seeking to alter the trust to ensure Lachlan remains in control after his death to preserve the media businesses as a conservative force – a move that James and his other siblings oppose.

Rupert Murdoch will have to prove to a probate court that he is acting “in good faith and for the sole benefit of the heirs”, despite the opposition of three of those heirs.

Edmund Gorman, the Reno court’s probate commissioner, has determined the case to be top secret and the court date in September has not yet been made public.

The Murdoch empire has been credited with supporting Trump’s political rise to the presidency but relations have been tense in recent years.

The Fox network clashed with the former president after his claims the 2020 election was stolen. But Trump has since begun appearing more regularly on the station, with reports that the Trump campaign has been courting Lachlan.

An Islamic man from Pakistan was arrested in Canada this week for allegedly planning a terrorist attack against Jews in New York City.

The U.S. Department of Justice said late on Friday that Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO).

Khan “attempted to travel from Canada to New York City, where he intended to use automatic and semi-automatic weapons to carry out a mass shooting in support of ISIS at a Jewish center in Brooklyn, New York,” prosecutors said.

He began posting on social media and on an encrypted messaging platform late last year that he supported ISIS and began distributing their propaganda, the DOJ said.

He allegedly told undercover law enforcement sources that he was working with a U.S.-based ISIS terrorist to carry out the attack and that he was trying to create an “offline cell” of ISIS terrorists who could launch a coordinated attack killing Jews at synagogues.

He wanted to carry out the attacks on either October 7 — the anniversary of Hamas’ unprecedented terrorist attack in Israel last year in which 1,200 people were murdered — or on October 11, which is the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

He was originally targeting a city only referred to as “City-1” in the indictment, but changed the target to New York City.

Khan said that the Muslims were “going to NYC to slaughter them,” which he planned to do by shooting them with rifles or using knives to “slit their throats.”

“Khan repeatedly reiterated his desire to carry out the attack in support of ISIS, and discussed planning for the attack, including by identifying rental properties close to Location-1 and paying for a human smuggler to help him reach and cross the border from Canada into the United States,” the DOJ said. “During one communication, Khan noted that ‘if we succeed with our plan this would be the largest Attack on US soil since 9/11.”

The DOJ only charged him with a single count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.

“The defendant was allegedly determined to kill Jewish people here in the United States, nearly one year after Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel. This investigation was led by the FBI, and I am proud of the terrific work by the FBI team and our partners to disrupt Khan’s plan,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The FBI will continue to work closely with our partners to investigate and hold accountable those who seek to commit violence in the name of ISIS or other terrorist organizations. Fighting terrorism remains the FBI’s top priority.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik has filed an ethics complaint against New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan “for his illegal conflict of interest in the sham Manhattan trial against President Trump,” alleging the Harris campaign has a “newly active financial relationship” with a company led in part by his daughter.

The filing with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct came on the same day that Merchan decided to postpone Trump’s sentencing in New York v. Trump until after the November presidential election.

Trump was found guilty in an unprecedented criminal trial on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, following a six-week trial stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation.

However, Stefanik, R-N.Y., is now asking the Commission to launch a “fresh inquiry concerning Justice Merchan’s conflict and take any appropriate action resulting from it.”

“On August 20, 2024, Vice President Harris’s campaign submitted its first Federal Election Commission (FEC) report that documented expenses and donations through July 31, 2024. In the report… a July 30, 2024, disbursement appears in the amount of $468.00 from Vice President Harris’s campaign to Authentic Campaigns Inc. (Authentic) for web hosting services,” Stefanik wrote in her complaint. “This indicates that one of the very first things that Harris did upon taking over the Biden campaign infrastructure is to hire this firm, Authentic.

Read the letter here.

“Authentic is a digital consulting and marketing firm that services Democrat candidates. Loren Merchan, Justice Merchan’s daughter, is its president,” Stefanik added. “Vice President Harris changed web hosting companies from AWS to Authentic immediately after becoming the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee.

“This is merely the beginning of a new contract with a new campaign, regardless of the amount reimbursed. Sure, there’s an immediate benefit, but this is a play at a potential larger benefit for Authentic and Merchan down the road,” Stefanik said in her complaint.

Stefanik continued by saying that the code of conduct “dictates that a judge must recuse from a case where a relative up to and including the sixth degree has a financial interest in the outcome of the case.”

“Ms. Merchan is related to Justice Merchan in the first degree. Authentic has a newly active financial relationship with Vice President Harris’s campaign,” Stefanik concluded.

The mother of alleged Georgia school shooter Colt Gray once described herself as victim of abuse and boasted online that her kids were “thriving” — around the same time authorities visited her son to probe an alleged threat he made to shoot up his school.

Marcee Gray’s social media includes posts detailing her former husband’s abusive upbringing, and their own apparently tumultuous relationship, in the months before she proclaimed she’d left him.

“I packed myself and my babies up and relocated to my hometown in south GA. We are all good and my kids are thriving,” Marcee, who has her own rap sheet dating back nearly two decades, wrote in May 2023 on LinkedIn.

The announcement of her departure from the family home came after Marcee, 43, wrote about husband Colin’s childhood as one of “severe physical abuse.”

“From my husband’s first memory, all he knew was abuse. …I’m talking everything from getting a broken arm at age 8 while he was totally asleep to having a barstool crack his skull open,” she wrote on Facebook in November 2022.

“I still rub my fingers across the scar/gouge on his scalp and think to myself ‘How?! I can’t even comprehend it!’…that is what substance abuse can do. To a mama, a daddy, a spouse, a sibling….you name it and it will reach them.”

“I know it’s hard to understand from the outside looking in. Everyone in my and his family couldn’t understand why I stayed as long as I did,” she wrote in a separate post, adding, “Ultimately it was my own decision.”

In another social media missive, Marcee wrote, “No one but me understands the pain that my husband lives with every single day. Every single person in his life has hurt or betrayed him.”

“And I truly believe that the Lord sent me to him because no one else was strong enough to stay by his side through thick and thin. I’m not about to give up on him now… We are just taking a break,” she continued.

A month later, the couple, who had three kids, called it quits.

“Finally separated from my abusive husband of almost 14yrs… Hardest sh-t I’ve ever done but we’re in good hands,” she wrote on LinkedIn.

Her emotive posts seemed to mask Marcee Gray’s own chaotic life.

Her arrest record includes charges for drug possession, aggravated battery, theft and criminal trespass and she once “threatened to kill her husband” during an incident, sources told The Daily Mail.

Gray also “tied up” her elderly mother and left her for 24 hours, the outlet reported without providing further details.

Marcee Gray’s most recent jail stint was in April in Barrow County where she was arrested on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine, fentanyl and muscle relaxants.

She also faced charges of aggravated battery, theft by taking, criminal trespass, false imprisonment and failure to appear in January, in nearby Fitzgerald County.

An arrest warrant obtained by the Daily Mail indicated Gray had a glass jar containing methamphetamine, a “baggie” containing fentanyl, another “baggie” containing multiple muscle relaxants, and a glass pipe “used for the ingestion of narcotics.”

Gray was sentenced to five years in jail, spending the first 46 days behind bars and the rest on probation, the outlet reported.

Gray could not be reached by The Post Saturday, either by phone or at her address in the tiny town of Fitzgerald, about three hours south of Atlanta.

A Nissan Rogue was in the driveway, but no one answered the door. An arrest warrant issued for Marcee last year noted she concealed the identity of her Nissan Rogue vehicle by affixing a tag for a Nissan Kick.

While Marcee was crowing about her new beginnings, Colt was being visited by local cops for allegedly threatening on Discord to shoot up his middle school.

Colin Gray told the police said he had recently separated from his son’s mother, and that “she took his younger two” kids. Colt apparently stayed with him.

Colt, 14, faces four counts of felony murder for Wednesday’s shooting while his father — accused of giving his son the AR-15-style rifle used in the massacre — has been hit with four counts involuntary counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Colin Gray told a sheriff’s investigator that his son wasn’t the type to threaten violence.

“He’s not a loner, Officer. Don’t get that,” the father told police, adding, “He just wants to go to school, do his own thing and he doesn’t want any trouble.”

He also said he didn’t know anything about Colt making threats, saying, “I’m going to be mad as hell if he did, and then all the guns will go away.”

New York City launched a pilot program to help migrants transition out of city shelters by providing them with $4000 for permanent housing, a city official confirmed to Fox News Digital on Friday.

The NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) offered 150 families cash assistance through the Asylee Moveout Assistance (AMA), a pilot created in December last year to help find permanent housing for asylum seekers. The pilot was launched in partnership with some city shelters providing services for asylum seekers.

“The city is using every tool at its disposal to implement innovative and cost-effective solutions to help recently-arrived asylum seekers residing in shelters take the next steps in their journey,” a Department of Social Services (DSS) spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

DHS officials in December started dispensing $4000 to 150 households who live in the city’s emergency DHS shelters.

“Since December, DSS has been working with a few not-for-profit providers operating emergency sites to pilot a new effort to reduce barriers to obtaining housing by helping asylum-seeking families who have identified permanent housing with the upfront cost of moving into their new home,” the DSS spokesperson said.

“150 households have benefitted from this pilot over the last seven months, and we look forward to supporting more households as we assess the success of the pilot and feasibility of scaling up and expanding access to this form of assistance,” the statement from DSS reads further.

Eligibility for the $4000 grant is solely limited to asylum-seeking families and pregnant women who are residing in select DHS emergency shelters and have already identified permanent housing.

There is no city funding allocated for this program, the DSS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. DHS is using money from existing funds within the agency, the DSS spokesperson added.

“This is a very small pilot only available to asylum-seeking families in select emergency shelters operated by DHS. This is not a citywide effort and not available to migrant families residing across the shelter system,” the DSS spokesperson added.

The $4,000 would be used to cover security deposits, moving expenses, first and last month rent and any household necessities. Migrant families who receive the grant are required to document their expenses.

Migrants who return to city shelters are not eligible for a second payment.

Additionally, families can receive up to $1,000 in gift cards for household necessities and moving expenses.

The program is similar to the city’s Enhanced one-shot deals program, which was established by the Human Resources Administration and DHS.

The pre-existing EOSDs provided “one time payments” to assist homeless working families transition out of the shelter system and live independently.

“The Asylee Moveout Assistance pilot is modeled after similar programs offering one-time emergency assistance of up to $4,000 to cover upfront rehousing costs which may include the security deposit and moving expenses,” the DSS spokesperson said.

This effort comes amid NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ attempt to relieve shelters that are overflowing with migrants.

Adams in March imposed restrictions on its “right to shelter” policy. The policy, which mandated a bed be provided for any individual who requires it, would be shortened to a 30-day stay.

NYC is projected to have spent more than $5 billion over the last two years on the migrant crisis and the expense is estimated to double by 2025, the New York Post reported. Such spending of taxpayer money includes the cost of shelter, food, healthcare, and education.

Adams has said that he expects the costs of the migrant crisis to reach $10 billion over a three-year period ending June 30, 2025.

Back in February, the mayor testified at an annual hearing in the Empire State’s capital, asking for $4.6 billion to fund NYC programs through 2025.

He added that the city’s shelter population has tripled since he took office.

Prominent attorney Alan Dershowitz announced he is leaving the Democratic Party during an interview on “Talkline” with Zev Brenner Aug. 23, attributing his decision to the presence of what he describes as “anti-Jewish” lawmakers within the party and his dissatisfaction with the recent Democratic National Convention (DNC).

Dershowitz pointed to the DNC‘s decision to provide a platform for anti-Israel speakers and cited anti-Israel protesters present outside the event.

“It was the most anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, anti-Zionist convention I’ve experienced,” Dershowitz said, during the interview. “I was disgusted at the Democratic National Convention. Absolutely disgusted.”

Dershowitz said he now considers himself an Independent, but noted he has yet to decide who he will vote for in the upcoming presidential election, and will likely make his decision after Nov. 1. “I want to see how they deal with Iran. I want to encourage the current administration to support Israel,” he remarked.

The Harvard Law professor emeritus emphasized that his decision to leave the Democratic Party was gradual and not a sudden reaction.

He specifically noted that Vice President Harris’ absence during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress had a significant impact on his decision.

Dershowitz went on to name several Democratic figures he believes are anti-Israel, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Rev. Al Sharpton.

He also cited anti-Israel protesters at the DNC who called for the destruction of Israel, stating, “That’s not my party.”

Watch:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. scored a pair of legal victories Friday in the battleground states of North Carolina and Michigan, and a setback in Wisconsin, in his quest to get his name off of the ballots in some states after he suspended his campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump.

North Carolina’s intermediate-level Court of Appeals issued an order granting Kennedy’s request to halt the mailing of ballots that included his name, upending plans in the state just as officials were about to begin sending out the nation’s first absentee ballots for the Nov. 5 presidential election.

The court — a three-judge panel ruling unanimously — also told a trial judge to order the State Board of Elections to distribute ballots without Kennedy’s name on them. No legal explanation was given.

In Michigan, its intermediate-level Court of Appeals ruled that Kennedy should be removed from the ballot, reversing a decision made earlier this week by a lower court judge.

And in Wisconsin, a Dane County circuit court judge denied Kennedy’s request for a temporary restraining order to put on hold the state elections commission’s decision to keep him on the ballot.

“A matter of such consequence deserves a full development of the record with appropriate briefing by all sides,” Judge Stephen Ehlke wrote. He set a scheduling conference for Wednesday, a week before the deadline for the printing of ballots.

In separate statements, a Kennedy attorney praised the North Carolina and Michigan rulings, saying they uphold state elections laws and support ballot integrity by ensuring no one must vote for a candidate no longer running in their state.

A favorable outcome for Kennedy could assist Trump’s efforts to win North Carolina, Michigan and Wisconsin.

North Carolina law required the first absentee ballots to be mailed or transmitted to those already asking for them no later than 60 days before the general election, making Friday the deadline. The process of reprinting and assembling ballot packages likely would take more than two weeks, state attorneys have said.

The State Board of Elections formally asked the state Supreme Court late Friday to reverse the Court of Appeals decision. State lawyers asked the justices to act quickly before adjustments to the ballots ordered earlier Friday is complete — likely in a few days. Five of the seven Supreme Court justices are registered Republicans.

Kennedy, the nominee of the We The People party in North Carolina, had sued last week to get off the state’s ballots after he suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump. But the Democratic majority on the State Board of Elections rejected the request, saying it was too late in the process of printing ballots and coding tabulation machines. Kennedy then sued.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Holt on Thursday denied Kennedy’s effort to keep his name off ballots, prompting his appeal. In the meantime, Holt had told election officials to hold back sending absentee ballots until noon Friday.

More than 136,300 people — military and overseas workers and in-state civilian residents — have requested North Carolina absentee ballots so far, the State Board of Elections said late Friday.

In an email, state board Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell told election directors in all 100 counties to preserve current ballots and coding in case rulings revert to keeping Kennedy on the ballot. More than 2.9 million absentee and in-person ballots with Kennedy’s name on them had been printed. Counties would have to pay for the cost of reprinting ballots.

With Friday’s deadline not met, North Carolina election officials still are faced with meeting a federal law requiring absentee ballots go to military and overseas voters by Sept. 21. They may try to seek a waiver if new ballots can’t be produced in time.

Friday’s ruling in North Carolina didn’t include the names of Court of Appeals judges who considered Kennedy’s request — the court releases the names after 90 days. The court has 15 judges — 11 registered Republicans and four Democrats. Names usually have been withheld from such orders to discourage “judge shopping,” or purposefully seeking out a judge who’s likely to rule in your favor, the court has said.

Kennedy sued Democratic Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Aug. 30 to get off the ballot. He filed suit in Wisconsin on Wednesday.

Friday’s ruling from Michigan said that while Kennedy’s request was made close to the deadline to give notice to local election officials, it wasn’t so unreasonable as to deny relief to him. Benson’s office will appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court, a spokesperson said.

A 16-year-old student shot a classmate inside a Maryland high school bathroom on Friday — just days after alleged teen gunman Colt Gray shot and killed four people at his northern Georgia school.

The 16-year-old boy, during his first day at Joppatowne High School, fired a single shot in a first-floor boy’s bathroom following an altercation, striking the 15-year-old around 12:35 p.m., Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler told reporters at a press conference.

The school’s security officer and principal did not hear the shot, but heard the resulting commotion it sparked, the sheriff said.

Students dragged their wounded classmate into the hallway, where school nurses attended to him before he was airlifted to a hospital in serious condition.

The shooter fled to a nearby apartment complex and started banging on doors looking for a place to hide, police said. He was taken into custody “within minutes,” Gahler said.

“It’s a tragic day, four days into the school year,” he added.

“We’re all familiar with the horrible shooting in Georgia that took four lives just a couple days ago, and here we stand in Harford County with a school shooting,” Gahler said.

The teen gunman is previously known to law enforcement, he added.

It is not clear what type of weapon he used, nor was the gun recovered, officials said.

“I don’t know whether that means he has a juvenile record. We have calls for service that have involved him in the past, I do know that,” he told reporters.

Law enforcement is not permitted to speak with the suspect per Maryland’s “criminal friendly laws,” Gahler said. But after speaking with the district attorney’s office, he believes the teen will be charged as an adult without a police interview due to “overwhelming evidence.”

Within 15 minutes of the shooting, which was initially reported as an active shooter, more than 100 law enforcement officers from various agencies swarmed the high school, located about 25 miles north of Baltimore.

Students were being evacuated by 12:45 p.m., WBAL-TV reported.

Senior Christopher Buniff told the outlet he was walking back from his third period class when he heard a loud bang behind him.

“I pulled out one of my headphones and heard was screaming and yelling and students running … I got into my class and they locked down the school for about five minutes,” he said.

Freshman Ny’jae Davis said she “was walking towards class … and I just heard a loud pop. I didn’t even know what it was and then I saw everybody running” and joined in.

“We are just devastated to be a part of this awful group of schools to have experienced things like this, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure this absolutely never happens again,” Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Sean Bulson said.

The shooting scare comes just two days after 14-year-old Colt Gray allegedly opened fire at Apalachee High School in northern Georgia, killing two students and two teachers and wounding nine others.

Colt and his father Colin Gray, who allegedly purchased the AR-15-style rifle used in the massacre for him for Christmas — months after the boy was accused of making school shooting threats. Both have been been arrested and charged with murder.

The pair made their initial appearances in court on Friday, where they learned they could spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

Alleged Georgia school shooter Colt Gray was frequently called “gay” by bullies, including some who physically harassed him, his father told investigators in a 2023 phone call.

“I was trying to get him on the golf team. Like, ‘Oh, look, Colt’s gay.’ ‘He’s dating that guy.’ Just ridiculed him day after day after day,” Colin Gray, 54, told authorities in a newly revealed transcript.

“I don’t want him to fight anybody, but they just keep like pinching him and touching him, and that’s a whole different deal,” the dad said at one point. “And it’s just escalated to point where like his finals were last week and that was a lasting on his mind.”

Colt, then 13, had landed on the FBI’s radar after allegedly threatening to shoot up a middle school on Discord, an online messaging platform popular among gamers.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office paid a visit to the boy’s home and spoke to his father, who said his son was bullied — and admitted that the boy had access to firearms in the house.

During the phone conversation several weeks later, Gray told the investigator that he introduced bow-hunting, a pellet gun and then a .22 rifle and gun safety to his son for deer-hunting.

“He’s going through a lot. He just wants us to have a simple life. It was very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on,” said Colin, who now faces manslaughter and murder charges alongside his son.

Just before 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 5, Colt allegedly opened fire at Apalachee High School with an AR-15-style rifle given to him by his father as a Christmas present.

Colt is accused of killing two students and two teachers.

Nine others were injured and treated at local hospitals with injuries not believed to be life-threatening.

The teen gunman surrendered “immediately” upon being confronted by a school resource officer and was taken into custody, where he fessed up to the massacre, telling cops, “I did it.” authorities said.

The father and son appeared back-to-back at the Barrow County Courthouse on Friday morning, where Colt was told he could be facing life in prison if convicted in the killings.

His father faces up to 180 years behind bars if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths.

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill on Friday that would have made some undocumented immigrants eligible for up to $150,000 in state-backed home loans, rejecting a proposal that ignited criticism from the right as immigration has become a major tension point in the election.

The Democratic governor’s veto comes a day after former President Donald Trump said he would ban undocumented immigrants from receiving home mortgages if he returns to the White House. It also takes the issue off the table ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’ first scheduled debate against Trump next week. Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokesperson, described the California bill last month as “fundamentally unfair but typical Democrat policy.”

Newsom cited funding concerns in his veto message.

“Expanding program eligibility must be carefully considered within the broader context of the annual state budget to ensure we manage our resources effectively,” the governor wrote.

Newsom has repeatedly warned fellow Democrats in Sacramento not to provide cannonfire for Republicans in an election year, issuing pleas for them to tamp down the raging culture wars rather than provoke them with hot-button issues ranging from banning youth tackle football to reparations. On other proposals that were unlikely to become law, he pushed state Democrats to subordinate their virtue signaling so conservative media outlets couldn’t paint the state as wildly out of touch with America.

Newsom’s concerns have only grown since the elevation of Harris as the party’s nominee, since she hails from California. At a briefing Friday on an unrelated topic, the governor denied that he was trying to send a message to lawmakers in his party, saying he vetoed the bill on its merits.

“The bill that was sent to me was [on] a program that had no money, and it was expanding eligibility to a program that had no money,” Newsom said. “It seemed rather curious to me. So it was unnecessary and completely consistent with prior vetoes along those similar lines.”

Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle, who represents a rural Northern California district and ran against Newsom in the 2022 gubernatorial race, said in an interview that the governor did the right thing. But, Dahle said, he believes Newsom was in fact “reading the tea leaves” on the political implications of the bill.

“He’s the master of gaslighting,” Dahle said. “I mean, they’ve been doing it forever. I’ve been here 12 years, and all they do is politics.”

The proposal, one of the more hotly debated bills in the Legislature during the final week of the session, cleared the statehouse in late August with some moderate Democrats dissenting. The bill was a regular topic on Fox News and drew the ire of Elon Musk on X.

Democratic lawmakers sought to frame the bill as one of fairness, saying it simply clarified that undocumented immigrants can apply for existing home loan programs run by the California Housing Finance Agency. One program, called California Dream for All, is specifically geared toward first-time, first-generation homebuyers and provides 20 percent in down payment assistance, up to $150,000. It is a shared appreciation loan in which the only interest the homebuyer pays would be 15 or 20 percent of the home’s increase in value upon selling the property, depending on their income level. The program has received state funding but is also run by the California Housing Finance Agency, which generates revenue through mortgage loans and not from taxpayers.

The program quickly ran out of its initial phase of funding in just 11 days after it launched last year, with more than 2,100 homebuyers securing loans. The Legislature approved $500 million in funding two years ago and $20 million in last year’s budget, but did not include any money in this year’s cycle.

Fresno Democratic Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, who carried the measure, said he introduced the bill in response to an existing federal law that prevents undocumented immigrants from participating in state benefits without a state law providing for eligibility. To qualify for a loan, undocumented immigrants would have needed to have Social Security or taxpayer identification numbers — meaning they pay taxes.

Arambula said in a statement that he was “deeply disappointed” in the veto, contending that the bill was not about immigrant policies or the housing crisis.

“I have always believed this bill is about fairness,” Arambula said. “The veto doesn’t change the fact that many people – including undocumented immigrants – dream of owning a home so that generational wealth can be passed to their children. They are people who are responsible, work hard, and pay their ample share of taxes.”

But Republicans decried the bill as unfair. In a veto request to Newsom, Senate Republicans said “legal California taxpayers are already struggling to purchase and maintain their homes,” claiming the measure would “further stretch the limited public resources available to those who are following the law and want to purchase a home.”

Assemblymember Tom Lackey, a Southern California Republican, said on the floor before the measure passed that he has close friends who are undocumented, but it would not be fair to create a law that would “defy accountability on every front.”

“I have a heart for everybody that’s living in this country,” Lackey said. “But there are some people who have not yet found themselves worthy of taxpayer benefits.”

This is not the first time Newsom has rejected an immigrant rights bill. Last year, he vetoed a measure prohibiting state prisons from sharing information about noncitizens with federal officials, arguing that current law “strikes the right balance on limiting interaction to support community trust and cooperation between law enforcement and local communities.”

In 2019, Newsom quashed legislation that would have barred private security personnel from arresting immigrants in California prisons, noting concerns over negatively impacting prison operations.