Category: Middle East

Adelita Grijalva will be sworn in on Wednesday by Speaker Mike Johnson, his office said on Tuesday, ending weeks of delays and likely triggering a vote in the House of Representatives around the release of the Department of Justice’s trove of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The speaker’s office made the announcement Tuesday afternoon, as Congress appeared to be on the brink of ending the longest federal government shutdown in history. Johnson previously said that Grijalva’s swearing-in would be delayed until the shutdown ended.
Democrats in the chamber have loudly insisted for weeks that Johnson’s real aim in delaying Grijalva’s swearing-in was to prevent a vote on a resolution co-sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and Ro Khanna (D-California) which, with Grijalva’s signature, will be forced to the House floor as privileged legislation. With the votes of every Democrat in the chamber and several Republicans, it’s expected to pass in an embarrassing defeat for the Trump adm..

The Supreme Court will continue to block a judge’s order requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to fully fund a critical food assistance program that helps prevent millions of Americans from going hungry.
The nation’s highest court extended a pause on that order for another two days as Congress inches closer to ending the government shutdown. Lawmakers are expected to pass a temporary funding bill this week that will effectively restart funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
A brief order from the court Tuesday night noted that liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson would have rejected the Trump administration’s request and allowed the lower-court order requiring the government to fully fund the program to stand.
The Supreme Court’s latest order remains in effect until midnight Thursday. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on a temporary funding measure to reopen the government Wednesday night, which would likely bring the legal battle to an e..

At least eight passengers have been taken to the hospital after a people mover vehicle hit a building dock at Dulles International Airport.
At around 4:30 p.m. local time, the vehicle taking travelers from an arriving flight to an airport gate crashed into the dock at an angle, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said, per local outlet WJLA.
The eight people who were hospitalized had non-life-threatening injuries, airport officials said.
Airport operations are normal, WJLA reported, citing a Dulles spokesperson.
At least eight passengers have been taken to the hospital after a people mover vehicle hit a building dock at Dulles International Airport (AFP via Getty Images)Dulles International Airport serves the Washington, D.C., area.
This is a developing story…

The Department of Justice has been hemorrhaging staff under President Donald Trump, with thousands of attorneys leaving and few being hired to replace them, according to a new report.
Since January, nearly 5,500 DOJ career employees have quit, taken a buyout, or been fired, according to Justice Connection, an advocacy group composed of department alumni.
A Justice Connection spokesperson told The Independent that its estimates are based on both public reporting and non-public information the group has gathered.
As a result, the department is grappling with sweeping vacancies amidst a dearth of qualified applicants, according to The Washington Post.
Historically, the Justice Department — which employs more than 10,000 attorneys nationwide — has been a magnet for top legal talent, drawing applicants from Ivy League schools and white shoe law firms. But sources told the outlet that the recent mass firings and concerns about politically motivated prosecutions may be driving people away.
A..

President Donald Trump’s job approval rating has slipped even among those who supported him in the 2024 presidential election, a new poll found.
A new survey from the YouGov/Economist shows 84 percent of Trump supporters approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president compared to just 14 percent who disapprove, leaving him with a +70 approval rating among those who voted for him in the 2024 presidential election.
That figure slipped four points from August, when he boasted a +74 approval rating among his supporters.
Taking into account all respondents, 39 percent approved of the way Trump’s doing his job compared to 57 percent who disapprove. The poll was conducted between October 31 and November 3 as the government shutdown dragged into its second month. It has now broken the record for the longest in U.S. history; the second-longest occurred during Trump’s first term, spanning 35 days.
Nearly 42 million Americans are struggling to access their Supplemental Nutrition Assista..

A man has been charged in a decade-old cold case where the victim was found dead on the floor of his Seattle apartment, covered in blankets.
Thomas Hess was discovered with his hands tied behind his back with shoelaces, next to a can of Easy-Off oven cleaner on February 14, 2015, KIRO7 reported. His death was ruled a homicide after a medical examiner found blunt force injuries to his face, neck and torso. His cause of death was probable mechanical asphyxia, according to the outlet.
In 2016, evidence submitted to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab revealed that DNA had been found on the shoelaces and back of the victim’s neck, KING5 reported.
Earlier this year, the crime lab identified the DNA as belonging to Clay Fosse. He was charged with second-degree murder this week.
Fosse “appears to have bound, severely beaten, and strangled the victim to death. He then appears to have attempted to conceal his presence by dousing the victim in oven cleaner and covering his body,” according t..

More than 1,000 Saturday flights were canceled and thousands more were delayed as the Federal Aviation Administration reduced air traffic at airports across the country due to the government shutdown, creating chaos for travelers.
The shutdown has dragged on for a record 39 days, meaning air traffic controllers have not been paid for over a month.
To reduce the “immense strain and fatigue” on the federal workers as some of the busiest holiday travel days approach, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Thursday that 40 airports would be forced to cut flight capacity. Flights were reduced by 4 percent Friday. Airports are bracing for next week, when the FAA said reductions will ramp up to 6 percent by November 11, 8 percent by November 13, and 10 percent by November 14.
On Saturday, travelers were already left scrambling. More than 7,000 flights in the U.S. faced disruptions, according to FlightAware, as ground stops and delays plagued travel hubs. Though some of the delay were..

The FBI is investigating the death of a cruise ship passenger, according to officials.
A passenger traveling aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship reportedly died during a recent voyage, according to WSVN.
Carnival Cruise Line said it was cooperating fully with federal investigators, based in Miami, and is focusing on supporting the passenger’s family.
The ship returned to Miami on schedule Saturday.
“Since this is an ongoing matter under the jurisdiction of law enforcement, all media inquiries need to be directed to the FBI’s Miami public affairs office,” the company said in a statement.
A passenger died while traveling aboard the Carnival Horizon in November 2025. The FBI is investigating the passenger’s death (Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)The Independent has requested comment from the FBI.
No further details were made available about the passenger or the circumstances of their death.
A recent Netflix documentary, and a high-profile incident in Aus..

President Donald Trump’s administration has agreed to fully fund a critical food assistance program that has stranded millions of Americans and their families after the government failed to keep it afloat at the start of the month.
But the government is simultaneously appealing a court order to ensure the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is fully funded after a weeklong lapse — the first in the program’s 61-year history.
A federal appeals court rejected his emergency request Friday night, leaving the order in place to fully fund SNAP for November.
On Thursday, a federal judge gave the administration 24 hours to fully fund SNAP and the Department of Agriculture said Friday afternoon that it will immediately begin funding the program while the legal challenge plays out.
District Judge John McConnell had ordered the administration to deliver full payments to states by Friday after finding that the government failed to address any administrative issues that prevented states from q..

A federal appeals court leaves an order in place that requires President Donald Trump ’s administration to provide full SNAP food benefits for November amid a U.S. government shutdown.
The judge gave the Republican administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But the administration asked the appeals court to suspend any court orders requiring it to spend more money than is available in a contingency fund, and instead allow it to continue with planned partial SNAP payments for the month.
The food program serves about 1 in 8 Americans, mostly with lower incomes.
The court filing came even as the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a memo to states that it’s working to make funds available Friday for full monthly SNAP benefits.
Officials in at least a half-dozen states confirmed that some SNAP recipients already were issued full November payments on Friday.
Which states issued SNAP payments
“Food benefits are now beginning t..