News From Around the Web
#1 Iran, US Set to Hold Talks as Trump Threatens Force, Imposes Sanctions - Al Jazeera Staff, AP and Reuters, Shropshire Star, TheNomadKing, Defense Intelligence/Adi Baz, LBCI Lebanon English, and US Homeland Security News on X
Iran and the United States are set to begin a third round of nuclear negotiations in Switzerland, with both sides maintaining their preference for a diplomatic solution, even as Washington imposed sweeping new sanctions and continues to build up its military presence in the Middle East. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in the Swiss city of Geneva on Wednesday and met his Omani counterpart, Badr Albusaidi, who is facilitating the indirect talks scheduled for Thursday...
#2 Hillary Clinton Set for Deposition With House Oversight Committee in Epstein Probe - Dareh Gregorian for NBC News, Elena, J. C. Henry, Mr Harry Joe/Rep. James Comer, Good Morning America, and Steve McQueen on X
Members of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee are scheduled to question former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday as part of their investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The closed-door interview, which will be videotaped, is set to take place in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons have a house. The committee will meet with former President Bill Clinton the next day for a similar deposition. The in-person interviews come after months of bitter back-and-forth between the former first couple and the committee, which at one point threatened to hold the Clintons in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena it issued in August...#3 Cuba Says Its Forces Kill Four in Gunfight After Florida Speedboat Tries to ‘Infiltrate’ Island - CNN, Joseph Cardenas, Mynameis...Miro, Private Officer, and Visegrád 24/Adi Baz on X
Cuba said its forces fatally shot four heavily armed people attempting to “infiltrate” its territory on a Florida-registered speedboat on Wednesday, amid simmering tensions between the communist island and the US. Cuban border guard troops approached the boat after it entered their territorial waters in Falcones Cay, Villa Clara province, just over 100 miles from Florida, the country’s interior ministry said in a statement. A passenger on the speedboat shot at the Cuban vessel, wounding its commander, and prompting Cuban forces to return fire, according to the statement. Six other people aboard the speedboat were wounded and are in custody and receiving medical attention...
#4 Kennedy Ally Casey Means Edges Closer to US Surgeon General Job - Ahmed Aboulenein for Reuters, Good Morning America, FarmPolicy, Steve Holbert, ABC News/Zubi, and waaytv on X
Wellness influencer Casey Means, a key ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., advanced toward confirmation as U.S. surgeon general on Wednesday as senators pressed her on contentious positions on vaccines and birth control. Means, President Donald Trump's nominee to be the nation's top doctor, testified before the Senate health committee, which will vote on advancing her nomination to the full Senate. The Republican majority there is expected to confirm her in a victory for Kennedy and his Make America Healthy Again movement...#5 Senators Sanders and Mullin Clash in Heated Senate Hearing Exchange: ‘You’re Part of the Problem' - Andrew Mark Miller for Fox News, Norma Sellers, shane, Woodrow Williams, Michael Kosterman/Benny Johnson, and Bill McKenna on X
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin were involved in a heated back-and-forth during a Senate hearing on Tuesday that sparked immediate reactions across social media. "Everybody we bring up here, you guys chastise for trying to make changes," Mullin said during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing on Wednesday. The committee was discussing issues with Obamacare during a hearing on the nomination of Casey Means as U.S. surgeon general. "God forbid we change and try to fix our broken system," Mullin continued. "Anyway, I ranted too long."
#6 World Economic Forum Chief Steps Down After Epstein Probe - Gareth Vipers for The Wall Street Journal, Disclose.tv, BRICS News, Libs of TikTok, Financial Times, and Bernie on X
Børge Brende, president and chief executive of the World Economic Forum, said he would step down from his role after the organization conducted a review into his past connections with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a statement Thursday, Brende said he had chosen to resign after careful consideration. “I believe now is the right moment for the Forum to continue its important work without distractions,” he said...
#7 DOJ Email Called Epstein Death a ‘Murder,’ Newly Released Files Show - Ally Heath for Straight Arrow News, Jesse Watters, John Ziegler, LaurenWitzke, Mykyta Haida, and Catherine A Higgins (Kamara-Taylor) on X
A 2020 email from a Justice Department attorney referenced an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s death as a “murder,” contradicting the official 2019 ruling of suicide. The attorney, identified as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, was the individual cited. Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell on Aug.10, 2019, and his death was ruled a suicide despite unusual circumstances and security lapses. That email, dated June 11, 2020, said the attorney was continuing to investigate Epstein’s death...
#8 Ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers Resigns From Harvard Over Epstein Ties - Alison Durkee for Forbes, Jesse Watters, J., Kevin Bass, Nancy Mace, and Nick Sortor on X
Former Harvard University President and Treasury Secretary Larry Summers will resign from teaching at Harvard at the end of the academic year, according to multiple reports Wednesday, the latest fallout from the Epstein files as the former treasury secretary was shown to have a close relationship with financier Jeffrey Epstein... Emails and messages released in November showed Summers was in frequent communication with Epstein, with the two discussing upcoming meetings, politics, and women, among other topics. In his 2017 message appearing to criticize women’s intelligence, Summers also appeared to downplay allegations of sexual misconduct, writing to Epstein he was “trying to figure why American elite think if u murder your baby by beating and abandonment it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard, but hit on a few women 10 years ago and can't work at a network or think tank.”#9 Vance: White House Pausing Some Medicaid Funds to Minn. Over Concerns About Rampant Fraud - Newsmax, MJTruthUltra, Paullum Demi Deus, @SpudLink-Tater, U-S-NEWS.COM, and KATV News on X
Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration would "temporarily halt" some Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns, as part of what he described as an aggressive crackdown on misuse of public funds. Vance, who made the announcement with Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the administration was taking the action "in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people's tax money."
