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The eccentric millionaire killed in a Los Angeles house fire last week was likely an “imposter” posing as a member of the ultra-wealthy Rothschild banking family, according to a new report. The mystery man who went by William de Rothschild, 87 — found dead in his charred Hollywood Hills abode on Nov. 27 — had assumed the prestigious identity despite having no family ties to the Jewish dynasty, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. “My brother is not a Rothschild, as far as I know,” Richard Kauffman, 78, of Oregon, told the paper. “It’s odd, because I thought he had...

Two national golf associations announced new gender eligibility policies Wednesday that bar transgender women who have gone through male puberty from participating in elite women’s competitions. The LPGA said in a statement outlining its new policy that it had consulted “top experts in the fields of medicine, science, sport physiology and golf performance” and had been advised that “a Player’s exposure to male puberty provides physical advantages that are beneficial to golf performance compared to Players who have not had such exposure.” TheUSGA outlined the same puberty and testosterone requirements as the LPGA in its new gender eligibility rules. It...

Treasury Secretary John Fleming announced Wednesday he is beginning a campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy when he’s up for reelection in two years. In his statement, Fleming highlighted Cassidy’s biggest vulnerability as he seeks a third term in the Senate: his vote to convict former President Donald Trump of inciting a riot on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “A number of Republicans walked away from President Trump in the last year of his first term,” Fleming said. “But those who turned their backs on him and America First were not committed to his fight to make America...

Amid a severe budget crisis, the San Francisco Unified School District superintendent decided in March that some schools in the chronically dysfunctional, poorly performing public system needed to close. So it paid a Stanford University professor $30,000 to create an "equity-centered" formula that would determine which ones would shutter. After the results were announced in October, parents revolted, the school superintendent was forced to resign, and the closure plan was shelved indefinitely. Two weeks later, city voters ousted their embattled mayor, London Breed. Now, as the school district tries to rebuild under new leadership, the Stanford professor’s DEI-focused closure plan...

Members of a British rock band said they were robbed on Tuesday in Vallejo, just as they were starting their U.S. tour. The band, Sports Team, posted video of what happened on X. In the video, a person is heard yelling, "Get down, ring the police, ring the police!" Cats That Headbutt Their Owners Are Actually Trying To Give Them An Important Message SportzBonanza | Sponsored On Instagram, the band members said the thieves stole personal items from their van, including passports, while the van was parked outside of a Starbucks. Bandmembers told the BBC that someone pointed a gun...

Joe Biden’s Supreme Court Justice pick, Ketanji Brown Jackson, has quickly distinguished herself as arguably America’s dumbest justice after just three years on the bench. On Wednesday, she again lived up to that reputation in a case dealing with ‘gender-affirming’ care for children.As CBS reports, The Supreme Court is addressing a case concerning the constitutionality of a Tennessee law that bars puberty blockers and hormone therapy for so-called ‘transgender’ youths. Back in March 2023, Tennessee’s Republican-led legislature instituted its ban on these dangerous medical procedures, which have been used to treat ‘gender dysphoria’ for decades.Advocates for child mutilation, including the...

Ukrainian officials are holding high-level talks with the incoming Trump administration, seeking to narrow wide differences on achieving a settlement of Kyiv’s war with Russia even before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. A top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to meet Wednesday with Keith Kellogg, Trump’s choice as special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, and Mike Waltz, the incoming national security adviser, according to a Trump transition official and several people familiar with the discussions. Kellogg has signaled support for the Biden administration’s efforts to rush weapons to Ukraine, saying it will give Trump leverage with Moscow...

A Palestinian Arab source in the Gaza Strip told Kan News on Wednesday that Hamas has managed to locate the body of the head of Hamas's militant wing Mohammed Deif under the ruins from the strike that killed him in the al-Mawasi area in July. According to the source, the terror organization has already covertly buried the terrorist in a secret location without announcing it publicly. Hamas believes that if Israel learns of the location of Deif's grave, the IDF will exhume him and take his body as a bargaining chip in a hostage deal. Another reason for Hamas's secrecy,...

The government of France has fallen for the second time this year, as a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Michel Barnier was passed by the National Assembly on Wednesday, giving the former Eurocrat the ignominious distinction of being the shortest tenured prime minister in modern French history. Just 91 days after being installed in the Hôtel Matignon by President Macron, Michel Barnier saw his government collapse on Wednesday, as Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally (RN) party joined onto a censure motion to dethrone the government launched by the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) bloc, Le Figaro reports....

After making threat as candidate at the RNC, president-elect doubles down, two days after Hamas releases video of American-Israeli captive begging him to secure a dealPresident-elect Donald Trump on Monday threatened those holding hostages in the Middle East with unprecedented American firepower if they are not released by the time he enters office on Jan. 20. Trump first made a similar threat as a presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in July, but the latest warning posted on Truth Social came two days after Hamas released a propaganda video showing American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander pleading with the president-elect to...

Spaza shops have been a key topic in South Africa's online xenophobic dialogue for years because many of these convenience stores are owned by Africans from other parts of the continent. The call for the closure of these spaza shops continues to gain traction online, with anonymous accounts and self-appointed "news" channels sharing anti-immigrant narratives, reports the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC). There have been several cases of children admitted to hospital and dying after reported food poisoning. These devastating events were allegedly caused by food bought from spaza shops. This prompted the CABC to publish Xenophobia, Spaza...

Thank God for people like Samuel Alito, unafraid to tell the truth at all costs. Today, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments regarding Tennessee's ban on transgender surgeries for kids, and the ACLU sent Chase Strangio, a woman with a beard, to argue that even two-year-olds should be castrated. (No word yet on whether Chase Strangio is still breathing after that encounter with logic.) Civil rights laws and the Constitution prohibit discrimination of people based on immutable, unchangeable characteristics. You can't discriminate against black people because they were born with more melanated skin, for example. Alito simply points out that...

At least 79 people have died from an unknown disease that is causing flu-like symptoms in south-western Democratic Republic of Congo, the health ministry says. The health ministry says the majority of people who have died are between the ages of 15 and 18. More than 300 people have been infected with patients exhibiting symptoms like fever, headaches, runny noses and coughs, breathing difficulties and anaemia. Response teams have been sent to Kwango Province, specifically the Panzi health zone, where the disease is most common, to manage cases and investigate the nature of the disease.

‘A general misconception about dialogue’ - How an imam got talking with Pope FrancisThe Ahmadiyya Muslims are a community of around 12 to 15 million Muslim believers, who — because they believe in a Muslim messiah named Mirza Ghulam Ahmad — are considered heretical by mainstream Islam, and severely persecuted in many Muslim-majority countries.Ahmadiyya Imam Marwan Gill is leader of the Ahmadiyya movement in Argentina. Since becoming involved in interreligious dialogue, Gill has met Pope Francis twice, and is set to visit the Holy Father a third time this week, to present the pope his recent book about interreligious dialogue.Gill...

If you find it hard to get to sleep, then a solution might be at hand – a pen and paper. If you ever struggle to get to sleep, you might find that one of the things that keeps you awake is worrying about just how much you have to do the following day, especially if there are tasks that you've started, but not yet completed. In a study of employees at a German IT company, those who had unfinished tasks left over at the end of the working week were more likely to think about their work problems over...

President Joe Biden on his visit to sub-Saharan Africa pledged another $600 million for a cross-continent rail corridor project Wednesday, telling regional leaders that “Africa has been left behind for much too long. But not anymore. Africa is the future.” Biden used the third and final day of his visit to Angola to showcase the Lobito Corridor railway, where the U.S. and allies are investing heavily to refurbish 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) of train lines in Zambia, Congo and Angola. The project aims to advance the U.S. presence in a region rich in cobalt, copper and other critical minerals used...

Penelope Hegseth joins 'Fox & Friends' to defend her son's character and discuss his nomination by President-elect Trump to be defense secretary.

Differing China tech policy agendas will send bromance into 'it's complicated' statusCanalys Forums APAC The CEO and founder of channel-centric analyst house Canalys has predicted that the alliance between president-elect Donald Trump and aspiring oligarch Elon Musk will unravel in 2025, putting Tesla's ability to execute on full self-driving vehicles at risk. Speaking at the Canalys APAC Forum, Brazier said the recent US election saw "two people elected" – the second being Musk, not vice president-elect JD Vance. Brazier thinks Trump and Musk will fall out over China, because the former's proposed trade war against is at odds with...

China has banned the export of several strategically important minerals to the U.S., in response to the latest round of American restrictions Chinese chip-making industry. On Tuesday, the Chinese Commerce Ministry announced that it has banned the export of gallium, germanium, antimony and "superhard materials" to the U.S. The ban on the dual-use materials—those with civilian and military applications—comes alongside the implementation of "stricter end-user and end-use" reviews on graphite exports to the U.S. The announcement follows Washington's decision to strengthen export restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment and software tools, and to expand the list of Chinese companies subject to...

For Yoon Suk Yeol, the unpopular president of South Korea, things appeared to worsen with each passing day. Thousands of doctors had been on strike for almost a year to resist his health care reforms. The opposition in Parliament repeatedly pushed for investigations into his wife, as well as the impeachment of his cabinet members, accusing them of corruption and abuse of power. And the lawmakers blocked many of Mr. Yoon’s bills and political appointments. On Tuesday night, Mr. Yoon took a desperate measure, his boldest political gamble, which he said was driven by frustration and crisis. In a surprise,...