FBI apparently prevented IS suspect’s New Year’s Eve attack

//

Lerato Khumalo

News blog about US politics

FBI apparently prevents New Year’s Eve attack with hammer and knives


Updated on January 3, 2026 – 5:31 amReading time: 10 minutes

Enlarge the image

FBI chief Kash Patel (archive photo): His agency has arrested an 18-year-old with suspected attack plans. (Source: IMAGO/Mehmet Eser/imago)

According to the FBI, an 18-year-old wanted to carry out an assassination attempt on New Year’s Eve. Trump announces that he will support the demonstrators in Iran. All developments in the news blog.

California Congressman Eric Swalwell (Democrat) vowed Wednesday that if elected governor he would revoke the driver’s licenses of masked immigration agents working in California. “If the governor has the authority to issue driver’s licenses to people in California, then you can’t drive in California if you’re wearing a mask and don’t have identification,” Swalwell told MS NOW.

A California law banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from wearing masks while on duty in the state went into effect Thursday. When signing the law in September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said ICE officials could no longer “evade accountability.” The Department of Homeland Security said it would not comply with the measure, while the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against the ban in November, arguing it was unconstitutional.

Russia has made a formal diplomatic request to the United States to stop pursuing an oil tanker originally destined for Venezuela. This is reported by CNN. The demarche, sent to the Foreign Ministry on New Year’s Eve, came after the ship, named Bella 1, appeared in Russia’s official shipping register under a new name.

It is unclear whether the request, first reported by The New York Times, will halt U.S. efforts to capture the oil tanker. This was originally en route to Venezuela before turning back to avoid seizure by the US Coast Guard. However, the US authorities have not yet been able to stop the ship.

A U.S. appeals court ruled Friday that California’s ban on openly carrying firearms in most parts of the state is unconstitutional. A panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in favor of a gun owner that banning the open carrying of weapons in counties with more than 200,000 residents violated the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

About 95 percent of the population of California, which has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, lives in counties this size. US federal judge Lawrence VanDyke, appointed by Donald Trump, said the Democratic-led state’s law could not stand in light of the US Supreme Court’s 2022 decision on gun rights.