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South Korea’s fertility rate rose in 2024 for the first time in nine years, supported by an increase in marriages, preliminary data showed on Wednesday, in a sign that the country’s demographic crisis might have turned a corner.

The country’s fertility rate, the average number of babies a woman is expected to have during her reproductive life, stood at 0.75 in 2024, according to Statistics Korea.

In 2023, the birthrate fell for the eighth consecutive year to 0.72, the lowest in the world, from 1.24 in 2015, raising concerns over the economic shock to society from such a rapid pace.

Since 2018, South Korea has been the only member of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) with a rate below 1.

South Korea has rolled out various measures to encourage young people to get married and have children, after now impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol declared a “national demographic crisis” and a plan to create a new ministry devoted to tackling low birth rates.

“There was a change in social value, with more positive views about marriage and childbirth,” Park Hyun-jung, an official at Statistics Korea, told a briefing, also citing the impact of a rise in the number of people in their early 30s and pandemic delays.

“It is difficult to measure how much each factor contributed to the rise in new births, but they themselves had an impact on each other too,” Park said.

Marriages, a leading indicator of new births, jumped 14.9% in 2024, the biggest spike since the data started being released in 1970. Marriages turned up for the first time in 11 years in 2023 with a 1.0% increase powered by a post-pandemic boost.

In the Asian country, there is a high correlation between marriages and births, with a time lag of one or two years, as marriage is often seen as a prerequisite to having children.

Across the country, the birthrate last year was the lowest in the capital, Seoul, at 0.58.

The latest data showed there were 120,000 more people who died last year than those who were newly born, marking the fifth consecutive year of the population naturally shrinking. The administrative city of Sejong was the only major centre where population grew.

South Korea’s population, which hit a peak of 51.83 million in 2020, is expected to shrink to 36.22 million by 2072, according to the latest projection by the statistics agency.

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Hundreds of millions of Hindu devotees have bathed in sacred waters, despite concerns over overcrowding and water pollution, as the world’s largest religious gathering wrapped up Wednesday in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Over the last 45 days, more than 620 million people – nearly a third of India’s roughly 1.4 billion population – have attended the Maha Kumbh Mela, or the festival of the Sacred Pitcher, on the riverbanks in the city of Prayagraj, in a spectacle of color and expression of faith.

Followers have come to take a holy dip in the Triveni Sangam, the confluence of three holy rivers – the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati – to purify their sins and take another step closer to “spiritual liberation.”

Every 12 years the festival carries the prefix “Maha,” which means great, as it’s the largest gathering of the Kumbh Mela that’s held every three years in one of four cities.

“It is a unique, once in a lifetime experience,” said Sushovan Sircar, 36, who works as an independent consultant in Delhi. “People from all over India are here, as I saw number plates of cars from almost every state.”

deadly crowd crush, where pilgrims were killed in a rush to take a holy dip in Prayagraj, on Wednesday, January 29.” class=”image_expandable__dam-img image_expandable__dam-img–loading” onload=”this.classList.remove(‘image_expandable__dam-img–loading’)” onerror=”imageLoadError(this)” height=”1067″ width=”1600″ loading=”lazy”>

Though this year’s festivities have been marred by two separate, deadly crowd crushes, millions have turned out for the festival despite concerns of overcrowding and reports of “unsafe” levels of contamination in key bathing sites.

A report from the Central Pollution and Control Board (CPCB), part of India’s Environment Ministry, last month found high levels of coliform faecal bacteria in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, despite the government touting sustainable initiatives and sanitation efforts.

Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath denied the accuracy of the government report, insisting that the water was not just safe for bathing, but also for the Hindu ritual of drinking a handful after bathing.

Attendees often submerge themselves fully, sometimes drinking or collecting the sacred water in containers.

‘My sins are cleansed, but not my body’

Sircar, the independent consultant from Delhi, said he bathed in the water at Sangam point – the confluence of the three rivers considered to be the most auspicious place to bathe and where most people take their dip – twice last week.

“There is a concern because there is nothing I can do about the contamination in the water. In your mind you tell yourself, this part looks clean, spend a few minutes in, recite prayers and come out,” said Sircar.

“I took a shower for sins and then another shower for the contamination,” he laughed. “So you need a bath after the bath… My sins are cleansed, but not (my) body.”

Before the festival began, India’s top environmental court directed the state and federal pollution boards to ensure the river water was clean enough to drink and bathe in. It called for increasing monitoring and sample collecting of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers and ensuring that no untreated sewage or solid waste would be discharged.

But a report submitted by the federal pollution board on February 3 stated that faecal coliform levels, a key indicator of untreated sewage and faecal matter in water, were far above the safe limit set by the board of 2,500 units per 100 millilitres.

At various parts of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers around Prayagraj levels were more than 1,000 over the safe limit, according to the report.

Adityanath said his government was continually monitoring the water levels to ensure its quality.

“We have ensured that the water quality has been maintained,” said Kumbh Mela officer Vivek Chaturvedi.

Aishwary Sharma, 31, a finance professional in Delhi, said he took a dip in the rivers despite knowing it could be polluted.

“I think it is quite evident that the Ganga and Yamuna are not clean rivers,” he said. “(But) there are many things that are bad for you… The air we breathe is so toxic for our health… It is just another thing that is polluted that could have a harmful impact on my health.”

For others, their faith and participating in the sacred festival was more important than their concerns.

“What (most people) are interested in is their devotion and religion and that they want to take that holy dip,” said Sunny Parasher, 34, from Panchkula in Haryana state.

“Where there is devotion, where there is religion, there is no question,” he said.

Kalpana Mishra, 55, a housewife from Prayagraj, said she would not take another holy dip after reading the pollution board’s report.

“What does being a literate person mean if you hear all this and still decide to go?” she asked.

Exposure to faecal contamination can cause water borne diseases such as typhoid, diarrhoea, cholera, gastroenteritis, E-coli, skin disease and vomiting, health experts warn.

Push to clean the rivers

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made cleaning the Ganges, India’s holiest river, a priority since first taking office in 2014 – with billions of dollars spent or pledged on sewage treatment, cleaning surface waste and afforestation in the decade since.

The Ganges, a lifeline for 400 million people who live and work along it, runs through 50 Indian cities that pump out about 3 billion liters of sewage every day – only a fraction of which is treated before it reaches the river, according to the World Bank.

The Yamuna, a tributary of the Ganges, has also for decades been plagued by the dumping of toxic chemicals and untreated sewage.

Ahead of the festival, Indian authorities touted this year’s gathering as a “Green Kumbh,” with sustainable initiatives such as a ban on single-use plastics, eco-friendly toilets, electric rickshaws and an army of 15,000 sanitation workers hired to clean up after major bathing days.

The Ministry of Culture said in January that the festival had been “meticulously planned to uphold hygiene and ecological balance” and would “set an example for future large-scale events worldwide” in environmental responsibility.

Protecting and cleaning the river was even a major theme at a conference held on the sidelines of the festival with religious and environmental leaders coming together for the first time on how religious institutions can address the climate crisis.

“If there is no water in the rivers, there is no Kumbh. We don’t consider it water, we consider it nectar,” said Indian spiritual leader Swami Chidanand Saraswati at the meeting. “If we all do not make efforts to protect it, then the next (Kumbh Mela) will be on mere sand.”

But complicating the green efforts was the enormous crowd size at this year’s Kumbh Mela, which saw 250 million more people than originally expected, according to one expert. Authorities had planned for about 400 million people to attend over the six-week gathering, with about 9 million people per day, but about 620 million people attended in total, according to government figures.

“It is a mammoth task to take care of such a crowd,” said Dr Nupur Bahadur, an associate director with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), a research institute that looks at wastewater management, established by the Indian government.

River contamination could be better managed by adopting better on-site prevention and disinfection methods, Bahadur said.

One of them could be halting the dip after every 12 hours for one hour” and letting fresh water run through the bathing areas before “the dips can be restarted,” she said.

Bahadur said that while the festival’s “massive increase in footfall” strained its infrastructure, it has still been “the best human effort possible” in such a situation.

Prayagraj resident Mishra said she will be happy when her city gets back to normal.

“My eyes are constantly burning and there is so much dust,” she said. “I want the festival to end so I can get back to my life.”

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China’s military has set up a zone for “live-fire training” about 46 miles (74 kilometers) off the southwestern coast of Taiwan without advance notice, the island’s defense ministry said on Wednesday.

It comes a day after Taiwan’s coast guard detained a Chinese-crewed cargo ship suspected of cutting an undersea cable in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said it detected 32 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait starting shortly before 9am on Wednesday (7.42 p.m. Tuesday ET). It added that 22 of those aircraft flew near the north and southwest of the island and carried out a “joint combat readiness patrol” with Chinese warships, according to the statement.

“During this period, (China) blatantly violated international norms by unilaterally designating a drill zone approximately 40 nautical miles off the coast of Kaohsiung and Pingtung without prior warning, claiming it would conduct ‘live-fire training,’” the ministry said.

There was no immediate comment from Beijing on the Taiwan statement. China’s Foreign Ministry did not comment on it when asked at a regular news conference Wednesday, saying it’s “not a diplomatic issue.”

China’s ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan as its territory, despite having never controlled it, and has vowed to take the self-governing democracy by force if necessary. Under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Beijing has significantly ramped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan.

Kaohsiung, a strategic commercial hub for Taiwan, is home to the island’s largest and busiest port.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said China declared the drill zone within international shipping lanes via temporary radio broadcasts, posing “a severe threat to the safety of international aviation and maritime navigation.”

“This is a blatant provocation against regional security and stability,” the ministry added.

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The parents of an 8-year-old girl who died after they withheld her insulin, encouraged by members of a small Christian sect who believed God would save her, have been sentenced to at least 14 years in prison.

Elizabeth Struhs died in January 2022 on a mattress on the floor of her home in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, five days after her father Jason Struhs, 53, declared that she no longer needed medication for Type 1 diabetes.

Her mother, Kerrie Struhs, 49, encouraged Elizabeth’s father to withhold her insulin, as did 12 other members of a Bible-based sect known as “The Saints,” who were also found guilty of manslaughter.

Sect leader Brendan Stevens, 63, was handed a prison sentence of 13 years by Justice Martin Burns in the Queensland Supreme Court on Wednesday. Eleven other members of the sect, who sang and prayed while Elizabeth died, were also due to be sentenced.

It’s not the first time Jason and Kerrie Struhs have been prosecuted for failing to give Elizabeth medical care.

In 2019, Elizabeth, then 6, was hospitalized for a month after becoming gravely ill from undiagnosed and untreated diabetes. At the time, her father rejected the sect’s insistence that God would heal her and eventually took his daughter to hospital.

That time, Jason Struhs pleaded guilty to “failing to provide the necessaries of life to Elizabeth” and was given a suspended sentence after testifying against his wife. Kerrie Struhs pleaded not guilty and was given an 18-month sentence.

What happened next all but sealed Elizabeth’s fate.

While Kerrie Struhs was in prison, her husband’s 17-year opposition to the sect crumbled, the trial heard, and he became “baptized” as its newest member.

Elizabeth died just three weeks after her mother was released from prison on parole, telling her parole officer that she’d withhold her daughter’s treatment again, if given the choice. She also said she wouldn’t intervene if anyone tried to help Elizabeth – but no one did.

A ‘miracle’ recruit

The couple at the center of the case had a long and often combative relationship.

Jason Struhs told police that his wife wasn’t very religious during the first few years of their marriage, but that changed when she met sect leader Brendan Stevens and his wife Loretta in 2004.

As Kerrie Struhs grew closer to the Stevens family, she began to reject medical treatment. Jason Struhs remained a staunch non-believer, who insisted that their eight children be vaccinated.

The couple’s conflicting beliefs caused friction in the household, and for a time Jason moved to the garage to “escape the tension.” He worked night shifts and preferred to stay away from the house, either working or playing golf, he told police, according to court documents.

Kerrie Struhs told police her husband was an “angry man” who didn’t believe in God, and that she was planning to leave him after her release from prison in December 2021.

But she changed her mind after she discovered that Jason had joined the church, describing him as much calmer, like a “new person.”

“The change in him has been unbelievable,” she told police.

Jason Struhs told police he had a “mental breakdown” after Kerrie went to prison and sought support from sect members.

To the church, the conversion of someone once vehemently opposed to their teachings was something of a “miracle” – proof that God had cured his anger.

A small home-based sect

When Jason Struhs declared in early January 2022 – just five months after joining the sect – that Elizabeth no longer needed insulin, church members were elated.

Their campaign to convince him that Elizabeth could be cured by God had worked.

Within days her condition deteriorated, and even as she lay dying with the insulin in the cupboard, no one gave it to her or suggested they seek medical help.

As Elizabeth became sicker, vomiting then unresponsive, Jason Struhs seemed to waver in his conviction, but church members rallied around him, encouraging him to follow God’s will.

They sat at Elizabeth’s bedside, singing and praying. “Whatever the Lord’s plan is for us, we will follow it,” Stevens later told police.

Elizabeth died on January 7, 2022, of diabetic ketoacidosis, a complication caused by a lack of insulin and medical treatment for diabetes – the same condition she had in 2019.

The sect continued to sing, dance and pray around her body for 36 hours before Jason Struhs said it was time to phone police.

For years, the sect’s beliefs were reinforced by their leader, Brendan Stevens, who taught his followers to reject modern medicine but denied any responsibility for Elizabeth’s death.

In 2022, as Elizabeth’s condition deteriorated, Stevens told her parents, “This is just a little trial to prove that you all are truly faithful to our faithful God,” according to court documents.

Stevens’ wife Loretta, 67, and six of their adult children – Therese, Andrea, Acacia, Camellia, Alexander and Sebastian Stevens, ages 24 to 35, were also convicted, along with Elizabeth’s older brother Zachary Struhs, 22.

The others included Lachlan and Samantha Schoenfisch, a married couple aged 34 and 26, and Keita Martin, 24, who went to school with the Stevens children and moved in with the family when she was 17. During the trial, their family members told the court they’d become increasingly concerned about their extreme religious beliefs.

But not all were taken in by Brendan Stevens.

Jayde Struhs, Jason and Kerrie Struhs’ eldest daughter, gave evidence against her parents. She left their home at age 16 for fear she’d never be accepted as gay.

In a victim impact statement read in court, Jayde Struhs said: “These people only wanted to control my family and everything they did. All for the sense of power … so they could play God.”

All 14 defendants represented themselves during a 9-week judge-only trial in 2024, however none gave or called any evidence. Speaking on their behalf, Brendan Stevens called the trial a “religious persecution.”

Jayde Struhs told Australia’s national broadcaster, the ABC, that Stevens instilled an Armageddon-style fear in his followers.

“The main … messaging that Brendan puts out there is that the world’s going to end and Jesus is going to come back and save us … if you’re not absolute in the walk of God, you’ll go to hell forever,” she said.

Cult expert Raphael Aron, director of Cult Consulting Australia, says Jason Struhs would have been under “immense” pressure to join the group and follow their beliefs.

He said prison is unlikely to change the beliefs of “The Saints,” and if members are allowed further contact with each other, it could further entrench their ideology.

“I don’t know if any group has fallen apart because the leader went to jail; he’s just seen as a martyr, basically a replica of Jesus on the cross,” said Aron. “There’s all sorts of other ways of justifying it, and they keep going.”

He said he hopes Elizabeth’s death acts as a “wake up call” to anyone who may be questioning the legitimacy of people influencing themselves or a loved one.

A major red flag is the rejection of conventional medicine, Aron said, as it allows the group to conceal abusive behavior.

“The one area in life where the groups can actually be held accountable will be through the medical world, because that practitioner has a responsibility to do something about what’s going on,” said Aron.

Sect leaders also often ban members from accessing the internet because if they did, they might find damning testimony from former members, he added.

Small groups with extreme beliefs are all but impossible to detect unless people come forward, Aron said – but in Australia, unlike the United States, there are few avenues to report them.

He’s advocating for a regulatory body with the power to investigate complaints.

“The problem is, if you go to the police and no crime has been committed, they can’t do anything, and by the time the crime has been committed, it’s too late.”

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Israel had delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees since Saturday in protest of what it said is the cruel treatment of hostages during their release by Hamas and demanding guarantees that future hostage releases would take place without “humiliating ceremonies.”

Hamas released six Israeli hostages from Gaza on Saturday in two public ceremonies and one private transfer, in what was the final return of living hostages in the first phase of a ceasefire deal that began last month.

Israel was expected to free 620 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including 23 children and one woman — but Israeli officials delayed that release.

Hamas accused Israel of violating the truce with the delay, casting some uncertainty over the precarious ceasefire deal, and said talks on a second phase would not be possible until they are freed.

On Wednesday, an Israeli source familiar with the talks said a new agreement had been reached to transfer the remains of four hostages held in Gaza in exchange for the release of the 620 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Hamas confirmed that an agreement with Israel had been made through Egyptian mediators, but did not specify how many Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and detainees would be released.

Hamas and its allies continue to hold 63 Israeli hostages in Gaza. At least 32 of those are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli government – one of whom, the soldier Hadar Goldin, has been held since 2014.

The 42-day truce between Israel and Hamas is set to expire this weekend unless an agreement is struck to extend it. The two sides were meant to begin talks on a permanent end to the war in early February, but those discussions have not begun yet.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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An airline traveler has spoken of his shock after cabin crew sat him next to the body of a fellow passenger who had died during the flight.

Ring recalled watching the crew try to revive the woman.

“Unfortunately, the lady couldn’t be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch,” he told Nine.

The crew then tried to wheel the body toward the business class section but were unable to maneuver it through the narrow aisle, Ring said.

“So they looked a bit frustrated and then they just looked at me and saw seats were available beside me… and they just said to me, can you move over please?” he said. “And I just said, ‘yes, no problem,’ and then they placed the lady in the chair that I was in.”

Ring then sat next to the body for the roughly four remaining hours of the flight, he said, despite there being other empty seats on the plane.

Another passenger offered Colin an empty seat across the aisle from Ring, where she sat for the rest of the flight.

“I was really shocked,” Colin told Nine, calling the experience “traumatic.”

“We totally understand that we can’t hold the airline responsible for the poor lady’s death, but there has to be a protocol then to look after the customers that are on board,” she said.

After the flight landed, Ring said passengers in his area were told to stay put until ambulance workers and police officers arrived to remove the body.

“I can’t believe they told us to stay,” he said, adding he was present when ambulance officers pulled away the blanket.

The couple said they weren’t immediately contacted by the airline, which they said owes them “a duty of care.”

Ring said he expected the airline to offer counseling support.

Qantas Airways, through which the couple bought their tickets, said they were in touch with Colin and have followed up with Qatar Airways.

“The process for handling incidents onboard an aircraft like this is managed by the operating airline, which in this case is Qatar Airways,” it said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Ring and Colin are trying to process the tragedy.

“I don’t really know how I feel,” Ring told Nine.

“And would like… to talk to somebody and to make sure I’m alright.”

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to a draft of a minerals deal with the White House, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday. 

Trump told reporters that the Ukrainian leader plans to travel to D.C. on Friday to meet with him after the officials agreed to the terms of the deal, which was first reported by Reuters. The U.S. president added that the two leaders are ‘just in the process of negotiating.’

‘We’ve pretty much negotiated our deal on earth [minerals] and various other things,’ Trump said. ‘We’ll be looking…. general security for Ukraine later on. I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. There are a lot of people that want to do it, and I spoke with Russia about it. They didn’t seem to have a problem with it. So I think they understand they’re not going back. And once we do this, they’re not going back.’

The pact, which would involve giving the U.S. access to natural resources in exchange for America’s support of Ukraine amid its war with Russia, was days in the making. Trump said on Friday that his administration was ‘pretty close’ to striking a deal, and on Monday, he hinted that a meeting between him and Zelenskyy was imminent.

‘It’ll be a deal with rare earths and various other things. And, he would like to come, as I understand it, here to sign it. And that would be great with me,’ Trump said. ‘I think they then have to get it approved by their council or whoever might approve it, but I’m sure that will happen.’

Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has prioritized recouping the cost of U.S. aid to Ukraine by gaining access to Ukrainian resources, including titanium, iron and uranium. U.S. aid to the war-torn country has totaled tens of billions of dollars since February 2022.

That commitment has led to tension between him and Zelenskyy, and Trump ridiculed the politician as a ‘modestly successful comedian’ in a Truth Social post last week.

‘A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,’ Trump’s post reads. ‘In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going.’

‘I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues…..’

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously lauded the potential pact in a Sunday interview on ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’

‘The first part of this is a partnership between Ukraine and the U.S. that involves strategic minerals, energy and state-owned enterprises, where we set up a partnership, and we are only looking forward,’ Bessent said.

‘We make money if the Ukrainian people make money, and I believe that with the United States of America, our businesses are willing to come in and provide capital that we can accelerate the Ukrainian growth trajectory and take in substantial monies for the U.S. taxpayers and get the Ukrainian economy on a great growth trajectory.’

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to cooperating with the U.S. if Trump signals interest in mining minerals in Russia and Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

‘Russia is one of the undisputed leaders in terms of reserves of these rare and rare-earth metals,’ Putin said during an interview on Russian state television. ‘These are quite capital-intensive investments, capital-intensive projects. We would be happy to work together with any foreign partners, including American ones.’

Reuters and Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley, Brooke Singman and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

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Paul Clement, a former solicitor general and previous potential Trump Supreme Court pick, was tapped by a federal judge Friday to weigh in on the motion to dismiss the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. 

U.S. District Judge Dale Ho decided to adjourn the case against Adams until further notice, while also appointing Clement to serve as an independent party. 

Ho wrote that bringing in Clement was ‘appropriate’ in this case, ‘particularly so in light of the public importance of this case, which calls for careful deliberation.’

Former assistant U.S. attorney and Fox News contributor Andy McCarthy noted to Fox News Digital that it is ‘unusual’ for courts to entertain amicus briefs in criminal cases and ‘it is highly unusual to appoint an amicus to assist the court in the manner contemplated in the Adams case.’

Clement, a seasoned appellate lawyer who has argued more than 100 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, served as solicitor general under the Bush administration from 2005-2008. He was notably on President Donald Trump’s short list of Supreme Court nominees during his first term. 

Before taking on the role of the federal government’s top appellate lawyer, Clement served as a deputy solicitor general.

Clement earned his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a master’s in economics from Cambridge University. 

He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was the Supreme Court editor of the Harvard Law Review. 

Following graduation, Clement clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as well as for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. 

He went into private practice after his clerkships, joining Kirkland & Ellis’ Washington, D.C., office. 

Clement also served as chief counsel of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights before returning to private practice and working as a partner at King & Spalding in D.C., where he headed the firm’s appellate practice. 

Clement is currently a distinguished lecturer in law at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he initially served as an adjunct professor starting in 1998. He is also partner at Clement & Murphy in D.C.

Clement’s advocacy in the high court includes recently arguing Loper Bright v. Raimondo, which effectively overturned the Chevron doctrine. The doctrine previously gave deference to an agency’s interpretation of a federal regulation. Clement also litigated against the Obama administration, challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.  

McCarthy said he thinks ‘very highly of Paul Clement, who is among the top appellate lawyers in the United States,’ saying the Adams case ‘calls for a faithful interpretation’ of federal law and ‘I can’t think of anyone better than Clement to give a judge impartial, solid advice on that issue.’

Ho’s decision to adjourn the case came just days after U.S. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove asked prosecutors to drop all corruption charges against the mayor.  

In the motion to dismiss, Bove said the legal proceedings against Adams were detracting from other Justice Department priorities, such as illegal immigration and violent crime. 

Ho appointed Clement to weigh in on the DOJ’s motion to drop the case. Among the questions posed to Clement, the court asks, ‘Under what circumstances, if leave is granted, dismissal should be with or without prejudice.’ 

‘The main point of the rule is to protect the defendant’s rights,’ McCarthy said. ‘The judge has no authority to order DOJ to persist in prosecuting Adams, or to appoint a ‘special prosecutor,’ but Clement is an excellent lawyer and can give Judge Ho good advice on whether to accept the plea with the ‘without prejudice’ term in it.’

Parties are expected to submit briefings by early March, with oral arguments expected shortly thereafter. 

The charges against Adams will remain intact until Ho agrees to dismiss them.

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.

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The House of Representatives has adopted a resolution that will eventually become a massive multi-trillion-dollar bill full of President Donald Trump’s priorities on the border, defense, energy and taxes.

In a major victory for House GOP leaders, the resolution passed in a 217 to 215 vote.

All Democrats voted against the measure, along with lone Republican rebel Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who was concerned about its effect on the national deficit.

The next step is now for the relevant House committees to meet and build their own proposals, which will eventually be returned into the framework and negotiated into a compromise deal with the Senate.

It was a dramatic scene in the House chamber on Monday night as Republican leaders delayed formally ending a vote for roughly 45 minutes as they worked to convince conservative fiscal hawks to support the legislation.

Impatient Democrats called out loud for the vote to be closed as Republicans huddled in varied groups.

Two people on the House floor told Fox News Digital that President Donald Trump got involved at one point, speaking to one of the holdouts, Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., by phone.

Reps. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, could be seen on the phone at other points on the House floor as well, but it’s not clear if they were speaking with Trump.

At one point, House GOP leaders appeared to lose confidence that they had enough support and abruptly canceled the planned vote. 

Moments later, however, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were rushing back to the House floor and Fox News Digital was told the vote would be held.

Meanwhile, three House Democrats who had been absent early in the day returned for the Tuesday evening vote in dramatic fashion. 

Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo., who had a baby roughly a month ago, returned to the House floor with her infant to oppose the bill. And Rep. Kevin Mullin, R-Calif., who was recently hospitalized for an infection, appeared in the chamber aided by a walker.

House and Senate Republicans are aiming to use their majorities to advance Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process. 

It’s a Senate maneuver that lowers the threshold for passage from two-thirds to a simple majority, but it’s used when a party controls both houses of Congress and the White House because it allows that party to pass its policy goals even under the slimmest margins.

And Republicans are dealing with slim margins indeed; with current numbers, the House GOP can afford no more than one defection to pass anything without Democratic votes if all liberals are voting.

On the Senate side, Republicans can lose no more than two of their own in the reconciliation process.

The House resolution aimed to increase spending on border security, the judiciary and defense by roughly $300 billion, while seeking at least $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in spending cuts elsewhere. 

As written, the House bill also provided $4.5 trillion to extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions, which expire at the end of this year.

An amendment negotiated by House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, and conservatives on his panel would also force lawmakers to make $2 trillion in cuts, or else risk the $4.5 trillion for Trump’s tax cuts getting reduced by the difference. 

The resolution also fulfilled Trump’s directive to act on the debt limit, raising it by $4 trillion or roughly two years. 

A bipartisan deal struck in 2023 saw the debt limit suspended until January 2025. Now, projections show the U.S. could run out of cash to pay its debts by spring if Congress does not act.

The resolution’s odds were touch and go for much of the week so far, since House lawmakers returned from a week-long recess period Monday.

Several fiscal conservatives had demanded more assurances from House GOP leadership that Republicans would seek deep spending cuts to offset the cost of Trump’s priorities.

Republican lawmakers in more competitive districts are concerned some cuts may go too far, however. 

The resolution directs the House Energy & Commerce Committee to find at least $880 billion in spending cuts – which those lawmakers fear will mean severe cuts for federal programs like Medicaid.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pushed back against fears of such cuts during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

‘Medicaid is hugely problematic because it has a lot of fraud, waste and abuse. Everybody knows that. We all know it intuitively. No one in here would disagree,’ Johnson said. ‘What we’re talking about is rooting out the fraud, waste, and abuse. It doesn’t matter what party you’re in, you should be for that because it saves your money, and it preserves the programs so that it is available for the people who desperately need it.’

It was also supported by a wide swath of Republicans, including conservative Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, a member of the House Budget Committee that approved the bill earlier this month.

‘It’s the best bill we’re going to get,’ Gill said while praising Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, for his efforts. ‘If I were writing it then I’d write it differently, but this is the best we’re gonna get it.’

Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, said he was eager to begin working on ‘cutting taxes for Iowans, securing our border, unleashing American energy production, and eliminating waste and fraud in our government.’

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White House officials confirmed with Fox News that while billionaire Elon Musk is overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an acting administrator has been appointed to the role.

Amy Gleason, who is a low-profile executive with an expertise in healthcare technology, has been appointed as the acting leader of DOGE, the department responsible for gutting many federal agencies while locating and cutting billions of dollars in government waste.

Gleason’s identity was revealed after a reporter pressed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on who is actually running DOGE.

CBS News’ Nancy Cordes pointed out to Leavitt that President Donald Trump’s executive order to create DOGE called for the naming of a DOGE administrator. She then asked the president’s spokesperson who is serving as the DOGE administrator.

‘So, the president tasked Elon Musk to oversee the DOGE effort,’ Leavitt said. ‘There are career officials and there are political appointees who are helping run DOGE on a day-to-day basis.

‘There are also individuals who have onboarded as political appointees at every agency across the board to work alongside President Trump’s Cabinet to find and identify waste, fraud and abuse, and they are working on that effort every day.’

Cordes quickly asked, ‘So, is Elon Musk the administrator?’ as Leavitt twice called on another reporter.

After the exchange, Fox News learned of Gleason’s temporary appointment.

Gleason, 53, worked from 2018 through 2021 for the United States Digital Service, an agency that has been renamed the US DOGE Service, according to her LinkedIn profile. In that role, she worked with the White House on the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Gleason returned to the agency after Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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