President Donald Trump praised the soldiers of the United Kingdom who served alongside the U.S. in Afghanistan on Saturday, clarifying his previous criticism of NATO allies.

Trump had earlier criticized NATO troops who served in Afghanistan, arguing they had stayed ‘a little bit back’ from the frontlines during the conflict. His statement was met with outrage in the U.K., however, where Prime Minister Kier Starmer called it ‘insulting and frankly, appalling.’

‘The GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America! In Afghanistan, 457 died, many were badly injured, and they were among the greatest of all warriors,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

‘It’s a bond too strong to ever be broken. The U.K. Military, with tremendous Heart and Soul, is second to none (except for the U.S.A.!). We love you all, and always will!’ he continued.

The social media post partially walks back his previous criticism of NATO, made during an interview on Fox Business.

‘We have never really asked anything of them,’ he said. You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that, and they did. They stayed a little back, little off the front lines.’

Starmer’s office says the prime minister raised the issue with Trump during a phone call this weekend.

‘The Prime Minister raised the brave and heroic British and American soldiers who fought side by side in Afghanistan, many of whom never returned home,’ a spokesperson said. ‘We must never forget their sacrifice.’

Trump’s initial remarks also drew a direct rebuke from Prince Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan.

‘I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there,’ Harry said.

‘Those sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect, as we all remain united and loyal to the defense of diplomacy and peace,’ he added.

The World Health Organization on Saturday warned that America’s withdrawal from the agency will make the country and the world ‘less safe.’

The globalist body said in part of a January 24 statement that it ‘regrets the United States’ notification of withdrawal from WHO – a decision that makes both the United States and the world less safe.’ 

‘We hope that in the future, the United States will return to active participation in WHO,’ the statement noted.

The U.S. announced its withdrawal from the WHO last week, after President Donald Trump got the ball rolling on his first day back in office last year.

‘Today, the United States withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO), freeing itself from its constraints, as President Trump promised on his first day in office by signing E.O. 14155,’ U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in part of a January 22, 2026, joint statement.

‘Going forward, U.S. engagement with the WHO will be limited strictly to effectuate our withdrawal and to safeguard the health and safety of the American people. All U.S. funding for, and staffing of, WHO initiatives has ceased,’ their statement said.

They claimed the WHO ‘pursued a politicized, bureaucratic agenda driven by nations hostile to American interests.’ But the WHO pushed back.

‘This is untrue. As a specialized agency of the United Nations, governed by 194 Member States, WHO has always been and remains impartial and exists to serve all countries, with respect for their sovereignty, and without fear or favor,’ the WHO said in its statement.

The daughter of a senior Iranian official who publicly criticized U.S. involvement against President Donald Trump regarding intervening in Iran’s protests has reportedly been fired from her teaching post at a top U.S. college.

The Emory Wheel, Emory University’s news outlet, reported the School of Medicine Dean announced in an email Jan. 24 that Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani was no longer a university employee.  

Ardeshir-Larijani was an assistant professor in the department of hematology and medical oncology at Emory’s medical school.

‘The announcement follows a Jan. 19 protest where Iranian-American demonstrators gathered outside Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute to oppose the employment of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani by the University,’ the outlet said.

Ardeshir-Larijani’s Emory faculty page and her Emory Healthcare pages were also no longer visible online.

The nonprofit Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA) claimed that Ardeshir-Larijani had lived and worked in the U.S. for several years.

The group also cited the professional profile on Emory Healthcare’s official website as showing a listing for a woman called Ardeshir-Larijani who is a U.S.-trained hematologist-oncologist and practicing in Atlanta.

The claims had first drawn attention amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran following the outbreak of protests and reports of deaths during an intense crackdown from Dec. 28.

Trump warned of potential U.S. action in response.

In a Jan. 2 Truth Social post, the president warned that if Iran ‘violently kills peaceful protesters’ the U.S. ‘will come to their rescue,’ saying ‘we are locked and loaded and ready to go.’ 

Trump’s remarks prompted warnings from senior Iranian officials, who said any American interference would cross a ‘red line.’

Ali Larijani had posted on X that U.S. interference in Iran’s internal affairs would ‘[destabilize] the entire region’ and ‘[destroy] American interests.’

‘The American people must know that Trump is the one who started this adventure,’ he wrote, ‘and they should pay attention to the safety of their soldiers.’

AAIRIA responded by urging U.S. authorities to review the immigration and visa status of Ardeshir-Larijani and her husband.

The group urged officials to determine whether continued residence in the U.S. aligns with U.S. law, national security considerations and principles of accountability and human rights, in a statement shared online.

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., also called on Emory to dismiss Ardeshir-Larijani and the state’s medical board to revoke her medical license.

Ardeshir-Larijani’s dismissal also arrived two weeks after sanctions had been placed on her father by the Treasury Department, who said that he ‘is responsible for coordinating the response to the protests on behalf of the Supreme Leader of Iran and has publicly called for Iranian security forces to use force to repress peaceful protesters,’ and has publicly defended the regime’s actions.

Ali Larijani has portrayed the U.S. as a hostile power in the past.

A 2018 report by The Washington Times highlighted what critics described as a double standard among Iranian officials whose relatives live or work in Western countries.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for comment and Emory University for comment.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that it was ‘too late’ to halt construction of a new ballroom at the White House, despite a newly filed lawsuit challenging the project.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump described the ballroom as ‘a GIFT (ZERO taxpayer funding) to the United States of America,’ estimating its cost at $300 million and saying it was financed through private donations.

Trump said the lawsuit was brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, criticizing the group for filing it after construction was already underway.

‘Why didn’t these obstructionists and troublemakers bring their baseless lawsuit much earlier?’ he wrote.

Trump added that the East Wing was ‘changed, built and rebuilt over the years’ and that ‘it bore no resemblance or relationship to the original building.’

On July 31, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the planned construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. The sprawling ballroom will accommodate approximately 650 seated guests and will stay true to the classical design of the White House.

The White House does not have a formal ballroom, and the new ballroom will take the place of the current East Wing of the White House. 

Since his return to office, Trump has wasted no time in reshaping the look and feel of the White House and the National Mall.

Trump has previously unveiled a new monument dubbed the ‘Arc de Trump,’ which is planned to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary next year.

He said the large arch, a near twin of Paris’s iconic Arc de Triomphe, will welcome visitors crossing the Arlington Memorial Bridge from Arlington National Cemetery into the heart of the nation’s capital.

Trump’s taste for opulence is unmistakable in the Oval Office, where golden accents now decorate the nation’s most iconic workspace, a reflection of his personal style.

Since then, Trump has added gold accents throughout the Oval Office to include decorative details along the ceiling and around the doorway trim. Even the cherubs inside the door frames were given a gilded makeover.

Outside the Oval Office, the Trump administration unveiled the ‘Presidential Walk of Fame,’ a series of portraits of past presidents now displayed along the West Wing colonnade.

The portrait of former President Joe Biden features his signature, created with an autopen, a machine that holds a pen and reproduces a person’s handwriting through programmed movements. The Trump administration has also installed several large mirrors in gold frames along the walkway.

Trump also said he renovated the Lincoln bathroom in the White House because it did not reflect the style of President Abraham Lincoln’s era. 

‘I renovated the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House. It was renovated in the 1940s in an art-deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era,’ Trump wrote in an Oct. 31 Truth Social post.

One of the key negotiators who helped end the last government shutdown won’t support a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill, further adding to the likelihood of another closure. 

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday that he could not support the current, six-bill funding package as is because it included the DHS funding bill. King was a pivotal figure in ending the last shutdown, and was one of only eight Senate Democratic caucus members to join Republicans to end it. 

King, like other members of the Senate Democratic caucus, is infuriated by the death of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old nurse who was shot dead by a border patrol agent in Minneapolis on Saturday. 

Congressional Democrats have railed against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents entering Minnesota and elsewhere, but begrudgingly agreed to support the DHS bill until the chaos over the weekend unfolded.

‘I hate shutdowns,’ King said. ‘I’m one of the people that helped negotiate the solution to the last — the end of the last shutdown, but I can’t vote for a bill that includes ICE funding under the circumstances.’ 

King’s resistance to the package comes after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that Senate Democrats would not support the legislation, increasing the odds of a partial government shutdown by the end of the week. 

It also comes on the heels of ICE entering King’s home state of Maine for operation Catch of the Day, where Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is running to beat Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in a pivotal Senate race that could determine the balance of power in the upper chamber.  

King argued that there was an ‘easy way out’ of the funding snafu — Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., could separate out the DHS funding bill and let lawmakers vote on the remaining five bills.

However, should that happen, the House would still have to weigh in. The lower chamber won’t return to Washington, D.C., until next month, all but ensuring a partial government shutdown by Friday unless lawmakers can reach a compromise agreement. 

‘Let’s have an honest negotiation,’ King said. ‘Put some guardrails on what’s going on, some accountability, and that would solve this problem. We don’t have to have a shutdown.’

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both issued dire warnings about the pressing need to protect the endangered Syrian Kurdish population under attack by government forces in the war-torn nation.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who earlier this month ordered his army, which reportedly has a large jihadist element, to conquer territory controlled for more than a decade by the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF.)

Writing on the social media platform X, Graham declared, ‘There is strong and growing bipartisan interest in the U.S. Senate regarding the deteriorating situation in Syria. There is strong consensus that we must protect the Kurds who were there for us in destroying the ISIS caliphate, as well as many other groups.’

Pompeo responded to Graham’s post, stating, ‘Turning our backs on our Kurdish allies would be a moral and strategic disaster.’

The Trump administration is facing criticism from its long-standing ally, the Syrian Kurds, who played a crucial role in the defeat of the Islamic State in the heartland of the Middle East after a U.S. government announcement on social media that seemed to hint that the partnership had ended this past week with the Kurdish-run SDF in northern Syria.

The SDF formed as a bulwark against the rapid spread of the Islamic State’s terrorist movement in 2013. ISIS created a caliphate covering significant territory in Syria and Iraq. Al-Sharaa was a former member of the Islamic State and al Qaeda.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department regarding U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as the special envoy for Syria, for a response to his recent statement on X that indicated the U.S. partnership with the SDF was over.

Barrack wrote, ‘The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by Kurds, proved the most effective ground partner in defeating ISIS’s territorial caliphate by 2019, detaining thousands of ISIS fighters and family members in prisons and camps like al-Hol and al-Shaddadi. At that time, there was no functioning central Syrian state to partner with — the Assad regime was weakened, contested, and not a viable partner against ISIS due to its alliances with Iran and Russia.

‘Today, the situation has fundamentally changed. Syria now has an acknowledged central government that has joined the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (as its 90th member in late 2025), signaling a westward pivot and cooperation with the U.S. on counterterrorism.’

Iham Ahmed, a prominent Syrian Kurdish politician, told Fox News Digital, ‘We really wished to see a firm position from the U.S. The Kurdish people are at the risk of extermination. The U.S. does not give any solid or tangible guarantees.’

Ahmed cast doubt on statements like Barrack’s, warning the ‘Syrian army is still consisting of radical factions that no one can trust. Alawites, Christians, Sunnis and Druze cannot trust these factions. We could face massacres, which happened in other Syrian cities.’

When asked by Fox News Digital if the SDF wants Israel to intervene to aid the Kurds as it did to help the Syrian Druze and other minorities last year, Ahmed said, ‘Whoever wants to help us should do so. Today is the day.’ She said ‘the Islamic State is showing itself in the image of an official army. Everyone is threatened now.’

She urged a ‘special status for the Kurdish region’ in northeastern Syria.

Ahmed accused the Erdoğan government of nefarious involvement. 

‘Turkey stands behind the attacks on our region. Turkish intelligence and small groups are leading attacks. Statements from Turkey are encouraging the extermination of our people,’ she claimed.

Fox News Digital sent a press query to the Turkish embassy spokesman in Washington D.C.

The influential president of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, wrote on X, ‘Sen. Graham is right. I’ve been discussing the situation in NE Syria with Republican House leaders.  It is not in America’s interest for Islamist forces to seize territory once governed by trusted U.S. allies who protected minorities and advanced religious freedom. 

‘Yet this is happening as Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa’s forces move into northeast Syria, displacing the Syrian Democratic Forces — our partners in the fight against ISIS, who lost thousands of fighters, guarded U.S. bases, and detained ISIS prisoners.

‘Before we place trust in al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda insurgent who fought U.S. forces in Iraq and was held at Abu Ghraib, he has to show he is trustworthy.  So far, he is failing the test.’

Sinam Mohamad, the representative of the Syrian Democratic Council to the U.S., had harsh words for the administration, telling Fox News Digital, ‘American officials continue to describe the SDF as a reliable partner in that narrow mission. Washington avoids framing the relationship as a political alliance. The U.S. never intended a long-term political commitment to the Syrian Kurds. It was a military partnership without political guarantees. From Washington’s view, that’s consistency. From the Kurdish view, that’s betrayal.’

She added there has been an announcement of a 15-day extension of a ceasefire.

‘But both the SDF and outside observers noted continued [Syrian] government troop buildups near Kurdish-held areas, signaling that conflict could resume. The Kurds want to have peace and stability through negotiations.’

Senate Democrats are ready to break a fragile truce that would avert a partial government shutdown after a Minneapolis man was fatally shot by a border patrol agent on Saturday. 

Congressional Democrats were already leery of backing funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the wake of the agency’s presence in Minnesota and beyond, but the shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti during an immigration enforcement operation has shattered what little unity they had on the bill. 

Now, Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., plan to vote against the legislation, which is currently included in a broader funding package along with five other spending bills. 

Schumer, in a statement on Saturday, said that Democrats tried to get ‘common sense reforms’ in the DHS funding bill, but charged that ‘because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses’ of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

 ‘I will vote no,’ Schumer said. ‘Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.’

Schumer’s play call serves as a blow to Senate Republicans, who worked with their colleagues across the aisle to find compromises in the DHS bill, in particular. It also comes as the deadline to fund the government is rapidly approaching on Friday, Jan. 30. Further complicating matters is the arctic storm ripping across the country, which has already forced the upper chamber to cancel votes on Monday. 

A senior Senate aide told Fox News Digital that Senate Democrats had been for weeks saying that they weren’t interested in shutting the government down again, and had praised the bipartisan nature of the government funding process up until Saturday.

 ‘These bills were negotiated with Dems — they agreed to what’s in them,’ they said.

The agency would be fully funded in the current proposal with several restrictions and reporting requirements that if not met, would act as triggers to turn off certain cash flows. 

Ripping the bill from the current six-bill funding package would cause a domino effect of headaches in Congress, given that any changes to the package would have to go through the House.

The lower chamber is gone until Feb. 2, making the likelihood of a partial shutdown much higher. 

Before the shooting, a handful of Senate Democrats had already made their opposition to the legislation known, including senators Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Tim Kaine, D-Va.

Kaine, notably, crossed the aisle last year to join a cohort of Senate Democratic caucus members to reopen the government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

He was not the only member of that group of eight to voice opposition — senators Catherine Cortez Masto, D-N.V., and Jacky Rosen, D-N.M., both came out against the DHS bill’s inclusion in the broader package on Saturday. 

‘My personal guiding principle has always been ‘agree where you can and fight where you must,’ Rosen said in a statement. ‘And I believe this is a time when we must fight back.’

Meanwhile, House lawmakers are on a week-long recess after passing their latest spending package in two chunks — one standalone vote on DHS funding and another wrapping together funding legislation for the departments of War, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development — this past Thursday.

A provision was added to the legislation before it passed the House that would combine the bills into one large package for the Senate to consider at once. It was then expected to be paired with other bills the Senate has not yet considered but which passed the House this month.

Changing that ahead of the Jan. 30 shutdown deadline would mean House lawmakers must return to Washington early to go through multiple procedural hurdles and another vote on the legislation — something House GOP leaders are ruling out, at least for now.

‘We passed all 12 bills over to the Senate, and they still have six in their possession that they need to pass to the president,’ a House GOP leadership source told Fox News Digital on Saturday evening, referring to the lower chamber completing its portion of Congress’ annual appropriations process. ‘We have no plan to come back next week.’

Even if House leaders changed their plans, the impending snow storm would mean lawmakers may not return until Tuesday at the earliest. That would put final passage sometime Wednesday or Thursday, virtually guaranteeing Congress does not complete consideration of the bills until after the Friday deadline.

House GOP leaders would also likely be grappling with attendance issues if they did order a return, with various lawmakers on planned trips and over a dozen busy campaigning for higher office.

A partial government shutdown would mean only agencies that Congress has not yet funded would have to reduce or cease functions — in this case, payment to active duty troops, air traffic controllers, and border patrol agents could all be affected.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both issued dire warnings about the pressing need to protect the endangered Syrian Kurdish population under attack by government forces in the war-torn nation.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who earlier this month ordered his army, which reportedly has a large jihadist element in it, to conquer territory controlled for more than a decade by the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF.)

Writing on the social media platform X on, Graham declared, ‘There is strong and growing bipartisan interest in the U.S. Senate regarding the deteriorating situation in Syria. There is strong consensus that we must protect the Kurds who were there for us in destroying the ISIS caliphate, as well as many other groups.’

Pompeo responded to Graham’s post, stating, ‘Turning our backs on our Kurdish allies would be a moral and strategic disaster.’

The Trump administration is facing criticism from its long-standing ally, the Syrian Kurds, who played a crucial role in the defeat of the Islamic State in the heartland of the Middle East, following a U.S. government announcement on social media that seemed to hint that the partnership had ended this past week with the Kurdish-run SDF in northern Syria.

The SDF formed as a bulwark against the rapid spread of the Islamic State’s terrorist movement in 2013. ISIS created a caliphate covering significant territory in Syria and Iraq. Al-Sharaa was a former member of the Islamic State and al Qaeda.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department regarding U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, who also serves as the Special Envoy for Syria, for a response to his recent statement on X wrote that indicated the U.S. partnership with the SDF was over.

Barrack wrote, ‘The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by Kurds, proved the most effective ground partner in defeating ISIS’s territorial caliphate by 2019, detaining thousands of ISIS fighters and family members in prisons and camps like al-Hol and al-Shaddadi. At that time, there was no functioning central Syrian state to partner with — the Assad regime was weakened, contested, and not a viable partner against ISIS due to its alliances with Iran and Russia.’

He added, ‘Today, the situation has fundamentally changed. Syria now has an acknowledged central government that has joined the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (as its 90th member in late 2025), signaling a westward pivot and cooperation with the U.S. on counterterrorism.’

Iham Ahmed, a prominent Syrian Kurdish politician, told Fox News Digital that, ‘We really wished to see a firm position from the U.S. The Kurdish people are at the risk of extermination. The U.S. does not give any solid or tangible guarantees.’

Ahmed cast doubt on statements like Barrack’s, warning the ‘Syrian army is still consisting of radical factions that no one can trust. Alawites, Christians, Sunnis and Druze cannot trust these factions. We could face massacres, which happened in other Syrian cities.’

When asked by Fox News Digital if the SDF wants Israel to intervene to aid the Kurds as it did to help the Syrian Druze and other minorities last year, Ahmed said, ‘Whoever wants to help us should do so – today is the day.’ She said that ‘the Islamic State is showing itself in the image of an official army. Everyone is threatened now.’

She urged a ‘special status for the Kurdish region’ in northeastern Syria.

Ahmed accused the Erdoğan government of nefarious involvement. ‘Turkey stands behind the attacks on our region. Turkish intelligence and small groups are leading attacks. Statements from Turkey are encouraging the extermination of our people,’ she claimed.

Fox News Digital sent a press query to the Turkish embassy spokesman in Washington D.C.

The influential president of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, wrote on X that, ‘Sen. Graham is right. I’ve been discussing the situation in NE Syria with Republican House leaders.  It is not in America’s interest for Islamist forces to seize territory once governed by trusted U.S. allies who protected minorities and advanced religious freedom. Yet this is happening as Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa’s forces move into northeast Syria, displacing the Syrian Democratic Forces — our partners in the fight against ISIS, who lost thousands of fighters, guarded U.S. bases, and detained ISIS prisoners.’

He continued, ‘Before we place trust in al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda insurgent who fought U.S. forces in Iraq and was held at Abu Ghraib, he has to show he is trustworthy.  So far, he is failing the test.’

Sinam Mohamad, the representative of the Syrian Democratic Council to the U.S., had harsh words for the administration, telling Fox News Digital, ‘American officials continue to describe the SDF as a reliable partner in that narrow mission. Washington avoids framing the relationship as a political alliance. The U.S. never intended a long-term political commitment to the Syrian Kurds. It was a military partnership without political guarantees. From Washington’s view, that’s consistency. From the Kurdish view, that’s betrayal.’

She added there has been an announcement of a 15-day extension of a ceasefire, ‘But both the SDF and outside observers noted continued [Syrian] government troop buildups near Kurdish-held areas, signaling that conflict could resume.’ She added, ‘The Kurds want to have peace and stability through negotiations.’