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Here’s a quick recap of the crypto landscape for Wednesday (October 1) as of 9:00 a.m. UTC.

Get the latest insights on Bitcoin, Ether and altcoins, along with a round-up of key cryptocurrency market news.

Bitcoin and Ether price update

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$116,477, trading 3.1 percent higher over the past 24 hours. Its lowest valuation of the day was US$112,819, while its highest was US$116,808.

Bitcoin price performance, October 1, 2025.

Chart via TradingView.

Bitcoin has struggled to hold support near the US$111,600 to US$113,000 range amid renewed seller pressure and earlier long liquidations during the last days of September.

After that weakness, Bitcoin rebounded into the mid-six figures and was trading around US$116,000.

Bitcoin and other digital assets jumped early on Wednesday as markets digested the fallout from the US government shutdown. While S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) futures slid 0.55 percent overnight and the US dollar briefly tumbled before clawing back losses, Bitcoin rallied more than 2 percent to reach US$116,400, underscoring its safe-haven appeal alongside gold, which spiked 1.1 percent to US$3,913.70 per ounce.

Trader Ted Pillows noted that Bitcoin climbed above US$116,500 as gold hit a new all-time high. He linked the rally to expectations of a more dovish Federal Reserve following the US government shutdown.

Bitcoin dominance in the crypto market is 55.6 percent, showing a slight rise week-on-week.

Ether (ETH) is also performing well, up 3.1 percent over 24 hours to US$4,298.07. Ether opened at its lowest daily valuation, US$4,095.64, before peaking at US$4,315.74 so far.

Pillows argues that Ether must close a strong weekly candle above US$4,000 to confirm upward momentum. He compared the level’s significance to Bitcoin’s US$12,000 resistance in 2020, suggesting that a decisive reclaim could spark a rally reminiscent of Bitcoin’s 2020 to 2021 surge.

Ether has broadly followed Bitcoin’s tone — after a late-September pullback Ether reclaimed the low-US$4k zone and was trading in the US$4,100–US$4,300 range. Market commentators note ETF flows and institutional treasuries remain drivers of demand for Ether.

Crypto derivatives and market indicators

Total Bitcoin futures open interest was at 722,680 BTC (equivalent to US$84.26 billion), up by 0.92 percent over four hours. Ether open interest was at 1,326 million ETH, or US$56.96 billion, up 0.26 percent in four hours.

Bitcoin liquidations have reached US$12.61 million over the past four hours, with shorts representing the majority, signaling ongoing buying pressure. Ether liquidations show a divergent pattern, with US$3.41 million in short positions representing the vast majority of US$4.40 million liquidations over four hours.

Fear and Greed Index snapshot

CMC’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index has climbed back to neutral territory after dipping to fear (lowest 32) during the last week of September. The index currently stands around 42.

CMC Crypto Fear and Greed Index, Bitcoin price and Bitcoin volume.

Chart via CoinMarketCap.

Altcoin price update

  • Solana (SOL) was priced at US$219.33, an increase of 5.9 percent over the last 24 hours and its highest valuation of the day. SOL opened at US$204.69, its lowest valuation of the day, and trended upward.
  • XRP was trading for US$2.95, up by 3.3 percent over the last 24 hours and its highest valuation of the day. Its lowest valuation of the day was US$2.82.

Today’s crypto news to know

UK police seize US$7 billion in Bitcoin in largest crypto bust

The UK Metropolitan Police have confirmed the largest cryptocurrency seizure in history, confiscating 61,000 Bitcoin worth around US$7.2 billion. The stash was uncovered during a 2018 raid on Zhimin Qian, a Chinese national convicted last week of acquiring criminal property under the UK’s Proceeds of Crime Act.

Prosecutors said Qian ran a Ponzi-style investment scheme in China from 2014 to 2017, targeting more than 128,000 victims, many of them elderly. She converted the stolen funds into Bitcoin, which authorities later recovered from hardware wallets in her London residence. Police described the seizure as the culmination of a seven year investigation, noting that the value eclipses previous records for any single Bitcoin confiscation.

Trump-linked crypto firm eyes commodities, consumer products

World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture tied to US President Donald Trump, has announced plans to expand into tokenized commodities and launch a crypto-linked debit card.

Speaking at Token 2049 in Singapore, CEO Zach Witkoff said the card will bridge digital assets with retail spending, with a pilot expected by early 2026. The company is also exploring tokenization of oil, gas, timber and other raw materials, positioning the firm to move beyond stablecoins and governance tokens.

World Liberty’s flagship stablecoin, USD1, has quickly grown into the fifth largest in circulation, backed by US treasuries and marketed as a tool to reinforce dollar demand abroad.

Metaplanet becomes fourth largest corporate Bitcoin holder

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet (TSE:3350,OTCQX:MTPLF) has acquired 9,021 BTC valued at US$623 million, becoming the fourth largest corporate holder of the asset. The company now trails only Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA) and XXI in corporate Bitcoin reserves.

CEO Simon Gerovich said Metaplanet is targeting 210,000 BTC by 2027, a level equal to about 1 percent of total supply. The firm reported US$16.3 million in Q3 revenue, a 116 percent increase over the prior quarter. Management has raised its 2025 revenue forecast to US$45.4 million following the strong quarter.

Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Japan Gold’s (TSXV:JG,OTC:JGLDF) shares sank at the start of the week after the Vancouver-based junior miner announced that its five-year strategic alliance with Barrick Mining (TSX:ABX,NYSE:B) will come to an end on October 31, 2025.

Established in February 2020, the partnership aimed to explore, develop, and potentially mine gold deposits across Japan that could meet the scale of Tier 1 or Tier 2 assets.

Over the life of the deal, Barrick invested about C$23.2 million (US$17.4 million) to fund geochemical and geophysical surveys across Japan Gold’s 3,000-square-kilometre portfolio and support limited scout drilling.

News of the termination rattled investors as shares of Japan Gold plunged more than 40 percent to C$0.12 on Monday (September 29), wiping out roughly C$30 million in market capitalization and leaving the company valued at about C$40.3 million. The stock is now trading at C$0.13 (October 1) roughly a third of where it stood in 2020 when the alliance began.

Despite the setback, Japan Gold’s leadership emphasized that Barrick’s exit does not change the company’s core view of Japan as a promising gold exploration frontier.

“Barrick’s involvement with Japan Gold over the last five years reflects the growing international interest in Japan as an emerging country with the potential for the discovery of new gold deposits, and we thank Barrick for their participation in this journey,” said John Proust, Japan Gold’s chairman and CEO.

“Japan Gold remains well-funded and committed to advancing its projects, and the geological prospectivity of Japan remains unchanged,” Proust added.

Under the alliance, Barrick narrowed its focus to three priority assets: Hakuryu, Togi, and Ebino. Early survey work identified the three as holding the strongest potential.

As part of the announcement, Japan Gold released details from its most recent campaign at Ebino, located in southern Kyushu’s Hokusatsu district.

Still, the company noted that the results confirmed extensions of a regional alteration system in an area that hosts the Hishikari mine, currently Japan’s only active large-scale gold operation, as well as multiple historic mines that together have produced more than 12 million ounces of gold.

With Barrick relinquishing all rights to the alliance projects, Japan Gold now regains full control of its entire Japanese portfolio.

The company plans to advance two district-scale areas in Kyushu and Hokkaido, in addition to the three former alliance properties, either on its own or through fresh joint ventures.

Management said it is already in discussions with other parties interested in its projects.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Aya Gold & Silver (TSX:AYA,OTCQX:AYASF) President and CEO Benoit La Salle is calling fake news on Blue Orca Capital’s claim that the company has inflated its silver resource with ‘phantom ounces.’

On September 25, investment advisory firm Blue Orca published a short-seller report alleging resource inflation on the part of Aya. The mid-tier precious metals producer is one of the main mine operators in Morocco.

Its assets include the Zgounder silver mine and the Boumadine polymetallic project.

Within hours of the report’s publication, Aya’s share price on the TSX fell by more than 21 percent, dropping from C$15.50 to C$12.13. Calling the claims “misleading and inaccurate,” Aya moved quickly to refute the allegations in a same-day press release and a subsequent interview with Golden Portfolio’s Garrett Goggin the next day.

La Salle has said the company is considering taking legal action against Blue Orca.

What is Blue Orca claiming about Aya Gold & Silver?

Blue Orca dives directly into claiming that Aya’s 2021 resource estimate for the Zgounder mine intentionally overstates its silver resources by over 100 percent, adding more than 50 million “phantom ounces.’

In its short-seller report, the firm explains that after comparing cut-off tables and block model maps from the March 2021 resource for Zgounder and the December 2021 update, it discovered ‘smoking guns’ that led it to believe Aya manipulated a computer model to find those extra ounces.

“In our opinion, this explains why grades are plummeting, production has been dire, and cash flows are anemic despite soaring silver prices,’ states Blue Orca, pointing to lower-grade production of around 0.32 ounces of silver per metric ton mined out of Zgounder compared to the 0.65 ounces per metric ton outlined in the feasibility study.

The report’s authors suggest that the resource estimate was easily manipulated because it was, in their opinion, not prepared by an independent geologist. They allege the veteran geo who signed off on the estimate was a business associate of Aya’s CEO, implying collusion to mislead investors.

Aya Gold & Silver pushes back on “short scam”

Aya has vociferously refuted Blue Orca’s claims. In its September 26 interview with Golden Portfolio’s Goggin, La Salle calls the short report “wrong from the first page to the last page.’

What’s the why for Blue Orca’s claims against Aya’s management, operations and resource base?

Quite simply, Aya believes the short seller stands to benefit monetarily by manipulating market sentiment in such a way as to drive down the company’s share price. ‘There are no missing ounces,” said La Salle, who informed Goggin that Blue Orca never bothered to call the company to verify its numbers.

In its press release, Aya states that the 10 million ounces of silver mined out of Zgounder since 2020, and the fact that production continues to line up with the resource base, are both strong testaments to the reliability of the December 2021 resource model. La Salle reiterated that point in his interview with Goggin: ‘We are reconciling every month the metal that is taken out of the ground to the metal that’s in the model. We have perfect reconciliation.’

In regards to the independence of Zgounder’s mineral resource estimate, the company says it was prepared and verified by independent qualified persons at P&E Mining Consultants, in compliance with NI 43-101 standards.

In the YouTube interview with Goggin, La Salle assures investors there has been “no collusion” to mislead the market. He also notes the fact that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development hired an independent technical advisor to conduct a rigorous third-party review before agreeing to a construction loan.

When asked by Goggin about falling grades and rising costs at Zgounder, La Salle acknowledged that silver grades did come down too much during the mine expansion phase. However, he explained that the decrease in grades was due in large part to overblasting in the open pit, less selective mining and more bulk mining.

Aya has made corrections to the mining methods and the resulting grades are improving.

The current resource model is based on 121,500 meters of drilling, 45,500 meters of which were conducted between March 2021 and December 2021. Aya’s press release points out that the extensive drilling (231,000 meters) carried out on the property since then has continued to increase confidence in the resource estimate.

The company is planning to publish an updated technical report by the end of this year that will include an independently modeled resource, and a new mine plan incorporating both open-pit and underground operations. La Salle told Goggin that Aya’s guidance for next year on a forward-looking basis will likely be 6 million ounces of silver with US$25 per ounce margins, translating onto a US$150 million in operating cashflow coming from the mine.

“When we did the 2021 model it was US$22 silver, US$10 all in, US$12 margin. Now we’re US$45 silver, US$20 all in and US$25 margin. So on a margin basis, this mine is much more robust than anticipated,” he said.

As of September 25, Aya said it has about US$115 million in cash and is continuing to generate operating cashflow out of Zgounder. This is why the company is able to self-fund growth at its Boumadine project, where it is on track to deliver a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) before the year comes to a close.

Once the Zgounder updated technical report and resource estimate and Boumadine PEA are out later this year, La Salle believes Aya shareholders will see a recovery in the company’s stock value.

Shares of Aya regained the lost value quickly, ending the month at C$16.10.

Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

The owners of nearly 200,000 BMWs should park their vehicles outside because they risk catching fire while parked or being driven, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Friday.

The vehicle models affected include 2019-22 Z4; 2019-21 330I; 2020-22 X3; 2020-22 X4; 2020-22 530I; 2021-22 430I standard and convertible; 2022 230I; and roughly 1,500 20-2022 Toyota Supra vehicles manufactured by BMW, NHTSA said in a news release.

The federal agency said the vehicles’ engine starter relay may corrode, “causing the relay to overheat and short circuit, which may cause a fire.”

“Owners should park outside and away from buildings and other vehicles until they either confirm their vehicle is not subject to the recall or have their vehicle remedied,” NHTSA said.

BMW did not immediately return a request for comment.

NHTSA said the German automaker will be conducting a phased recall due to parts availability. Interim notification letters to owners are scheduled to be mailed on Nov. 14, with a second notice to be sent as remedy parts are available, the agency added.

Vehicle identification numbers for affected vehicles will be searchable on NHTSA.gov starting Nov. 14, the agency said.

Beginning on that date, car owners can visit NHTSA.gov/recalls and enter their license plate number or 17-digit VIN to see if their vehicle is under recall. They can also call NHTSA’s Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236.

NHTSA also advised owners of the BMWs to call the company with any questions.

The German automaker recalled more than 1 million cars and SUVs in 2017 over similar issues. The recall was expanded to another 185,000 vehicles in 2019.

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Electronic Arts, maker of video games like “Madden NFL,” “Battlefield,” and “The Sims,” is being acquired for $52.5 billion in what could become the largest-ever buyout funded by private-equity firms.

The private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, and Affinity Partners will pay EA’s stockholders $210 per share. Affinity Partners is run by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

PIF, which was already the largest insider stakeholder in Electronic Arts, will be rolling over its existing 9.9% stake in the company.

The commitment to the massive deal is inline with recent activity by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, wrote Andrew Marok of Raymond James.

“The Saudi PIF has been a very active player in the video gaming market since 2022, taking minority stakes in most scaled public video gaming publishers, and also outright purchases of companies like ESL, FACEIT, and Scopely,” he wrote. “The PIF has made its intentions to scale its gaming arm, Savvy Gaming Group, clear, and the EA deal would represent the biggest such move to date by some distance.”

Electronic Arts would be taken private and its headquarters will remain in Redwood City, California.

The total value of the deal eclipses the $32 billion price paid to take Texas utility TXU private in 2007.

If the transaction closes as anticipated, it will end EA’s 36-year history as a publicly traded company that began with its shares ending its first day of trading at a split-adjusted 52 cents.

The IPO came seven years after EA was founded by former Apple employee William “Trip” Hawkins, who began playing analog versions of baseball and football made by “Strat-O-Matic” as a teenager during the 1960s.

CEO Andrew Wilson has led the company since 2013 and he will remain in that role, the firms said Monday.

“Electronic Arts is an extraordinary company with a world-class management team and a bold vision for the future,” said Kushner, who serves as CEO of Affinity Partners. “I’ve admired their ability to create iconic, lasting experiences, and as someone who grew up playing their games — and now enjoys them with his kids — I couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead.”

This marks the second high-profile deal involving Silver Lake and a technology company with a legion of loyal fans in recent weeks. Silver Lake is also part of a newly formed joint venture spearheaded by Oracle involved in a deal to take over the U.S. oversight of TikTok’s social video platform, although all the details of that complex transaction haven’t been divulged yet.

Silver Lake has also previously bought out two other well-known technology companies, the now-defunct video calling service Skype in a $1.9 billion deal completed in 2009, and a $24.9 billion buyout of personal computer maker Dell in 2013. After Dell restructured its operations as a private company, it returned to the stock market with publicly traded shares in 2018.

By going private, EA will be able to reprogram its operations without being subjected to the investment pressures and scrutiny that sometimes compel publicly held companies to make short-sighted decisions aimed at meeting quarterly financial targets. Although its video games still have a fervent following, EA’s annual revenues have been stagnant during the past three fiscal years, hovering from $7.4 billion to $7.6 billion.

Meanwhile, one of its biggest rivals Activision Blizzard was snapped up by technology powerhouse Microsoft for nearly $69 billion in 2023, while the competition from mobile video game makers such as Epic Games has intensified.

After being taken private, formerly public companies often undergo extensive cost-cutting that includes layoffs, although there has been no indication that will be the case with EA. After jettisoning about 5% of its workforce in 2024, EA ended March with 14,500 employees and then laid off several hundred people in May.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. It still needs approval from EA shareholders.

EA’s stock rose more than 5% before the opening bell.

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Charlie Javice, the founder of a startup company that sought to dramatically improve how students apply for financial aid, was sentenced Monday to more than seven years in prison for cheating JPMorgan Chase out of $175 million by greatly exaggerating how many students it served.

Javice, 33, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court for her March conviction by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who said she committed “a large fraud” by duping the bank giant in the summer of 2021. She made false records that made it seem the company, called Frank, had over 4 million customers when it had fewer than 300,000, Hellerstein found.

The judge said Javice had assembled a “very powerful list” of her charitable acts, which included organizing soup kitchens for the homeless when she was 7 years old and designing career programs for formerly incarcerated women.

In court papers, defense lawyers noted that Javice has faced extraordinary public scrutiny, reputational destruction and professional exile, “making her a household name” in the same way Elizabeth Holmes became synonymous with her blood-testing company, Theranos.

Defense attorney Ronald Sullivan told Hellerstein that his client was very different from Holmes because what she created actually worked, unlike Holmes, “who did not have a real company” and whose product “in fact endangered patients.”

In seeking a 12-year prison sentence for Javice, prosecutors cited a 2022 text Javice sent to a colleague in which she called it “ridiculous” that Holmes got over 11 years in prison.

Hellerstein largely dismissed arguments that he should be lenient because the acquisition pitted “a 28-year-old versus 300 investment bankers from the largest bank in the world,” as Sullivan put it.

Still, the judge criticized the bank, saying “they have a lot to blame themselves” after failing to do adequate due diligence. He quickly added, though, that he was “punishing her conduct and not JPMorgan’s stupidity.”

Sullivan said the bank rushed its negotiations because it feared another bank would acquire Frank first.

A prosecutor, Micah Fergenson, though, said JPMorgan “didn’t get a functioning business” in exchange for its investment. “They acquired a crime scene.”

Fergenson said Javice was driven by greed when she saw that she could pocket $29 million from the sale of her company.

“Ms. Javice had it dangling in front of her and she lied to get it,” he said.

Given a chance to speak, Javice said she was “haunted that my failure has transformed something meaningful into something infamous.” She said she “made a choice that I will spend my entire life regretting.”

Javice, sometimes speaking through tears, apologized and sought forgiveness from “all the people touched or tarnished by my actions,” including JPMorgan shareholders, Frank employees and investors, along with her family.

Javice, who lives in Florida, has been free on $2 million bail since her 2023 arrest.

At trial, Javice, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, was convicted of conspiracy, bank fraud and wire fraud charges. Her lawyers had argued that JPMorgan went after Javice because it had buyer’s remorse.

In her mid-20s, Javice founded Frank, a company with software that promised to simplify the arduous process of filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a complex government form used by students to apply for aid for college or graduate school.

Frank’s backers included venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg. The company said its offering, akin to online tax preparation software, could help students maximize financial aid while making the application process less painful.

The company promoted itself as a way for financially needy students to obtain more aid faster, in return for a few hundred dollars in fees. Javice appeared regularly on cable news programs to boost Frank’s profile, once appearing on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list before JPMorgan bought the startup in 2021.

Javice was among a number of young tech executives who vaulted to fame with supposedly disruptive or transformative companies, only to see them collapse amid questions about whether they had engaged in puffery and fraud while dealing with investors.

In their pre-sentence submission, prosecutors wrote that they were requesting a lengthy prison sentence to send a message that fraud in the sale of startup companies is “no less blameworthy than other types of fraud and will be punished accordingly.”

Prosecutors added that the message was “desperately needed” because of “an alarming trend of founders and executives of small startup companies engaging in fraud, including making misrepresentations about their companies’ core products or services, in order to make their companies attractive targets for investors and/or buyers.”

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YouTube said Monday it would settle a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump for more than $24 million, adding to a growing list of settlements with tech and media companies that have amassed millions of dollars for Trump’s projects.

Trump sued after his YouTube account was banned in 2021. After the Jan. 6 riot, YouTube said content posted to Trump’s channel raised “concerns about the ongoing potential for violence.” His account was reinstated in 2023.

Monday’s settlement makes YouTube the last major tech platform to settle a lawsuit with Trump, who similarly sued Meta and Twitter for banning his accounts in the aftermath of Jan. 6. Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, settled for $25 million, while Twitter, since renamed X, settled for about $10 million.

A notice of settlement for Trump’s lawsuit against YouTube details that $22 million of it will go toward building a new White House ballroom. Trump has touted that the addition will have room for 900 people, and the White House has said it could cost $200 million to build.

Other plaintiffs that joined Trump’s suit, such as the American Conservative Union and a number of other people, will get $2.5 million of the settlement.

In addition to tech companies, many major media outlets have settled lawsuits with Trump over the past year.

In July, Paramount Global settled with him for $16 million after he took issue with a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris that aired on CBS.

In December, Disney settled with Trump over a lawsuit in which he accused ABC and anchor George Stephanopoulos of defamation in an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. Disney paid Trump’s future presidential library $15 million as part of the settlement.

Disney came under pressure from the administration again when it recently suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for nearly a week after two major station owners threatened to stop airing the show. One of the station owners, Nexstar, is seeking clearance from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman for a $6.2 billion merger.

The other station owner, Sinclair, is reportedly considering a merger, which the FCC would also need to approve.

Trump is also suing The Wall Street Journal over its reporting about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, and he recently sued The New York Times for $15 billion. A judge struck down that lawsuit, though Trump could refile it.

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The Trump administration is looking to cut funding for a program that provides permanent housing to the homeless, a move that may leave those the program aims to help back on the streets, according to a report.

More than 170,000 people could be at risk of experiencing homelessness when more than half the funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) permanent housing program is cut, Politico reported on Monday, citing three HUD employees, internal HUD documents and a person with knowledge of the Continuum of Care (CoC) program.

The cut funds will be moved to transitional housing assistance with some work or service requirements, according to the internal documents and those with knowledge of the situation. The cuts could have a greater impact on rural areas that have less access to city and state funds to supplement federal dollars, the people told the outlet.

‘When the subsidy and the support that goes along with those subsidies is removed, it puts people at grave risk,’ said the person with inside knowledge of the CoC program. ‘And most of these folks without these supports will likely end up back in emergency shelters or back on our nation’s streets.’

HUD Secretary Scott Turner wrote in a  Fox News Digital opinion piecei earlier this month about a ‘paradigm shift’ in the department’s approach to homelessness and housing.

‘But our goal is to let HUD use real, proven effective strategies, and there is no evidence that giving free apartments to the homeless without preconditions or participation requirements – like job training or treatment – leads to good outcomes,’ Turner wrote. 

‘There is evidence, however, that countless lives have been lost to overdoses in HUD-funded housing because of this failed ideology,’ the secretary continued.

Turner wrote that HUD wants to continue to help support work that aims to aid those experiencing homelessness and battling addiction to recover and become self-sufficient.

Permanent housing funding for 2026 is currently $3.3 billion and could be cut in half to $1.1 billion through the Trump administration’s effort, according to Politico. 

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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uncovered that the Biden administration placed some Americans who resisted the COVID-19 mask mandate or were involved in the events of Jan 6, 2021, on prolonged TSA watchlists, including some on a no-fly list typically reserved for suspected terrorists.

Fox News Digital acquired the findings of an internal investigation conducted by the agencies that showed that then-President Joe Biden’s TSA initiated ‘Operation Freedom to Breathe’ in September 2021, roughly six months after the CDC relaxed the COVID-19 mask mandate, which targeted Americans who previously resisted mask mandates set forth by the Biden Administration. 

The initiative placed 19 Americans on various levels of intensive watchlists, with more than half added to the highest severity no-fly list, preventing them from boarding a flight in the U.S. entirely. Eleven of the individuals remained on watchlists until April 2022, when the national mask mandate was lifted by the Biden administration. 

‘Biden’s TSA Administrator [David] Pekoske and his cronies abused their authority and weaponized the federal government against the very people they were charged with protecting,’ Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News Digital. 

‘Biden’s TSA wildly abused their authority, targeting Americans who posed no aviation security risk under the banner of political differences,’ Noem added. ‘President Trump promised to end the weaponization of government against the American people, and we are making good on that promise.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Pekoske, but did not receive a response.

The investigation also concluded that Biden’s TSA placed roughly 280 individuals allegedly involved in the Capitol protests on Jan 6, 2021, on watchlists, including five on a no-fly list. 

Biden’s TSA ignored internal concerns raised by career intelligence officials and TSA’s Chief Privacy Officer that placing individuals on the list ‘is clearly unrelated to transportation security,‘ and that ‘TSA is punishing people for the expression of their ideas when they haven’t been charged, let alone convicted of incitement or sedition,’ according to emails from a top privacy official at TSA dated Jan 13, 2021, obtained by Fox News Digital.

Another TSA intelligence employee also expressed worry over watchlisting individuals allegedly involved in the Capitol protest, saying most individuals who were arrested ‘are technically curfew breakers,’ and that ‘I hope we don’t end up adding them [to a watchlist] on just the arrest,’ according to an internal email obtained by Fox.

Internal emails said that TSA mainly relied on the George Washington University Program of Extremism academic database and social media, rather than traditional sources like the FBI and local police, to determine which individuals should be placed on watchlists.

One individual, a national guardsman deployed to the Capitol for Biden’s inauguration on Jan 20, 2021 and was not present at the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, was added to a no-fly list because of bad intelligence from Biden’s FBI.

Another individual, the wife of a federal air marshal who was also not present at the Capitol on Jan 6, was added to a watchlist due to additional bad intelligence from the Biden FBI.

Americans allegedly involved with the events of Jan 6, 2021, who were not tied to unrelated, individual incidents, were removed from various watchlists on June, 28, 2021. 

A majority of Americans allegedly involved with the events of Jan 6, 2021, who were placed on watchlists were removed from them on June, 28, 2021, though some who had been charged remained watchlisted until they were cleared.

Sources at TSA say the Biden administration’s targeting of Americans is the most expansive use of putting U.S. citizens on a no-fly list in history. 

Noem told Fox News Digital that the agency will be ‘referring this case to the Department of Justice and for Congressional investigation.’

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston

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House Democrats are ready to go to war to save enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year, even if it means risking a partial government shutdown.

Democrats and some moderate House Republicans have been sounding the alarm about the expiring healthcare subsidies for weeks, a fight that’s now coming to a head as the Senate is poised to vote on a short-term federal funding bill called a ‘continuing resolution’ (CR) aimed at keeping the government funded through Nov. 21.

House Democrats held an in-person caucus meeting on Capitol Hill Monday night to paint a contrasting image with House Republicans who are home in their districts during a potential shutdown.

‘One, yes, we should get it done in this CR,’ Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital after the meeting when asked if getting the subsidies included was worth risking a potential shutdown. ‘The Republicans in the last 20 years have asked for policy goal after policy goal in this similar situation.’

‘And number two, we need some commitments that if we sign up for a budget, the budget will actually be observed,’ he added.

Both Himes and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, referenced earlier comments by senior appropriator Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., to Politico, questioning why Democrats would join the GOP in funding negotiations given the Trump administration’s propensity for cutting spending that Congress agrees on.

DeLauro told reporters after the meeting that Republicans ‘absolutely’ needed to deliver on Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), in written legislation.

‘Why should we believe them if it’s not in legislation?’ she asked.

DeLauro said earlier, ‘We certainly don’t want to shut down. We’ve said that all along, and all we need is good, bipartisan cooperation. That’s what’s necessary. We’ve been able to do that before, I anticipate we ought to be getting there now. And all this is about is affordability, affordability of health care costs.’

Other House Democrats who spoke with Fox News Digital did not directly say the subsidies were worth risking a shutdown, but argued they needed to be addressed immediately.

‘Healthcare costs are skyrocketing, and so look, I mean, to not address that reality is political malpractice. Congress has an obligation to do something, and we have to do something now. We’re here in Washington because we want to fix the problem. Republicans aren’t here,’ Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said.

‘It’s about whether people continue to afford to have adequate healthcare…this is a big issue, and this is a fight the American people, I think, are on our side on.’

Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, said when asked if the subsidies were worth risking a shutdown now, ‘I think this will be [President Donald Trump’s] shutdown, because he’s not just the president, but for his entire second term, he has tried to give everyone the impression that he is all powerful. And that does come at a cost.’

‘[Republicans] could extend these tax credits that are very popular and necessary at a time with rising costs, by simply sitting down and negotiating with us,’ Landsman said.

Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., pointed out that ‘notices are supposed to go out as early as Wednesday that ACA tax credits are going away.’

‘The Democrats are happy to support any bill that would protect Americans’ healthcare, our education, and we’re ready to vote. We’re here working right now, Republicans aren’t here,’ Vindman said.

Already existing ACA subsidies were increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic under former President Joe Biden. 

And while the credits were meant as a temporary expansion, they’ve since become a political lightning rod with healthcare premiums poised to rise for millions of Americans.

There have been some conversations about limiting the income brackets eligible for those enhanced subsidies, while conservatives have pushed for them to be eliminated altogether.

House and Senate GOP leaders have signaled they would be willing to have those discussions later this year and are accusing Democrats of trying to jam partisan demands into a seven-week government funding bill.

While House Democrats appear united on the matter, however, it’s the Senate that is pivotal in the current equation. 

The House passed the CR largely along party lines earlier this month, and it’s now on the Senate to advance the measure before midnight on Oct. 1 to avert a shutdown.

But even Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., signaled on Monday evening that Democrats would hold firm.

‘They say give us 45 days. Since March, we’ve had 45 days and 45 days and 45 days and 45 days. We asked to meet earlier, they didn’t want to,’ Schumer told reporters. ‘So we think when they say later, they mean never. We have to do it now, first because of the timing issue, and second, because now is the time we can get it done.’

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