NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (Jan. 1)

Welcome to N. D. D. Evening News. Our top story tonight, a horrific attack in New York Leans that killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more. The driver of the pickup truck that drove through a crowd on Bourbon Street during New Year's celebrations has been identified. His white vehicle displayed a black ISIS flag. Chris Spears has what we know so far. Both President Biden and President-elect Trump reacting to the tragedy in New Orleans. Trump says the truck attack confirms one thing he's been warning about. A Tesla Cybertruck explodes in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. What we know about casualties and the police response. Russian natural gas exports via Ukraine to Europe stopped today. The halt follows a failed transit deal. How neighboring countries will be affected. As the new year rolls in, Israeli forces report major gains against Iran-backed terrorists. This comes as Iran's supreme leader calls on residents of a certain country to join the resistance against Israel. Jason Perry reports. This is NTV Evening News. Live from our global headquarters in New York City, here's Tiffany Meyer. Good evening and thank you for joining us tonight. New insight into the suspected driver who killed at least 15 people and injured dozens in New Orleans. He rammed into New Year's Eve revelers on Bourbon Street early this morning after driving around security barriers. The FBI says it's possible he wasn't working alone. NTV's Chris Spears tells the story. The FBI has the name of suspect who intentionally drove a white pickup truck into a New Orleans crowd around 3.15 a.m. this morning. Assistant Special Agent Alethea Duncan addressed reporters this afternoon. The subject has been identified as 42-year-old Samsud Dim Jabbar, a U.S. foreign citizen from Texas. He was driving a Ford pickup truck which appears to be unrented and we are working to confirm how the subject came in possession of this vehicle. An ISIS flag was located on the trailer hitch of the vehicle and the FBI is working to determine the subject's potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations. The FBI is working with their partners investigating this incident as an act of terrorism. They don't believe the driver is solely responsible for what happened. They're in the process of identifying and following leads and ask the public to call in tips at 1-800-CALL-FBI. A potential improvised explosive device or IED was found at the crime scene and multiple potential IEDs were found around the French Quarter. Authorities also say Jabbar was found with a handgun and an AR-style rifle. While the investigation is in its early stages, there are questions about how the driver was able to drive a pickup truck around police barriers. New Orleans City Councilmember Jean-Paul Murrell addressed safety measures in place and their potential shortcomings. Actually the barriers were in the midst of being repaired and replaced but in actuality in this instance the individual circumvented the barriers by going on the sidewalk and getting past the area where they had police vehicles where the repair barriers were at. So in this instance, even had the bollard barriers been up, the circumvention by riding on the sidewalk would have defeated them. New Orleans Police Commissioner Ann Kirkpatrick said this morning the annual Sugar Bowl college football game would be held as planned, but Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley later said it would be postponed for 24 hours. When Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry was asked if the Sugar Bowl would be safe to attend, he replied he'll be attending the game in person. Chris Beers, NTD News. Expressing frustration, President Biden vows to get to the bottom of the deadly attack in New Orleans and President-elect Trump says the attack confirms his warnings about rising crime in the country. NTD's White House correspondent Iris Tao has more. The reaction was one of anger and frustration. Reacting to the deadly New Year's Day attack in New Orleans, President Biden says he's contacted every agency in the state and federal government to get all the facts and that he will speak more about it soon. In a statement, Biden vows full support to investigate what he calls a horrific incident and to ensure there's no remaining threat of any kind. The Department of Homeland Security is working with local law enforcement to investigate the attack as an act of terrorism. President-elect Trump, reacting on True Social, says his new administration will fully support the city of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil. Trump also uses the attack to double down on his warning about migrant crime, saying criminals are coming in and that the crime rate is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. That's despite the FBI saying on Wednesday that the suspect is a U.S.-born citizen who used to live in Texas. In other news, the president-elect on New Year's Day teasing his upcoming strategy of using tariffs to pay off national debt, saying America was wealthier when it relied on tariffs instead of income tax. It comes after he said this about 2025 at a Mar-a-Lago event on New Year's Eve. I think a lot of progress has been made over the last five weeks. It's been pretty amazing when you look at what's happened. There's a whole light over the whole world, not just our country. Trump also reiterated his support for H-1B visas, saying the U.S. needs more people coming into our country. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Iris Tao, NTD News. Over in Las Vegas, one person was killed and seven more were injured when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in front of the Trump Hotel earlier today. Just a warning, some viewers may find the following footage disturbing due to its graphic nature. Authorities say the car caught fire in the valet area of the hotel around 8.40 a.m. local time. A person died inside the vehicle. Seven bystanders received minor injuries and were taken to a hospital for treatment. Police are investigating the incident as a possible act of terror. No cause was given and details remain scarce. This is a developing story and we'll keep you updated. President-elect Trump has promised to prosecute people who leak classified information to the media. Our legal correspondent reviews what he did during his first term and what he's doing now. President-elect Trump doesn't like what he calls the fake news, so those in his inner circle who leak classified information to media outlets are on notice. We will launch a major crackdown on government leakers who collude with the fake news to deliberately weave false narratives and to subvert our government and our democracy. When possible, we will press criminal charges. In his first term, then-president Donald Trump constantly battled against leaks. He referred a record number of classified leaks for criminal investigation, totaling at least 334. That's according to an investigation conducted by The Intercept. In 2019, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker found the Trump administration prosecuted six people who communicated with the press, beating the Obama administration's precedent of 10 prosecutions over eight years. And recently, Trump has been threatening defamation lawsuits against media outlets. In October, he sued CBS News, claiming the station misled the public. He said they doctored a 60-minute clip of an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. In mid-December, ABC News agreed to pay a $15 million settlement to Trump's presidential library. The payment served as a settlement of the president-elect's defamation lawsuit. Not long after the settlement, Trump sued the Des Moines Register and a polling firm. He claimed they fraudulently published a poll showing Harris up by three percentage points in Iowa. Trump won the state by double digits. The president-elect's pick to lead the FBI is also threatening to use the power of the Bureau to scrutinize the media. Now, with years of experience, time will tell how far Trump may go with prosecutions during his second term. Marlene Richards, NTD News. Now to Russia, where natural gas exports through Ukraine to Europe were halted this morning. This follows the expiration of a transit deal after Moscow and Kyiv failed to reach an agreement. Russia's energy giant Gazprom said exports were halted beginning 8 a.m. Moscow time. Ukraine has been adamant it would not extend the five-year transit deal amid the military conflict. The widely expected stoppage is not expected to impact prices for consumers in the European Union. Without a transit deal, Ukraine will give up some $800 million a year in fees from Russia. Russia's state-controlled Gazprom will lose close to $5 billion in sales to Europe. The halting of gas supplies will be a major blow to Moldova, a country that was once part of the Soviet Union. Buyers like Slovakia and Austria have arranged for alternative supplies. Hungary and other countries continue to receive Russian gas from the south via the TurkStream pipeline on the bottom of the Black Sea. The European Union reduced its dependency on Russian gas following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The U.S., Qatar, and Norway have helped to fill the gap. Most Russian gas routes to Europe are shut. That includes the Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea after an explosion in 2022. Once the world's biggest gas exporter, Gazprom recorded a $7 billion loss in 2023 alone. Reporting by Andrew Thomas, NTD News. Israeli forces continue to wage war on multiple fronts against Iran-backed terrorist groups. Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader has now called for people in Syria to join the resistance against Israel. NTD's Jason Perry has the latest. Israeli forces released video on Wednesday of what they said were Hezbollah terrorists transferring weapons from a storage facility in Lebanon. And moments later, the Israeli Air Force struck the building to, quote, remove the threat. This strike comes in the middle of a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which is set to expire this month. However, after the strike, Israel said they're operating in accordance with the ceasefire agreement. Also in Lebanon, a commander in the Israel Defense Forces reported finding a mortar that was ready to launch towards communities in northern Israel. Here you can see the shells prepared and arranged here below. Here's one shell as an example that we can see here, a 15-kilogram shell. They could simply take out the mortar, place it inside, and this shell is launched. And in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces reported getting shot at from a building that was used as a mosque. After we were shot at, we neutralized the terrorists and entered the mosque. The mosque from which we were shot at can be seen here. After searching the mosque, we identified significant underground infrastructure in it, which can be seen here. Before Israeli forces enter buildings, they've also been using drones to search them, because they could be rigged with explosives, as seen in this building in Rafah. But no matter the progress Israel makes against Iran-backed terrorist groups, Iran's supreme leader appears undeterred as he vowed victory in Lebanon and Yemen on Wednesday. And he even called for people in Syria to join the resistance against Israel. This comes just weeks after the Iran-aligned Assad regime fell, along with Hezbollah's weapon-smuggling route through Syria. Meanwhile, residents in Syria celebrated New Year's in their homes. They looked forward to better days and a future without the Assad regime. Many of them still feel the effects of his government, including this group of people who demanded information about the fate of activist and lawyer Razan Zaytuna and her colleagues. Zaytuna had criticized the Assad regime and abuses by Syrian rebels. She was later abducted in 2013 with her husband and two of her colleagues. Since then, there's been no sign of life or evidence of death. Jason Perry, NCD News. The CEO of social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, teasing X-TV, X-money, and more in 2025. Big steps for what Elon Musk wants to be an everything app. X-CEO Linda Iaccarino posted, 2025 X will connect you in ways never thought possible. X-TV, X-money, grok, and more. Buckle up. Happy New Year. The X app is going to be the way you manage your life. I mean, that's what Elon's really got envisioned for it. Business consultant Bob Bilbrook says many forget that Elon Musk was behind PayPal, so he's very familiar with mobile payments. It'll be like click and go, clicker and click and buy. You know what I mean? Every message, every tweet will have the ability to be monetized. And obviously that's the big secret sauce here. Musk has talked about heavily disrupting finance. He told employees back in 2023, if it involves money, it'll be on our platform. You won't need a bank account. In 2022, he told employees that X could potentially disrupt the traditional financial system, which he calls complex and expensive. Saying a person has a checking account, a savings account, or some bank CDs and a money market account and a credit card situation. Musk suggested that if you can have one balance on Twitter, they can simply go positive or negative, giving you a better interest rate when positive than what you could receive elsewhere and a better lower interest rate when negative, you've got a much simpler system. Coming up, celebrations, reflections, and resolutions for a fresh start. We hear from folks in D.C. about their special moments and life lessons in 2024. If one of your goals for the new year is to buy a home, we have some tips on how you can organize your finances and make a competitive offer. And if your home has a little more clutter than you'd like to admit, you might just need a bit of magic. The magic of tidying up, of course. Chris Spears speaks to a man who used the KonMari method of home organizing to put his home and his life in order after the break. Come to Mathis home and save during our annual clearance event. We have the state's largest selection of sofas with huge discounts on all the latest styles. Get this luxurious sofa covered in a soft, durable leather. It's made to sell for much more, but we have it clearance priced at just $9.98. They're in stock now, so you get fast delivery absolutely free. For the best value, come to the annual clearance event at your furniture superstore, Mathis home. A painting that has true beauty. I imagine it's like a door. The artist holds the key to open the door and bring people to a pure world. A world where people are more compassionate. According to ancient Chinese medicine, purslane is considered a medicinal herb and is used to help lower cholesterol, improve vascular functions, and prevent diabetes. Perilla seeds can nourish the lungs and spleen. It is used to treat asthma and improve pulmonary functions. Puritan green vegetable omega-3 is made from purslane and perilla seeds from Huangmei Mountain in South Korea. It contains over 90% of omega-3, 6, 7, and 9, the highest concentration possible without chemical additives. The soft gel is made of natural seaweed. It is 100% organic and vegan. Both adults and children can take it with peace of mind. Ancient recipes were passed down from heaven to bring prosperity and longevity. Puritan green vegetable omega-3. We said we'd never break a three-second rule. Never do that and never become a minivan mom. As parents, we say never a lot, but never happens. So when you say you'd never leave your child in a hot car, know it can happen. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. As we embark on a new year, what were some of your most special moments and life lessons in 2024? NTD's Sam Wong was out on the National Mall in D.C. to hear from the people. Any special moment in 2024? Yeah, my daughter got into the university and she graduated. Congratulations. Yes, and me, I retired. Yeah, visiting my father. He lives out there, not first time seeing the Grand Cane, and it was just an unforgettable experience. Having moments with my family and friends, you know, those are the moments I, for sure, I have gratitude and love for sure. I don't get to see my family and friends much. They're back in Texas, so anytime I get to see them, I'm just so grateful and living in the moment. Oh, just prosper. Just every struggle comes, every struggle comes with purpose, and that purpose is to teach you what good feels like. My son got married. He and his wife right now are in Tanzania. They got there yesterday. They'll be there over the New Year's, and so that's just been very, very special. Special moments would be like my mom getting healthy throughout the year, so she was really sick at the beginning of last year, so that was a really special moment when she could walk again. I got to meet my new twin nephews, so first twins in the family, so it was nice to be like, oh, you're so cute and so small. What's the biggest lesson you learned in 2024? You have to be humble, and you have to say for the future and make sure that you love everybody. Stay resilient. Choose yourself. Take care of yourself. A lot of emotional breakthroughs for me this year led me to that. Prioritizing my health and just saying that it's okay to start over at any point in your life and just try again. Whenever you're going to pull an RV into a parking spot, double-check the surroundings. So we're driving out here in the family truckster, which is a 43-foot-long toilet or home, okay? So we're all packed up, eight people and two dogs. The tongue isn't all the way up on the jack, and you try to turn into it and bury it in the asphalt, and you have to work on some team energy to help get it fixed. You can never know what's going to happen today, tomorrow, in a few hours, so I always say take the risk. Tell that person you love them. Tell that family you miss them. Taking stock and gratitude in every second of every moment, you know, even through your struggles, there's something to be grateful for. There's no time like the start of a new year to finally organize your home. The KonMari method of home organizing just might be what you need to put your home in order once and for all. The simple methodology created by a Japanese Taiwanese guru at Marikondo asks homemakers to sort through every individual item they own. You figure out whether or not each one brings you joy, determining what to keep and how to store it. Kondo recommends doing this by category, beginning with clothing, then books, paperwork, miscellaneous items, and finally mementos. NTT's Chris Spears wanted to find out what it's like to actually do this, so he met with film history teacher David Grotto, who did the KonMari method with the help of a KonMari consultant. Many first-time home buyers were shut out of the housing market in 2024 because of soaring sticker prices, few choices, and high interest rates, but this year is looking better for buyers. More choices, more inventory, that will lead to boosts in home sales roughly by 10 percent in 2025. Lawrence Yoon with the National Association of Realtors says now is the time to start getting your finances in order so you're ready to make a competitive offer when you do find the right home. First, make sure your credit is in good standing. Second, figure out how much you can afford. Third, find a mortgage lender. Look for the mortgage lender who offers the best rates and even consider adjustable rate mortgage. Be prepared to pay a higher rate for your mortgage. As of last week, the national average for a 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.85 percent, according to Freddie Mac. If you are in the market for a home, you're going to pay a pretty steep interest rate, and I wouldn't necessarily count on interest rates to come down a lot in the immediate future. Next, calculate how much your down payment will cost. According to the MortgageReports.com, down payments can range anywhere from 3 percent to 20 percent of the purchase price. So if you're buying a $300,000 home, be prepared to put down anywhere between $9,000 to $60,000. Once you've been pre-approved by a lender, you're in a much better position to make an offer on a home. Experts caution buyers to stay within their budget, and don't forget to include closing costs and move-in expenses. For Consumer Watch, I'm Jen Sullivan. And there's no time like the start of a new year to finally organize your home. The KonMari method of home organizing just might be what you need to put your home in order once and for all. The simple methodology created by Japanese Titan Guromaru Kondo asks homemakers to sort through every individual item they own. You figure out whether or not each one brings you joy, determining what to keep, and how to store it. Kondo recommends doing this by category, beginning with clothing, then books, paperwork, miscellaneous items, and finally mementos. Entity's Chris Spears wanted to find out what it's like to actually do this. So he met with film history teacher David Grotto, who did the KonMari method with the help of a KonMari consultant. I have too much stuff. I'm kind of a pack rat, especially with books, records, and memorabilia things. And so it just got out of control. I mean, the apartment is overrun already with stuff. And, you know, I felt like I was in danger of being one of those hoarders. David moved into his New York City apartment in 2018. He emptied a lifetime worth of stuff from his storage locker into his small space. With the ensuing clutter, he knew he had to do something about it. Originally, I just thought I want to hide everything and make it just neat, you know. But then I discovered that I really had to let go of stuff. To help him do that, David hired professional home organizer Hiroko Watanabe. She uses the KonMari tidying method and is a certified master KonMari consultant. I mean, I don't know how it is for other people, but I can't imagine anyone doing this just on their own, just by reading Marie Kondo's book or watching her show. I can't imagine anybody really doing this without some, you know, help. On day one with a new client, Hiroko goes through a sort of ritual where she kneels in the middle of the space in the house, quietly closes her eyes, and does what she calls greeting the home, where she sort of introduces herself and asks the home to support the client in the process of becoming and staying organized. Then she goes through a process of helping the client come up with a vision for their ideal lifestyle. And this simple vision helps guide the entire organizing journey. The KonMari method is a very unique method. And choose what you want to keep is by touching the item and if the item is a spark joy or not. And if that item is not spark joy, let it go. And when you let it go, let it go with gratitude. In the past, when I did hire an organizer, they kind of just made little labels and put everything in order and, you know, rearranged everything. But there was none of the sense of, like, letting go of stuff. So what I love about the KonMari thing is that the whole method of saying thank you and seeing if it's joy, it's a very sort of organic, like, psychological process. The KonMari method requires sorting through every individual item you own and determining what to keep and what to discard. That would be overwhelming without a systematic approach, of course, which is why Marie Kondo recommends sorting through your things by category. Take clothing, for example. A lot of people are keeping the clothes in not only the closet, but like in the living room, on the couch or in the kitchen, on the chair. So then we gather all clothes in one spot and then decide if they want to spark joy or not. David and Hiroko did the KonMari method together between December 2021 and January 2022. During that time, they completed nine sessions, each lasting three to five hours. Since then, Hiroko helps David maintain his home and make further progress when he's not teaching during winter and summer breaks. He shares the benefits he experienced. I feel lighter and more free and it does open up space and sort of internally in my heart and mind and in my life. During this process of the KonMari method, they gain skills to make a decision and also they gain confidence. I recommend it all the time to people. I think especially if you're somebody that saves things, it's very good to sort of take stock of your life and take stock of everything that comes from your own past and to figure out when the usefulness of things has ended, especially clothing and things that you actually make use of. David told me he discarded about 25 percent of his things while doing the KonMari method. That's especially significant because he also told me he wasn't able to discard anything when he first started. There's a need to clean out and restart and that's what KonMari can do. 2025 is ushering an array of new state laws going into effect in areas ranging from employment to crime to transgender treatments. NGD correspondent Jason Blair brings us some highlights. For 2025, a host of new state-level laws are taking effect. 21 states have now increased their minimum wage. The biggest jump is by $1.75 in Delaware, which moved from $13.25 to $15 an hour. While not a state, the District of Columbia still has the highest minimum wage in the country. Washington State and California follow in second and third place. In New Hampshire, a new ban on transgender surgeries for minors is now in effect. The law allows minors who've previously undergone such surgery as well as their parents to sue the medical practitioner who performed it. And in California, a new law now prevents school districts from requiring teachers to notify a parent if their child uses new pronouns or changes their gender identity. And the state of Delaware now mandates Medicaid to cover abortions and related services with no cost sharing. The same will be required for most private insurance companies at the end of 2025. In Louisiana, the Ten Commandments are now required to be on display in public school classrooms. The text in the law specifically says they must be displayed on a poster or framed document that is at least 11 inches by 14 inches and that they must be the focus of the frame with large and easy to read text. An injunction currently blocks the law in five school districts while they challenge it. Texas will no longer require non-commercial vehicles to undergo an annual safety inspection, joining almost half of the U.S. states that don't mandate them. However, the law doesn't restrict counties from requiring them. And back to California, the state has now gotten tougher on retail theft. The Golden State now has new enhanced sentences for individuals who take or damage property valued at $50,000 or more. This includes smash and grabs. This comes a couple of weeks after another new law went into effect that rolls back on parts of Prop 47, the legislation that lowered penalties in California for thefts under $950. Reporting in Washington, D.C., Jason Blair, Entity News. Coming up, Chenier Performing Arts kicks off its shows in France for the 2025 season. Performers and fans share why they are excited. And Chenier's world tour kicks off as the New York Times releases more hit pieces targeting the performing arts company. Ben Maloney from the Falun Dafa Information Center joins us to respond after the break. As the universe nears the end of its cycle of creation and destruction, the merciful king of kings descends to save it. Confronting the chaos sown by the malnode red dragon. Earth becomes the ultimate battleground. Humanity faces a defining choice. Our eternal fate hangs in the balance during this pivotal moment of cosmic shift. My dad was a farmer, and when I saw him on a horse, the guy was bigger than life. One of the things that he had a hard time doing was showing the emotion. Maybe it was because the way he was raised or believing that men provide and they don't struggle, but we all struggle. I want to show emotion to my kids. I want them to know when I'm happy. I want them to know when I'm sad, and I want them to see me working through things. The biggest reward I get from being a dad is watching my kids accomplish a goal, watching them light up. Nothing brings a bigger smile to my face. So I make my kids a priority. Whether it's hitting a baseball, a dance rehearsal, you name it, I'm there. They're going to remember that they grew up loved. Be brave. Be there every day and allow your kids to know that it's okay to struggle, that even dad doesn't know the answer sometimes, but we're going to figure it out together. I'm Jonathan Lawson. If you're 50 to 85, please listen closely. The lock I want to talk to you about isn't the one on your door. It's a rate lock for your life insurance that guarantees that once you're insured, your rate can never go up at any time for any reason. Many policies you see don't have one, but you can get a lifetime rate lock from Colonial Penn. This plan was designed for people on a fixed income with coverage options that start at $9.95 a month. That's less than 35 cents a day. Your rate is locked in for life. Coverage can never be canceled, and your acceptance is guaranteed. You cannot be turned down because of your health. See for yourself. Call for an information kit and gift. Both are free with no obligation. Call 1-800-624-6556 for your free information and your free gift. That's 1-800-624-6556. 1-800-624-6556. Call now. Welcome back. If you're just joining us now, here are some today's top headlines. At least 10 people were killed and 35 more injured when a man intentionally drove a pickup truck into a New Year's celebration in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Police identified the He was killed during a confrontation with officers and had an ISIS flag. Authorities are investigating the incident as a terror attack. A driver was killed and seven bystanders injured when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. Authorities say they are investigating the incident as a possible act of terror. A Soviet-era pipeline that transported Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine shut down as a transit agreement expired. Slovakia and Austria have arranged alternate supply lines, while Hungary will keep receiving Russian gas via the Black Sea. On New Year's Eve, New York-based Shenyun Performing Arts arrived in Marseilles, France, across 12 major cities. The entity is a media sponsor of Shenyun. Let's take a look. Artists from Shenyun Performing Arts arrived at Marseilles International Airport in France on Tuesday. They were greeted by enthusiastic fans who welcomed them with flowers and cheerful exclamations of welcome Shenyun, welcome to France. Very excited, very happy. I'm very excited. We've been rehearsing and now we're on tour again. You can see we're all set and ready to go. We aim to showcase the compassion of Shenyun performers, bringing to life through our dance and sharing it with the audience. In modern times, it's very unique to have a show that is completely traditional. Traditional art and music have always carried a divine essence, and I do believe the traditional arts of man come from heaven, from the Creator. That's why I think the music, the art of Shenyun, as it is created and performed from a traditional perspective, beautifully reflects the divine quality of Shenyun's music. We believe that traditional culture is inspired by the divine, and that people were created by the divine. So it sparks their inner divinity. It sparks their desire to return to their divine origins. And I think a lot of people, they're moved in a way that's very deep and they don't fully understand themselves because of that link that people have with traditional culture in the heavens. Fans who came to welcome Shenyun expressed their gratitude to the artists. I know many people like me who want to say thank you to Shenyun. I've seen people leaving the performance and asking, how can I thank them? Where can I reach them? They want to express their gratitude. And today, this is what we will be able to do at the airport. We are truly at peace and feeling great when Shenyun arrives. It's perfect. We are fulfilled, present and dreaming when we leave the performance. And it's true that it stays with us. It is a show that nourishes us throughout the year. Shenyun's performances in France are consistently marked by sold-out shows, with additional performances added each year to meet demand. In 2025, Shenyun will bring 88 performances across 12 French cities, reaching audiences of over 220,000 people. On January 2nd, Shenyun's tour will officially begin in Aix-en-Provence for a six-day run. All eight performances were sold out two months in advance. Shenyun's 2025 world tour kicks off as The New York Times ramps up its negative coverage of the performing arts group. The newspaper released its latest articles about the company this week. Joining us now to respond is Ben Maloney, director of digital outreach at Palo Alto Information Center. Ben, thank you so much for joining us. Great to see you again. Now, this is just the latest in a string of articles by The New York Times against Shenyun and more broadly, people of the faith group Falun Gong. Now, as a practitioner of Falun Gong, what's been your response to this article? Yeah, well, first of all, thank you for having me and kind of platforming this issue. You know, usually I'm on shows like this to talk about the persecution or as kind of like an expert. And today I think I'm just a guy who practices and maybe can offer some insight because this the latest article really paints people of faith of Falun Gong as mindless zealots who are kind of under this kind of spell of delusion. And I think it's not only bigoted and reductionist, it's demonstrably false. And it stands in stark contrast to my lived experience as a practitioner and the benefits I've gotten and so many others, especially the millions across China, who are being persecuted every day for their faith. And so, you know, I'm not an influencer. I don't have a big following, but I appreciate you platforming this issue so I can come on today to talk about what I do have. And what I do have is I think I have the truth and we can get that out. I think that will be quite helpful to people, especially your viewers. Expanding on that last part, what's been your own story learning about Falun Gong? What has the practice meant to you? What changes did you see in your life after you began practicing? Yeah, it's interesting. It's not something I've spoken about too publicly just because usually when I speak about the persecution, I'm trying to kind of help others. And I don't really want to make it about myself, but I do think it's important to talk a bit about the benefits I got. I started practicing close to 20 years ago. I was in college at the time. I was having a lot of problems drinking. I was in a really good college. I had a great upbringing, all these things, but I was just one of those people that had trouble drinking and really wanted to stop, tried a bunch of things. And I was introduced to the meditation. And when I started meditating and learning the practice and the principles of truth, compassion, tolerance, for me personally, it was the first time in my life I really connected with a way of life and sort of these aspirations and this kind of spiritual toolkit that I could look at myself, I could reflect on myself, I could put others first, and I could really change. And I did change. And I quit drinking and I doubled my GPA and been very successful in my career. I'm a husband, I'm a and a lot of the good and the bad we have in life, I owe to my ability to take it and take the good with the bad is my faith in Falun Gong. And I think that's true for not only millions of Americans who are religious, but also for billions around the world. Religion plays a huge part in my life. It's not something I talk about every day, but my spirituality plays a big role in my life and very positive role in my life. And I feel like that's something that should be celebrated. It is our first amendment for a reason, I think, in this country was founded on religious principles and having religion and religious beliefs and that helps you. I mean, for me, I feel like that should be celebrated. I feel really proud of what it's done for me. And I know millions of people that practice Falun Gong globally have had similar experiences. I'm just one person. And given what you just laid out there, especially the positive aspects, why do you think the New York Times would choose to devote extensive, even biased coverage on a New York performing arts company, rather than exposing what the Chinese Communist Party's crimes have been against the very people that make up this group? Yeah, I think it's a very important question. And the timing, basically the time and effort involved here for the six or seven articles they've published in the year plus of research and the time and energy, to me, it's really, really odd and definitely deserves further kind of look. And I can give you a couple examples where I think it's odd. And I've been doing this human rights work on the CCP and their propaganda for a really long time. And the New York Times articles mirror the CCP propaganda in a few ways that I think might be interesting to your viewers. And the first way is that the early, so in the early 2000s, to try to turn people against Falun Gong, the Chinese Communist Party started making up things. So they were like, Falun Gong causes deaths. They'd make up a number of deaths. And they were essentially saying, hey, Falun Gong tells people not to seek medical care and people die, right? Which is false, but that was part of the propaganda they did. And history often repeats itself, doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. And what rhymes with that in the New York Times coverage is, in their first article, they used the same idea, which is that, okay, performers of Xinyin performing arts, because they practice Falun Gong, they don't seek medical attention, therefore they get injured and there's bad effect because of their practice. But then after that article came out, there was so many performers that did media interviews or posted and said, hey, I got knee surgery, I got whatever, I got my, so it was false. And I can be really kind of candid with you all and personal about my experience. My daughter's two months old and we recently spent nine days in the ICU because she had RSV. And she got it from her older brother and she was having trouble breathing. And the second that my wife and I saw that, we took her to the ER and she was airlifted. And I'm so grateful for the doctors and nurses that kind of helped her and she's okay now. So what are you talking about? We don't seek medical care. They paint the picture like practitioners would, like I would leave my daughter to be harmed because I'm some strange zealot, right? And so I can drive a truck through that logic just from my experience in the past month. So that's like the first framing is this kind of like no medical attention. Because if you can get the American public to believe that, then people will be like, oh, those people are kind of fringe or weird and like, that's not good. And that's untrue, right? And the second framing in the most recent article is sort of this idea that there's some money aspect or enriching aspect, especially for the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Liang Jun. And that was something that the CCP tried to make up early on too, that there's some monetary aspect. But that's also something that's demonstrably false, right? Like Mr. Liang Jun doesn't hold management positions, doesn't take any money from any affiliated companies, makes money from book royalties that are free online. So the whole practice of Falun Gong is free. No one ever pays a penny. It's completely free online. That's what drew me personally to it. Nobody told me to practice or not practice. It was this thing that was like, you can go online, read the books, you can learn the meditation, you can just do it at home. And so the recent framing around Shen Yun is kind of this idea that, oh, well, Falun Gong practitioners are mindlessly donating resources and their life savings, and they're kind of under this hypnosis. But for me personally, I'm here as a volunteer tonight to try to help raise awareness of the Why is that weird? I think it's weird if I benefited from this practice and millions of people were getting persecuted and thousands and thousands were dying, and I didn't say anything. I feel like not volunteering, I feel like that would be weird. So they're trying to paint it, the New York Times trying to paint it like it's weird to volunteer or spend time on Shen Yun performing arts or Falun Gong related activities. I don't quite understand that. There have now been seven articles by the New York Times critical of Shen Yun since just August. Now, this does coincide with leak directors from the highest level of the Chinese Communist Party to eradicate Falun Gong. Now, these articles seem to be playing right into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, turning people against practitioners of Falun Gong and Shen Yun, like you just mentioned. What do you make of that? Yeah, I think that's something that deserves a lot more investigation too, because the timing is really odd. We have a couple of resources on our website, faluninfo.net, that your viewers might find interesting. And one of them is a timeline. And that timeline starts at this meeting you're talking about, this 2022 meeting of high level CCP officials, where essentially they're saying, this is from leaked documents and some testimony, basically saying, hey, the campaign against Falun Gong in the West is not working. They think about this like warfare. They've devoted a large amount of GDP. It's like state apparatus. They have an extra legal police force called the Gestapo police force called 610 in China that's just for persecuting Falun Gong and also has overseas connections. So they are putting their attention on the West and including media and other things. And so if you look at that timeline, you can see all these incidents that seem separate, but are for the same goal. For instance, Shen Yun's gotten a bunch of bomb threats recently by sophisticated actors to try to clear the theaters out. In the past year, there's been arrests and convictions of two CCP agents that tried to bribe who they thought was an IRS agent, was actually an FBI agent, to revoke Shen Yun's nonprofit status. So you can see how insidious they're trying to make their way in there. So as all these things are happening, at the same time, this series of articles that are over a year in the making that there's tons of kind of resources behind from an institution like the New York Times, all of that stuff comes out at the same time as the Shen Yun tour comes out. And then what it seems like the influence is trying to do is so that people don't feel comfortable going to see Shen Yun or speaking up for Falun Gong because they feel like, oh, New York Times said whatever about it. So I don't know. People are busy. They don't have time to research kind of what's going on. And I think that's kind of the effect that the timing is having. So to me, it's odd timing and is doing damage. And definitely the CCP is benefiting from this. Ben Maloney, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Coming up, the Rose Parade in California continues to captivate audiences as one of the most iconic New Year's Day traditions, showcasing stunning floral floats and world performances. Christina Corona reports from Pasadena. And in the college football playoffs, an instant classic between Texas and Arizona State. Dave Martin joins us to discuss when we come back. I don't know. They were literally auctioned in front of soldiers, and then the soldiers began to dig. Imagine having a child mentality and these evil people come and wheel you away from the only safety you've ever known. Discover the ancient secret to vitality and longevity with Puritay Black Ginseng. Crafted from premium six-year-old Korean ginseng, each root is carefully nurtured for over 2,260 days, undergoing a traditional nine-round handcrafted process of steaming and drying to unlock full potency and absorption. Experience pure, natural energy with Puritay Black Ginseng. Order now at puritay.com. Welcome back, I'm Tiffany Meyer. The Rose Bowl Parade is one of the largest New Year's Day celebrations, dazzling with intricate floats and vibrant energy. NTD's Christina Corona had the opportunity to attend the parade, and has more from Pasadena, California. We're here in the city of Pasadena at the 136th annual New Year's Day Rose Parade, with marching bands, equestrian units, floral floats, and much more. Let's take a look and see what this year has to offer. Thousands of spectators came out to Colorado Boulevard to see the beautifully crafted floats. The theme of this year's parade is The Best Day Ever. The grand marshal this year is former world number one tennis player Billie Jean King. Some musicians who performed were Aloe Blacc, Debbie Gibson, Betty Who, Debbie Allen, and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. We spoke with several parade-goers who told us what they enjoy most about the Rose Parade. We're just excited to experience everything with the little one. We told her there'd be lots of pretty flowers and horses and old-timey cars. So, first time out with the kids and just experiencing it through their eyes. All the flowers on the floats, all the awesome bands, and just the happiness of all the people here. For many, attending the Rose Parade is more than just an event. It's a cherished tradition that brings families together year after year. We come out almost every year. I mostly look forward to the floats and taking pictures and spending time with my family. A lot of roses, a lot of pretty things, and spending time with my family, too. Happy New Year! From musical elements to cultural performances to the most extravagant flowers, the New Year's Day Parade had it all. Reporting from the city of Pasadena, Christina Corona, NTD News. Happy New Year. And now for your sports news, we're joined by NTD's Dave Martin. Dave, a lot going on today, but let's start in the college football playoffs as Texas outlasted Arizona State this afternoon in double overtime, 39-31. How'd they get it done? Yeah, it took a goal line interception by the Longhorns in double overtime, as you said, to win it. Now, this was an instant classic, though. There were so many twists and turns. Now, several times, I thought Arizona State was done for. Another time, they kept coming back, though. Then it looked like Texas was done for in the first overtime. My brother and I were texting each other. We were like, this is the most exciting playoff game either of us can remember. It was that good. So let me tell you about it. The Longhorns got to a fast start. They led 17-3 at the half. Really, Arizona State had little going for them at the time, but they got a safety then midway through the third quarter that seemed to spark them. They finally got their running game going with Cam Scadaboo, who finished with 143 yards, but he had a big touchdown pass on a trick play that got them their first score with like six minutes left. Two minutes later, they scored a second touchdown to tie it, but then Texas somehow missed two field goals in the final two minutes, including a 38-yarder that bounced off the upright as time expired. So we went to overtime. Arizona State scored first, and then they had Texas down fourth and 13. It looked like, you know, Texas was done at that point, but they got a touchdown on that play. They came with a touchdown in overtime. Bam. All of a sudden, they win 39-31 with that interception to seal it. Quite a game we had this afternoon. Sounds like one for the books. Well, in the second game, we have Ohio State playing Oregon, already in progress. How do you see this one going? Yeah, well, this one is pretty much already decided. This is 34-8 Ohio State at the half. Now, they're making me look very good. I picked them to win it all, so, of course, I had to pick them to win here. I did not pick the blowout like this. I mean, it was 34-0 with just a couple minutes left. Oregon got a very late touchdown there to make it, you know, 34-8. I'm stunned at this, though. This is, of course, a rematch of their game that took place back in October, where Oregon won by a point. The game ended very abruptly that time with the Buckeyes driving the ball very near a field goal range when time ran out. Anyway, I kind of thought with that loss, and also they're coupled with their fourth straight loss to Michigan to end their season, you know, fourth straight year with a loss to them, they'd be very motivated in these playoffs. They certainly have a very talented roster. They looked excellent in their win over Tennessee a week and a half ago. So, we've still got, you know, one more half to go, but this looks obviously very good right now for Ohio State. Paul Davis, always thanks for joining us. Well, thank you, Tiff. And that's all for today's news. For around-the-clock coverage, visit us at ntd.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Good night.