NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (Dec. 1)

Welcome to NTD Evening News. Our top story tonight, Mossad Boulos picked by President-elect Trump to be his senior advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. The Lebanese-American businessman helped Trump drum up Arab-American support during his campaign. Fighting between terrorists and the Syrian military intensifies. Could U.S. troops in the area now get involved? Arian Pasdar has what the White House is saying. A massive lake-effect snowstorm has paralyzed parts of the Great Lakes region, with several feet of snow and dangerous travel conditions prompting emergency declarations. President Biden is visiting Africa to see a railroad project that'll deliver critical minerals to the U.S. and not to China. And death threats aimed at preventing the public from seeing a movie in Taiwan. The island's Congress vows to investigate and stop the threats. The movie's content? Exposing China's forced organ harvesting. This is NTD Evening News, live from our global headquarters in New York City. Good evening, and thank you for joining us tonight. There is a new senior advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. President-elect Trump has chosen Lebanese-American businessman Mossad Boulos for the role. Trump made the announcement today on Truth Social. He said, Mossad is an accomplished lawyer and a highly respected leader in the business world, with extensive experience on the international scene and an unwavering supporter of peace in the Middle East. Boulos is the father-in-law of Trump's youngest daughter, Tiffany Trump. He is a billionaire with extensive business ties in Nigeria. Born in Lebanon to a Christian family, he moved to Texas as a teenager, earned a law degree, and became a U.S. citizen. Boulos is friends with Suleiman Frangier, a Christian ally of Hezbollah. And Boulos is also in touch with the Lebanese Forces Party, an anti-Hezbollah Christian faction. His participation in U.S. politics comes during an election cycle in which the Republican Party made significant inroads with the traditionally blue Muslim voting bloc. He met repeatedly with Arab-American and Muslim leaders during Trump's election campaign. This latest appointment comes just a day after Trump tapped Charles Kushner, the father-in-law of his oldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, as the U.S. ambassador to France. A new video shows the destruction in Syria after terrorists attacked a historic city on Friday. U.S. forces are still stationed in the country, but could they get involved in the fighting in Syria? NTD's international correspondent Arian Pazar has what the White House is saying. Video appears to show destruction in the Syrian city of Aleppo after an attack by rebels. A Syrian volunteer group reports 12 civilians dead and 23 injured in the attack. U.S. troops are still stationed in Syria. The group at the vanguard of this rebel advance, HTS, is actually a terrorist organization. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday saying U.S. forces in Syria are currently not at risk. That's because they're stationed in a different part of the country. But they are under a different kind of threat. They are still under a threat from Iran and the Shia-backed militia groups in Iraq and Syria. Sullivan says the main supporters of the Syrian government are Iran, Hezbollah and Russia. All three powers are currently involved in conflicts outside of Syria. That's why the terrorists advance now, while Syria's supporters are currently weak. The terrorists attacked the historical city of Aleppo on Friday. The attack forced Syria's army to redeploy. It's the biggest challenge to the government in years. Russian and Syrian jets are already fighting back, striking them in a city near Aleppo. Syria borders Israel and Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the fighting on Sunday. We are constantly watching events in Syria. We are determined to defend the vital interests of Israel. He added that Israel will stay focused to maintain the achievement of its own conflicts. Ariane Pasdar, NTD News. And staying on this latest news out of Syria, we are now joined by geopolitical analyst Brandon Weikert. He is also the author of The Shadow War, Iran's Quest for Supremacy. Brandon, good evening. Thank you for coming on tonight. Starting us off, I want you to give our viewers a quick breakdown here. Why is this attack happening now? Well, thanks for having me. Unfortunately, it's not happening in a vacuum. This is all being triggered because the end is nigh for the Ukraine war. And therefore, the powers that be in the world are shifting their focus to the Middle East again. There is an attempt, I believe, by certain elements within the West to support a movement against Assad right now because the movement is about knocking the Russian control over their naval base in Syria, Tartus. If you look at a map about what's going on, Aleppo has fallen supposedly to the U.S. and NATO and Turkey-backed Islamist element that we're calling Syrian rebels. And they're pushing now closer. I think they're within 96 miles of that Russian naval base. So obviously, there is a larger geostrategic movement afoot here to kind of put pressure on Russia, knowing that we're going into a negotiation with them over Ukraine. Maybe this is some attempt to gain leverage over them for when Trump comes in in 50 days. Well, so you say there's this movement in the West, but then we also saw the first reported Russian strikes on Aleppo since 2016 yesterday and then more strikes today as well. What do you make of that? Yes. Well, that's because they know that they don't have enough. The Russians do not have enough troops or equipment ready to be able to wage war both in Ukraine as well as Syria. And so what they're trying to do now is get ahead of the threat because, again, those Islamist forces that we're calling the Syrian rebels, but to be clear, they are Islamists. They are moving within 96 miles of that Russian naval facility. And so the Russians are going to do whatever they can to stop their loss of that warm water port. The Russians only have four warm water ports, one of them being Tartus in Syria. And how long do you see the Russians being able to keep these strikes up? That remains to be seen right now. They seem to be having some effectiveness. I do not think that this offensive by the so-called Syrian rebels will go much farther than it is. This is sort of reliving the worst parts of the Syrian civil war from a decade ago, which ended kind of in a stalemate. Basically, the Sunni part of Syria goes toward the Syrian rebels, and the Shiite part of Syria goes toward Assad and the Russians and Iranians, and everything gets kind of frozen there. I don't think this is going to be a long-term fight, though, like it was a decade ago. This is being triggered because of what's going on in Ukraine and Russia. And so we also just heard in that package there that we still have U.S. forces in Syria and that the White House believes they are currently not at risk. Do you see that changing in the near future? I think anytime Jake Sullivan speaks, you should just listen to the opposite of what he's saying. Basically, those U.S. forces are very much targets of the Iranian regime, which is backing the Russians and backing Assad in Syria. If it looks like the situation for Assad is going to get very bad, I could absolutely foresee the Iranians deciding to mix it up with the Americans in that eastern part of Syria to try to distract U.S. support for those so-called Syrian rebels. So those forces of ours in eastern Syria are not safe. They've been the targets before in previous rounds of U.S.-Iranian tension, and they will be again. So as an analyst, what do you think the U.S. government should be doing right now? I think the U.S. government needs to stay out of this thing. We should not be arming those Syrian rebels. They are Islamists. We need to stay out of it and maintain as low a profile as possible until the new administration takes over in less than 50 days, and then let them figure out what to do with it. I suspect Trump will not escalate in Syria. He does not want to get us yet again in an endless war in the Middle East. I suspect, if anything, what's going to happen is this is going to put pressure on Iran, and that's the real target of Trump's foreign policy in the Middle East. He wants to put Iran back into its box, but you can't do that if you're stuck in a quagmire in Syria. Now, speaking of Iran, we did see the Iranian foreign minister travel to Syria to meet with the Syrian president today. And of course, as you say, Syria has been a key ally to Iran, and Iran is still dealing with its proxy Hezbollah fighting Israel forces in Lebanon. Does Iran have the capacity and the funding to get more heavily involved in Syria right now? They are going to be feeling the pinch very soon. If the civil war in Syria reignites to anywhere near what it was a decade ago, it will break those supply chains linking Iran with Hezbollah, which will basically weaken Hezbollah, isolate it, and it may even give Israel another window of opportunity to strike hard against Hezbollah. I don't think the Iranians can sustain a protracted struggle in Syria as they're trying to basically protect themselves from direct strikes from Israel and the U.S. or as well trying to support Hamas, the Houthis, and Hezbollah. They're going to reach a breaking point, and I think they are very soon going to do that. Brandon, let's talk about this incoming administration. President-elect Trump just appointed Mossad Boulos as his senior advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. What does he bring to the table in relation to this conflict? Well, he's someone that Trump can trust. He's a family member, and we know that Trump needs people he can trust, so that's a positive. I also think the fact that this gentleman has connections to basically every conceivable warring faction in the Middle East, business ties and personal ties, I think that gives him a high degree of insight that other Middle East envoys in the past have lacked. I actually think this is a very smart move, and we already saw this gentleman was able to flip 300,000 otherwise Democrat Arab American voters in Trump's column, which was decisive for Trump in places like Michigan. So I think this is an excellent pick, and I think that it speaks to the kind of complex diplomacy that the Trump administration is planning to engage in once they get into office on January 20th. Absolutely. There's a lot to look forward on January 20th. Brandon Weicker, geopolitical analyst and author of The Shadow War, Iran's Quest for Supremacy. Thank you for joining us tonight. Thank you. Moving on, President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday that he wants former national security official Kash Patel to lead the FBI, signaling an intent to oust the bureau's current director, Christopher Wray, whose tenure term does not end until 2027. Here's that story. 44-year-old Patel is a Trump loyalist who advised both the Director of National Intelligence and Secretary of Defense during the Republicans' first term in the White House. He has previously called for stripping the FBI of its intelligence-gathering role and purging its ranks of any employee who refuses to support Trump's agenda. That victim is Donald J. Trump. In a September interview on a conservative podcast, Patel said, quote, The biggest problem the FBI has had has come out of its intel shops. I'd break that component out of it. I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state. Current Director Wray's term does not expire until 2027. FBI directors are appointed to 10-year terms by law as a means of insulating the bureau from politics. Trump himself appointed Wray to the role during his first term. But Wray has since come under fire from Trump and his supporters, who have accused the FBI and other federal agencies of weaponizing their law enforcement to silence critics on the right and target political enemies. It was under Wray that the FBI carried out a court-approved search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate to look for classified documents. Wray has also faced criticism for his role overseeing a directive by Attorney General Merrick Garland aimed at working to protect local school boards from violent threats and harassment. An FBI spokesperson did not directly comment on Patel's nomination on Saturday, saying, quote, every day the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats. Director Wray's focus remains on the men and women of the FBI, the people we do the work with and the people we do the work for. The appointment will need Senate approval. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promising President-elect Donald Trump that Canada would toughen border controls. This, according to a senior Canadian official. We told the Americans, we said publicly, we're going to look to procure, for example, additional drones, additional police helicopters. We're going to redeploy personnel. As much as a reassurance exercise, we believe that the border is secure. We believe that there has been a long history of effective cooperation between Canada and the United States. Trudeau flew to Florida on Friday to have dinner with Trump. The public safety minister sat at the head table with Trudeau and Trump. Now, he described the dinner meeting as very warm and cordial as the two leaders discussed security measures Canada would be introducing. At the end of the dinner, the official said that Trump walked Trudeau to his car and said, keep in touch, call me any time. The U.S. and Canada share a long, undefended joint border. In addition to discussions on the border, the public safety ministers said Canada would continue to make the case that tariffs would damage both nations. Coming up, a massive lake effect snowstorm has paralyzed parts of the Great Lakes region with several feet of snow and dangerous travel conditions prompting emergency declarations. And death threats aimed at preventing the public from seeing a movie in Taiwan. The island's Congress vows to investigate and stop those threats. The movie's contents? Exposing China's forced organ harvesting. Find out more after the break. And the sound is amazing. The Atom Pro 2 is our smallest hearing aid yet, featuring advanced background noise cancellation and is the world's first hearing aid with built-in UV cleaning that kills 99% of bacteria. I could not believe how my hearing and life changed without seeing a doctor or having a hearing test. Join over 500,000 happy customers today and get the hearing you deserve. Call 1-800-433-6359 or go to audionhearing.com to get your pair of Audion hearing aids starting at just $189. Millions of children are fighting to survive due to inequality, conflict, poverty, and the climate crisis. Save the Children is working alongside communities to provide a better life for children. And there's a way you can help. Please call or go online to give just $10 a month, only 33 cents a day. We urgently need 1,000 new monthly donors in the next 30 days to help the children we support around the world. You can help provide food, medicine, care, and protection, plus so much more that a child needs by calling right now and giving just $10 a month. All we need are 1,000 monthly donors in the next 30 days. Please call or go online now with your monthly gift of just $10. Thanks to generous government grants, every dollar you give can have up to 10 times the impact. And when you call with your credit card, we will send you this Save the Children tote bag as a thank you for your support. Your small monthly donation of just $10 could be the reason a child in crisis survives. Please call or go online to give2save.org to help save lives. Thanks for staying with us. A powerful winter storm brought heavy snowfall and frigid temperatures to the U.S. northeast. It has paralyzed parts of the Great Lakes region with several feet of snow and dangerous travel conditions. NTD's Don Ma has more. Parts of the U.S. were in near paralysis on Sunday as a fierce storm buried cities in heavy snow. Millions of people across five states were under winter storm alerts. A frigid air mass that swept south across the northern plains and midwest into the south and east coast is expected to linger into next week, bringing the coldest temperatures since last winter, according to the National Weather Service. A state of emergency has been declared for parts of New York. And in Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro signed a disaster emergency proclamation Saturday and said parts of Erie County in the northwest received nearly two feet of snow, with more expected through Monday night. Widespread snow totals expected between 6 and 12 inches across portions of Michigan, western New York, northwest Pennsylvania, and northeast Ohio. Some areas downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario are expecting four to six feet of snow. Residents across the Ohio River Valley from Kansas City to Charleston, West Virginia will receive two to five inches through Sunday morning, and nearly 70 percent of the U.S. will feel temperatures below 32 degrees over the next few days. Meanwhile, the weather system has brought temperatures around 15 degrees below average across much of the eastern U.S. Throughout the affected region, post-holiday travel will be very difficult to impossible for some motorists. According to the National Weather Service office in Buffalo, New York, forecasters are urging people to stay off the roads as conditions make driving treacherous and potentially dangerous. Don Ma, NTD News. Today is World AIDS Day. President Biden and the First Lady commemorated the day at the White House. They're calling for collective action to end the threat posed by the disease. Together, we honor the spirit of resilience and the extraordinary strength of people, families, and communities affected by HIV-AIDS. The State Department and the White House are working with partners around the world to tackle the danger of AIDS. The goal is to end the disease as a public health threat by 2030. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief aims to achieve that goal. In a press release, the State Department says that the plan supports over 20 million people across 55 countries who receive life-saving treatment. The statement also says World AIDS Day serves to remember the over 42 million people who lost their lives to the disease. And President Biden traveling to Africa tonight. This to focus on building a railroad which will President Joe Biden visiting Africa today to see a railroad project called the Libido Corridor. The corridor will transport critical minerals from the Congo to the Atlantic Ocean, where they will then eventually travel to America. If we don't have access to the critical minerals for the green economy, we'll lag behind in terms of greening the global economy. Strategy consultant Wala Chabala says that the U.S. is trying to maintain its global lead by accessing these critical minerals that include cobalt, copper, lithium, zinc, and germanium. Now these minerals are used in everything from plumbing and electronics to batteries and fiber optics. The corridor will connect the minerals in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Libido Atlantic Railway, which will deliver them to the Atlantic Ocean. Presently, most of the critical mineral resources and the strategic minerals are exported out of the eastern side of Africa, mostly through Dar es Salaam into China. China is currently the most active investor in the Congo, which is something that Washington is concerned about. Former Trump officials say that Trump is likely to continue backing the Libido Corridor. Movie theaters planning to screen a documentary about China's forced organ harvesting have faced death threats across Taiwan. The city council of Taiwan's capital city Taipei on Friday disclosed details of these threats and vowed to defend the island's freedom and democracy. NTD's Flora Hua has more. The award-winning documentary State Organs played at the city council in Taipei, Taiwan's capital city, Saturday. But one day before, the council received an anonymous threat, warning that someone would break into the screening room and attack people with knives. I want to reiterate firmly that such threatening rhetoric will not be tolerated in the highest hall of Taipei City, the Taipei City Council. Our right to screen this film and the will proceed with the official screening and it will be shown in full without compromise. The police were on guard on the screening day to protect the audience. The council also invited the mayor of Taipei to watch the film. The movie touches one of the most serious accusations against China, forcefully harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience and selling them for huge profits. The source of organ transplants in mainland China has long been questioned and criticized by the international community. The documentary State Organs focuses on exposing the CCP's alleged involvement in forced organ harvesting and human rights violations. Lawmakers say they're against any form of transnational suppression in Taiwan. Facilities hosting the film, ranging from movie theaters to congressional agencies, have received nearly three dozen death threats over the past two months. Police investigation reveals that some of these threatening emails passed through 14 different countries' IP addresses before reaching Taiwan. Flora Huan, NDD News. Today, over 170 countries failed to sign a treaty on fighting plastic pollution, which is a massive global issue that severely harms the environment and human health. Every year, the world produces 450 million tons of plastic. This is 1,000 times heavier than the Empire State Building, and much of it ends up in the oceans and forests, harming the environment and wildlife. In turn, this harms human beings as well. The over 170 countries met in South Korea in what was supposed to be the fifth and final meeting for signing a treaty, but they disagreed on some specifics, such as whether the treaty should reduce the total amount of plastic on Earth and whether there should be legally binding controls on toxic chemicals. Many plastic producing nations did not agree to many of the proposals. Every nation must agree for a treaty to be signed, and negotiations will resume next year. Movie Moana 2 brought in a tidal wave of moviegoers over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, setting records with $221 million in ticket sales, this according to studio estimates today. It feels so incredible that my growth as a human seems to be juxtaposed with hers. It's been three years since we last saw Moana in the Moanaverse, so to speak, and she's now become a master navigator. She is a tautai, and she is serving her people. You know, as we get into the specifics of what it means to be a Pacific Islander in a lot of different ways, I hope that other people around the world can see that, you know, their cultures have similarities and that, you know, we share a lot of the same values. The highly anticipated sequel shattered Thanksgiving box office records, earning $386 million globally in its five-day opening. Originally planned as a Disney Plus series, the film's big screen release has been a triumph, captivating audiences with Moana's Meanwhile, Wicked continues to dazzle as well, adding $117.5 million over the holiday weekend, while Gladiator 2 held strong with $44 million in its second week. Together, these blockbusters helped Thanksgiving weekend ticket sales hit an all-time high of $420 million. Thank you for tuning in tonight. I'm Fiona Chee. Have a good evening.