Judge Declines to Limit Immigration Op in MN; 5 Shot in Louis. Parade | NTD Evening News (Jan. 31)

Our top story tonight, a legal win for President Trump's immigration operation in Minnesota. A federal judge denies the state's request to limit federal agents amid ongoing protests. The Pentagon releases its 2026 defense strategy aiming to deter China through strength. Does it downplay the CCP threat? An expert joins to discuss. A renowned brain surgeon shares his story of recovering after hitting rock bottom and what that journey taught him about the mind-body connection. And one of America's founding fathers spent nearly 16 years in London. How his former home is now geared up to mark 250 years of American history. This is MTV Evening News, live from our global headquarters in New York City. Thank you for joining us tonight. I'm Arlene Richards. In Minnesota today, a federal judge denied the state's emergency request to block the federal government's immigration enforcement actions as a lawsuit proceeds. The suit was brought by State Attorney General Keith Ellison, as well as the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul. In it, they argued that the DHS is violating the Constitution's 10th Amendment, which limits the federal government's authority from forcing states to pass laws or to supervise a federal regulatory program. The federal government argues that Minnesota's laws that shield illegal immigrants from deportation violate federal law. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi praised the decision on social media, calling it another huge legal win for the Justice Department. Minneapolis officials, meanwhile, said they were disappointed but would continue to pursue the And President Trump said today that he's ordered ICE and Border Patrol agents to be very forceful in its protection of federal government property. The president said a federal building in Eugene, Oregon was damaged last night by some criminals, while local police failed to protect it. From an investment in American children and a program to fight addiction to a changing of the guard in Minnesota, this week was full of major Trump administration moves. Daniel Monahan has your White House Week in review. President Trump hosted the launching of the Trump accounts. For the first time ever, we're going to give every newborn American child a financial stake in the future, a head start in life, and a fair shot at the American dream. Under the plan, the Trump administration will deposit $1,000 for every child born between 2025 and 2028, starting this July. Rapper Nicki Minaj showed up to support the initiative. Hello guys, I'm with my favorite president, the best president of all time. And I'm with the queen of rap. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said the segment got a billion views online. We've now had a million people sign up for Trump accounts just this week. Trump intensified pressure on Iran, warning Tehran to negotiate or face possible military action while deploying a U.S. aircraft carrier to the region. We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now, and it would be great if we didn't have to use them. The FBI executed a high-profile search warrant in Fulton County, Georgia, seizing election materials linked to the 2020 vote. Last month, the Department of Justice filed suit against the county, seeking voting records from the 2020 election. President Trump and RFK Jr. announced the Great American Recovery Initiative to tackle addiction. When Americans recover, communities grow stronger. When families heal, children thrive. And when we confront addiction with courage instead of complacency, we reclaim the promise of our country. Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff lost his son Andrew to an opioid overdose. He praised the president for his work to fight against addiction. He is a very special man, and he's a guy who led the fight against opioid addiction and alcoholism. President Trump announced that he instructed the administration to open up all commercial airspace over Venezuela. American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they'll be safe there. Borders are Tom Homan took over operations in Minnesota. He addressed ICE operations in Minneapolis on Thursday, calling for more cooperation with local detention facilities. More agents in the jail means less agents in the street. This is common sense cooperation that allows us to draw down on the number of people we have here. War Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. is re-establishing deterrence, speaking at a cabinet meeting. And when President Trump said, we're not getting a nuclear Iran, you won't have a nuclear bomb, he meant it. And we sent those B-2s halfway around the world, and they never noticed. When he said, we're not going to tolerate trafficking drugs anymore in our hemisphere, we treat them like the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, he meant it, and we're executing it. President Trump warned the United Kingdom against expanding economic ties with China as Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrapped up talks in Beijing. Well, it's very dangerous for them to do that, and it's even more dangerous, I think, for Canada to get into business with China. Canada is not doing well. They're doing very poorly, and you can't look at China as the answer. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attended the Trump-Kennedy Center for the premiere of Melania. The documentary explores Melania Trump navigating the complexities of the White House transition as she prepared for the role of First Lady once again. Daniel Monahan, NTD News. A big week on Capitol Hill with lawmakers hearing testimony from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Senate passing a new funding package. Our Washington correspondent Luis Eduardo Martinez has the details. Another busy week in Congress with Secretary of State Marco Rubio making the trip to Capitol Hill to testify before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Operation Absolute Resolve, which led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. I want to be clear, and I'll share with you what I've shared publicly. We made multiple attempts to get Maduro to leave voluntarily. He was an impediment to progress. None of the things we're talking about now, not the release of political prisoners, not the transition of the oil industry to a legitimate oil industry, not the erosion of Iranian, Russian, or Chinese influence, none of these things would have been possible as long as Maduro was there. Senate Democrats also blocked the House-passed minibus funding package because they refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security without drastic changes to how ICE operates. Dramatic change is needed with the Department of Homeland Security before any appropriations bill related to ICE or CBP proceeds. The new deal reached in between the White House and Senate Democrats is to pass five out of the six appropriation bills that have already cleared the House of Representatives and to fund the Department of Homeland Security for an additional two weeks at current levels of spending. If Republicans are serious about the very reasonable demands Democrats have put forward on ICE, then there is no good reason we can't come together very quickly to produce legislation. The new funding package would need to be approved by the House of Representatives, which is in recess until early next week. And House Democrats have already threatened to hold funding for the Department of Homeland Security past the two-week continuing resolution. We have to deal with the issue of reining ICE and the Department of Homeland Security in with the fierce urgency of now. And a two-week window will evaluate whether that's sufficient time, but there's urgency to dealing with this issue. Senator Lindsey Graham held up the vote in the Senate demanding guarantees on a vote to criminalize the conduct of state and local officials who run sanctuary cities in violation of federal law. State and local officials openly defying federal law that's been on the books for decades, incentivizing more illegal immigration, massive taxpayer ripoff, and a breakdown of law and order. Government funding expired Friday at midnight and with the House still in recess, we will still see a partial government shutdown over the weekend. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Luis Eduardo Martinez, NTD News. A tragic shooting at a parade in Louisiana this afternoon has left multiple attendees injured. At least five people, including a six-year-old child, were shot at the annual Mardi Gras parade in the town of Clinton. Sheriff Jeff Tavis told local station WAFB that the parade had just begun to roll when the gunfire broke out. Speaking to the outlet, the sheriff said the parade was immediately shut down and three suspects were taken into custody. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry reacted to the news calling it unacceptable and saying lawlessness will not be allowed in the state. He asked people to join him and his wife in praying for the victim. And coming up, a discussion on the Pentagon's defense strategy to avoid confrontation with China. What it means for the Chinese Communist Party. Retired U.S. Marine Colonel Grant Newsham joins us to share his thoughts after the break. The Pentagon released its latest defense strategy which renews the goal of building strength at home while keeping a close eye on China. The approach has drawn some criticism in reports and from some members of Congress who say it downplays the China threat. Joining us now is retired U.S. Marine Colonel Grant Newsham. He's a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy and author of When China Attacks, A Warning to America. Thank you so much for joining us, Colonel. I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me. Now, my reading of this latest strategy is to put equal emphasis on building strength in the homeland and deterring China. But some critics view this approach as being soft on China. So what's your take on the latest report when it comes to deterring the Chinese Communist Party? Well, these reports usually leave most people a little bit unhappy. They don't get what they want. They don't see the language they want. They think the priorities go somewhere else. But if you read it closely, what it's calling for is dealing with China from a position of strength and taking on China out in the so-called first island chain, that's the Western Pacific, from Japan to Taiwan to the Philippines and down to Malaysia. And it is ultimately saying, look, we want to get along with China. We want a decent peace with them. But we are going to deal with them from a position of strength. And we're going to have a military that can do it. But as importantly, we're going to have a defense industrial base. We're going to have an economy that can take on China, get away from these dependencies. So it doesn't say a few things that it might have. It doesn't mention Taiwan, for example. It doesn't mention that China is conducting political warfare beyond the first island chain all the way to Latin America. But it does get the basics right. Now, this plan emphasizes what it says matters most to Americans, and this includes security, freedom and prosperity. But to achieve those goals, the document says it requires building up American defenses and neutralizing threats. So what is President Trump's strategy for seeking respectful relations with China while keeping a clear eye on its goals toward global dominance? Well, that's one of the paradoxes of this, and it may be unsolvable, is that the report talks about having a decent peace, not strangling, not humiliating China, not seeking regime change, and really to reach a peace that China can live with in the Asia Pacific and elsewhere. But the Americans may want that and think it's reasonable. Well, that's not China's objective. China's objective is to dominate and ultimately to drive us out of the Asia Pacific region, for starters. But the idea is to offer China a deal, and if they don't take it, we're going to be ready to deal with them if necessary. It talks about strength without confrontation, but to the Chinese, anytime one shows strength or an effort to defend themselves, that is confrontation from their perspective. So I'm not sure exactly how this can work out. But some of the language in the NDS is a little bit too conciliatory, in my opinion, and it does talk about restarting or having solid military-to-military engagement and communications with the Chinese, and that has been tried for a long, long time, and it really hasn't produced anything of use. The Chinese understand us, and they understand what we're trying to do, and the idea that somehow they just don't understand America, I think that's missing the boat. But in some ways, an American conceit that if people just talk to us, they might come to like us. But that said, the basics of this report are pretty good, in my opinion. Now, speaking of things that have been tried for a long, long time, Air and Space Forces magazine reports that past presidents made efforts to pivot their focus from Europe and the Middle East to China. Now, how were their strategies toward China different from what Trump is doing now? Well, the Obama administration, they're the ones who started the pivot, and that was really just a way to distinguish themselves from George Bush and his so-called forever wars in the Middle East. There was actually no substance at all to the pivot. The Obama administration proved to be extremely weak when it came to dealing with China. The Biden administration was slightly better, but at the same time, it didn't really push China very much or nearly as much as it should have. You remember the dressing down Jake Sullivan, Tony Blinken, and Kurt Campbell took in Anchorage, Alaska, when Chinese diplomats lectured them fiercely for half an hour, and they just sat there and took it. And that kind of typified the fundamental Biden administration approach, although they did do some good things when it came to trade restrictions, etc. But the Trump administration is one that understands the China threat very well. You saw how the first Trump administration dealt with China. It was the first one ever to take on China with any sort of backbone. This time around, they're doing it a little bit differently. But there is an effort to do things China doesn't like, and that includes building up the military. You saw President Trump talk about the Golden Fleet. It's not mentioned in the report, unfortunately. And there is some talk of actually rebuilding the U.S. Navy, having a strong military, but also getting to the revitalization of America's industrial base, which is essential, and the importance of the economic strength when it comes to dealing with China. And if President Trump could, I think we'd have seen a much stronger approach taken to China. But the Chinese are playing their rare-earth chokehold that they've got over U.S. industry and other dependencies, such as pharmaceuticals. And that has really forced Mr. Trump to back off more than he would like. But he is—once again, he's doing things that China doesn't like. And for one thing, for example, he's also talking about America's allies having to do more for their own defense. China does not want to see America with capable allies who are able to operate with us and who are able to defend themselves. So he—as I say, he's carrying on from his first term, doing it a little bit differently. And a couple other things. He's gone after Venezuela. He's gone after Iran, if he goes after Cuba. These are things which really hurt and embarrass the People's Republic of China. Now, you mentioned earlier that this plan doesn't mention Taiwan, but it does appear to have a plan to build military strength in the Indo-Pacific. And of course, that region includes Taiwan, which China views as its own. But the strategy doesn't mention Taiwan, as we said. So why not explicitly include Taiwan in this plan? Well, I think—and what I hear is that there's an effort to not say anything verbally that China isn't going to like. And I think that's probably mistaken. But that does seem to be the strategy the administration is taking. Taiwan isn't mentioned. It would have been good if they did. But at the same time, look at what the Americans are actually doing in the region. Look at the support they are giving to Taiwan, the presence of American advisers and trainers there, approving an $11 billion arms deal to Taiwan recently. It would be good, of course, if they could deliver these sometime before the end of this century. But nonetheless, they are doing things. And so the language in these reports says it always gets people riled up. But it's probably not appropriate in this case. But as I also mentioned, there is no mention of political warfare. There's no mention of the Central Pacific. So while the focus is on defending kinetically with armed force along the First Island Chain, the Chinese are already well ensconced in every Pacific island behind the First Island Chain and all the way to Latin America. For now, it's political warfare, but it's undercutting America's position in the region. And if you don't get that right or pay attention to it, then you just might find yourself beefed up on the First Island Chain, but your rear area has gone to pieces as the Chinese are there and have undercut our presence there, built up dual-use infrastructure, ports, airfields, and also have subverted local governments so that the PLA can actually come in there and operate. So that should, perhaps should have gotten mentioned. Additionally, one notes that while there's talk of defending the homeland, that Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas out in the Pacific, these are American people. And that rarely gets considered, but that should have been paid attention to as well. So there were some things that one hopes that somebody's thinking about, but I'm not entirely certain of that. And if you don't mention it, sometimes you'll find that, say, a military, say, U.S. Indo-Pacom, well, they, if somebody tries to get someone to pay attention to the Central Pacific, the rear areas, and also political warfare, you could find some, an officer saying, well, where's it mentioned in the national defense strategy? It's not. What is mentioned? The first island chain. So you may find an over-focus on the first island chain, if you're not careful. Well, perhaps he's following that old adage, action speaks louder than words. Grant Newsham, Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Policy. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks very much. And coming up in tennis, the world's top-ranked women's player upset at the Australian Open finals. NTD's Dave Martin joins us to discuss. And a renowned brain surgeon shares the power of nurturing the body to heal the mind, a discovery he made after hitting rock bottom in his own life. That story when we come back. And for your sports news, we're joined now by NTD's Dave Martin. Dave, how are you doing today? I'm doing well, Arlene. How are you? I'm doing fine. A little far away today, but still waiting for the sports. So let's get started, Dave. We've got NBA, we've got college basketball, and we've also got some Super Bowl news. But let's get started with tennis because the women's number one player was upset today in the Australian Open finals. And I want to know what you make of it. Yeah. Top-ranked Arena Savalinka upset by fifth-ranked Elita Ravikina in three sets today to win the Australian Open title. And Ravikina, she had to come back to do this. Now, they split the first two sets. In the third set, though, Savalinka took a commanding three-nothing lead. She won the first three games before Ravikina stormed back, winning five games in a row. She then served out the match for the title. Now, this is Ravikina's second major title, first at the Australian Open. And with it, she'll soon be ranked third next week when the new rankings come out. So congratulations to her on her big win. Meanwhile, the men's championship will be decided tomorrow. Number one-ranked Carlos Alcarez will take on fourth-ranked Novak Djokovic. That match scheduled to start at 3.30 a.m. Eastern time early tomorrow morning. Now, Alcarez, this is the one grand slam event he has not won. Meanwhile, Djokovic, he has won this more than anyone else, 10 times in all. And he's a perfect 10-0 in the finals. So I think this is going to be a much-watched match there. You know, I'm still surprised that tennis is going on for so long. But let's look at some NBA news. Now, the league today suspended nine-time All-Star Paul George 25 games for violating the NBA's anti-drug policy. Now, what all do you know about this? You know, not a lot. Now, Paul George did respond, telling ESPN, quote, over the past few years, I've discussed the importance of mental health, health. And in the course of recently seeking treatment for an issue of my own, I made the mistake of taking an improper medication, end quote. I mean, it's going to be a costly mistake, too, here, Arlene. Paul's 25-game suspension will cost him approximately $11 million in salary loss. Now, meanwhile, his team, the Philadelphia 76ers, they're having a bounce-back season. They're sixth right now in the Eastern Conference with a 26-21 record. They've got those three All-Stars. You've got Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid. But for various reasons, those three have only played 17 games out of their total of 47 games this season. This suspension is only going to make this matters worse. Now, Paul's suspension, it begins today. Philadelphia takes on the New Orleans Pelicans tonight. He won't return to action until March 25th when they play at Chicago. At that point, there's only going to be 10 games left in the regular season, so a very significant suspension here. Yeah, I would say so. I mean, wow, they're not messing around here. They're not messing around. 25 games, it's like almost a third of the season. My goodness, and only 10 games will be left after that. That's amazing. Yeah, it's quite a suspension. So let's shift gears. We're going to go to college basketball. We have a number of ranked teams in action today. Where do you think things stand now? Yeah, a lot of teams in action today. Let's get you updated on some of the scores here. Now, let's start in the ACC. Fourth-ranked Duke won at Virginia Tech today, 72-58. Blue Devils, now 9-0 in conference play, 20-1 overall on the season. In the Big 12, 10th-ranked Houston won't beat Cincinnati, 76-54. Cougars now 7-1 in the Big 12, 19-2 overall. Let's actually go to some more scores here. Number one, Arizona State undefeated, winning at Arizona State, 87-74. Wildcats now 22-1 on the season, 9-0 in the Big 12 as they lead everyone there. In the ACC, 20th-ranked Louisville beat SMU, 88-74. Cardinals now 15-6 on the season. And finally, 24th-ranked Miami of Ohio beat Northern Illinois, 85-61 to stay undefeated at 22-0. Miami of Ohio is the only other team besides Arizona to be undefeated. They're both teams at 22-0. Now, tonight we've got some more ranked teams in action. Number two, UConn, number six, Gonzaga, and, of course, Kansas right now is playing BYU. We've got a lot of ranked teams here going on today. Another busy day for you, but we're going to move on to Super Bowl news. The big game is just over a week away, and one of the highlights for those of us who like watching it on TV is the unique Super Bowl ad. So do you have a sneak peek of one that you can show us today? I definitely do, Arlene. This is going to be an ad for Instacart. It looks like it's supposed to be a couple of, you know, 80s Eurodisco stars. Even the TV formatting looks like it's from the 80s. I'm sure, though, you'll recognize at least one of the performers. Let's go ahead and play that right now. So that was actor Ben Stiller there, of course, crashing out at the end. Plus, we had recording artist Benson Boone there, and a very funny Super Bowl ad. Again, that was for Instacart. If you missed it, there was a couple of pieces of fruit there. I guess that was for the Instacart part, but one of the funny commercials that we'll see on Super Bowl Sunday, which is now eight days away. Well, maybe that's an example of what's yet to come. Yet to come, exactly, Arlene. All right, Dave, thank you so much for those updates. Thanks, Arlene. At 41, renowned brain surgeon Dr. Joseph Maroon saw his life unravel from the heights of professional success to working at a gas station, gaining weight, and losing his marriage. But that fall became a turning point. In this episode of Vital Signs, Dr. Maroon joins host Brandon Falun to share how his own journey revealed the power of healing the body to help heal the mind. Here's a preview. Welcome. I'm Brandon Falun, health journalist. I'm very pleased to be joined by Dr. Joseph Maroon. He's the professor and vice chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and he's also the consultant neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers. On top of that, he's been an Ironman athlete eight times. Dr. Maroon, thank you so much for joining me on the show today. You have some very interesting, very fascinating research results on the Parkinson's disease front. First, I want to get a bit of your personal story. I read that at the age of 41, you'd gone from doing awake neurosurgery to flipping burgers and pumping gas at a gas station. So how did that come about? I was chief of neurosurgery at the University Hospital in Pittsburgh, and within the course of a week, my father died suddenly at age 60 of a massive heart attack. I was 40 at the time. Because I devoted too much effort to my career and to neglecting a few other parts of my life, my marriage broke up, and I had to quit neurosurgery all the same week. So I went from literally doing awake brain surgery on patients with tumors and eloquent parts of the brain to working in a dilapidated truck stop that my father heavily mortgaged bequeathed to my mother. So for a year, literally, I was flipping hamburgers and filling up 18 wheelers and wondering, how did this happen to me? I was overweight, and after several months, the banker who held the mortgage on the truck stop called me and said, you know, Joe, you better, let's go for a run. I said, I can't hardly walk up a flight of steps, but I made it down to a high school track in Wheeling. We went around four times. I said, never again. But that night was the first night I slept in about several months. Really? So I went back the next day and did a mile and a quarter, and then two, and then three, and then four, and I read about triathlons and cross-training at that time, and I got a bike. I learned to swim at the Y. As the unintended side effect of using my body to heal my brain, which is what was happening, you know, we know the mind can make the body very sick, heart attacks, strokes, irritable bowel syndrome, but the body can heal the mind. What was happening? What was happening is I was rebooting my neurotransmitters. I was getting my serotonin up and my acetylcholine. My memory was improving naturally without drugs, without pharmacologic agents. After the course of a year, I lost weight. I was able to, my brain started to work again, and I completely changed my own dietary habits and my lifestyle. I realized that I was burned out when I was working. What is burnt out? I mean, we hear this term a lot these days. How do you define that? You define it as overworked, overcommitted, overstressed, out of balance. Is there a neurological symptom associated with that? Is there something physical? There sure is. There sure is. When you become overstressed, your body, your hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis turns on your adrenal glands to make excess cortisol and also excess adrenaline epinephrine, and when these are at high levels for prolonged periods of time, it literally destroys brain cells in your hippocampus that subserves memory. Your memory goes, and it also affects your decision-making, your attention, and clearly contributes to neurodegenerative disease, chronic, unremitting stress. It's so common in physicians, up to 50% of physicians experience burnout at some time in their career of a significant nature that it requires time off for therapy or other modalities, meditation, prayer, to get back in the group. So that helped me, and I changed my diet completely. I figured my father died at 60. I have the same genes. I was short, fat, bald, overweight. I made a life change, and I realized the principles of health are centered around, number one, the right diet. Number two, physical exercise. Number three, avoiding environmental toxins, including alcohol, drugs, smoking, controlling stress with prayer, meditation, yoga, whatever, and getting adequate sleep. Those are the five things that enhance brain function, help prevent Alzheimer's and neurodegenerative disease, and reduce neuroinflammation in the brain and body. I realized that I was on a track, literally, on a path of destruction, and now I thought at 60, that was it, anything beyond that, and here I'm sitting with you now at 85. I see the bullets going by, but I'm still able to, I think I'm functioning at a high level and having more fun now. When I operated, I did neurosurgery, brain tumors, arteriovenous malformations, aneurysms, spinal cord injuries for 50 years. I'm having more fun now, more creativity, than I did when I was 60. To see that full interview and others on how to optimize health, go to ept.ms forward slash vital signs. Vital signs offers general health information, not intended as medical diagnosis or advice. Please consult your doctor before undertaking a new health regimen. Coming up, Entity's fifth international photography competition has come to a conclusion. Winners share their thoughts on the contest and reveal what inspired their photos. And one of America's founding fathers spent nearly 16 years in London. Now his former home is marking 250 years of American history. Details on that after the break. One of Entity's exclusive arts and culture events, the fifth international photography competition, has just wrapped up. Photographs by the finalists were on display at the Salamangundi Club in New York City this past week, with winners announced Thursday night. Entity's Flora Hua was at the event. Let's take a look. What an exciting night. Winners and finalists of Entity's fifth international photography competition gathered here for the award ceremony. The gold award goes to Adrian Yu from Hong Kong. He hopes to share a message through his work, which is the world needs truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. I was excited. It was a big surprise. I really didn't expect that. Adrian Yu said he will continue to sharpen his skills in photography. He also felt very inspired by others' works. The Entity photography competition covers a very wide range of themes, including humanity, landscapes and humanistic photography. The themes are extremely diverse, which really opened up a lot of space for my imagination. Gina Pottinger was deeply touched by the kindness she received from the competition committee, as well as the values Entity preserved. Every photographer that entered this contest is participating in God's work in the world by also creating and capturing through our photos what God created. So, our fellow humans, the animals that he's created, the natural world, we are participating in that and celebrating it. And I think that gives God joy and we have joy because that we're participating with God in that way. Silver award winner Ming-Lun Tsai came from southern Taiwan's Chiayi. He hoped to showcase the beauty of his hometown through the international platform created by the Entity photography competition. Tsai's wife and daughter also came here to show support. Tsai shared how he incorporated photography into family education. I believe that with children, what matters most is spending time with them. I really value family life and being able to go outside with my kids, taking walks, enjoying nature and letting them connect with the natural world. When we see beautiful things, we can record those moments together. Finalist Bill Xie teaches photography in college and is also a wedding photographer. The quality of this photography exhibition was incredibly high. I was amazed by so many of the photos. A couple from New Jersey fell deeply in love with the exhibition. It's wonderful. Entity did a great job of bringing us all together, amateurs, professionals, photographers from all over the world. I'm just thrilled to be able to participate and to learn. Larry Dai, the jury chair of the competition, explained the goal of this event. Through this competition, we hope to guide photography back to its true purpose so people can better understand what photography should express, what it should celebrate, and how to capture those beautiful, meaningful moments. Reporting from New York City's Samagundi Club, Flora Hua, Entity News. While the American colonies were still ruled under the British crown, Founding Father Benjamin Franklin spent nearly 16 years living in London. Today, his former home there is helping to mark 250 years since American independence. Entity's Andrew Thomas has the details on the only surviving Franklin residence in the world. This building on London's Craven Street used to be home to one of American history's most iconic figures. Benjamin Franklin lived here between 1757 and 1775, and became an important figure in Britain's political, scientific, and social life. Head of Education at the Benjamin Franklin House, Henry Wilkinson explains. Benjamin Franklin arrives in London as a celebrity. He's well known among scientific circles, which means he has a way into lots of dinner parties, social clubs, societies. He makes friends with a lot of very influential figures in the 18th century during this time, not just in London, but around the UK as well. Built as a lodging house, the home still features original fireplaces, staircases, and floorboards. Replicas of Franklin's bifocal glasses are also on display. By the early 1770s, relations between Britain and the American colonies had grown tense. Franklin's status in London began to deteriorate. Franklin is chased out of London in 1775. He's accused of being a spy. And by the time he gets back to America, Lexington and Concord happen pretty much a week later, and the Revolutionary War begins. Franklin didn't fight in the war, but still retained significant influence on how it was fought. He would help to draft the Declaration of Independence and secure French support for the Revolution. Later, he would become a signatory to the United States Constitution. He's too old to be on the front line of the American Revolution. He's more of an advisor. He gives the go-ahead, a seal of approval. If Franklin is in the room, then what you're discussing is worth listening to, essentially. And if he gets up and leaves, you need to rethink what you're talking about. The house opened to the public in 2006 after extensive restoration. While it contains interesting artifacts, Deputy Director Michael Hall says the focus is on the home. We're a non-collecting museum, so we don't have a big collection. We have a few small objects, but the house itself is the main object that we use to interpret Franklin's time here. Because we don't know what the furniture was that was here, we only have a few references to small pieces. Upstairs, past the original staircase, a decorative glass instrument is on display. As the bowls spin, the player touches the glass with dampened fingers to produce different notes. The glass harmonica is invented by Franklin while he lives in the house, and it's something that he's really proud of. He enjoys showing it off to people, and it's partly because it is both a musical instrument but sort of an enlightenment musical instrument, so it's based on scientific theories. As the United States celebrates 250 years since independence, Franklin's house is preparing a new digital app and digital exhibition, due to be unveiled in February. Antrim Thomas, NTD News. And that's the news for this evening. Thank you for tuning in. I'm Arlene Richards. Good night.