Stephen A. Schwarzman — chairman, CEO and co-founder of Blackstone, the private equity and real estate giant — tells Axios he will support Donald Trump as a "vote for change." Schwarzman said Friday that he plans to donate to Trump and various Republican Senate candidates. Why it matters: The endorsement gives Trump access to a potent network of Republican donors Schwarzman has cultivated. Trump also could get a new look from some business leaders who have been reluctant to back him...

Egypt said Friday it has agreed to send U.N. humanitarian aid trucks through Israel’s main crossing into Gaza, but it remained unclear if they will be able to enter the territory as fighting raged in the southern city of Rafah amid Israel’s escalating offensive there. Meanwhile, the bodies of three more hostages killed on Oct. 7 were recovered overnight from Gaza, Israel’s army said Friday. The CIA chief met in Paris with Israeli and Qatari officials, trying to revive negotiations for a...

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who is reportedly a top contender for Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, has jumped on the bandwagon of flying the Christian nationalist “Appeal To Heaven” flag. Cotton proudly announced on social media that he had installed the flag outside his Senate office. “I stand with George Washington and Martha-Ann Alito over pearl-clutching libs at the New York Times and Democrats in Congress,” he wrote. While Cotton correctly identified the flag’s Revolutionary War...

Chinese newspaper the Global Times has issued a stark warning to Taiwan, a key U.S. partner in the Indo-Pacific who is fighting to maintain its independence from Beijing. China says that Taiwan, a self-governing island democracy in East Asia, is a territory of the People's Republic. This has long caused severe tension between China and Taiwan and strained relations between China and the United States, which has backed Taiwan independence. Following an inauguration speech that Taiwan's new...

Missouri State Rep. Ben Baker says his daughter and son-in-law were both killed in Haiti in a gang attack. “My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I’ve never felt this kind of pain,” said Baker in a Facebook post Friday morning on the situation. Baker (R-Neosho) says his daughter Natalie and his son-in-law Davy were attacked by gangs and killed. They were both full-time missionaries in Haiti. Nonprofit Missions in Haiti Inc. called for an “urgent prayer” in a Facebook post on...

A massive landslide is feared to have killed hundreds of people after it struck remote villages in Papua New Guinea, local officials and aid agencies said. The landslide buried more than 100 homes after it struck around 03:00 local time Friday (17:00 GMT Thursday) in the highlands of Enga, north of the island nation in the south-west Pacific. It was not immediately clear how many people were trapped in the rubble. Enga governor Peter Ipatas told AFP news agency it was an "unprecedented...

This is a great item from Bill Melugin at Fox. An illegal immigrant from Turkey can’t believe how lax we are, and thinks it’s dangerous: This is also a symptom of Joe Biden’s political problems. If this guy could vote, he’d clearly be with Trump on the border issue alone.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk reiterated his stance this week that artificial intelligence will eventually eliminate the need for humans to work, giving his vision for how the future will look as the technology continues to rapidly advance. During his remote appearance at the Viva Technology conference in Paris on Thursday, Musk was asked whether he was concerned about losing his job to AI, and what he would do if that were to happen. Musk holds several roles as the CEO of Tesla, and...

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is transferring his role to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks today as he prepares to undergo elective surgery. Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement that Austin will undergo a “minimally invasive follow-up non-surgical procedure” that is related to his previous bladder issue. The procedure will take place this evening at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.