Category: World

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The Guinness World Record for “hottest chili pepper” has been awarded to Pepper X, which clocks in 2,693,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), the publication announced in a press release on Monday, October 16.

Pepper X is a specially crossbred pepper created by Ed Currie, the owner of Puckerbutt Pepper Company in South Carolina. His Carolina Reaper pepper previously held the world record for hottest chili pepper.

The Carolina Reaper came in at “only” an average 1,640,000 million SHU. As the Scoville scale is logarithmic, that means that Pepper X is about three times as spicy as the Carolina Reaper. 

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Comparatively, a poblano pepper is about 1,000 SHU, while a jalapeño pepper averages 5,000 SHU. 

A habanero pepper, one of the spiciest non-hybrid peppers, is about 100,000 SHU.

Pepper X has a higher SHU rating than police-issue pepper spray and bear spray, notes the Associated Press.

Eating Pepper X is not an enjoyable experience, Currie recounted. 

“I was feeling the heat for three-and-a-half hours. Then the cramps came,” said Currie to the Associated Press. 

“Those cramps are horrible. I was laid out flat on a marble wall for approximately an hour in the rain, groaning in pain.”

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Only five people, including Currie, have actually eaten Pepper X. 

Pepper X made its official public debut during the October 16 episode of the YouTube series “Hot Ones.” 

“Hot Ones” is an interview show that typically pits celebrities against a series of increasingly spicy hot wings. 

The host, Sean Evans, asks celebrities increasingly personal questions as the spice levels increase. 

Evans called Currie the “sick, twisted mind behind Pepper X.” 

The creation of Pepper X was the culmination of a 10-year process, beginning when Currie was first awarded the Guinness World Record in 2013 for the Carolina Reaper.

In breeding Pepper X, Currie sought to “offer an extremely hot pepper flavored with sweetness,” said the Associated Press.

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Pepper X is a crossbred of the Carolina Reaper and a “pepper that a friend of mine sent me from Michigan that was brutally hot,” Currie explained to the Associated Press.

It reportedly has an “earthy flavor” and “citrus tone.” 

The name was initially a placeholder that stuck.

Speaking on Hot Ones, Currie said that he had Pepper X’s seeds “in the war chest for about a decade now,” waiting for someone to overthrow the Carolina Reaper’s heat record. 

When nobody did, he “decided to bring it out to the world.” 

Spicy peppers, said Currie, is a serious business — and he has had to ward off people from trying to nab his creations.

“Literally, people have been trying to steal it for the last 10 years,” he said to Evans. “We have to protect ourselves, because this is our pepper.” 

Currie was surprised with the Guinness World Record plaque for Pepper X during the episode of Hot Ones.

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“It took a team. This is a culmination of a lot of work by a lot of people,” said Currie, who was visibly emotional. 

Currie said that he was told that a pepper of Pepper X’s spice level “couldn’t be done,” and that he was called a liar throughout the process.

“We proved to them that Pepper X is the hottest pepper in the world,” he said, calling the work of his team “validated” by the world record recognition. 

While Pepper X products are available on Puckerbutt Pepper Company’s website, Currie told the Associated Press that a person should “build up a tolerance” before trying any of the more extreme products.

He also hinted that an even spicier pepper may be in the works. 

“Is this the pinnacle?” Currie told the Associated Press regarding Pepper X. “No, it’s not the pinnacle.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

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Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer announced that he and his wife are resigning from the Harvard Kennedy School’s executive board because of the school president’s response to a student letter that blamed Israel for the terrorist attack on their country.

Ofer released a statement explaining that he and his wife, Batia, resigned “in protest of the shocking and insensitive response by the president of the university, who did not condemn the letter by student organizations who blamed Israel for the massacres,” according to a report from the New York Post.

The decision comes after a letter, which was titled “Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine” and signed by 31 student groups, condemned Israel after the country faced a surprise attack from Hamas earlier this month.

HARVARD PRESIDENT ADDRESSES BACKLASH FOLLOWING STUDENT GROUPS’ STATEMENT BLAMING ISRAEL FOR VIOLENCE

“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” the letter read. “The apartheid regime is the only one to blame.”

“Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years,” the letter continued. “From systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions, to military checkpoints, and enforced family separations to targeted killings, Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden.”

The letter drew immediate backlash from across the U.S., which only grew as the school and Harvard President Claudine Gay offered nothing but silence in response. 

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After calls to condemn the letter grew, Gay released a video response last week arguing that she does condemn the Hamas attacks but noting that she “embraces a commitment to free expression” on campus, a right that “extends even to views that many of us find objectionable, even outrageous.” 

“People have asked me where we stand. So let me be clear. Our university rejects terrorism. That includes the barbaric atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. Our university rejects hate. Hate of Jews. Hate of Muslims. Hate of any group of people based on their faith, their national origin, or any aspect of their identity. Our university rejects the harassment or intimidation of individuals based on their beliefs,” Gay said.

Harvard’s president also noted that “students have the right to speak for themselves,” but cautioned that “no student group – not even 30 student groups – speaks for Harvard University or its leadership.”

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But the response was apparently not enough for the Ofers, one of the wealthiest families in Israel with an estimated net worth of $14 billion, who instead decided to cut ties with the school.

Harvard did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed President Biden on Tuesday accusing him of prioritizing humanitarian aid to Gaza, which has reportedly been compromised by Hamas in the past, over rescuing American and Israeli hostages.

“Innocent Americans and Israelis are being held hostage by Hamas terrorists, yet Biden is more focused on sending ‘humanitarian aid’ to Gaza that will be commandeered by Hamas terrorists,” the GOP presidential candidate posted on X Tuesday.

“Biden should work with Israel to free all American and Israeli hostages, not shower Hamas with money.”

The DeSantis post included a screenshot of a Reuters news article with the headline “US and Israel to develop aid plan for Gaza civilians, Blinken says.”

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“Palestinian leadership is already bankrolling Hamas’ atrocities against Israel and Biden wants to send aid into Gaza that will further support terrorist activity,” DeSantis said in a follow-up post. “As President, I wouldn’t send a single dollar into Gaza.”

Biden has been widely criticized by Republicans for not moving quickly enough to secure the release of American hostages in Israel following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 as well as not doing enough to help the thousands of Americans stranded in Israel find a way home.

DeSantis recently took matters into his own hands by signing an executive order authorizing his state to send planes and resources to Israel to rescue stranded Americans.

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DeSantis announced earlier this week that a flight carrying 270 people stranded in Israel landed in Tampa Bay, Florida.

“I am proud of how quickly we have been able to activate resources and do what the federal government could not – get Floridians and other Americans back home, reunited with their families, free of charge,” DeSantis said in a press release.

The State Department announced last Wednesday, four days after the Hamas attack, that “the U.S. government will arrange charter flights to assist U.S. citizens and their immediate family members who have been unable to book commercial transit and seek a safe means of departing Israel” starting on Friday. 

Hamas is believed to be holding 199 Israelis hostages while 13 Americans are currently unaccounted for and are possibly being held by the terror group as well.

Additionally, questions have been raised about Hamas’s ability to access humanitarian aid sent to Palestinian refugees.

Fox News Digital reported on Saturday that the Biden administration has sent hundreds of millions in taxpayer money, including tens of millions in COVID relief funds, to a United Nations agency accused of harboring Hamas terrorists in the past.

“The USA should not be placing conditions on our support for Israel because of demands from the ‘Squad,'” GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn said this week.

“Humanitarian aid repeatedly ends up in the hands of Hamas terrorists who use it to build rockets & kill more Israelis. We should immediately halt U.S. aid for the Palestinians.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

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One House Democrat said he has some names of Republican members he’d support for House speaker over the current nominee.

Fox News Digital staked out the House Democrats’ conference meeting Tuesday morning and asked blue members going in if they think there is still a bipartisan speaker coalition on the table after Republicans nominated Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, told Fox News Digital that he thinks “if this doesn’t work with Jim Jordan, yes,” he sees a potential bipartisan coalition for speaker and talked up House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO VOTE ON NEW SPEAKER

“I mean, we certainly promote and favor a bipartisan solution to this,” Raskin said. “You know, I think that Hakeem Jeffries would be somebody who Republicans can work with. He’s, he’s true to his word. He’s super well organized. He’s legislatively prolific.”

“So, you know, that’s our solution. But if they find it indigestible to vote for a Democrat, there are lots of Republicans that I, speaking for myself, could support,” Raskin said. “I would think that Liz Cheney would be the natural compromise candidate. She was the chair of the Republican Conference, the number three person in their hierarchy.”

“And if they couldn’t vote for Liz Cheney, that would be a hell of a statement about the condition of their party,” Raskin said.

Cheney left office in 2021 and served as the House Republican Conference chairwoman at the time of her departure.

Fox News Digital pressed Raskin on if he has any other names in mind for a Republican candidate he could get behind.

Raskin said “there are several of them” he could see himself getting behind but that he “wouldn’t want to spoil any of their chances by stating their names publicly.”

The Maryland Democrat also said it “seems like any bipartisanship on the part of Republicans becomes a disqualifying factor” in their deliberations for speaker.

“So I’m hoping that cooler heads will prevail, but it would be a very extreme statement for them to choose Jim Jordan as speaker,” Raskin said.

Fellow Democrat Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said it is possible for a bipartisan coalition but railed against Jordan.

McGovern said he believes that the GOP “kind of hit rock bottom” by nominating Jordan and quipped that “Halloween is coming early.”

The Massachusetts Democrat also said “there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, and Jim Jordan in terms of policy” is a “different waiter” with the “same menu.”

“But the bottom line is Jim Jordan I think, you know, he’s stood for things more openly that quite frankly, were offensive,” McGovern said. “I was the last person on the floor on January 6, and the idea that this guy is a Republican nominee to be speaker, a guy who aggressively agitated the activities that happened on January 6, I think is disgusting.”

California Democrat Rep. Ted Lieu told Fox News Digital “there is always an opportunity” for a bipartisan coalition while his fellow Golden State Democrat Rep. Brad Sherman did not answer the question, just saying it is “a sunny day.”

Meanwhile, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., as well as Democrat Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib did not answer Fox News Digital’s questions on a potential bipartisan coalition.

D.C. saw a cloudy Tuesday ahead of the speaker’s vote that Republicans hope to see ascend Jordan to the gavel.

Jordan has been making calls for days to shore up support for his gavel bid from members of his conference.

The House Judiciary Committee chairman was selected by the GOP conference on Friday as their speaker nominee.

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An expert in forensic pathology testified Monday in the ongoing trial of three Tacoma, Washington, police officers charged with the death of Manuel Ellis that Ellis likely would have lived if not for the officers’ actions to restrain him.

Dr. Roger Mitchell, former chief medical examiner for Washington, D.C., made the statement Monday and last week affirmed ex-Pierce County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Clark’s ruling that Ellis died by homicide from oxygen deprivation caused by physical restraint, The Seattle Times reported.

Officers Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank, both white, are charged with murder and manslaughter in the death of Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, on March 3, 2020. Officer Timothy Rankine, who is Asian American, is charged with manslaughter.

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Collins and Burbank were the first officers to engage with Ellis and have said they did so because Ellis, on foot, was hassling people in a car as it passed through an intersection.

All have pleaded not guilty and remain employed by the Tacoma Police Department on paid leave.

Mitchell was questioned by special prosecutor Patty Eakes about medical findings that led him to his conclusion. Key among them, he said, was the presence of acidosis, a condition indicative of insufficient oxygen.

People experiencing low oxygen instinctively seek to breathe, and heavy breathing is the body’s natural cure for acidosis, Mitchell said. Ellis, pressed against the ground by police as he lay on his stomach, couldn’t find a position that allowed him to breathe, Mitchell testified.

Prosecutors previously said Ellis’ last words were “I can’t breathe.”

Defense attorneys have generally argued Ellis died of a methamphetamine overdose.

Collins’ lawyer, Jared Ausserer, later questioned Mitchell about describing himself on social media as “an advocate.” Mitchell, who is Black, said he is an advocate for finding public health solutions to problems that have disproportionately affected Black Americans.

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Rankine’s lawyer, Mark Conrad, asked Mitchell whether he drew his conclusions from “circumstantial evidence.”

Mitchell said his conclusion — that restraint caused Ellis to be denied sufficient oxygen — was based on a number of factors: Ellis being placed in a prone position, his handcuffed hands hogtied to his feet, with a spit hood on his head; the presence of food and blood in his airways; and documentation at the scene that Ellis’ heart rate and breathing gradually deteriorated.

Last week two eyewitnesses characterized the officers as the aggressors in the altercation. Lawyers for the officers have said it was Ellis who acted aggressively, prompting them to respond.

Testimony is scheduled to resume Tuesday when the prosecution is expected to call a forensic audio expert to testify.

This is the first trial under a Washington state law that makes it easier to prosecute police who wrongfully use deadly force.

The trial, which started Oct. 3, is expected to run four days per week until December.

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., suggested in a new interview that recent rhetoric from Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Gaza refugees led to the killing of a Palestinian-American boy.

DeSantis on Sunday stuck to his stance that the U.S. should not accept refugees from Gaza amid the ongoing Hamas war with Israel.

“Palestinian Arabs should go to Arab countries. The U.S. should not be absorbing any of those,” DeSantis said during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday.

A day earlier, the Republican presidential candidate said the U.S. should not accept people from Gaza as refugees, telling an Iowa crowd, “I am not going to do that.”

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“If you look at how they behave, not all of them are Hamas, but they are all antisemitic. None of them believe in Israel’s right to exist,” he added.

During an appearance on “CNN NewsNight” with Abby Phillip, Ocasio-Cortez called DeSantis’ rhetoric “incredibly destructive and dangerous.”

“We just had a six-year-old boy stabbed 26 times this morning because of rhetoric like that,” she said. “It is dangerous. It is unacceptable. It is reckless. And no leader in the United States of America should be amplifying a message like that.”

DeSantis and Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Ocasio-Cortez was referring to the story of Wadea Al Fayoume, a 6-year-old who was brutally stabbed to death on Saturday in Illinois. His mother, Hanaan Shahin, was also stabbed more than a dozen times but survived. The family’s landlord, 71-year-old Joseph M. Czuba, has been charged with the boy’s murder.

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Will County officials said the attack occurred because the family was Muslim. The Justice Department is now investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Ocasio-Cortez last week distanced herself from a pro-Palestinian rally promoted by the NYC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

The DSA blamed the attack on Israel, posting on social media: “Today’s events are a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime – a regime that receives billions in funding from the United States.”

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Demonstrators at the rally also burned and stomped on an Israeli flag and taunted Israeli supporters with an image of a swastika.

Following the event, Ocasio-Cortez, a DSA member, told Politico that shutting down hatred and antisemitism is a “core tenet of solidarity.”

“The bigotry and callousness expressed in Times Square on Sunday were unacceptable and harmful in this devastating moment. It also did not speak for the thousands of New Yorkers who are capable of rejecting both Hamas’ horrifying attacks against innocent civilians as well as the grave injustices and violence Palestinians face under occupation,” she added.

For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media.

Fox News’ Kyle Morris and Michael Lee contributed to this report. 

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Welcome to the Fox News Entertainment Newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your email, subscribe here.

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