Cornerstone University, a Christian institution in Michigan, is hosting an event focused on the dangers of communism, featuring academics and people who survived authoritarian regimes.

Dr. Gerson Moreno-Riaño, Cornerstone’s president, said the university selected the topic months ago after becoming concerned about shifting public attitudes toward communism and socialism. Scheduled for Oct. 1, the program is titled “Why Not Communism? A Wisdom Conversation on Freedom, Faith and the Future of America.”

“Frankly, we became alarmed and concerned because the history of communism, socialism is a dark one,” Moreno-Riaño told Fox News Digital.

He said Cornerstone felt an obligation to use its role as a university to educate its students and the broader public about what he described as the “moral bankruptcy” of communism and socialism.

The university is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in Kent County, where Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed received more than 61% of the vote in the primary, according to state records. El-Sayed also campaigned with controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has called communism the “honorable end goal” of socialism—adding political context to Cornerstone’s event.

The speaker lineup includes Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon, Soviet communism scholar Dr. Gary Saul Morson, Cultural Revolution survivor Xi Van Fleet and North Korean defector Yeonmi Park.

Moreno-Riaño said the firsthand accounts of Park and Van Fleet are central to the discussion because their experiences reveal parallels between communist revolutions and conditions in North Korea and China under Mao Zedong.

Park told Fox News Digital that support for communism is growing among some students who study the ideology in comfortable classrooms, far removed from the realities of life under authoritarian rule.

“I had to live through [a] real socialist government every day until I escaped from North Korea,” Park said. “And I know it is not nice when it is actually enforced [in] real life. Many people think it’s [an] amazing thing as a theory, and they have no idea if we do bring this policy in our government, what that’s going to [do to] our local population.”

Park grew up in North Korea during the devastating famines of the 1990s, enduring hunger, extreme poverty and political persecution. At 13, she and her mother fled across a frozen border river into China, where they were forced into human trafficking. After Park’s mother endured sexual assault to shield her daughter from smugglers, both were sold to trafficking networks.

They spent two years in hiding and under exploitation before Christian activists helped them travel from China to Mongolia. From there, they obtained political asylum and eventually reached freedom in South Korea.

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Park said some American students, unaware of her past, have told her she does not “understand oppression” because she is Asian. She said they have also described her as a “White-passing person.”

“They have no idea that I was, at 13 years old, being sold as a sex slave in China for two years of my life. I do understand oppression,” she said.

She argued that many students in the United States take their civil liberties for granted and lack a broader understanding of political conditions around the world.

“Most people are not free right now in the world. More than 70% of humanity right now live under authoritarian governments,” Park told Fox News Digital, apparently referring to research from the Varieties of Democracy Institute. The organization’s latest report estimates that autocratic governments rule 74% of the world’s population.

Park said freedom is “a very special thing” and warned that she does not “want us to lose this amazing country, because if America falls, we do not have a place to escape to.”

“For me, I was fortunate that I had a country to escape to from North Korea to America, but if we lose this country, we are all going to die, actually,” she said.

Moreno-Riaño said Cornerstone’s emphasis on defending freedom is inseparable from its Christian mission. In his view, liberty is “at the bedrock” of the Christian faith.

“I mean, we believe that the gospel sets us free. So, liberty and freedom are at the core of our Christian faith through the gospel of Jesus Christ,” he said.

He also pointed to the Christian teaching of Imago Dei—the belief that people are created in God’s image—as a foundation for human dignity. For people to thrive, he said, freedom and liberty are indispensable.

Ultimately, Moreno-Riaño hopes to encourage students to take action and to resist the urge to “sit on the sidelines watching.”

“As people of faith, Christians here at Cornerstone University, we want our students to be involved to be great citizens, modeling their faith and modeling what it means to be a great citizen of our great country. That to me is the ultimate outcome for not just the students, but even for the community at large who will come to the event,” he said.

Before Kohberger accepted a plea deal, his former attorneys told an Idaho judge that he was struggling to “rationally understand” the court proceedings and make “consequential decisions” about his case—including whether to testify or plead guilty—according to court records that were recently unsealed.

“The memo is pretty clear that there’s a serious issue there that shows different reasons why that plea might not have been accepted,” Kohberger’s new attorney, Greg Rauch, told News Media. “Those issues have to be flushed out and explored.”

Rauch said the memo’s release Tuesday appeared to catch him off guard. He explained that he had originally filed it under seal as a precaution, seeking to comply with earlier court orders in the case.

Kohberger, 31, is a former criminology doctoral student serving four consecutive life sentences without parole, along with an additional 10-year sentence. Rauch was appointed to the case over the summer and was not part of the defense team during the proceedings that led to the plea and sentencing.

“In the May 20 [2025] ex parte supplement, counsel advised the Court that Kohberger was having difficulty comprehending adverse rulings and discerning their effect upon the case as a whole,” the unsealed memo states. “Counsel represented that, despite the accumulation of significant rulings concerning the death penalty, suppression issues, and motions in limine, Kohberger was having difficulty meaningfully incorporating those developments into a rational assessment of the case and its potential outcomes.”

Rauch filed the memo under seal in support of an earlier motion seeking to disqualify the judge. In the document, he said his purpose was not to establish that Kohberger was incompetent, but to support the claim that the judge could be biased.

“Before June 26, [2025,] the Court knew that counsel was asking for additional time not only to review evidence and continue investigation, but also to investigate Kohberger’s ability to rationally understand and make consequential decisions and to obtain expert assistance in communicating with him about whether to resolve the case short of trial,” Rauch wrote. The document remained sealed for nearly a month.

Kohberger’s original defense team requested additional time to examine whether he could understand the proceedings, while expressly denying that he was incompetent.

Judge Steven Hippler ordered the Aug. 27 memo unsealed Tuesday after rejecting Kohberger’s argument that it should remain confidential.

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“The Court disagrees that the information contained in the Supplemental Memorandum is intimate, protected or will result in harm if disclosed,” Hippler wrote. “It simply describes in very general terms trial counsel’s concerns about Petitioner’s difficulty in comprehending adverse rulings and understanding their effect on the outcome of the case.”

Kohberger’s former defense team, led by Anne Taylor, had asked for more time to pursue discovery as the trial approached last year. The newly unsealed filing indicates that the attorneys were also privately seeking assistance to help Kohberger understand the proceedings.

“The Court thereafter denied the requested additional time,” Rauch wrote. “The sealed June 26 Order rejected the need for further investigation and concluded overall that Kohberger had not demonstrated good cause for a continuance or prejudice from proceeding to trial as scheduled.”

Less than a week later, Kohberger pleaded guilty to every charge stemming from the killings of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.

He is now seeking to overturn that plea through a petition for post-conviction relief.

“That sequence does not establish that the pleas were constitutionally invalid,” Rauch wrote. “But it does identify a factual issue that the PCR court may now have to resolve: whether trial counsel had sufficient time and assistance to ensure that Kohberger rationally understood the circumstances confronting him and could meaningfully participate in the decision to resolve the case short of trial — the very decision counsel had specifically identified to Judge Hippler as requiring continued expert assistance before the continuance was denied.”

According to Rauch, within days of Kohberger’s guilty plea, his former lawyers “expressly advised” the court of their questions about this ability to rationally make the decision to plead guilty.

Six days after the Court denied additional time, that decision was made.

This is a breaking news story. Stick with News Media for updates.

High in Turkey’s rugged mountains, a mysterious boat-shaped formation has become the focus of a long-running investigation into whether it could be the remains of Noah’s Ark.

The Bible describes the enormous vessel as having protected Noah, his family and pairs of animals from a devastating flood, which some biblical chronologies date to more than 4,300 years ago.

An international research team studying the Durupınar Formation near Mount Ararat now says it is “100 percent confirmed” that the mound is not a natural geological formation, but instead a “man-made object.”

Recent ground-penetrating radar surveys reportedly identified structural layers, straight lines, right-angle junctions and large cavity-like spaces at several depths beneath the surface.

Researchers say the scans appear to show possible chambers, corridors and tunnels, as well as a thick underground layer divided into three sections. They compared the finding with the Book of Genesis, which says God instructed Noah to construct the Ark with three decks.

Core samples taken during physical drilling also revealed a layer containing abundant organic material. The material is now being analyzed to establish whether it includes remnants of decayed wood.

Andrew Jones, an independent researcher and founder of Noah’s Ark Scans, has studied the site for almost 30 years. He told the Daily Mail that neither the radar data nor drilling carried out within the formation found limestone or solid bedrock.

“This destroys the theory the site is a solid limestone block shaped into a boat by glaciers and weathering after coming down the mountainside, and it also refutes the theory that this is bedrock around which mud flowed to form the shape,” he said.

Jones stressed that the findings have not conclusively established that the formation is the biblical Ark.

Nevertheless, he said: “I firmly believe the Durupınar Formation represents the buried remains of Noah’s Ark.”

He called the newest scans a “compelling new line of evidence” that the site may contain structures created by humans, while acknowledging that the results do not amount to definitive proof.

The team’s first major radar survey, conducted in 2019, detected linear and angular anomalies that researchers interpreted as possible walls, passageways and separate compartments.

A more extensive investigation in 2026 was led by Dr Khosrow Bakhtar, who used an advanced radar system developed through US Air Force research. The equipment can probe considerably deeper than the technology used in earlier surveys.

The system recorded extensive layered reflectors—underground boundaries that send radar signals back toward the surface—as well as features the researchers interpreted as cavities filled with sediment.

Five prominent anomalies appeared to form a potential tunnel network stretching for about 151 feet, with an average structural height of more than 14 feet.

Two additional major anomalies measured roughly 26 feet and 39 feet in height, while another separate underground feature reached approximately 23 feet.

In several areas, the radar identified a layer between 16 and 20 feet thick located about 16 feet below the ground surface.

That layer appeared to contain three separate sublayers.

But the readings are not photographs of exposed rooms or passageways. They instead show how radar waves reacted to different materials and boundaries beneath the ground.

Those anomalies must be physically investigated before researchers can determine what produced them.

The team is using the measurements as a road map to select the most promising locations for further drilling.

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Lauren Witzke, director of marketing and fundraising for Noah’s Ark Scans, claimed the formation’s uppermost section is deteriorating.

‘The top, and most exposed, tier is decaying, and the hardened mudflow encasing the rims of the boat are basically the only thing holding it together,’ she said.

‘It’s very fragile, as to be expected with 4,300-year-old wood. But beneath the surface, the bottom two layers appear to still be intact, and we believe we have hit a floor of petrified wood.’

However, researchers have not confirmed the material is wood, nor have they  scientifically dated anything recovered from drilling to 4,300 years ago.

Jones stressed the figure represents a proposed biblical time frame for the flood rather than an established scientific age.

The team must isolate suitable organic material from its core samples and submit it for radiocarbon dating before it can determine whether the site fits that timeline.

Researchers have also discovered pottery outside the formation dating from the Chalcolithic, or Copper Age, through the Iron Age.

The team said the pottery helps establish people occupied or visited the mountainside across a long period of ancient history and identifies areas that may warrant further archaeological investigation.

‘It’s quite possible this pottery was used to store food and supplies on the Ark, and was used as Noah’s family exited the Ark and set up camp (the Bible says Noah was living in a tent),’ Witzke shared in a statement.

However, Jones acknowledged pottery alone cannot establish that the formation is the Ark or demonstrate that the people who left the artifacts were connected to it.

The Durupınar Formation lies about 18 miles south of Mount Ararat, Turkey’s highest peak.

Local accounts claim heavy rain and earthquakes exposed its unusual outline in 1948, when it was reportedly noticed by a Kurdish shepherd.

The site was formally identified in 1959 after Turkish Army Captain İlhan Durupınar spotted its ship-like outline in aerial survey photographs.

Much of the fascination surrounding the mound stems from its elongated shape and dimensions, which researchers say closely resemble the biblical description of the Ark.

Scripture describes the vessel as roughly 515 feet long, 86 feet wide and 52 feet tall. Yet the formation has divided investigators for decades.

Early researchers who surveyed and excavated the site reported finding only soil and rocks, concluding it was a naturally formed geological feature rather than remains of a vessel.

Most geologists continue to favor a natural explanation, while Ark researchers argue the new radar readings, core samples and nearby pottery justify another investigation.

‘What excites me most about this phase is that we are transitioning from remote imaging to collecting physical samples deep within the site, allowing us to scientifically evaluate hypotheses that have been debated for decades,’ Jones said.

A man with 18 prior arrests allegedly entered a Bronx courthouse with a loaded handgun concealed beneath his clothing Monday before threatening officers who tried to remove him, according to a criminal complaint.

The security breach occurred around 11:10 a.m. on Sept. 21, when Jamal Frett, 26, allegedly brought a black Ruger pistol loaded with five rounds into the Bronx County Hall of Justice, court documents state.

Frett later went to Justice Guy Mitchell’s courtroom, where officers said he began behaving disruptively, according to the complaint and sources familiar with the incident.

A court officer reportedly saw Frett using his cellphone and speaking loudly, violating courtroom rules and disturbing the proceedings, the complaint states.

As officers escorted him from the courtroom, Frett allegedly became confrontational and issued threats, according to the court papers.

“Don’t f–king touch me, come see me outside, you want some,” Frett allegedly shouted while resisting officers’ efforts to place him in handcuffs.

During the struggle, officers discovered the handgun concealed in Frett’s waistband, according to prosecutors.

Frett was arrested and charged with multiple offenses, including several counts of criminal possession of a weapon. He was ordered held in custody.

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The Bronx District Attorney’s Office referred questions about courthouse security to the state Office of Court Administration.

The Unified Court System has launched an internal review to determine how the firearm entered the secured facility, OCA spokesperson Al Baker said.

Security footage reportedly showed that Frett told officers he was wearing an ankle monitor and underwent a pat-down after setting off a magnetometer, Baker said.

“Officers, using a handheld scanner, patted Mr. Frett down and discovered no immediate presence of a weapon,” the spokesperson said.

After the gun was found, the NYPD and the New York State Parole Bureau were notified immediately, Baker added.

It remained unclear why Frett was at the Bronx courthouse Monday. However, the incident marked another encounter with the criminal justice system for the repeat offender.

Frett has been arrested 18 times, including 12 arrests involving felony allegations, sources said.

He last appeared in court on Sept. 8 in connection with a pending case. Frett and other defendants are accused of slashing a woman in the head as she walked to a supermarket on April 30, according to sources.

It was not immediately known whether Frett had legal representation.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the deportation of a Venezuelan man who was shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Austin over the weekend, his attorney said.

Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said her office filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of her 28-year-old client, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez. The judge ordered Perez to appear at a hearing on Sept. 30.

“That means Wilber cannot be deported in the meantime,” Lincoln-Goldfinch wrote on Facebook. “For now, we have secured a temporary block on his deportation while his case moves forward.”

Lincoln-Goldfinch said Perez remains in need of medical treatment and that her office would continue working to protect his rights. He is still in “a lot of pain,” she said, and the bullet remains lodged in his body.

Perez was delivering a DoorDash order when he made a U-turn beneath a highway, authorities said. ICE agents then continued pursuing him.

“The truck chased him and sideswiped him again. And the agents came out and shot him in the back of the neck and pulled him out of the car,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said.

Authorities said Perez had a final order of removal. His attorney, however, said the order was issued after an immigration hearing notice was sent to an outdated address, even though Perez had updated his address with the court.

Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza sent a letter Tuesday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and ICE Director David Venturella, asking that Garces Perez be permitted to remain in the United States while the shooting is investigated.

Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, joined more than 100 other members of Congress in signing a separate letter to Mullin and Venturella. The lawmakers urged officials to release Perez from ICE detention so he can obtain medical care.

They also called on state officials and law enforcement agencies to preserve all evidence connected to the shooting.

“Mr. Garces Perez is a key witness to this shooting, and given ICE’s history of obscuring the facts in similar investigations, he must not be removed,” the letter stated.

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The ICE officer who shot Perez recently joined the agency but has years of law enforcement experience, including work with the U.S. Border Patrol, sources told Fox News.

Multiple federal law enforcement sources told Fox News that the unidentified officer was not wearing a body camera during the shooting. ICE is expected to have cameras on all officers by the end of the month.

Records show the officer completed ICE’s 256-hour Deportation Officer Training Program in August 2025, followed by additional operational and legal instruction during 2026.

Training logs show the officer scored 99.2% on a pistol qualification and completed instruction on use-of-force situations and less-lethal weapons, including Tasers, OC spray and batons.

The training also covered field operations and practical exercises involving the full custody process, as well as warrantless arrests, Title 19 authority, escort and removal procedures, expedited removal and custody protocols.

News Media has contacted ICE and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

In the wake of the shooting, multiple Democrats have criticized ICE, calling it a “rogue” agency that was “terrorizing our cities and threatening the safety of our residents.”

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, DHS released a list of some illegal immigrants in Texas who have been arrested for various crimes, including supporting an Islamic State-inspired mass shooting on election day in 2024 and two Mexican citizens wanted for multiple murders in their native country.

The list also includes child sex offenders, drug dealers, and one Mexican man arrested after posting a TikTok video in 2025 in Spanish soliciting the murder of ICE agents and offering a $10,000 reward.