Tens of thousands of people attended a memorial service in Arizona for Charlie Kirk, the right-wing United States activist and founder of Turning Point USA, who was shot dead this month.

The event took place on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, which seats more than 63,000 people. Organisers said additional space was arranged nearby to accommodate overflow crowds.

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and several other Republicans addressed the gathering, which Turning Point USA called “Building a Legacy: Remembering Charlie Kirk”.

Trump described Kirk as an “American martyr” in his address.

“He’s a martyr now for America’s freedom,” Trump said. “I know I speak for everyone here today when I say that none of us will ever forget Charlie. And neither now will history.”

Kirk’s widow, Erika, who recently became the organisation’s chief executive, also spoke, saying that she forgave Kirk’s killer.

In Glendale, Al Jazeera’s Phil Lavelle said that it was “impossible to say how many people are going to be here because this is not a ticketed event, people were just asked to register online”.

“But we spoke to one woman a few moments ago, who said she had no hope of getting in because of the number of people attending,” Lavelle added.

The Department of Homeland Security classified the service as an event of “the highest national significance”, a designation usually reserved for occasions such as the Super Bowl. Officials said that tight security measures were in place due to Trump’s attendance and the political tension surrounding Kirk’s killing.

“You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk? You have made him immortal,” said the White House’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller. “You have no idea the dragon you have awakened. You have no idea how determined we will be to save this civilisation; to save the West; to save this republic.”

People began lining up before dawn to secure a spot inside the stadium, which is located west of Phoenix, where Kirk’s Turning Point organisation is based. The speakers, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth, delivered their tributes from behind bulletproof glass.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who has in recent years advocated for several far-right causes, was also in attendance, sitting next to Trump, months after leaving his role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“Charlie joined a long line of courageous men and women who were martyred for what they believe,” said Donald Trump Jr, the president’s son, who had a close relationship with Kirk.

“Charlie was my brother. Charlie was my commanding officer,” added Jack Posobiec, a right-wing influencer, in his tribute. “And we will never, ever let the left, the media or the Democrats forget the name of Charlie Kirk.”

Kirk, 31, was killed on September 10 during a university event in Utah. Police charged a 22-year-old suspect with murder, saying he carried out the attack alone and killed Kirk because he had had “enough of his [Kirk’s] hate”.

Kirk was a polarising figure, who called for the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and whips against immigrants at the US-Mexico border, suggested Islam was a danger to American society, and claimed there was “no factual data to back up global warming”.

The US right wing viewed Kirk as a major figure in the Trump movement, who played a pivotal role in building support for the US president and conservative causes among young people.

“Social media plays such an integral role in politics, and Charlie Kirk was seen as somebody who really managed to pull in the youth vote through this, managing to leverage and use TikTok to spread his message,” Lavelle, the Al Jazeera spoke with outside the service, said.

Jennifer Nicoll Victor, an associate professor of political science at George Mason University, told Al Jazeera that the memorial was marked by “a lot of rhetoric about Kirk himself, and a lot of Christian rhetoric”.

“It’s a little unusual to see so much Christian mythology combined with patriotism and nationalism.

“This is the intersection where Charlie Kirk fit within the Republican Party and the movement he was building,” she said, noting that “high-profile funerals historically can become lightning rods”.

“The political grief, and the conservative mobilisation around it, risk pushing us towards escalation rather than reconciliation,” Victor added.

Trump has been accused of exploiting Kirk’s murder for political gain by linking the killing to what he calls “left-wing extremism”, despite law enforcement dismissing claims of a wider alleged assassination plot. His remarks have drawn criticism from opponents who accused him of inflaming political divisions.

Kirk established Turning Point USA in 2012 at the age of 18. The organisation has grown into one of the largest right-wing groups in the US, with influence across high schools, universities and social media platforms.

A staunch supporter of Israel, Kirk’s death has also been mourned by Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described him as a “lion-hearted friend of Israel”, in a social media post shared on the day he was shot.

Charlie Kirk honored by 90K in one of the largest memorials for a private citizen

Thousands gathered Sunday to pay tribute to Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk, whose memorial service drew one of the largest public turnouts for a private citizen.

The organization told Fox News Digital that approximately 90,000 people attended the service, with roughly 70,000 bringing the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, to capacity.

Another 10,000 people gathered at the nearby Desert Diamond Arena, a designated overflow venue, according to estimates provided by TPUSA. Additionally, another 10,000 people watched Kirk’s memorial service from nearby viewing areas.

Taken together, the turnout underscored the event’s extraordinary scale.

 

 

People stand as they attend the public memorial service for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Sept. 21, 2025. (Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images)

Earlier estimates provided by law enforcement officials placed the attendance number around 200,000.

Headlined by political heavyweights, conservative media figures and religious leaders, the memorial service ranks as one of the largest public gatherings ever organized for a private citizen.

The service for Kirk was broadcast across every major U.S. television network, according to White House Communications Director Steven Cheung.

 

 

Large crowds gather at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Sept. 21, 2025. (Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images)

And while memorials take many forms, from intimate ceremonies to massive public gatherings, Kirk’s service highlighted the unique intersection of politics, media and faith that defined his public life.

Similar outpourings have marked the deaths of cultural icons before. Elvis Presley’s death in 1977, for instance, drew an estimated 80,000 people to the streets of Memphis for his funeral procession, though only a few hundred were admitted inside.

In June 2016, approximately 14,000 people attended a service for legendary heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali in Louisville, Kentucky. Additionally, thousands more watched virtually via live streams.

In 1968, two massive services were held for Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta, one at Ebenezer Baptist Church and then another at Morehouse College. And an estimated 150,000 people gathered to watch King’s funeral procession travel between the two locations, with more inside each venue.

Kirk was assassinated Sept. 10 during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University. The gathering was the first stop on TPUSA’s planned American Comeback Tour.

The charismatic Kirk, known for his signature debates on college campuses, was in the middle of taking open-mic questions from a crowd of thousands before a single shot ended his life.

 

Trump’s H-1B visa crackdown upends Indian IT industry’s playbook

 India’s $283 billion information technology sector will have to overhaul its decades-old strategy of rotating skilled talent into U.S. projects following U.S. President Donald Trump’s move, opens new tab to impose a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas from Sunday, according to tech veterans, analysts, lawyers and economists.

The sector, which earns about 57% of its total revenue from the U.S. market, has long gained from U.S. work visa programs and the outsourcing of software and business services — a contentious issue for many Americans who have lost jobs to cheaper workers in India.

India was by far the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved beneficiaries, while China was a distant second at 11.7%, according to U.S. government data.
Trump’s move to reshape the H-1B program will force IT firms with clients such as Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab, Walmart (WMT.N), opens new tab, Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab, Meta (META.O), opens new tab and Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google to pause onshore rotations, accelerate offshore delivery, and ramp up hiring of U.S. citizens and green card holders, experts said.
AMERICAN DREAM SLIPPING AWAY
“The ‘American Dream’ for aspiring workers will be tough,” Ganesh Natarajan, former CEO of IT outsourcer Zensar Technologies, said, adding that he expected firms to restrict cross-border travel and get more work done out of countries such as India, Mexico and the Philippines.

 

IT firms Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS), opens new tab, Infosys (INFY.NS), opens new tab, HCLTech (HCLT.NS), opens new tab, Wipro (WIPR.NS), opens new tab and Tech Mahindra (TEML.NS), opens new tab did not respond to Reuters requests seeking comment.

Industry body Nasscom said the move would “potentially have ripple effects on America’s innovation ecosystem” and disrupt business continuity for onshore projects.

“Services exports have finally been dragged into the ongoing global trade and tech war,” Emkay Global Chief Economist Madhavi Arora said, adding that it could disrupt the IT sector’s onsite-offshore model, pressuring margins, and supply chain.

Most industry watchers expect Trump’s move to constrain client-facing roles, hurting IT deal conversion and extending the time taken to scale up tech projects.

“Clients will demand repricing or delay start dates until there is clarity on legal challenges. Some projects will be re-scoped to reduce onshore staffing. Others will shift delivery offshore or near-shore from day one,” HFS Research CEO Phil Fersht said.

FUTURE H1-B VISAS FOR CRITICAL ROLES ONLY

Immigration lawyers, who received frantic calls over the weekend due to the chaos and confusion created by Trump’s proclamation, opens new tab, in which he accused the IT sector of manipulating the H-1B system, said the new visa fee was steep.

“We expect that companies will become far more selective in deciding which candidates to sponsor, reserving H-1B filings for only the most business-critical roles,” Vic Goel, managing partner at U.S. law firm Goel & Anderson said. “This would significantly reduce access to the H-1B program for many skilled foreign nationals and could reshape employer demand.”

Before the White House clarified, opens new tab that the order applied only to new applicants and not holders of existing visas or those seeking renewals, companies including Tata Consultancy Services, Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab, Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tabadvised employees, opens new tab on H-1B visas to stay put or return to the U.S. before Sunday, according to internal messages seen by Reuters, forcing many workers from India and China to abandon travel plans and rush back.

Many immigration lawyers expect Trump’s move to be challenged legally soon.

“We are anticipating that several lawsuits will be immediately forthcoming this week,” Alcorn Immigration Law CEO Sophie Alcorn said.

The fresh challenge for the Indian IT sector comes as it awaits clarity on a proposed 25% tax on outsourcing payments and struggles with weak revenue growth in its mainstay U.S. market as clients defer non-essential tech spending amid inflationary pressures and tariff uncertainty.

MOVE TO PROPEL GCC GROWTH

Across the board, industry watchers expect Trump’s move to accelerate the growth of U.S. firms’ global capability centres (GCCs), which have evolved from low-cost offshore back offices to high-value innovation hubs that support operations, finance, research and development.

“Time zone proximity will accelerate GCCs and resourcing in Canada, Mexico, and Latin America, where talent is stable and cost advantages remain,” ISG President and Chief AI officer Steven Hall said. “GCCs in India will also continue to rise with broader capabilities and skills as enterprises shift strategic roles to India.”

India, currently home to more than half of the world’s GCCs, is projected to host more than 2,200 companies by 2030, with a market size nearing $100 billion and generating up to 2.8 million jobs, according to a Nasscom-Zinnov report released last year.

Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research founder and chairman Ray Wang expects Trump’s move to lead to more GCCs in India, more local hiring in the U.S., more pressure to deliver automation and AI at the same time, less outsourcing, fewer H-1B visas and less job mobility.

“We are seeing a new world order on services economics,” Wang said.

Reporting by Haripriya Suresh, Sai Ishwarbharath B, Rishika Sadam, Abhirami G and Urvi Manoj Dugar, Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Hugh Lawson

Trump Aides Fume After Tulsi Gabbard Goes Totally Rogue With Online Post

The director of national intelligence reportedly revoked the security clearances of 37 people without informing the White House

Members of Donald Trump’s inner circle have had it with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

The president’s aides are claiming the 44-year-old blindsided them when she publicly stripped 37 current and former officials of their security clearances last month, the Guardian reported.

On Aug. 19, Gabbard wrote on X that she was acting under Trump’s direction to revoke the security clearances of the 37 individuals, including those who had supported Trump’s first impeachment trial or concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

“Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right,” Gabbard wrote. “Those in the Intelligence Community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the interests of the American people have broken the sacred trust they promised to uphold.”

 

 

But Trump’s aides told the Guardian that Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff, Alexa Henning, didn’t disclose how the list was compiled or the underlying evidence that led to pulling the security clearances before sharing it with her 762,000 followers—leaving staffers “deeply frustrated.”

Only after Gabbard made the list public did they realize she had stripped deputies to the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, of security clearances.

The director’s office also sent the list to the CIA the night before making it public, the Guardian reported—despite publicly naming those deputies and at least one officer who was working undercover at the time.

 

Knowingly revealing the identity of a covert U.S. intelligence officer or agent is a felony, though it is unclear whether the law applies to disclosures made by government officials.

A senior intelligence official, however, pushed back on claims that Gabbard acted of her own accord, the Guardian reported.

The official said Gabbard told Trump in the Oval Office that she had compiled names of those who worked on the intelligence assessments on Russia’s malign influence operations during the 2016 election.

Trump told Gabbard those people should be removed, the intelligence official said.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for comment.

In a statement to the Guardian, a White House spokesperson did not address whether there had been advance notice or when the emails were sent but said Gabbard was doing a “phenomenal job” and that the White House “has worked closely with her on implementing the President’s objectives.”

“The entire administration is aligned on ensuring those who have weaponized their clearances to manipulate intelligence, leak classified intelligence without authorization, and many other egregious acts are held to account,” the spokesperson added.

 

Post Views: 16

Step into a world dedicated entirely to man's best friend - dogs. Our website is a treasure trove of heartwarming news, touching stories, and inspiring narratives centered around these incredible creatures. We invite you to join us in spreading the joy. Share our posts, stories, and articles with your friends, extending the warmth and inspiration to every corner.With a simple click, you can be part of this movement.