TV News LIES

The Pentagon has given the White House the green light to provide Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles after assessing that it would not negatively impact US stockpiles, leaving the final political decision in President Donald Trump’s hands, according to three US and European officials familiar with the matter.

Trump said earlier this month during a working lunch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House that he would rather not provide the missiles to Ukraine because “we don’t want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country.”

The Joint Staff informed the White House of its assessment earlier this month, just before Trump met with Zelensky who has been pushing for the missiles to more effectively target oil and energy facilities deep inside Russia. Tomahawks have a range of around 1,000 miles.

The assessment buoyed the US’ European allies, who believe that the US now has fewer excuses not to provide the missiles, two European officials said. Trump also said just days before meeting Zelensky that the US has “a lot of Tomahawks” that it could potentially give to Ukraine.

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A federal judge on Friday permanently blocked part of an executive order from Republican U.S. President Donald Trump, ruling that the president cannot require voters to show passports or similar documents as proof of citizenship before voting.

Several lawsuits have challenged the president’s March 25 executive order, a sweeping order aimed at overhauling federal elections, and courts had already temporarily blocked it from going into effect. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, D.C., was the first to reach a final ruling against the executive order.

Kollar-Kotelly permanently blocked the part of the executive order that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. The judge had previously declined to block the part of the executive order that would bar states from counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day.

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In a possible reprieve for millions of families on the brink of losing food aid, two federal judges have ruled the Trump administration cannot stop funding for SNAP benefits amid a protracted government shutdown. 

Regular funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits was due to run out on Saturday, Nov. 1. “The well has run dry,” the Agriculture Department said. 

But rulings by judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, issued within minutes of each other on Oct. 31, ordered the department to use $5.25 billion in contingency funds to continue SNAP.

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Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that the Higher Planning Council will approve the construction of 1,973 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank during its next session.

He did not specify when the council will meet, Israeli Channel 12 reported.

The announcement came a day after Israel approved the building of 1,300 settler homes in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc south of occupied East Jerusalem.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that the Higher Planning Council will approve the construction of 1,973 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank during its next session.

Smotrich said Israeli authorities have approved nearly 30,000 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank this year, describing it as an "unprecedented achievement" for his government.

The Palestinian group Hamas denounced the Israeli move as a "dangerous escalation in the policy of Judaisation and settlement expansion targeting Palestinian land deep inside the West Bank."

"These settlement plans constitute a blatant violation of international law and United Nations resolutions that criminalise settlement construction," it said in a statement.

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On Wednesday, Hamas accused the Israeli military of committing "a large-scale massacre" overnight, "despite the agreement to halt the war."

Israel's strikes "reflect a clear lack of respect by the occupation government toward the mediators and guarantor states, which have failed to stop the occupation from continuing its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip," Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in a statement.

Mohammed Hasan Abu Daqa, a Palestinian in Khan Younis, told CBS News' team in Gaza that he believed Israel had breached the truce.

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Russia bombarded Ukrainian cities with 705 missiles and drones overnight into Thursday, according to Ukraine's air force, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reporting strikes on civilian targets and energy infrastructure all across the country.

Russia launched 653 drones and 52 missiles of various types in its attack, Ukraine's air force said. Of those, 592 drones and 31 missiles were shot down or otherwise suppressed, the air force said. Sixteen missiles and 63 drones impacted across 20 locations, the air force said.

Wednesday night's attack was the second-largest Russian drone and missile barrage of the full-scale invasion to date, according to Ukrainian air force data analyzed by ABC News.Only the bombardment of the night of Sept. 6 to 7 -- in which Russia launched a combined total of 823 drones and missiles into Ukraine -- was larger.

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In a nearly unanimous vote, hundreds of victims of child sexual abuse by clergy and other church creditors approved a $230m bankruptcy settlement with the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans by a midnight deadline on Thursday.

The archdiocese reported in a court filing on Thursday morning that the deal was accepted by a staggering 99.63% of creditors, excluding a small group of bond investors who voted against it while suing the church and alleging it committed securities fraud.

The church did not report the total number of votes cast but said “hundreds of survivors voted overwhelmingly to accept the plan”, which will dole out payments to victims of abuse based on points assigned for the severity and effects of the abuse – and includes agreements to release files on abusive priests and deacons and set up stronger protections for children and vulnerable adults.

The church has previously reported that more than 600 abuse survivors have filed eligible claims, but it is rare for every claimant to vote on a final settlement plan. Still, even if all of them cast votes, a 99.63% approval rate would mean only two of them voted against the plan.

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The Trump administration is going to restrict the number of refugees it admits into the United States next year to the token level of just 7,500 – and those spots will mostly be filled by white South Africans.

The low number represents a dramatic drop after the US previously allowed in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution from around the world.

The administration published the news on Thursday in a notice on the Federal Registry.

No reason was given for the drop in numbers, which are a dramatic decrease from last year’s ceiling set under the Biden administration of 125,000.

The Associated Press previously reported that the administration was considering admitting as few as 7,500 refugees and mostly white South Africans.

The government memo said only that the admission of the 7,500 refugees during 2026 fiscal year was “justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest”.

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