TV News LIES

David West raised four kids in Los Angeles working as a Hollywood cinematographer — no mean feat in such a pricey city. But a few years ago, his life took a hard turn.

"Everything went south. Divorce. My brother died," he said. "My dog died." On top of that, a string of clients who'd hired him for decades also passed away.

Before long, he'd burned through cash and damaged his credit. He moved to Fresno, Calif., and now, at 72, West is in a situation he never imagined at this stage of life but one that more and more older people are facing: renting a room in the home of a complete stranger.

"I tried to move, like, an apartment's worth of stuff into a room," he said with a laugh at how impossible it seemed. "You know, how do you do that? I still haven't figured it out."

West looked into a housing subsidy, but his income is just over the limit, so he's grateful for the cost savings of a house share. His roommate, also an older man, covers Wi-Fi, utilities and cable. West volunteers his photography skills at the church where the man is involved and shares his Costco membership.

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A former US air force master sergeant who nicknamed himself “Al Capone” has pleaded guilty to defrauding the military branch out of $37m by inflating the cost of IT contracts – and giving some of the extra money to an individual he called “Godfather”.

Alan Hayward James, from Texas, ran a nine-year scam, beginning in April 2016, which also saw him funnel excess funds to himself, his family and his co-conspirators.

James, 51, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery and conspiracy to rig bids for the US Pacific air forces based in Hawaii. In a plea agreement, James admitted conspiring with multiple competitors to rig bids for IT contracts with the US defense department

He “knowingly conspired” with co-conspirators and companies in a manner which “falsely inflated” the value of contracts, the justice department said. James encouraged some companies to overbid and others to underbid for services. In one instance, he told a company to submit a bid for an IT contract that was “low and stupid”, which effectively led to a co-conspirator company winning the contract at an inflated rate.

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The US labor market picked up in March as employers showed signs of resilience amid the US-Israel war in Iran.

After an extraordinary contraction in February, employers added 178,000 jobs last month, ahead of economists’ expectations of about 70,000.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.3%, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. In February, the economy lost 133,000 jobs, according to revised figures. Job figures for January were revised up, from 126,000 to 160,000. With revisions, total employment in January and February is 7,000 lower than previously reported. .

Previous data painted a mixed picture of the US labor market, which economists say has been in a static “low-fire, low-hire” state, where both layoffs and new hires are down.

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that employers announced 217,362 job cuts in the first quarter of 2026 – the lowest total for that period since 2022. But hiring in February slowed to a six-year low, according to data released earlier this week, with dips seen in construction and leisure and hospitality.

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US federal agents have arrested the niece and grandniece of the late Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani after the Trump administration’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio, revoked their lawful permanent resident status, officials said on Saturday.

“Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” or ICE, the state department said in a statement.

US authorities arrest relatives of State department said niece and grandniece of Qassem Soleimani, killed in 2020 US drone strike, celebrated attacks against US soldiers

In his own statement on social media, Rubio, the US secretary of state, confirmed that the mother-daughter pair are “pending removal” from the US, a development that came after the US and Israeli militaries began waging war on Iran in late February, in part citing an Iranian history of terrorism sponsorship.

More...https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/04/soleimani-family-arrested-us-federal-authorities

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s effort to force public colleges and universities in 17 states to hand over detailed race-based admissions data.

U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor found that the Department of Education likely has the authority to “collect, analyze, and make use of the data,” but the process was performed in a “rushed and chaotic manner.”

“The manner in which [National Center for Education Statistics] handled that process simply cannot be squared with the requirements of the [Administrative Procedure Act] — and, indeed, epitomizes arbitrary and capricious agency action,” Saylor wrote.

He granted a preliminary injunction to the 17 Democratic-led states that challenged President Trump’s executive order from August, which directed the Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “expand the scope of required reporting to provide adequate transparency into admissions” within 120 days.

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Global approval of China surpassed the U.S. in 2025, the widest favorability gap between the two countries in almost 20 years, according to a new Gallup poll released Friday.

Gallup found that China’s global approval rating last year reached a median of 36 percent in support of the country’s leadership. U.S. leadership saw its median approval rating drop to 31 percent, a fall of 8 percentage points since 2024. China’s approval rose from 32 percent in 2024.

Disapproval of China’s leadership remained flat at 37 percent, Gallup found. U.S. leadership’s disapproval reached a record-high of 48 percent.

Last year was the second year on record where both countries registered negative net global approval ratings. The median net approval for China dipped to -1, with the U.S. dropping down to a median net approval of -15, the lowest on record.

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Iraqi authorities are continuing the search for American journalist Shelly Kittleson who was kidnapped March 31 on a busy street in central Baghdad, Reuters reported.

The Iranian-aligned militia group Kataib Hizballah was responsible for Kittleson's kidnapping, according to The New York Times, which reported that the group offered on April 1 to negotiate with the Iraqi government for her release in exchange for several militia members being held by authorities.

“We will continue to coordinate with the FBI to ensure their release as quickly as possible,” Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, said in a March 31 post on X. Johnson did not refer to Kittleson by name.

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Two United Nations experts have called on Israel to immediately release Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya from detention following reports that he had been subjected to "severe torture". 

Special Rapporteurs Tlaleng Mofokeng and Ben Saul said on Tuesday that the former director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in north Gaza faced severe torture and "other cruel and degrading treatment", leaving him in a "dire" health condition.

“The conditions of his detention appear to be flagrantly arbitrary and manifestly inconsistent with the Mandela Rules, which establish the obligation of states to ensure prisoners have access to healthcare," they added. 

The Nelson Mandela Rules are a set of standards unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly in late 2015 to ensure a fair and humane treatment of detainees.

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