TV News LIES

U.S. envoys arrived in Berlin Sunday morning for another round of talks intended to secure a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner were spotted in downtown Berlin by a photographer for German news agency dpa.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials will hold a series of meetings in Berlin in the coming days.

"Most importantly, I will be meeting with envoys of President Trump, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, concerning the foundation of peace — a political agreement to end the war," Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation late Saturday.

Washington has tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia's war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces, and security guarantees for Ukraine.

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A man who disarmed one of the gunmen in the deadly attack at Sydney's Bondi Beach is being praised for his heroic efforts and saving lives.

One clip broadcast on Australian television and shared on social media shows an unarmed man walking up behind one of the suspected gunmen, who was shooting a long gun, and then grabbing him around the neck. The civilian appears to wrestle and disarm the gunman, who falls to the ground before walking away. The man then points the gun at the alleged shooter and then raises his hand in the air.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns on Sunday praised the man's actions, calling it "the most unbelievable scene" he's ever seen.

"A man walking up to a gunman, who had fired on the community, and single-handedly disarming him, putting his own life at risk to save the lives of countless other people — that man is a genuine hero," Minns said during a press conference. "And I've got no doubt that there are many, many people alive tonight as a result of his bravery."

The man being heralded for his bravery has been identified by several news reports as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, a fruit shop owner. NPR has not independently verified the man's identity. A relative of the man told Australia's 7News that Ahmed was shot twice and is in the hospital.

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With subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance set to expire, Americans who rely on them will probably switch to plans with lower monthly premiums and high deductibles or decide not to purchase any coverage, which will have a serious and damaging impact on the entire sector, according to healthcare policy experts.

The average amount ACA plan enrollees pay annually for premiums is estimated to more than double, from an average of $888 this year to $1,904 in 2026, according to a KFF analysis.

That will then have economic downstream effects, including for rural hospitals and people who have employer-sponsored health insurance, according to the experts.

With “a significant portion of people dropping their marketplace coverage and being uninsured, it doesn’t just impact them, it impacts everyone”, said Emma Wager, a senior policy analyst for KFF’s program on the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

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A JetBlue flight from the small Caribbean nation of Curaçao halted its ascent to avoid colliding with a US air force refueling tanker on Friday, and the pilot blamed the military plane for crossing his path.

“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot said, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic control. “They passed directly in our flight path ... They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous.”

The incident involved JetBlue flight 1112 from Curaçao, which is just off the coast of Venezuela, en route to New York City’s JFK airport. It comes as the US military has launched deadly airstrikes on suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean and is also seeking to increase pressure on Venezuela’s government.

“We just had traffic pass directly in front of us within 5 miles of us – maybe 2 or 3 miles – but it was an air-to air-refueler from the United States air force and he was at our altitude,” the pilot said. “We had to stop our climb.” The pilot said the US air force plane then headed into Venezuelan airspace.

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Amid concerns that he has failed to address a worsening affordability crisis, with health insurance premiums about to spike dramatically for over 20 million Americans, Donald Trump revealed on Sunday that his domestic policy chief’s main priority is building a triumphal arch for Washington DC.

Speaking at a White House holiday party, the president praised Vince Haley, his former speechwriter and a longtime aide to Newt Gingrich who now leads the White House Domestic Policy Council.rump

“Vince is unbelievable on policy,” Trump said. “And we have a policy thing that’s going to be unbelievable happening.”

The nature of that policy initiative might indeed be hard to believe for Americans struggling to make ends meet.

“I put Vince in charge of the triumphal arc,” Trump said, using the French word for arch. “We’re building an arc, like the Arc de Triumph,” the president added, mixing English and French, in remarks shared on social media by the White House.

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Representative Delia Ramirez, an Illinois Democrat, demanded on Thursday that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem either resign or face impeachment.

The congresswoman requested that House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, carry out an investigation into Noem’s leadership of DHS, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agencies spearheading the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy.

“Under Secretary Kristi Noem’s leadership, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has done irreversible harm to our constituents, trampling the rights of all people and disregarding the rule of law,” Ramirez wrote to lawmakers in a letter.

Ramirez accused Noem of misleading Congress and the public, misusing congressionally appropriated resources, and disregarding court orders and legislative oversight. She pointed to reports that more than 170 U.S. citizens have been detained by immigration agents, contradicting Noem’s claims that enforcement targets only those in the country illegally.

Her request seeks a full inquiry into whether Noem made false statements to Congress, mishandled departmental resources, or violated constitutional limits on executive authority.

“Your options are limited. You either resign, Trump fires you, or you will be impeached,” Ramirez said at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing Thursday.

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At least 11 people were killed and dozens more were wounded in a shooting at Sydney's popular Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 that targeted Australia's Jewish community, police and officials said.

New South Wales police said two suspects had been taken into custody, one of whom later died. The other suspect was in a critical condition. The attack, on the first day of Hanukkah, was declared a terrorist incident.

Authorities and local media reports citing eyewitnesses said the shooting began while about 1,000 people were attending a Hanukkah-related party on the beach. Australia has experienced a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues and sites since the war in Gaza began in 2023.

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Over 100 members of the US Congress signed a letter addressed to Prime Minister Netanyahu, urging him to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank, according to a report published by Peace Now.

“As longstanding supporters of the US-Israel relationship and of human rights and democracy around the world, we write to express our urgent opposition to your government’s orders to demolish buildings, including private homes and the community center, in the West Bank village of Umm al-Khair," the letter, issued in November, stated.

Nearly a quarter of the members of the House of Representatives signed the letter, including many from the Jewish caucus.

Congress members called the demolition orders to the village cruel, saying it would make vulnerable families homeless, including elderly people and children, just as winter arrives.

“This action, in service of making room for more settlers, settlements, and land only for Israelis, would be cruel, unjustified, and in naked violation of international law,” the letter continued.

The letter further emphasized that the demolition orders not only threatened the residents of Umm al-Kheir but also contributed to the erosion of support for Israel across the US political spectrum, particularly at a time of growing concern about settler extremism in Israel.

TVNL Comment:  How about ending the billions of US dollars that make these attacks possible?

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