TV News LIES

President Donald Trump‘s administration lost its second top official in just as many days on Friday, with White House deputy national security adviser Andy Baker confirming his departure some 48 hours after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced hers.

“This has been an amazing journey,” Baker told Axios in a statement Friday. “I’m proud of everything we’ve achieved and, of course, am incredibly grateful to the President, Vice President [JD Vance], and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio.”

The news comes on the heels of Leavitt confirming her own exit Wednesday on social media, similarly stating how “incredibly grateful” she was to the president and describing her tenure in the administration as “the adventure of a lifetime.”

Leavitt gave birth to her second child in May and explained in her announcement Wednesday that she is leaving to be with her family. A source close to Baker told Axios Friday that he similarly plans to spend more time with his family.

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President Donald Trump denied that family members of sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln ‒ now being replaced in the Middle East ‒ have concerns about the ship after reports of suicide attempts and declining moral amid extended deployment.

"Well, no, that ship is moving. No, they're not," Trump said on Aug. 14 in a response to a reporter who began a question by stating families are concerned about the conditions on the USS Lincoln.

Asked whether the deployment of the ship's sailors has gone too long amid the war in Iran, Trump responded: "No, not nearly long enough."

Trump's remarks came after two military-focused outlets, the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes, this week reported on suicide attempts aboard the ship, exhaustion among the crew of 5,000 sailors and sharply declining morale.

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Home demolitions by Israeli forces; attacks on healthcare infrastructure, homes, and schools; mass displacement of Palestinians; and the expansion of illegal settlements across the West Bank have brought the occupied Palestinian territory to “the breaking point,” said a top humanitarian official at the United Nations Security Council Tuesday, calling for a “coordinated international effort” to end the violent Israeli occupation.

At a meeting on the situation in the territory, Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, addressed the council as families in the town of Qusra, northern Nablus, were facing days of attacks by Israeli settlers.

That violence exemplified what the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem called an escalating “ethnic cleansing” operation that Israel’s military allows.

As B’Tselem said Wednesday, settlers had established an illegal outpost in the yards of two Palestinian families’ homes, “forcing the families out and taking over their homes,” and the US-backed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had done nothing to protect the Palestinian residents.

“Israeli ethnic cleansing in the West Bank is accelerating and expanding in full view of everyone,” Yuli Novak, president of B’Tselem, told Anadolu Agency, adding that the settlers’ seizure of the Palestinian homes was “not an isolated incident.”

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A recent controversy involving Palestinian medical staff at Haifa’s Rambam Hospital reveals several important things about the position of Palestinian citizens of Israel, particularly within the healthcare system.  

The staff members were publicly lambasted following allegations that they mistreated and neglected Israeli soldiers in their care, including by speaking only Arabic at the hospital. 

The subsequent public debate has gone beyond the specific details of this case, raising broader questions about linguistic rights. In several other recent incidents, Palestinian citizens of Israel have been banned from speaking Arabic in their workplaces.

Far-right politicians, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, have amplified the Rambam allegations, fuelling claims that Palestinian healthcare staff should not speak Arabic at work – a demand that has previously been formalised in some hospitals.

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Today's floods come after a week of storms in the region.

Japan, China and the Philippines were hit by back-to-back storms – Dolphin, Chan-Hom and Peilou – which are churning across the region at the same time.

Earlier this week, Chinese authorities evacuated more than a million people from their homes as Dolphin, the strongest typhoon to hit China so far this year, made landfall in thMore...e country's east.

On Friday, Japan's Meteorological Agency said the deluge was brought by warm, humid air flowing into eastern Japan that combined with cold air above to make atmospheric conditions extremely unstable.

Around 7,000 people were left stranded overnight at Narita, one of Tokyo's two main airports, as the rain cut transport services linking to the airport on Thursday.

All flights are scheduled to operate normally on Friday, an airport spokesperson says. National flag carrier Japan Airlines says some of its flights may be delayed but it does not expect any cancellations.

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Newly disclosed records reveal the US government extensively spied on prominent leftwing organizations and on protesters as part of a vast operation into groups opposing the immigration crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year.

Internal investigative reports show the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent undercover agents to community meetings in the Twin Cities and New York City, infiltrated Signal chats and obtained financial records of mainstream unions and left-leaning non-profit groups.

Nearly 30 internal law enforcement reports were released on Thursday as part of a criminal case the Department of Justice (DoJ) has filed against 15 Minneapolis protesters. The defendants are accused of a “conspiracy” to “impede” US immigration officers during the Trump administration’s surge in the region.

The DHS investigative reports were disclosed by the government and submitted to the court by an attorney for one of the defendants. The records show that in January, DHS launched an inquiry called “Operation Puppet Master” to identify a “network of conspirators” organizing against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The operation came as community organizing against ICE was swelling in the region in response to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

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Since Andy Burnham became prime minister, there has been a serious shift in approach to British foreign policy.

But so far none of it has been made public, beyond a change in the rhetoric of government ministers.

This is set to change after parliament's summer recess.

The government is poised to announce a raft of new policies in September, multiple Whitehall and civil society sources told Middle East Eye.

These policies are still under discussion, but are set to include a ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements.

Sources said discussions are underway in the Foreign Office over whether the measures will involve legal sanctions for companies and organisations that have business or other links with settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.

This comes as the Charity Commission, the UK's charity regulator, is investigating several British charities accused of sending money to settlements.

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Mike Lindell, the pillow salesman, Trump supporter and election denier, has refused to concede defeat in Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary, despite trailing by a double-digit margin the morning after polls closed.

The Associated Press called the race for Lisa Demuth, the Minnesota House speaker, late on Tuesday night.

With almost all votes counted, Demuth was more than 45,000 votes ahead of Lindell, who had the backing of Donald Trump, beating him by 43.4% to 32.5%.

Businessman Kendall Qualls, backed by the Republican state party, was trailing in third.

Told by a reporter on his own streaming channel, LindellTV, that the AP had declared the race over, Lindell dismissed the wire service outright. Asked why he wouldn’t accept the call, he questioned the AP’s authority to determine the outcome and insisted hundreds of thousands of votes remained uncounted.

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