TV News LIES

President Joe Biden's administration on Friday urged a judge to block a near-total ban on abortion imposed by Texas - the strictest such law in the nation - in a key moment in the ferocious legal fight over abortion access in the United States.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 1 allowed the Republican-backed law to take effect even as litigation over its legality continues in lower courts. The U.S. Justice Department eight days later sued in federal court to try to invalidate it.

During a hearing in the Texas capital of Austin, Justice Department lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to block the law temporarily, saying the state's Republican legislature and governor enacted it in an open defiance of the Constitution.

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An arrest warrant has been issued for Gabby Petito's fiancé, Brian Laundrie, who is still missing after more than a week.

A grand jury indictment released Thursday by the U.S. District of Wyoming accuses Laundrie of unauthorized use of a Capital One debit card and several accounts, spending more than $1,000. The documents do not state who the cards or accounts belong to.

The indictment charges Laundrie with unauthorized access of a device and states he used the bank accounts without permission from about Aug. 30 through Sept. 1.

Laundrie has not been charged in Petito's death but has been named a person of interest.

"While this warrant allows law enforcement to arrest Mr. Laundrie, the FBI and our partners across the country continue to investigate the facts and circumstances of Ms. Petito's homicide," said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Michael Schneider.

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The Department of Homeland Security will begin deporting planes full of Haitian migrants as soon as Sunday to discourage more border-crossers from streaming into a camp in South Texas.

The plan, outlined by the Department of Homeland Security, is meant to relieve the overflow at the South Texas border town of Del Rio and deter more Haitians from trying to come to the United States illegally.

Human rights groups and some Democratic lawmakers opposed the plan.

The administration said it will "accelerate the pace and increase the capacity" of deportations to Haiti as well as other countries in the next 72 hours. The plan does not detail the number of people on each plane or how migrants will be processed before being placed on a flight. The administration did note that families with children will be subject to expulsion, a point that had been contested in court earlier this week.

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The last plane carrying U.S. forces left Afghanistan on Monday, meeting an  Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw U.S. forces from the Taliban-led nation, after 20 years of war that left nearly 2,500 American troops dead and spanned four presidencies.

The Biden administration has spent weeks scrambling to evacuate Americans and Afghan translators who helped the American military after the Taliban quickly gained control of Kabul on Aug. 15.

The withdrawal also comes in the aftermath of an ISIS-K suicide bombing that killed dozens of people, including 13 U.S. service members, on Aug. 26. The U.S. retaliated with airstrikes targeting Islamic extremists on Friday and Sunday.

Evacuations originally began in July with at least 122,000 people evacuated out of Afghanistan as of Monday, including 5,400 Americans.

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Tropical Storm Ida formed in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday, and forecasters are warning it could rapidly strengthen into one of the strongest storms of the Atlantic hurricane season.

The system is taking aim at the U.S. Gulf Coast, but conditions appear right for the storm to cause extreme weather for inland regions as well, according to a Thursday afternoon AccuWeather briefing. Senior meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said parts of Tennessee still reeling from deadly floods are at risk for more heavy rain.

The storm is shaping up to be "probably be the strongest storm of the season thus far,” Kottlowski said. It could make landfall before the end of the weekend as a hurricane, giving people in its path little time to prepare or evacuate, Kottlowski said.

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The Pentagon says it is seeking help from six U.S. airlines to help with the ongoing evacuation effort in Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin activated Stage 1 of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, or CRAF, on Sunday. The U.S. military is asking for 18 aircraft — three each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air; two from Hawaiian Airlines and four from United Airlines.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the civilian aircraft will not fly into Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. Instead, they will be used for "the onward movement of passengers from temporary safe havens and interim staging bases" outside of Afghanistan.

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