TV News LIES

UN experts have accused Israel of increasingly using sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians and carrying out "genocidal acts" through the systematic destruction of maternal and reproductive healthcare facilities.

A report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council documents alleged violations, including rape, in Gaza and the occupied West Bank since Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia was excluded from high-level talks on ending the war after the Kremlin said it didn't want him there, a U.S. administration official and a Russian official told NBC News.

Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg was conspicuously absent from two recent summits in Saudi Arabia — one with Russian officials and the other with Ukrainians — even though the talks come under his remit.

“Together,” Trump said in announcing Kellogg’s nomination in November, “we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.”

But Kellogg did not attend U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, on Feb. 18. Russian President Vladimir Putin thought he was too pro-Ukraine, a senior Russian official with direct knowledge of the Kremlin’s thinking told NBC News.

“Kellogg is a former American general, too close to Ukraine. Not our kind of person, not of the caliber we are looking for,” according to the official, who is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

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The Trump administration has called on the Pentagon to provide military options to ensure the country has full access to the Panama canal, two US officials told Reuters on Thursday.

Donald Trump has said repeatedly he wants to “take back” the Panama canal, which is located at the narrowest part of the isthmus between North and South America and is considered one of the world’s most strategically important waterways, but he has not offered specifics about how he would do so, or if military action might be required.

One US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a document, described as interim national security guidance by the new administration, asked the military to look at options to ensure “unfettered” access to the Panama canal.

A second official said the US military had a wide array of potential options to guarantee access, including ensuring a close partnership with Panama’s military.

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The S&P 500, a key US stock market index, closed in correction territory on Thursday as the volatility of Donald Trump’s trade wars rattled investors.

The index closed more than 10% down from its 19 February peak as Wall Street approaches the end of a second week of pressure.

The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite also closed in correction last Thursday, while the Dow is over 9% down from its peak in December.

A federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of previously terminated probationary employees across 18 different agencies.

U.S. District Judge James Bredar issued a temporary restraining order Thursday evening that requires the probationary employees be reinstated by March 17 and stops any ongoing mass firings.

This evening’s order came in a case brought by 20 Democratic attorneys general who sued to block the firings last week and is separate from a California judge’s decision also dealing with probationary employees that was issued earlier Thursday.

The order covers every major department other than the Pentagon, including the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Transportation and Veterans Affairs.

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Tens of thousands of federal government probationary workers fired in recent weeks as part of President Donald Trump's sweeping cuts to the federal workforce must be reinstated immediately, a California judge ordered Thursday.

The decision from U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco is one of the most far-reaching court defeats so far in the Trump administration's efforts, led by top White House adviser Elon Musk, to gut the federal bureaucracy.

The judge ordered six federal agencies ‒ the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Energy, Interior and Treasury ‒ to reinstate recently hired or promoted probationary employees who were terminated by the Trump administration.

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Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said Thursday that it is laying off more than 2,200 people as a result of President Donald Trump's deep budget cuts, with another 100 furloughed on reduced schedules. It's the largest layoff in the university's history. Johns Hopkins was the largest university recipient of federal research funding, and is the largest employer in the state of Maryland.

“This is a difficult day for our entire community," a university spokesperson told USA TODAY. Affected workers will receive at least 60 days notice before the cuts take effect, the spokesperson said. Many of the jobs are in other countries, since the university specializes in USAID-funded research projects, which Trump has slashed.

The historic layoffs come as other universities are cutting spending, freezing hiring and in some cases rescinding admissions acceptance for graduate students as they face budget cuts from Trump and Congress.

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