TV News LIES

Football in the occupied West Bank has been brought to a near standstill since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

Palestinian players struggle to reach training grounds, matches are routinely cancelled because of checkpoints and military closures, and hundreds of sports facilities have either been damaged or destroyed.

But in illegal Israeli settlements, Israeli football teams are thriving, with players continuing to train and compete while clubs expand their facilities.

An investigation by Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) and Bridges Investigations for Middle East Eye has found that illegal settlement-based clubs are participating in Israeli domestic competitions with the backing of the Israel Football Association (IFA), while Fifa and Uefa continue to recognise and financially support the IFA.

According to the investigation, Fifa, which formally says it is committed to respecting internationally recognised human rights through its statutes and strategic goals, has not only declined to take action against settlement clubs; its Fifa+ platform also broadcasts their matches.

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An Israeli court has acquitted Yona Schreiber, a Jewish settler from the occupied West Bank settlement of Peduel, over a violent assault on a French Catholic nun near Jerusalem’s Old City earlier this year.

The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court acquitted Schreiber on Wednesday on the grounds of "mental illness".

Following the ruling, Schreiber’s lawyer, Idan Gamliel, described the attack as an “unfortunate incident” and said the defence took “note” of the nun’s “difficult feelings” over the assault.

Schreiber attacked the 48-year-old nun in April outside the Cenacle on Mount Zion, a site regarded as holy by Christians and Jews.

The nun, a researcher at Jerusalem’s French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research, required medical treatment after Schreiber pushed her to the ground and kicked her in the head.

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Russia is preparing to escalate attacks on Kyiv, including the center of the capital, after reportedly concluding that peace negotiations have “reached a dead end.”

According to Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources close to the Kremlin, Moscow is also considering intensifying conventional ballistic missiles attacks on other infrastructure targets across Ukraine.

According to the sources, all attempts at negotiations have effectively collapsed, leaving Ukraine and Russia back at square one.

Moscow increasingly sees Ukrainian strikes as attacks by NATO, because alliance members are supplying Kyiv with weapons and intelligence, Bloomberg’s sources said.

“The current stage of hostilities isn’t the peak of military escalation,” according to the sources.

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A massive landslide along the Nepal-China border sent a torrent of mud, rocks and water through communities Wednesday, leaving a trail of destroyed homes, roads, bridges and power infrastructure.

At least 160 people have died in Nepal and China's Tibet region, including 157 in Nepal and three in China, while hundreds remain missing. Officials on both sides of the border have warned that the death toll could rise as rescue crews struggle to reach devastated areas, Reuters reported.

Video footage from the disaster zone shows the scale and speed of the destruction. Security cameras on the Chinese side of the border captured people running from a wall of debris as floodwaters rushed through a border crossing, sweeping away vehicles and buildings.

In Nepal, images showed roads buried beneath thick layers of mud, homes partially submerged and survivors being carried or transported to safer areas. Helicopters flew over valleys as rescue crews searched for people stranded by the flooding.

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Ukraine’s allies on Monday pledged to keep up their support amid Russia’s escalating attacks and despite threats from Moscow, as they gathered in Kyiv on Ukraine’s Independence Day.

Air defense supplies were the main priority at the meeting of 30 leaders of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, jointly chaired by the leaders of France and Germany, who participated remotely, and by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

Burnham arrived in Kyiv for his first trip abroad since taking office, alongside other European leaders and European Council President António Costa.

“Despite Russia’s outrageous threats to my country, we will continue our support for Ukraine’s defense,” Burnham said.

Russia has recently pounded Kyiv with ballistic missiles, ripping open apartment blocks and killing dozens in the capital.

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a new proposed rule for H-1B visas on Monday that would charge a $103,265 fee for all workers seeking to gain employment in the U.S. who are subject to the annual statutory cap.

Notice of the proposed rule says the fee would be used for the federal government’s costs of administering the lawful immigration system, including activities carried out by the DHS and the departments of Justice, State and Labor.

“The proposed H‑1B fee is intended to recover the costs incurred across the federal government to adjudicate, vet, and support lawful immigration programs that otherwise must be funded by taxpayers,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a release. 

The move follows a federal judge’s decision in June to strike down the Trump administration’s previously proposed $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled that it was unlawful to implement a tax on visa applications, as Congress is the only legislative body with the authority to set immigration policy and taxes.

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