TV News LIES

US President Donald Trump and his top aides expressed concern over several Israeli policies in the West Bank during their meetings Monday with visiting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in West Palm Beach, a US official told The Times of Israel.

Trump and his senior advisers took particular issue with unchecked settler violence, settlement expansion and Israel’s withholding of several billion dollars in Palestinian Authority tax revenues, which has brought the Ramallah-based government to the brink of collapse, the US official said, confirming a report on the Axios news site.

The official clarified that the conversations on those issues were cordial, even as Washington expressed fear that instability in the West Bank could harm efforts to stabilize the Gaza Strip and expand the Abraham Accords.

Asked whether he raised concern about Israeli settler violence during his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump acknowledged some disagreement, saying: “We have had a big discussion for a long time on the West Bank, and I wouldn’t say we agree on the West Bank 100 percent. But we’ll come to a conclusion on the West Bank.”

The US is said to also be pushing Israel to release several billion dollars in clearance revenues that Jerusalem is withholding from Ramallah, bringing the Palestinian Authority to the brink of collapse.

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A turbulent New Year’s  Eve unfolded across Russia as multiple regions reported drone attacks in the early hours of Jan. 1, triggering fires at oil facilities in Kaluga Oblast and Krasnodar Krai, according to Russian Telegram channels and monitoring groups.

Local residents shared videos showing a glow in the sky and large fires in industrial areas where energy facilities are located. In the city of Liudinovo in Kaluga Oblast, reports indicated that a local oil storage facility was hit.

The Kyiv Independent can't immediately verify the claims.

Footage circulating online showed a tall column of fire and smoke above the site. Regional authorities have not commented on the extent of the damage, though local channels said the fire was preceded by the sound of explosions.

Residents of Krasnodar Krai also reported a turbulent New Year’s night, as the Ilsky oil refinery came under attack. The facility has previously been targeted by drones on multiple occasions, according to open-source reports and local media.

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The U.S. military said Wednesday it struck three more boats that were allegedly smuggling drugs, killing three people while others jumped overboard and may have survived.

The statement by U.S. Southern Command, which oversees South America, did not reveal where the attacks occurred. Previous attacks have been in the Caribbean Sea and in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

A video posted by Southern Command on social media shows the boats traveling in a close formation, which is unusual, and the military said they were in a convoy along known narco-trafficking routes and “had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes.” The military did not provide evidence to back up the claim.

The military said three people were killed when the first boat was struck, while people in the other two boats jumped overboard and distanced themselves from the vessels before they were attacked. Southern Command said it immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts.

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As the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip stretches on, more and more reports have emerged of growing strains between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Axios last week indicated that Trump’s top aides believe that Netanyahu is sabotaging the ceasefire process. According to the report, Trump’s team is convinced that Netanyahu is delaying progress toward the second phase of the president’s Gaza plan, and could ultimately resume the war against Hamas. Trump, meanwhile, wants to unveil the new technocratic government for Gaza, backed by the international peacekeeping force, and to convene the Board of Peace.

There were disagreements over Syria reported in the news as well. According to the Kan public broadcaster, Netanyahu asked Trump to retain some American sanctions on Syria as he prepared to repeal them last week, in the hope that they could be used as a bargaining chip in future negotiations, but the request was refused.

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Putin has claimed the weapons are impossible to intercept because the missile speeds are supposedly more than 10 times the speed of sound.

The move could feasibly allow Russian nuclear missiles to reach European targets faster, if stored at a base in Belarus. Intermediate missiles have a range of around 5,500km (3,415 miles) which mean they could strike anywhere in Europe or the US’s west coast from Russia.

The video released by both Russian and Belarus defence ministries on Tuesday didn’t specify where the missile systems are being placed in Belarus- but it showed them being transported into forests and being camouflaged with netting.

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On December 17, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a $35 billion deal to sell natural gas to Egypt in what officials describe as the largest energy export agreement in Israel’s history. The natural gas will be produced from Leviathan, a massive field west of Haifa. “On this day,” Netanyahu wrote in a statement that day, the third day of Hanukkah, “we’ve brought another jug of oil to the nation of Israel. But this time, the flame will burn not just for eight days, but for decades to come.”

The gas export permit for Egypt came after months of delays and behind-the-scenes disputes between Tel Aviv, Cairo, and Washington. The decision is expected to reinforce the Camp David peace framework between Egypt and Israel—an arrangement strained by the Gaza genocide—while cementing Israel’s emergence as a major natural gas supplier in the eastern Mediterranean and beyond.

The deal has been more than a decade in the making—and one unlikely individual played a small, but essential role in laying its groundwork: Jeffrey Epstein. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak consulted extensively with Epstein on financial deals around Leviathan for years, as Barak searched for international backers for Leviathan’s development.

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