TV News LIES

The White House confirmed on Wednesday that Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin to try to broker an end to the Russian war on Ukraine as soon as next week, but finding a neutral venue to host the summit might not be easy, given that the Russian president was indicted for war crimes in 2023 by the international criminal court, and so is subject to arrest in 125 countries.

That rules out Helsinki, where Trump and Putin met in 2018, since Finland is one of the 125 state parties to the Rome statute authorizing the ICC, and so would be obliged to act on the court’s arrest warrant should Putin visit. Switzerland, Austria, Iceland, Malta, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, which all hosted cold war era summits between American and Soviet leaders, are also out, for the same reason.

Potsdam, where Truman met Stalin in 1945, is also impossible, since Germany is also a signatory to the ICC treaty.

More...

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to propose fully reoccupying the Gaza Strip when he meets his security cabinet, Israeli media say.

"The die has been cast. We're going for the full conquest of the Gaza Strip – and defeating Hamas," local journalists quote a senior official as saying.

The families of hostages fear such plans could endanger their loved ones, with 20 out of 50 believed to be alive in Gaza, while polls suggest three in four Israelis instead favour a ceasefire deal to return them.

Many of Israel's close allies would also condemn such a move as they push for an end to the war and action to alleviate a humanitarian crisis.

Within Israel, hundreds of retired Israeli security officials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, issued a joint letter to US President Donald Trump on Monday, calling for him to pressure Netanyahu to end the war.

One of the signatories, ex-domestic intelligence agency chief Ami Ayalon, told the BBC that further military action would be futile.

"From the military point of view, [Hamas] is totally destroyed. On the other hand, as an ideology it is getting more and more power among the Palestinian people, within the Arab street around us, and also in the world of Islam.

More...

 

NATO has started coordinating regular deliveries of large weapons packages to Ukraine after the Netherlands said it would provide air defense equipment, ammunition and other military aid worth 500 million euros ($578 million).

Sweden also announced Tuesday it would contribute $275 million to a joint effort along with its Nordic neighbors Denmark and Norway to provide $500 million worth of air defenses, anti-tank weapons, ammunition and spare parts.

Two deliveries of equipment, most of it bought in the United States, are expected this month, although the Nordic package is expected to arrive in September. The equipment is supplied based on Ukraine’s priority needs on the battlefield. NATO allies then locate the weapons and ammunition and send them on.

“Packages will be prepared rapidly and issued on a regular basis,” NATO said Monday.

More...

 

An Israeli drone strike killed one person in Baalbek in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday night, marking a fresh violation of last year’s ceasefire agreement, the Health Ministry said.

A ministry statement said that the strike targeted the town of Brital, southeast of Baalbek, without giving further details.

Lebanon’s state news agency NNA said an Israeli drone fired three missiles at a civilian car on a road in Brital.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on the report.

Earlier Tuesday, local media reported low-altitude overflights by Israeli drones in southern Lebanon, including the Tyre district and the al-Qasimiyeh and Jouar areas.

More...

 

An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot near Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi sparked a major fire, Russian officials said Sunday, as the two countries traded strikes and the Ukrainian president announced a prisoner exchange.

More than 120 firefighters attempted to extinguish the blaze, which was caused by debris from a downed drone striking a fuel tank, Krasnodar regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. Videos on social media appeared to show huge pillars of smoke billowing above the oil depot.

Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, temporarily stopped flights at Sochi’s airport.

Farther north, authorities in the Voronezh region reported that four people were wounded in another Ukrainian drone strike.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 93 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Black Sea overnight into Sunday.

More...

U.S. states and cities that boycott Israeli companies will be denied federal aid for natural disaster preparedness, the Trump administration has announced, tying routine federal funding to its political stance.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency stated in grant notices posted on Friday that states must follow its “terms and conditions.” Those conditions require they certify they will not sever “commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies” to qualify for funding.

The requirement applies to at least $1.9 billion that states rely on to cover search-and-rescue equipment, emergency manager salaries and backup power systems among other expenses, according to 11 agency grant notices reviewed by Reuters.

More...