TV News LIES

The Israeli government installed security equipment and controlled access to a Manhattan apartment building managed by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a set of emails recently released by the Department of Justice. The equipment was installed starting in early 2016 at 301 E. 66th Street—the residence where former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak frequently stayed for stretches at a time.

The security operation at “Ehud’s apartment” was in place for at least two years, emails from the DOJ disclosure show, with officials from the Israeli permanent mission to the United Nations corresponding regularly with Epstein’s staff regarding security. The apartment was technically owned by a company connected to Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, but was effectively controlled by Jeffrey Epstein. Units in the building were frequently loaned out to Epstein’s contacts and used to house underage models.

Rafi Shlomo, then-director of protective service at the Israeli mission to the United Nations in New York and head of Barak’s security, corresponded with Epstein employees to arrange meetings to discuss security and coordinate installation of specialized surveillance equipment at the 66th Street residence. Shlomo personally controlled access to the apartment for guests and even conducted background checks on cleaners and Epstein’s employees.

Under Israeli law, former prime ministers and other high ranking officials typically receive security services after they leave office. According to the emails, Epstein personally approved the installation of the equipment and authorized meetings between his staff and Israeli security officials.

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In a move that has sent shockwaves through Georgia’s media landscape, Eliso Kiladze, the editor-in-chief of Qronika Plus and Cnews news agancy, was detained by masked special forces on Wednesday morning.

While the government alleges her involvement in a high-stakes fraud ring, Kiladze and her supporters maintain that the arrest is a calculated attempt to suppress explosive investigative findings.

The arrest took place outside Kiladze’s home between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM on Feb. 18. Despite her high public profile and consistent presence in the media, the authorities opted for a heavy-handed operation involving masked officers from the Investigative Service, according to local outlet Civil Georgia.

The Prosecutor’s Office has charged Kiladze with “membership in an organized criminal group” allegedly led by sanctioned former Prosecutor General Otar Partskhaladze and the Mikadze brothers. The state claims Kiladze was part of a transnational “call center” scheme involving money laundering and fraud.

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Dozens of world leaders and national delegations will meet in Washington DC on Thursday for the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, as major European allies declined to join the group and criticised the organisation’s murky funding and political mandate.

The White House has indicated that the summit for his new ad hoc council at the renamed Donald J Trump Institute of Peace will heavily function as a fundraising round, with Trump announcing on social media that countries have pledged more than $5bn toward rebuilding Gaza, which has been devastated in the war with Israel and remains in a humanitarian crisis.

The US president claimed that the member states had also “committed thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force and Local Police to maintain Security and Peace for Gazans”.

The board was initially formed with the reconstruction of Gaza as its stated primary goal, though its mandate has since been widened by Trump to include responding to other global conflicts.

But, despite Trump’s characteristic bombast, the Board of Peace summit will open to heMore...avy scepticism, with expectations limited both for Thursday’s meeting in Washington and in the Middle East, where the 100-day peace and recovery plan announced by Jared Kushner in Davos has stalled and aid into Gaza remains at a trickle.

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NYU Langone Health, one of New York City’s major hospital networks, announced this week that it will shut down its gender‑affirming care program for minors, as the Trump administration escalates threats to strip federal funding from providers that treat trans youth.

In a statement to the Guardian, spokesperson Steve Ritea said that “given the recent departure of our medical director, coupled with the current regulatory environment, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our Transgender Youth Health Program.” He added that the hospital’s pediatric mental health services will continue.

The move comes after months of sustained pressure from the administration, including an executive order signed shortly after Trump returned to office declaring that the federal government will not “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so‑called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another”.

NYU Langone reportedly began cancelling appointments for minors soon after the order was issued. New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, directed the hospital to resume care, warning that the network risked violating state anti‑discrimination laws. A federal judge later issued a temporary restraining order blocking the administration’s directive from taking effect.

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Crystal Hefner, the widow of late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, has alleged that his scrapbooks and journals contain images of nude women taken without their consent and images of underage girls.

At a news conference Tuesday with lawyer Gloria Allred, Crystal Hefner said she is “deeply worried” about the images getting out.

“There are serious and unresolved concerns about the scope of what these books contain,” she said.

Crystal Hefner said there are more than 3,000 scrapbooks and journals that span decades, dating back to the 1960s.

Allred said she filed regulatory complaints, asking for California’s and Illinois’s attorneys general to launch an investigation into the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation regarding Hugh Hefner’s scrapbook and journal collection. (The foundation’s address is listed as in California, and Hugh Hefner was born and raised in Illinois.)

The office of California’s attorney general did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The press secretary for the Illinois attorney general’s office said they received the complaint and are reviewing it.

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Eight backcountry skiers have been found dead and one remains missing after an avalanche near Lake Tahoe in California, officials said Wednesday, making it the deadliest avalanche in the U.S. in more than four decades.

Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said during a news conference that authorities have told the families the mission has moved from rescue to recovery. It is the deadliest avalanche in the U.S. since 1981, when 11 climbers were killed on Mount Rainier, Washington.

Crews have faced treacherous conditions in their search for the missing skiers since the avalanche struck Tuesday morning. Search and rescue crews were dispatched to the Castle Peak area of the Sierra Nevada after a 911 call reporting the avalanche had buried 15 skiers.

Six of them have been found alive.

The group was on a three-day trek in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada as a monster winter storm pummeled the West Coast.

Two of those rescued after several hours of searching were taken to a hospital for treatment, said Ashley Quadros, a spokesperson for the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office. Heavy snow and the threat of additional avalanches slowed the rescue effort in the mountains near Castle Peak, northwest of Lake Tahoe.

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A government watchdog group is suing the FBI to force the release of a tape that reportedly shows border czar Tom Homan allegedly accepting a $50,000 bribe.

MSNOW reported in September that before President Trump won the election, Homan had been approached by an undercover FBI agent following a tip that he was taking kickbacks in exchange for helping companies secure lucrative government contracts should Trump be elected.

The act was reportedly caught on tape, showing Homan accepting the cash in a Cava bag. Homan in September said he “did nothing criminal” but did not deny taking a $50,000 cash payment. 

Democracy Defenders Fund is suing after the FBI rebuffed their efforts to secure the tape and other files related to the investigation into Homan

“These documents contain vital information that the American public needs to have in order to assess both Mr. Homan’s potentially corrupt actions as well as the Department of Justice and FBI’s potentially politically motivated decision to drop the investigation into Mr. Homan, one of the Trump Administration’s appointees,” the group wrote in its suit.

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Construction on the nation’s largest infrastructure project can resume after a court ordered the Trump administration to release funding it had withheld to gain leverage over congressional Democrats from New York.

On Feb. 18, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the U.S. Department of Transportation released nearly $130 million in funding for the $16 billion Gateway tunnel project in an ongoing lawsuit. The rail tunnel project, under the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York, is meant to bolster tunnels along the Northeast Corridor, the busiest passenger rail line in the United States.

The funding resuming is a blow to President Donald Trump, who had vowed to terminate the project in a budget fight with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York.

"This funding freeze was unlawful from the start," James, who has herself been targeted for legal retribution by Trump, said in a statement. "We took swift action in court, and now every dollar that was illegally withheld has been released."

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