TV News LIES

Being a member of the Pentagon press corps was once one of the more prestigious assignments in US journalism, a position reserved for heavy hitters from venerable newspapers and news channels, reporters at the peak of their powers.

Almost all credentialed reporters from traditional media companies surrendered their Pentagon press passes in October, rather than sign a 21-page Pentagon document that set restrictions on journalistic activities.

Those constraints include requiring news organizations to pledge they will not obtain unauthorized material – in effect limiting journalists to reporting on officially provided information – and agreeing to limits on journalists entering certain parts of the Pentagon.

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Two fossil-fuel billionaires with close ties to Donald Trump bought millions of shares in the company they co-founded just days after a meeting with senior White House officials, who then issued a key regulatory permit that helped expand the company’s fortunes in Europe.

Robert Pender, an energy lawyer, and Michael Sabel, a former investment banker, are the founders and co-chairs of Venture Global, a Virginia-based company that develops and operates liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals.

Sabel was among about 20 people who attended an event in April 2024 at Trump’s private club, Mar-a-Lago, when he reportedly requested $1bn in campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry in return for favorable legislation. Venture Global was among the “top donors” to Trump’s inauguration, donating $1m, according to the Wall Street Journal.

On his first day back in the White House, Trump issued an executive order rolling back regulations to favor fossil fuel production, including LNG export licences, while revoking existing climate and clean energy policies.

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Pete Hegseth is facing the most serious crisis of his tenure as defense secretary, engulfed by allegations of war crimes in the Caribbean and a blistering inspector general report accusing him of mishandling classified military intelligence. Yet despite the long list of trouble and as lawmakers from both parties call for his resignation, Hegseth shows no signs of stepping down and still holds Donald Trump’s support.

The twin crises have engulfed the former Fox News personality in separate but overlapping allegations that lawmakers, policy experts and former officials say reveal a pattern of dangerous recklessness at the helm of the Pentagon. Democratic legislators have reignited calls for his ouster after revelations that survivors clinging to wreckage from a September boat strike were deliberately killed in a “double-tap” attack, while a defense department investigation released on Thursday concluded he violated Pentagon policies by sharing sensitive details via the Signal messaging app hours before airstrikes in Yemen.

The most recent controversy comes as the Caribbean campaign centers on the Trump administration’s extrajudicial strikes against suspected drug smugglers, which have killed at least 87 people across 22 attacks since September. Trump has justified the operation as essential to combating fentanyl trafficking, claiming each destroyed vessel saves 25,000 American lives, though factcheckers, former officials and drug policy experts have called this figure absurd, noting that fentanyl primarily enters the United States overland from Mexico, not via Caribbean boats from Venezuela.

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A US senator has condemned the Trump administration after she alleged that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “attack dog” mauled one of her constituents.

Democratic senator Patty Murray of Washington state said Wilmer Toledo-Martinez suffered “horrific” injuries while ICE agents detained him in November.

“An ICE agent lured Wilmer out of his home under false pretenses, posing as a construction worker who claimed to have hit Wilmer’s car and needed him to step outside to verify,” Murray said in a statement. “Another agent, accompanied by a dog, was hiding nearby and released the dog on Wilmer shortly after he stepped outside.”

Murray said Toledo-Martinez, who was brought to the US at age 15 and is undocumented, was not resisting arrest or attempting to flee when the dog attacked. He is being held at the Northwest ICE processing center, Murray said. She said Toledo-Martinez was detained in front of his wife and two young children, who are all US citizens – and she called for his immediate release.

“Following the attack, Wilmer was left shaking and dizzy, and at one point his vision went black, yet he was denied medical care for hours,” Murray said.

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A mass shooting carried out Saturday by multiple suspects in an unlicensed bar near the South African capital left at least 12 people dead, police said. The victims included three children aged 3, 12 and 16.

Another 13 people were wounded and being treated in the hospital. Police didn’t give details of the ages of those who were injured or their conditions.

Police adjusted the death toll after they said a 12th victim died in the hospital.

The shooting happened at a bar inside a hostel in the Saulsville township west of the administrative capital of Pretoria in the early hours of Saturday. Ten of the victims died at the scene and two others died at the hospital, police said.

The children killed were a 3-year-old boy, a 12-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl. Police said they were searching for three male suspects.

“We are told that at least three unknown gunmen entered this hostel where a group of people were drinking and they started randomly shooting,” police spokesperson Brig. Athlenda Mathe told national broadcaster SABC. She said the motive for the killings was not clear. The shootings happened at around 4.15 a.m., she said, but police were only alerted at 6 a.m.

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A 7.0 magnitude earthquake has rocked Alaska on Saturday, Dec. 6, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The earthquake occurred in northeast of Yakutat, Alaska, the USGS said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Yakutat had a total population of about 657 in 2020 and 332 housing units in 2023. Yakutat is over 300 miles from Anchorage, where the earthquake was also felt, the USGS's interactive map shows.

NASA's Earth Observatory said on average, there are 18 major earthquakes measuring between 7.0 and 7.9. And one great earthquake that's 8.0 or larger every year.

What does magnitude mean in an earthquake?

Magnitude is a measurement of the strength of an earthquake. Officially, it's called the moment magnitude scale. It's a logarithmic scale, meaning each number is 10 times as strong as the one before it. So a 5.0 earthquake is 10 times stronger than a 4.0.

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For two decades, Muhammad Abdulrahman, 58, lived with his wife and his beehives on a remote hillside in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

But in May, Israeli settlers set up camp about 200 yards away and took control of the road leading to Mr. Abdulrahman’s home, blocking him from returning, he said. Israeli soldiers then evicted him and his wife, Suha Abdulrahman, the couple said.

The Israeli military said that Mr. Abdulrahman left voluntarily, but he said that he has still been unable to return home. Last month, a video shared by an Israeli lawmaker on social media showed his house had been turned into a space for religious study by the settlers.

Abdulrahman said by phone last month from his brother’s house in the nearby town of Betunia, where he is now staying. “They are not only stealing our land but also trying to cut the roots that connect us to it.”

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The U.S. is preparing to announce a transition into the second phase of its Gaza 20-point peace plan in the coming weeks, according to a U.S. official, as the U.S. and its allies seek to maintain a fragile ceasefire brokered between Hamas and Israel in October.

The announcement would include the unveiling of a new governance structure in Gaza led by a Board of Peace, along with the launching of an International Stabilization Force to help secure the area.

President Donald Trump is expected to soon reveal the individuals and countries involved in those mechanisms as part of his announcement.

Ahead of the planned announcement, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz will head to the Middle East on Saturday. He is expected to travel to Jordan and Israel.

The 20-point Gaza peace plan was bolstered by a mandate secured by the United Nations Security Council in November, after member-countries voted in support of a resolution approving the plan.

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