TV News LIES

On Wednesday night Britain's most notorious anti-Islam activist was hosted at the Oxford Union by a Palestinian student from Gaza who said she was upholding his right to free speech, before roundly defeating him in a debate on Islam.

Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, arrived at the debating society to speak in support of the motion "This House believes the West is right to be suspicious of Islam". It failed to pass.

The union is a globally famous institution. Many of its debates have gone down in history.

There is little doubt that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, will watch this debate online when it is published later this year.

But the audience inside the chamber on Wednesday night was extraordinarily small, owing to a crowd of hundreds of protestors who had prevented people - including speakers - from entering and delayed the event by hours.

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Iran’s top joint military command said on Saturday morning that it will close the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil trading corridor, due to ongoing Israeli strikes in Lebanon during a ceasefire agreement.

Khatam al-Anbiya Central ‌Headquarters said the attacks violated the ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran. Israel targeted Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah hours after the two sides agreed to halt fighting.

“In view of the United States’ bad faith and its clear breach of its commitments by failing to implement the first article of the memorandum ending the war, and in response to the continuous and ongoing violation of the ceasefire by the Zionist regime in southern Lebanon… It hereby announces that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to the passage of vessels,” the military command said in a statement reported by state broadcaster IRIB.

“In view of the United States’ bad faith and its clear breach of its commitments by failing to implement the first article of the memorandum ending the war, and in response to the continuous and ongoing violation of the ceasefire by the Zionist regime in southern Lebanon… It hereby announces that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to the passage of vessels,” the military command said in a statement reported by state broadcaster IRIB.

The announcement comes just days after President Trump signed a framework agreement with Iran that authorized the reopening of the critical waterway. The strait’s closure during the Iran war has sent energy prices skyrocketing and strained global fuel supplies.

Trump said in a speech at Joint Base Andrews on Friday that “ships are flying out of the Hormuz Strait like nobody’s ever seen before.”

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Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has proposed a bill to ban trade with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine, declaring them an impediment to peace.

The Norwegian government said on Friday that it had submitted a bill with legally binding stipulations for consultation. The proposal recommends prohibiting Norwegian citizens and companies from profiting from or supporting Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.

“The Israeli settlements in Palestine are in violation of international law. They contribute to displacement, extreme violence and a development that makes a peaceful solution impossible. We will prohibit trade with the illegal settlements,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a press release.

The Israeli government has built illegal settlements at a rapid pace, undermining the prospects of a Palestinian state.

The proposal follows a parliamentary resolution and would ban Norwegian exports to, and importation of goods from, Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

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President Trump unveiled the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One plane on Friday, saying it will fly “further and faster” than any other model of presidential plane.

Trump toured the renovated Boeing jet at Joint Base Andrews in  Maryland.

“There will never be one like this. This is very unique. This is considered the world’s most luxurious plane,” the president said. “When it was built, it was built at a level that will probably never be seen again.”

The plane features a new color scheme — red, white, gold and navy blue, a change from the two-toned lighter blues. It features the presidential seal on the left side and has a massive waving American flag on its tail.

The aircraft, designated by the Air Force as VC-25B, is expected to be a “bridge” aircraft in use between the aging Boeing 747-200s that have been used for more than two decades and the two new Boeing planes that were expected in 2024 but won’t be ready until 2028.

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Kyiv came under repeated Russian attacks in the early hours of Thursday,  as ballistic missile threats were followed by a new wave of strike drones, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine’s Air Force initially warned of a “ballistic threat from the north,” prompting air alerts in Kyiv and several other regions. Authorities urged residents to move to shelters and remain there until the all-clear.

The first missile threat was briefly lifted at 12:58 a.m., but at 1:22 a.m. the military again declared a missile danger. Shortly afterward, the Air Force reported several ballistic missiles heading toward the capital and Poltava region.

A series of powerful explosions was heard in Kyiv at around 1:24 a.m. Explosions were also reported in Poltava. a city in central Ukraine.

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Abdullah Ibrahim, the South African jazz pianist deemed his country's equivalent to Mozart by Nelson Mandela, died Monday in his adopted home of Germany after a short illness. He was 91 years old.

"Abdullah passed away peacefully with South Africa and its people in his heart," his partner, Marina Umari, said in a statement. "His love for his country never wavered, no matter where in the world he found himself."

In an extraordinarily accomplished career that spanned eight decades, Ibrahim helped bring bebop stylings to South Africa, and he bonded with Duke Ellington, who produced one of his early, influential recordings. In his later years, he became an idol and an inspiration to new generations of jazz pianists.

Abdullah Ibrahim was born Adolph Johannes Brand in 1934. His mother was a pianist at their church, and he began taking piano lessons at the age of 7. By the time he was 15, he was playing professionally — billed as Dollar Brand — and in the late '50s formed a group, the Jazz Epistles, that featured trumpeter Hugh Masekela. In January 1960, the group recorded Jazz Epistle Verse One, the first jazz album by an all-Black South African jazz ensemble.

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