TV News LIES

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...

Moscow broke its silence on President Donald Trump's comments ordering two nuclear submarines to "the appropriate regions" in response to "provocative" remarks by a former Russian president.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media on Aug. 4 that the country was "very attentive" to the topic of nuclear non-proliferation and believe "everyone should be very, very cautious with nuclear rhetoric."

Peskov also played down the significance of Trump’s comments, saying it was clear to Russia that U.S. submarines were already on combat duty. He said Russia had no appetite for getting into a prolonged argument with Trump.

Still, Trump's deployment of the nuclear submarines appears to be the first time social media rhetoric has led an American president to apparently reposition parts of the United States' nuclear arsenal. (Trump did not specify whether he was referring to nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines.)

More...

The Sydney Harbour Bridge was closed at 11.30am with police estimating at least 90,000 marched. Organisers claim up to 300,000 pro-Palestinian supporters walked in the rain across the bridge from 1.30pm after speeches from Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, Indigenous actor Meyne Wyatt and former Socceroo and Australian of the Year Craig Foster.

Those in the protest included the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr, and federal Labor MP Ed Husic. Shouts of “We are all Palestinian” could be heard from the front of the march.

Text messages from NSW police told people to stop walking across the bridge, and police said they would work with protester organisers to get people off the bridge in a staged manner.

The bridge emptied of people after 4pm, with protesters facing long delays on trains.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters in Melbourne were met by Victoria police in riot gear, trucks and a barricade as police blocked the plan for the protesters to block the Kings Street Bridge.

More...

Israel detained and then deported an American nurse who tried to save the life of Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian activist who worked on the Oscar-winning documentary film “No Other Land.”

After Israeli settler Yinon Levi allegedly shot and killed Hathaleen on Monday in Umm al-Khair, a village in the occupied West Bank, the critical care nurse gave Hathaleen four rounds of CPR. She cradled his head in her hands, checking his pulse and whispering “You’re OK,” as he bled out, the nurse told The Intercept. The medical worker asked not to be named because they fear for their safety. Hathaleen was then taken away in an ambulance, where he died before reaching the hospital.

About 20 feet away, and minutes before Hathaleen was shot, another Israeli settler in an excavator tried to destroy the village’s main water pipe, according to media reports. A local man named Ahmad, Awdah’s cousin, was struck in the head with the excavator’s arm and nearly knocked unconscious after he tried to stop the driver.

Turning to Ahmad after Hathaleen was taken away, the nurse administered a neurological exam; he was severely concussed with diminished mental function before he too was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

More...

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Friday sharply condemned violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, as he visited the village of Taybeh.

"Such acts are crimes, they are terror and they finally need to be prosecuted," Wadephul said, adding his visit to the West Bank community was "a sign of solidarity with all people suffering under settler violence."

Taybeh has been repeatedly attacked by Israeli settlers over the past few months, amid a surge in violence directed at Palestinian communities in the occupied territories since the October 7 attacks on Israel.

"As an occupying power and a constitutional state, Israel must enforce security and order and prosecute offences," said Wadephul.

"It must protect the Palestinian population from these offenders," he urged, adding that Berlin is in favour of imposing further sanctions on violent settlers at EU level.

More...

A Ukrainian MP and other officials have been arrested after the country's anti-corruption agencies uncovered what they call a large-scale bribery scheme in the purchase of drones and electronic warfare systems.

In a statement on X, President Volodymyr Zelensky said a Ukrainian MP, heads of district and city administrations and several National Guard service members had been exposed for their involvement, which involved state contracts with suppliers being signed at prices inflated by up to 30%.

Zelensky wrote that there can be "zero tolerance" for corruption in Ukraine, and thanked the agencies for their work.

Zelensky's government faced an extensive backlash after introducing a bill that would strip the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, known as Nabu and Sap respectively, of their independence.

The president claimed the agencies needed to be "cleared of Russian influence", and sought to give the general prosecutor the authority to decide who should be prosecuted in high-level corruption cases.

More...