TV News LIES

United States envoy Steve Witkoff says he and his colleague Jared Kushner have held “constructive” talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Israel continues its deadly bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip.

In a short statement on Sunday, Witkoff said the “positive” discussion focused on “the continued progress and implementation planning for Phase 2 of President Trump’s 20-Point Plan for Gaza”, which the US and Israel are advancing in “close partnership”.

Witkoff added “broader regional issues” were also discussed in the meeting on Saturday, a likely reference to heightened tensions between the US and Iran and speculation that Washington and Tel Aviv may still yet attack Iran as they did during the 12-day June war against Tehran.

Israel, in the meantime, continues bombarding Gaza despite agreeing to a ceasefire in its genocidal war, committing near-daily violations of the October 10 agreement brokered by the US.

More...

A US security agreement for Ukraine is “100% ready” to be signed, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said after two days of talks involving representatives from Ukraine, the US and Russia – indicating some progress was made. Further discussions are expected next weekend.

Speaking to journalists in Vilnius during a visit to Lithuania on Sunday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is waiting for its partners to set a time and place for the signing of the security guarantees document, after which it would go to the US Congress and Ukrainian parliament for ratification. “For us, security guarantees are first and foremost guarantees of security from the United States. The document is 100% ready, and we are waiting for our partners to confirm the date and place when we will sign it,” Zelensky said.

Ukraine sought more air defence support from allies on Sunday as hundreds of buildings in Kyiv were without heating in freezing temperatures for a second day after Russian strikes. More than 1,300 apartment buildings Kyiv were still without heating, mayor Vitalii Klitschko said on Sunday. Sub-zero temperatures and repeated airstrikes have slowed efforts by repair crews working to restore heating and electricity.

Zelenskyy has also emphasised Ukraine’s push for European Union membership by 2027, calling it an “economic security guarantee.” He described the talks in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi as likely the first trilateral format in “quite a long while” that included not only diplomats but military representatives from all three sides. Zelenskyy acknowledged fundamental differences between Ukrainian and Russian positions, reaffirming territorial issues as a major sticking point.

More...

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday pushed back against statements from Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who alleged the organization failed to provide critical information during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The United States officially withdrew from WHO on Friday.

“WHO therefore regrets the United States’ notification of withdrawal from WHO – a decision that makes both the United States and the world less safe,” the organization wrote in a Saturday statement. “The notification of withdrawal raises issues that will be considered by the WHO Executive Board at its regular meeting starting on 2 February and by the World Health Assembly at its annual meeting in May 2026.”

“WHO takes note of statements from the government of the United States that say WHO has ‘trashed and tarnished’ and insulted it, and compromised its independence. The reverse is true. As we do with every Member State, WHO has always sought to engage with the United States in good faith, with full respect for its sovereignty,” it added. 

More...

Attacks on Gaza continue, killing five Palestinians. U.S. sanctions Gaza-based medical groups. U.S. boosts Israel aid in 2026. General strike protests crime in Palestinian towns inside Israel. Gaza’s technocratic committee awaits guarantees.

A general strike shut down Palestinian towns inside of Israel on Thursday, leading to the four main parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel agreeing to run on a ‘joint list’ in the next Knesset elections, with their leaders signing a pledge titled “Joint List Now.”

The strike was called to protest surging crime and killings in Palestinian communities and originated in Sakhnin. Demonstrations were held in northern towns, including Umm al-Fahm, Shefa-‘Amr, Tamra, Majd al-Krum, and Kafr Manda, with larger protests planned in Sakhnin and Rahat, followed by rallies in Nazareth and Kafr Kanna on Friday.

The Higher Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel said the spike in violence stems from state neglect and held the Israeli government responsible for unchecked criminal gangs and their killings, according to information shared by Sada News.

More...

Japan has committed $6 billion in humanitarian and technical aid to Ukraine for the first half of 2026, a senior Ukrainian official has said.

The announcement of the financial support, which is worth the equivalent of around €5 billion, was made by Olena Kondratyuk, Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, following a meeting with the Japanese ambassador to Ukraine, Masashi Nakagome, last week.

It comes as Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid, leaving large swathes of the country, including parts of Kyiv and several other regions, without electricity, heating or running water amid subzero temperatures.

Tokyo has already delivered more than 2,500 power generators, 65 transformers, and 10 large-scale power generation units to help tackle Ukraine’s energy crisis and prevent further blackouts.

More...

The temptation is strong to hope that the storm has passed. To believe that a week that began with a US threat to seize a European territory, whether by force or extortion, has ended with the promise of negotiation and therefore a return to normality. But that is a dangerous delusion.

There can be no return to normality. The world we thought we knew has gone. The only question now is what takes its place – a question that will affect us all, that is full of danger and that, perhaps unexpectedly, also carries a whisper of hope.

Forget that Donald Trump eventually backed down from his threats to conquer Greenland, re-holstering the economic gun he had put to the head of all those countries who stood in his way, the UK among them. The fact that he made the threat at all confirmed what should have been obvious since he returned to office a year ago: that, under him, the US has become an unreliable ally, if not an actual foe of its one-time friends.

That much was spelled out in ways both gross and insulting. In the second category comes his latest remark that Nato allies were “a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan, a despicable affront to the families of the 457 British service personnel and their comrades from across the alliance who gave their lives in that conflict.

In the first category was the unveiling of his latest venture: having earlier told the Norwegian prime minister, who he falsely accused of denying him a Nobel medal, that he was becoming bored of peace, he came to Davos to launch his “board of peace”. Trump is the one book you can judge by its cover, and so the new body’s logo said it all: as one wit observed, it was basically the UN badge “except dipped in gold and edited so the world only includes America”.

That captured the essential points: that the “board of peace” is an attempt to supplant and monetise the post-1945 international architecture, replacing the UN with a Mar-a-Lago-style members’ club where a permanent seat costs $1bn and decision-making power lies in the hands of Trump himself, even after his presidential term expires. That Vladimir Putin has been invited, and Mark Carney shut out, tells you all you need to know.

More...