TV News LIES

A brazen robbery at the Louvre Museum in Paris Sunday morning has left investigators searching for four men who made off with what officials describe as "priceless" jewels.

The Paris Prosecutor's office told NPR that two of the suspects broke into the museum's Galerie d'Apollon, which houses some of the museum's most valuable treasures, through a second-floor window shortly after the museum opened. Armed with small chainsaws and box cutters, the men smashed display cases before fleeing on Yamaha TMax scooters toward a nearby highway.

Two pieces of stolen jewelry — including the crown of Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III — were later found near the museum, apparently dropped or abandoned as the suspects fled. The gold and diamond encrusted crown was damaged, the prosecutor's office said.

A Louvre spokesperson described the items as being of "inestimable cultural and historical value."

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez called the theft "a major, highly organized operation" that lasted just seven minutes. "There's a judicial investigation underway," Nuñez told France Inter radio, adding the missing items were "of true heritage value — truly priceless."

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Colombia’s president accused U.S. officials of murder in a military campaign that has targeted alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea, prompting President Donald Trump to announce he is withholding aid to the nation.

"US government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters," Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrote on social media.

The U.S. has launched military strikes on seven alleged drug trafficking vessels since September, killing at least 32. The latest strike was announced Oct. 19 by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said it destroyed a boat "transporting substantial amounts of narcotics" and killed all three people on board. Legal experts and lawmakers from both parties have questioned the legality of the strikes.

Petro said one of the strikes killed a fisherman who "had no ties to the drug trade."

"The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure," Petro added in an Oct. 18 social media post. "We await explanations from the US government."

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In a major test to the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israeli officials on Sunday said it launched a wave of attacks in Gaza after Hamas militants allegedly fired on Israeli soldiers.

Israel's military said in a statement Oct. 19 that it launched "a series of strikes" against Hamas in southern Gaza, several hours after it announced it had targeted militants in the Rafah area in response to an attack on Israeli soldiers. The Israel Defense Forces have said the latest strikes targeted Hamas militants, as well as tunnels and military buildings.

The moves in Gaza comes shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of major "action" against Hamas, accusing the militant group of violating the ceasefire agreement that has been in effect for less than two weeks.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said Oct. 19 that Israeli attacks had killed at least eight people in the last 24 hours, Reuters reported.

Hamas has reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire agreement following the strikes, according to Reuters, and said it was unaware of any incidents or clashes in Rafah and has not been in contact with groups there since March.

TVNL Comment:  We predicted that Israel would resume its attacks on Gaza as soon as the hostaages were returned. We knew that Israel would blame Hamas for breaking the cease fire.  And so it is.

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The Israeli army acknowledged on Friday that it killed an 11-year-old Palestinian boy in southern occupied West Bank on Thursday, claiming the incident occurred “outside open-fire regulations,” Israel's public broadcaster KAN reported.

The boy, Mohammad Bahjat al-Hallak, was shot in the pelvic area in the town of ar-Rihiya, south of Hebron, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which confirmed his death from an Israeli bullet.

The Israeli broadcaster said the commander of a battalion stationed in the southern West Bank “conducted a preliminary investigation,” and the killing occurred during what the military described as “disturbances and stone-throwing toward Israeli forces.”

The investigation found “deviation from open-fire regulations, with improper use of weapons,” and indicated that “this is the second incident of shooting outside the rules by the same unit,” without providing details about the first incident.

Palestinian sources told Anadolu that al-Hallak was playing soccer in the village field when Israeli forces entered, firing bullets and tear gas indiscriminately at civilians.

Local authorities say more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, around 10,000 wounded, and over 20,000 arrested, including 1,600 children, since the Gaza war in October 2023. The war was halted after a ceasefire reached earlier this month, based on US President Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky failed to convince President Donald Trump of his nation's need for long-range Tomahawk missiles during a Friday afternoon meeting.

Zelensky met with Trump at the White House for the third time this year amid speculation that Ukraine might receive some of the missiles that would enable it to strike Moscow and Russian energy infrastructure.

Trump declined to provide Ukraine with the long-range missiles to prevent an escalation of the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Zelensky told media after the meeting ended.

The 2.5-hour meeting "was tough" and involved Trump making "several strong statements" and briefing Zelensky about a 2.5-hour phone conversation between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, Axios reported.

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The Trump administration is moving to send the two survivors of Thursday’s strike in the Caribbean overseas rather than seek long-term military detention for them, four US officials and a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

The source, who like the US officials spoke on condition of anonymity, said the survivors were being sent to Colombia and Ecuador.

The US military staged a helicopter rescue for the survivors on Thursday after the strike on their semi-submersible vessel, suspected of trafficking illegal narcotics. The strike killed the other two crew members on board, sources told Reuters on Friday.

The US military flew the survivors to an American navy warship in the Caribbean, where they were detained until at least Friday evening. It was not clear if they had already been flown off the ship as of Saturday morning.

The US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expected the survivors to eventually be sent to their home countries.

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