TV News LIES

Russia on Saturday named 18 Americans banned from entering the country in response to Washington imposing sanctions on 18 Russians for alleged human rights violations.

The list released by the Foreign Ministry includes John Yoo, a former U.S. Justice Department official who wrote legal memos authorizing harsh interrogation techniques; David Addington, the chief of staff for former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney; and two former commanders of the Guantanamo Bay detention center: retired Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller and Adm. Jeffrey Harbeson.

The French Senate voted Friday to legalize same-sex marriage in France, putting a landmark bill on track to become law by summer.

The vote in the upper house of Parliament — led by President Francois Hollande's Socialists — comes despite boisterous protests. Opponents, mostly conservatives and fervent Roman Catholics, have sought to defend traditional marriage.

In an announcement that surprised few, Al Qaeda in Iraq has officially incorporated the Syrian militant group Jabhat al-Nusra. With the merger, the two groups will know be known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

News of the merger first appeared yesterday, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, head of the Islamic State in Iraq, the local Al Qaeda affiliate there, released a statement about the joining of forces.

Israeli forces have been holding a Palestinian-American teenager in a military lockup for nearly a week after bursting into his family home and arresting him in an overnight raid for allegedly hurling rocks at Israeli motorists in the West Bank, his father said on Thursday.

The case highlights Israel's system of military detention for Palestinian minors, which has been frequently criticized, most recently by the U.N. which said in March that an in-depth study showed it systematically and gravely violated their rights.

The United States and some other countries boycotted a discussion in the United Nations General Assembly on international reconciliation.

Critics said the debate, proposed by Vuk Jeremic of Serbia, the current president of the assembly, was aimed at the international criminal court and other international tribunals, Voice of America reported. A U.S. spokesperson issued a statement describing the discussion as set up to be "unbalanced" and "inflammatory."

Uruguayan lawmakers voted Wednesday to legalize gay marriage, making the South American country the third in the Americas to do so.

Supporters of the law, who had filled the public seats in the legislative building, erupted in celebration when the results were announced. The bill received the backing of 71 of the 92 members of the Chamber of Deputies present.