TV News LIES

President Trump appeared on Saturday to walk back comments he made earlier in the week, suggesting non-U.S. troops in NATO avoided the front lines in Afghanistan, following widespread anger from British political leaders and military families.

“The GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America! In Afghanistan, 457 died, many were badly injured, and they were among the greatest of all warriors. It’s a bond too strong to ever be broken. The U.K. Military, with tremendous Heart and Soul, is second to none (except for the U.S.A.!). We love you all, and always will!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump remarked during an interview at the World Economic Forum on Thursday that the U.S. “never needed” non-U.S. troops.

“You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that, and they did – they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines,” Trump told Fox Business in Davos, Switzerland.

The assertion sparked outrage across the United Kingdom, where leaders spanning the political spectrum, along with former soldiers and parents of fallen military members, slammed Trump for doubting NATO’s commitment to its allies and diminishing the role of non-U.S. troops.

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An FBI agent in Minneapolis who attempted to probe the death of a 37-year-old woman killed by a federal immigration officer earlier this month has resigned.

A source familiar with the situation told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister channel, that agent Tracee Mergen resigned as a supervisor in the FBI’s Minneapolis field office following pressure from bureau leadership in Washington.

Mergen left her job after facing pressure to discontinue an inquiry into the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, Jonathan Ross, according to The New York Times, which first reported on Mergen’s resignation.

“It is FBI policy not to comment on personnel matters,” the FBI said in a statement to The Hill.

Mergen’s exit comes after the Justice Department (DOJ) said it sees “no basis” for a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good.

Good was fatally shot while in her SUV on Jan. 7 during an immigration operation in a Minneapolis neighborhood. A private autopsy revealed Good had gunshot wounds to her left forearm, right breast and head, and that a fourth bullet grazed her body.

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A Border Patrol officer fatally shot a man in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, igniting further tension between local leaders and the federal government over heightened immigration enforcement actions in the city.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the shooting occurred Saturday morning while Border Patrol officers were conducting an immigration enforcement operation. Federal officials said a man armed with a handgun approached the officers, who fired "defensive shots" after the man resisted an attempt to disarm him.

The person killed has been identified as Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis resident and VA nurse. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara confirmed he was a U.S. citizen with a permit to carry a firearm.

Several bystanders recorded videos of the encounter from different angles. Videos do not show Pretti wielding a gun.

This is the second fatal shooting in Minneapolis after Trump sent thousands of federal immigration officers to the city in what the administration says is the "largest immigration enforcement operation ever."

Officials have warned residents to avoid the area of Saturday's shooting as protesters clashed with federal agents still on scene. Gov. Tim Walz mobilized the Minnesota National Guard to protect a federal building in Minneapolis and the scene where the fatal shooting happened.

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Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has approved the issuance of gun licences to Israelis in 18 additional illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, as the right-wing government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes to expand illegal outposts that undermine prospects for a two-state solution.

“The importance of the decision lies in the fact that these settlements will now be able to submit applications for a personal weapon licence,” Ben-Gvir, a far-right minister, wrote on Telegram on Wednesday, claiming that the efforts were to “enhance self-defence and increase personal security”.

Israeli settlers have been emboldened by a wide-scale armament programme spearheaded at the start of Israel’s genocidal war in the Gaza Strip by Ben-Gvir, and the near-total impunity they enjoy when carrying out attacks.

Israelis living illegally in the occupied West Bank have been armed with military-grade weapons ranging from US-made M16s to pistols and drones. Israeli authorities maintain that holding arms is necessary for their safety, but local and international organisations have long documented the organised, forced displacement of Palestinians from their ancestral lands.

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The Israeli military is turning the yellow line that demarcates the more than half of the Gaza Strip it occupies and controls into a physical border. Analysis of satellite imagery by Forensic Architecture shows that the Israeli military has begun constructing earth berms—large, raised mounds of earth—in areas along the yellow line to create a physical separation between the Palestinian population forced to live in the western half of the enclave, and Israeli forces who occupy the eastern half.

Israeli troops withdrew to the yellow line after the so-called ceasefire agreement went into effect on October 10. Since then, they have engaged in a combination of construction of military infrastructure and roads in the over 53% of the territory that it controls—alongside the systematic destruction of existing buildings.

Previously, the yellow line was only drawn in Israeli maps or delineated by the military’s placement of physical yellow blocks—a total of 38 counted by Forensic Architecture—some of which have been moved hundreds of meters further into Gaza in some places, taking over even more Palestinian land.

This is the case in Jabaliya, for example, where the berms follow the path of the yellow blocks that Israel has been extending into the area under its control, but beyond the line marked on its own maps. Some of the berms have been constructed across roads, cutting them in half.

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Air-defense sirens wailed and explosions shook Kyiv early Saturday as Russia launched one of its heaviest assaults in months – just hours after Ukrainian, Russian, and US negotiators convened in Abu Dhabi for peace talks.

Kyiv Post reporters who spent the night in shelters described the barrage as “very, very massive.”

One correspondent added grimly: “I assume the situation following this strike is going to be extremely tough.”

The timing was unmistakable.

“With negotiations underway, Moscow is sending a message written in fire,” said a senior European diplomat in Washington, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “This is how the Kremlin negotiates – with missiles.”

Meaghan Mobbs, daughter of former Trump envoy Keith Kellogg, echoed the sentiment in a pointed social media post: 

“With ongoing negotiations in Abu Dhabi, it’s hard not to read this as a signal of Russia’s intentions toward peace. I have stopped guessing at what point such behavior would so enrage POTUS that he decides to double down and give substantial aid to Ukraine.”

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For over four decades, Republican presidents have banned U.S. funds from going to groups that provide or promote abortion — and Democratic presidents have reversed the ban.

On Friday at the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., Vice President JD Vance announced a major expansion of the policy. The Mexico City policy, named for where it was first unveiled, will now also bar funding to groups that promote "gender ideology" and diversity, equity and inclusion.

"We believe that every country in the world has the duty to protect life," said Vance. "We're expanding this policy to protect life, to combat DEI and the radical gender ideologies that prey on our children."

The administration is also expanding the policy beyond non-governmental charitable groups to larger organizations that cross country borders, like U.N. agencies.

Vance's announcement was met with cheers from the large crowd of March for Life participants gathered on the National Mall. Each year, anti-abortion advocates gather in D.C. for the rally.

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The US military said on Friday that it carried out a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing two people.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the US Southern Command said in a statement.

Friday’s strike marked the first known attack since Trump ordered the US military to capture the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

The statement said “two narco-terrorists were killed,” and a search for a survivor was under way. A video accompanying the post shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames.

The US military has carried out more than 30 strikes against boats that it alleges were smuggling drugs off South American waters since early September. Those strikes have killed more than 100 people, according to the Associated Press, citing information from the Trump administration.

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