TV News LIES

Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza in defiance of warnings that such a move would lead to countless more Palestinian deaths, further mass displacement and endanger Israeli hostages still held in the territory.

Before a security cabinet meeting to discuss Gaza’s future, the Israeli prime minister insisted that Israel does not want to ultimately govern the territory and would hand over that responsibility to friendly Arab nations

Asked in an interview with Fox News if Israel would “take control of all of Gaza”, Netanyahu replied: “We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza.” The security cabinet would need to approve such a decision.

“We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter,” Netanyahu said. “We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.”

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U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would meet with Vladimir Putin even if the Russian leader will not meet with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in comments that suggested Washington and Moscow could soon hold a summit.

Trump’s comments followed a statement from Putin earlier in the day that he hoped to meet with Trump next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates. But the White House was still working through the details of any potential meetings, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

When asked by a reporter if Putin would need to meet with Zelenskyy in order to secure a meeting with the U.S., Trump said: “No, he doesn’t. No.”

A White House official told The Associated Press earlier Thursday that a U.S.-Russian summit would not happen if Putin did not agree to meet with Zelenskyy, but the official later said it only made the summit less likely. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and had spoken on condition of anonymity.

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Donald Trump signed an executive action on Thursday forcing colleges and universities to submit data to prove they do not consider race in admissions, as the White House intensifies its scrutiny of higher education institutions that receive federal funding.

The Trump administration is accusing colleges of using personal statements and other proxies in order to consider race, despite a 2023 supreme court ruling reversing affirmative action, as part of its wider attack on diversity-, inclusion- and equality-related initiatives at American institutions.

“Although the Supreme Court of the United States has definitively held that consideration of race in higher education admissions violates students’ civil rights,” the presidential memorandum reads, “the persistent lack of available data – paired with the rampant use of ‘diversity statements’ and other overt and hidden racial proxies – continues to raise concerns about whether race is actually used in practice.”

In the memorandum, Trump directs the education secretary, Linda McMahon, to require that higher education institutions submit “the data necessary to verify that their admissions do not involve unlawful discrimination”. McMahon is to overhaul the US higher education database, expand the scope of required admissions reporting and increase accuracy checks to help provide additional “transparency”.

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The Trump administration is doubling to $50m a reward for the arrest of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world’s largest narcotraffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said on Thursday in a video statement announcing the reward.

Maduro was indicted in Manhattan federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies on federal charges of narcoterrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. At the time, the US offered a $15m reward for his arrest. That was later raised by the Biden administration to $25m – the same amount the US offered for the capture of Osama bin Laden in 2001, after the September 11attacks.

Despite the big bounty, Maduro remains entrenched after defying the US, the European Union and several Latin American governments who condemned his 2024 reelection as a sham and recognized his opponent as Venezuela’s duly elected president.

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A bipartisan duo in the Senate has been garnering attention for a pitch aimed at shoring up the solvency of Social Security.

The idea, pushed by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), calls for investing $1.5 trillion over the next five years into an investment fund that would then be given 70 years to grow. 

“It is something to save Social Security, and to save the benefits flowing to the people, frankly, will either already depend on them or will depend upon them going forward,” Cassidy told The Hill last month.
While the senators have yet to release text for the plan, Cassidy said the government would create an investment fund separate from the existing Social Security trust funds, into which the government would place $300 billion annually over the next five years.
Here’s what lawmakers — and some experts — have said so far.

While the senators have yet to release text for the plan, Cassidy said the government would create an investment fund separate from the existing Social Security trust funds, into which the government would place $300 billion annually over the next five years.

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The Air Force will deny early retirement benefits to transgender service members with 15 to 18 years of military service, even in cases where an early retirement was already approved, according to a new memo.

Transgender service members, who were made to either voluntarily separate or be forced out of the military under a policy instituted by the Trump administration, will instead be offered enhanced voluntary separation pay, which falls short of the early retirement benefit and is typically given to service members who choose to leave active duty before they are eligible for retirement, according to an Aug. 4 memo obtained by The Hill and first reported by Reuters.

An earlier memo, sent in May by Gwendolyn R. Defilippi, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, said transgender service members with 15 to 18 years of service could request Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA). In most military branches, including the Air Force, service members are eligible for retirement after 20 years.

An Air Force spokesperson did not immediately return The Hill’s request for comment on the new policy but told Reuters on Thursday that roughly a dozen transgender troops with between 15 and 18 years of military service were “prematurely notified” that their TERA applications were approved, and a “higher level review” was required.

In the Aug. 4 memo, Brian Scarlett, performing the duties of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, wrote that, “after careful consideration of the individual applications,” he was “disapproving” TERA requests from trans service members with 15 to 18 years of service. The memo does not explain the decision.

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The White House announced on Thursday that it will use federal law enforcement officers to help police Washington D.C.

The move comes one day after President Donald Trump threatened to take over the city’s police force in response to an attempted hijacking that left one Trump administration staffer injured.

“Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C.

The effort will begin as a seven-day operation, with “the option to extend as needed,” according to a White House statement. Increased law enforcement will be present on the streets at midnight, led by the U.S. Park Police, with participation from all members of the “Making DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force” established under a March executive order.

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A federal judge on Aug. 7 ordered a temporary halt to further construction at an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," while a lawsuit over its environmental impact unfolds in court.

At a hearing in Miami, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued an order halting any new construction at the facility through Aug. 12, according to the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. Williams' temporary restraining order "means that new construction, including filling, paving, installation of new infrastructure, and installation of new lighting, must stop immediately," according to a statement from a coalition of Florida environmental and conservation groups.

The statement added: "That will last for 14 days while the parties complete their hearing on the conservation groups’ motion for a preliminary injunction. Meanwhile, the lawsuit, originally filed by the groups on June 27, is allowed to proceed."

The lawsuit, among other things, alleges that the center "poses serious threats to the sensitive Everglades ecosystem, endangered species, clean water, and dark night skies."

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