TV News LIES

A Papua New Guinea government official has told the United Nations more than 2,000 people were believed to have been buried alive by Friday's landslide and has formally asked for international help.

The government figure is roughly triple the U.N. estimate of 670 killed by the landslide in the South Pacific island nation's mountainous interior. The remains of only six people had been recovered so far.

In a letter seen by The Associated Press to the United Nations resident coordinator dated Sunday, the acting director of the South Pacific island nation’s National Disaster Center Luseta Laso Mana said the landslide “buried more than 2000 people alive” and caused “major destruction” at Yambali village in the Enga province.

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• The Ukrainian president said Ukrainian forces had secured “combat control” of areas where Russian troops staged an incursion this month in northern parts of Kharkiv region. “Our soldiers have now managed to take combat control of the border area where the Russian occupiers entered,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Friday, after meeting with military and regional officials in Kharkiv city.

• Zelenskiy’s comments appeared to be at odds with comments by Russian officials. Viktor Vodolatskiy, a member of Russia’s lower house of parliament, said Russian forces controlled more than half the territory of the town of Vovchansk, 5km (three miles) inside the border. Tass news agency also quoted Vodolatskiy as saying that once Vovchansk was secured, Russian forces would target three cities in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region – Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Pokrovsk.

• Ukraine’s army said its forces had “stopped” Russia from advancing further into the Kharkiv region and were now counterattacking, but Moscow was intensifying its assault on other parts of the front. It was not possible to verify the battlefield accounts of each side. Kyiv has been fighting a fresh Russian land assault in the Kharkiv region since 10 May, when thousands of Moscow’s troops stormed the border, making their biggest territorial advances in 18 months.

In a speech to union workers today in Philadelphia, the vice-president, Kamala Harris, said the use of the term “unified reich” in a video posted by Donald Trump was “appalling”.

“In this moment, extremists are trying to divide our nation, and we see them as they encourage xenophobia and hate,” Harris said.

“This kind of rhetoric is unsurprising coming from the former president and it is appalling. And we’ve got to tell him who we are. And once again it shows that our freedom and our very democracy are at stake.”

Joe Biden was also asked about the remark as he campaigned in New Hampshire.

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When dermatologist Adewole "Ade" Adamson sees people spritzing sunscreen as if it's cologne at the pool where he lives in Austin, Texas, he wants to intervene. "My wife says I shouldn't," he said, "even though most people rarely use enough sunscreen."

At issue is not just whether people are using enough sunscreen, but what ingredients are in it.

In countries such as Japan, South Korea, and France, sunscreens include newer chemical filters, some of which have been shown to provide broader protection against UV rays than those used in the U.S.

The Food and Drug Administration's ability to approve such ingredients is hamstrung by a 1938 U.S. law that has required sunscreens to be tested on animals and classified as drugs, rather than as cosmetics as they are in much of the world.

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Democrat Angela Alsobrooks will face off against former Republican governor Larry Hogan in the Maryland Senate race this November, setting up an unexpectedly competitive election in the reliably Democratic state. Republicans have a rare opportunity to flip a Senate seat in Maryland, and the outcome of that race could determine control of the upper chamber in November.

Alsobrooks and Hogan won their parties’ Senate primaries on Tuesday, as Maryland voters cast ballots in the presidential race as well as congressional elections. Joe Biden and Donald Trump easily won the state’s primaries after already securing enough delegates to capture their parties’ nominations.

Leaders of both parties were closely watching the results of the Senate contests, as the retirement of Senator Ben Cardin has created an opening for Republicans to potentially capture the seat, thanks to Hogan’s late entry into the race. A Hogan victory would mark the first time that a Republican has won a Maryland Senate election since 1980, and it could erase Democrats’ narrow majority in the chamber.

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Six of the nine Native American tribes in South Dakota have voted to ban Republican Gov. Kristi Noem from their reservations – the equivalent of 20% of the state's land mass – in opposition to her assertion that some tribal leaders are benefiting from drug cartels along with other comments.

Two groups, the Yankton Sioux Tribe in southeastern South Dakota, and the Sisseton-Wahpeton Ovate tribe in the northeast part of the state, last week became the latest to deny Noem entry.

In banning Noem, the Yankton Sioux Tribe Business and Claims Committee cited her comments about drug cartels and Native American children, who "don't have any hope" because of absentee parents.

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Amid his battle with a "major neurocognitive disorder," The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson has been placed under a conservatorship, a judge ruled Thursday.

Judge Gus T. May approved the guardianship during a hearing Thursday morning, according to the Los Angeles County Superior Court website.

"The court finds from clear and convincing evidence that a conservatorship of the person is necessary and appropriate in that (Wilson) is unable to care for (his) person," a minute order from the hearing reads. "The conservatorship is the least restrictive alternative needed for the protection of conservatee."

Wilson did not object to the conservatorship, according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY.

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