TV News LIES

The third most senior official at the Department of Veterans Affairs is stepping down amid findings she misled ethics officials to secure approval for VA Secretary David Shulkin’s wife to accompany him on taxpayer-funded trip to Europe.

Vivieca Wright Simpson, Shulkin’s chief of staff, told colleagues Friday morning that she is retiring after 32 years at the agency and more than two years as Shulkin's most senior aide.

The announcement came two days after the VA inspector general released recommendations that she be disciplined for doctoring an email to an ethics lawyer to show Shulkin was getting special recognition or an award during the trip to Denmark and London last year, the criteria for clearing his wife’s flights on the public’s dime.

More...

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist raised troubling question about President Donald Trump and his associations with Russia.

James Risen, a former New York Times and Los Angeles Times reporter now with The Intercept, wrote Friday that Americans can’t be sure “whether Trump has the best interests of the United States or those of Russia at heart.”

“One year after Trump took office, it is still unclear whether the president of the United States is an agent of a foreign power,” Risen wrote. “Just step back and think about that for a moment.”

A Russian who offered stolen National Security Agency cyberweapons and compromising information on President Donald Trump bilked U.S. spies out of $100,000 last year, The New York Times reported on Friday, citing U.S. and European security officials.

The money was delivered to a Berlin hotel room in September and was intended as the first installment of a $1 million reward, according to U.S. officials, the Russian and communications reviewed by the Times, the newspaper reported.

The theft of the secret hacking tools was very damaging to the NSA, which was trying to determine exactly what was missing, the Times said.

More...

White House speech writer David Sorensen has resigned amid allegations of domestic abuse, although he denies being violent and said he was actually the victim, according to The Washington Post.

Jessica Corbett, Sorensen’s ex-wife, claimed that he was violent and emotionally abusive during their two-and-a-half-year marriage, but Sorensen vehemently denies the allegations and said he was the victim of domestic violence in the marriage, the Post said.

At least two people have been killed and more than 50 wounded in a bombing at a mosque in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, according to medical sources.

The casualties were caused by two suspected improvised explosive devices which went off at the Saad Ben Obadah mosque during Friday prayers.

Mutaz al-Mu'tri, Benghazi's security directorate spokesperson, said two bomb bags had been used in the attack, according to Libya's 218 tv news channel.

More...

Thousands of Israeli families who have been searching in vain for answers since their babies mysteriously disappeared in the early 1950s - shortly after Israel's creation - have been thrown a lifeline.

The mystery of the missing children has plagued Israel for decades, with mounting evidence at least some of the babies were trafficked by hospitals and orphanages - possibly with the connivance of Israeli officials.

Other documents indicate some children may have died during experiments conducted by hospitals without the parents' knowledge or consent.

More...

The Vatican's sex-crimes expert is changing plans and will fly to New York to take in-person testimony from a Chilean sex-abuse victim whose pleas to be heard by Pope Francis were previously ignored.

The switch from a planned Skype interview came after The Associated Press reported that Francis received a letter in 2015 from Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of Chile's most notorious pedophile priest.

More...

The United Nations has warned that Gaza's emergency fuel supplies will run dry in 10 days unless it receives immediate donor support.

In a statement published on Wednesday, officials said $6.5m was needed to buy generator fuel and stave off the collapse of "critical services".

At least 7.7 million litres of fuel is needed to continue to operate hospital equipment, such as MRIs, CT Scanners, and x-ray machines.

More...