TV News LIES

Today's floods come after a week of storms in the region.

Japan, China and the Philippines were hit by back-to-back storms – Dolphin, Chan-Hom and Peilou – which are churning across the region at the same time.

Earlier this week, Chinese authorities evacuated more than a million people from their homes as Dolphin, the strongest typhoon to hit China so far this year, made landfall in thMore...e country's east.

On Friday, Japan's Meteorological Agency said the deluge was brought by warm, humid air flowing into eastern Japan that combined with cold air above to make atmospheric conditions extremely unstable.

Around 7,000 people were left stranded overnight at Narita, one of Tokyo's two main airports, as the rain cut transport services linking to the airport on Thursday.

All flights are scheduled to operate normally on Friday, an airport spokesperson says. National flag carrier Japan Airlines says some of its flights may be delayed but it does not expect any cancellations.

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Newly disclosed records reveal the US government extensively spied on prominent leftwing organizations and on protesters as part of a vast operation into groups opposing the immigration crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year.

Internal investigative reports show the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent undercover agents to community meetings in the Twin Cities and New York City, infiltrated Signal chats and obtained financial records of mainstream unions and left-leaning non-profit groups.

Nearly 30 internal law enforcement reports were released on Thursday as part of a criminal case the Department of Justice (DoJ) has filed against 15 Minneapolis protesters. The defendants are accused of a “conspiracy” to “impede” US immigration officers during the Trump administration’s surge in the region.

The DHS investigative reports were disclosed by the government and submitted to the court by an attorney for one of the defendants. The records show that in January, DHS launched an inquiry called “Operation Puppet Master” to identify a “network of conspirators” organizing against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The operation came as community organizing against ICE was swelling in the region in response to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

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Since Andy Burnham became prime minister, there has been a serious shift in approach to British foreign policy.

But so far none of it has been made public, beyond a change in the rhetoric of government ministers.

This is set to change after parliament's summer recess.

The government is poised to announce a raft of new policies in September, multiple Whitehall and civil society sources told Middle East Eye.

These policies are still under discussion, but are set to include a ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements.

Sources said discussions are underway in the Foreign Office over whether the measures will involve legal sanctions for companies and organisations that have business or other links with settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.

This comes as the Charity Commission, the UK's charity regulator, is investigating several British charities accused of sending money to settlements.

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Russian authorities declared a state of emergency in the Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk on Wednesday following a large-scale Ukrainian attack that damaged infrastructure, disrupted the water supply, and sparked multiple fires.

Novorossiysk Mayor Andrei Kravchenko announced the measure after authorities lifted a drone alert that had remained in effect overnight.

“A state of emergency has been declared in Novorossiysk,” Kravchenko wrote on Telegram.

“After the threat of a drone attack was lifted, I went to the damaged sites to assess the situation and speak with residents.”

An emergency command center was established to coordinate response operations, while crews searched affected areas for drone debris and began clearing damaged sites, Kravchenko said.

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Evacuations have been ordered for areas along California’s famous Big Sur coast as a wildfire burns in the nearby steep, rugged mountains.

The Timber fire in Monterey county started on Sunday and grew to nearly 3,000 acres by Tuesday evening, according to Cal Fire, the state’s fire agency. Nearly 500 fire personnel had been assigned to the fire in the Los Padres national forest.

The evacuations have affected famed tourist destinations such as the Nepenthe restaurant, the Henry Miller Memorial Library and the Alila Ventana resort, as well as state parks during the region’s busiest season. Part of the Pacific Coast Highway in Monterey county was closed for non-residents, and officials urged visitors to avoid the area entirely.

Firefighters worked to build containment lines along the Highway 1 corridor, Cal Fire said on Monday, and have boxed in 5% of the blaze. Ground crews are working to access difficult terrain, the agency said, but the fire is moving slowly, burning primarily along the ground through grass, brush and oak woodland and has not moved into the tree tops.

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International law professor William Schabas has expressed his concern over the independence of the next prosecutor of the International Criminal Court following the controversial removal of Karim Khan by member states after an 18-month long misconduct probe. 

The Assembly of States Parties (ASP), the ICC’s governing body, voted on 24 July to dismiss Khan after deciding that "the elected official... committed serious misconduct and a serious breach of duty" by engaging in "prohibited conduct against a subordinate staff member".

The opinion was contrary to the conclusion reached by the judicial process established by the bureau - the executive body of the ASP - to make a legal determination on a United Nations fact-finding investigation that outlined the evidence from the complainant, Khan and more than 30 witnesses.

In March, the panel of three judges appointed by the bureau concluded unanimously that the facts presented in the UN probe did not establish any wrongdoing under the relevant legal framework.

The July removal vote was based on the recommendation of the 21-member ASP bureau a month earlier that effectively disregarded the judges' panel opinion, finding instead that Khan committed “serious misconduct” by engaging in a sexual relationship with a subordinate. Khan has denied any wrongdoing.

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Tennessee primary voters picked a pair of Memphis-area lawmakers to square off in a dramatically reconfigured US House seat central to Donald Trump’s plan to try to hold on to a slim Republican majority in the midterm congressional elections.

Republicans chose state senator Brent Taylor, who was endorsed by Trump, to be their nominee in the revamped 9th congressional district. Democrats picked state representative Justin Pearson, who gained national prominence three years ago when he was expelled from the Tennessee House for protesting in support of gun control measures.

The previously compact Memphis-based district had a majority Black population, but it was cracked apart by Republican officials this year following a US supreme court ruling that weakened federal Voting Rights Act protection for minorities. Republicans hope the redistricting, which is part of a broader national plan pushed by Trump, could give them a clean sweep of all nine of Tennessee’s seats

The new ninth district stretches about 200 miles (320km) east from Memphis across rural areas before reaching north toward Nashville. It previously favored Democrats but now tilts Republican, with 71% of voters new to the district, according to an Associated Press estimate. Some Memphis voters have raised concerns that their representation has been diminished.

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Senate Democrats introduced a new bill on Thursday to roll back Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s news media restrictions at the Pentagon, stating that those are suppressing independent reporting at the department.

The legislation, called the Protecting Pentagon Press Access Act, was introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) that would restore journalists’ access within the Pentagon that was available before the new measures imposed by Hegseth, including the “Correspondents’ Corridor,” a decades-old workspace inside the building that national security reporters utilized.

The bill, which will have a hard time getting traction in the GOP-controlled Senate, would also restore unescorted access to reporters to areas of the department that were accessible without an escort before the late 2025 Trump administration restriction went into effect.

“At a time of war, transparency and independent, accurate reporting matter more than ever,” Schatz said in a statement. “Our bill will reverse the Pentagon’s effort to shut out the free press and make sure the public gets the information it deserves.”

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