TV News LIES

The remains of three people Hamas handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza do not belong to any hostages, Israel said Saturday, in the latest setback to the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

The handover followed Israel’s return on Friday of the bodies of 30 Palestinians to Gaza, which completed an exchange after militants turned over remains of two hostages earlier in the week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed that the remains of the three people did not belong to hostages. It was unclear who the remains belonged to.

Hamas’ armed wing said it had offered to hand over samples on Friday of unidentified bodies but Israel refused and asked for the remains for examination.

“We handed the bodies over to stop the claims of Israel,” the statement said. Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify bodies without access to DNA kits.

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Fighting for control of the strategic hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine is intensifying, with the Russian Defense Ministry claiming to have eliminated a group of Ukrainian special forces sent to help defend the area.

In recent weeks, Russian units have begun penetrating Pokrovsk itself and have closed in on the last resupply routes used to sustain Ukrainian forces in the town.

The Ukrainian special forces had landed in a helicopter on the northwestern outskirts of Pokrovsk, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Drone footage shared by an unofficial Russian Telegram channel showed Ukrainian soldiers fanning out from a Blackhawk helicopter. Eleven of the troops that had landed were killed, the Defense ministry claimed. It’s unclear when the mission took place.

A source in Ukrainian intelligence told CNN that the claim was untrue. Stabilization efforts led by the head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov continue in Pokrovsk, the source added.

The Ukrainian 7th Aerial Assault Corps also said there had been a successful landing in the Pokrovsk area. “It was a complex operation that required the synchronized actions of various units,” it said.

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Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan won the country's disputed election with more than 97% of the vote, according to official results announced early Saturday, in a rare landslide victory in the region.

Hassan appeared at an event in the administrative capital, Dodoma, to receive the winner's certificate from electoral authorities. In remarks afterward, she said the result showed Tanzanians voted overwhelmingly for a femMore...ale leader.

After the election, "it's time to unite our country and not destroy what we've built over more than six decades," she said. "We will take all actions and involve all security agencies to ensure the country is peaceful."

Hassan took power in 2021. As vice president, she was automatically elevated when her predecessor, John Pombe Magufuli, died months after the start of his second term.

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Nearly 50% of the 30 busiest US airports faced shortages of air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday, leading to flight delays nationwide as a federal government shutdown hit its 31st day.

The absence of controllers on Friday is by far the most widespread since the shutdown began, with one of the worst-hit regions being New York, where 80% of air traffic controllers were out, the agency said.

At least 35 FAA facilities, including several at the largest US airports, reported staffing problems. Airports affected included facilities in New York City, Austin, Newark, Phoenix, Washington, Nashville, Dallas and Denver. At some airports, delays averaged one hour or more.

The shutdown has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers to work without pay.

“After 31 days without pay, air traffic controllers are under immense stress and fatigue,” the FAA said late on Friday.

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The US Senate rejected an effort on Wednesday to halt a contentious US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) plan to kill nearly half a million barred owls in order to save their cousin, the northern spotted owl.

John Kennedy, the Republican senator from Louisiana, had hoped to block the proposal by bringing the matter to a vote with a joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act. The effort failed with 25 votes to 72 votes.

“The barred owls are not hurting anybody. They’re just doing what nature teaches them to do. We’re going to change nature?” Kennedy said in a speech before the Senate. “We’re going to control our environment to this extent? We’re going to pass DEI for owls?”

Barred owls have been expanding their habitat west, increasing competition for the spotted owl. The more aggressive barred owls come from eastern North America and are slightly larger and better able to adapt than the spotted owl. The spotted owl has been imperiled over the years, facing major habitat loss as logging and development destroyed old growth forests in the Pacific north-west.

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The Trump administration is inching closer to entering the U.S. into war with Venezuela without providing evidence justifying it, pursuing any formal debate or authorization or outlining a plan to deal with the chaos experts say will almost certainly ensue.

U.S. officials have now chosen targets for airstrikes in the South American country and believe they may be approved imminently, The Wall Street Journal and Miami Herald reported on Friday.

The move would escalate President Donald Trump’s two-month campaign of strikes in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, which have killed at least 57 people. The administration, which has claimed the strikes around South America target people bringing drugs to the U.S., has not demonstrated that any of its victims were a threat, nor did it attempt to prosecute them. Military officials told Congress on Thursday that they do not know exactly who they have killed so far, Democratic lawmakers said after a briefing.

Simultaneously, an attack would represent America’s second assault on a nation that has not attacked the U.S. in less than a year — the first being against Iran in June — risking a domino effect of strife and bloodshed, and underscoring the hollowness of Trump’s claims he is enhancing world peace.

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An explosion inside a Harvard University medical building early Saturday morning appears to have been “intentional,” police said.

A Harvard University Police Department officer arrived at the Goldenson Building after a fire alarm went off at 2:48 a.m., Harvard police said in a statement.

While responding to the call, the officer noted that he saw two “unidentified individuals fleeing from the building,” according to the statement. The officer “attempted to stop the individuals,” but was unsuccessful.

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U.S. President Donald Trump pressed Hamas to act faster in returning the bodies of deceased hostages amid a delicate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire deal by withholding the bodies of the remaining 13 deceased hostages thought to have died during or after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Hamas has said the return of the remaining bodies "may take some time" due to the destruction wrought in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday instructed the country's military to "carry out powerful strikes in Gaza," a statement from his office said, in response to alleged ceasefire violations by Hamas.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday they had resumed the ceasefire.

The International Committee of the Red Cross facilitated the transfer of three bodies to Israeli authorities on Friday, the ICRC said in a statement.

The bodies will be taken to Israel for identification.

A further 30 bodies were transferred from Israeli authorities to authorities in Gaza via the International Committee of the Red Cross, the organization said in a statement on Friday.

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