TV News LIES

The US embassy in London is offering grants of up to half a million dollars for new “public education” programmes in what has been criticised as interference in British domestic politics.

Using language that the pro-Trump Maga movement has sought to appropriate, a funding notice identifies a goal of fostering a “national conversation” about “shared civilizational values” underpinning US-UK ties. Priority will go to applicants aiming to celebrate “freedom of speech” and “limited government”.

It comes after senior Trump officials voiced sharp criticism of British authorities and repeated misinformation on a range of fronts including abortion and digital regulation, and allied with European far-right movements in attacks on hate speech and immigration policies.

The grants appear to be separate from other grants of $12m which the US state department is planning to allocate to organisations in the UK founded by the prominent Conservatives Jacob Rees-Mogg and Toby Young.

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Oleksiy Yukov, a Ukrainian known as the "collector of souls" for his decades-long work recovering the remains of soldiers and civilians on the frontlines of war, was honored in Kyiv on Saturday after being killed by a landmine during a recovery mission in the eastern Donetsk region.

Yukov, 40, was killed on Aug. 5 when he stepped on the mine during an effort to exhume a body, according to a social media post by his friend, Serhiy Hnezdilov. "This is a great loss for me personally and for the people close to me," he wrote in a translation published by Kyiv Post. "[H]e gave names back to the dead."

Thousands of Ukrainians paid their respects to Yukov in an Orthodox Christian service in the capital. Before the service in Kyiv, Yukov was mourned and honored in his hometown of Sloviansk in Donetsk province.

Yukov was known for his tireless efforts to bring closure to the families of those killed in the war. In carrying out that task in 2022, he lost an eye and sustained a leg injury in a mine blast, The Associated Press says, but returned to his work even as he was still recovering.

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On February 20, 2015, an official of the United Nations Population Fund sent two Israeli diplomats an email containing a confidential report about a trip two weeks earlier to Washington, D.C. by Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, then the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“For your eyes only. Do not forward,” Yahav Lichner wrote to then-Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor and diplomat Ronny Leshno-Yaar in a meshttps://www.dropsitenews.com/p/for-your-eyes-only-israels-mole-insidesage sent from Lichner’s personal email account, describing the report as a “classified internal summary of Zeid’s meetings in Washington.”

The meetings came at a time when Israel was facing an independent commission inquiry by the UN Human Rights Council over its conduct during the 2014 military offensive against the Gaza Strip.

The document recorded private meetings that Al-Hussein held with White House officials, senators, congressional appropriations staff, AIPAC, J Street, and human rights organizations.

It also revealed a concern inside Al-Hussein’s office: that congressional anger over the UN inquiry could threaten American funding for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Lichner added that Al-Hussein had met with members of Congress including “our friend,” the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, adding that Al-Hussein was “trying to do damage control and distance himself from the report.”

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Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) struck  102 Russian targets over two days, including six vessels from Moscow’s “shadow fleet” and 10 energy facilities across Russian-occupied territories, according to USF Commander Robert “Magyar” Brovdi.

The Aug. 6-7 strikes reached targets deep behind Russian lines, hitting military positions, logistics networks, air defenses and infrastructure supporting Moscow’s occupation forces.

Among the vessels struck in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov were two tankers and four dry cargo ships, Brovdi reported.

The campaign also hit eight Russian troop deployment sites, two fuel, lubricant and ammunition depots, two radar systems, a Buk surface-to-air missile system, locomotives, fuel tankers, mobile fire groups, three repeaters used to control Shahed/Geran attack drones and five communications towers.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered government authorities to prepare a new sanctions operation against Russia’s military industry, saying delays allow Moscow to adapt to existing restrictions.

According to Zelensky’s statement on Thursday, Aug. 6, he held a coordination meeting on sanctions against Russia, covering all categories of restrictions as the war approaches its fifth year. Denying Russia time to adjust to restrictions already in place remains the top priority, he said.

“We also discussed Russia’s use of machine tools and technologies that Moscow is a generation behind on and definitely could not have created on its own,” Zelensky said, adding that “more pressure is needed to limit such ties between the aggressor state and the world.”

According to Zelensky, every participant in the meeting was assigned concrete tasks that are expected to be fully carried out.

The announcement builds on the EU’s finalized 21st sanctions package against Russia in mid-July, which targeted specific companies, entities and individuals tied to Moscow’s war effort.

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Iran's parliament is reviewing a plan to ban ships linked to the U.S., Israel and other "hostile countries" from transiting the Strait of Hormuz until Tehran is compensated for war damage, according to Iranian state media.

The plan would impose fees of up to 7% of cargo value on commercial vessels that pass through the strait. It would also fine ships 20% of cargo if they violate Iran's conditions.

Iran on Wednesday said it was finalizing an agreement on shipping routes with Oman, a U.S. ally that sits on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying that ships would enter through the strait's northern corridor near the Iranian coast and exit through the southern corridor near the Omani coast.

Oman has not commented.

The Trump administration has disputed Iran's characterization of the agreement.

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