TV News LIES

Transgender women are banned from competing at the Olympics, beginning with the Los Angeles Summer Games in 2028.

International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry announced the change Thursday, March 26, reversing its 2004 decision to allow the participation of transgender athletes. To date, only one openly transgender woman has competed at the Olympics in 2021, a weightlifter from New Zealand who did not make it past her opening round of competition at the Tokyo Games.

Women who want to compete at the Olympics will have to do a one-time genetic test.

The IOC began examining the issue of transgender participation in September 2024 after several sport federations, including World Athletics and World Aquatics, took steps to limit or ban transgender athletes. A year later, Coventry announced the creation of a working group that looked at "scientific, medical and legal developments since 2021."

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FIFA has said it will not act against Israeli settlement clubs in the West Bank, but fined the Israeli FA (IFA) over discrimination. 

At the 2024 FIFA Congress, the Palestinian FA (PFA) demanded Israel be suspended from the global game over the war in Gaza and that FIFA act against Israeli settlement clubs in the West Bank, which prompted FIFA to seek ‘independent’ legal advice.

On Thursday, following a meeting of the FIFA Council, the world governing body dismissed the PFA and its argument that Israel violates FIFA statutes by letting teams from settlements in the West Bank play in the national league, saying: “FIFA should take no action given that, in the context of the interpretation of the relevant provisions of the FIFA Statutes, the final legal status of the West Bank remains an unresolved and highly complex matter under public international law.”

However, in 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the West Bank, is unlawful.

The Court noted that it “considers that the violations by Israel of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force and of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination have a direct impact on the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying Power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful. This illegality relates to the entirety of the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in 1967.”

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Vadym Filashkin, governor of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, signed an order to forcibly evacuate children living on roughly 30 of the streets in the city of Sloviansk most vulnerable to Russian shelling on Friday.

Sloviansk is just 13 km (8 miles) from the front line. Russia controls roughly 80 percent of the Donetsk region.

“Saving lives is the most important thing. Especially the lives and health of children who are not able to make decisions and leave on their own,” Filashkin said in a Telegram post.

“The order has been submitted for approval to the Coordination Headquarters for Evacuation Measures and Effective Response to Mass Displacement of the Population, established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine,” he added.

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Colonel Oleksandr Dovgach, commander of the 39th Tactical Aviation Brigade and a Hero of Ukraine, was killed during a combat mission on the eastern front on March 9, the Ukrainian Air Force reported.

According to the Air Force, Dovgach died while carrying out a mission in conditions of significant Russian air superiority and intense activity from Russian air defense systems.

In a statement posted on Telegram, the Air Force described the loss as a painful blow for Ukrainian aviation and the country.

“Unfortunately, we have another painful loss for our aviation family and the entire country. We express our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones… Honor to the Hero!”

The Air Force said Dovgach died in the afternoon while completing a combat task.

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A Maronite parish priest, Father Pierre Al-Rai, was killed and at least five people were injured this afternoon by an Israeli strike on the Christian-majority village of Qlayaa in southern Lebanon. Fr Pierre al-Rahi, had stayed in the village, defying an Israeli order to leave, in order to protect his parishioners.

Three days ago, Father Pierre welcomed the Lebanese government's declaration that any military or security activity outside the authority of the state was illegal - referring to the government's move to ban Hezbollah's armed activity.

In a speech delivered on Friday in front of a church, Fr Pierre said the people of his community defend their land peacefully by remaining on their land. "None of us carries weapons," he said. "The only weapons we carry are peace, love, and prayer."

Today a house in the village was hit by Israeli tank, injuring the husband and wife who lived there. When several neighbours, the Red Cross and Fr Pierre rushed to help them, the house was hit a second time, injuring Fr Pierre and four others. AFP report that the priest died soon afterwards.

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At least 10 people, including two children, were killed and 10 injured in Kharkiv after Russia attacked Ukraine with ballistic missiles and drones overnight, officials said.

A countrywide air raid alert was issued at around 3am local time to warn people against incoming Russian projectiles.

Kharkiv oblast governor Oleh Syniehubov said fires were reported as a result of a ballistic missile attack, which killed four civilians and injured 10, including two children.

Explosions were first reported in Kyiv at around 1.30am local time, the Kyiv Independent reported, followed by more blasts at around 1.40am local time.

The attack came hours after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he had visited the eastern front on Friday.

Zelensky said he gave awards to soldiers defending positions near Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region where Russian forces were concentrated in preparation for a spring offensive.

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