TV News LIES

Judge Juan Merchan opened proceedings Monday morning by telling Trump that the $1,000 fines for gag order violations evidently aren't deterring the former president. "Going forward," Merchan said, he will have to consider jail time for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Merchan had issued nine $1,000 fines for each violation of the gag order barring Trump from commenting on the participation of potential witnesses or jurors with the intent to interfere in the trial. He added a 10th fine on Monday.

Three Israeli soldiers were killed in a rocket attack claimed by Hamas armed wing, near the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, where Palestinian health officials said at least 19 people were killed by Israeli fire on Sunday.

The latest round of Gaza cease-fire talks ended in Cairo after "in-depth and serious discussions," the Hamas militant group said Sunday, reiterating key demands that Israel again rejected.

After earlier signs of progress, the outlook appeared to dim as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to resist international pressure to halt the war. Israel closed its main crossing point for delivering badly needed humanitarian aid for Gaza after Hamas attacked it.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed Hamas wasn't serious about a deal and warned of "a powerful operation in the very near future in Rafah and other places across all of Gaza."

Israel didn't send a delegation to the talks mediated by Egypt and Qatar. Egyptian state media reported that the Hamas delegation went for discussions in Qatar, where the group has a political office, and will return to Cairo for further negotiations on Tuesday.

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Late in the evening of April 13, Mohammed al-Hassouni and his family were sleeping in their home in southern Israel, when he was awoken by the sounds of sirens and explosions.

Iran was launching a massive strike against an airbase near the family's village. Al-Hassouni rushed his children to the car. As he tried to load them in, a fragment of a missile fell near the house with a thud. Terrified, his 7-year-old daughter Amina ran back inside.

Moments later another missile fragment crashed through the roof and fell on her.

Today, Amina remains in intensive care in a coma, al-Hassouni says. He doesn't think she'll wake up.

Amina was the sole Israeli civilian critically injured by Iran's attack, but her wounding wasn't entirely by chance.

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The Biden administration halted a shipment of ammunition bound for Israel last week, Axios first reported, as pressure rises over the Israeli military’s promised invasion of Rafah in Gaza.

Israeli officials were left scrambling as to why the shipment was withheld, Axios reported, while  CNN reported that the decision was unrelated to U.S. opposition to an invasion of Rafah.

The Biden administration has committed to strongly backing Israel in its war against Hamas, signing $26 billion in military and humanitarian aid for the war last week, but officials have repeatedly warned against moving into Rafah, where over a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering from the war.

The National Security Council said in a statement to The Hill that the Biden administration’s backing of Israel has not changed.

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Kim Godwin is leaving as the head of ABC News, she announced to employees on Sunday evening.

Godwin is retiring after what she called a time of “considerable reflection,” she wrote in a note obtained by The Hill.

In another note to staff, Debra O’Connell, a longtime executive at Disney, which owns ABC News, said she would be taking over for Godwin.

“Anyone who’s passionate about what we do knows there’s no other business like it, so this was not an easy or quick decision,” Godwin wrote in her note. “I’m certain it’s the right one for me as I look to the future and prioritize what’s most important for me and my family.”

Police have dismantled the student-led Palestinian solidarity encampment at the University of Southern California.

About 4am on Saturday, as many as 100 Los Angeles police officers in riot gear raided the encampment at dawn as anti-war student demonstrators slept in the tents. In a series of tweets during the raid, the university warned demonstrators to leave the area, adding that “people who don’t leave could be arrested”.

Speaking to KTLA, members of the student-run newspapers the Daily Trojan and Annenberg Media said: “We were just sitting here, camping out. We saw a peaceful encampment. They’ve been eating food, having teach-ins … and then they eventually went in their tents later in the night and then at around 4[am] actually, we saw dozens of DPS cars [department of public safety] come in and then from there, they started bringing in the officers.”

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