TV News LIES

Hamas on Friday released the names of six living Israeli hostages who the militants plan to release from Gaza on Saturday. Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, more than 600 Palestinians will also be freed from Israeli prisons in exchange, according to the Hamas-linked Palestinian prisoners media office.

The announcements are a sign the fragile ceasefire deal remains on track despite the tensions following Israeli allegations overnight that hostage Shiri Bibas’ body was not returned to Israel as promised by Hamas.

The militant group insists it is sticking to the truce deal and “has no interest in withholding any bodies in its possession.” The militant group says the four dead hostages it handed over Thursday had been killed by an Israeli airstrike in November 2023, and the bodies could have been misidentified because of bombardments in the area.

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Hamas on Friday released the names of six living Israeli hostages who the militants plan to release from Gaza on Saturday. Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, more than 600 Palestinians will also be freed from Israeli prisons in exchange, according to the Hamas-linked Palestinian prisoners media office.

The announcements are a sign the fragile ceasefire deal remains on track despite the tensions following Israeli allegations overnight that hostage Shiri Bibas’ body was not returned to Israel as promised by Hamas.

The militant group insists it is sticking to the truce deal and “has no interest in withholding any bodies in its possession.” The militant group says the four dead hostages it handed over Thursday had been killed by an Israeli airstrike in November 2023, and the bodies could have been misidentified because of bombardments in the area.

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Thousands of federal workers are losing their jobs as part of the Trump administration's efforts to drastically downsize the government.

The sweeping cuts are being felt across areas and agencies, from public health to consumer protection to national parks. Staffers at some agencies say the notification process has been chaotic, leaving their employment status and teams' futures unclear.

To add to the confusion, some employees have received termination notices only to have their firings reversed within days or even hours.

This effort by the informal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — the cross-agency team tasked by President Trump to slash federal spending — is not the first to try to downsize the federal government.

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The US Department of Justice is reportedly investigating the insurance giant UnitedHealthcare for its Medicare billing practices.

The federal government is examining whether UnitedHealthcare is using patient diagnoses to illegally increase the lump sum monthly payments received through the Medicare Advantage program, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

President Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky an “embattled and courageous leader” after meetings in Kyiv on Friday, a notable shift from Trump’s recent attacks on Zelensky.

“A long and intense day with the senior leadership of Ukraine. Extensive and positive discussions with @ZelenskyyUa, the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war and his talented national security team,” Keith Kellogg posted on the social platform X.

Kellogg, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general who served as a national security official in Trump’s first term, met with Zelensky to discuss the path forward as the Trump administration pushes for an end to the war in Ukraine.

Zelensky wrote on X that the meeting “was one that restores hope, and we need strong agreements with the U.S. — agreements that will truly work.”

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Donald Trump’s presidential administration has reassigned its top official at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) after the agency’s arrests and deportations have been slower than expected, Reuters reported, citing a senior administration official and two other sources familiar with the matter.

The official, Caleb Vitello, was in the role in an acting capacity and had been grappling with pressure to step up enforcement after other top Ice officials were reassigned days earlier.

According to a spokeswoman for the homeland security department who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, Vitello is “actually being elevated so he is no longer in an administrative role, but is overseeing all field and enforcement operations: finding, arresting, and deporting illegal aliens”.

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A federal judge in Maryland on Friday temporarily blocked Donald Trump from implementing bans on diversity, equity and inclusion programs at federal agencies and by businesses that contract with the federal government.

US district judge Adam Abelson said the directives by Trump and an order urging the Department of Justice to investigate companies with DEI policies likely violate the first amendment of the US constitution.

“The White House and attorney general have made clear, through their ongoing implementation of various aspects of the J21 order, that viewpoints and speech considered to be in favor of or supportive of DEI or DEIA are viewpoints the government wishes to punish and, apparently, attempt to extinguish,” Abelson wrote in one widely shared passage.

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The Pentagon announced plans Friday to fire 5-8% of its civilian workforce, staring next week with layoffs of 5,400 probationary workers, a Department of Defense official said in a statement.

The initial civilian layoffs will be followed by a Department of Defense hiring freeze to analyze the military’s personnel needs in compliance with Donald Trump’s political goals, Darin Selnick, the acting under-secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in the statement.

“We anticipate reducing the department’s civilian workforce by 5-8% to produce efficiencies and refocus the department on the president’s priorities and restoring readiness in the force,” Selnick said.

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