TV News LIES

At least one person has died and nearly two dozen people have been rescued as crews on Thursday battled a massive fire on board a freighter carrying nearly 3,000 cars in the North Sea.

The blaze broke out Wednesday and so far 23 people have been rescued from the ship, some who suffered serious injuries, the Dutch coast guard said.

The vessel was sailing from the German port of Bremerhaven to Singapore, about 17 miles north of the Dutch island of Ameland, officials reported.

On Thursday about 4:15 a.m. local time the fire continued to rage, the coast guard said, as crews worked save the vessel from sinking close to an important habitat for migratory birds.

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The Biden administration has tapped former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to head the Social Security Administration, the White House announced Wednesday.

O’Malley, a Democrat, will require Senate confirmation to take over at the agency, which oversees a $1 trillion budget and is responsible for distributing benefits to older adults and disabled people.

The Social Security Administration has been run by acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi since President Joe Biden fired then-Commissioner Andrew Saul, a Trump holdover, in 2021. Saul’s ouster set off a partisan backlash, with members of each party accusing the other of politicizing the independent federal agency. Saul, who refused to resign, was just two years into a six-year term.

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A personal chef to the Obama family drowned while paddleboarding in Martha's Vineyard, police confirmed on Monday.

The body of Tafari Campbell, 45, of Dumfries, Va., was uncovered after a two-day search in Edgartown Great Pond, near a home owned by the Obamas. The Massachusetts State Police said the former president and first lady were not present at the time of the drowning.

Campbell had served as a White House sous chef during Barack Obama's presidency and left in 2016 to work for the former president and his wife.

The office of Barack and Michelle Obama did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment, but in a joint statement shared with several news outlets, including the Associated Press, the couple characterized Campbell as a "beloved part of our family."

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The special counsel’s office has inquired about a White House briefing on Feb. 14, 2020, at which federal officials assured then-President Donald Trump of the security and integrity of the U.S. election system, according to people familiar with the matter.

Two people who have been interviewed since May by the special counsel’s office, which is investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election, spoke with NBC News on condition that they not be named.

In the briefing, officials from multiple agencies — including the FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) — laid out why it’s extraordinarily difficult for hacking or fraud to change the results of a U.S. election.

Trump was receptive to the message and spoke about holding a news conference on the topic, though he never did, two people familiar with it said.

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South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, has pledged to increase his country’s humanitarian and non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine after a summit with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv.

South Korea, which is the world’s ninth-largest arms exporter, has a longstanding policy to not supply lethal weapons to active conflict zones.

But at a press briefing after the two leaders had met he said Seoul would “expand the scale of supplies from last year, when we provided materials such as helmets and bullet-proof vests”.

Yoon added that humanitarian aid would be increased to $150m in 2023, from $100m last year.

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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Turkey's leader has agreed to secure swift Turkish parliament approval of Sweden's bid to join the defense alliance, in a breakthrough after Turkey has blocked the Nordic country's entry for over a year.

Following talks the NATO chief held Monday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Stoltenberg said in a news conference, "I'm glad to announce that, as a result, President Erdogan has agreed to forward the accession protocol for Sweden to the Grand National Assembly as soon as possible and work closely with the assembly to ensure ratification."

President Biden issued a statement following Stoltenberg's talks with the two leaders, saying he's "ready to work" with Turkey on enhanced defense and looks forward to "welcoming Prime Minister Kristersson and Sweden as our 32nd NATO Ally."

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South Korean opposition lawmakers sharply criticized the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog on Sunday for its approval of Japanese plans to release treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.

They met with Rafael Grossi in a tense meeting in Seoul that took place while protesters screamed outside the door.

Grossi, the International Atomic Energy Agency's director general, arrived in South Korea over the weekend to engage with government officials and critics and help reduce public concerns about food safety.

The IAEA last week approved the Japanese discharge plans, saying the process would meet international safety standards and pose negligible environmental and health impacts. South Korea's government has also endorsed the safety of the Japanese plans.

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