TV News LIES

Street drug deaths in the U.S. are dropping at the fastest rate ever seen, according to a new report issued on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Preliminary data shows roughly 97,000 fatal overdoses over a 12-month period. That's down roughly 14.5% from a year earlier. Public health officials say the drop translates into more than 16,000 lives saved and marks the lowest level of drug deaths in nearly four years.

"The latest data show that our efforts are working," said Dr. Rahul Gupta, head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Every life saved means one less grieving family and community."

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President-elect Donald Trump has nominated former federal prosecutor Todd Blanche as his deputy attorney general. Blanche represented Trump in several of his legal cases.

He previously worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York.

"Todd is an excellent attorney who will be a crucial leader in the Justice Department, fixing what has been a broken System of Justice for far too long," Trump said in a statement.

If confirmed, Blanche would be the No. 2 official below the attorney general. Trump on Wednesday nominated former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general.

Trump also said Emil Bove, another lawyer who defended Trump in his legal cases, will serve as principal associate deputy attorney general, and will be the acting deputy attorney general while Blanche is being confirmed by the Senate.

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A skirmish involving Israel fans broke out in the stands of the Stade de France during a tense match between Israel and France’s men’s football teams, but a heavy police presence ensured a repeat of the serious violence in Amsterdam was avoided.

The game had been designated as “high risk” after the hooliganism and antisemitism witnessed in the Netherlands before and after a Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv last week.

The Israeli national anthem was booed by some in the crowd before kick-off and, within 10 minutes of the game starting, a small number of fans clashed on a high stand in the stadium.

The clash was quickly dealt with by the security guards, with riot police seen at the edge of the stands ready to intervene. The authorities in Paris had been on high alert.

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Janelle Bynum will serve as Oregon’s first Black member of Congress after the Democrat flipped a US House seat from the Republicans.

Bynum, a state representative who was backed and supported by national Democrats, ousted Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer. The win was a boost for Democrats who won back the seat after Republicans flipped it red for the first time in roughly 25 years during the 2022 midterms.

“It’s not lost on me that I am one generation removed from segregation. It’s not lost on me that we’re making history. And I am proud to be the first, but not the last, Black member of Congress in Oregon,” Bynum said at a press conference last Friday.

“But it took all of us working together to flip this seat, and we delivered a win for Oregon. We believed in a vision and we didn’t take our feet off the gas until we accomplished our goals.”

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President-elect Donald Trump will nominate former presidential candidate and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

The pick, which will roil many public health experts, comes after Trump promised to let Kennedy “go wild” with health and food policy in his administration after Kennedy dropped his own presidential bid to endorse the now-president-elect. It’s also a sign of the opening Trump sees after he scored a decisive electoral victory and Republicans won a comfortable majority in the Senate.

A federal appeals court has upheld an Indiana law banning the use of puberty blockers and hormones for transgender children under the age of 18, one of numerous such laws passed by Republican-controlled states.

The 2-1 decision from the seventh US circuit court of appeals on Wednesday comes as the US supreme court prepares to hear a challenge to a similar law in Tennessee, which may ultimately determine whether all such state laws around the country can be enforced.

The University of Rochester is investigating the origin of hundreds of "wanted" posters that appeared across its campus over the weekend, which accused some members of the university community of contributing to an "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza.

Charges made on the posters include allegations of misuse of power, intimidation and racism. The incident comes as the war in Gaza rages on and Americans, notably across college campuses, have been split on the United States' continued support of Israel throughout the bloody conflict.

"This act is disturbing, divisive and intimidating and runs counter to our values as a university," university President Sarah Mangelsdorf said in a statement.

TVNL Comment: Anti genocide is NOT anti Semitism.  These fools are educators. How ugly is that?

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• The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiga, said Ukraine has a “clear picture” of forthcoming military aid as he held talks with Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, who was in Brussels on Wednesday. “We have a clear picture – a clear timeframe, clear volumes – of what will be delivered to Ukraine by the end of the year. This helps us strategically to plan our actions on the battlefield,” he said. The assistance, he added, would include weapons and funds for arms production deals. Sybiga said he was “cautiously optimistic” after discussing with Blinken the possibility of conducting deep strikes on Russia, as well as Euro-Atlantic integration.

• Blinken said in Brussels on Wednesday: “President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and Jan 20” when president-elect Donald Trump is due to be sworn in. Nato countries must focus their efforts on “ensuring that Ukraine has the money, munitions and mobilised forces to fight effectively in 2025, or to be able to negotiate a peace from a position of strength”, Blinken said during the flying visit. The US will “adapt and adjust” with the latest equipment it is sending, Blinken said, without providing details. He also reiterated the call for others to step up. “We’re counting on European partners and others to strongly support Ukraine’s mobilisation,” Blinken said – calling for more artillery, more air defences, more munitions as well as training for Kyiv’s forces.