TV News LIES

The Pentagon’s intelligence agency has put on hold observances of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, Holocaust Days of Remembrance and other annual historical or cultural events due to President Trump’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs across the federal government, according to a new internal memo.

The instructions, sent in a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) memo dated Jan. 28, affect 11 annual events.

“DIA will pause all activities and events related to Agency Special Emphasis Programs effective immediately and until further notice,” the memo said. “Additionally, Special Observances hosted throughout the year … are also paused.”’

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg hit back after President Trump criticized the Biden administration and diversity initiatives in the aftermath of a deadly midair collision outside Washington, D.C.

“Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch,” Buttigieg said in a post on social platform X.

Eight more hostages were freed by Hamas-led militants on Thursday in a sometimes chaotic process that briefly delayed the release of 110 Palestinian prisoners by Israel and underscored the fragility of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that began earlier this month.

The swap of hostages for prisoners is a key part of a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas. Militants are still holding dozens more hostages abducted in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that ignited the war.

Also on Thursday, Hamas confirmed the death of Mohammed Deif, head of its military wing and one of the alleged masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack, six months after Israel announced he was killed in an airstrike in Gaza.

The militants in Gaza freed three Israelis and five Thai nationals, who were working on farms in southern Israel when taken hostage more than 15 months ago.

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President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who helped broker the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, visited Gaza on Wednesday, hours before he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Witkoff's visit to Gaza was confirmed by a U.S. State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Israeli news organizations reported that the country's military took Witkoff to inspect the Netzarim Corridor, which it created during the war to split the Gaza Strip in two. It partially withdrew from the corridor in recent days, allowing tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to the territory's north.

Large swaths of Gaza have been destroyed since Israel launched an offensive in response to Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led militants who killed nearly 1,200 people in Israel and took another 251 hostage. Over 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since, according to Gaza health officials.

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Norway is set to become the first country in the world to effectively erase gasoline and diesel cars from its new car market.

Despite its vast oil and gas reserves, the Nordic country has long been recognized as a global leader in sustainable transportation. Its electric vehicle (EV) sales have increased from less than 1% of total auto sales in 2010 to a whopping 88.9% last year — and this trend doesn’t show any sign of slowing.

Data published by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, which is responsible for the country’s national road network, found EVs accounted for more than 96% of new cars sold in the first few weeks of this year.

It puts Norway within touching distance of going fully electric — realizing a non-binding goal that was first established by lawmakers back in 2017.

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Security agents escorted the inspector general of the US Department of Agriculture out of her office on Monday after she refused to comply with her firing by the Trump administration, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Phyllis Fong, a 22-year veteran of the department, had earlier told colleagues that she intended to stay after the White House terminated her on Friday, saying that she did not believe the administration had followed proper protocols, the sources said.

In an email to colleagues on Saturday, reviewed by Reuters, she said the independent Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency “has taken the position that these termination notices do not comply with the requirements set out in law and therefore are not effective at this time”.

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