TV News LIES

The U.S. military took out another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing three “narco-terrorists” as the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, and its strike group arrived in the Caribbean on Sunday. 

The vessel was struck in international waters on Saturday and was purportedly operated by a designated terrorist organization, U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) announced on Sunday. It is unclear which terrorist organization the U.S. military is referring to.

The attack was conducted by Joint Task Force Southern Spear, a counternarcotics joint task force within Southcom, which was formed in October.

“The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group’s deployment represents a critical step in reinforcing our resolve to protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and the safety of the American Homeland,” said Adm. Alvin Holsey, Southcom’s commander. Holsey will be retiring later this year.

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“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route and carrying narcotics,” Southcom said in a post on the social platform X, attaching a 14-second video of the strike. 

The strike was disclosed the same day as the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford, which has more than 4,000 sailors and carries F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets as well as long-range Tomahawk missiles, at the Caribbean Sea.

Heavy rain across the Gaza Strip on Friday has drenched many tents where displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

A crew from NHK's Gaza office has found flooded roads in a wide area of Gaza City in the north and muddy water surrounding tents there.

In an area near the central city of Deir al-Balah, residents were using shovels to pile up mounds around their tents to prevent the inflow of rainwater.

As the rainy, cold winter will soon arrive in the enclave, a local NGO has asked Israel to open all crossings to allow the delivery of needed shelter materials.

It says items needed to survive winter are slow in arriving even after the ceasefire took effect last month.

One resident said it is unbearable to see his child freezing due to lack of a blanket and a mattress. The resident called for support with essentials like tarps and blankets.

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The US state department has announced that it will designate four European self-described anti-fascist groups as Foreign Terrorist Organisations, as the Trump administration broadens its campaign against what it portrays as an international wave of leftist violence.

In a public statement on Thursday, the state department said it would designate Antifa Ost in Germany, the Italy-based International Revolutionary Front, and two organisations in Greece – Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self Defense – as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists … conspiring to undermine the foundations of Western Civilization through their brutal attacks”.

The designation was the first time that “antifa” groups had been deemed a foreign terrorist threat, allowing law enforcement to use more aggressive techniques to oppose them. It also could extend to those deemed leftist supporters of the groups in the United States, allowing federal authorities to use similar surveillance and financial oversight tools against US citizens.

“Groups affiliated with this movement ascribe to revolutionary anarchist or Marxist ideologies, including anti-Americanism, ‘anti-capitalism’ and anti-Christianity, using these to incite and justify violent assaults domestically and overseas,” the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said in a statement.

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Venezuela said late Tuesday that it is launching a “massive deployment” of nearly 200,000 soldiers in response to the U.S. sending its largest aircraft carrier into the waters near Latin America and rising tensions between the two countries.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said officials were placing “the entire country’s military arsenal on full operational readiness,” with preparations including the “massive deployment of ground, aerial, naval, riverine and missile forces.”

Padrino said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro directly ordered the massive deployment as part of the special operation, with land, air, naval and reserve forces to carry out war drills through Wednesday to “optimize command, control and communications” and ensure the country’s defense.

He said the move was in response to the “imperialist threat” posed by the U.S. buildup of warships and troops in the Caribbean Sea.

The Venezuelan military exercises also will reportedly involve the Bolivarian Militia, a civilian reserve force created by former President Hugo Chávez.

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A suicide bomber struck outside the gates of a district court in Islamabad on Tuesday, detonating his explosives next to a police car and killing 12 people, Pakistan's interior minister said, the latest in an uptick in violence across the country.

Witnesses described scenes of mayhem in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, which also wounded 27 people. The blast was heard for miles away and came at a busy time of day when the area outside the court is typically crowded with hundreds of visitors attending court hearings.

A breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group, claimed responsibility for the attack. But shortly after, Sarbakaf Mohmand, a commander from the group, sent WhatsApp messages insisting they had not made any such claim.

His group quit the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, after the head of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar was killed in a blast in Afghanistan in 2022. Though some members recently rejoined TTP, others keep their distance, indicating continuing differences among the insurgents.

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More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war so far, Gaza health officials said Saturday, as both sides completed the latest exchange of bodies under the terms of the tenuous ceasefire.

The latest jump in deaths occurred as more bodies are recovered in the devastated Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, and as other bodies are identified. The toll also includes Palestinians killed by strikes that Israel says target remaining militants.

Israel on Saturday returned the remains of another 15 Palestinians to Gaza, according to hospital officials there, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel. He was identified as Lior Rudaeff, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that Rudaeff was born in Argentina.

The exchanges are the central part of the ceasefire’s initial phase, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. Families and supporters rallied again Saturday night in Tel Aviv for the return of all.

The truce is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. It began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

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