Donald Trump directs Bureau of Prisons to reopen Alcatraz
Photo:
AFP / Josh Edelson
US President Donald Trump says he is directing the Federal Bureau of Prisons to rebuild and reopen the infamous Alcatraz prison in the San Francisco Bay to "house America's most ruthless and violent Offenders."
"REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!" he posted on the Truth Social platform.
"When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm."
The federal prison at Alcatraz housed notorious U.S. criminals such as Al Capone before it closed in 1963. It is now one of San Francisco's most popular tourist destinations.
"Today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ," Trump wrote.
The prison was closed because it was too expensive to continue operating, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) website, in large part due to its island location.
It was nearly three times more costly to operate than any other federal prison, the BOP website said.
- Reuters
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
UN Nations plastics pollution talks a flop, some blame tough US stance
By Olivia Le Poidevin and Emma Farge , for Reuters A boy walks past an artwork by Canadian artist and activist Benjamin Von Wong titled "The Thinker's Burden" a 6m sculptural remix of Rodin's iconic Thinker, created for the Plastics Treaty Negotiations, in front of the United Nations Offices in Geneva on 15 August. Photo: AFP/ Fabrice Coffrini Analysis - The collapse on Friday of a sixth round of UN talks aimed at curbing plastic output has dimmed hopes of tackling a key source of pollution and left many advocates of restrictions pessimistic about a global deal during the Trump administration. A three-year global push to reach a legally-binding treaty to curb plastic pollution choking the oceans and harming human health now appears adrift, participants said. Many states and campaigners blamed the failure on oil-producers, including the United States, which they said hardened long-held positions and urged others to reject caps on new plastic production that would have curbed output of polymers. Debbra Cisneros, a negotiator for Panama, which supported a strong deal, told Reuters, the United States, the world's number two plastics producer behind China, was less open than in previous rounds conducted under Joe Biden's administration. "This time they were just not wanting anything. So it was hard, because we always had them against us in each of the important provisions," she said at the end of the 11-day talks. Anti-plastic campaigners saw little hope for a change in Washington's position under President Donald Trump, who in February signed an executive order encouraging consumers to buy plastic drinking straws. "The mentality is different, and they want to extract more oil and gas out of the ground," said Bjorn Beeler, International Coordinator at International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), a global network of more than 600 public interest NGOs. The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about its positions and its role in the talks. US delegate John Thompson declined to respond to questions from a Reuters reporter on the outcome. A State Department spokesperson previously said that each party should take measures according to its national context, while Washington has expressed concerns that the new rules could increase the costs of all plastic products. The Trump administration has also rolled back various US climate and environmental policies that it says place too many burdens on national industry. Earlier this week, Washington also flexed its muscle in talks about another global environmental agreement when it threatened measures against states backing a proposal aimed at reducing shipping emissions. For a coalition of some 100 countries seeking an ambitious deal in Geneva, production limits are essential. Fiji's delegate Sivendra Michael likened excluding this provision to "mopping the floor without turning off the tap." For each month of delays, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said nearly a million tons of plastic waste accumulates - some of which washes up on the beaches of island states. Some participants also blamed organisers, the International Negotiating Committee (INC), a UN-established body supported by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). A low point was a formal meeting an hour before the negotiations were set to conclude at midnight on Thursday which lasted less than a minute and was then adjourned until dawn, prompting laughter and jeering from delegates. "Everyone was in shock as no one understood," said Ana Rocha, Global Plastics Policy Director for environmental group GAIA. "It's almost like they were playing with small children." France's ecology minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher called proceedings "chaotic". Asked what went wrong, INC chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso blamed the rift between countries and called the negotiations complex. "But we have advanced and that's important," he said. UN provisional rules require all states to agree - a constraint that some see as unworkable, especially under a US administration that is retreating from multilateralism. "Consensus is dead. You cannot agree a deal where all the countries who produce and export plastics and oil can decide the terms of what the deal is going to be," said IPEN's Beeler. Some delegates and campaigners suggested introducing voting to break the deadlock or even for the UN-led process to be abandoned altogether. The WWF and others called on ambitious states to pursue a separate deal, with the hope of getting plastics-producing nations onboard later. Two draft deals emerged from the talks - one more ambitious than the other. Neither was adopted. It is unclear when the next meeting will take place, with states merely agreeing to reconvene at a later date. One positive development was that top plastics producer China publicly acknowledged the need to address the full-life cycle of plastics, said David Azoulay, Managing Attorney of the Centre for International Environmental Law's Geneva Office. "This is new, and I think this opens an interesting door." - Reuters
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump sit down to discuss fate of Ukraine as summit gets under way
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet during a US-Russia summit on Ukraine at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Photo: AFP By Steve Holland , Andrew Osborn and Darya Korsunskaya , Reuters US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have met face-to-face in Alaska in a high-stakes meeting that could determine whether a ceasefire can be reached in the deadliest war in Europe since World War II. Ahead of the summit, Trump greeted the Russian leader on a red carpet on the tarmac at a US Air Force base. The two shook hands warmly and touched each other on the arm before riding in Trump's limo to the summit site nearby. The two leaders sat silently with their respective delegations seated to the side in their first meeting since 2019. They were seated in front of a blue backdrop that had the words, "Pursuing Peace" printed on it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited to the talks, and his European allies fear Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict with Russia and recognising - if only informally - Russian control over one-fifth of Ukraine. Earlier, Trump sought to assuage such concerns as he boarded Air Force One, saying he would let Ukraine decide on any possible territorial swaps. "I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I'm here to get them at a table," he said. Asked what would make the meeting a success, he told reporters: "I want to see a ceasefire rapidly ... I'm not going to be happy if it's not today ... I want the killing to stop." Trump was joined in his meeting with Putin by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff. At a subsequent larger, bilateral meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and chief of staff Susie Wiles will also join Trump, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. The Russian officials accompanying Putin in the talks with the US delegation will be foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Trump hopes a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war that Putin started will bring peace to the region as well as bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. For Putin, the summit is already a big win that he can portray as evidence that years of Western attempts to isolate Russia have unravelled and that Moscow is retaking its rightful place at the top table of international diplomacy. Trump, who once said he would end Russia's war in Ukraine within 24 hours, conceded on Thursday (local time) it had proven a tougher task than he had expected. He said if Friday's talks went well, quickly arranging a second, three-way summit with Zelensky would be even more important than his encounter with Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a three-way summit would be possible if the Alaska talks bore fruit, Interfax news agency reported. Peskov also said Friday's talks could last six to seven hours. Zelensky said the summit should open the way for a "just peace" and three-way talks that included him, but added that Russia was continuing to wage war. A Russian ballistic missile earlier struck Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, killing one person and wounding another. "It's time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America," Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not been invited to the talks. Photo: RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP Trump said before the summit that there was mutual respect between him and Putin. "He is a smart guy, been doing it for a long time, but so have I ... We get along, there's a good respect level on both sides," Trump said of Putin. He also welcomed Putin's decision to bring businesspeople to Alaska. "But they're not doing business until we get the war settled," he said, repeating a threat of "economically severe" consequences for Russia if the summit goes badly. The United States has had internal discussions on using Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker vessels to support the development of gas and LNG projects in Alaska as one of the possible deals to aim for, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. One source acquainted with Kremlin thinking said there were signs Moscow could be ready to strike a compromise on Ukraine, given that Putin understood Russia's economic vulnerability and costs of continuing the war. Reuters has previously reported that Putin might be willing to freeze the conflict along the front lines, provided there was a legally binding pledge not to enlarge NATO eastwards and to lift some Western sanctions. NATO has said Ukraine's future is in the alliance. Russia, whose war economy is showing strain, is vulnerable to further US sanctions - and Trump has threatened tariffs on buyers of Russian crude, primarily China and India. "For Putin, economic problems are secondary to goals, but he understands our vulnerability and costs," the Russian source said. Putin this week held out the prospect of something else he knows Trump wants - a new nuclear arms control accord to replace the last surviving one, which is due to expire in February. The source familiar with Kremlin thinking said it looked as if the two sides had been able to find some common ground. "Apparently, some terms will be agreed upon ... because Trump cannot be refused, and we are not in a position to refuse (due to sanctions pressure)," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity. Putin has said he is open to a full ceasefire but that issues of verification must first be sorted out. One compromise could be a truce in the air war. Zelensky has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the United States. Ukrainians who spoke to Reuters in central Kyiv on Friday were not optimistic about the summit. "Nothing good will happen there, because war is war, it will not end. The territories - we're not going to give anything to anyone," said Tetiana Harkavenko, a 65-year-old cleaner. - Reuters
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- RNZ News
Trump heads to 'high stakes' Alaska summit with Putin on Ukraine
By Steve Holland , Andrew Osborn and Darya Korsunskaya , Reuters Donald Trump (L) and Vladimir Putin are due to meet for a summit on Ukraine. Photo: AFP Donald Trump headed to Alaska for what he called a "high stakes" summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin to discuss a ceasefire deal for Ukraine to help end the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited to the talks, and his European allies fear Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict and recognising - if only informally - Russian control over one fifth of Ukraine. Trump sought to assuage such concerns as he boarded Air Force One, saying he would let Ukraine decide on any possible territorial swaps. "I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I'm here to get them at a table," he said. Both the United States and Russian presidents, due to meet at a Cold War-era air force base in Alaska's largest city at around 11am Friday (7am Saturday in New Zealand), are seeking wins from their first face-to-face talks since Trump returned to the White House. Trump is pressing for a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war, which he describes as a "bloodbath", to bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. For Putin, the summit is already a big win that he can portray as evidence that years of Western attempts to isolate Russia have unravelled and that Moscow is retaking its rightful place at the top table of international diplomacy. Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev described the pre-summit mood as "combative" and said the two leaders would discuss not only Ukraine but the full spectrum of bilateral relations, Russia's RIA news agency reported. Trump, who once said he would end Russia's war in Ukraine within 24 hours, conceded on Thursday it had proven a tougher task than he had expected. He said that if Friday's talks went well, quickly arranging a second three-way summit with Zelensky would be even more important than his encounter with Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a three-way summit would be possible if the Alaska talks bore fruit, Interfax news agency reported. Peskov also said Friday's talks could last 6-7 hours and that aides would take part in what had been expected to be one-to-one meetings. Zelensky said the summit should open the way for a "just peace" and three-way talks that included him but added that Russia was continuing to wage war on Friday (local time). A Russian ballistic missile earlier struck Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, killing one person and wounding another. "It's time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America," Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not been invited to the talks. Photo: RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP The Kremlin said Putin would arrive in Alaska at 11am (7am NZ) and would be met at his plane by Trump. "He is a smart guy, been doing it for a long time but so have I ... We get along, there's a good respect level on both sides," Trump said of Putin. He also welcomed Putin's decision to bring a lot of businesspeople with him to Alaska. "But they're not doing business until we get the war settled," he said, repeating a threat of "economically severe" consequences for Russia if the summit goes badly. One source acquainted with Kremlin thinking said there were signs that Moscow could be ready to strike a compromise on Ukraine given that Putin understood Russia's economic vulnerability and costs of continuing the war. Reuters has previously reported that Putin might be willing to freeze the conflict along the front lines, provided there was a legally binding pledge not to enlarge NATO eastwards and to lift some Western sanctions. NATO has said that Ukraine's future is in the alliance. Russia, whose war economy is showing signs of strain, is vulnerable to further US sanctions - and Trump has threatened tariffs on buyers of Russian crude, primarily China and India. "For Putin, economic problems are secondary to goals, but he understands our vulnerability and costs," the Russian source said. Putin this week held out the prospect of something else he knows Trump wants - a new nuclear arms control accord to replace the last surviving one, which is due to expire next February. The source familiar with Kremlin thinking said it looked as if the two sides had been able to find some common ground. "Apparently, some terms will be agreed upon... because Trump cannot be refused, and we are not in a position to refuse (due to sanctions pressure)," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity. Putin has said he is open to a full ceasefire but that issues of verification must first be sorted out. One compromise could be a truce in the air war. Zelensky has accused Putin of playing for time to avoid US secondary sanctions and has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory. Ukraine has also said that it needs a security guarantee backed by the United States. It is unclear how that guarantee could work - and what part the US would play in it. Ukrainians who spoke to Reuters in central Kyiv were not optimistic about the summit. "Nothing good will happen there, because war is war, it will not end. The territories - we're not going to give anything to anyone," said Tetiana Harkavenko, a 65-year-old cleaner. - Reuters
