US and Philippines discuss more missile system deployments as tensions rise in South China Sea
The U.S. military delivered a mid-range missile system called the Typhon, a land-based weapon that can fire the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, to the northern Philippines as part of joint combat exercises in April last year. That was followed by the transport by the U.S. military of an anti-ship missile launcher in April this year to the northernmost Philippine province of Batanes, just a sea border away from Taiwan.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
a minute ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
DeSantis announces plans for second immigration detention facility in north Florida
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration is preparing to open a second immigration detention facility at a state prison in north Florida, as a federal judge decides the fate of the state's holding center for immigrants at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz.' DeSantis announced Thursday that the new facility is to be housed at the Baker Correctional Institution, a state prison about 43 miles (69 kilometers) west of downtown Jacksonville. It is expected to hold 1,300 immigration detention beds, though that capacity could be expanded to 2,000, state officials said. After opening the Everglades facility last month, DeSantis justified building the second detention center that he dubbed 'Deportation Depot,' by saying President Donald Trump's administration needs the additional capacity to hold and deport more immigrants. 'There is a demand for this,' DeSantis said. 'I'm confident that it will be filled.' The governor touted the relative ease and economy of setting up the north facility at a pre-existing prison, estimating the build-out cost to be $6 million. That's compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars the state has committed to construct the vast network of tents and trailers at the south facility in the rugged and remote Florida swamp. 'This part of the facility is not being used right now for the state prisoners. It just gives us an ability to go in, stand it up quickly, stand it up cheaply,' DeSantis said of the state prison, calling the site 'ready-made.' It could take two to three weeks to get the facility operational, according to Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the agency in charge of building the immigration facilities. The state had announced plans to 'temporarily' close the prison in 2021, due to persistent staffing shortages. 'A building that's been dormant now for a couple of years is going to have some unforeseen challenges,' Guthrie said when estimating the construction timeline. DeSantis pledged that detainees at the new facility will have 'the same services' that are available at the state's first detention center. Attorneys for detainees at the Everglades facility have called the conditions there deplorable, writing in a court filing that some detainees are showing symptoms of COVID-19 without being separated from the general population. Rainwater floods their tents and officers go cell-to-cell pressuring detainees to sign voluntary removal orders before they're allowed to consult their attorneys. 'Recent conditions at Alligator Alcatraz have fueled a sense of desperation among detainees,' the attorneys said in the court filing. Conditions at the hastily built detention center were outlined in a filing made Wednesday ahead of a hearing Monday over the legal rights of the detainees. Civil rights attorneys want U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz to ensure that detainees at the facility have confidential access to their lawyers, which the lawyers say they haven't had. They also wanted the judge to identify an immigration court that has jurisdiction over the detention center so that petitions can be filed for the detainees' bond or release. The civil rights attorneys say they've been told regularly that federal immigration courts in Florida don't have jurisdiction over the detainees held in the Everglades. ___ Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Orlando contributed to this report. Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Toronto Star
31 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
DeSantis announces plans for second immigration detention facility in north Florida
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration is preparing to open a second immigration detention facility at a state prison in north Florida, as a federal judge decides the fate of the state's holding center for immigrants at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz.' DeSantis announced Thursday that the new facility is to be housed at the Baker Correctional Institution, a state prison about 43 miles (69 kilometers) west of Jacksonville. It is expected to hold 1,300 immigration detention beds, though that capacity could be expanded to 2,000, state officials said.
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
UN: Syrian factions committed ‘widespread and systematic' attacks on civilians in coastal violence
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A U.N.-backed commission that investigated sectarian violence on Syria's coast earlier this year found that there was 'widespread and systematic' violence against civilians perpetrated by some government-affiliated factions, but found no evidence that it was directed by the central government. An extensive report released Thursday by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria examined the violence that began with clashes between armed groups aligned with former Syrian President Bashar Assad and the new government's security forces in March. It spiraled into sectarian revenge attacks and massacres that killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite religious minority to which Assad belongs.
