Military requesting to pull 200 troops back from California protest duty
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top military commander in charge of troops deployed to Los Angeles to respond to protests against immigration raids has asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if 200 of those forces could be returned to wildfire fighting duty, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Monday.
President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of about 4,000 California National Guard troops and 800 active duty Marines against the wishes of Gov. Gavin Newsom in early June to respond to a series of protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
16 minutes ago
- CTV News
Canada U-turn leaves Europe in the lurch on U.S. tech taxes
Prime Minister Mark Carney walks with U.S. President Donald Trump after a group photo at the G7 Summit, Monday, June 16, 2025, in Kananaskis, Canada. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) PARIS -- Canada's dropping of a tax on U.S. tech giants under the pressure of Donald Trump is fuelling concern about the future of such levies in other countries, particularly in Europe. 'Currently, about half of all European OECD countries have either announced, proposed, or implemented' a digital services tax pending global action, said the Tax Foundation, a think tank which supports the introduction of such taxes. But the future of such measures is unclear after the Group of Seven nations agreed Saturday to exempt US multinational companies from a global minimum tax imposed by other countries. The move sparked a pointed reaction from Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. 'This is about more than trade -- it's about whether democratically elected governments can regulate and tax powerful corporations or whether tech billionaires can dictate policy through political proxies,' he said. Who has imposed such a tax? Austria, Brazil, Britain, France, India, Italy, Spain and Turkiye are a dozen large countries which have imposed or planned to impose special taxes on big tech firms. The objective is to force them to pay taxes where they carry out business as well as to counter the tax optimization strategies they often practice. Generally, the taxes target sales revenue and focus essentially on US firms like Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Facebook (Meta) and Microsoft. But they differ from one country to another in terms of sales that are taxed, with some targeting advertising revenue and others sales of data. 'Most of the proposed or adopted rates are in the 2-5 per cent range,' of the revenue stream targeted, according to analysts at the Canadian Tax Foundation. Most nations adopted the taxes pending a global agreement which would see multinational companies pay some taxes in countries where they operate, but the prospects for such a deal now look bleak. What these taxes generate The taxes tend to raise more money year after year, according to the latest data from the EU Tax Observatory, which dates from June 2023. Britain, France, India, Italy and Turkiye have seen steady increases in the revenue their taxes generate. Both Britain and France each raised approximately US$1.1 billion last year via their digital services taxes. Italy saw its revenue from the tax jump by 90 per cent from 2021 to over $530 million last year, according to local media. But Spain, which hoped to raise more than a billion per year via its tax, only raised only around $350 million in 2023, according to La Vanguardia daily. Other dominoes to fall? Before Canada, India had already halted in April its six per cent tax on online advertising by foreign firms against the background of trade talks with the United States. The taxes may fall elsewhere. While Britain has reached a trade deal with the United States to avoid the worst tariffs, it wants to go further and has refused to rule out a modification or elimination of its digital services tax. EU nations so far haven't indicated that the tax is on the table. A German government spokesman said Monday that Canada's dropping its tech tax had 'absolutely no bearing' on Berlin's position as it considers it considers its tax policies. But worries remain. National digital service taxes are 'vulnerable to economic and political threats -- particularly from the US, which has historically protected its digital multinationals from fair taxation abroad,' said the Tax Justice Network, a coalition of researchers and activists. By Ali Bekhtaoui with AFP foreign bureaus
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
In a blow to Milei, a US judge orders Argentina to turn over its majority stake in state oil company
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The fate of Argentina's state-run oil company was thrown into doubt Monday as a U.S. judge ordered the cash-strapped country to give up its 51% controlling stake in YPF in partial compensation for seizing the shares of former investors during its 2012 nationalization of the energy group. The ruling — a dramatic effort to enforce a $16 billion U.S. court judgement against Argentina — presents a new headache for libertarian President Javier Milei, the ideological foil for left-wing former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner who oversaw Argentina's contentious takeover of YPF and ensuing legal battles during her tenure (2007-2015). Milei vowed to appeal the ruling. Fernández's abrupt move to seize control of YPF at the time helped bring serial defaulter Argentina further infamy for abandoning its global financial obligations. Milei inherited an economy in shambles after decades of reckless state spending and campaigned on pledges to privatize state companies. In granting the request of former shareholders largely represented by Burford Capital, which finances litigation in return for a share of the winnings, Judge Loretta Preska of the Southern District of New York gave Argentina two weeks to transfer its shares in YPF to Bank of New York Mellon Corp, the major U.S. custody bank, according to the ruling seen by The Associated Press. Because YPF is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the plaintiffs could file the lawsuit in a U.S. district court. Shares of YPF closed down 5.6%. The judgement stems from a long-running legal case that in 2023 saw Judge Preska find Argentina liable for $16.1 billion in damages and interest. The plaintiffs argue that the government should have launched a tender offer for stakes held by minority shareholders. Milei, whose government has struggled to build up depleted foreign reserves, has vowed to appeal the ruling 'to defend national interests' and blamed the problem on his political rivals. 'More than 10 years have passed, and we Argentines continue to suffer the consequences of the worst government in Argentine history,' he wrote on social media platform X. Marcelo J. García, Director for the Americas at the New York-based Horizon Engage risk consultancy, said the ruling was 'a reminder for the Milei administration that the country's problems will not go away just because he blames the opposition for them.' 'Control of YPF is important for Milei; that's why an appeal is the only option for him,' he added. Paying up and losing the controlling stake in YPF — which has become a pillar of the economy — would cripple Argentina at a crucial moment for Milei's government. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. YPF has accelerated its drive to develop the country's huge reserves of shale gas in the Vaca Muerta field in Argentine Patagonia. Crude production at Vaca Muerta has steadily climbed, hitting record production in May at 448,000 barrels per day, 22.5% more than the same month in 2024, according to official data. In 2024, YPF notched a net profit of almost $2.4 billion, up from a $1.3 billion loss the year before. Milei has hoped to leverage investments in the Vaca Muerta field to cure the nation's long-standing fiscal weakness and pay its massive deficits. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
Canada News.Net
an hour ago
- Canada News.Net
Canada scraps tax on tech giants in bid to revive US trade talks
US President Donald Trump had halted negotiations with Ottawa over what he called an "attack" on American companies Canada has shelved its plan to slap a digital services tax (DST) on tech companies in a bid to get trade talks with the US back on track, reversing course just as the measure was due to kick in. The 3% tax, passed into law last year by the government of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, was set to take effect on Monday and would have been applied retroactively to 2022-2024 profits. It would have primarily targeted US companies like Amazon, Google and Meta, costing them an estimated $3 billion. "Today's announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025 timeline set out at this month's G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis," Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement on Sunday. "Canada's new government will always be guided by the overall contribution of any possible agreement to the best interests of Canadian workers and businesses," he added. Carney and Trump agreed to resume trade talks when they met earlier this month at the G7 summit, where the prime minister said they had agreed to finalizing a new economic agreement within 30 days. Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne wrote on X late on Sunday that dropping the levy would allow Ottawa "to make vital progress and reinforce our work to create jobs and build prosperity for all Canadians." On Friday, US President Donald Trump had denounced the tax hike as a "direct and blatant attack on our country" and threatened to terminate all trade negotiations that had been ongoing between the North American neighbors for months. He also vowed to impose new tariffs on Canadian goods within a week. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick welcomed the reversal, saying the tax "would have been a deal breaker for any trade deal with America." Tensions between the two countries have been mounting since February, when Trump imposed a 25% tariff on Canadian goods shortly after taking office. Ottawa responded with reciprocal duties, though Trump later suspended the measure, saying he was open to country-specific deals that benefit US businesses. Trump has long accused Canada of exploiting US trade and on several occasions suggested it should become America's 51st state. This fueled the ambitions of the country's Liberal Party and Carney's election campaign. Shortly before taking office as prime minister, he described Trump's tariffs as "unjustified" and stated that "Canada will win" the trade war with the US. On March 14, the day he was sworn in, he vowed that the country "will never, ever, in any way, shape, or form, be part of the United States." Canada is the US's second-largest trading partner after Mexico, and the top buyer of US exports. According to the US Census Bureau, it imported $349 billion in American goods last year and exported $412 billion to the US.
