Lebanon says it rejects foreign intervention during visit by top Iranian official Ali Larijani
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, is the most senior Iranian official to visit Beirut since the Lebanese government voted last week for a U.S.-backed plan to disarm the Iran-backed Hezbollah group by the end of the year and implement a ceasefire with Israel.
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Winnipeg Free Press
4 minutes 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.
Global News
34 minutes ago
- Global News
Putin says U.S., Russia could make nuclear arms deal
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the United States was making 'sincere efforts' to halt the war in Ukraine and suggested Moscow and Washington could agree on a nuclear arms deal as part of a wider effort to strengthen peace. Putin was speaking to his most senior ministers and security officials on the eve of a summit in Alaska with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is pressing for an end to the war. He said in televised comments that the U.S. was 'making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict.' This was happening, Putin said, 'in order to create long-term conditions for peace between our countries, and in Europe, and in the world as a whole – if, by the next stages, we reach agreements in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons.' Story continues below advertisement His comments signaled that Russia will raise the issue of nuclear arms control as part of a wide-ranging discussion on security when he sits down with Trump in Anchorage for the first Russia-U.S. summit since June 2021. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Russia and the United States have by far the biggest nuclear arsenals in the world. The last remaining treaty between them that limits the numbers of these weapons is due to expire on February 5 next year. The New START treaty covers strategic nuclear weapons – those designed by each side to hit the enemy's centers of military, economic and political power – and caps the number of deployed warheads at 1,550 on each side. Both are likely to breach that limit if the treaty is not extended or replaced. 2:49 Trump warns 'severe consequences' if Putin doesn't end war in Ukraine In a symptom of nuclear tensions between the two sides, Trump this month said he had ordered two U.S. nuclear submarines to move closer to Russia because of what he called threatening comments by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev about the possibility of war between the two countries. The Kremlin played down the move but said 'everyone should be very, very careful' with nuclear rhetoric. Story continues below advertisement Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov said earlier that Putin and Trump will also discuss the 'huge untapped potential' for Russia-U.S. economic ties, as well as the prospects for ending the war in Ukraine. Ushakov told reporters that the summit would start at 1930 GMT, which would be 1130 a.m. local time in Anchorage, with the two leaders meeting one-on-one, accompanied only by translators. He said delegations from the two countries would then meet and have a working lunch, and the presidents would give a joint news conference. Ushakov said it was 'obvious to everyone' that Ukraine would be the focus of the meeting, but broader security and international issues would also be discussed. He added: 'An exchange of views is expected on further developing bilateral cooperation, including in the trade and economic sphere. I would like to note that this cooperation has huge, and unfortunately hitherto untapped, potential.' Ushakov, who is Putin's foreign policy adviser, said the other members of the Russian delegation would be Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation. —Reporting by Dmitry Antonov and Moscow bureau, writing by Mark Trevelyan, editing by Philippa Fletcher)\
Toronto Star
34 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.
