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Straits Times
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
US Marines have moved into Los Angeles, will protect federal building, official says
U.S. Marines carry their packs, as protests against federal immigration sweeps continue, in greater Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 9, 2025, in this screen grab taken from a handout video. DVIDS/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY US Marines have moved into Los Angeles, will protect federal building, official says WASHINGTON - U.S. Marines have moved into Los Angeles and will take over protecting the Wilshire federal building in the coming hours, the head of the military's efforts in the city said on Friday. U.S. President Donald Trump can keep his deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles, according to a court ruling, as protests against immigration raids look set to enter their second week in the strongest backlash since his return to power in January. The Trump administration has authorized 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to be deployed to Los Angeles to help protect federal property and personnel. U.S. Army Major General Scott Sherman, who commands the task force of Marines and Guardsmen, said that about 200 Marines had moved into the city so far. He added that neither the Marines nor the National Guard troops there had temporarily detained anyone yet. "They have watched federal law enforcement arrest personnel as they were protecting, they have not had to detain anyone at this point," Sherman said. The troops are authorized to detain people who pose a threat to federal personnel or property, but only until police can arrest them. Trump could take a more far-reaching step by invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow troops to directly participate in civilian law enforcement. During the 2020 wave of nationwide protests over racial injustice, more than 17,000 National Guard troops were activated by 23 states. What is rare, however, is sending active-duty troops during times of civil disturbance. Cities across the United States were bracing for more demonstrations especially on Saturday, when those also opposed to a weekend military parade in Washington marking the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary are expected to take to the streets. The protests so far have been mostly peaceful, punctuated by incidents of violence, and restricted to a few city blocks. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Americans split on Trump's use of military in immigration protests, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
U.S. Marines stand with their packs and weapons, as protests against federal immigration sweeps continue, in greater Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 9, 2025, in this screen grab taken from a handout video. DVIDS/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo WASHINGTON - Americans are divided over President Donald Trump's decision to activate the military to respond to protests against his crackdown on migrants, with about half supportive of the move, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Thursday. Some 48% of respondents in the two-day poll agreed with a statement that the president should "deploy the military to bring order to the streets" when protests turn violent, while 41% disagreed. Views on the matter split sharply along partisan lines, with members of Trump's Republican Party overwhelmingly backing the idea of calling in troops while Democrats were firmly opposed. At the same time, just 35% of respondents said they approved of Trump's response to the protests in Los Angeles, which has included sending National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to the city and also threatening to arrest Democratic officials, including the governor of California. Some 50% of people in the poll said they disapproved of Trump's response. Trump has argued the military deployment in Los Angeles was needed due to protests there following a series of immigration raids in the city. Some of the demonstrations in Los Angeles have turned violent - leaving burned out cars on city streets - and 46% of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said protesters opposing Trump's immigration policies had gone too far, compared to 38% who disagreed with that view. The protests have spread to other U.S. cities including New York, Chicago, Washington and San Antonio, Texas - all of which have large immigrant populations and tend to vote for Democrats rather than Republicans. Trump campaigned and won last year's election on a promise to increase deportations of undocumented immigrants and Reuters/Ipsos polls have shown that his support on immigration policy has been consistently higher than on other matters, such as his stewardship of the U.S. economy. The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which surveyed 1,136 Americans nationwide and has a margin of error of about 3 percentage points, showed wide support for increased deportations. Some 52% of respondents - including one in five Democrats and nine in 10 Republicans - backed ramping up deportations of people in the country illegally. Still, 49% of people in the poll said Trump had gone too far with his arrests of immigrants, compared to 40% who said he had not done so. The most heated protests have taken place in Los Angeles County, where one in three residents are immigrants and about half of people born abroad are naturalized U.S. citizens, according to U.S. Census estimates. Nationwide, Americans took a generally dim view of Trump's threats to arrest Democratic officials like California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Just 35% of respondents said Trump should order arrests of state and local officials who try to stop federal immigration enforcement. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
New York Post
28-04-2025
- General
- New York Post
USS Truman aircraft carrier loses $56 million fighter jet after it rolls off ship into the Red Sea
A US Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet slipped off an aircraft carrier and sank into the Red Sea in an alarming accident – but the pilot made it out alive, according to the military. The jet – which cost about $56 million apiece – was being towed out of a hangar Monday on the USS Harry S. Truman when the tractor pulling it lost control. Both the jet and the tractor fell overboard, according to the Navy. A US Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet slipped off an aircraft carrier and sank into the Red Sea in an alarming accident. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The pilot made it out alive, according to the military. DVIDS/AFP via Getty Images The pilot and the Navy sailor driving the tractor managed to jump free, with only one sustaining a minor injury. The USS Truman aircraft carrier group has been subjected to constant threats from the Iran-backed Houthi terror group in Yemen. It is stationed in the Red Sea to protect commercial shipping in the area, which has been regularly attacked by the Houthis. This is a developing story. Check back for more information.
South China Morning Post
25-03-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Trump officials texted secret Yemen war plans to journalist
Top national security officials for US President Donald Trump, including his defence secretary, texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, the magazine reported in a story posted online Monday. Advertisement The National Security Council said the text chain 'appears to be authentic'. Trump initially told reporters he was not aware that the highly sensitive information had been shared, 2½ hours after it was reported. He later appeared to joke about the breach. The material in the text chain 'contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing,' editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported. A US F/A-18 Super Hornet taking off from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier at sea on March 16, 2025. Photo: Photo: DVIDS via AFP It was not immediately clear if the specifics of the military operation were classified, but they often are and at the least are kept secure to protect service members and operational security. The US has conducted air strikes against the Houthis since the militant group began targeting commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023.
CNN
21-03-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Military was instructed to search keywords including ‘first' and ‘history' during rushed purge of Pentagon websites
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's February memo ordering all diversity, equity and inclusion-related content to be removed from Pentagon websites was so vague that military units were instructed to simply use keyword searches like 'racism,' 'ethnicity,' 'history' and 'first' when searching for articles and photos to remove, and to interpret the directive 'broadly,' multiple defense officials told CNN. The implications of Hegseth's memo were overwhelming, since the Defense Department manages over 1,000 public-facing websites and a huge visual media database known as DVIDS – with officials expected to purge everything relevant within two weeks. As a result, the manual work of individual units was supplemented with an algorithm that also used keywords to automate much of the purge, officials explained. Other keywords officials were instructed to search for included 'firsts' in history, including content about the first female ranger and first Black commanding general, as well as the words 'LGBTQ,' 'historic,' 'accessibility,' 'opportunity,' 'belonging,' 'justice,' 'privilege,' respect' and 'values,' according to a list reviewed by CNN. A defense official acknowledged that, in hindsight, the strict timeline could have been handled differently and said the search terms were suggestions from an internal defense agency to help units meet the secretary's directive. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video posted to X on Thursday that the effort 'was an arduous – but incredibly important – undertaking,' with an 'aggressive timeline.' 'Every now and then, because of the realities of AI tools and other software, some important content was incorrectly pulled offline to be reviewed,' Parnell said. 'We want to be very, very clear: History is not DEI. When content is either mistakenly removed – or if it is maliciously removed – we continue to work quickly to restore it.' One defense official said of the removal of 'firsts' in the military, 'That's just history. It's not really DEI – it's literally just history.' Other keywords to look for included 'gender based violence,' 'cultural observances,' 'cultural awareness,' 'African ethnicity,' 'Asian ethnicity,' 'Caucasian ethnicity' and 'Hispanic ethnicity.' One defense official said every social media post was being pored over to the most minute detail, particularly for things like military partner training abroad. The people tasked with doing so had to determine if a post about a training event for another country's military that included women, for example, could be tied back to some diversity or inclusion initiative — or if it was simply because the unit in question was largely made up of women. Multiple units had to ask for extensions on the deadline because of the amount of content they were combing through in a short period of time, three officials said. One of the officials raised concerns with their superior about potential violations of government record retention laws and asked for an extension to ensure everything was in compliance, but their request was denied, according to emails reviewed by CNN. Another of the officials said they had to bring in a few other people to their team to help complete it in time, pulling them away from other tasks. Meanwhile, 'validation teams' are now being dispatched to military bases to ensure that troops are complying with Hegseth's directive, according to one official and a statement from the Air Force. Multiple officials also confirmed to CNN that a lieutenant colonel has been dispatched from the Pentagon to travel to every combatant command around the world, holding meetings with staff and ensuring compliance with the policy. The lack of guidance and the pressure from above to comply has led to a massive 'overcorrection' and the removal of thousands of articles and images that were either completely unrelated to DEI issues – like Holocaust remembrance, suicide prevention and the Enola Gay aircraft – or that commemorated war heroes like World War II Medal of Honor recipient Pfc. Harold Gonsalves and historically significant service members like Jackie Robinson and the Navajo code-talkers. And while units made an effort to archive content internally, limitations that exist on various social media platforms made it difficult to do so in the instance officials determined the posts should be brought back. One defense official said Facebook and X, or Twitter, don't have good archiving tools to keep posts, which meant they were left to take screenshots of them and delete them for good. The department is now scrambling to republish some of the content, officials said. But the confusion reflected the 'move fast and break things' approach the Trump administration has taken across the federal government that has at times gone too far and forced officials to reverse themselves. The time and resources that have been spent on deleting websites and images has also struck officials as at odds with Hegseth's stated focus on returning the focus of the military to 'lethality' and 'warfighting.' 'Of all the things they could be doing, the places they're putting their focuses on first are really things that just don't matter … This was literally a waste of our time,' a defense official said. 'This does absolutely nothing to make us stronger, more lethal, better prepared.' Another defense official told CNN on Wednesday that the department is now planning on doubling back and going through the content again with 'human beings' to conduct a more thorough review – a process that will take even longer to complete.
