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Straits Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
National Guard deploys in Los Angeles as Trump warns of ‘troops everywhere'
Smoke rises as protesters clash with members of the California National Guard in downtown Los Angeles on June 8. PHOTO: GABRIELA BHASKAR/NYTIMES LOS ANGELES - Security forces clashed with protesters outside a detention centre in Los Angeles on June 8 as National Guard troops deployed by US President Donald Trump fanned out across the city following two days of unruly protests over raids by immigration agents. Mr Trump vowed the troops would ensure 'very strong law and order,' while appearing to leave the door open to deploying soldiers in other cities. The US military said 300 soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team had been sent to three separate locations in the greater Los Angeles area, and were 'conducting safety and protection of federal property & personnel'. Helmeted troops in camouflage gear and carrying guns were stationed at a federal detention centre in downtown Los Angeles, where they joined Department of Homeland Security forces. Pepper spray and tear gas were fired into a small crowd – including journalists – as forces moved protesters back to allow a convoy of vehicles to enter the detention centre. Mr Trump, asked about the use of troops, appeared to leave the door open to a more widespread deployment in other parts of the country. 'You have violent people, and we are not going to let them get away with it,' he told reporters. 'I think you're going to see some very strong law and order.' Responding to a question about invoking the Insurrection Act – which would allow the military to be used as a domestic police force – he said: 'We're looking at troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country.' The deployment in California – the first over the head of a state governor since the Civil Rights era – was 'purposefully inflammatory,' Governor Gavin Newsom said. 'Trump is sending 2,000 National Guard troops into LA County – not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis,' Mr Newsom posted on X on June 8. 'He's hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful.' Mr Newsom's warning came after Los Angeles was rocked by two days of confrontations that saw federal agents firing flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants. US Democratic governors slammed Mr Trump's deployment of troops to quell the protests in Los Angeles, saying that authority should rest with state leadership. 'President Trump's move to deploy California's National Guard is an alarming abuse of power,' the governors said in a joint statement. 'It's important we respect the executive authority of our country's governors to manage their National Guards.' Residents heckling members of the California National Guard on June 8 as they wait in the Paramount Business Center Parking lot. PHOTO: REUTERS 'Intimidation' Republicans lined up behind Mr Trump to dismiss the pushback by Mr Newsom and other local officials against the National Guard deployment. 'I have no concern about that at all,' Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC programme This Week, accusing Mr Newsom of 'an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary'. As for threats by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on June 7 to send in active-duty Marines on top of the Guard troops, Mr Johnson said he did not see that as 'heavy-handed'. 'We have to be prepared to do what is necessary,' he argued. Demonstrators told AFP the purpose of the troops was not necessarily to keep order. 'I think it's an intimidation tactic,' Mr Thomas Henning said. 'These protests have been peaceful. There's no one trying to do any sort of damage right now and yet you have the National Guard with loaded magazines and large guns standing around trying to intimidate Americans from exercising our First Amendment rights.' Ms Estrella Corral said demonstrators were angry that hard-working migrants who have done nothing wrong were being snatched by masked immigration agents. 'This is our community, and we want to feel safe,' she told AFP. 'Trump deploying the National Guard is ridiculous. I think he's escalating, he's trying to make a show for his agenda.' Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said the move demonstrated 'Trump's authoritarianism in real time'. 'Conduct massive illegal raids. Provoke a counter-response. Declare a state of emergency. Call in the troops,' he wrote on social media, adding: 'Unacceptable.' 'Good men and women' The National Guard – a reserve military – is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities. Mr Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on undocumented migrants – who he has likened to 'monsters' and 'animals' – since taking office in January. Raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in other US cities have triggered small-scale protests in recent months, but the Los Angeles unrest is the biggest and most sustained against Mr Trump's immigration policies so far. A CBS News poll taken before the Los Angeles protests showed a slight majority of Americans still approved of the immigration crackdown. Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum on June 8 defended migrants living north of the border. 'Mexicans living in the United States are good men and women, honest people who went to the United States to seek a better life for themselves and to support their families. They are not criminals! They are good men and women!' she said. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Last call for ‘Norm!' as Cheers star George Wendt dies
Wendt, who was 76, was nominated for six successive Emmy awards for his role as the perennial barfly opposite Ted Danson. PHOTO: SALLY RYAN/NYTIMES LOS ANGELES - George Wendt, the American actor best known for his role as the curmudgeonly Norm Peterson in 'Cheers', has died, a representative said on May 20. Wendt, who was 76, was nominated for six successive Emmy awards for his role as the perennial barfly opposite Ted Danson in one of television's most successful sitcoms ever. 'George's family confirmed the news of his death early Tuesday morning, announcing he died peacefully in his sleep while at home,' the family's representative, Ms Melissa Nathan, told AFP. 'George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him. 'He will be missed forever.' Wendt was also uncle to 'Ted Lasso' star Jason Sudeikis. The heavyset Norm was one of the regulars who sat at the bar in 'Cheers', swapping banter with postman Cliff (played by John Ratzenberger) and psychiatrist Frasier Crane (played by Kelsey Grammer), among others. The three had beers served to them by head barman Danson and his younger – and somewhat dimmer – sidekick Woody, played by Woody Harrelson. Wendt's character was famously greeted by a unanimous shout of 'Norm!' from every patron in the bar every time he walked in, followed each time by a witty one-liner in response to Danson or Harrelson's 'What'll you have?' AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
12-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Hollywood studios and unions call on Trump to offer tax breaks
The number of shooting days in Los Angeles reached an all-time low in 2024 – lower even than during the Covid-19 pandemic. PHOTO: STELLA KALININA/NYTIMES LOS ANGELES - Hollywood studios and unions representing movie workers joined forces on May 13 to urge US President Donald Trump to give tax breaks to US-made films. The joint letter, which was also signed by Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone – two of Mr Trump's 'ambassadors' to Hollywood – comes days after the Republican president said he wanted to impose 100 per cent tariffs on foreign films in a bid to help the domestic industry. The letter thanks Mr Trump 'for the support you have shown our industry,' and for drawing attention to production fleeing overseas. But it makes no mention of Mr Trump's tariff plan, a proposal that was met with bafflement across the industry, with observers saying they had no idea how such a tax might work. 'Currently, more than 80 countries offer production tax incentives and as a result, numerous productions that could have been shot in America have instead located elsewhere,' says the letter. 'Returning more production to the United States will require a national approach and broad-based policy solutions, including... longer term initiatives such as implementing a federal film and television tax incentive.' The idea of a federal tax credit scheme was also suggested last week by California Governor Gavin Newsom. The letter, from the Motion Picture Association – an umbrella grouping for major studios and streamers – and unions representing directors, actors and writers, suggests a number of tax deductions that would make movie-making cheaper. 'A domestic production incentive would make the US market more competitive and able to retain and return high-paying jobs tied to film and television productions – and the use of this deduction has historically promoted significant economic and job growth,' it says. America's movie industry has gradually moved away from its traditional home in and around Hollywood as production has shifted to cheaper locations. The number of shooting days in Los Angeles reached an all-time low in 2024 – lower even than during the Covid-19 pandemic, when filming shut down completely. Fewer than one in five film or TV series broadcast in the United States was produced in California, according to FilmLA, an organisation that tracks the movie industry. The loss of that production has a significant economic impact. According to the letter to Mr Trump, each day a film shoots on location it spends more than US$670,000 (S$875,000), and employs nearly 1,500 people. On May 4, Mr Trump declared on social media that 'the Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death.' He said he had told the Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative to levy a 100 per cent tariff 'on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.' AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
