Good morning.
Immigrants, including families with small children,have been held in a cramped office basement for dayswithout enough food and water after being detained by authorities in raids in Los Angeles, lawyers have said.
One family with three children was kept in a Los Angeles-area administrative building for 48 hours, said lawyers from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef). The children, the youngest of whom is three, were given just a bag of chips, a box of animal crackers and a mini carton of milk in a day. Agents told the family of five they did not have any water to give them during their first day in detention, and gave them just one bottle to share on the second day.
The difficult conditions faced by families come as theUS prepares to deploy marines to the Los Angeles area within two days. Marines will join the national guard on the city’s streets, and will be able to detain anyone who interferes with raids.
Why are troops being sent to California?Following protests against immigration raids, Donald Trump ordered the military’s deployment despite objections from the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom.
A federal judgeruled on Wednesday that the Trump administrationcan no longer hold the Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil on the claim that he is a threat to foreign policy.
The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, deemed Khalil, who has not been charged with a crime, a threat to US foreign policy, leading federal authorities to detain him. Judge Michael E Farbiarz said his ruling would come into effect at 9.30am on Friday.
However, Farbiarz noted that the administration could still hold Khalil on the basis of federal officials’ claims that Khalil had inaccurately completed his green card application.
How long has Khalil been detained for?He has been held in a detention facility in Louisiana since March.
Israeli forces killedat least 60 Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, with most slain as they tried to obtain food from a US-Israeli distribution scheme, Gaza health authorities have said.
At least 39 fatalities were linked to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to medical officials, who said at least 25 people were killed and dozens injured as they approached a distribution centre run by the GHF near Netzarim in central Gaza. Israeli forces later reportedly killed a further 14 as they moved towards another GHF distribution site in Rafah, in Gaza’s south.
The GHF late on Wednesday accused Hamas of killing at least five people in an attack on a bus carrying two dozen Palestinians working with the organization.
What other news has come out of Gaza?The bodies of two hostages taken by Hamas were recovered from Israel’s army and its internal security service. There are 53 Israelis hostages still in Gaza though some are believed to be dead.
A London-bound flight has crashed in India’s Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff,with at least 242 people reported to be onboard.
David Hogg, the young vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee who promised to unseat “asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats, is resigningafter months of party infighting.
Donald Trump saysChina will pay tariffs of 55% after a US-China trade dealwas agreedto increase supplies of minerals and magnetsneeded for the US car industry.
A Chinese fighter jet and a Japan military plane nearly collidedin the air above international waters in the Pacific,with each country blaming the other.
Labor activists in India’s sugar cane industry say female workers are being coercedinto having hysterectomies, as period pain or pregnancy means lost wages. In one of Maharashtra’s main hubs for sugar cane 36% of women have had a hysterectomy, compared with an average of 3% across India, according to surveys conducted by local NGOs in 2019. “It’s bonded labor in every sense,” said a spokesperson for an alliance for female farm workers.
The Trump administration is paring back regulations thatrestrict US power plants from releasing toxins and planet-heating gases, experts have warned. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday revealed a plan to reverse a landmark climate rule that aims to mostly eliminate greenhouse gases from power plants by the 2030s, as well as one to weaken a regulation that limits plants from expelling pollutants including mercury.
The Fast and the Furious movies are unexpected queer classics: totally over-the-top and constantly talking about chosen family,writes Arwa Mahdawi. And what about this scene: “Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson is in hospital with his arm in a cast but realises he has to drive fast cars and beat people up so busts open the cast by flexing his huge biceps while announcing: ‘Daddy has to go to work.’” Come on!
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