ICE is arresting a record number of immigrants in a summer surge — and a majority have no criminal history

Donald Trump’s administration hit record highs of monthly immigration enforcement arrests this summer, with more than 43,000 people arrested in June and another 50,000 arrested in July.
But last month, for the first time since Trump took office, more than half of all people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement had no prior criminal convictions or pending charges.
A growing majority of immigrants targeted by federal law enforcement officers have no criminal history whatsoever, as officers increasingly target immigrants whose legal status has lapsed or been stripped by the Trump administration, according to new reviews of federal data. The share of arrests of immigrants with past violent criminal convictions fell to less than 4 percent.
The administration has instead shifted its focus to legal immigration pathways, including people seeking asylum, the spouses of U.S citizens stuck in legal limbo, and refugees with temporary legal status whose humanitarian protections were revo..

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Trump’s Sharpie is back as he takes pen to Lake Ontario map in latest spat with Canada: ‘We’re gonna make a little change’

In a new video, President Donald Trump used his trusty Sharpie to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America” as his trade war with Canada escalates.
In a clip posted to the president’s TikTok account on Wednesday, Trump sat in the Oval Office displaying a map of Lake Ontario, which straddles the U.S.-Canada border.
“We’re gonna make a little change; we’re gonna call it something different than Lake Ontario,” the 80-year-old president said. “We’re gonna call it Lake America. And all it takes is a good pen and some intelligence.” Trump, a former real estate mogul with a penchant for branding, then used a Sharpie to cross out the lake’s name and write “LAKE AMERICA” above it.
“Now we have a gulf because we have the Gulf of America,” he said, referring to his decision last year to rebrand the Gulf of Mexico. “And now we have Lake America without the ‘of.’ Enjoy Lake America.”
The clip was posted a day after the Republican president suggested that he might officially rename the Great Lake as rel..

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Marine’s release from Russian prison reignites calls to free other Americans with health problems

The recent release of Marine veteran Robert Gilman from Russian custody ended more than four years of imprisonment, but his visibly frail condition has raised alarming questions for the families of Americans still detained there.
Watching the news coverage from the United States, Harold Jezler saw Gilman's gaunt appearance and immediately worried about what it meant for his 36-year-old wife, Olga, who has been held in Russia since 2022 while suffering from her own deteriorating health issues.
“You just look at the pictures and the guy is not in good shape. It’s concerning for me and for all the families, I would imagine,” Jezler said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Is this what it takes for the government to really make a move and prioritize this — that the person is basically in dire straits? It was a very bittersweet thing to see that.”
Although Gilman’s freedom follows a series of prisoner releases over recent years, numerous Americans remain incarcerated in Russia…

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US declares drought disaster for parts of Puerto Rico as dry conditions persist

The U.S. government announced a drought disaster on Wednesday for more than two dozen cities and towns in Puerto Rico as water woes deepen across the U.S. territory, with no relief in sight.
More than 33% of Puerto Rico is under extreme drought, and another 30% under a severe drought. July was the driest month on record for San Juan in more than 120 years and the second hottest for the island's capital.
Gov. Jenniffer González said she had formally requested the declaration from the U.S. Department of Agriculture more than two weeks ago.
“From the very beginning, we made clear the needs of our farmers,” she said.
The declaration covers 26 of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities, including Cabo Rojo, Ponce, Yauco, Aibonito and Lares.
The disaster declaration allows farmers and agricultural producers in those regions to access emergency loans.
“This is an important step,” said Puerto Rico Agriculture Secretary Irving Rodríguez. “We urge all producers affected by the drought to document t..

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Trump team looks to offload ‘woke’ and ‘terrifying’ painting by artist behind Obama’s official portrait

Trump administration officials at the State Department are considering selling off a painting by the artist who also painted a portrait of former President Barack Obama, claiming his work contains “violent” and “racist” depictions.
The painting, “Young Artists After Siamesas 1960,” was painted by renowned artist Kehinde Wiley and features four Dominican art students in poses inspired by famous works by other Dominican artists. It has been hanging in the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo since 2015.
Wiley is known for his portrait of Obama, which now hangs in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
But earlier this month, Leah Campos, the U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, posted a video on Instagram showing the painting being removed. Campos insinuated the artwork was tied to “globalist and woke ideology.”
Last week, Erin Scavino, the director of Art in Embassies, the visual arts office of the U.S. State Department, called the painting “very woke” and “aesthetically terrifyi..

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Canada matches Trump tariffs with up to 50% levies on hundreds of US goods

Canada is rolling out a slate of retaliatory trade moves against the U.S. in response to Donald Trump’s latest tariffs after negotiations between the neighboring nations broke down in an escalating trade war.
“Canada must respond,” Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Tuesday.
Canada, which imports roughly $272 billion in U.S. goods every year, will double its existing counter-tariffs on American steel and aluminum products to 50 percent, while new tariffs of 15, 25 and 50 percent will be applied to more than $20 billion worth of about 700 U.S. goods, including clothing, furniture, video game consoles and other electronics, among other goods.
The measures are “proportionate, targeted and strategic,” designed to “match dollar for dollar, rate for rate” against Trump’s tariff agenda, Champagne said. The new levies are effective September 8.
Canada’s new levies are “designed primarily to provide protection for Canadian industry impacted by American tariffs” and to “l..

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Voices: Israel must face sanctions for its appalling campaigns in Gaza – and the killing of journalists like Mariam Abu Dagga

It is impossible to read the chilling reporting of the killing of Mariam Abu Dagga in a double-tap Israeli attack on the Nasser hospital in Gaza without giving in to righteous, visceral rage.
But the systematic mass killings in Gaza, the systematic targeting of medical personnel and journalists and the gigantic civilian death toll require a cold intellectual response.
And that is a demand for sanctions against Israel.
Imposing real and immediate economic costs on Israel for its appalling campaigns in Gaza and the West Bank – where armed ethnic gangs of land thieves are stealing farms and killing Palestinians with impunity under the protection of Israel’s armed forces – is both the right and sensible thing to do.
The regime of Libya’s dictator Muammar Gaddafi was attacked by European Nato forces, including the UK, in 2011 because he and his son Saif had threatened the city of Benghazi with bloody retribution verging on genocide.
Syria’s dictator Bashar al Assad was subjected to intern..

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UN peacekeepers killed in South Sudan ambush as fears grow over full-blown civil war

Two United Nations peacekeepers have been killed following an ambush by unidentified gunmen in a remote region of South Sudan, the UN mission in the country has confirmed.
Seven other individuals sustained injuries during Monday's attack, including three peacekeepers, two members of the South Sudanese police, and two civilian staff attached to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
The patrol was travelling towards Pajut, located in Jonglei state, when it was fired upon. UNMISS stated that a “Quick Reaction Force” was subsequently dispatched to secure the surrounding area and assist with emergency measures.
Anita Kiki Gbeho, the head of UNMISS, condemned the assault in a statement, saying: “Such deadly violence targeting UNMISS personnel who are serving to support peace in South Sudan is unacceptable,”
Official details regarding the names and nationalities of the two killed peacekeepers have not yet been made public.
open image in galleryThere are concerns over a retu..

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Good Good apologizes for controversial Callaway Golf video ad depicting violence

YouTube content creator Good Good Golf, set to serve as the title sponsor for an upcoming PGA Tour tournament this fall, faced swift criticism after publishing and then removing a promotional video for a Callaway golf driver that showed a man pushing a woman to the ground as she reached for the club.
“We posted a video to our channels that ultimately depicted actions that are not aligned with our values as a brand,” Good Good said in a statement.
“We have since taken that content down. And sincerely apologize. Good Good has always stood for making the game of golf more inclusive to all, and we will continue to ensure that is our mission moving forward.”
Both Good Good and Callaway erased the advertisement late Friday following outcry over its depiction of violence against women, although clips of the commercial continued to circulate across social media platforms after official accounts removed the post.
The video features two personalities affiliated with Good Good: Garrett Clark is..

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Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky claims Putin is drafting 300,000 troops and gives warning on wartime elections

Dozens killed after Russian drone strike on busy shopping mall in Zelensky's hometownUkraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Vladimir Putin intends to draft 300,000 new troops to join the war from next month in a bid to seize territory.
Zelensky said that the Russian leader would start the drive after elections in September, for Moscow’s key goal of capturing the rest of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.
In other comments on Sunday, the Ukrainian leader claimed that holding a wartime election would “destroy” the country by splitting its citizens.
He was responding to calls from his former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov for the country to go to the polls despite the ongoing conflict with Russia.
Meanwhile, Putin has pulled Russia’s ambassador from London, accusing Britain of taking the “path of confrontation”, as relations between the two countries continue to deteriorate.
Andrey Kelin, who served as the Russian ambassador to the UK for over seven years,..

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