It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, June 08, 2025
Jewish groups in US line up to oppose Trump anti-Semitism strategy
US Jewish groups are unified over the need to fight mounting anti-Semitic incidents across the country, but many are bitterly opposed to how President Donald Trump is seeking to counter the scourge.
A string of incidents has targeted Jews in the United States in recent weeks. Two Israeli embassy workers were murdered in Washington, Molotov cocktails were thrown at an event in Colorado, and tensions persist on university campuses.
The conservative Heritage Foundation think-tank, behind the “Project 2025” roadmap for radically overhauling and shrinking the government, published in October “Project Esther” — a blueprint on combatting anti-Semitism.
The project seeks to “dismantle” so-called “anti-Israel,” “anti-Zionist,” or “pro-Palestinian” organizations allegedly part of a “Hamas support network” that has “infiltrated” universities including Columbia and Harvard.
The text advocates the dismissal of professors, barring some foreign students from campuses, expelling others outright, and withholding public funding from universities.
Robert Greenway, a Project Esther co-author, recently told The New York Times it was “no coincidence that we called for a series of actions to take place privately and publicly, and they are now happening.”
The Heritage Foundation refused an interview request.
Stefanie Fox, director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), said “Project Esther sets out a blueprint for the Trump administration to sharpen the legal regimes that will best advance (his) ‘Make America Great Again’ goals.”
The JVP, a Jewish organization that leads demonstrations against “genocide” in Gaza, is named in Project Esther as a member of the so-called Hamas support network.
“These assumptions are baseless, paranoid, laughable,” said Fox, whose group is on the left. – ‘Weaponizing’ anti-Semitism? –
Although 89 percent of the 7.2 million US Jews say they are concerned about anti-Semitism, 64 percent disapprove of Trump’s efforts to combat it, according to a recent Jewish Voters Resource Center poll.
“There is anti-Semitism on those campuses… But to give the broad claim that the thrust to fight anti-Semitism is to go after higher education is just absolutely ridiculous,” said Kevin Rachlin.
He is a prominent figure in the Nexus Project formed in opposition to Project Esther that seeks to counter anti-Semitism without impairing freedom of speech.
Trump’s strategy “doesn’t keep Jews safe.” Rather, it seeks to separate the Jewish minority from others in the country and ignores right-wing anti-Semitism, Rachlin argues.
“We as Jews are safer when we’re in coalition with other groups and other minorities,” he said, adding that combatting anti-Semitism through education was more viable than targeting universities.
Traditional Jewish groups have aligned more with Trump’s Republicans and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unlike the “majority” of American Jews, claims author Eric Alterman.
“What’s happened in Gaza has been very hard for most American Jews — particularly young American Jews — to stomach. Young American Jews are now roughly evenly divided between supporting Israel and supporting the Palestinians,” he told AFP.
Alterman added most US Jews are not anti-Zionist — but don’t like the war in Gaza or Israel’s West Bank strategy.
“They’re kind of caught in the middle.”
Some Jewish groups warn that when Trump targets higher education purportedly combatting anti-Semitism, he is actually “weaponizing” the sensitive issue to stifle freedom of expression.
In recent weeks, ten major Jewish organizations criticized the Trump administration in a letter, saying they reject the “false choice” between “Jewish safety” and “democracy.”
“There should be no doubt that anti-Semitism is rising” but access to “higher education, and strong democratic norms… have allowed American Jewry to thrive for hundreds of years,” the letter states.
One of the signatories, rabbi and former ambassador for religious freedom David Saperstein, said there was “appreciation” for Trump prioritizing anti-Semitic violence and rhetoric — but opposed the clampdown on universities, media and judges.
He added: “Ironically, they are targeting democratic institutions that have given the Jewry in America more rights, more freedom, more opportunities than we have ever known in our 2,600 years of diasporic history.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened to take over Greenland
- Copyright AFP/File Juliette PAVY
French President Emmanuel Macron is to visit Greenland, his office said Saturday, the first foreign head of state to do so since US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to seize the autonomous Danish territory.
Macron’s office said he had been invited to visit on June 15 by the territory’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Danish leader Mette Frederiksen.
The three will hold talks focused on North Atlantic and Arctic security, climate change, the energy transition and the supply of critical minerals, the French presidency said.
The visit will contribute to fostering “European sovereignty” and was aiming at “strengthening cooperation” with Greenland, it added.
Frederiksen called the visit “a concrete testimony of European unity” in a statement.
“It has been uplifting to see the strong international support for Greenland and the Kingdom in the difficult foreign policy situation in recent months,” she said.
Danish and Greenlandic leaders have insisted that the autonomous territory, where a majority are in favour of independence in the long term, must decide its own future, and have repeatedly said Washington “will never get Greenland”. Macron will travel on to Canada after the Greenland visit to participate in a G7 summit.
THE ARCTIC CIRCLE - DON'T SEE FRANCE ANYWHERE
Italy holds referendum on citizenship, workers’ rights
The referendum seeks to ease citizenship rules, with non-EU adult residents able to apply for citizenship after living in Italy for five years if approved - Copyright AFP Filippo MONTEFORTE
Piera ROCCO DI TORREPADULA, Alice RITCHIE
Italians vote on Sunday and Monday in a referendum on easing citizenship rules and strengthening labour laws, with Giorgia Meloni’s government opposing both changes and urging people to abstain.
A non-EU adult resident without marriage or blood ties to Italy must currently live in the country for 10 years before they can apply for citizenship — a process which can then take years.
The referendum proposal, triggered by a grassroots campaign led by NGOs, would cut this to five years, putting Italy in line with Germany and France.
Campaigners say around 2.5 million people could benefit from the reform, which is being backed by the centre-left Democratic Party.
Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party has prioritised cutting illegal immigration even while increasing the number of legal work visas for migrants, is strongly against it.
She said Thursday that the current system “is an excellent law, among the most open, in the sense that we have for years been among the European nations that grant the highest number of citizenships each year”.
More than 213,500 people acquired Italian citizenship in 2023, double the number in 2020 and one fifth of the European Union total, according to EU statistics.
More than 90 percent were from outside the bloc, mostly from Albania and Morocco, as well as Argentina and Brazil — two countries with large Italian immigrant communities.
Ministers agreed in March to restrict the rights to citizenship of those with blood ties to Italy from four to two generations.
Meloni and her coalition partners have encouraged voters to boycott the referendum, which will only be valid if 50 percent of eligible voters plus one participate.
Even if it passes, the reform will not affect the migration law many consider the most unfair, that children born in Italy to foreign parents cannot request nationality until they reach 18.
Prominent rapper Ghali, who was born in Milan to Tunisian parents, has been an outspoken advocate changing the law for children, but nevertheless urged fans to back Sunday’s vote as a step in the right direction.
“With a ‘Yes’ we ask that five years of life here are enough, not 10, to be part of this country,” he wrote on Instagram.
– Interests of workers –
Under Italy’s constitution, a referendum can be triggered by a petition signed by at least 500,000 voters.
This week’s ballot includes one question on citizenship and four others on increasing protections for workers who are dismissed, in precarious situations or involved in workplace accidents.
The changes are being pushed by the left-wing CGIL trade union.
“We want to reverse a culture that has prioritised the interests of business over those of workers,” CGIL general secretary Maurizio Landini told AFP.
The Democratic Party is also backing the proposals — even if it introduced some of the laws the CGIL wants to repeal while in office in the past.
The proposals are notably aimed at measures of the so-called Jobs Act, passed a decade ago by the government of the Democratic Party prime minister, Matteo Renzi, in order to liberalise the labour market.
Supporters say the act boosted employment but detractors say it made work more precarious.
Under new leadership, the Democratic Party — which is polling at around 23 percent, behind Meloni’s Brothers of Italy at about 30 percent, according to an SWG survey this week — is seeking to woo working-class voters by backing the referendum reform.
Powerful 6.3 magnitude quake shakes central Colombia, damaging buildings
The United States Geological Survey said the quake struck at a depth of nine kilometers - Copyright AFP Frederic J. Brown
Andrew BEATTY
Buildings swayed, sirens blared and panicked Colombians raced onto the streets Sunday after a shallow 6.3 magnitude earthquake rattled the center of the country.
The quake struck at 8:08 am about 170 kilometers (105 miles) east of the capital Bogota and was felt across much of the country.
In the town of Paratebueno, not far from the epicenter, AFP reporters saw several partially collapsed buildings, including a whitewashed church with one wall seriously damaged.
Nearby residents picked through the debris of several collapsed zinc-roofed structures.
There were no reports of serious injuries, but authorities were investigating minor damage in several other villages.
In Bogota — a city nestled in the high Andes and home to eight million people — the lengthy jolt prompted sirens to go off and sparked widespread alarm.
Tall buildings visibly moved from side to side, creaking and groaning for almost a minute, while furniture and fittings shook violently.
Thousands of Bogotanos raced downstairs and out of buildings still wearing their pajamas and sought refuge in parks and other open spaces.
Parents tried to calm terrified children, couples hugged and others looked for pets that had run away.
Many were afraid to go back inside as several aftershocks were detected.
“It was a big scare,” said 54-year-old Carlos Alberto Ruiz, who left his apartment with his wife, son and dog.
“It’s been a while since we felt it this strong here in Bogota,” said Francisco Gonzalez, a lawyer who also fled his home.
The United States Geological Survey said the quake struck at a depth of nine kilometers (5.5 miles) near Paratebueno.
The impact was felt as far away as Medellin and Cali — close to the Pacific coast.
Bogota’s security department said on X that emergency workers were conducting a sweep of the city to look for damage and provide assistance.
Bogota’s mayor, Carlos Fernando Galan, said all disaster agencies had been activated.
Central Colombia is in a zone of high seismic activity. A 6.2 magnitude quake there in 1999 claimed nearly 1,200 lives.
The country is on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin to South America.
People, some still in their pyjamas, rushed into the streets as a powerful earthquake shook the Colombian capital of Bogota on June 8, 2025 - Copyright AFP Luis ACOSTA
A powerful, shallow 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook the Colombian capital of Bogota early Saturday, according to AFP reporters on the ground and the United States Geological Survey.
The shallow quake struck at 9:08 local time near the city of Paratebueno in central Colombia, some 170 kilometers (105 miles) east of Bogota, the USGS said.
Buildings shook, sirens blared around the capital and people rushed out into the streets, while social media users posted videos of swinging lights and furniture, though the images could not be immediately verified by AFP.
Scores of people gathered in parks and outside buildings in their pajamas, with parents trying to calm frightened kids and others looking for pets that had run away.
“This was very strong,” said an elderly lady in Bogota trying to make her way down several flights of steps.
Central Colombia is in a zone of high seismic activity. A 6.2 magnitude quake there in 1999, not far from Ansermanuevo, claimed nearly 1,200 lives.
Pressure is on Apple to show it hasn’t lost its magic despite broken promises to ramp up iPhones with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as rivals race ahead with the technology.
Apple will showcase plans for its coveted devices and the software powering them at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kicking off Monday in Silicon Valley.
The event comes a year after the tech titan said a suite of AI features it dubbed “Apple Intelligence” was heading for iPhones, including an improvement of its much criticized Siri voice assistant.
“Apple advertised a lot of features as if they were going to be available, and it just didn’t happen,” noted Emarketer senior analyst Gadjo Sevilla.
Instead, Apple delayed the rollout of the Siri upgrade, with hopes that it will be available in time for the next iPhone release, expected in the fall.
“I don’t think there is going to be that much of a celebratory tone at WWDC,” the analyst told AFP. “It could be more of a way for Apple to recover some credibility by showing where they’re headed.”
Industry insiders will be watching to see whether Apple addresses the AI stumble or focuses on less splashy announcements, including a rumored overhaul of its operating systems for its line of devices.
“The bottom line is Apple seemed to underestimate the AI shift, then over-promised features, and is now racing to catch up,” Gene Munster and Brian Baker of Deepwater Asset Management wrote in a WWDC preview note.
Rumors also include talk that Apple may add GenAI partnerships with Google or Perplexity to an OpenAI alliance announced a year ago.
– ‘Double black eye’ –
Infusing its lineup with AI is only one of Apple’s challenges.
Developers, who build apps and tools to run on the company’s products, may be keen for Apple to loosen its tight control of access to iPhones.
“There’s still a lot of strife between Apple and developers,” Sevilla said. “Taking 30 percent commissions from them and then failing to deliver on promises for new functionality—that’s a double black eye.”
A lawsuit by Fortnite maker Epic Games ended with Apple being ordered to allow outside payment systems to be used at the US App Store, but developers may want more, according to the analyst.
“Apple does need to give an olive branch to the developer community, which has been long-suffering,” Sevilla said. “They can’t seem to thrive within the restrictive guardrails that Apple has been putting up for decades now.”
Apple is expected to lay out its path forward when it comes to artificil intelligence and its closely guarded ‘ecosystem’ of devices and software at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in Silicon Valley – Copyright AFP Nic Coury
As AI is incorporated into Apple software, the company may need to give developers more ability to sync apps to the platform, according to Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi.
“Maybe with AI it’s the first time that Apple needs to rethink the open versus closed ecosystem,” Milanesi said.
– Apple on defensive –
Adding to the WWDC buildup is that the legendary designer behind the iPhone, Jony Ive, has joined with ChatGPT maker OpenAI to create a potential rival device for engaging with AI.
“It puts Apple on the defensive because the key designer for your most popular product is saying there is something better than the iPhone,” Sevilla said.
While WWDC has typically been a software-focused event, Apple might unveil new hardware to show it is still innovating, the analyst speculated.
And while unlikely to come up at WWDC, Apple has to deal with tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump in his trade war with China, a key market for sales growth as well as the place where most iPhones are made.
Trump has also threatened to hit Apple with tariffs if iPhone production wasn’t moved to the US, which analysts say is impossible given the costs and capabilities.
“The whole idea of having an American-made iPhone is a pipe dream; you’d have to rewrite the rules of global economics,” said Sevilla.
One of the things Apple has going for it is that its fans are known for their loyalty and likely to remain faithful regardless of how much time it takes the company to get its AI act together, Milanesi said.
“Do people want a smarter Siri? Hell yeah,” Milanesi said. “But if you are in Apple, you’re in Apple and you’ll continue to buy their stuff.”
Wagner Group leaves Mali, replaced by Moscow-backed Africa Corps
The Russian-backed Wagner Group, which spent more than three years fighting Islamic extremists in Mali, will be replaced by the Moscow-run Africa Corps. In the last decade, Mali has relied on an estimated 2,000 mercenaries, according to US figures, in its battle against an insurgency by armed groups that include those linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
The Russian paramilitary group Wagner has left Mali and its units there have been taken over by the Moscow-run Africa Corps, diplomatic and security sources told AFP on Sunday.
"Officially, Wagner is no longer present in Mali. But the Africa Corps is stepping up," one diplomatic source in the Sahel region said.
A Telegram account affiliated with Wagner said: "Mission accomplished. PMC Wagner is going home."
Mali's ruling junta, which seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, broke off ties with former colonial power France and pivoted towards Russia for political and military support.
Wagner, Russia's best-known mercenary group, was disbanded and restructured after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a mysterious plane crash in August 2023 following a short-lived rebellion against Moscow.
Mali has never officially admitted Wagner's presence, insisting it only worked with Russian instructors.
"The Kremlin remains in control;" the same diplomatic source added.
"Most of the Wagner personnel in Mali, who are originally from Russia, will be reintegrated into Africa Corps and remain in northern regional capitals and Bamako."
The Africa Corps is another paramilitary group with links to the Kremlin and seen as the successor to the Wagner Group. Like Wagner, its mercenaries are active supporting several African governments.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
Israel orders military to block aid flotilla carrying Greta Thunberg from reaching Gaza
Israel’s defence minister on Sunday ordered the military to stop an aid boat belonging to the international nonprofit organisation Freedom Flotilla Coalition and carrying climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and fellow activists from reaching the Gaza Strip.
Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz on Sunday ordered the military to block an aid boat headed for Gaza with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
"I have instructed the military to prevent the Madleen flotilla from reaching Gaza," Israel Katz said in a statement from his office.
"To Greta the antisemite and her companions, Hamas propaganda mouthpieces, I say clearly: turn back because you will not reach Gaza," Katz said.
Aboard the boat are nationals of Germany, France, Brazil, Turkey, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands.
One of them, French MEP Rima Hassan, has said that more than 200 European lawmakers signed an open letter to Israel calling for the Madleen to be allowed to reach Gaza and for the "immediate entry of its humanitarian cargo".
Hassan voiced concern over the lack of official response from countries whose citizens are part of the crew.
"No state has responded. The message being sent is that Israel is being allowed to act with impunity, without any guarantee of protection for us," she added.
On Saturday, French Minister for Foreign Trade and French Nationals Abroad Laurent Saint-Martin said that France was obliged to ensure "consular protection" for its nationals aboard the Madleen.
"The six French citizens on this boat are entitled to consular protection," he told a state TV channel.
The organisers of the Madleen's voyage said Saturday they had reached Egyptian waters and were nearing Gaza, where the war between Israel and Hamas has entered its 21st month.
The Madleen, a sailing boat operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Italy on June 1 with the stated aim of delivering humanitarian aid and breaking the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.
"Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade of Gaza, which is aimed at preventing weapons from reaching Hamas – a murderous terrorist group holding our hostages and committing war crimes," Katz said.
"Israel will act against any attempt to break the blockade or support terror groups – by sea, air or land," he added.
In May, another Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, reported coming under drone attack.
Israeli fire near food distribution site
In Gaza, the civil defence agency said Israeli attacks killed at least 10 people on Sunday.
"Five martyrs and dozens of wounded were taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis after the (Israeli) occupation forces opened fire on civilians at around 6:00 am", said Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the agency.
The civilians had been heading to an aid distribution centre west of Rafah, near a site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-backed group that has come under criticism from the United Nations and humanitarian agencies.
The United Nations refuses to work with the GHF, citing concerns over its practices and neutrality.
The Israeli military said it fired on people who "continued advancing in a way that endangered the soldiers" despite warnings.
It said the area around the distribution point had been declared an "active combat zone" at night.
"Around 4:30 am, people started gathering in the Al-Alam area of Rafah. After about an hour and a half, hundreds moved toward the site and the army opened fire," eyewitness Abdallah Nour al-Din told AFP.
Five dead in strike on tent
Outside Nasser Hospital, where the emergency workers brought the casualties, AFPTV footage showed mourners crying over blood-stained body-bags.
"I can't see you like this," said Lin al-Daghma by her father's body, while a man lay over his brother's corpse.
They gave the same account as Din, and spoke of the struggle to access food aid after more than two months of a total Israeli blockade of Gaza, despite a recent easing.
Dozens of people have been killed near GHF distribution points since late May, according to the civil defence.
Bassal said another five people, including two young girls, were killed in an overnight strike that hit a tent in the Al-Mawasi displaced persons camp in southern Gaza.
Israel's army on Sunday accused Bassal of being linked to Hamas, an allegation he denied.
The army issued copies of what it said were Hamas membership lists to the media, without clarifying where or how the undated documents were obtained.
"I do not work for any military organisation," Bassal told AFP, adding that the agency's mission was guided by international law.
The army issued copies of what it said were Hamas membership lists to the media, without clarifying where or how the undated documents were obtained.
"I do not work for any military organisation," Bassal told AFP, adding that the agency's mission was guided by international law.
The war was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
On Sunday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that the overall toll for the Gaza war had reached 54,880, the majority civilians. The UN considers these figures reliable.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Pussy Riot co-founder back in prison cell — at LA museum
Russian activist Nadya Tolokonnikova, the co-founder of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot, is staging a performance art piece called 'Police State' in Los Angeles - Copyright AFP Robyn Beck
Paula RAMON
Nadya Tolokonnikova, the co-founder of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot, is back in a prison cell — but this time, she has gone willingly.
At the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Russian activist is staging “Police State” — a two-week piece of performance art aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of authoritarianism and oppression.
Tolokonnikova — who spent nearly two years in a Russian penal colony for performing a protest song against Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church in 2012 — knows a bit about the topic.
Through the installation, which opened Thursday and runs through June 14, she says she hopes to teach visitors about what she believes to be the advent of a new means of control — technology.
While she is in the mock cell, during all museum opening hours, she will eat, use the toilet, sew clothes as she once did in her real cell and create “soundscapes.” Visitors can observe her through holes in the cell or on security camera footage.
Seated in a makeshift Russian prison cell, wearing a green tracksuit, the 35-year-old activist says in several countries, the concept of a “police state” is expanding.
“As someone who lived under authoritarian rule for over 25 years, I know how real it is and how it starts, step by step, on the arrest of one person. You think, ‘Well, it’s not about me’,” she explained.
“And then next thing we know, the entire country is under the military boot.”
– ‘We all have to contribute’ –
For Tolokonnikova, Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January has sparked an “erosion of the system of checks and balances,” which she deemed “very dangerous.”
She says the artistic community, and society in general, should do more to counter governmental abuses of power, wherever they may occur, and stop “outsourcing politics and political action.”
“I feel like it’s as if there is someone else who’s going to save us from everything. That’s not what works really. We all have to contribute.”
Some who visited the installation said they agreed with Tolokonnikova that society had become too passive.
“I feel like Americans don’t want to believe that we could be in danger of losing our freedoms,” said Jimmie Akin, a graphic designer who said she was worried about the policy changes since Trump took office.
“People need to wake up.”
– Sewing machine and Navalny –
For 29-year-old Hannah Tyler, “Police State” was a bit of a shock to the system.
“We’re living in a country where we aren’t facing the same extreme oppression that she did in Russia, but getting close to it. I felt inspired to take more action than I have been,” Tyler said.
Tolokonnikova’s installation has some symbolic features.
She has books and artworks made by Russian, US and Belarusian prisoners, as well as a drawing by late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. A sewing machine recalls the manual labor of her incarceration. Words of protest are carved into the walls.
For Alex Sloane, the museum’s associate curator, the installation shows how “increased surveillance and government overreach” are becoming more and more widespread, and “freedoms are at risk.”
“We should do all that we can to make sure” that such circumstances are kept at bay, Sloane said.
Top TikToker Khaby Lame detained by US immigration
US immigration agents detained and later allowed the “voluntary departure” of the world’s most-followed TikToker, Khaby Lame, after he “overstayed” his visa, authorities said Saturday.
“US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Seringe Khabane Lame, 25, a citizen of Italy, June 6, at the Harry Reid International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada for immigration violations,” the agency said in a statement to AFP.
Lame entered the United States on April 30 and “overstayed the terms of his visa,” the statement said of the Friday detention, adding that he was released the same day.
The Italian national, who is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and has a following of more than 162 million on TikTok, “has since departed the US.”
Lame had not immediately posted publicly about the incident as of Saturday afternoon.
Since taking power in January, US President Donald Trump has delivered on campaign promises to tighten immigration controls and carry out a mass deportation drive — aspects of which have been challenged in US courts.
Lame holds top spot on the wildly popular TikTok social media app, with 162.2 million followers and has risen to fame for his short silent videos mocking the convoluted tutorials and tips that abound on the internet.
He punctuates his videos with a trademark gesture — palms turned towards the sky, accompanied by a knowing smile and wide eyes — as he offers his own simple remedies.
Khaby Lame holds top spot on the TikTok social media app, with 162.2 million followers , who attends the 95th Annual Academy Awards on March 12, 2023 in Hollywood, California. Arturo Holmes/Getty Images /AFP – Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Arturo Holmes
The idea for his content came to him while wandering around the housing project where his family lived in Chivasso, near Turin, after losing his factory mechanic’s job in March 2020.
His posts took off — helping him gross an estimated $16.5 million through marketing deals with companies in the period between June 2022 and September 2023, according to Forbes.
Wrongly deported migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia brought back to US, arrested upon landing
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador from the United States, has been brought back to the US and arrested on human smuggling charges, officials said Friday.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador became a political flashpoint in the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement, was being returned to the United States to face criminal charges related to what the Trump administration said was a massive human smuggling operation that brought immigrants into the country illegally.
He is expected to be prosecuted in the US and, if convicted, will be returned to his home country in El Salvador at the conclusion of the case, officials said.
“This is what American justice looks like,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday in announcing the return of Abrego Garcia and the criminal charges.
The charges stem from a 2022 vehicle stop in which the Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected him of human trafficking. A report released by the Department of Homeland Security in April states that none of the people in the vehicle had luggage, while they listed the same address as Abrego Garcia.
Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime, while the officers allowed him to drive on with only a warning about an expired driver’s license, according to the DHS report. The report said he was traveling from Texas to Maryland, via Missouri, to bring in people to perform construction work.
‘No evidence’ in oft-cited footage
In response to the report’s release in April, Abrego Garcia’s wife said in a statement that he sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites, “so it’s entirely plausible he would have been pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle. He was not charged with any crime or cited for any wrongdoing.”
The Trump administration has been publicising Abrego Garcia’s interactions with police over the years, despite a lack of corresponding criminal charges, while it faces a federal court order and calls from some in Congress to return him to the US.
Authorities in Tennessee released video of a 2022 traffic stop last month. The body-camera footage shows a calm and friendly exchange between officers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
Officers then discussed among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were travelling without luggage. One of the officers said, “He’s hauling these people for money.” Another said he had $1,400 in an envelope.
An attorney for Abrego Garcia, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said in a statement after the footage’s release in May that he saw no evidence of a crime in the released footage.
“But the point is not the traffic stop – it’s that Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.
The move comes days after the Trump administration complied with a court order to return a Guatemalan man deported to Mexico despite his fears of being harmed there. The man, identified in court papers as O.C.G, was the first person known to have been returned to US custody after deportation since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
AND SO IT BEGINS! FASCISM U$A!
Trump warns of 'troops everywhere' in LA if immigration raid protests escalate
Security forces clashed with protesters outside a Los Angeles detention center on Sunday as National Guard troops deployed by President Donald Trump spread across the city after days of unrest over immigration raids. Trump vowed "very strong law and order," hinting at possible wider troop deployments.
Security forces clashed with protesters outside a detention center in Los Angeles on Sunday as National Guard troops deployed by President Donald Trump fanned out across the city following two days of unruly protests over raids by immigration agents.
Trump on Sunday 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 center 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 center.
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 -- Trump 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," Newsom posted on X Sunday.
"He's hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful."
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.
'Intimidation'
Republicans lined up behind Trump to dismiss the pushback by 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's "This Week", accusing Newsom of "an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary".
As for threats by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday to send in active-duty Marines on top of the Guard troops, 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," 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."
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."
US Democratic governors on Sunday slammed President Donald Trump's deployment of troops to quell protests against immigration raids 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." Protesters rally against immigration agents for second day in LA
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.
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 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 Sunday 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.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Troops sent by Trump reach protest-hit Los Angeles over governor’s wishes
Members of the National Guard stand guard in front of a federal building in downtown Los Angeles, California on June 8, 2025 - Copyright AFP Frederic J. Brown Bastien INZAURRALDE and Gilles CLARENNE
Hundreds of National Guard troops took up positions in Los Angeles Sunday on the orders of US President Donald Trump, a rare deployment over the head of the state governor, after unruly protests against immigration raids.
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 could be seen in front of a federal complex — including a detention center — with the phrase “Our City” spray-painted on it in downtown Los Angeles.
The deployment overrode the protests of local officials, an extraordinary move not seen in decades that California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed as “purposefully inflammatory.”
It came ahead of more planned protests in the city, which has a large Latino population, including a call by organizers for a “mass mobilization” at City Hall at 2:00 pm local time (2100 GMT).
A separate Pride parade in support of LGBTQ rights — also under assault by the Trump administration — also began Sunday in Hollywood, with organizers posting on Instagram that they were working with local law enforcement to keep the celebrations safe.
“Trump is sending 2,000 National Guard troops into LA County — not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis,” Newsom posted on X Sunday.
“He’s hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful.”
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.
On Sunday pepper spray hung in the air from overnight, AFP reporters said.
– ‘Escalation’ –
Republicans lined up behind Trump to dismiss the pushback by 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’s “This Week”, accusing Newsom of “an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary”.
As for threats by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday to send in active-duty Marines on top of the Guard troops, Johnson said he did not see that as “heavy-handed.”
“We have to be prepared to do what is necessary,” he argued.
Demonstrators that AFP spoke to said troops were not really being sent in to keep order.
“I think it’s an intimidation tactic,” said Thomas Henning.
“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.”
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.”
– ‘Unacceptable’ –
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.
It is the first time since 1965 that a president has deployed a National Guard without a request by a state governor, the former head of Human Rights Watch, US activist Kenneth Roth, posted on X.
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 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 Sunday defended migrants living in 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
Trump orders National Guard to control LA immigration 'riots'
Trump and CA Governor Newsom clash over deployment of National Guard in LA
Copyright AP Photo
By Euronews with AP Published on 08/06/2025
Claiming that state officials “cannot perform their duties,” US President Donald Trump dispatched the National Guard to control Los Angeles' immigration “insurgencies”.
Donald Trump is deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom after a second day of clashes between hundreds of protesters and federal immigration authorities in riot gear.
Newsom wrote on social media: “The federal government is creating chaos so it can have an excuse to escalate things. This is not the way any civilised country behaves”.
He described the decision to deploy the National Guard as a “deliberate and cowardly” action, adding that it would “only escalate tensions.”
Trump reacted to Gavin Newsom in a posting on his “Truth Social” platform on Saturday, writing, “If Governor Gavin Newsom of California and Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles can't fulfill their duties that everyone knows they can't, then the federal government will step in and solve the problem of rioters and looters the way it needs to be solved!!!”
Confrontations broke out on Saturday near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office nearby. Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke wafted from small piles of burning refuse in the streets.
Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, including in LA's fashion district and at a Home Depot, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed past 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.
The White House announced that Trump would deploy the Guard to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.” It wasn't clear when the troops would arrive.
In a signal of the administration's aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to deploy the U.S. military.
“If violence continues, active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” Hegseth said on X.
Trump's order came after clashes in Paramount and neighboring Compton, where a car was set on fire. Protests continued into the evening in Paramount, with several hundred demonstrators gathered near a doughnut shop, and authorities holding up barbed wire to keep the crowd back.
Crowds also gathered again outside federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles, including a detention center, where local police declared an unlawful assembly and began to arrest people.
Standoff in Paramount
Earlier in Paramount, immigration officers faced off with demonstrators at the entrance to a business park, across from the back of a Home Depot. They set off fireworks and pulled shopping carts into the street, broke up cinder blocks and pelted a procession of Border Patrol vans as they departed and careened down a boulevard.
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said federal agents made more arrests of people with deportation orders on Saturday, but none at the Home Depot. The Department of Homeland Security has a building next door and agents were staging there as they prepared to carry out operations, he said on Fox11 Los Angeles. He didn't say how many people were arrested Saturday or where.
Paramount Mayor Peggy Lemons told multiple news outlets that community members showed up in response because people are fearful about activity by immigration agents.
“When you handle things the way that this appears to be handled, it’s not a surprise that chaos would follow,” Lemons said.
Some demonstrators jeered at officers while recording the events on smartphones.
“ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are,” a woman said through a megaphone. “You are not welcome here.”
More than a dozen people were arrested and accused of impeding immigration agents, Essayli posted on X, including the names and mug shots of some of those arrested. He didn't say where they were protesting.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the work the immigration authorities were doing when met with protests is “essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens.”
The president’s move came shortly after he issued a threat on his social media network saying that if Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass did not “do their jobs,” then “the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”
Speaking on TV station ABC7, Bass said that “we certainly want to make the opportunities available for people to exercise their First Amendment rights, but the minute that things turn to violence ... that is not acceptable and people are going to be held accountable.”
She said she had spoken with members of the Trump administration and insisted that she and Newsom were in control and there was no need for the National Guard to be deployed. Arrests in Los Angeles
Protests kicked off a day earlier in Los Angeles after federal authorities arrested 44 people for violating immigration law Friday.
The Department of Homeland Security later said recent ICE operations in Los Angeles resulted in the arrest of 118 immigrants, including five people linked to criminal organizations and people with prior criminal histories.
David Huerta, regional president of the Service Employees International Union, was also arrested Friday while protesting. The Justice Department confirmed that he was being held Saturday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles ahead of a scheduled Monday court appearance.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for his immediate release, warning of a “disturbing pattern of arresting and detaining American citizens for exercising their right to free speech.”
The Trump administration's continued warnings and threats come as the Los Angeles Police Department says protests across the city are now proceeding “peacefully.”
'Don't shoot!' Maxine Waters begs National Guard not to use guns at protest
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) pleaded with National Guard troops not to use their weapons against protesters.
The California lawmaker showed up at an anti-ICE demonstration near Los Angeles on Sunday after President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard to be deployed.
"There's no reason to shoot anybody!" Waters shouted to the service members. "Don't allow them to make your service a service where you're killing people."
"Don't do it. Defy them!" she added. "Don't shoot those guns for anything!"
Masked agents launch sweeping immigration raids in LA and New York
Masked and heavily armed federal agents carried out sweeping immigration raids in Los Angeles while plainclothes agents in New York pounced on two immigrants in the hallway of a courthouse on Friday. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city," LA Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement.
Masked federal agents wrestled migrants into handcuffs and unmarked vehicles in two of the most diverse cities in the world on Friday.
Agents used extreme tactics, conducting unprecedented raids on at least three areas of Los Angeles to detain dozens of people.
At one sweep less than two miles from Los Angeles City Hall, agents threw flash-bang grenades to disperse angry crowds of people following alongside a convoy of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicles as protesters hurled eggs and epithets at the agents, media reported.
"As a Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place," LA Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city."
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller – the right-wing architect of some of the president's most extreme immigration policies and who grew up in LA's Santa Monica – insisted on social media platform X that Bass had "no say in this at all".
"Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced," he wrote. Clashes with protesters
Service Employees International Union leader David Huerta was briefly detained while documenting one of the raids in Los Angeles, according to media reports.
"Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals," Huerta said in a statement after his release.
Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe told the Los Angeles Times that federal agents were executing search warrants related to the harbouring of people illegally in the country.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Los Angeles on Friday afternoon to demand the release of detainees, broadcaster ABC7 reported.
The largely peaceful rally was later ordered to disperse by police, with some violent clashes between protesters and riot police being reported.
NY courthouse arrests
Across the country, plainclothes agents in New York pounced on two immigrants in the hallway of a courthouse Friday.
AFP saw the officers yell for the men not to move before forcing them to lie face-down on the ground as they were handcuffed and arrested.
It was not immediately clear why the two men were arrested.
ICE agents have intensified such operations in and around American immigration courts in recent weeks.
The Department of Homeland Security revoked regulations that limited agents' access to protected areas such as courts after Trump returned to office in January.
One of the men arrested in New York was Joaquin Rosario, a 34-year-old Dominican who arrived in the United States a year ago, registered as he came in and who had his first immigration hearing Friday, his relative Julian Rosario said.
"He was at ease. He did not think anything was going to happen," the relative said, adding that Rosario was so unworried he had not brought his lawyer with him.
The other detainee appeared to be Asian. He arrived accompanied only by one of many immigration advocacy group volunteers who walk immigrants to and from the courtroom.
The volunteers screamed out as the agents arrested the two men but it did nothing to halt the raid.
Human rights groups are outraged by such operations, arguing that they sap trust in the courts and make immigrants wary of showing up for appointments as they try to gain legal US residency.
"They're illegal abductions," said Karen Ortiz, a court employee who was demonstrating Friday against the sudden arrests of migrants.
"We need to sound the alarm and show the public how serious this is, and one way we can do that is actually physically putting ourselves between a masked ICE agent and someone they're trying to detain and send away," she told AFP.
Trump has dramatically tested the limits of executive power to crack down on foreigners without papers since he returned to office, arguing that the United States is being invaded by criminals and other undesirables.
In fact, crossings at the US-Mexico border had already fallen sharply throughout 2024 from a high in late 2023. And even illegal immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than US-born nationals, according to multiple studies and the government's own statistics.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Op-Ed: National Guard in LA – Melodrama and lousy illegals numbers tell the story
Members of the National Guard stand guard in front of a federal building in downtown Los Angeles, California on June 8, 2025 - Copyright AFP Frederic J. Brown
The “riots” appear to have involved a few bottles being thrown, like a rowdy weekend. Even FOX News hasn’t cited any serious casualties among protesters or law enforcement. By global standards, the anti-ICE riots seem strangely unremarkable.
. Next, it’s the Marines, “if necessary”.
Marines? Bit of a comedown from Iwo Jima, isn’t it? I can see it now – “How we stormed the beaches of the takeout counter at Wendy’s”, etc.
Meanwhile, politics continues to very expensively dwarf realities.
A quick rundown:
Trump declared war on illegal immigrants in his campaign.
LA is very much a Latino city, and Latinos were very conspicuously among those targeted for deportation.
Six months of ICE at work have achieved around 72,000 actual removals according to TRAC Immigration. The service has a few other highly unflattering things to say about the administration’s cheering for itself. Like the Biden administration removing about three times more illegal immigrants, without the chronic dysfunctions and questionable legalities.
$150 billion is in the budget for immigration enforcement. In another six months, the number of removals would be 150,000 at the current rate. There are believed to be about 10 million illegal immigrants in the US. Do the numbers and figure out the time frames.
Given the number of people allegedly trying to get into the US over the years, you can assume that they haven’t stopped coming. Numbers were already dropping from January 2024. They’re still coming, and the lowest number for one month was around 50,000 in January 2025.
On that basis, about 300,000 people would have entered the US since Trump took office, and ICE has removed 72,000 in the same length of time. Also note that simply because these are illegal entries, the likely numbers are somewhat higher.
Not too impressive, is it?
On the even less impressive side, we have a supposed desire to Federalize the National Guard. This issue has a severe sting in it. Usually, the National Guard is under state control, unless there’s a war. The President, or blurry, unfocused alleged president in this case, takes command during wartime.
Russia has a similar system, except that Putin already directly controls their national guard. Encouraging, isn’t it?
Many critics, credible or otherwise, have stated that Trump wanted to use a domestic issue to impose martial law and become a dictator.
Well, he can’t do it like that.
You can’t declare war on your own country.
Not even in the name of national security.
You can bankrupt it, neglect it, and humiliate it, but you can’t nuke it or “conquer” it.
Seems unfair, doesn’t it?
It’s cost trillions, anyway.
“We have met the enemy, and this time he really is us.”
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