08/06/2025

WORLD 8 ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2025

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US steps up sweeping immigration crackdown

Strict social media rules plan for EU kids LUXEMBOURG: Greece, backed by France and Spain, spearheaded a proposal for how the EU should limit children’s use of online platforms as a rising body of evidence shows the negative effects of social media on children’s mental and physical health. They discussed the plan on Friday with EU counterparts in Luxembourg to push the idea of setting an age of digital adulthood across the 27-country bloc, meaning children would not be able to access social media without parental consent. France, Greece and Denmark believe there should be a ban on social media for individuals under 15, while Spain has suggested a ban for those under 16. Australia has banned social media for under-16s, taking effect later this year, while New Zealand and Norway are considering a similar prohibition. After the day’s talks in Luxembourg, it appeared there was no real appetite at this stage for an EU-wide ban on children under a specific age. But Danish Digital Minister Caroline Stage Olsen indicated there would be no let-up. Top EU digital official Henna Virkkunen admitted specific age limits would be “challenging” for many reasons. But the European Commission, the EU’s digital watchdog, intends to launch an age verification app next month, insisting it can be done without disclosing personal details. The EU last month published non-binding draft guidelines for platforms to protect minors, to be finalised once a public consultation ends this month, including setting children’s accounts to private by default, and making it easier to block and mute users. French Digital Minister Clara Chappaz said it would be “a very big step” if the EU made platforms check the real age of their users, as theoretically required under current regulation. – AFP Russia launches major attack on Ukraine KYIV: Russia unleashed missiles, drones and bombs across Ukraine yesterday, killing at least five people as it retaliated for a brazen attack by Kyiv on air bases recently. The Kremlin has accelerated its attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, as direct negotiations have failed to broker an end to the three-year war or even a truce. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga called for allies to punish Russia for refusing to halt its invasion. “To put an end to Russia’s killing and destruction, more pressure on Moscow is required, as are more steps to strengthen Ukraine,” he said on social media. Tens of thousands have been killed since Moscow invaded in February 2022, triggering Europe’s largest conflict since World War II, destroying cities and villages across eastern Ukraine and forcing millions to flee their homes. The attacks come ahead of an expected prisoner swap, set to take place soon – the only concrete agreement to come out of peace talks between the two sides. The Ukrainian air force said Russia had deployed 206 drones and fired nine missiles in the overnight barrage. Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv came under “the most powerful attack since the beginning of the full-scale war”, Mayor Igor Terekhov said. The Russian strikes pummelled homes and apartment blocks there, killing at least three people and wounding 17 more. In the southern city of Kherson, Russian shelling killed a couple. – AFP

Federal agents use extreme tactics

officers in riot gear ordered them to disperse. Across the country in New York, agents in plainclothes pounced on two immigrants in the hallway of a New York courthouse on Friday. In recent weeks, ICE agents have intensified such operations in and around immigration courts. After Trump swept back into power in January, the Department of Homeland Security revoked regulations that limited agents’ access to protected areas such as the courts. One of the men arrested in New York was a 34-year-old Dominican named Joaquin Rosario, who arrived in the United States a year ago, registered as he came in, and who had his first immigration hearing on Friday, a relative named 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 looked 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. – AFP

LOS ANGELES: Masked federal agents carried out sweeping immigration raids in Los Angeles on Friday, while others pounced on migrants at a New York courthouse, in forceful displays of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on people without papers. From courthouses to hardware store parking lots, federal agents wrestled migrants into handcuffs and vehicles. Agents used extreme tactics, conducting unprecedented raids on at least three areas of Los Angeles. At one sweep less than two miles from Los Angeles City Hall, agents threw flash-bang grenades to disperse angry crowds following alongside a convoy of ICE vehicles, as protesters hurled eggs and epithets at the agents. “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. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said Bass had “no say in this at all”. “Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced,” he said.

Rosario being detained after his court hearing in New York City on Friday. – AFPPIC Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe told the Los Angeles Times that agents were executing search warrants related to the harbouring of people illegally. As the sun set in Los Angeles, broadcaster ABC7 reported a growing standoff as hundreds of protesters marched downtown to demand the release of detainees, where police

Protesters demanding an end to the war, near the Israeli border with Gaza, on Friday. – REUTERSPIC

Washington mulls giving millions to aid foundation WASHINGTON: The State Department is weighing giving US$500 million (RM2.1 billion) to the new foundation providing aid to Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, in a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos. shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of GHF, the two sources said. who is funding GHF operations. It uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza.

On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF aid distribution hubs in the enclave. Gaza hospital officials have said more than 80 people had been shot dead and hundreds wounded near GHF distribution points between June 1 and 3. Since launching its operation, GHF has opened three hubs, but over the past two days, only two of them have been functioning. – Reuters

GHF, which has been criticised by humanitarian organisations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume. The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs. Reuters has been unable to establish

The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity, said money for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the State Department. The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly