04/07/2025

FRIDAY | JULY 4, 2025

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Judge blocks asylum ban at US-Mexico border

Seven unaccounted for after explosion LOS ANGELES: Seven people remained missing on Wednesday in California, a day after a fireworks warehouse explosion injured two victims and sparked a huge blaze. The explosion occurred on Tuesday evening after a fire broke out in a warehouse located in the town of Esparto, in the northern part of the state. “Seven individuals remain unaccounted for. First responders and investigators are working diligently with the property owner to determine the whereabouts of those individuals,“ the California firefighting agency said in a statement. The injured have been located and are out of danger, according to authorities. However, firefighters have not been able to access the warehouse because the fireworks held inside could still explode. Esparto Fire Chief Curtis Lawrence called the situation “very complex and risky”. “There were reports of a debris field of large pieces of shrapnel spread out across a large area,“ he told a press conference. “We maintained a wide perimeter around this area and kept our responders in a safe location.” The cautious response by authorities angered some relatives of the victims. A woman interrupted the press conference and complained that she had no information about her boyfriend and two brothers-in-law who were among the missing. She accused the firefighters of not “focusing on the people who are stuck in the warehouse, possibly dead”. “People have possibly lost their lives because of you guys not doing your job well enough,“ said the woman, who did not identify herself. Following the incident, several nearby towns announced they would have to cancel their fireworks displays scheduled for today, when America celebrates Independence Day. “This type of incident is very rare as facilities such as this are required to not only follow our stringent California pyrotechnic requirements, but also federal explosive storage requirements,“ the agency said in its statement. – AFP FIRES BLAZE IN TURKIYE IZMIR: Emergency crews continued to battle severe fires in the Turkish province of Yzmir, where planes and helicopters were being deployed against the flames on Wednesday, according to the German Press Agency. In the tourist region of Cepme, residents were attempting to extinguish fire hotspots using water hoses in the small coastal town of Ildir. Three residential areas were evacuated, Anadolu Ajansi reported. In recent days, fires in Yzmir have caused significant destruction, with 110 residential buildings either severely damaged or destroyed, disaster relief agency Afad reported. Nationwide, there have been hundreds of fires, most of which have been extinguished. – Bernama-dpa TAINTED MEAT KILLS CHILD PARIS: A series of serious cases of diarrhoea in northern France, with 29 children affected and one death, was caused by bacterially contaminated meat, officials said on Wednesday. Prefecture officials in the town of Saint-Quentin said the meat was distributed via five butcher’s shops that have since been closed by authorities, German Press Agency reported. Investigations into the butcher shops are continuing and the results will be forwarded to the public prosecutor’s office in Paris to identify those responsible. A rare form of acute kidney failure occurred in 10 of those affected, from which one 12-year-old died. The children developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome, which usually occurs as a result of an intestinal infection and leads to the formation of blood clots that affect the brain, heart and kidneys. – Bernama-dpa

o ‘Neither federal immigration law nor

Proclamation and implementing guidance,” wrote Moss, an appointee of former president Barack Obama. “An appeal to necessity cannot fill that void.” The Trump administration has clashed with federal judges since Trump returned to office, particularly those ruling against his hardline immigration policies. In a statement, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Moss did not have the authority to constrain Trump’s actions to address illegal immigration and the administration would appeal. “A local district court judge has no authority to stop Trump and the United States from securing our border from the flood of aliens trying to enter illegally. We expect to be vindicated on appeal.” The US judiciary is one of three co-equal branches of government that include the executive and legislative branches, but Trump has tested that system of checks and balances. Lee Gelernt, a lead Aclu attorney working on the lawsuit, said the ruling would help ensure protections for migrants fleeing danger. “The president cannot wipe away laws passed by Congress simply by claiming that asylum seekers are invaders.” – Reuters

brought the challenge to Trump’s asylum ban in February on behalf of three advocacy groups and migrants denied access to asylum, arguing that the broad ban violated US laws and international treaties. Trump’s border restrictions went beyond a similar ban put in place by former president Joe Biden, a Democrat, last year. Key parts of the Biden ban were blocked by a separate federal judge in May in a lawsuit also led by Aclu. Moss said he would stay the effective date of a related order for 14 days to allow the Trump administration to appeal. The decision applies to migrants who were subject to Trump’s ban or could be in the future, part of a certified class in the litigation. Such class certifications remain unaffected by last week’s Supreme Court decision reining in nationwide injunctions. Moss ruled that neither federal immigration law nor the US Constitution gives Trump the authority to disregard existing laws and regulations governing the asylum process, even if stopping illegal immigration presented “enormous challenges”. “Nothing in the (Immigration and Nationality Act 1952) or the Constitution grants the president or his delegees the sweeping authority asserted in the

Constitution gives authority to disregard existing laws’

WASHINGTON:

A federal judge on

Wednesday President Donald Trump’s asylum ban at the US-Mexico border, saying Trump exceeded his authority when he issued a proclamation declaring illegal immigration an emergency and setting aside existing legal processes. US district judge Randolph Moss said in a 128-page opinion Trump’s Jan 20 proclamation blocking migrants “engaged in the invasion across the southern border” from claiming asylum or other humanitarian protections went beyond his executive power. The ruling is a setback for Trump, a Republican who recaptured the White House by promising a vast immigration crackdown. Since Trump took office, the number of migrants caught crossing illegally has plummeted to record lows. The American Civil Liberties Union (Aclu) blocked US

BR I E F S

VENERATED VISIT ... Emine Erdogan, wife of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, meeting Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Wednesday. – REUTERSPIC

Diddy acquitted of most serious charges NEW YORK: The federal jury in the New York trial of Sean“Diddy”Combs found him guilty of prostitution-related offences but acquitted him of the more serious charges of racketeering, conspiracy and sex trafficking, US media reported on Wednesday, after more than 13 hours of deliberations. The court was due to decide on Wednesday whether Combs would remain free until the sentence is handed down. Combs heard the verdict in the courtroom in the presence of his mother and sister.

prosecutorial offices. Lawyers had accused the hip-hop artiste of abusing, threatening and coercing women into satisfying his sexual desires over several years. During the trial, several women reported years of serious sexual and physical abuse. Combs had denied all allegations. The charge of conspiracy to commit racketeering was created for gang crime, such as that committed by the Mafia, and was used in the trial against singer R. Kelly to expose a systematic structure of sexual abuse. The prosecution was unable to convince the jury that Combs had acted in concert with a network of insiders. – Bernama-dpa

According to media reports, after the verdict was announced, Combs clapped his hands, smiled, shook hands with one of his lawyers and quietly whispered his thanks to the jury. Doug Wigdor, lawyer for main witness Cassie Ventura, said his client had “exemplary courage throughout the trial”. The federal case was brought by the US district court for the Southern District of New York, considered one of the nation’s top federal

The 55-year-old faces up to 20 years’ jail but not life imprisonment, as he would have faced if he had been found guilty on all counts, the German Press Agency reported. The sentence for Combs, who has been in custody since September, will be announced at a later date. He was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.