08/08/2025

FRIDAY | AUG 8, 2025

8

ICE conducts raid despite court order

o For those who thought enforcement had stopped, think again: US Attorney

deport undocumented migrants. A three-judge panel last week denied a government appeal to overturn the order, after rights groups said the raids appeared to be arresting people largely based on race. The American Civil Liberties Union said “the evidence available so far” surrounding Wednesday’s raid “raises serious concerns that the federal government may be in violation” of the order. “Per that order, federal agents are prohibited from detaining people based solely on generalisations about how they look, how they speak or where they are,” said its attorney Mohammad Tajsar. – AFP

the footage of the raid. “Penske prohibits the transport of people in the cargo area of its vehicles under any circumstances. “The company was not made aware that its trucks would be used in today’s operation and did not authorise this. Penske will reach out to the Homeland Security Department and reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles.” Wednesday’s raid was one of the most high-profile operations in Los Angeles since a Federal Court in July ordered a halt to the “roving patrols” carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to

not negotiable and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.” Fox News said 16 people were taken into custody, with many placed in the rear of the same van. The outlet cited Homeland Security Department officials as saying the MS-13 gang has a “chokehold” on the area. A man who was there told the Los Angeles Times that the raid had unfolded before 7am (1400 GMT) when a truck that appeared to have been rented from vehicle company Penske pulled up in the parking lot. A Penske spokesperson said the company was taken by surprise by

LOS ANGELES: Immigration enforcement agents on Wednesday grabbed more than a dozen people outside a Los Angeles Home Depot in a “Trojan Horse” raid, despite a court ordering them to stop using roving patrols that rights groups say amount to racial profiling. The raid, in which agents sprang from the back of a rented moving truck, was filmed by embedded journalists from Fox News. Footage showed agents jumping

out of the truck and racing towards a group that appeared to be largely Latino. California US Border Patrol Commander of Operations Gregory Bovino re-tweeted the clip, adding the title “Operation Trojan Horse”. “For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again,” said acting US Attorney Bill Essayli after the raid. “The enforcement of federal law is

Sudan claims destruction of Emirati aircraft PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s Air Force has destroyed an Emirati aircraft carrying Colombian mercenaries as it landed at a paramilitary-controlled airport in Darfur, killing at least 40 people, the army-aligned state TV said on Wednesday. government is trying to find out how many Colombians died in the attack. “We will see if we can bring their bodies back,“ he wrote on X.

Third-hottest July in history recorded BRUSSELS: Last month was Earth’s third warmest July since records began and included a record national temperature in Turkiye of 50.5°C, scientists said yesterday. Last month continued a trend of extreme climate conditions that scientists attribute to man-made global warming, although there was a pause in record-breaking temperatures. According to the European Union Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the average global surface air temperature reached 16.68°C in July, which is 0.45°C above the 1991-2020 average for the month. “Two years after the hottest July on record, the recent streak of global temperature records is over for now. But this does not mean climate change has stopped. We continued to witness the effects of a warming world in events such as extreme heat and catastrophic floods in July,” said C3S director Carlo Buontempo. While not as hot as the record-setting July 2023 and second-warmest July 2024, Earth’s average surface temperature last month was 1.25°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period, when humans began burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale. Moreover, the 12-month period from August 2024 to July 2025 was 1.53°C warmer than pre-industrial levels, exceeding the 1.5°C threshold that was set as a maximum in the Paris Agreement that sought to curb global warming and entered into force in 2016. Last year was the world’s hottest year ever recorded. – Reuters UK airport runway temporarily closed LONDON: Britain’s Birmingham Airport confirmed on Wednesday that its runway has been temporarily closed following an aircraft incident. According to airport police, one person sustained minor injuries, reported Xinhua. The emergency involved a small aircraft that carried out an emergency landing at 1.40pm local time. Woodgate Aviation, owner of the plane, said one of its Beechcraft fixed-wing aircraft had developed landing gear problems on the journey from Birmingham to Belfast. “The aircraft returned to Birmingham and made an emergency landing, and the main undercarriage collapsed on touch down,“ the company said. The airport said passengers onsite would continue to receive updates while those scheduled to travel later in the day are advised to check the status of their flights before heading to the airport. – Bernama-Xinhua

Satellite images released by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab have shown Chinese-made long-range drones at the airport of the South Darfur state capital. In June, three witnesses told AFP that a cargo plane was bombed shortly after landing at Nyala Airport. On Monday, Sudan’s government accused the UAE of recruiting and funding Colombian mercenaries to fight for the RSF, claiming it has documents proving that. Reports of Colombian fighters in Darfur date back to late 2024 and have been confirmed by UN experts. Petro said he was moving to ban mercenary activity, calling it “a trade in men turned into commodities to kill”. – AFP

State TV said the aircraft had taken off from an airbase in the Gulf, carrying dozens of foreign fighters and military equipment intended for the RSF, which controls nearly all of Darfur. The army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has long accused the UAE of supplying advanced weaponry, including drones, to the RSF via Nyala Airport. Abu Dhabi has denied the accusations, despite numerous reports from United Nations (UN) experts, US political officials and international organisations.

A military source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the United Arab Emirates (UAE) plane “was bombed and destroyed” at Darfur’s Nyala Airport. The airport has recently come under repeated air strikes by the Sudanese army, at war with paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023. There was no immediate comment from the RSF or UAE. Colombian President Gustavo Petro said his

Officials said the blaze was the biggest wildfire in France since 1949. – REUTERSPIC

France battles wildfire for second day SAINT-LAURENT-DE-LA-CABRERISSE: French firefighters battled for a second day yesterday to contain its biggest wildfire in nearly eight decades, which has burned over 16,000ha and killed one person. of Aude in southern France. “As of now, the fire has not been brought under control,“ said Christophe Magny, one of the officials leading the firefighting operation.

this week and has swept through an area bigger than Paris. Officials have said it is France’s biggest wildfire since 1949. Scientists say the Mediterranean region’s hotter, drier summers put it at high risk of wildfires. – Reuters

The blaze near the border with Spain towards the Mediterranean Sea began earlier

Reuters TV images showed plumes of smoke rising over the forest area in the region