06/10/2025

MONDAY | OCT 6, 2025

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Trump sends troops to Chicago

overthrow the government as a whole”, Immergut wrote in granting a temporary restraining order. Protests in Portland did not pose a “danger of rebellion” and “regular law enforcement forces” could handle such incidents, Immergut said. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden lauded the order, saying: “The victory supports what Oregonians already know, we don’t need or want Donald Trump to provoke violence by deploying federal troops in our state.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller wrote on social media that the judge’s order was “legal insurrection” and accused local leaders in Oregon of

conducting an “organised terrorist attack on the federal government”. Earlier on Saturday, a federal officer in Chicago shot a motorist after law enforcement agents were “boxed in by 10 cars”, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said. “Agents were unable to move their vehicles and exited the car. “One of the drivers who rammed the law enforcement vehicle was armed with a semi-automatic weapon,” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Law enforcement was forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed US citizen,” she said. – AFP

“President Trump has authorised 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets” in Chicago, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement, after weeks of the Republican threats to send troops to the Midwestern city over the wishes of local leaders. “President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities,” said Jackson. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin called the move a “shameful chapter in our nation’s history”, adding that “the President is not intent on fighting crime. He is intent on spreading fear.” Chicago and Portland are the latest flashpoints in the Trump administration rollout of raids,

following the deployment of troops to Los Angeles and Washington. The raids have seen groups of masked, armed men in unmarked cars and armoured vehicles target residential neighbourhoods and businesses, sparking protests. Trump has repeatedly called Portland “war-ravaged” and riddled with violent crime, but in Saturday’s court order, US District Judge Karin Immergut wrote “the President’s determination was simply untethered to the facts”. Although the city has seen scattered attacks on federal officers and property, the Trump administration failed to demonstrate “that those episodes of violence were part of an organised attempt to

CHICAGO: Donald Trump authorised deployment of troops to Chicago after a federal agent shot an allegedly armed motorist on Saturday, while a judge blocked the Republican leader’s attempt to send the military into Portland. The escalating crisis across the country pits Trump’s increasingly militarised anti-crime and migration crackdown against Democrats who accuse him of an authoritarian power grab. o Judge blocks Portland deployment President

GROKIPEDIA SET FOR RELEASE IN 2 WEEKS MOSCOW: Elon Musk said yesterday that an early beta version of “Grokipedia”, an analogue to the Wikipedia online encyclopedia developed by his artificial intelligence company, xAI, will be released in two weeks. In late September, Musk announced that xAI would rewrite Wikipedia, taking into account media sources prohibited from citing it, and publish the results in the public domain. Musk said xAI would create what he called “Grokipedia”. “Version 0.1 early beta of Grokipedia will be published in two weeks,” he said on ɽ . – Bernama ‘SPECIAL ASSETS TARGETING SEOUL’ SEOUL: Kim Jong Un said North Korea deployed “special assets” in response to what he called Washington’s arms build-up in the South. “The US-ROK nuclear alliance is conducting exercises to execute dangerous scenarios,” Kim said in a speech marking the opening of a weapons exhibition in Pyongyang on Saturday. “In direct proportion to the buildup, we have assigned our special assets.” Photos released by Korea Central News Agency show Kim walking past weapons, including a missile, in an indoor exhibition centre. – AFP

BR I E F S

DIVINE DOTING ... Chile residents holding up their pets for blessing during a ceremony commemorating the Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals, in Valparaiso on Saturday. – REUTERSPIC Austrian children charity chief suspended

NZ cafe on filmmaker’s land to close SYDNEY: A popular New Zealand cafe said it will be forced to close next year after the property’s high-profile owner, Oscar-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson, ended its lease. “We don’t want to be forced to close. We don’t want to be shut down.” WingNut PM, the property arm of Jackson and Walsh’s WingNut Group, said there had been “occupancy discussions” with the cafe’s owners. The redevelopment plan is intended to “reinvigorate the city and provide a public amenity for all Wellingtonians”, the company said in a statement to the NZ Herald . Jackson, best known for directing the Lord of The Rings films, bought the historic Submarine Barracks property on the Wellington peninsula with partner Fran Walsh in 2023. The Chocolate Fish Cafe, which operates from the historic property, said it was informed this week that its landlords would end the lease in January, calling it a “devastating blow”. “Despite our requests, we haven’t yet been given the opportunity to speak with Peter and Fran, and we are asking for that chance,“ the cafe said. “To deliver on the vision, a complete refurbishment is necessary.” The renovations would make it impossible for the cafe to continue operations beyond January and its owners had been offered support so it could remain open into the summer period, the statement said. – AFP

VIENNA: The director of SOS Children’s Villages in Austria has been suspended following allegations of abuse at Austrian facilities of the international charity for orphaned and abandoned children, the supervisory board said on Saturday. Christian Moser has been relieved of all his duties pending the findings of an external audit. Separately, Austrian prosecutors said last week they had launched an investigation after reports of alleged child abuse at a care facility run by Austria-based SOS Children’s Villages, which has 572 branches in more than 130 countries. “The supervisory board believes

Since the Falter report, there have been similar allegations about the children’s villages in Imst in Tyrol and Seekirchen near Salzburg. Prosecutors in Klagenfurt, Innsbruck and Salzburg are now investigating. Moser has, as yet, not reacted publicly to his suspension. In 2022, SOS Children’s Villages said a major donor had been implicated in child sex abuse at one of its facilities in Asia. The previous year, the charity said it was investigating cases of violence, particularly sexual violence, and fraud committed from the 1990s in around 20 of its operations in Africa and Asia. – AFP

that child protection, transparency and dealing with the facts are an absolute priority,” said Irene Szimak, chairwoman of the supervisory board of SOS Children’s Villages Austria. The charity said on Sept 17 it was launching an external audit of its procedures after weekly magazine Falter published a report alleging children had been mistreated at its Moosburg facility in southwestern Austria between 2008 and 2020. Falter alleged that children and teenagers were beaten, locked up and photographed naked for years. The alleged abuse was never made public despite a detailed internal report in 2020.