LA stars speak out against Trump’s increasingly ruthless migrant crackdown

LA stars speak out against Trump’s increasingly ruthless migrant crackdown
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A law enforcement officer shoots non-lethal weapon at a protester during a demonstration against federal immigration sweeps on June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
LA stars speak out against Trump’s increasingly ruthless migrant crackdown
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A law enforcement officer shoots non-lethal weapon at a protester during a demonstration against federal immigration sweeps on June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 12 June 2025
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LA stars speak out against Trump’s increasingly ruthless migrant crackdown

LA stars speak out against Trump’s increasingly ruthless migrant crackdown
  • Celebrities hit disconnect between Trump’s claims about arresting dangerous criminals and raids that appear to be targeting day laborers and factory workers
  • “There are ruthless attacks that are creating fear and chaos in our communities in the name of law and order," says singer Doechii

LOS ANGELES: As President Donald Trump’s military-backed crackdown on immigrants continues in Los Angeles and across the US, celebrities are speaking out against the tactics and what they say are the intolerant views driving them.
Some pointed to the gulf between Trump’s apocalyptic descriptions of a city in flames and the reality of a vast and diverse metropolis where largely peaceful protests are limited to a small part of downtown.
Here’s what the glitterati had to say:

Many celebrities touched on the disconnect between Trump’s claims about arresting dangerous criminals and raids that appear to be targeting day laborers and factory workers.
“When we’re told that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) exists to keep our country safe and remove violent criminals — great,” LA native and reality star Kim Kardashian wrote on social media.
“But when we witness innocent, hardworking people being ripped from their families in inhumane ways, we have to speak up.”
The billionaire behind Skims underwear added: “Growing up in LA, I’ve seen how deeply immigrants are woven into the fabric of this city. They are our neighbors, friends, classmates, coworkers and family.
“No matter where you fall politically, it’s clear that our communities thrive because of the contributions of immigrants.”
Singer Doechii echoed that sentiment in her acceptance speech for best female hip hop artist at the BET Awards on Sunday.
“There are ruthless attacks that are creating fear and chaos in our communities in the name of law and order. Trump is using military forces to stop a protest,” the “Anxiety” singer said. “We all deserve to live in hope and not fear”

Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel gave a blistering 12-minute monologue from his studio in the heart of Hollywood, opening with footage of tourists enjoying the nearby attractions and a movie premiere.
“Not only is it not an apocalypse, they’re having a Disney/Pixar movie premiere right now for ‘Elio’, a movie about aliens — don’t tell Trump, he’ll send the Green Berets in, too,” the comedian said.
There is something wrong, he said, with innocent people “being abducted — which is the correct word to use — by agents in masks, hiding their identities, grabbing people off the streets.”

Grammy- and Oscar-winning musician and producer Finneas, famous for collaborations with sister Billie Eilish and for work on the “Barbie” movie soundtrack, reported being caught up in a heavy-handed police response at a protest.
“Tear-gassed almost immediately at the very peaceful protest downtown — they’re inciting this,” the LA native wrote on Instagram.
“Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria, called the raids “un-American.”
“It’s just so inhumane, hard to watch, it’s hard, it’s hard to witness from afar, I can’t imagine what it’s like to be in Los Angeles right now,” she wrote on Instagram.
Longoria added that the protests were a result of “the lack of due process for law-abiding, tax-paying immigrants who have been a part of our community for a very long time.”
 


India marks inclusion of 12 Maratha forts on UNESCO World Heritage List

Visitors walk along the ruins of the Lohagad hill fort, near Lonavla in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. (File/AFP)
Visitors walk along the ruins of the Lohagad hill fort, near Lonavla in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. (File/AFP)
Updated 11 sec ago
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India marks inclusion of 12 Maratha forts on UNESCO World Heritage List

Visitors walk along the ruins of the Lohagad hill fort, near Lonavla in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. (File/AFP)
  • Forts were once used by the Maratha Empire between the 17th and 19th centuries
  • India now ranks 6th globally and 2nd in Asia for the number of World Heritage Sites

NEW DELHI: India’s Maratha Military Landscapes — a network of 12 strategic forts — have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, becoming the country’s 44th site to receive the designation.

The forts were used by the rulers of the Maratha Empire, who held power across parts of central, western and southern India between the late 17th century and the early 19th century.

Marathas rose to prominence after the decline of the Mughal Empire, following the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, the last powerful Mughal ruler, who alone had controlled much of India for nearly 50 years.

The proposal to include the Maratha forts on the UNESCO list was submitted by India to the World Heritage Committee in January 2024.

The inscription, which took place during the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris on Friday, marked “a significant milestone in the global acknowledgment of India’s rich and diverse cultural heritage,” the Ministry of Culture said in a statement.

The Maratha Military Landscapes of India were nominated under the criteria in recognition of “their exceptional testimony to a living cultural tradition, their architectural and technological significance, and their deep associations with historic events and traditions.”

The fortification network covers 11 forts in the state of Maharashtra — Salher, Shivneri, Lohagad, Khanderi, Raigad, Rajgad, Pratapgad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala, Vijaydurg, and Sindhudurg — and one, Gingee Fort, in Tamil Nadu.

With the newest addition, India now ranks sixth globally and second in the Asia-Pacific region for the number of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

“The fact that UNESCO selected 12 forts from the Maratha dynasty as World Heritage Sites is a matter of great pride for the history of the Marathas, Maharashtra and India,” Prof. Santosh Mahadevrao Ghuge, who heads the Department of History at the Fergusson College in Pune, one of the main cities of Maharashtra, told Arab News.

“The war strategy of the Marathas has unique significance in Indian and world history, and forts have an important place in this war strategy. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Maratha military prowess and the use of forts in warfare enabled the Marathas to defeat the powerful Mughals.”


New Gaza-bound aid boat leaves Italy

New Gaza-bound aid boat leaves Italy
Updated 2 min 15 sec ago
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New Gaza-bound aid boat leaves Italy

New Gaza-bound aid boat leaves Italy
  • The Handala, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left the port of Syracuse shortly after 12:00 p.m.
  • The former Norwegian trawler will sail for about a week in the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching Gaza’s coast
SYRACUSE, Italy: A Gaza-bound boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid left Sicily on Sunday, over a month after Israel detained and deported people aboard a previous vessel.
The Handala, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left the port of Syracuse shortly after 12:00 p.m. (1000 GMT), an AFP journalist saw, carrying about fifteen activists.
Several dozen people, some holding Palestinian flags and others wearing keffiyeh scarves, gathered at the port to cheer the boat’s departure with cries of “Free Palestine.”
The former Norwegian trawler – loaded with medical supplies, food, children’s equipment and medicine – will sail for about a week in the Mediterranean, covering roughly 1,800 kilometers, in the hope of reaching Gaza’s coast.
In early March, Israel imposed a total aid blockade on Gaza amid an impasse in truce negotiations, only partially easing restrictions in late May.
The boat will make a stop at Gallipoli, in southeastern Italy, where two members of the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI) are expected to join.
The initiative comes six weeks after the departure of the Madleen, another ship that left Italy for Gaza transporting aid and activists, including Greta Thunberg.
Israel authorities intercepted the Madleen about 185 kilometers west of Gaza’s coast.
“This is a mission for the children in Gaza, to break the humanitarian blockade and to break the summer silence on the genocide,” said Gabrielle Cathala, one of the two France Unbowed party members set to board the boat on July 18.
“I hope we will reach Gaza but if not, it will be yet another violation of international law” by Israel, she added.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that led to 1,219 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 that the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry says that at least 57,882 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military reprisals. The UN considers the figures reliable.

Malaysia ex-PM Mahathir, 100, discharged from hospital

Malaysia ex-PM Mahathir, 100, discharged from hospital
Updated 43 min 44 sec ago
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Malaysia ex-PM Mahathir, 100, discharged from hospital

Malaysia ex-PM Mahathir, 100, discharged from hospital
  • Mahathir Mohamad was leader of the Southeast Asian nation for more than two decades
  • He has been hospitalized repeatedly in recent years, most recently in October for a respiratory infection

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has been discharged from hospital, his office said on Sunday, after being admitted for fatigue following a picnic celebration for his 100th birthday.

Mahathir, leader of the Southeast Asian nation for more than two decades, has a history of heart problems and has undergone bypass surgeries. He has been hospitalized repeatedly in recent years, most recently in October for a respiratory infection.

He was under observation at the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur for fatigue-related issues on Sunday, his office said. “Mahathir has been allowed home as of 4:45 p.m. (0845 GMT),” it said in a statement.

A physician who was a member of parliament until 2022, Mahathir drove himself on Sunday to the celebration, which also marked the 99th birthday of his wife, Hasmah Mohd Ali, a day earlier, local media reported.

The reports said he cycled for an hour before appearing tired. His birthday was on Thursday.

Mahathir was prime minister for 22 years until 2003. He returned as premier in 2018 after leading the opposition coalition to a historic win, but his government collapsed in less than two years due to infighting.


Several hurt in anti-migrant unrest in Spanish town

Several hurt in anti-migrant unrest in Spanish town
Updated 13 July 2025
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Several hurt in anti-migrant unrest in Spanish town

Several hurt in anti-migrant unrest in Spanish town
  • The regional government did not say how many people were injured but stated that at least one person had been arrested for the violence.

MADRID: Several people were hurt in a second night of anti-migrant unrest in the Spanish town of Torre Pacheco after a pensioner was beaten up, authorities said on Sunday.
Despite a major police presence, groups armed with batons roamed the streets looking for foreign-origin people, regional newspaper La Opinion de Murcia reported.
The regional government did not say how many people were injured but stated that at least one person had been arrested for the violence.
The unrest erupted after a 68-year-old man told Spanish media he was beaten up in the street on Wednesday by three youths of North African origin.
The attack was filmed and put on social media.
The town hall organized a demonstration on Friday that was intended to be peaceful but where far-right elements shouted anti-migrant slogans.
One group, named “Deport Them Now,” posted a message on social media calling for attacks against people of North African origin.
Spanish authorities launched an appeal for calm on Sunday in the town of 36,000 people.
“Torre Pacheco must get back to normal,” said the head of the Murcian regional government Fernando Lopez Miras in a message on X.
“I understand the frustration but nothing justifies violence,” added the conservative politician.
“I call on residents to be calm, for tranquility,” said Torre Pacheco mayor, Pedro Angel Roca Ternel, on RTVE public television.
Spain’s Youth Minister Sira Rego, a member of the extreme left wing party Sumar, condemned the violence against migrants in a message on Bluesky, blaming the role of the “ultra-right” in the unrest.


Russia takes new village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

Russia takes new village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
Updated 13 July 2025
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Russia takes new village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

Russia takes new village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
  • Russian troops advance toward the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region
  • Russia’s defense ministry say troops had captured the village of Myrne

MOSCOW: Russia said on Sunday it took another village in the west of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, as its troops advance toward the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region.

Moscow’s offensive on Ukraine has lasted for more than three years, with attacks intensifying this summer and US-led negotiations so far yielding no results to end the fighting.

Russia’s defense ministry said Russian troops had captured the village of Myrne, calling the village by its Soviet name “Karl Marx.”

It lies close to the administrative border between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

The ministry claimed forces had moved “deep into the enemy’s defense” to take the village.

Myrne was one of two villages Moscow claimed on Sunday.

Russia has for months refused a ceasefire proposed by the United States and Kyiv.

Moscow launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.