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President Donald Trump announced Thursday he had given social media platform TikTok another 90 days to find a non-Chinese buyer or be banned in the United States.”I’ve just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025),” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, putting off the ban for the third time. A federal law requiring TikTok’s sale or ban on national security grounds was due to take effect the day before Trump’s January inauguration.The Republican, whose 2024 election campaign relied heavily on social media, has previously said he is fond of the video-sharing app.”I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” Trump said in an NBC News interview in early May. “If it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension.”TikTok on Thursday welcomed Trump’s decision.”We are grateful for President Trump’s leadership and support in ensuring that TikTok continues to be available for more than 170 million American users,” the platform said in a statement.- Digital Cold War? -Motivated by a belief in Washington that TikTok is controlled by the Chinese government, the ban took effect on January 19, one day before Trump’s inauguration, with ByteDance having made no attempt to find a suitor.TikTok “has become a symbol of the US-China tech rivalry; a flashpoint in the new Cold War for digital control,” said Shweta Singh, an assistant professor of information systems at Warwick Business School in Britain.Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, but reversed his position and vowed to defend the platform — which boasts almost two billion global users — after coming to believe it helped him win young voters’ support in the November election.The president announced an initial 75-day delay of the ban upon taking office. A second extension pushed the deadline to June 19. He said in May that a group of purchasers was ready to pay TikTok owner ByteDance “a lot of money” for the video-clip-sharing sensation’s US operations.Trump knows that TikTok is “wildly popular” in the United States, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday, when asked about the latest extension. “He also wants to protect Americans’ data and privacy concerns on this app, and he believes we can do both things at the same time.” The president is “just not motivated to do anything about TikTok,” said independent analyst Rob Enderle. “Unless they get on his bad side, TikTok is probably going to be in pretty good shape.”- Tariff turmoil -Trump said in April that China would have agreed to a deal on the sale of TikTok if it were not for a dispute over his tariffs on Beijing.ByteDance has confirmed talks with the US government, saying key matters needed to be resolved and that any deal would be “subject to approval under Chinese law.”Possible solutions reportedly include seeing existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company.Additional US investors, including Oracle and private equity firm Blackstone, would be brought on to reduce ByteDance’s share in the new TikTok.Much of TikTok’s US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company’s chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally.Uncertainty remains, particularly over what would happen to TikTok’s valuable algorithm.”TikTok without its algorithm is like Harry Potter without his wand — it’s simply not as powerful,” said Kelsey Chickering, principal analyst at Forrester.Despite the turmoil, TikTok has been continuing with business as usual.The platform on Monday introduced a new “Symphony” suite of generative artificial intelligence tools for advertisers to turn words or photos into video snippets for the platform.

Federal immigration agents were barred from entering the Los Angeles Dodgers’ home stadium on Thursday after requesting access to the Major League Baseball team’s grounds, the team confirmed.US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrived at Dodger Stadium and “requested permission to access the parking lots,” the Dodgers said in a statement.”They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization,” the statement said, adding that the team’s game later Thursday would go ahead as scheduled.Images and video shared on social media showed a line of unmarked trucks and masked ICE agents at one Dodger Stadium entrance while protesters nearby chanted “ICE out of LA.”The incident comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions in Los Angeles, which has become ground zero of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown across the US.The city has seen scattered violence but mostly peaceful protests in recent weeks ignited by an escalation in federal immigration sweeps that have targeted migrant workers in garment factories, car washes and other workplaces.In addition to mobilization of ICE agents, Trump ordered the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines into the city in response to the protests — a move opposed by city leaders and California Governor Gavin Newsom.The incident at Dodger Stadium on Thursday comes as the reigning World Series champions have faced criticism for their response to the immigration crackdown.The team has a heavily Latino fan base, with some claiming a sense of betrayal over the franchise’s failure to speak out against the ongoing raids.As of early Thursday, the Dodgers have made no formal statement in regard to the immigration raids across the city.- ‘100 percent betrayal’ -The team’s failure to condemn the immigration offensive came under scrutiny last weekend, when Latin American pop singer Nezza defied Dodgers officials and sang the US national anthem in Spanish before the team’s home game.”I felt it was my duty to represent my people,” Nezza said after the incident. “I will regret it for the rest of my life I don’t stand by my people today.”Speaking outside Dodger Stadium on Thursday after ICE agents had left the venue, one 27-year-old fan among a small group of protesters told AFP she felt let down by the team.”They’ve been very quiet since these ICE raids started, and I think it’s very hypocritical of them not to say anything when the majority of their fan base is the Latino population here in Los Angeles,” Paola, who asked only to be identified by her first name, told AFP.”It 100 percent feels like betrayal. I was born and raised here, I’ve supported them my whole life — for them not to come out and support us during these times is messed up.”Los Angeles Times sports columnist Dylan Hernandez has slammed the team’s response to the immigration crackdown.”The Dodgers boast that more than 40 percent of their fan base is Latino, but they can’t even be bothered to offer the shaken community any words of comfort,” Hernandez wrote. “How ungrateful. How disrespectful. How cowardly.”While the Dodgers have remained silent, the team’s popular outfielder Enrique Hernandez lashed out against the raids in a statement on Instagram.”I am saddened and infuriated by what’s happening in our country and our city,” wrote Hernandez, who is from Puerto Rico.”This is my second home. And I cannot stand to see our community being violated, profiled, abused and ripped apart. ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights.” 

Dozens of US military aircraft are no longer on the tarmac at a major US base in Qatar, satellite images show — a possible move to shield them from eventual Iranian air strikes, as Washington weighs whether to intervene in Tehran’s conflict with Israel.Between June 5 and 19, nearly all of the aircraft visible at the Al Udeid base are no longer anywhere in plain sight, according to images published by Planet Labs PBC and analyzed by AFP.Nearly 40 military aircraft — including transport planes like the Hercules C-130 and reconnaissance aircraft — were parked on the tarmac on June 5. In an image taken on June 19, only three aircraft are visible.The US embassy in Qatar announced Thursday that access to the base would be limited “out of an abundance of caution and in light of ongoing regional hostilities,” and urged personnel to “exercise increased vigilance.”The White House says US President Donald Trump will decide sometime in the next two weeks whether to join ally Israel’s strikes on Iran. The Islamic republic could then respond by striking US bases in the region.Mark Schwartz, a former lieutenant general in the US Army and a defense researcher at the Rand Corporation, said the personnel, aircraft and installations at Al Udeid would be “extremely vulnerable” given its “close proximity” to Iran.Schwartz, who served in the Middle East, told AFP that even shrapnel could render the aircraft “non-mission capable.””You want to reduce risk to US forces, both personnel and equipment,” he said.The planes that have left the tarmac since early June could have been moved to hangars or to other bases in the region. The US military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.US forces in the Middle East have been mobilized since Israel’s first strikes on Iran nearly a week ago, with an additional aircraft carrier en route and significant aircraft movement.An AFP analysis of open source data tracking aircraft positioning showed that at least 27 military refueling planes — KC-46A Pegasus and KC-135 Stratotanker planes — traveled from the United States to Europe from June 15-18.Twenty-five of them were still in Europe as of late Wednesday, with only two returning to American soil, the data showed.

A SpaceX Starship rocket exploded during a routine ground test in Texas late Wednesday, the company said, in the latest setback to billionaire Elon Musk’s dream of sending humans to Mars.The explosion — which sent a towering fireball into the air — happened at the Starbase launch facility at about 11:00 pm (0400 GMT Thursday), SpaceX and law enforcement officials said.As the company prepared for a static fire test, “a sudden energetic event resulted in the complete loss of Starship and damage to the immediate area surrounding the stand,” it said Thursday, updating its initial statement.”The explosion ignited several fires at the test site which remains clear of personnel,” it said.”As is the case before any test, a safety zone was established around the test site and was maintained throughout the operation. There are no reported injuries, and all personnel are safe and accounted for.”During a static fire test, part of the procedures preceding a launch, the Starship’s first-stage Super Heavy booster would be anchored to the ground to prevent it from lifting off during the test-firing.Starbase, on the south Texas coast near the border with Mexico, is the headquarters for Musk’s space project. The company was preparing for the 10th test flight of Starship.”Initial analysis indicates the potential failure of a pressurized tank known as a COPV, or composite overwrapped pressure vessel, containing gaseous nitrogen in Starship’s nosecone area, but the full data review is ongoing,” SpaceX said.Musk appeared to downplay the incident on Thursday.”Just a scratch,” he posted on his social media platform X.- Mega-rocket -Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall, Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket and is central to Musk’s long-term vision of building a long-term colony on Mars.The Starship is billed as a fully reusable rocket with a payload capacity of up to 150 metric tons.The latest setback follows the explosion of a prototype Starship over the Indian Ocean in late May.That day, the biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built had lifted off from the Starbase facility, but the Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.The previous two outings also ended poorly, with the upper stage disintegrating over the Caribbean.However, the failures will likely do little to dent Musk’s spacefaring ambitions.SpaceX has been betting that its “fail fast, learn fast” ethos, which has helped it dominate commercial spaceflight, will eventually pay off.The company has caught the Super Heavy booster in the launch tower’s giant robotic arms three times — a daring engineering feat it sees as key to rapid reusability and slashing costs.NASA is also increasingly reliant on SpaceX, whose Dragon spacecraft is vital for ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.SpaceX said Thursday that there are “no commonalities” between the COPVs used on Starship — the current focus on the investigation — and those used on Falcon.The Federal Aviation Administration approved an increase in annual Starship rocket launches from five to 25 in early May, stating that the increased frequency would not adversely affect the environment.The decision overruled objections from conservation groups that had warned the expansion could endanger sea turtles and shorebirds.burs-abs/sst/sla

Southern Mexico started a major cleanup Thursday in the aftermath of Hurricane Erick, which slammed into its Pacific coast as a powerful Category 3 storm, then weakened as it headed inland.In the tourist town of Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca state, residents and emergency personnel worked to drain flooded streets and clear debris left behind as the storm knocked over trees and street signs and buried boats under sand on the beach.There and elsewhere in the storm zone, no deaths or injuries were reported.Much of the town of about 30,000 people was left without electricity or cellphone coverage.The water “had never hit with this magnitude” in Puerto Escondido, 44-year-old merchant Luis Alberto Gil, whose shop was among those flooded, told AFP.The government deployed hundreds of troops and electricity workers for the cleanup operation.The storm later weakened to a Category 1 but the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that flooding rains and hurricane-force winds would persist as Erick heads north.Maximum sustained winds in Oaxaca reached 125 miles (205 kilometers) per hour in the early hours before slowing to 85 mph (140 kmh).An alert remained in place for life-threatening flooding and mudslides in the southern states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, with wind gusts continuing for several hours, and a “dangerous, life-threatening storm surge” expected to produce coastal flooding and large, destructive waves, the NHC said.Oaxaca and Guerrero shuttered schools, air terminals and ports — including at Acapulco, and suspended non-essential activities.Rains also affected the states of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco. “Continued rapid weakening is forecast, and Erick will likely dissipate tonight,” according to the latest NHC advisory issued at 1400 GMT.Mexico’s civil protection agency said in a statement that as of lunchtime Thursday, there had been some material damage reported but no known fatalities.A full assessment will be conducted once conditions allow for access to affected areas.- Memories of Otis – Mexico sees major storms every year, usually between May and November, on both its Pacific and Caribbean coasts.In October 2023, Acapulco was pummeled by Hurricane Otis, a powerful Category 5 storm that killed dozens of people.Hurricane John, another Category 3 storm that hit  in September last year, caused about 15 deaths.President Claudia Sheinbaum had urged people to avoid going out and advised those living in low-lying areas or near rivers to move to shelters — some 2,000 of which had been set up in Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca in anticipation.”Since (Erick) just made landfall, we are in contact with the Defense (department) and the Navy, who are in the area, and we will be able to inform in a few hours what the effects are on these populations,” she said at her daily press conference Thursday morning.In Puerto Escondido, restaurants remained shuttered even though some tourists insisted on staying and riding out the storm.Some 250 miles (400 kilometers) north along the Pacific coast, Acapulco — a major port and resort city famous for its nightlife — was largely deserted Thursday as residents heeded calls to hunker down, with shops boarded up and tourist boats grounded.Many had stocked up the day before on food, water and gasoline.

New York’s Pride parade, the highest-profile annual US LGBTQ gathering, is ramping up efforts to raise funds from individual community members, with corporate donations on the wane as Washington demonizes diversity.Following President Donald Trump’s attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion policies in both government and the private sector, several companies have cancelled or curtailed their sponsorships of Pride parades this year.NYC Pride’s spokesman Kevin Kilbride said “just about 80 percent of the fundraising goal” for the city’s largest Pride parade group had been met.The parade itself will be held on June 29 and, according to organizers, could draw as many as two million attendees.”That gap we’re trying to fill with a community fundraising campaign. So in the middle of May, we launched a peer-to-peer campaign so folks can start their own fundraiser online, share it with their friends, and then have folks donate to that,” he said. The group was “wanting to lean a little bit more into individual giving and support from the community,” he said.The organization behind the annual parade as well as several other community projects said it raised “nearly $25,000 from almost 200 donors” in a matter of days.In years past, flamboyant floats sponsored by large corporations have paraded down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue alongside those organized by community groups.And while many will still participate, some have quietly cut back their commitments.Muneer Panjwani, who runs Engage for Good, said “there’s been a massive pullback over the last year, specifically in corporations that have long supported Pride events that have decided not to support anyone.”Panjwani’s organization connects companies to non-profits, and reports on the sums raised from “checkout giving” — where consumers are given the option of donating while paying for goods in a store.”While companies are pulling away their philanthropic dollars at the top level, from the bottom up, consumers are saying, ‘we still care about this issue,'” he said. – ‘People demanding their rights’ -One of the most prominent brands that reportedly stepped back from its previously high-profile involvement with Pride was discount department store Target.For a time, Target was reportedly asking to forego publicity and donate to New York Pride silently. Though Pride organizers said Target would have a float at the parade, the company subsequently told AFP this was not the case.The retailer has come under fire and seen its share price dip after a boycott was organized online in response to it curtailing diversity programs, citing “the evolving external landscape.””We will continue to mark Pride Month… (by) sponsoring local events in neighborhoods across the country,” a Target spokesman told AFP.At Brooklyn’s annual Pride parade, progressive Democratic city councilman Chi Osse told AFP that “Pride started grassroots through community, and corporations bowing the knee at a president who thinks he’s a king just shows us who they are to us.”Brooklyn’s Pride event is a smaller affair and has long been seen as a more radical gathering than its Manhattan sibling — albeit with a handful of its own corporate participants.One of those leading the twilight parade’s Sirens Women’s Motorcycle Club contingent, Anya Glowa-Kollisch, said “it’s great when companies are willing to say that they support equal rights.””But I think at the end of the day, it’s a movement that’s driven by people demanding their rights, and a lot of corporations just kind of do this because they think they should,” they said. “So it’s really valuable to have people in the community coming out and showing that this is who we are.”

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he will decide whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran within the next two weeks as there is still a “substantial” chance of talks to end the conflict.Trump’s move to hit the pause button could open up space for diplomacy, after days of fevered questions about whether or not he would order US military action against Tehran.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read out a message from Trump after what she called “a lot of speculation” about whether the United States would be “directly involved” in the conflict.”Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Trump said in the statement.Trump has set two-week deadlines that subsequently shifted on a series of other tough topics in the past, including the Russia-Ukraine war — but Leavitt denied he was putting off a decision.”If there’s a chance for diplomacy the president’s always going to grab it, but he’s not afraid to use strength as well,” Leavitt said. At the same time Leavitt reinforced the sense of urgency, telling reporters that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in the space of a “couple of weeks.””Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. All they need is a decision from the supreme leader to do that, and it would take a couple of weeks to complete the production of that weapon,” she said.Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, saying that its program is for peaceful purposes.- ‘Trust in President Trump’ -Trump said on Wednesday that Iran had asked to send officials to the White House to negotiate a deal on its nuclear program and end the conflict with Israel — although Iran denied making any such request.Washington and Tehran had continued “correspondence” since Israel first struck Iran last week, Leavitt said.She said however that there were currently no plans for Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff to join European diplomats meeting Iran’s foreign minister in Geneva on Friday.Trump met his top national security team in the White House Situation Room for the third day in a row on Thursday. He will have similar meetings daily until he leaves for a NATO summit in the Netherlands on Monday, the White House said.His two-week deadline comes after a tense few days in which Trump publicly mulled joining Israel’s strikes on Iran and said that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was an “easy target.”Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path towards a deal to replace the nuclear deal with Iran that he tore up in his first term in 2018.But he has since backed Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and military top brass, while mulling whether to join in.A key issue is that the United States is the only country with the huge “bunker buster” bombs that could destroy Iran’s crucial Fordo Iranian nuclear enrichment plant.”We have capabilities that no other country on this planet possesses,” said Leavitt.The White House meanwhile urged Trump supporters to “trust” the president as he decides whether to act.A number of key figures in his “Make America Great Again” movement, including commentator Tucker Carlson and former aide Steve Bannon, have vocally opposed US strikes on Iran.Trump’s promise to extract the United States from its “forever wars” in the Middle East played a role in his 2016 and 2024 election wins.”Trust in President Trump. President Trump has incredible instincts,” Leavitt said.

Governments around the world are evacuating thousands of their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling Israel-Iran conflict, organising buses and planes and in some cases assisting people crossing borders on foot.Foreigners have rushed to leave both countries after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign on Friday targeting Iran’s nuclear and military facilities, sparking retaliation from Tehran.With Israel’s air space closed and the two countries exchanging heavy missile fire, many people are being evacuated via neighbouring countries.- Europe -European countries have already repatriated hundreds of their citizens from Israel.The Czech Republic and Slovakia repatriated 181 people, who were bussed to a neighbouring country and crossed the border on foot, the Czech defence ministry said.Germany scheduled flights for Wednesday and Thursday via Jordan, while Poland said the first of its citizens would also arrive back on Wednesday.Italian nationals were being offered a charter flight on Sunday from Israel to Egypt and then Italy, with non-refundable reservations set at 500 euros ($575) per adult.Greece said it had repatriated 105 citizens plus a number of foreign nationals via Egypt, while a private plane with 148 people landed in the Bulgarian capital Sofia on Tuesday.Hungary evacuated 21 citizens from Iran via Azerbaijan, mainly diplomats and their families, officials said.Bulgaria repatriated 17, and Slovenia two diplomats and their families.- United States -The US ambassador to Israel announced plans on Wednesday for evacuating Americans by air and sea.The embassy was working on evacuation flights and cruise ship departures for “American citizens wanting to leave Israel,” Ambassador Mike Huckabee posted on social media.- China -China has evacuated more than 1,600 citizens from Iran and several hundred more from Israel. Its foreign ministry said on Thursday those efforts would continue.- Australia -Australia has started evacuating around 1,500 citizens from Iran and more than 1,200 from Israel, although missile barrages have made it too risky for civilian aircraft, its foreign minister said.”We have taken the opportunity to get a small group of Australians out of Israel through a land border crossing,” said Foreign Minister Penny Wong.- Mexico -Mexico said it had evacuated 18 people from Iran to Azerbaijan, both Mexican nationals and family members.- Pakistan -Pakistan has shut its border crossings with neighbouring Iran, except to Pakistanis wanting to return home.Around 3,000 Pakistanis have crossed the border from Iran since the conflict started, foreign ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said on Thursday.The families of diplomats and some non-essential staff from Iran have also been evacuated.- India -Around 110 students who fled Iran over the land border with Armenia have landed in New Delhi, an Indian foreign ministry spokesperson said Thursday. There are around 10,000 Indian citizens in Iran.New Delhi also said it planned to evacuate all Indian nationals in Israel who wish to leave. There are around 30,000.- Japan -Japan has ordered military planes to be on standby for around 1,000 Japanese nationals believed to live in Israel, and around 280 in Iran, according to government ministers.- Indonesia -Indonesia is preparing to evacuate around 380 of its citizens currently in Iran by land, Jakarta’s foreign minister said Thursday.At least 11 Indonesians in Israel have also asked to leave.- Vietnam -Vietnam, which has more than 700 citizens in Israel and dozens in Iran, said it was working to ensure their safety.The foreign ministry said on Thursday that 18 Vietnamese from Iran were evacuated, 16 of whom returned to Vietnam. It did not provide further information on evacuations from Israel.- Philippines -The Philippines is preparing to repatriate 28 Israel-based Filipino workers out of 178 who asked for help, the Department of Migrant Workers said on Thursday.At least 21 Philippine government officials have also crossed into Jordan by land from Israel, the foreign ministry said.

President Donald Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” defence system is a plan that will face mammoth technical and financial hurdles, and could increase global insecurity, experts say.Trump announced plans for the space-based system last month, saying it would eventually cost around $175 billion and would be operational by the end of his term in 2029.The planned defence shield’s name is a nod to Israel’s Iron Dome that has intercepted thousands of short-range rockets since 2011.But the US defence system would intercept much bigger intercontinental threats.The plan comes after a 2022 Department of defence study pointed to advances by China and Russia.Beijing is closing the gap with Washington when it comes to ballistic and hypersonic missile technology, while Moscow is modernising its intercontinental-range missile systems and developing advanced precision strike missiles, it said.Trump has claimed the “Golden Dome” will be “capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world”.But analysts are sceptical.”I’m not holding my breath,” said Thomas Withington, an associate fellow at the RUSI defence think tank.”The challenges are so significant at this stage that they may simply be unrealistic to surround in the timeframes that the Trump administration envisages.”- ‘Poster child for waste’ -Thomas Roberts, of the Georgia Institute of Technology, said the “Golden Dome” plan was based on being able to detect when a long-range missile was fired.A missile’s so-called “boost phase” — which produces a heat blast that lasts one to two minutes and can be observed from space — is the best time to deploy defences, he said.”If you had an enormous constellation of interceptors in orbit at all times, they could be readily de-orbited — or systematically removed from orbit — to strike an intercontinental ballistic missile,” he said.But Todd Harrison, from the American Enterprise Institute, said this would require a massive number of satellites.”It takes about 950 interceptors spread out in orbit around the Earth to ensure that at least one is always in range to intercept a missile during its boost phase,” he said.But that means that if an adversary launches a salvo of ten missiles, some 9,500 interceptors would be needed to ensure at least ten are within range.”Given that China has about 350 intercontinental ballistic missiles and Russia has 306 — not including their sub-launched ballistic missiles — scaling a space-based interceptor system to meet the threat quickly becomes impractical.”The non-partisan US Congressional Budget Office estimates that, just to stop “one or two intercontinental ballistic missiles”, the United States would need a constellation of satellites costing between $161 billion to $542 billion.The US military could spend billions of dollars on research only for the next administration to nix the project, Harrison warned.”Golden Dome could become the poster child for waste and inefficiency in defence,” he said.The plan also calls for developing satellites able to fire lasers at missiles to avoid too much debris on impact.But a European defence contractor said on condition of anonymity that such lasers are “still beyond what even the Americans are capable of doing”.”It’s just an excellent way to give the US (defence) industry substantial funding so they can increase their technological lead without necessarily aiming for actual operational deployment,” the contractor said.- ‘Global arms race’? -Trump’s plan is reminiscent of President Ronald Reagan ambition for a Strategic Defense Initiative in the 1980s, which also sought to place interceptor satellites in space.China and Russia, which both have nuclear weapons, have slammed the latest plan as “deeply destabilising”.Nuclear-armed North Korea has called the plan a “very dangerous” threat.Julia Cournoyer, research associate at Chatham House, said the plan was risky as adversaries would likely see it “as an attempt to undermine the logic of nuclear deterrence”.”If Washington is perceived to be developing a shield that could one day neutralise a retaliatory nuclear strike, it risks triggering a dangerous global arms race,” which would exacerbate rather than reduce risk.Withington said Trump might be hoping to use the plan as leverage for talks with China and Russia.”It may be that the Trump administration is hoping that this would bring both countries to some kind of negotiating table to talk about a reduction of nuclear warhead sizes or to revitalise the arms control agenda,” he said.

Hurricane Erick slammed into Mexico’s Pacific coast as a powerful category three storm Thursday, prompting tourists and locals to seek shelter amid warnings of widespread flooding and landslides.In the southern state of Oaxaca, residents along the palm-fringed coast boarded up shops and sought refuge from winds of up to 205 kilometers (125 miles) an hour.”Better to make sure now rather than have any regrets later,” said 55-year-old fishman Adalberto Ruiz, as he tied up boats inland and stashed away loose items before the coming storm.The slow-rolling hurricane is expected to weaken significantly as it moves over land, but authorities are warning it could still cause significant damage.Heavy rainfall could cause “life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain”  the US National Hurricane Center said.A “life-threatening storm surge” was expected to cause coastal flooding near where the storm made landfall. “Erick is expected to rapidly weaken over the mountains of Mexico, and the system is likely to dissipate tonight or early Friday,” the center’s advisory added.Mexican authorities said they were also expecting heavy rain in the southernmost state of Chiapas.President Claudia Sheinbaum urged people to avoid going out and advised those living in low-lying areas or near rivers to move to shelters.”Contact is being maintained with the defense forces and the Navy, which are in the area” she said. “We will be able to report in a few hours what the effects on these populations are.”In Acapulco, a major port and resort city famous for its nightlife, police with bullhorns walked the beach and drove around town warning residents and holidaymakers of the storm’s arrival.Some shops boarded up their windows and operators of tourist boats brought their vessels ashore.Rainfall began in the late afternoon after a sunny day on Wednesday. About 250 miles (400 kilometers) south of Acapulco, the city of Puerto Escondido and its 30,000 inhabitants braced for the hurricane’s fury. Restaurants were already closed even though some tourists insisted on staying to enjoy their vacation, an AFP journalist observed.Laura Velazquez, national coordinator of civil protection, said the government was using patrols and social media to warn people.Some 2,000 temporary shelters have been set up in Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca, and hundreds of troops and electricity workers have been deployed to help with any clean-up efforts.Local authorities have suspended classes and closed ports along the coast, including the port of Acapulco, to shipping.Mexico sees major storms every year, usually between May and November, on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts.In October 2023, Acapulco was pummeled by Hurricane Otis, a powerful Category 5 storm that killed at least 50 people.Hurricane John, another Category 3 storm that hit Acapulco in September last year, caused about 15 deaths.