AFP USA

Hundreds of migrants in the United States were arrested Thursday and others flown out of the country on military aircraft as the White House said President Donald Trump’s promised deportation operation had started.The crackdown came as Trump prepared to head on Friday to California and North Carolina, where natural disasters have turned into political footballs, in his first trip since his return to office.And on another whirlwind day in his first week as president, Trump told Fox News he would “rather not” impose tariffs on China despite repeated vows to hit America’s biggest economic rival with hefty import levies.The Republican also said he would seek to rekindle his diplomatic relationship with Kim Jong Un, calling the North Korean leader he has met three times a “smart guy.”White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s administration on Thursday “arrested 538 illegal immigrant criminals,” adding “hundreds” were deported by military aircraft.”The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway,” she said in a post on social media platform X.Trump promised a crackdown on illegal immigration during the election campaign and began his second term with a flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling entry to the United States.UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in Geneva on Friday that, while countries “are entitled to exercise their jurisdiction along their international borders,” they must remember that “the right to seek asylum is a universally recognised human right.”On his first day in office, Trump signed orders declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border and announced the deployment of more troops to the area, vowing to deport “criminal aliens.”There are an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, according to the Office of Homeland Security Statistics.The Democratic mayor of the city of Newark, New Jersey, Ras Baraka, said in a statement on Thursday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “raided a local establishment… detaining undocumented residents as well as citizens, without producing a warrant”.Baraka said one of those detained during the raid was a US military veteran.ICE announced “538 arrests” and “373 detainers lodged” in an “enforcement update” on X.ICE lodges detainers for non-citizens who have been arrested on criminal charges and who the agency believes can be deported under the law in order to keep them in custody. – LA fires -On his fourth full day back in office, Trump is due to visit fire-wrecked Los Angeles, where he will be able to see widespread damage tallied to cost billions of dollars.Many are worried the mercurial leader will yank the federal support the city needs to get back on its feet.Trump has suggested that aid to Democrat-led California following the deadly wildfires could be made conditional, as he pumps out false claims about water management and fish.”I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump said this week, emphasizing his false claim that there is a valve in northern California that can be turned to release billions of gallons of water in the rain-starved state.Officials say Trump will meet firefighters and those affected by the blazes that have killed more than two dozen people in Los Angeles, the second-biggest US city.Trump has bitterly criticized Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom as an “idiot” and has repeatedly made baseless claims that the western state had water issues because it diverted supplies to save a small fish called a smelt.The president has also floated ending federal disaster relief in general and leaving states to fend for themselves, accusing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of turning its back on victims.”FEMA has not done their job for the last four years,” Trump said on Fox News. “I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems.”- ‘Change everything’ -Trump on Friday will also visit North Carolina, which is still recovering after floods caused by Hurricane Helene last year killed more than 100 people in the state. “Trump can change everything,” said Christy Edwards, a 55-year-old retired teacher and Republican supporter living an hour away from the hard-hit city of Asheville.People were still living in camper vans with their families following the disaster, she told AFP.”Our state has done very little. So we’re hoping by Trump coming we’ll help get more resources,” she said.On the international front, Trump said in a Fox News interview aired Thursday that he could make a deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Taiwan and trade.”We have one very big power over China, and that’s tariffs, and they don’t want them, and I’d rather not have to use it. But it’s a tremendous power over China,” he said.Asked during the same interview if he would “reach out” to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again, Trump replied: “I will, yeah. He liked me.”The Republican had a rare diplomatic relationship with the reclusive Kim during his first administration from 2017 to 2021, not only meeting with him but saying the two “fell in love.”Trump also ordered on Thursday the release of documents on the 1960s assassinations of president John F. Kennedy, his younger brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.JFK’s murder still fuels conspiracy theories more than 60 years after his death.

As fire-wrecked Los Angeles braces for a visit by President Donald Trump, many are worrying the mercurial Republican will yank the federal support the city needs to get back on its feet.Trump is due in the shell-shocked city for a few hours on Friday afternoon, where he will be able to see for himself the devastation wrought by the deadly fires — damage whose repair will cost billions of dollars.Former president Joe Biden was quick to pledge whatever was needed to deal with the disaster in the waning days of his administration.But almost as soon as the fires erupted, Trump began sticking the boot in, lashing out at California Governor Gavin Newsom, and resurrecting an earlier hobbyhorse about water supplies.”I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump said this week, emphasizing his false belief that there is a valve in northern California that can be turned to release billions of gallons (liters) of water in the rain-starved state.- Funding needed – Threats to withhold federal funds are worrisome to some of those who lost everything in the fires.”I just can’t fathom that the government is going to let so many people (suffer)… that they’re not going to help them,” Sebastian Harrison told AFP.This 59-year-old former actor lost his Malibu home in the blaze. He was not insured, unable to afford premiums that topped $40,000 a year.Without government money, getting his life back on track might prove almost impossible, he fears.In Altadena, a modest city further inland, as in the upscale Pacific Palisades, thousands of ruined buildings need to be cleared. Federal cash granted by Biden for 180 days is intended to cover this.But local authorities fret the White House’s new inhabitant might not honor that check.”Everybody’s rushing to make sure the funds get here before Trump gets in office,” a local official told AFP last week, on condition of anonymity.But, the person said, the demography of the disaster — which affected some very wealthy people as well as those of more modest means — gives hope that Trump won’t be able to abandon the region.”Trump may think of Altadena as a bunch of low-life Democrats, but Pacific Palisades is a different story,” the source said.”That’s the first zip code where he and other Republicans go to when they want to raise money in Los Angeles.”- “Principle of unity” – Pacific Palisades and the parts of Malibu it abuts are considerably less left-leaning than other parts of Los Angeles.While the area has its share of Hollywood liberals, it also has property developers, businesspeople and other Republicans.Among those who lost their homes was Mel Gibson, who Trump has just appointed to an ill-defined role as ambassador to Hollywood.The new president’s visit to Los Angeles looks set to include a meeting with the state’s governor — whom Trump delights in calling Gavin “Newscum.”There is no love lost between the two men, but Newsom has taken a more conciliatory approach in recent weeks.”Historically, federal disaster aid has been provided without conditions, recognizing that political calculations or regional divides should not encumber relief efforts,” he wrote in a letter last week to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.”This principle of unity is at the heart of our nation’s resilience.”But if the federal government cannot be cajoled into stumping up the funds needed for recovery and reconstruction, California says it is prepared to use the courts.The state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, said he found it “disheartening” that Trump and his allies were seeking to politicize tragedy.”We have every expectation that federal action will be taken to support California and the hardworking Californians whose lives and livelihoods are at risk,” he told AFP.”We have been preparing for the Trump administration for months, and we will not hesitate to act if we believe the president is violating the law.”

Helicopter pilot Tim Thomas has fought dozens of wildfires all over the world, but nothing prepared him for the scale and the challenge of the devastating blazes that ripped through Los Angeles.”I’ve never seen anything the scale that we saw the first night,” he told AFP.Fires erupted almost simultaneously in two separate neighborhoods during a furious windstorm on January 7.Whole streets were engulfed as hurricane-force gusts flung fireballs from house to house.Forecasters had been warning of extreme fire risk for days because of punishing dryness and winds up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour, saying any small fire would quickly spread.Extra resources were positioned all over the at-risk region, which extended for miles around the sprawling metropolis.But the fires, when they came, were overwhelming, defeating the hundreds of firefighters on the ground.Only an air assault would stop them.- Transfixed -A terrifying 24 hours after the first smoke blackened the air, winds dropped just enough for helicopters to take to the skies.”It was some of the most turbulent wind I’ve seen,” said helicopter coordinator John Williamson.Under the careful eye of experienced operators like Williamson, each pilot took turns in an elaborate airborne ballet.The life-saving airshow they put on for nearly two weeks became a defining feature of the fires, watched with awe and gratitude by a terrified region.Television viewers were transfixed by the incredible skills of helicopter pilots loading up hundreds of gallons (liters) of water into the bellies of their aircraft while hovering over a reservoir, then dumping it with pinpoint accuracy on a wall of flames.The sight of huge jet planes swooping over a fire line and unleashing a trail of bright red retardant thrilled and relieved those whose homes were threatened.But while they might have made it look easy, the pilots say the reality was far from it, with strong winds and unfamiliar terrain a constant challenge.”There were definitely some uneasy moments going over the mountains where the crew was looking for me to see if I’m comfortable,” said Thomas.”There’s definitely some times where the aircraft’s 23,000 pound (11.5 tons), and you’re getting rocked around, thrown around in the air.”- ‘Takes your breath away’ -Paul Karpus, who has overseen operations at an airbase in Camarillo, 45 miles (70 kilometers) west of Los Angeles, said the opening days of the firefight were like nothing he has experienced in 23 years.”Every season, you say, I’ve seen it all… And then you’re surprised,” he told AFP.”Seeing the amount of devastation for the first time, when the sun was coming up, and the amount of structures lost, it takes your breath away.”Aerial teams operated 24 hours, pulling long shifts that left them exhausted and fraught.”On a scale of one to 10, this one was a 10, stress-wise,” said Karpus.- ‘Nerve-racking’ -Williamson, whose job is to sit next to the pilot, guiding him to his designated zone and monitoring dozens of radio messages, said the complexity of the operation was a challenge.”The first three nights, really was pretty nerve-racking,” he said.Zach Boyce, who ran daytime operations said the sheer volume of aircraft in a tight space made things tricky.”We’re coordinating a lot of helicopters in a very tight area, and then we introduce fixed wing operations and air tankers and air attack… and everything becomes super compressed,” he said.More than two weeks after the fires erupted, killing more than two dozen people and reducing 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) to ash, the biggest blazes are under control.But the value of the aerial firefighters continues to be seen, with a fast-moving fire that erupted on Wednesday corralled by the time night fell after an airborne assault.For the people of Los Angeles, the men and women who have fought this battle are second to none.”We should never stop thanking them,” Los Angeles-based talk show host Jimmy Kimmel said.”Real superheroes.”

On a snow-blanketed field in Virginia, a handful of workers were silent but for the groan of a chainsaw chopping through bamboo — a delicacy for their furry clients down the road in the US capital of Washington.The team, bundled up for the cold, then stuffed up to 700 bamboo stalks into a pickup truck to be driven 70 miles (110 kilometres) to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo to feed, among others, its newly arrived pandas.Bao Li, a male, and female Qing Bao, landed in the United States from China in October as part of a decade-long breeding and research agreement.Public visitors are this week finally allowed to see the pair at the free-entry zoo and more likely than not, the pandas will be snacking on bamboo harvested at this hilly farm.But satisfying these bears — who can spend up to 16 hours a day feeding on up to 100 pounds (45 kilos) of bamboo — is no easy feat.Their appetites are so ravenous because pandas’ digestive systems are designed to process meat yet they have evolved to be almost entirely dependent on bamboo, which is of little nutritional value.”Bamboo harvest is probably one of the most rigorous things that we do,” said Mike Maslanka, head of nutrition for the zoo, his hands plunged into pockets to guard against the 10 degree Fahrenheit (minus 12 degree Celsius) temperatures at the site in the Shenandoah Valley.Trudging through ankle-deep snow, three young men chopped down scores of bamboo stems — some reaching 20 feet high — and began piling them up.After harvesting, the bamboo must pass quality control, where leafless stems are cast aside and only the greenest ones make it to the zoo’s bamboo fanatics, which also include Asian elephants and gorillas.- Picky eaters -The pandas add to the already high demands, with Maslanka saying the bamboo farm team is now operating four days a week, up from three days last year.It also means learning the new arrivals’ eating habits. Qing Bao is proving a “little bit more finicky in terms of palate,” said Maslanka, who wore a black beanie emblazoned with a panda, while Bao Li is “OK with just about anything that we offer.”Maslanka added that this was a common thread among pandas, whose reputation as picky eaters has prompted deep discussion — and confusion — about their feeding habits. “We’ve tried to pin it down to species or age or location or soil type, slope, elevation. We can’t, there’s no rhyme or reason,” he said.”We’ll offer this bamboo to them tomorrow and they won’t like it. We’ll offer it to them the next day, they’ll think it’s the best thing ever,” added Maslanka, who has over 15 years of experience with the Smithsonian National Zoo.This makes it a delicate task ensuring the bamboo is up to the pandas’ standards.Before being served to the bears, Maslanka said the bamboo is placed into an air-conditioned shed which is cooled to around 55 degrees Fahrenheit and equipped with misters to keep the stems moist.The Washington pandas are among just a few that remain in the United States, including a pair that arrived at San Diego’s zoo last summer.Their presence is part of the so-called panda diplomacy carried out by Beijing, in which its black-and-white bears are sent across the globe as soft-power diplomats.Thanks to conservation efforts, the giant panda was downgraded last year from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the global list of species at risk of extinction.

A federal judge  blocked Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States on Thursday as liberal states scored their first victory against the new president’s hardline agenda.The ruling imposes a 14-day stay on the enforcement of one of the most controversial executive orders Trump signed in the hours after he was sworn into office for a second term.”This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” US District Judge John Coughenour was reported as saying during the hearing in Washington state.”I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is,” said Coughenour, who was appointed by a Republican president, Ronald Reagan.Trump told reporters his administration would “obviously” appeal the ruling, while the Department of Justice said it would defend the executive order, which a spokesman said “correctly interprets” the US Constitution.”We look forward to presenting a full merits argument to the court and to the American people, who are desperate to see our nation’s laws enforced,” the spokesman said.Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the US Constitution under the 14th Amendment which decrees that anyone born on US soil is a citizen.It says, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”Trump’s order was premised on the idea that anyone in the United States illegally, or on a visa, was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.An incredulous Coughenour chided Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate over his assertion that Trump’s order was constitutional.”Frankly, I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar could state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order,” Coughenour said. “It just boggles my mind.”- ‘On a whim’ -The ruling comes after a flurry of lawsuits filed by 22 states, two cities and numerous civil rights groups.It was hailed by states that took part in the legal actions.”No president can change the constitution on a whim and today’s decision affirms that,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said.The ruling is “the first of many wins to come as my office fights instances of executive overreach and any illegal actions the new administration may take.”Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said Trump’s order was “un-American.””Birthright citizenship makes clear that citizenship cannot be conditioned on one’s race, ethnicity or where their parents came from,” he said after the ruling.”It’s the law of our nation, recognized by generations of jurists, lawmakers and presidents, until President Trump’s illegal action.”Ted Lieu, a congressman from California said the matter was clear.”Birthright citizenship is as American as apple pie,” he wrote on social media.”If you’re born in America, you’re a citizen.”The legal challenge was no surprise, and Trump had acknowledged it was likely when he signed the order.He has repeatedly — and wrongly — asserted that the United States is the only country in the world with birthright citizenship; in fact more than 30 others also have it, including Canada and Mexico.Trump’s opponents have argued that the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 as the United States sought to knit itself back together after the Civil War, has been settled law for over a century.They have cited an 1898 US Supreme Court ruling in the case of a San Francisco-born Chinese American man named Wong Kim Ark.Wong was denied entry back into the United States after visiting relatives in China on the grounds that he was not a citizen.The court affirmed that children born in the United States, including those born to immigrants, could not be denied citizenship. 

When Donald Trump was inaugurated in 2017, opponents marched in pink knitted “pussy hats” while protesters abroad plastered streets with images of the new US president as “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader.Spool forward eight years — after his entanglements with the law, two impeachments and divisive pardons of violent criminals — and the vibe among the anti-Trump resistance movement isn’t so much “A New Hope” as its darker sequel, “The Empire Strikes Back.”Although there has been sporadic protest, the United States has seen almost none of the mass mobilization that made opposition to Trump in 2017 the largest social movement in a half-century.Even in Congress, Democrats have been more inclined in recent weeks to talk about “working with” Trump — noting his popular vote victory — rather than going after the Republican at every opportunity. “Resistance alone is a failed strategy. If it worked, Trump wouldn’t be president,” said political consultant Andrew Koneschusky, a former press secretary to Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Democrats ran a campaign of resistance last cycle and it barely made a dent.”Trump, 78, sparked outrage after winning a tight 2016 election despite disparaging Mexicans, boasting about groping women on the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape and facing numerous sexual misconduct allegations.Democrats see as much to worry about this time around, and yet analysts have noted a palpable lack of the anger that came with his first term.- ‘The new Resistance’ -There has been some limited action by Democratic leaders in California to counter Trumpism, mainly behind-the-scenes strategy sessions, and “The People’s March” in Washington last weekend was reasonably well attended.But it was tiny compared to the 500,000-strong 2017 “Women’s March.” Even liberal Hollywood seems cowed, with the political spotlight moving away from the music and movie stars who backed Kamala Harris in 2024 to the Tinseltown legends like Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson who have joined Trump’s team.Koneschusky suggested that opposition was shifting to a more focused approach that targets specific aspects of Trump’s populist “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) agenda, in the courts as much as in news studios.”The Resistance hasn’t vanished — it has evolved. It has moved from the streets to the courts. Well-crafted legal challenges have replaced protests and public displays of opposition,” he told AFP.He pointed to more than 20 Democratic states suing to block Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship and civil society groups like the ACLU girding for a variety of legal fights. “The lawsuit, rather than the protest, is the new Resistance,” he said.Veteran political strategist Mike Fahey added that those who organized against Trump in 2024, only to see him win anyway, have hit a wall, and that exhaustion rather than apathy is paralyzing opposition.But he agreed that much of the opposition was simply less performative than in the past — and not necessarily less effective.- ‘The guts to fight’ -“Instead of relying on the sorts of large, dramatic demonstrations that characterized the early weeks of Trump’s presidency, these organizations have begun to stage far more sophisticated and less visible public events to work their will,” he said.While Trump’s victory last November was painful for Democrats, many believe that presenting Trump as an avatar of all society’s ills — or shrieking that every tweet was a threat to democracy — was counter-productive.Peter Loge, the director of George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs, said smart opponents were tuning out the noise coming from Trump’s Truth Social feed to focus instead on specific policy impacts. “One way to think about it is like an amusement park or nightclub. When the lights are flashing and the noise is blaring it’s easy to get caught in the show,” he told AFP.”Smoke machines, disco balls and laugh tracks drive attention and resources, but ultimately it is about how people live their daily lives — and that’s policy.”Some groups that opposed Trump first time around reject the idea that his narrow popular vote victory gave him a broad mandate, pointing out that more people voted against him than for him in November.”Democrats can’t afford to cower behind half measures or excuses,” said Ezra Levin, the co-executive director of progressive lobby group Indivisible.”If they don’t have the guts to fight this now, when it’s all on the line, they’ll be handing Trump and MAGA Republicans exactly what they want: a propaganda victory that will embolden their assault on our freedoms.”

Venezuelan Josnexcy Martinez, who is staying at a shelter in a Texas border city, said she’s afraid of getting swept up in a raid targeting migrants even though she entered the country legally.   President Donald Trump began his second term with a flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling immigration into the United States. He has signed orders declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border and announced the deployment of more troops to the area while vowing to deport “criminal aliens,” moves that have spread fear across many communities.  Martinez, 28, is staying at a shelter in the city of El Paso with her five-year-old after entering the United States using the CBP One app.The platform allowed migrants in Mexico to make an appointment with US officials at designated border crossings, where they could apply for temporary residency. Trump cancelled the service on the first day of his new term. Even though Martinez is entitled to stay in the United States until her asylum case is heard by a judge, she said Trump’s actions have left her perpetually on edge. “My fear is that I will be arrested in a raid, by a police officer or someone from immigration and that they will ask me for my papers,” she said.Martinez, who gently drew a sheet over her son in the bunk bed where he sleeps, also held up the ID given to her by US officials when she crossed, explaining that she always has it on her. Karina Breceda, who runs the shelter where Martinez is staying, voiced concern that because of Trump’s policies, “we’re… going to start targeting people based on what we think a person that’s undocumented looks like, based on the color of their skin, or their clothes.”- ‘Just insane’ -In El Paso — a city of 678,000 people where roughly 80 percent of the population is of Latin American origin — Trump’s actions have bred anger among some. Mirna Cabral, 37, is a beneficiary of the DACA program launched during former president Barack Obama’s administration that gave some undocumented migrants who arrived as minors temporary work permits, which must be renewed.  She entered the United States illegally as a child and made a life in Texas. She married an American, who has since died, and had two children.Cabral was outraged by Trump’s executive order that aims to restrict birthright citizenship, an action already facing legal challenges on grounds that it breaches provisions in the Constitution. “That is just insane,” she said of Trump’s order. “It’s going against our Constitution because it doesn’t matter if you have a legal status or you don’t.”Everyone born in the United States, she said, has “the same rights.”Julieta Torres, 65, was born in Mexico but has lived in El Paso for decades. Cancelling birthright citizenship was unfair to children, she argued. “If they were born here, they are from this country, even if they are the children of undocumented parents,” she said.Hector Chavez, who works in El Paso, said migrants aspiring to be American in search of a better life should rethink their plans.  The 61-year-old Mexican national legally crosses to work in the United States, but chooses to live in Ciudad Juarez on the Mexican side of the border, where life is more affordable. Immigrants should “stay on the other side,” he said. “The American dream is over.”

Donald Trump has derided the Delta smelt as a “worthless fish,” blaming efforts to protect the species for the devastating Los Angeles wildfires on social media, in a press conference, and even a White House order.In reality, California’s Delta smelt has minimal connection to the city’s water supply, say experts, who argue the US president’s willingness to condemn an endangered species reflects the chaotic and shortsighted nature of his environmental policies.”It’s scapegoating an internal enemy that’s supposed to be responsible for all our problems, in this case, fires and drought — and directing everybody’s anger toward that,” John Buse, general counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity, told AFP.It is a “classic authoritarian” move, he argues — and a likely harbinger of what we will see under Trump 2.0.Trump’s assertion, first made on Truth Social, claimed that Governor Gavin Newsom’s failure to sign an order allowing millions of gallons of water from excess rain and snowmelt to flow southward from the state’s north had hampered firefighting efforts.He reiterated the accusation in a Day One executive order dramatically titled “Putting People Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California.”-  Real crisis, wrong culprit – California has a complex water crisis — with climate change an outsized factor.But the Delta smelt — a small, translucent fish considered a “sentinel” species that indicates the health of its Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta habitat — is not a culprit.”It was once one of the most abundant fish in the upper estuary, supporting a diverse array of predators including striped bass,” said Peter Moyle, a University of California, Davis ichthyologist widely regarded as the leading expert on the species.However, habitat degradation caused by water diversions for agriculture and urban use, competition and predation by invasive species, exposure to contaminants, and dwindling food sources led to the Delta smelt being listed as “threatened” in 1993, and “endangered” by California in 2009. Water projects in The Golden State must balance conservation with meeting agricultural and urban demands.Trump’s rhetoric has nationalized what was previously a Californian political narrative pitting fish against farmers, leaving the Delta smelt a convenient “scape fish,” according to Moyle.Massive federal- and state-run pumping stations redirect water from northern areas to the south, creating challenges for the smelt and other aquatic life. Increased salinity from these pumping operations harms the fish, and many are killed when they are sucked into screens or diverted into canals.- Culture war politics – Despite Trump’s claims, however, protections that limit the amount of pumping for the Delta smelt and other fish have had minimal recent impact on the Los Angeles water supply.The federal Central Valley Project, which Trump has targeted under his order, primarily serves agriculture in Central California — not Los Angeles, explains Buse.While the State Water Project does supply water to Southern California, including Los Angeles, most of the state’s major reservoirs are currently at or above historic levels for this time of year, particularly in the south, official data shows.Even in drier years, protections for the Delta smelt account for only a small fraction of reductions in outflow.The primary factor determining water pumped downstream is the amount of rainfall and snowmelt flowing into the San Francisco estuary.As Moyle explained in a 2017 paper, the same saltwater that harms the fish also poses significant challenges for agriculture, making it the key driver of restrictions on water exports.The Delta smelt’s legal protection “has been particularly controversial because right-wing pundits and politicians have seized on its small size,” said Caleb Scoville, a sociologist at Tufts University. “Salmon aren’t as easy of a target.”Rather than addressing the root causes of California’s water challenges — including climate change — Trump’s rhetoric turns “hardships associated with environmental destabilization into partisan gotchas,”  Scoville argued.”It feeds us-versus-them identity politics but doesn’t actually hold power to account.”

The US film industry’s first major gathering since wildfires devastated Los Angeles began Thursday at Sundance, where Olivia Colman and John Lithgow kicked off the indie movie festival under somber circumstances.Hollywood’s annual pilgrimage to the Rocky Mountains to debut the coming year’s top indie films started barely two weeks after blazes killed more than two dozen people and brought the US entertainment capital to a halt.Festival chiefs spoke at length with filmmakers “who lost homes or were displaced” by the fires before deciding to press ahead, Sundance director Eugene Hernandez told AFP.Among those were the team behind “Didn’t Die,” an indie zombie movie about survivors podcasting to an ever-dwindling human population, which was partly shot in the filmmakers’s now-destroyed Altadena homes.”We turned the film in, and a few days later… our homes were lost,” director Meera Menon told AFP.The film’s producer and editor, who lived near to Menon and her co-writer husband, also fled their house before it was razed by the fires.”The four of us really lost everything… our home was our dream home,” added a tearful-sounding Menon, who was nonetheless driving up to Utah on Thursday to attend her film’s premiere next week.Also among the 88 features being screened in snowy Park City is “Rebuilding,” starring Josh O’Connor as a rancher who loses everything in a wildfire.”It takes on an added poignance,” said Hernandez.”It’s an incredible film, and one that we felt was important to show, based on that spirit of resilience,” said Sundance programming director Kim Yutani.- J-Lo, Cumberbatch -The big opening night film this year was “Jimpa,” in which Colman plays a mother taking her non-binary teen to visit their gay and highly outspoken activist grandfather — played by Lithgow.It premiered as new US President Donald Trump said he has made it “official policy of the United States, that there are only two genders, male and female.”Lithgow said it was “extremely important” to begin Sundance with a film fostering acceptance “at this particular historical moment… when hatred is in the air.”Among other festival highlights, Jennifer Lopez brings her first film to Sundance this weekend with glitzy musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”From “Dreamgirls” director Bill Condon, the film is based on the Broadway adaptation of Argentine author Manuel Puig’s novel.Lopez plays a silver-screen diva whose life and roles are discussed by two mismatched prisoners as they form an unlikely bond in their grim cell. Benedict Cumberbatch stars in another literary adaptation, “The Thing With Feathers,” based on Max Porter’s experimental and poetic novel about a grieving husband and two young sons.Rapper A$AP Rocky and late-night host Conan O’Brien make up the eclectic cast of mystery “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.”And “The Bear” star Ayo Edebiri teams up with John Malkovich for thriller “Opus,” about a young writer investigating the mysterious disappearance of a legendary pop star.- Politics -Among Sundance’s documentary selection, which has launched several of the most recent Oscar-winning nonfiction films, politics will feature heavily.Former New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern is expected in town to promote the behind-the-scenes documentary “Prime Minister.” And two films touching on the Gaza conflict will see their debut, days after the ceasefire agreement with Israel began.”Coexistence, My Ass!” follows Jewish peace activist-turned-comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi, as she constructs a one-woman show and grapples with the consequences of Israel’s military campaign.”As an activist, I reached 20 people, and in a viral video mocking dictators, I reached 20 million people,” she told AFP, admitting she is “anxious” about how the film will be received.Palestinian-American director Cherien Dabis will unveil “All That’s Left of You” in a prominent Saturday evening premiere at Sundance’s biggest venue.Sundance runs until February 2.

US House Republicans approved a bill on Thursday that would ensure medical care for infants born alive during abortion procedures, in a vote largely labeled a gimmick by Democrats since such laws already exist.The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act requires health professionals to provide the “same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence” that would be offered during a normal childbirth.Practitioners who fall foul of the measure would face fines and up to five years in jail.Democrats consistently dismiss such bills as redundant because it is already illegal for health workers to kill or neglect a newborn, and say such legislation aims to intimidate reproductive health care workers providing abortions.The “born alive” legislation passed the House one day after a similar bill failed in the Senate amid a blockade by Democrats. “The goal of this bill is to target and intimidate reproductive health care providers and make it harder for women to access vital health care,” Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said.”In fact, it is already law that any child born in America — regardless of the circumstances surrounding that birth — is afforded equal protections,” he said.House Republicans are keen to get Democrats on the record as coming out against legislation that purports to combat “infanticide” — widely defined as the intentional killing of a child under the age of one. All but two Democrats duly opposed the legislation.”Tragically, House Democrats opposed the bill, voted for infanticide, and opted to deny medical care to crying newborns on operating tables struggling to live,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said.”Every newborn child deserves to be protected. It truly is that simple.”The vast majority of abortions in the United States are performed before the point of viability — fewer than one percent take place after 21 weeks — and live births during abortions are rare, although statistics vary on the frequency.Progressive activists fear that Donald Trump’s second presidential term could herald a new wave of attacks on abortion access as a Republican-controlled Congress enacts sweeping national restrictions or an outright ban.The Republican president’s Supreme Court picks during his first term were pivotal in dismantling decades of legal precedent protecting the national right to abortion.