AFP USA

Hundreds of National Guard troops took up positions in Los Angeles Sunday on the orders of US President Donald Trump, a rare deployment over the head of the state governor, after unruly protests against immigration raids. The US military said 300 soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team had been sent to three separate locations in the greater Los Angeles area, and were “conducting safety and protection of federal property & personnel.”Helmeted troops in camouflage gear and carrying guns could be seen in front of a federal complex — including a detention center — with the phrase “Our City” spray-painted on it in downtown Los Angeles.The deployment overrode the protests of local officials, an extraordinary move not seen in decades that California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed as “purposefully inflammatory.” It came ahead of more planned protests in the city, which has a large Latino population, including a call by organizers for a “mass mobilization” at City Hall at 2:00 pm local time (2100 GMT).A separate Pride parade in support of LGBTQ rights — also under assault by the Trump administration — also began Sunday in Hollywood, with organizers posting on Instagram that they were working with local law enforcement to keep the celebrations safe. “Trump is sending 2,000 National Guard troops into LA County — not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis,” Newsom posted on X Sunday.”He’s hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful.”Newsom’s warning came after Los Angeles was rocked by two days of confrontations that saw federal agents firing flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants.On Sunday pepper spray hung in the air from overnight, AFP reporters said.- ‘Escalation’ -Republicans lined up behind Trump to dismiss the pushback by Newsom and other local officials against the National Guard deployment.”I have no concern about that at all,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC’s “This Week”, accusing Newsom of “an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary”.As for threats by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday to send in active-duty Marines on top of the Guard troops, Johnson said he did not see that as “heavy-handed.””We have to be prepared to do what is necessary,” he argued. Demonstrators that AFP spoke to said troops were not really being sent in to keep order.”I think it’s an intimidation tactic,” said Thomas Henning.”These protests have been peaceful. There’s no one trying to do any sort of damage right now and yet you have the National Guard with loaded magazines and large guns standing around trying to intimidate Americans from exercising our first amendment rights.”Estrella Corral said demonstrators were angry that hard-working migrants who have done nothing wrong were being snatched by masked immigration agents.”This is our community, and we want to feel safe,” she told AFP.”Trump deploying the National Guard is ridiculous. I think he’s escalating, he’s trying to make a show for his agenda.”Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said the move demonstrated “Trump’s authoritarianism in real time.” “Conduct massive illegal raids. Provoke a counter-response. Declare a state of emergency. Call in the troops,” he wrote on social media, adding: “Unacceptable.”- ‘Unacceptable’ -The National Guard — a reserve military — is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities.It is the first time since 1965 that a president has deployed a National Guard without a request by a state governor, the former head of Human Rights Watch, US activist Kenneth Roth, posted on X.Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on undocumented migrants — who he has likened to “monsters” and “animals” — since taking office in January. Raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in other US cities have triggered small-scale protests in recent months, but the Los Angeles unrest is the biggest and most sustained against Trump’s immigration policies so far.A CBS News poll taken before the Los Angeles protests showed a slight majority of Americans still approved of the immigration crackdown.Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum on Sunday defended migrants living in north of the border.”Mexicans living in the United States are good men and women, honest people who went to the United States to seek a better life for themselves and to support their families. They are not criminals! They are good men and women!” she said.

Disney’s family-friendly “Lilo & Stitch” kept up its dominance of the early summer North American box office, winning for a third week in a row with $32.5 million in ticket sales, industry estimates showed Sunday.The live-action remake of a 2002 animated film of the same name has so far raked in $335.8 million in the United States and Canada, and another $436 million abroad, Exhibitor Relations said.Maia Kealoha (as Lilo), Hannah Waddingham, Courtney B. Vance and Zach Galifianakis star, while Chris Sanders again provides the voice of the chaos-creating blue alien Stitch.Debuting in second place at $25 million was Lionsgate’s “Ballerina,” a “John Wick” spin-off starring Ana de Armas as a dancer turned contract killer, and co-starring Anjelica Huston. Keanu Reeves makes a brief appearance as the hitman Wick.”This is a weak opening for an action thriller spin-off,” said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” — the latest, and ostensibly last, in the hugely successful Tom Cruise spy thriller series based on a 1960s TV show — took third place with $15 million.The Paramount film has now grossed more than $449 million worldwide.In fourth place was Sony’s “Karate Kid: Legends,” a sequel featuring Ralph Macchio — the star of the original 1984 classic — and action flick icon Jackie Chan, along with Ben Wang in the title role. It made $8.7 million at the domestic box office in its second week in theaters.And finishing up the top five was Warner Bros. and New Line’s horror film “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” at $6.5 million. It has grossed $123.6 million so far at the domestic box office.Rounding out the top 10 were:”The Phoenician Scheme” ($6.25 million)”Bring Her Back” ($3.5 million)”Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye” ($3.1 million)”Sinners” ($2.9 million)”Thunderbolts” ($2.5 million)

US President Donald Trump ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles, a rare deployment expected Sunday against the state governor’s wishes after sometimes-violent protests against immigration enforcement raids. Trump took federal control of California’s state military to push soldiers into the country’s second-biggest city, a decision deemed “purposefully inflammatory” by California Governor Gavin Newsom and of a kind not seen for decades according to US media. The development came after two days of confrontations during which federal agents fired flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants in a city with a large Latino population.”It’s up to us to stand up for our people,” said a Los Angeles resident whose parents are immigrants, declining to give her name.”Whether we get hurt, whether they gas us, whatever they’re throwing at us. They’re never going to stop us. All we have left is our voice,” she told AFP as emergency services lights flashed in the distance.An AFP photographer saw fires and fireworks light up the streets during clashes, while a protester holding a Mexican flag stood in front of a burnt-out car that had been sprayed with a slogan against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.”President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, blaming what she called California’s “feckless” Democratic leaders.”The Trump Administration has a zero tolerance policy for criminal behavior and violence, especially when that violence is aimed at law enforcement officers trying to do their jobs.”Trump congratulated the National Guard for “a job well done” shortly before midnight on Saturday in a post on Truth Social.However, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said on social media platform X the troops had not yet been deployed, while AFP journalists have so far not seen them on the ground. Trump took a swipe at Bass and Newsom, saying in his post they were “unable to handle the task,” drawing a comparison with deadly fires that hit the city in January.- ‘Purposefully inflammatory’ -The National Guard — a reserve military — is frequently used in natural disasters, such as in the aftermath of the LA fires, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local politicians.California’s governor objected to the president’s decision, saying it was “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.”Federal authorities “want a spectacle. Don’t give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully,” Newsom said on X. Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to involve nearby regular military forces.”If violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” he wrote on social media.Law professor Jessica Levinson said Hegseth’s intervention appeared symbolic because of the general legal restriction on the use of the US military as a domestic policing force in the absence of an insurrection.”The National Guard will be able to do (no) more than provide logistical (and) personnel support,” she said.- Arrests -Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on the entry and presence of undocumented migrants — who he has likened to “monsters” and “animals” — since taking office in January.The Department for Homeland Security said ICE operations in Los Angeles this week had resulted in the arrest of “118 aliens, including five gang members.”Saturday’s standoff took place in the suburb of Paramount, where demonstrators converged on a reported federal facility that the local mayor said was being used as a staging post by agents.Masked and armed immigration agents carried out high-profile workplace raids in separate parts of Los Angeles on Friday, attracting angry crowds and setting off hours-long standoffs.Fernando Delgado, a 24-year-old resident, said the raids were “injustices” and those detained were “human beings just like any.””We’re Spanish, we help the community, we help by doing the labor that people don’t want to do,” he told AFP.Mayor Bass acknowledged that some city residents were “feeling fear” following the federal immigration enforcement actions.”Everyone has the right to peacefully protest, but let me be clear: violence and destruction are unacceptable, and those responsible will be held accountable,” she said on X.FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said multiple arrests had been made following Friday’s clashes.”Law and order will prevail,” he said on X.

Reality TV stars. Former lawmakers. A sheriff. A nursing home executive. A drug kingpin.What do they have in common?They are among the Americans convicted of crimes who have received pardons from President Donald Trump since he took office in January.And while US presidents have doled out questionable pardons in the past, Trump is doing so “in a bigger, more aggressive way with sort of no sense of shame,” said Kermit Roosevelt, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania.”The pardon power has always been a little bit problematic because it’s this completely unconstrained power that the president has,” Roosevelt told AFP.”Most presidents have issued at least some pardons where people look at them and they say: ‘This seems to be self-serving’ or ‘This seems to be corrupt in some way.'”But Trump is doling out pardons “that look like they’re almost quid pro quo for financial donations,” Roosevelt said.Among those receiving a pardon was Paul Walczak, a nursing home executive convicted of tax crimes and whose mother attended a $1-million-per-plate fund-raising dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in April.Other beneficiaries of Trump pardons include reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were serving lengthy prison sentences for bank fraud and tax evasion.Their daughter, Savannah, is a prominent Trump supporter and gave a speech at last year’s Republican National Convention.More than half a dozen former Republican lawmakers convicted of various crimes have also received pardons along with a Virginia sheriff sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking $75,000 in bribes.On his first day in office, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 supporters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 as they sought to prevent congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.The next day, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who had been serving a life sentence for running the “Silk Road” online marketplace that facilitated millions of dollars of drug sales.- ‘Just another deal’ -Barbara McQuade, a former prosecutor who now teaches law at the University of Michigan, said Trump is not the first president to be accused of “allowing improper factors to influence their pardon decisions.”Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton’s pardon of a commodities trader whose wife was a major Democratic donor and Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter, and other family members all drew some criticism.”(But) Trump is in a class by himself in both scope and shamelessness,” McQuade said in a Bloomberg opinion column. “To him, pardons are just another deal.”As long as a defendant can provide something of value in return, no crime seems too serious,” she said.Democratic lawmaker Jamie Raskin, in a letter to Ed Martin, Trump’s pardon attorney at the Justice Department, asked what criteria are being used to recommend pardons.”It at least appears that you are using the Office of the Pardon Attorney to dole out pardons as favors to the President’s loyal political followers and most generous donors,” Raskin wrote.Martin for his part has made no secret of the partisan nature of the pardons recommended by his office.”No MAGA left behind,” Martin said on X after the pardon of the bribe-taking Virginia sheriff, a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.Lee Kovarsky, a University of Texas law professor, said Trump’s “pardon spree” opens up a “menacing new frontier of presidential power” that he calls “patronage pardoning.”By reducing the penalty for misconduct, Trump is making a “public commitment to protect and reward loyalism, however criminal,” Kovarsky said in a New York Times opinion piece.  

Nadya Tolokonnikova, the co-founder of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot, is back in a prison cell — but this time, she has gone willingly.At the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Russian activist is staging “Police State” — a two-week piece of performance art aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of authoritarianism and oppression.Tolokonnikova — who spent nearly two years in a Russian penal colony for performing a protest song against Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church in 2012 — knows a bit about the topic.Through the installation, which opened Thursday and runs through June 14, she says she hopes to teach visitors about what she believes to be the advent of a new means of control — technology.While she is in the mock cell, during all museum opening hours, she will eat, use the toilet, sew clothes as she once did in her real cell and create “soundscapes.” Visitors can observe her through holes in the cell or on security camera footage. “People don’t treat authoritarianism seriously,” Tolokonnikova told AFP.Seated in a makeshift Russian prison cell, wearing a green tracksuit, the 35-year-old activist says in several countries, the concept of a “police state” is expanding.”As someone who lived under authoritarian rule for over 25 years, I know how real it is and how it starts, step by step, on the arrest of one person. You think, ‘Well, it’s not about me’,” she explained.”And then next thing we know, the entire country is under the military boot.”- ‘We all have to contribute’ -For Tolokonnikova, US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January has sparked an “erosion of the system of checks and balances,” which she deemed “very dangerous.”She says the artistic community, and society in general, should do more to counter governmental abuses of power, wherever they may occur, and stop “outsourcing politics and political action.””I feel like it’s as if there is someone else who’s going to save us from everything. That’s not what works really. We all have to contribute.”Some who visited the installation said they agreed with Tolokonnikova that society had become too passive.”I feel like Americans don’t want to believe that we could be in danger of losing our freedoms,” said Jimmie Akin, a graphic designer who said she was worried about the policy changes since Trump took office.”People need to wake up.”- Sewing machine and Navalny -For 29-year-old Hannah Tyler, “Police State” was a bit of a shock to the system.”We’re living in a country where we aren’t facing the same extreme oppression that she did in Russia, but getting close to it. I felt inspired to take more action than I have been,” Tyler said.Tolokonnikova’s installation has some symbolic features.She has books and artworks made by Russian, US and Belarusian prisoners, as well as a drawing by the brother of late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. A sewing machine recalls the manual labor of her incarceration. Words of protest are carved into the walls.For Alex Sloane, the museum’s associate curator, the installation shows how “increased surveillance and government overreach” are becoming more and more widespread, and “freedoms are at risk.””We should do all that we can to make sure” that such circumstances are kept at bay, Sloane said.

Donald Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to the streets of Los Angeles on Saturday in what the White House said was an effort to quell “lawlessness” after sometimes-violent protests erupted over immigration enforcement raids.The US president took federal control of California’s state military to push soldiers into the country’s second-biggest city, where they could face off against demonstrators. It is a rare move that Governor Gavin Newsom said was “purposefully inflammatory.”The development came after two days of confrontations that had seen federal agents shoot flash-bang grenades and tear gas towards crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants in a city with a large Latino population.Footage showed a car that had been set alight at a busy intersection, while in video circulating on social media a man in a motorbike helmet can be seen throwing rocks at speeding federal vehicles.In other scenes, demonstrators threw fireworks at lines of local law enforcement who had been called in to try to keep the peace.”President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, blaming what she called California’s “feckless” Democratic leaders.”The Trump Administration has a zero tolerance policy for criminal behavior and violence, especially when that violence is aimed at law enforcement officers trying to do their jobs.”- ‘Purposefully inflammatory’The National Guard — a reserve military — is frequently used in natural disasters, like in the aftermath of the LA fires, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local politicians.That was not the case Saturday.Newsom, a frequent foil for Trump and a long-time foe of the Republican, took to social media to decry Saturday’s White House order.”That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.”The federal government is taking over the California National Guard and deploying 2,000 soldiers in Los Angeles — not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle. Don’t give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully.”US Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said guardsmen would be in place “within the next 24 hours.”Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to ramp up tensions further, warning that nearby regular military forces could get involved.”If violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” he wrote on social media.Law professor Jessica Levinson said Hegseth’s intervention appeared symbolic because of the general legal restriction on the use of the US military as a domestic policing force in the absence of an insurrection.”At this moment, it’s not using the Insurrection Act,” she said, rather Trump was relying on what is known as Title 10.”The National Guard will be able to do (no) more than provide logistical (and) personnel support.”- Arrests -Since taking office in January, Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on the entry and presence of undocumented migrants — who he has likened to “monsters” and “animals.”The Department for Homeland Security said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Los Angeles this week had resulted in the arrest of “118 aliens, including five gang members.”Saturday’s standoff took place in the suburb of Paramount, where demonstrators converged on a reported federal facility, which the local mayor said was being used as a staging post by agents.On Friday, masked and armed immigration agents carried out high-profile workplace raids in separate parts of Los Angeles, attracting angry crowds and setting off hours-long standoffs.Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass acknowledged that some city residents were “feeling fear” following the federal immigration enforcement actions.”Everyone has the right to peacefully protest, but let me be clear: violence and destruction are unacceptable, and those responsible will be held accountable,” she said on X.FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said multiple arrests had been made following Friday’s clashes.”You bring chaos, and we’ll bring handcuffs. Law and order will prevail,” he said on X.On Saturday, amid chants for ICE agents to get out, some protesters waved Mexican flags while others set a US flag on fire, the Los Angeles Times reported.Cement blocks and overturned shopping carts served as crude roadblocks.The White House has taken a hard line against the protests, with deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller calling them “an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States.” 

US airlines and aerospace manufacturers insist they have no use for tariff protections, warning that the proposed Trump administration levies could eat into the healthy trade surplus the sector has enjoyed for more than 70 years.At the request of President Donald Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s department launched an investigation on May 1 to determine whether to impose tariffs of between 10 and 20 percent on civil aircraft and parts, including engines.The US industry those tariffs were crafted to protect swiftly let the administration know it was not interested.”Imposing broad tariff or non-tariff trade barriers on the imports of civil aviation technology would risk reversing decades of industrial progress and harm the domestic supply chain,” the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) said in a letter addressed to Lutnick and obtained by AFP.The interested parties were given until June 3 to communicate their positions.The very next day, Lutnick announced that Washington aimed to “set the standard for aircraft part tariffs” by the end of this month.”The key is to protect that industry,” he said, adding: “We will use these tariffs for the betterment of American industry.”But AIA and the Airlines for America (A4A) trade association voiced fear that far from helping, the tariffs would end up harming US manufacturers.- No fix needed -“Unlike other industries, the civil aviation manufacturing industry prioritizes domestic production of high-value components and final assembly,” AIA pointed out.According to the organization, US aerospace and defense exports reached $135.9 billion in 2023, including $113.9 billion for civil aviation alone.This allowed the sector to generate a trade surplus of $74.5 billion and to invest $34.5 billion in research and development, it said.The sector employs more than 2.2 million people in the United States across more than 100,000 companies, which in 2023 produced goods worth nearly $545 billion.In its response to Lutnick, the A4A highlighted how beneficial the international Agreement on Trade in Commercial Aviation (ATCA) had been by helping to eliminate tariffs and trade barriers over nearly half a century.”The US civil aviation industry is the success story that President Trump is looking for as it leads civil aerospace globally,” it insisted.A full 84 percent of production was already American, it said, stressing that Washington “does not need to fix the 16 percent” remaining.”The current trade framework has enhanced our economic and national security and is a critical component to maintaining our national security moving forward,” it said.For manufacturers, the potential tariffs would act like sand jamming a well-oiled machine that has been running smoothly for decades, experts warned.They would also throw off balance an ultra-sensitive supply chain still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.- ‘Competitive disadvantage’ -“To avoid the situation getting worse, we advocate to keep aerospace outside of trade wars,” Willie Walsh, head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), told the organization’s general assembly last week.AIA meanwhile stressed that “aircraft and parts are already in high demand and have a limited supply.””Integrating new suppliers and expanding capacity is complex, timely, and costly,” it warned, pointing out that finding suppliers capable of meeting rigorous safety certifications could “take up to 10 years.”Delta Air Lines also argued for sticking with the status quo, cautioning that the proposed tariffs “would hinder Delta’s ability to maintain its current trajectory.””If component parts incur tariffs upon entering the United States, Delta will be at a competitive disadvantage to foreign competitors,” it said.”The action would also impose an unexpected tax on Delta’s purchases of aircraft contracted years in advance.”Delta chief Ed Bastian insisted in late April that the airline “will not be paying tariffs on any aircraft deliveries we take,” adding that it was “working very closely with (European group) Airbus” to minimize the impact.Delta pointed out in its letter to Lutnick that it currently had 100 aircraft on order from Boeing, and that it was demanding that its Airbus A220s be produced primarily in Mobile, Alabama.But if the tariffs are imposed, it warned, “Delta would likely be forced to cancel existing contracts and reconsider contracts under negotiation.” 

For many just a tasty delicacy, the oyster may actually be the hero the world needs to fight environmental degradation — and volunteers like Kimberly Price are battling to repopulate the surprisingly powerful species.The 53-year-old is an “oyster gardener” who fosters thousands of the mollusks at her waterside home until they are old enough to be planted in the Chesapeake Bay near the US capital Washington, where they clean the water and can even offset climate change.Far removed from the menus of seafood restaurants, oysters also have a supremely practical use as prolific water filters — with an adult able to process up to 50 gallons (190 liters) each day. This produces a healthier habitat, boosting plant and animal life, which experts say can also help waterways capture more planet-warming carbon dioxide. But today, just one percent of the native oyster population found in the bay before the 1880s remains, due to pollution, disease and overharvesting — leaving a mammoth task for environmentalists.Volunteers like Price are crucial to these efforts led by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF).For around nine months, they keep infant oysters in cages at their docks to give them the best chance of reaching adulthood. Then they put them to work at helping preserve the planet.”We humans destroy everything, right? So this is like, let’s fix our problems: how do we try and correct this?” Price, a housing consultant, told AFP.At her Maryland home, where ospreys flew overhead and tiny fish swam below, she pulled up a mesh cage marked “Not for sale or human consumption” suspended by rope in the water.Inside on large, old oyster shells — many recycled from restaurants — were half a dozen smaller live oysters each about the size of a knuckle.When Price got them last summer, they were no bigger than pinpricks that the CBF had received as oyster larvae from a specialist hatchery before bonding them to shells in setting tanks.Price’s role has involved scrubbing her eight cages and rinsing them with fresh water every two weeks to remove organisms that can restrict oxygen and hinder feeding.When AFP visited in late May, she was giving them a final clean before joining other volunteers returning the oysters to the CBF to be planted on sanctuary reefs in the bay, where fishing of the mollusks is banned.- ‘We can get there’ -It’s part of an ambitious goal that the nonprofit and its partners set in 2018 to add 10 billion new oysters to the bay — America’s largest estuary — by the end of 2025.Around 6.7 billion have been planted so far, CBF oyster expert Kellie Fiala said at the group’s headquarters, adding that the population is “trending in a positive direction.””Thinking about how many oysters used to be in the bay, we still have a ways to go,” she said, but insisted that “working together, we can get there.”A key challenge is a lack of substrate in the bay — the hard riverbed material that oysters need to grow on — because for many years, shells were removed to be used in building driveways and gardens.”Folks then just didn’t understand the importance of putting that shell back so it can be a home for new oysters,” Fiala said.To address this, the organization is encouraging volunteers to make “reef balls” — igloo-style concrete blocks that can serve as artificial underwater habitats.This initiative, like oyster gardening, encourages community participation ranging from schoolchildren to retirees.Some of those volunteers, including Price, arrived at the CBF’s office next to the bay to drop off their buckets of homegrown oysters ready for planting. Each got a rough tally of how many they had brought based on the average number of babies on a handful of shells. For Price, it was what she celebrated as a “very good” total of around 7,500.Her oysters were loaded with others onto a small, single-engine boat that the captain, 61-year-old Dan Johannes, steered towards a sanctuary reef in a tidal tributary of the bay.There, two interns began dumping the 20 buckets overboard, with the oysters splashing into the water.The planting process took no longer than a minute — 75,000 oysters, raised for almost a year — returning to the bay.

Federal agents clashed with angry protestors in the Los Angeles area for a second day Saturday, shooting flash-bang grenades into the crowd and shutting part of a freeway amid raids on undocumented migrants, reports said.The standoff took place in the suburb of Paramount, where demonstrators had gathered near a Home Depot that was being used as a staging area by federal immigration officials, the Fox 11 news outlet reported.They were met by federal agents in riot gear and gas masks, who lobbed flash-bang grenades and tear gas at the crowd, according to news reports and social media posts.The immigration raids are part of US President Donald Trump’s ongoing crackdown on undocumented immigrants. The Republican was elected to a second term largely on a promise to crack down hard on the entry and presence of undocumented migrants — who he likened to “monsters” and “animals.”Following the latest clashes in Los Angeles, authorities vowed to prosecute offenders and warned of an escalating security presence.”We are making Los Angeles safer. Mayor (Karen) Bass should be thanking us,” Tom Homan, Trump’s point man on border security, said on Fox News. “We are going to bring the National Guard in tonight.”FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said multiple arrests had been made following Friday’s clashes.”You bring chaos, and we’ll bring handcuffs. Law and order will prevail,” he said on X.On Saturday, amid chants for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to get out, some protestors waved Mexican flags while others set a US flag on fire, the Los Angeles Times said. Cement blocks and overturned shopping carts served as crude roadblocks.A crowd swarmed a US Marshals Service bus exiting a nearby freeway, with authorities later closing on and off ramps to keep protesters from taking over the highway.The tense standoff came a day after masked and armed immigration agents carried out high-profile workplace raids in separate parts of Los Angeles, attracting angry crowds and setting off hours-long standoffs.”An insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States,” White House deputy chief of staff and anti-immigration hardliner Stephen Miller said on X, sharing a video of protesters marching Friday outside Los Angeles’s federal detention center.Los Angeles, the second-most populous city in the United States, is one of the most diverse metropolises in the country. The suburb of Paramount, home to about 50,000 people, is 82 percent Hispanic or Latino, according to US Census data.

US immigration agents detained and later allowed the “voluntary departure” of the world’s most-followed TikToker, Khaby Lame, after he “overstayed” his visa, authorities said Saturday.”US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Seringe Khabane Lame, 25, a citizen of Italy, June 6, at the Harry Reid International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada for immigration violations,” the agency said in a statement to AFP.Lame entered the United States on April 30 and “overstayed the terms of his visa,” the statement said of the Friday detention, adding that he was released the same day.The Italian national, who is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and has a following of more than 162 million on TikTok, “has since departed the US.”Lame had not immediately posted publicly about the incident as of Saturday afternoon.Since taking power in January, US President Donald Trump has delivered on campaign promises to tighten immigration controls and carry out a mass deportation drive — aspects of which have been challenged in US courts.Lame holds top spot on the wildly popular TikTok social media app, with 162.2 million followers and has risen to fame for his short silent videos mocking the convoluted tutorials and tips that abound on the internet.He punctuates his videos with a trademark gesture — palms turned towards the sky, accompanied by a knowing smile and wide eyes — as he offers his own simple remedies.The idea for his content came to him while wandering around the housing project where his family lived in Chivasso, near Turin, after losing his factory mechanic’s job in March 2020. His posts took off — helping him gross an estimated $16.5 million through marketing deals with companies in the period between June 2022 and September 2023, according to Forbes.