Tuesday, Jul 01st
Last update03:06:18 AM GMT
Protests against the Trump administration’s newly intensified immigration raids, centered on Los Angeles, spread across the country on Tuesday, with demonstrations in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Omaha and Seattle.
Thousands attended a protest against the federal government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in New York City’s Foley Square.
Some protesters held signs reading “Ice out of New York” and others chanted “Why are you in riot gear? I don’t see no riot here.”
US lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are raising concerns and seeking investigations in the wake of Guardian reporting on whistleblower claims about practices within UnitedHealth Group’s nursing home partnership programs.
One US senator has announced he is launching an investigation and two US representatives are now calling on the US Department of Justice to expand its reported investigations of the nation’s largest healthcare conglomerate. Others said they are troubled by whistleblower allegations reported by the Guardian – including claims that UnitedHealth paid bonuses to nursing homes to help reduce residents’ hospital transfers and used improper sales tactics to get nursing home residents to sign up for the company’s Medicare Advantage plans.
Two Democratic members of Congress – representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Lloyd Doggett of Texas – filed a letter on Monday that urges the Department of Justice to “thoroughly review new revelations from investigative reporting and whistleblower complaints, which suggest that UnitedHealth may have engaged in illegal activities”.
Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, has said that the US is no longer pursuing the goal of an independent Palestinian state, marking what analysts describe as the most explicit abandonment yet of a cornerstone of US Middle East diplomacy.
Asked during an interview with Bloomberg News if a Palestinian state remains a goal of US policy, he replied: “I don’t think so.”
The former Arkansas governor chosen by Donald Trump as his envoy to Israel went further by suggesting that any future Palestinian entity could be carved out of “a Muslim country” rather than requiring Israel to cede territory.
A federal judge granted an injunction blocking the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing databases at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
The decision from U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, an appointee of former President Clinton, found DOGE was unlawfully given access to sweeping databases that cover current and former federal employees and also contain information on prospective hires.
“Following President Trump’s inauguration, OPM granted broad access to many of those systems to a group of individuals associated with the Department of Government Efficiency (‘DOGE’), even though no credible need for this access had been demonstrated. In doing so, OPM violated the law and bypassed its established cybersecurity practices,” Cote wrote.
President Trump on Tuesday announced the Pentagon will restore the names of the seven remaining military installations formerly named after Confederate generals after two others had been reverted back earlier this year.
“For a little breaking news, we are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Picket, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rutger, Fort Poke and Fort AP Hill and Fort Robert E. Lee,” Trump told attendees at a Fort Bragg, N.C. celebration marking the Army’s 250th anniversary.
The bases are currently known as Fort Barfoot in Virginia, Fort Cazavos in Texas, Fort Eisenhower in Georgia, Fort Novosel in Alabama, Fort Johnson in Louisiana, Fort Walker in Virginia, and Fort Gregg-Adams, also in Virginia, respectively.
“It’s no time to change,” Trump told the crowd. “And I’m superstitious, you know? I like to keep it going, right?”
The Pentagon is reviewing a Department of Homeland Security request to deploy more than 20,000 additional National Guard troops to aid the Trump administration's widening crackdown on illegal immigration around the United States, according to officials and documents.
Homeland Security officials want the troops to help track fugitives, quell riots at detention centers and search for unaccompanied children in remote or hostile terrain.
Meanwhile, Pentagon and Customs and Border Patrol officials have inspected military bases in recent months from New Jersey to California as potential sites to detain an expected influx of migrants.
Keeping 20,000 National Guardsmen on duty for one year would cost $3.6 billion, according to a U.S. official briefed on the potential deployment. However, it's unclear how many Guardsmen are available to fill the request, according to a Defense official.
The measures approved by Republican lawmakers in 2021 had been blocked since a judge issued a preliminary injunction against them that year. While the case was pending, voters passed an initiative that enshrined the right to abortions in the Montana Constitution.
Justices said in Monday’s ruling that the state constitution included a “right to be left alone” and have access to abortions. They said that right was not affected by a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a half-century of nationwide abortion rights.
Israeli forces have killed at least 60 Palestinians in Gaza on Monday, including at least 14 people near the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) aid centre in southern Rafah.The effort aims to deliver aid and break Israel’s blockade, as tonnes of humanitarian supplies pile up at the border crossing in Arish.
Russia launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment of the three-year war, the Ukrainian air force said Monday, as the Kremlin presses its summer offensive amid direct peace talks that have yet to deliver progress on stopping the fighting.
Despite the difficulties in reaching a ceasefire, Russia and Ukraine swapped another batch of prisoners of war Monday.
In addition to the 479 drones, 20 missiles of various types were fired at different parts of Ukraine from Sunday to Monday, according to the air force, which said the barrage targeted mainly central and western areas.
Ukraine’s air force said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 277 drones and 19 missiles, claiming only 10 drones or missiles hit their targets. Officials said one person was injured. It was not possible to independently verify the claims.
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