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Tag: Military and defense

  • China exploits US-funded research on nuclear technology, a congressional report says

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    WASHINGTON — China is exploiting partnerships with U.S. researchers funded by the Department of Energy to provide the Chinese military with access to sensitive nuclear technology and other innovations with economic and national security applications, according to a congressional report published Wednesday.

    The authors of the report say the U.S. must do more to protect high-tech research and ensure that the results of taxpayer-funded work don’t end up benefiting Beijing. They recommended several changes to better protect scientific research in the U.S., including new policies for the Department of Energy to use when deciding whether to fund work that involves Chinese partnerships.

    The investigation is part of a congressional push to raise a firewall blocking U.S. research from boosting China’s military buildup when the two countries are locked in a tech and arms rivalry that will shape the future global order.

    Investigators from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce identified more than 4,300 academic papers published between June 2023 and June of this year that involved collaborations between DOE-funded scientists and Chinese researchers. About half of the papers involved Chinese researchers affiliated with China’s military or industrial base.

    Particularly concerning, investigators found that federal funds went to research collaborations with Chinese state-owned laboratories and universities that work directly for China’s military, including some listed in a Pentagon database of Chinese military companies with operations in the U.S. The report also detailed collaborations between U.S. researchers and groups blamed for cyberattacks as well as human rights abuses in China.

    The Energy Department routinely funds advanced research into nuclear energy and the development and disposal of nuclear weaponry, along with a long list of other high-tech fields like quantum computing, materials science and physics. It doles out hundreds of millions of dollars each year for research. The department oversees 17 national laboratories that have led the development in many technologies.

    The report followed a number of congressional investigations into federally funded research involving Chinese scientists and researchers. Last year, a report released by Republicans found that partnerships between U.S. and Chinese universities over the past decade had allowed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to help Beijing develop critical technology that could help strengthen its military. Another investigation this year revealed that the Pentagon in a recent two-year period funded hundreds of projects in collaboration with Chinese entities linked to China’s defense industry.

    The Energy Department has failed for decades to take steps to ensure the research it funds doesn’t benefit China, the report’s authors found. They made several recommendations to tighten the rules, including a new standardized approach to assessing the national security risks of research, as well as requirements that the department share information about research ties with China with other U.S. government agencies to make it easier to spot problems.

    “These longstanding policy failures and inaction have left taxpayer-funded research vulnerable to exploitation by China’s defense research and industrial base and state-directed technology transfer activities,” the authors concluded.

    The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to questions about the report and its recommendations. A message seeking comment was left with the Chinese Embassy in Washington.

    Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the select committee, said in a statement that the “investigation reveals a deeply alarming problem: The Department of Energy failed to ensure the security of its research and it put American taxpayers on the hook for funding the military rise of our nation’s foremost adversary.”

    Moolenaar this year introduced legislation aimed at preventing research funding in science and technology and defense from going to collaborations or partnerships with “foreign adversary-controlled” entities that pose a national security risk.

    The legislation cleared the House but failed to advance to become part of the annual sweeping defense policy bill. It was met with strong opposition from scientists and researchers, who argued that the measures were too broad and could chill collaboration and undermine America’s competitive edge in science and technology.

    In an October letter, a group of more than 750 faculty members and senior staffers from American universities told congressional leaders overseeing the armed services that the U.S. is in a global competition for talent. They called for “very careful and targeted measures for risk management” to address security concerns.

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  • Senators seek to change bill that allows military to operate just like before the DC plane crash

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    Senators from both parties pushed Thursday for changes to a massive defense bill after crash investigators and victims’ families warned the legislation would undo key safety reforms stemming from a collision between an airliner and Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.

    The head of the National Transportation Safety Board investigating the crash, a group of the victims’ family members and senators on the Commerce Committee all said the bill the House advanced Wednesday would make America’s skies less safe. It would allow the military to operate essentially the same way as it did before the January crash, which was the deadliest in more than two decades, they said.

    Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and Republican Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz filed two amendments Thursday to strip out the worrisome helicopter safety provisions and replace them with a bill they introduced last summer to strengthen requirements, but it’s not clear if Republican leadership will allow the National Defense Authorization Act to be changed at this stage because that would delay its passage.

    “We owe it to the families to put into law actual safety improvements, not give the Department of Defense bigger loopholes to exploit,” the senators said.

    Right now, the bill includes exceptions that would allow military helicopters to fly through the crowded airspace around the nation’s capital without using a key system called ADS-B to broadcast their locations just like they did before the January collision. The Federal Aviation Administration began requiring that in March. NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy called the bill a “significant safety setback” that is inviting a repeat of that disaster.

    “It represents an unacceptable risk to the flying public, to commercial and military aircraft, crews and to the residents in the region,” Homendy said. “It’s also an unthinkable dismissal of our investigation and of 67 families … who lost loved ones in a tragedy that was entirely preventable. This is shameful.”

    The military used national security waivers before the crash to skirt FAA safety requirements on the grounds that they worried about the security risks of disclosing their helicopters’ locations. Tim and Sheri Lilley, whose son Sam was the first officer on the American Airlines jet, said this bill only adds “a window dressing fix that would continue to allow for the setting aside of requirements with nothing more than a cursory risk assessment.”

    Homendy said it would be ridiculous to entrust the military with assessing the safety risks when they aren’t the experts, and neither the Army nor the FAA noticed 85 close calls around Ronald Reagan National Airport in the years before the crash. She said the military doesn’t know how to do that kind of risk assessment, adding that no one writing the bill bothered to consult the experts at the NTSB who do know.

    The White House and military didn’t immediately respond Thursday to questions about these safety concerns. But earlier this week Trump made it clear that he wants to sign the National Defense Authorization Act because it advances a number of his priorities and provides a 3.8% pay raise for many military members.

    The Senate is expected to take up the bill next week, and it appears unlikely that any final changes will be made. But Congress is leaving for a holiday break at the end of the week, and the defense bill is considered something that must pass by the end of the year.

    But Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune, a Republican, didn’t immediately respond to questions about whether he will allow any amendments to the bill to be considered.

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  • Congress would target China with new restrictions in massive defense bill

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration may have softened its language on China to maintain a fragile truce in their trade war, but Congress is charging ahead with more restrictions in a defense authorization bill that would deny Beijing investments in highly sensitive sectors and reduce U.S. reliance on Chinese biotechnology companies.

    Included in the 3,000-page bill approved Wednesday by the House is a provision to scrutinize American investments in China that could help develop technologies to boost Chinese military power. The bill, which next heads to the Senate, also would prohibit government money to be used for equipment and services from blacklisted Chinese biotechnology companies.

    In addition, the National Defense Authorization Act would boost U.S. support for the self-governing island of Taiwan that Beijing claims as its own and says it will take by force if necessary.

    “Taken together, these measures reflect a serious, strategic approach to countering the Chinese Communist Party,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. He said the approach “stands in stark contrast to the White House’s recent actions.”

    Congress moves for harsher line toward China

    The compromise bill authorizing $900 billion for military programs was released two days after the White House unveiled its national security strategy. The Trump administration dropped Biden-era language that cast China as a strategic threat and said the U.S. “will rebalance America’s economic relationship with China,” an indication that President Donald Trump is more interested in a mutually advantageous economic relationship with Beijing than in long-term competition.

    The White House this week also allowed Nvidia to sell an advanced type of computer chip to China, with those more hawkish toward Beijing concerned that would help boost the country’s artificial intelligence.

    The China-related provisions in the traditionally bipartisan defense bill “make clear that, whatever the White House tone, Capitol Hill is locking in a hard-edged, long-term competition with Beijing,” said Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank.

    If passed, these provisions would “build a floor under U.S. competitiveness policy — on capital, biotech, and critical tech — that will be very hard for future presidents to unwind quietly,” he said.

    The Chinese embassy in Washington on Wednesday denounced the bill.

    “The bill has kept playing up the ‘China threat’ narrative, trumpeting for military support to Taiwan, abusing state power to go after Chinese economic development, limiting trade, economic and people-to-people exchanges between China and the U.S., undermining China’s sovereignty, security and development interests and disrupting efforts of the two sides in stabilizing bilateral relations,” said Liu Pengyu, the embassy spokesperson.

    “China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this,” Liu said.

    US investments in China

    U.S. policymakers and lawmakers have been working for several years toward bipartisan legislation to curb investments in China when it comes to cutting-edge technologies such as quantum computing, aerospace, semiconductors and artificial intelligence. Those efforts flopped last year when Tesla CEO Elon Musk opposed a spending bill.

    Musk has extensive business interests in China, including a Tesla gigafactory in the eastern city of Shanghai.

    The provision made it into the must-pass defense policy bill, welcomed by Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

    “For too long, the hard-earned money of American retirees and investors has been used to build up China’s military and economy,” he said. “This legislation will help bring that to an end.”

    Biosecurity protections

    Congress last year failed to pass the BIOSECURE Act, which cited national security in preventing federal money from benefiting a number of Chinese biotechnology companies. Critics said then that it was unfair to single out specific companies, warning that the measure would delay clinical trials and hinder development of new drugs, raise costs for medications and hurt innovation.

    The provision in the NDAA no longer names companies but leaves it to the Office of Management and Budget to compile a list of “biotechnology companies of concern.” The bill also would expand Pentagon investments in biotechnology.

    Moolenaar lauded the effort for taking “defensive action to secure American pharmaceutical supply chains and genetic information from malign Chinese companies.”

    Support for Taiwan

    The defense bill also would authorize an increase in funding, to $1 billion from $300 million this year, for Taiwan-related security cooperation and direct the Pentagon to establish a joint drone and anti-drone program.

    Another provision supports Taiwan’s bid to join the International Monetary Fund, which would provide the self-governing island with financial protection from China.

    It comes amid mixed signals from Trump, who appears careful not to upset Beijing as he seeks to strike trade deals with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Chinese leader has urged Trump to handle the Taiwan issue “with prudence,” as Beijing considers its claim over Taiwan a core interest.

    In the new national security strategy, the White House says the U.S. does not support any unilateral change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and stresses that the U.S. should seek to deter and prevent a large-scale military conflict.

    “But the American military cannot, and should not have to, do this alone,” the document says, urging Japan and South Korea to increase defense spending.

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  • US halts all asylum decisions as suspect in shooting of National Guard members faces murder charge

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    WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has halted all asylum decisions and paused issuing visas for people traveling on Afghan passports days after a shooting near the White House that left one National Guard member dead and another in critical condition.

    Investigators continued Saturday to seek a motive in the shooting, with the suspect a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War and now faces charges including first-degree murder. The man applied for asylum during the Biden administration and was granted it this year under Trump, according to a group that assists with resettlement of Afghans who helped U.S. forces in their country.

    The Trump administration has seized on the shooting to vow to intensify efforts to rein in legal immigration, promising to pause entry from some poor countries and review Afghans and other legal migrants already in the country. That is in addition to other measures, some of which were previously set in motion.

    Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died after the Wednesday shooting, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was hospitalized in critical condition. They were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard as part of Trump’s crime-fighting mission in the city. The president also has deployed or tried to deploy National Guard members to other cities to assist with his mass deportation efforts but has faced court challenges.

    U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said the charges against Rahmanullah Lakanwal also include two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed. In an interview on Fox News, she said there were “many charges to come.”

    Trump called the shooting a “terrorist attack” and criticized the Biden administration for enabling entry by Afghans who worked with U.S. forces.

    The director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said in a post on the social platform X that asylum decisions will be paused “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”

    Experts say the U.S. has rigorous vetting systems for asylum-seekers. Asylum claims made from inside the country through USCIS have long faced backlogs. Critics say the slowdown has been exacerbated during the Trump administration.

    Also Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his department paused “visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports.”

    Shawn VanDiver, president of the San Diego-based group #AfghanEvac, said in response: “They are using a single violent individual as cover for a policy they have long planned, turning their own intelligence failures into an excuse to punish an entire community and the veterans who served alongside them.”

    Lakanwal lived in Bellingham, Washington, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, former landlord Kristina Widman said.

    Neighbor Mohammad Sherzad said Lakanwal was polite and quiet and spoke little English.

    Sherzad said he attended the same mosque as Lakanwal and heard from other members that he was struggling to find work. He said Lakanwal “disappeared” about two weeks ago.

    Lakanwal worked briefly this summer as an independent contractor for Amazon Flex, which lets people use their own cars to deliver packages, according to a company spokesperson.

    Investigators are executing warrants in Washington state and other parts of the country.

    Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that resettled Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal, officials said. Lakanwal applied for asylum during that administration, but his asylum was approved this year under the Trump administration, #AfghanEvac said in a statement.

    Lakanwal served in a CIA-backed Afghan Army unit, known as one of the special Zero Units, in the southern province of Kandahar, according to a resident of the eastern province of Khost who identified himself as Lakanwal’s cousin and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

    The man said Lakanwal started out working for the unit as a security guard in 2012 and was later promoted to become a team leader and a GPS specialist.

    She enlisted in 2023 after graduating high school and served with distinction as a military police officer with the 863rd Military Police Company, the West Virginia National Guard said.

    “She exemplified leadership, dedication, and professionalism,” the guard said in a statement, adding that Beckstrom volunteered for the D.C. deployment.

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    Associated Press journalists Sarah Brumfield, Siddiqullah Alizai, Elena Becatoros, Randy Herschaft, Cedar Attanasio and Hallie Golden contributed.

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  • Trump pushes for more restrictions on Afghan refugees. Experts say many are already in place

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    The Trump administration is promising an even tougher anti-immigration agenda after an Afghan national was charged this week in the shooting of two National Guard members, with new restrictions targeting the tens of thousands of Afghans resettled in the U.S. and those seeking to come, many of whom served alongside American soldiers in the two-decade war.

    But those still waiting to come were already facing stricter measures as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on legal and illegal migration that began when he started his second term in January. And the Afghan immigrants living in the U.S. and now in the administration’s crosshairs were among the most extensively vetted, often undergoing years of security screening, experts and advocates say.

    The suspected shooter, who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War, “was vetted both before he landed, probably once he landed, once he applied for asylum,” said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute. “But more importantly, he was almost certainly vetted extensively and much more by the CIA.”

    Haris Tarin, a former U.S. official who worked on the Biden-era program that resettled Afghans, predicted that “as the investigation unfolds, you will see that this is not a failure of screening. This is a failure of us not being able to integrate — not just foreign intelligence and military personnel — but our own veterans, over the past 25 years.”

    The program Operations Allies Welcome initially brought roughly 76,000 Afghans to the United States, many of whom had worked alongside American troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators. The initiative was in place for around one year before shifting to a longer-term program called Operation Enduring Welcome. Almost 200,000 Afghans have been resettled in the U.S. under both programs.

    Among those brought to the U.S. under the program was the alleged shooter, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who now faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of 20-year-old Specialist Sarah Beckstrom. The other National Guard member who was shot, 24-year-old Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, remains in critical condition.

    Those resettlements are now on hold. The State Department has temporarily stopped issuing visas for all people traveling on Afghan passports, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced late Friday on X.

    Trump and his allies have seized on the shooting to criticize gaps in the U.S. vetting process and the speed of admissions, even though some Republicans spent the months and years after the 2021 withdrawal criticizing the Biden administration for not moving fast enough to approve some applications from Afghan allies.

    CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Lakanwal “should have never been allowed to come here,” Trump called lax migration policies “the single greatest national security threat facing our nation,” and Vice President JD Vance said Biden’s policy was “opening the floodgate to unvetted Afghan refugees.”

    That rhetoric quickly turned into policy announcements, with Trump saying he would “permanently pause all migration” from a list of nearly 20 countries, “terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions,” and “remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States.” Many of these changes had already been set in motion through a series of executive orders over the past 10 months, including most recently in June.

    “They are highlighting practices that were already going into place,” said Andrea Flores, a lawyer who was an immigration policy adviser in the Obama and Biden administrations.

    Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, and his request was approved in April of this year after undergoing a thorough vetting, according to #AfghanEvac, a group that helps resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the war.

    Flores said the system has worked across administrations: “You may hear people say, ‘Well, he was granted asylum under Trump. This is Trump’s problem.’ That’s not how our immigration system works. It relies on the same bedding. No asylum laws have really been changed by Congress.”

    Trump and other U.S. officials have used the attack to demand a re-examination for everyone who came to the U.S. from Afghanistan, a country he called “a hellhole on Earth” on Thursday.

    “These policies were already creating widespread disruption and fear among lawfully admitted families. What’s new and deeply troubling is the attempt to retroactively tie all of this to one act of violence in a way that casts suspicion on entire nationalities, including Afghan allies who risked their lives to protect our troops,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, said in a statement Friday.

    This has left the nearly 200,000 Afghans who are currently living across the U.S. in deep fear and shame over the actions of one person in their community. Those in the U.S. are now worrying about their legal status being revoked, while others in the immigration pipeline here and abroad are waiting in limbo.

    Nesar, a 22-year-old Afghan who arrived in America weeks after the fall of Kabul, said he had just begun to assimilate into life in the U.S. when the attack happened on Wednesday. He agreed to speak to the AP on condition that only his first name be used for fear of reprisals or targeting by immigration officials.

    “Life was finally getting easier for me. I’ve learned to speak English. I found a better job,” he said. “But after this happened two days ago, I honestly went to the grocery store this morning, and I was feeling so uncomfortable among all of those people. I was like, maybe they’re now looking at me the same way as the shooter.”

    Two days before the shooting, Nesar and his father, who worked for the Afghan president during the war, had received an interview date of Dec. 13 for their green card application, a moment he said they had been working toward for four years. However, he says it is now unclear if their application will move forward or if their interview will take place.

    Another Afghan national, who also spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, said that after fearing for his life under Taliban rule, he felt a sense of peace and hope when he finally received a special immigrant visa to come to the U.S. two years ago.

    He said he thought he could use his experience working as a defense attorney in Afghanistan to contribute to American society. But now, he says the actions of an “extremist who, despite benefiting from the safety and livelihood provided by this country, ungratefully attacked two American soldiers,” he and other Afghans will once again face scrutiny.

    “It seems that whenever a terrorist commits a crime, its shadow falls upon me simply because I am from Afghanistan,” he added.

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    Associated Press writer Renata Brito contributed to this report from Barcelona, Spain.

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  • Talks on UK access to an EU defense fund have broken down

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    LONDON — Talks on the U.K. joining a major European Union defense fund have ended without agreement, the British government said Friday, in a blow to its post-Brexit reset with the 27-nation bloc.

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer, elected last year, pledged to repair ties with the EU strained by Britain’s acrimonious departure in 2020. In May, the U.K. and the EU announced new agreements on trade, travel and defense that Starmer hailed as a “win-win.”

    The plan was for the U.K. defense industry to access a 150 billion euro ($170 billion) EU loan program, known as Security Action for Europe, or SAFE, set up to help Ukraine and the rest of Europe defend itself. That would allow British firms to secure cheap EU-backed loans to procure military equipment.

    But negotiations foundered over money, with Europe demanding more for Britain’s participation than the U.K. was willing to pay.

    British EU Relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said Friday that the “negotiations were carried out in good faith, but our position was always clear: we will only sign agreements that are in the national interest and provide value for money.

    “While it is disappointing that we have not been able to conclude discussions on U.K. participation in the first round of SAFE, the U.K. defense industry will still be able to participate in projects through SAFE on third country terms,” he said.

    Third countries can participate in SAFE projects up to a maximum of 35% of the value of a contract, but Britain had been trying to negotiate a higher threshold.

    Thomas-Symonds said the two sides “continue to make strong progress” on other parts of the May agreement, including energy and trade in food and drink.

    EU spokesperson Thomas Regnier said the bloc remains “fully committed to delivering our ambitious U.K.- EU security and defense partnership.

    “If an agreement could not be found at this point in time, let’s not forget that SAFE is open by design,” he said. “The U.K. can by default participate in SAFE up to 35%.”

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  • Refugee groups worry about backlash after shooting of National Guard soldiers in DC

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    SEATTLE — People who work with refugees are worried that those who fled dangerous situations to start again in America will face backlash after authorities say an Afghan national shot two National Guard soldiers this week, killing one of them.

    Many Afghans living in the U.S. are afraid to leave their houses, fearing they’ll be swept up by immigration officials or attacked with hate speech, said Shawn VanDiver, president of the San Diego-based group #AfghanEvac, a group that helps resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the two-decade war.

    “They’re terrified. It’s insane,” VanDiver told The Associated Press Thursday. “People are acting xenophobic because of one deranged man. He doesn’t represent all Afghans. He represents himself.”

    Officials say Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, drove from his home in Bellingham, Washington, to the nation’s capital where he shot two West Virginia National Guard members deployed in Washington, D.C.

    President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, had died from her injuries. Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remained hospitalized in critical condition.

    Lakanwal had worked in a special CIA-backed Afghan Army unit before emigrating from Afghanistan, according to #AfghanEvac and two sources who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

    He applied for asylum during the Biden administration and his asylum was approved this year after undergoing a thorough vetting, the group said.

    After the shooting, Trump said his administration would review everyone who entered from the country under former President Joe Biden — a measure his administration had been planning even before the shooting.

    Refugee groups fear they’ll now be considered guilty by association.

    Ambassador Ashraf Haidari, founder and president of Displaced International, which provides resources, advocacy and support to displaced people worldwide, said there must be a thorough investigation and justice for those who were harmed, “but even as we pursue accountability, one individual’s alleged actions cannot be allowed to define, burden, or endanger entire communities who had no part in this tragedy.”

    Matthew Soerens, a vice president with World Relief, a Christian humanitarian organization that helps settle refugees, including Afghan nationals in Whatcom County, Washington, said the person responsible for the shooting should face justice under the law.

    “Regardless of the alleged perpetrator’s nationality, religion or specific legal status, though,” he said, “we urge our country to recognize these evil actions as those of one person, not to unfairly judge others who happen to share those same characteristics.”

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  • Trump: Guard member shot by Afghan national dies

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    An Afghan national has been accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence. The guard members had deployed to the nation’s capital and were shot Wednesday afternoon.…

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    By BEN FINLEY, ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER – Associated Press

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  • What we do and don’t know about the shooting of 2 National Guard members in DC

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    WASHINGTON — The brazen daytime shooting of two National Guard members in the nation’s capital by a man authorities said is an Afghan national has raised multiple questions.

    That includes the condition of the wounded troops and details about the suspect and his motive for the attack a day before Thanksgiving.

    Here’s what we know so far, and what we don’t know:

    FBI Director Kash Patel and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said the two Guard members were hospitalized in critical condition.

    They belong to the West Virginia National Guard, which deployed hundreds of troops to the nation’s capital as part of President Donald Trump’s crime-fighting mission that involved taking over the local police department.

    There were nearly 2,200 Guard members in D.C. for the mission.

    Unknown so far are the names and more details about the two troops who were wounded.

    West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey initially posted on social media that two of his state’s Guard members were killed. He later walked that back, saying his office was “receiving conflicting reports” about their condition. Morrisey has not elaborated.

    Bowser called the attack a “targeted shooting.”

    Jeffery Carroll, an executive assistant D.C. police chief, said video reviewed by investigators showed the assailant “came around the corner” and immediately started firing at the troops. The suspect opened fire with a revolver, according to a law enforcement official.

    At least one Guard member exchanged gunfire with the shooter, another law enforcement official said. Both were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

    Troops ran over and held down the shooter, Carroll said, and he was taken into custody. Authorities believe he was the only gunman.

    Carroll said that it was not clear whether one of the Guard members or a law enforcement officer shot the suspect and that investigators so far had no information on a motive.

    The suspect’s wounds were not believed to be life-threatening, one of the officials said.

    The suspect is believed to be a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the U.S. in September 2021 and has been living in Washington state, two law enforcement officials and a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

    He came to the U.S. through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said.

    Law enforcement identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, but authorities were still working to fully confirm his background, they said. The people could not discuss details of an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

    Lakamal arrived in Bellingham, Washington, about four years ago with his wife and five children, according to his former landlord Kristina Widman.

    They were among about 800 Afghan refugees that settled in Washington state under Operation Allies Welcome with the financial support of the U.S. government. Among those that partnered with federal agencies to sponsor the Afghan families was World Relief, a faith-based group that helped the refugees with finding housing, employment training and language classes as they settled in the Seattle area.

    It’s unclear how Lakanwal might have traveled to the nation’s capital, which is about 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) away.

    Soon after the shooting, Trump said he would send 500 more National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. It’s not clear where the additional troops would come from.

    As of early November, the D.C. National Guard had the largest number on the ground with 949. In addition to West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama also had forces in the capital early this month.

    A federal judge last week ordered an end to the Guard deployment but also put her order on hold for 21 days to allow the Trump administration time to either remove the troops or appeal.

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    Associated Press journalists Alanna Durkin Richer, Eric Tucker, Michael R. Sisak, Mike Balsamo, Michael Biesecker and Jesse Bedayn contributed to this report.

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  • Trump says lax migration policies are top national security threat after National Guard members shot

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    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday’s “heinous assault” on two National Guard members near the White House proves that lax migration policies are “the single greatest national security threat facing our nation.”

    “No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival,” he said.

    Trump’s remarks, released in a video on social media, underscores his intention to reshape the country’s immigration system and increase scrutiny of migrants who are already here. With aggressive deportation efforts already underway, his response to the shooting showed that his focus will not waver.

    The suspect in the shooting is believed to be an Afghan national, according to Trump and two law enforcement officials. He entered the United States in September 2021, after the chaotic collapse of the government in Kabul, when Americans were frantically evacuating people as the Taliban took control.

    The 29-year-old suspect was part of Operation Allies Welcome, the Biden-era program that resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said. The initiative brought roughly 76,000 Afghans to the United States, many of whom had worked alongside American troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators.

    It has since faced intense scrutiny from Trump and his allies, congressional Republicans and some government watchdogs over gaps in the vetting process and the speed of admissions, even as advocates say it offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.

    Trump described Afghanistan as “a hellhole on earth,” and he said his administration would review everyone who entered from the country under President Joe Biden — a measure his administration had already been planning before the incident.

    During his remarks, Trump also swung his focus to Minnesota, where he complained about “hundreds of thousands of Somalians” who are “ripping apart that once-great state.”

    Minnesota has the country’s largest Somali community, roughly 87,000 people. Many came as refugees over the years.

    The reference to immigrants with no connection to Wednesday’s developments was a reminder of the scope of Trump’s ambitions to rein in migration.

    Administration officials have been ramping up deportations of people in the country illegally, as well as clamping down on refugee admissions. The focus has involved the realignment of resources at federal agencies, stirring concern about potentially undermining other law enforcement priorities.

    However, Trump’s remarks were a signal that scrutiny of migrants and the nation’s borders will only increase. He said he wants to remove anyone “who does not belong here or does not add benefit to our country.”

    “If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” Trump added.

    Afterward, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it would indefinitely stop processing all immigration requests for Afghan nationals pending a review of security and vetting protocols.

    Supporters of Afghan evacuees said they feared that people who escaped danger from the Taliban would now face renewed suspicion and scrutiny.

    “I don’t want people to leverage this tragedy into a political ploy,” said Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac.

    He said Wednesday’s shooting should not shed a negative light on the tens of thousands of Afghan nationals who have gone through the various legal pathways to resettling in the U.S. and those who await in the pipeline.

    Under Operation Allies Welcome, tens of thousands of Afghans were first brought to U.S. military bases around the country, where they completed immigration processing and medical evaluations before settling into the country. Four years later, there are still scores of Afghans who were evacuated at transit points in the Middle East and Europe as part of the program.

    Those in countries like Qatar and Albania, who have undergone the rigorous process, have been left in limbo since Trump entered his second term and paused the program as part of his series of executive actions cracking down on immigration.

    Vice President JD Vance, writing on social media, criticized Biden for “opening the floodgate to unvetted Afghan refugees,” adding that “they shouldn’t have been in our country.”

    “Already some voices in corporate media chirp that our immigration policies are too harsh,” he said. “Tonight is a reminder of why they’re wrong.”

    ___

    Amiri reported from New York. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Turkey pardons offer holiday ritual during precarious moment for Trump

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    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to bestow ceremonial pardons on two turkeys and fly to his private Florida resort on Tuesday to celebrate Thanksgiving, a holiday interlude during what has been a turbulent and uncertain chapter of his second term.

    Waddle and Gobble, the two birds that will be spared from the dinner table, enjoyed luxury hotel accommodations ahead of their White House visit. The turkey pardon is a presidential tradition dating back years.

    However, Thanksgiving may not provide Trump with much political respite after Democrats won sweeping victories in New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere earlier this month. Some research indicates that holiday meals could cost more this year, despite the president’s insistence otherwise, a reminder of persistent frustration with elevated prices.

    Meanwhile, Trump is struggling to advance a plan to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine after an earlier version faced swift criticism from European allies and even some Republicans. The U.S. military is also poised to target Venezuela with military strikes, part of an anti-drug operation that could ultimately destabilize the country’s leadership.

    In Washington, Trump faces the possibility of a splintering Republican coalition ahead of next year’s midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress. Some members of his party already took the rare step of crossing the president by successfully pushing legislation to force the Justice Department to release more documents about the Jeffrey Epstein case.

    Trump faced a setback in court this week when a federal judge tossed cases against James Comey and Letitia James, two targets of the president’s retribution campaign.

    Comey, a former FBI director whom Trump fired during his first term, was charged with making a false statement and obstructing Congress. James, the New York attorney general who investigated the president between his two terms, was charged with mortgage fraud.

    Both pleaded not guilty and said the prosecutions were politically motivated, pointing to Trump’s public demands for the Justice Department to punish his enemies.

    The judge said the interim U.S. attorney, a former member of Trump’s personal legal team, who obtained the indictments was illegally appointed. However, the decision was made without prejudice, so the Justice Department could try again to charge Comey and James.

    All of the latest developments contribute to a moment of frenetic activity for the White House, which would normally be settling in for a quiet and festive holiday season.

    However, despite the traditional arrival of a Christmas tree on Monday, the presidential residence will be much different this year. Although holiday tours are expected to continue, Trump’s decision to demolish the building’s East Wing to make room for a new ballroom has turned part of the White House grounds into a construction site.

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  • US signals broader efforts to protect Nigeria’s Christians following Trump’s military threat

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    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration is promoting efforts to work with Nigeria’s government to counter violence against Christians, signaling a broader strategy since he ordered preparations for possible military action and warned that the United States could go in “guns-a-blazing” to wipe out Islamic militants.

    A State Department official said this past week that plans involve much more than just the potential use of military force, describing an expansive approach that includes diplomatic tools, such as potential sanctions, but also assistance programs and intelligence sharing with the Nigerian government.

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also met with Nigeria’s national security adviser to discuss ways to stop the violence, posting photos on social media of the two of them shaking hands and smiling. It contrasted with Trump’s threats this month to stop all assistance to Nigeria if its government “continues to allow the killing of Christians.”

    The efforts may support Trump’s pledge to avoid more involvement in foreign conflicts and come as the U.S. security footprint has diminished in Africa, where military partnerships have either been scaled down or canceled. American forces likely would have to be drawn from other parts of the world for any military intervention in Nigeria.

    Still, the Republican president has kept up the pressure as Nigeria faced a series of attacks on schools and churches in violence that experts and residents say targets both Christians and Muslims.

    “I’m really angry about it,” the president said Friday when asked about the new violence on the “Brian Kilmeade Show” on Fox News Radio. He alleged that Nigeria’s government has “done nothing” and said “what’s happening in Nigeria is a disgrace.”

    The Nigerian government has rejected his claims.

    Following his meeting Thursday with Nigerian national security adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Hegseth on Friday posted on social media that the Pentagon is “working aggressively with Nigeria to end the persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists.”

    “Hegseth emphasized the need for Nigeria to demonstrate commitment and take both urgent and enduring action to stop violence against Christians and conveyed the Department’s desire to work by, with, and through Nigeria to deter and degrade terrorists that threaten the United States,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

    Jonathan Pratt, who leads the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, told lawmakers Thursday that “possible Department of War engagement” is part of the larger plan, while the issue has been discussed by the National Security Council, an arm of the White House that advises the president on national security and foreign policy.

    But Pratt described a wide-ranging approach at a congressional hearing about Trump’s recent designation of Nigeria as “a country of particular concern” over religious freedom, which opens the door for sanctions.

    “This would span from security to policing to economic,” he said. “We want to look at all of these tools and have a comprehensive strategy to get the best result possible.”

    The violence in Nigeria is far more complex than Trump has portrayed, with militant Islamist groups like Boko Haram killing both Christians and Muslims. At the same time, mainly Muslim herders and mostly Christian farmers have been fighting over land and water. Armed bandits who are motivated more by money than religion also are carrying out abductions for ransom, with schools being a popular target.

    In two mass abductions at schools this past week, students were kidnapped from a Catholic school Friday and others taken days earlier from a school in a Muslim-majority town. In a separate attack, gunmen killed two people at a church and abducted several worshippers.

    The situation has drawn increasing global attention. Rapper Nicki Minaj spoke at a U.N. event organized by the U.S., saying “no group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion.”

    If the Trump administration did decide to organize an intervention, the departure of U.S. forces from neighboring Niger and their forced eviction from a French base near Chad’s capital last year have left fewer resources in the region.

    Options include mobilizing resources from far-flung Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and from smaller, temporary hubs known as cooperative security locations. U.S. forces are operating in those places for specific missions, in conjunction with countries such as Ghana and Senegal, and likely aren’t big enough for an operation in Nigeria.

    The region also has become a diplomatic black hole following a series of coups that rocked West Africa, leading military juntas to push out former Western partners. In Mali, senior American officials are now trying to reengage the junta.

    Even if the U.S. military redirects forces and assets to strike inside Nigeria, some experts question how effective military action would be.

    Judd Devermont, a senior adviser of the Africa program for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said if Trump orders a few performative airstrikes, they would likely fail to degrade the Islamic militants who have been killing Christians and Muslims alike.

    “Nigeria’s struggles with insecurity are decades in the making,” said Devermont, who was senior director for African affairs at the National Security Council under Democratic President Joe Biden. “It will not be reversed overnight by an influx of U.S. resources.”

    Addressing the violence would require programs such as economic and interfaith partnerships as well as more robust policing, Devermont said, adding that U.S. involvement would require Nigeria’s cooperation.

    “This is not a policy of neglect by the Nigerian government — it’s a problem of capacity,” Devermont said. “The federal government does not want to see its citizens being killed by Boko Haram and doesn’t want to see sectarian violence spiral out the way it has.”

    The Nigerian government rejected unilateral military intervention but said it welcomes help fighting armed groups.

    Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State of West Africa Province, have been waging a devastating Islamist insurgency in the northeastern region and the Lake Chad region, Africa’s largest basin. Militants often crisscross the lake on fast-moving boats, spilling the crisis into border countries like Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

    U.S. intervention without coordinating with the Nigerian government would carry enormous danger.

    “The consequences are that if the U.S deploys troops on the ground without understanding the context they are in, it poses risks to the troops,” said Malik Samuel, a security researcher at Good Governance Africa.

    Nigeria’s own aerial assaults on armed groups have routinely resulted in accidental airstrikes that have killed civilians.

    To get targeting right, the governments need a clear picture of the overlapping causes of farmer-herder conflict and banditry in border areas. Misreading the situation could send violence spilling over into neighboring countries, Samuel added.

    ___

    Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria, and Metz from Rabat, Morocco.

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  • Coast Guard reverses course on policy to call swastikas and nooses ‘potentially divisive’

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    WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard has released a new, firmer policy addressing the display of hate symbols like swastikas and nooses just hours after it was publicly revealed that it made plans to describe them as “potentially divisive” — a term that prompted outcry from lawmakers and advocates.

    “Divisive or hate symbols and flags are prohibited,” the latest Coast Guard policy, released late Thursday, declared before adding that this category included “a noose, a swastika, and any symbols or flags co-opted or adopted by hate-based groups.”

    “This is not an updated policy but a new policy to combat any misinformation and double down that the U.S. Coast Guard forbids these symbols,” an accompanying Coast Guard press release said.

    The late-night change came on the same day that media outlets, led by The Washington Post, discovered that the Coast Guard had written a policy earlier this month that called those same symbols “potentially divisive.” The term was a shift from a years-long policy, first rolled out in 2019, that said symbols like swastikas and nooses were “widely identified with oppression or hatred” and called their display “a potential hate incident.”

    The latest policy that was rolled out Thursday night also unequivocally banned the display of any divisive or hate symbols from all Coast Guard locations. The earlier version stopped short of banning the symbols, instead saying that commanders could take steps to remove them from public view and that the rule did not apply to private spaces outside of public view, such as family housing.

    Both policies maintained a long-standing prohibition on publicly displaying the Confederate flag outside of a handful of situations, such as educational or historical settings.

    The latest Coast Guard policy appears to take effect immediately.

    After the initial policy change became public, Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada said the change “rolls back important protections against bigotry and could allow for horrifically hateful symbols like swastikas and nooses to be inexplicably permitted to be displayed.”

    “At a time when antisemitism is rising in the United States and around the world, relaxing policies aimed at fighting hate crimes not only sends the wrong message to the men and women of our Coast Guard, but it puts their safety at risk,” she added.

    Admiral Kevin Lunday, acting commandant of the Coast Guard, said the policy did not roll back any prohibitions, calling it “categorically false” to claim otherwise in a statement released earlier Thursday.

    “These symbols have been and remain prohibited in the Coast Guard per policy,” Lunday said in a statement, adding that “any display, use or promotion of such symbols, as always, will be thoroughly investigated and severely punished.”

    Lunday’s predecessor, Admiral Linda Fagan, was fired on President Donald Trump’s first day in office. Trump officials later said she fired in part for putting an “excessive focus” on diversity and inclusion efforts that diverted “resources and attention from operational imperatives.”

    The older policy that was rolled out earlier in November also explicitly said that “the terminology ‘hate incident’ is no longer present in policy” and conduct that would have previously been handled as a potential hate incident will now be treated as “a report of harassment in cases with an identified aggrieved individual.”

    Commanders, in consultation with lawyers, may order or direct the removal of “potentially divisive” symbols or flags if they are found to be affecting the unit’s morale or discipline, according to the policy.

    The newest policy is silent on whether Coast Guard personnel will be able to claim they were victims of hate incidents.

    The Coast Guard is under the Department of Homeland Security, but it is still considered a part of America’s armed forces and the new policy was updated in part to be consistent with similar Pentagon directives, according to a Coast Guard message announcing the changes.

    It also has historically modeled many of its human resources policies on other military services.

    The policy change comes less than two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a review of all the hazing, bullying and harassment definitions across the military, arguing that the policies were “overly broad” and they were “jeopardizing combat readiness, mission accomplishment, and trust in the organization.”

    The Pentagon could not offer any details about what the review was specifically looking at, if it could lead to similar changes as seen in the Coast Guard policy or when the review would be complete.

    Menachem Rosensaft, a law professor at Cornell University and a Jewish community leader, said in a statement that “the swastika is the ultimate symbol of virulent hate and bigotry, and even a consideration by the Coast Guard to no longer classify it as such would be equivalent to dismissing the Ku Klux Klan’s burning crosses and hoods as merely ‘potentially divisive.’”

    Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the move “disgusting, and it’s more encouragement from the Republicans of extremism.”

    ___

    Haigh reported from Norwich, Connecticut.

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  • Trump: Democrats’ message to military ‘seditious behavior’

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    President Donald Trump is accusing half a dozen Democratic lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” after the lawmakers called on U.S. military members to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders.” The 90-second video was first posted early Tuesday from…

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    By MEG KINNARD – Associated Press

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  • Melania Trump and Usha Vance are making an early holiday visit with North Carolina military families

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    WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump and Usha Vance were headed out on their first trip together Wednesday to spend time with North Carolina service members and their families in a show of appreciation for their service and sacrifice as the holidays approach.

    The wives of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, a former Marine, were scheduled to visit with military personnel at Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps base on the East Coast, and Marine Corps Air Station New River.

    The day includes joint appearances with military-connected students and remarks from both women to a gathering of service members and their families, according to Trump’s office.

    The first lady was expected in her remarks to recognize the Marine Corps’ 250 years of service, express gratitude to Marines and military families, especially during the holiday season, and highlight the importance of families in supporting the U.S. military.

    She also was expected to highlight another issue she has been focusing on lately: the rapid evolution of technology, including artificial intelligence.

    Both women were hitting the road the morning after they attended the first formal White House dinner of Trump’s second administration, a black-tie affair planned by the first lady to honor Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.

    They have appeared together at other public events, most notably at the inauguration of their husbands at the Capitol in January. Other joint appearances came at a White House event celebrating military mothers and a luncheon for Senate spouses, both in May; opening night of “Les Misérables” at the Kennedy Center in June; and the president’s signing last week of an executive order to help foster children. The order was in support of the first lady’s Fostering the Future program, which is part of her child-focused Be Best initiative.

    Melania Trump has centered her work around children, starting with the launch of Be Best during her husband’s first term to focus on their welfare, online safety and opioid abuse.

    Last month, she announced that eight children displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war had been reunited with their families following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    Earlier this year, the first lady helped lobby Congress to pass legislation imposing federal penalties for online sexual exploitation, often targeting young girls. Her husband signed the bill into law in May.

    Usha Vance, a former lawyer, launched a “Summer Reading Challenge” to encourage students in kindergarten through eighth grade to read 12 books during the school break. Certificates and prizes were promised to those who completed the challenge.

    The second lady often accompanies the vice president on his trips and sometimes brings along their three young children.

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  • US aircraft carrier arrives in the Caribbean in major buildup near Venezuela

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    WASHINGTON — The nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier arrived in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday in a display of U.S. military power, raising questions about what the new influx of troops and weaponry could signal for the Trump administration’s intentions in South America as it conducts military strikes against vessels suspected of transporting drugs.

    The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships, announced by the Navy in a statement, marks a major moment in what the administration insists is a counterdrug operation but has been seen as an escalating pressure tactic against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

    The Ford rounds off the largest buildup of U.S. firepower in the region in generations. With its arrival, the “Operation Southern Spear” mission includes nearly a dozen Navy ships and about 12,000 sailors and Marines.

    The carrier’s arrival came as the military announced its latest deadly strike on a small boat it claims was engaged in ferrying illegal drugs. The military’s Southern Command posted a video on X on Sunday showing the boat being blown up, an attack it said took place Saturday in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean and killed three men. The military did not immediately respond to a request for more information.

    Since early September, such strikes by the U.S. in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have now killed at least 83 people in 21 attacks.

    The carrier strike group, which includes squadrons of fighter jets and guided-missile destroyers, transited the Anegada Passage near the British Virgin Islands on Sunday morning, the Navy said.

    Rear Adm. Paul Lanzilotta, who commands the strike group, said it will bolster an already large force of American warships to “protect our nation’s security and prosperity against narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere.”

    Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander who oversees the Caribbean and Latin America, said in a statement that the American forces “stand ready to combat the transnational threats that seek to destabilize our region.”

    Holsey, who will retire next month after just a year on the job, said the strike group’s deployment is “a critical step in reinforcing our resolve to protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and the safety of the American Homeland.”

    In Trinidad and Tobago, which is only 7 miles from Venezuela at its closest point, government officials said troops have begun “training exercises” with the U.S. military that will run through much of the week.

    Minister of Foreign Affairs Sean Sobers described the joint exercises as the second in less than a month and said they are aimed at tackling violent crime on the island nation, which has become a stopover point for drug shipments headed to Europe and North America. The prime minister has been a vocal supporter of the U.S. military strikes.

    The exercises will include Marines from the 22nd Expeditionary Unit who have been stationed aboard the Navy ships that have been looming off Venezuela’s coast for months.

    Venezuela’s government has described the training exercises as an act of aggression. It had no immediate comment Sunday on the arrival of the aircraft carrier.

    Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said Sunday that U.S. troops have been training in Panama, underscoring the administration’s increasing focus on Latin America.

    “We’re reactivating our jungle school in Panama. We would be ready to act on whatever” Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth needed, he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

    The administration has insisted that the buildup of American forces in the region is focused on stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S., but it has released no evidence to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were “narcoterrorists.” Trump has indicated military action would expand beyond strikes by sea, saying the U.S. would “stop the drugs coming in by land.”

    The U.S. has long used aircraft carriers to pressure and deter aggression by other nations because their warplanes can strike targets deep inside another country. Some experts say the Ford is ill-suited to fighting cartels, but it could be an effective instrument of intimidation for Maduro in a push to get him to step down.

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States does not recognize Maduro, who was widely accused of stealing last year’s election, as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Rubio has called Venezuela’s government a “transshipment organization” that openly cooperates with those trafficking drugs.

    Rubio said in a statement released Sunday evening that the State Department intends to designate Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, a foreign terrorist organization. Rubio said the cartel is headed by Maduro and other high-ranking members of his government and is among those “responsible for terrorist violence throughout our hemisphere as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe.” When the designation takes effect on Nov. 24, it will be a crime to provide “material support” to the cartel or its members.

    Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S., has said the U.S. government is “fabricating” a war against him. On his Facebook page, Maduro wrote on Sunday that the “Venezuelan people are ready to defend their homeland against any criminal aggression.”

    Venezuela’s government recently touted a “massive” mobilization of troops and civilians to defend against possible U.S. attacks. Maduro and other officials in Venezuela’s socialist party also have been attending rallies this weekend to back the creation of neighborhood committees that will be in charge of increasing membership in Venezuela’s socialist party, and promoting the party’s policies.

    Trump has justified the attacks on drug boats by saying the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels while claiming the boats are operated by foreign terrorist organizations.

    He has faced pushback from leaders in the region, the U.N. human rights chief and U.S. lawmakers, including Republicans, who have pressed for more information on who is being targeted and the legal justification for the boat strikes.

    Senate Republicans, however, recently voted to reject legislation that would have put a check on Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela without congressional authorization.

    Experts disagree on whether or not American warplanes may be used to strike land targets inside Venezuela. Either way, the 100,000-ton warship is sending a message.

    “This is the anchor of what it means to have U.S. military power once again in Latin America,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for the Andes region. “And it has raised a lot of anxieties in Venezuela but also throughout the region. I think everyone is watching this with sort of bated breath to see just how willing the U.S. is to really use military force.”

    ___

    Associated Press writers Anselm Gibbs in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Gabriela Molina in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

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  • South Korean president calls for aggressive AI spending in budget speech

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    SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday called for tripling the government spending on projects for expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure and technology in a budget speech.

    Lee also called for lawmakers to approve a planned 8.2% increase in defense spending next year, which he said would help modernize the military’s weapons systems and reduce its reliance on the United States, as the allies’ military chiefs met in Seoul for annual security talks.

    Most conservative opposition lawmakers boycotted Lee’s speech amid an ongoing rift over a criminal investigation into former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief imposition of martial law in December.

    Lee’s speech came after South Korea last week hosted the leaders of major Pacific Rim nations for this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings, which his government used to showcase its ambitions for AI and advance an effort at a trade deal with the U.S.

    In his speech at the National Assembly, Lee highlighted his APEC diplomacy and a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, which he said eased uncertainties facing South Korea’s trade-dependent economy by securing lower tariffs on automobiles and computer chips, two of the country’s key exports.

    He said the country was still facing a critical moment for “national survival” amid rapid changes in the global trade order and a “huge, transformative wave of AI.”

    Lee said the proposed budget of 728 trillion won ($506 billion), which would represent an all-time high for government spending, would be the country’s “first budget to open the AI era.”

    He called on the liberal-led legislature to approve 10.1 trillion won ($6.9 billion) in AI-related spending — more than triple this year’s level — to advance the country’s AI computing and manufacturing capabilities, with a particular focus on industries such as semiconductors, automobiles, shipbuilding and robotics.

    “Just as President Park Chung-hee paved the highway for industrialization and President Kim Dae-jung built the highway for the information age, we must now construct the highway for the AI era to open a future of progress and growth,” Lee said, referring to major development drives under Park’s dictatorship in the 1960s and ’70s and Kim’s presidency from 1998 to 2003, which focused on expanding South Korea’s internet infrastructure.

    Lee said South Korean companies would have little difficulty securing the chips for their AI projects, citing a deal for Nvidia, whose GPUs power much of the global AI industry, to supply 260,000 graphics processing units for AI infrastructure projects with major South Korean businesses and the government. The deal was announced following a meeting during APEC between Lee and Jensen Huang, the Silicon Valley company’s chief executive.

    It isn’t immediately clear when Nvidia — which agreed to deliver 50,000 GPUs each to the government, chipmakers Samsung and SK, and automaker Hyundai, and another 60,000 to internet company Naver — will deliver those chips. Huang told reporters in South Korea that AI data centers and power networks must first be established before the company can begin shipping the GPUs.

    Concerns have grown over the projects’ future after Trump said aboard Air Force One on Monday that only U.S. customers should have access to Nvidia’s latest Blackwell AI chips, declaring, “We don’t give that chip to other people.”

    Lee proposed a defense budget of 66.3 trillion won ($46 billion) next year, which he said will be focused on modernizing the military’s weapons systems, including through the adoption of AI technologies, to make the armed forces more self-reliant.

    “It’s a matter of national pride that South Korea, which spends 1.4 times North Korea’s annual GDP on defense and is perceived as the world’s fifth most powerful military, continues to depend on others for its security,” Lee said.

    During his meeting with Trump, Lee reaffirmed South Korea’s commitment to increase defense spending and called for U.S. support for South Korean efforts to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

    Trump later said on social media that the United States will share closely-held technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, and that the vessel will be built in the Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, which was bought last year by South Korea’s Hanwha Group.

    Lee’s speech came as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back were meeting in Seoul for the allies’ annual security talks. The meeting is expected to address key alliance issues, including South Korea’s defense spending commitments and the implementation of a plan to transfer wartime operational control to a joint command led by a South Korean general with a U.S. deputy.

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  • Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba pick up the pieces

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    SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba — The rumble of large machinery, whine of chain saws and chopping of machetes echoed through communities across the northern Caribbean on Thursday as they dug out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa and surveyed the damage left behind.

    In Jamaica, government workers and residents began clearing roads in a push to reach dozens of isolated communities in the island’s southeast that sustained a direct hit from one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record.


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    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    By ARIEL FERNÁNDEZ, ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ and JOHN MYERS JR. – Associated Press

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  • Mali closes schools due to fuel scarcity as militants enforce blockade

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    BAMAKO, Mali — Mali closed schools and universities nationwide starting Sunday due to a fuel scarcity caused by a blockade on fuel imports jihadi militants imposed on the capital.

    Education Minister Amadou Sy Savane announced on state television classes would be suspended for two weeks “due to disruptions in fuel supplies that are affecting the movement of school staff.”

    Militants from the al-Qaida-backed Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin group announced a ban on fuel imports from neighboring countries into Mali in early September, squeezing the landlocked country’s fragile economy and leaving hundreds of fuel trucks stranded at the border.

    Mali, along with neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, has battled an insurgency by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group as well as local rebels. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, they have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance, which analysts say has made little difference.

    In Mali’s capital, Bamako, endless queues have stretched in front of gas stations and the fuel scarcity has affected the price of commodities and transportation.

    For a country that relies on fuel imports for domestic needs, the blockade is seen as a significant setback for Mali’s military junta. The junta defended its forceful takeover of power in 2020 as a necessary step to end decades of security crises.

    The Malian military attempted to escort some fuel trucks from border areas to Bamako. Some trucks arrived but others were attacked by militants.

    The education minister said Sunday that authorities were “doing everything possible” to restore normal fuel supplies before schools resume classes Nov. 10.

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  • US military flew supersonic B-1 bombers up to the coast of Venezuela

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    WASHINGTON — The U.S. military flew a pair of supersonic, heavy bombers up to the coast of Venezuela on Thursday, a little over a week after another group of American bombers made a similar journey as part of a training exercise to simulate an attack.

    The U.S. military has built up an unusually large force in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off of Venezuela, raising speculation that President Donald Trump could try to topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S.

    Adding to the speculation, the U.S. military since early September has been carrying out lethal strikes on vessels in the waters off Venezuela that Trump says are trafficking drugs.

    According to flight tracking data, a pair of B-1 Lancer bombers took off from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas on Thursday and flew through the Caribbean and up to the coast of Venezuela. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, confirmed that a training flight of B-1s took place in the Caribbean.

    The B-1 bomber can carry more bombs than any other plane in the U.S. inventory.

    A similar flight of slower B-52 Stratofortress bombers was conducted in the region last week. The bombers were joined by Marine Corps F-35B stealth fighter jets — a squadron is currently based in Puerto Rico — for what the Pentagon called a “bomber attack demo” in photos online.

    When Trump was asked about Thursday’s B-1 flight and if it was meant to ramp up military pressure on Venezuela, he said, “it’s false, but we’re not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons. Drugs being one of them.”

    The U.S. force in the Caribbean includes eight warships, P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones and an F-35 fighter squadron. A submarine has also been confirmed to be operating in the waters off South America.

    Trump on Wednesday said he has the “legal authority” to carry out the strikes on the alleged drug-carrying boats and suggested similar strikes could be done on land.

    “We will hit them very hard when they come in by land,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re totally prepared to do that. And we’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when we come to the land.”

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the military had conducted its ninth strike, killing three people in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It followed a strike Tuesday night, also in the eastern Pacific, that killed two people and brought the overall death toll from the strikes to at least 37.

    The latest pair of strikes expanded the Trump administration’s campaign against drug trafficking in South America from the waters of the Caribbean to the eastern Pacific.

    Hegseth has drawn a direct comparison between the war on terrorism that the U.S. declared after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Trump administration’s crackdown.

    “Our message to these foreign terrorist organizations is we will treat you like we have treated al-Qaeda,” Hegseth told reporters on Thursday at the White House.

    “We will find you, we will map your networks, we will hunt you down, and we will kill you,” he added.

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