MOSCOW: Russia said Friday it had seen an increase in US drone flights over the Black Sea and vowed to respond, warning they could lead to “direct confrontation” with NATO.
It comes five days after the Kremlin accused the United States of being responsible for a Ukrainian missile attack on the annexed Crimean peninsula that killed four people, an incident that sent tensions soaring.
Russia’s defense ministry noted an increased number of “US strategic unmanned aerial vehicles over the waters of the Black Sea” and accused Washington of using the flights to help Ukraine strike Russian targets.
“This demonstrates the increasing involvement of the United States and NATO countries in the conflict in Ukraine on the side of the Kyiv regime,” it said.
“Such flights multiply the likelihood of airspace incidents with Russian Air and Space Force aircraft, which increases the risk of a direct confrontation between the alliance and Russia,” it added.
Defense Minister Andrei Belousov has instructed the army “to submit proposals on measures for an operational response to the provocations,” the defense ministry said.
The United States routinely carries out drone flights over the Black Sea, operations that it says are conducted in neutral airspace and in accordance with international law.
In March 2023, Russia intercepted a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea, raising fears of direct confrontation between the two nuclear powers at a time of increased tension over the Ukraine conflict.
Russia says US Black Sea drone flights risk direct clash with NATO
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Russia says US Black Sea drone flights risk direct clash with NATO
- Kremlin accused the United States of being responsible for a Ukrainian missile attack on the annexed Crimean peninsula that killed four people
EU’s Kallas says Russia won’t get frozen assets back without paying reparations
- Some $245.85 billion of Russian assets are frozen in the bloc under sanctions imposed on Moscow
- Members have called for the EU to confiscate the assets and use them to support Kyiv
“We can’t possibly imagine that ... if ... there is a ceasefire or peace deal that these assets are given back to Russia if they haven’t paid for the reparations,” she told reporters before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen.
The EU says some 210 billion euros ($245.85 billion) of Russian assets are frozen in the bloc under sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine and some EU countries, including Poland and the Baltic states, have called for the EU to confiscate the assets and use them to support Kyiv.
But EU heavyweights France and Germany – along with Belgium, which holds most of the assets – have rebuffed such calls.
They have pointed out that the EU has earmarked future profits from the assets to repay support for Ukraine and questioned whether there is a legal basis to confiscate them.
Diplomats say the debate is now turning to how the funds might be used, after the war in Ukraine comes to a halt.
At least 70 killed in capsize of migrant boat off West Africa, Gambia says
- Another 30 people are feared dead after the vessel sank off the coast of Mauritania early on Wednesday
- Gambia’s foreign affairs ministry implored its nationals to ‘refrain from embarking on such perilous journeys’
At least 70 people were killed when a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of West Africa, Gambia’s foreign affairs ministry said late on Friday, in one of the deadliest accidents in recent years along a popular migration route to Europe.
Another 30 people are feared dead after the vessel, believed to have departed from Gambia and carrying mostly Gambian and Senegalese nationals, sank off the coast of Mauritania early on Wednesday, the ministry said in a statement.
It was carrying an estimated 150 passengers, 16 of whom had been rescued. Mauritanian authorities recovered 70 bodies on Wednesday and Thursday, and witness accounts suggest over 100 may have died, the statement said.
The Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to the Canary Islands, typically used by African migrants trying to reach Spain, is one of the world’s deadliest.
More than 46,000 irregular migrants reached the Canary Islands last year, a record, according to the European Union. More than 10,000 died attempting the journey, a 58 percent increase over 2023, according to the rights group Caminando Fronteras.
Gambia’s foreign affairs ministry implored its nationals to “refrain from embarking on such perilous journeys, which continue to claim the lives of many.”
Federal judge issues order blocking Trump effort to expand speedy deportations of migrants
- Setback for the Republican administration’s efforts to expand the use of the federal expedited removal statute
- The effort has triggered lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant rights groups
WASHINGTON: A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out speedy deportations of undocumented migrants detained in the interior of the United States.
The move is a setback for the Republican administration’s efforts to expand the use of the federal expedited removal statute to quickly remove some migrants in the country illegally without appearing before a judge first.
President Donald Trump promised to engineer a massive deportation operation during his 2024 campaign if voters returned him to the White House. And he set a goal of carrying out 1 million deportations a year in his second term.
But US District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., suggested the Trump administration’s expanded use of the expedited removal of migrants is trampling on individuals’ due process rights.
“In defending this skimpy process, the Government makes a truly startling argument: that those who entered the country illegally are entitled to no process under the Fifth Amendment, but instead must accept whatever grace Congress affords them,” Cobb wrote in a 48-page opinion issued Friday night. “Were that right, not only noncitizens, but everyone would be at risk.”
The Department of Homeland Security announced shortly after Trump came to office in January that it was expanding the use of expedited removal, the fast-track deportation of undocumented migrants who have been in the US less than two years.
The effort has triggered lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant rights groups.
Before the Trump administration’s push to expand such speedy deportations, expedited removal was only used for migrants who were stopped within 100 miles of the border and who had been in the US for less than 14 days.
Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, didn’t question the constitutionality of the expedited removal statute, or its application at the border.
“It merely holds that in applying the statute to a huge group of people living in the interior of the country who have not previously been subject to expedited removal, the Government must afford them due process,” she writes.
Cobb earlier this month agreed to temporarily block the Trump administration’s efforts to expand fast-track deportations of immigrants who legally entered the US under a process known as humanitarian parole — a ruling that could benefit hundreds of thousands of people.
In that case the judge said Homeland Security exceeded its statutory authority in its effort to expand expedited removal for many immigrants. The judge said those immigrants are facing perils that outweigh any harm from “pressing pause” on the administration’s plans.
Since May, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have positioned themselves in hallways to arrest people after judges accept government requests to dismiss deportation cases. After the arrests, the government renews deportation proceedings but under fast-track authority.
Although fast-track deportations can be put on hold by filing an asylum claim, people may be unaware of that right and, even if they are, can be swiftly removed if they fail an initial screening.
US environmental agency fires five ‘whistleblowers’: non-profit
- The EPA appeared to acknowledge the job losses in a statement on Friday, but did not specify if employees were fired
- The EPA suspended more than a hundred employees in July after they signed the scathing open letter
WASHINGTON: A science advocacy group on Friday lambasted the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for firing five “whistleblowers” who signed a public letter critical of the Trump administration.
“The EPA fired five whistleblowers who signed the EPA Declaration of Dissent, and issued a Notice of Removal for an additional four employees,” according to a statement from Stand Up for Science, a non-profit organization created in response to US President Donald Trump’s cuts to federal research funding and other policies.
The EPA appeared to acknowledge the job losses in a statement on Friday, but did not specify if employees were fired.
“Following a thorough internal investigation, EPA supervisors made decisions on an individualized basis,” an agency spokesperson wrote to AFP, declining to comment on “individual personnel matters.”
Since taking charge of the federal agency tasked with ensuring clean air, land and water, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has executed Trump’s agenda, including gutting climate regulations, ramping up fossil fuel development and slashing funding for clean energy.
The changes have drawn fierce backlash from scientists and environmental advocates alike.
The EPA suspended more than a hundred employees in July after they signed the scathing open letter accusing Zeldin of pushing policies hazardous to both people and the planet.
The letter – signed by 270 employees with 170 choosing to be named – described a climate of political interference and warned that the agency’s leadership was eroding public health protections and scientific integrity.
On Friday, the EPA noted their “zero-tolerance policy for career officials using their agency position and title to unlawfully undermine, sabotage, and undercut the will of the American public that was clearly expressed at the ballot box last November.”
“The petition – signed by employees using a combination of their titles and offices – contains inaccurate information designed to mislead the public about agency business,” it added.
The Trump administration has similarly clamped down on federal employees who signed letters of dissent at other agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
One dead after ‘massive’ Russian attack in Ukraine
- Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region also came under attack early Saturday
- Kyiv acknowledged on Tuesday that Russian troops had entered the region
KYIV: A ‘massive’ overnight Russian attack on central and southeastern Ukraine killed at least one person, authorities said Saturday, with homes and businesses damaged in multiple cities.
“At night, the enemy carried out massive strikes” on Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Telegram.
At least one person was killed and sixteen others wounded, including two children, according to regional military administration chief Ivan Fedorov.
“Russian strikes destroyed private houses, damaged many facilities, including cafes, service stations, and industrial enterprises,” Fedorov said.
Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region also came under attack early Saturday, the governor said, reporting strikes in Dnipro and Pavlograd.
“The region is under a massive attack. Explosions are being heard,” Sergiy Lysak wrote on Telegram, warning residents to take cover.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Dnipropetrovsk had been largely spared from intense fighting.
But Kyiv acknowledged on Tuesday that Russian troops had entered the region, after Moscow claimed its troops had gained a foothold there.
Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea – that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.
