Government unveils eco-friendly herbicide equipment
As government rolls out its islandwide road repaving programme, attention is also turning to another challenge on Bermuda’s roadways: uncontrolled vegetation.
From overgrown hedges narrowing lanes to invasive plants encroaching on sidewalks and drainage systems, roadside overgrowth has become a growing concern for motorists, pedestrians and maintenance crews alike.
In an effort to tackle the issue more efficiently – and more sustainably – the Government is investing in a new herbicide machine that promises to be both environmentally friendly and more effective than traditional methods.
Qian Dickinson sat down with Minister of Public Works and Environment, Jache Adams, to discuss how the new technology fits into the wider infrastructure plan.
Minister of Housing and Municipalites Zane DeSilva said its part of the government’s effort to tackle the island’s affordable housing shortfall
Housing Minister Zane DeSilva today announced phase 2 of the residential building program at Battery Road in St. David’s is off to a start with 12 new units expected to come online in summer 2026.
By the early hours of Friday, firefighters had mostly contained the blaze raging for more than 24 hours, ripping through the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in the northern district of Tai Po
International News via Reuters:
Hong Kong police arrested the bosses of a construction company on suspicion of manslaughter on Thursday over the city’s worst fire in nearly 80 years, which killed at least 83 people with scores more listed as missing.
By the early hours of Friday, firefighters had mostly contained the blaze raging for more than 24 hours, ripping through the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in the northern district of Tai Po. The estate had been undergoing renovations and was wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh.
Most of the victims were found in two high-rise blocks in the eight-tower complex, Deputy Director of Fire Services Derek Armstrong Chan said.
He said firefighters found residents who were alive in several of the buildings, but gave no further details. The South China Morning Post reported one survivor was found on the stairwell of one of the buildings.
Rescuers battled intense heat, thick smoke and collapsing scaffolding and debris as they fought to reach residents feared trapped on the upper floors of the complex.
“We expect the fire to be fully put out tonight,” Chan said. “We’ll continue to douse water to lower the temperatures,” he added.
A distraught woman carrying her daughter’s graduation photograph searched for her child outside a shelter, one of eight that authorities said are housing 900 residents.
“She and her father are still not out yet,” said the 52-year-old, who gave only her surname, Ng, as she sobbed. “They didn’t have water to save our building.”
Police arrested two directors and an engineering consultant of Prestige Construction, a firm contracted to perform maintenance on the buildings. Police said those arrested were under suspicion of manslaughter for using unsafe materials.
“We have reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties,” Police Superintendent Eileen Chung said. Prestige did not answer repeated calls for comment.
Police seized bidding documents, a list of employees, 14 computers and three mobile phones in a raid of the company’s office, the government added.
WORST FIRE SINCE 1948
The confirmed death toll rose to 83 as of midnight in Hong Kong on Thursday, Hong Kong’s emergency responders said. That made it Hong Kong’s deadliest fire since 1948, when 176 people were killed in a warehouse blaze.
The government said in the very early hours of Thursday that 279 people were listed as missing, but that figure has not been updated for 24 hours.
In a telegram to Hong Kong’s bishop, Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, Pope Leo sent “spiritual solidarity to all those suffering from the effects of this calamity, especially the injured and the families who grieve”.
Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, said the government would set up a HK$300 million ($39 million) fund to help residents while companies including automakers Xiaomi, Xpeng and Geely as well as the charity foundation of Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma and Tencent announced donations.
On the second night after the blaze, dozens of evacuees set up mattresses in a nearby mall, with many saying official evacuation centres should be saved for those with greater need.
People – from elderly residents to schoolchildren – wrapped themselves in duvets and huddled in tents outside a McDonald’s restaurant and convenience shops as a steady stream of volunteers handed out snacks and toiletries.
The eight blocks of the tightly-packed complex of 2,000 apartments were home to more than 4,600 people in the financial hub, which is struggling to overcome chronic shortages of affordable housing.
Police also said they found foam material sealing windows on one unaffected building, installed in the year-long maintenance work.
The city’s development bureau has discussed gradually replacing bamboo scaffolding with metal scaffolding as a safety measure.
China’s President Xi Jinping urged an “all-out effort” to extinguish the fire and minimise casualties and losses, state broadcaster CCTV said.
The leadership of both the Hong Kong government and China’s Communist Party moved quickly to show they attached utmost importance to a tragedy seen as a potential test of Beijing’s grip on the semi-autonomous region.
Hong Kong’s sky-high property prices have long been a trigger for discontent and the tragedy could stoke resentment towards authorities despite efforts to tighten political and national security control.
“27TH FLOOR, ROOM 1: HE IS DEAD”
An online app showed reports of missing persons submitted through a linked Google document that detailed residents of individual towers and rooms.
It includes descriptions such as “Mother-in-law in her 70s, missing” or “one boy and one girl” or “Rooftop: 33-year-old male.”
One simply read: “27th floor, room 1: He is dead.”
Reuters could not independently verify the information on the app.
The fire has prompted comparisons to London’s Grenfell Tower inferno, which killed 72 people in 2017. That fire was blamed on firms fitting the exterior with flammable cladding, as well as failings by the government and the construction industry.
Hong Kong, one of the world’s most densely populated cities, is scattered with high-rise housing complexes. Tai Po, near the border with mainland China, is an established suburban district and home to about 300,000.
Occupied since 1983, the complex is under a government-subsidised home ownership scheme, according to property agency websites, a lifeline for the city’s middle-income families.
($1=HK$7.7779)
Reporting by Joyce Zhou, Tyrone Siu, Jessie Pang, Anne Marie Roantree, Clare Jim, Greg Torode, Farah Master and James Pomfret in Hong Kong; additional reporting by Karen Lema in Manila and Stanley Widianto in Jakarta; Writing by Lincoln Feast, Michael Perry, Saad Sayeed, Keith Weir, Charlie Devereux and Michele Kambas; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Sharon Singleton, Peter Graff and Ed Osmond
Zoeller was a gallery favourite during his playing days due to his humour and relaxed approach to the game
International News via Reuters:
Fuzzy Zoeller, a two-time major champion who faced a backlash for a racist joke he made about Tiger Woods at the 1997 Masters, has died at the age of 74, the PGA Tour said on Thursday.
Zoeller, the last golfer to win the Masters at his first attempt after prevailing in a three-man playoff in 1979, was a gallery favourite during his playing days due to his humour and relaxed approach to the game. He went on to win a second major at the 1984 U.S. Open where he beat Greg Norman in a playoff at Winged Foot.
He finished his career with 10 PGA Tour wins and two titles on the PGA Tour Champions.
“Fuzzy was a true original whose talent and charisma left an indelible mark on the game of golf,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. “Fuzzy combined competitive excellence with a sense of humor that endeared him to fans and fellow players alike. We celebrate his remarkable legacy and extend our deepest condolences to his family.”
It was at the 1997 Masters where Zoeller made his infamous remarks about Woods.
While Woods was on the course in the final round en route to a 12-stroke victory at Augusta National Golf Club for his first major title, Zoeller made racist remarks about what Woods might serve at the following year’s Champions Dinner.
Zoeller told reporters: “You know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it.”
The Champions Dinner, where the defending Masters champion chooses the menu, is traditionally held on Tuesday at Augusta National, two days before the opening round.
Zoeller was walking away from the assembled media scrum when he suddenly turned back and added: “Or collard greens, or whatever the hell they serve.”
The backlash at the remarks cost Zoeller financially in the form of several cancelled sponsorship deals, and personally in the form of damage to his reputation.
More than a week later, Woods released a conciliatory statement, in which he said he had “concluded that no personal animosity toward me was intended”, but that hardly meant the comment was forgotten. The damage had been done and Zoeller would be haunted by it for years.
It was at Winged Foot in 1984 where Zoeller, who was locked in a duel with Norman and thought the Australian had just birdied the final hole to pull ahead, famously grabbed a white towel from his golf bag and began waving it in mock surrender, a scene that became the quintessential moment of that year’s U.S. Open.
But Zoeller later realised Norman had made par and went on to card one of his own before going on to win by eight strokes in the 18-hole playoff.
“Very sad to hear that the highly respected and beloved Professional Golfer, Fuzzy Zoeller, has passed away,” U.S. President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“In 1979, Fuzzy won the Masters Tournament (Only 1 of 3 to win in his first appearance!) and, in 1984, he won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club, and famously waved the white towel on the 18th Hole as he went on to beat Greg Norman in an 18 Hole playoff. A truly remarkable person and player, he will be missed!”
Reporting by Frank Pingue in TorontoEditing by Toby Davis
MPS confirmed it had been informed of allegations against its 70-year-old chief executive and of a search warrant and was cooperating with authorities
International News via Reuters:
Italy’s Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) and its top two shareholders are facing an investigation in Milan in relation to the Tuscan bank’s takeover of Mediobanca, two judicial sources told Reuters on Thursday.
MPS, which has been led by Luigi Lovaglio since early 2022, confirmed it had been informed of allegations against its 70-year-old chief executive and of a search warrant and was cooperating with authorities.
“The bank is confident it can provide all the necessary information to clarify the correctness of its actions and expresses its full trust in the competent authorities, with whom it confirms its full cooperation,” MPS said in a statement.
The 16 billion euro ($19 billion) bid, which in September handed MPS control of Milanese investment bank Mediobanca, was championed by the government and is the biggest deal so far in a merger wave reshaping Italy’s financial landscape.
Milan prosecutors allege Italy’s market watchdog Consob, the European Central Bank and Italian insurance supervisor IVASS were not informed of concerted action involving MPS and its leading investors on the Mediobanca bid, the sources said.
They are investigating possible market rigging and obstruction of regulators, the two sources said, confirming a report in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Shares in MPS, which was bailed out by the state in 2017, closed down 4.6%.
The ECB declined to comment. Consob Chair Paolo Savona said the regulator had to look into the matter before commenting.
The biggest shareholders in MPS are Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, a construction magnate, and Delfin, the holding company of Italy’s Del Vecchio family, which is led by EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri, the right-hand man of late billionaire Leonardo Del Vecchio.
Caltagirone and Delfin were also the top investors in Mediobanca and played a key role in supporting the MPS bid.
They became shareholders in MPS in November 2024 when Italy’s Treasury sold 15% of the bank to a small group of domestic investors. They later increased their holdings, easing the takeover project.
UNDER INVESTIGATION SINCE JUNE
Lovaglio, Caltagirone and Milleri have all been under investigation since June, the sources told Reuters, but their names have only emerged after prosecutors began searches in connection with their investigation.
Delfin and Caltagirone’s group both said in separate statements they had each acted in compliance with relevant laws and market regulations. Delfin expressed confidence the investigation would prove the allegations were groundless.
Caltagirone said it would continue to collaborate with magistrates and that it had behaved transparently with all supervisory authorities.
The offices of MPS have been searched this week, said the sources, who asked not to be named.
The Milan prosecutors in charge of the case are Roberto Pellicano, Luca Gaglio and Giovanni Polizzi.
MPS announced its bid for Mediobanca in January after Italy’s Treasury completed its re-privatisation of the bailed-out bank, cutting its initial 68% stake to a near 12% holding which has now more than halved with the Mediobanca deal.
($1 = 0.8631 euros)
Reporting by Alvise Armellini, Gianluca Semeraro and Angelo Amante, editing by Alvise Armellini, Valentina Za, Gavin Jones, Deepa Babington, Rod Nickel
The change removed the last major hurdle for the Employment Rights Bill to pass into law
International News via Reuters:
Britain’s government watered down plans to strengthen workers’ protection against unfair dismissal on Thursday, saying employees would get the new rights six months after starting a job, not from their first day as originally planned.
The change – which followed talks with businesses that had warned that initial proposals would make hiring more difficult – removed the last major hurdle for the Employment Rights Bill to pass into law, the government said in an update.
The revised bill got a mixed reaction from unions. They welcomed the reduction from the current waiting time for dismissal rights of two years, and other new protections including day-one rights to sick pay and paternity leave from April 2026.
But major union Unite called the bill a “shell of its former self”.
“With fire and rehire and zero hours contracts not being banned, the Bill is already unrecognisable,” it said.
BILL A KEY PLEDGE
Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle told Sky News that the legislation was designed to “lead to more harmony and engagement in the workplace, increased productivity, never pitting one side against another.”
The bill, a key Labour manifesto pledge, also seeks to ban what the government calls exploitative zero-hours contracts and end fire-and-rehire practices.
Britain ranks among the top OECD countries for minimum wage relative to median earnings, but has offered fewer statutory benefits such as paid sick leave and parental leave than most advanced economies.
Britain’s economy has been largely stuck in a rut of slow growth since the 2007-08 financial crisis, something finance minister Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to end when the Labour Party returned to power after 14 years in 2024.
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, called the change a “humiliating u-turn” and said the bill still contained measures that would “damage businesses and be terrible for economic growth.”
The move comes a day after Reeves announced 26 billion pounds ($34.41 billion) of tax rises in her annual budget.
Six major business groups, including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the British Chambers of Commerce and Federation of Small Businesses, welcomed the amendment on Thursday, saying it “keeps a qualifying period that is simple, meaningful and understood within existing legislation”.
They urged continued dialogue on issues such as guaranteed hours contracts and seasonal work.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said the change was “an important, practical step.”
The government has framed the reforms as key to improving working conditions and avoiding the widespread industrial action that disrupted services over the past two years.
It said most changes will take effect no earlier than 2026 and pledged further consultation on secondary legislation.
It also committed to ensuring that the unfair dismissal qualifying period can only be varied by primary legislation and that the compensation cap will be lifted.
Mike Clancy, General Secretary of the Prospect union, said the bill “strengthens protection by lifting the cap on compensation payments” and makes the system simpler.
“This is a good deal for working people, negotiated by trade unions focused on securing deliverable upgrades to workers’ rights,” he said.
($1 = 0.7556 pounds)
Reporting by Sam Tabahriti and Alistair Smout; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Andrew Heavens
Just for Laughs starts tonight and runs through Monday, at the Hamilton Princess
A weekend full of laughter is promised as Just for Laughs Bermuda returns, hosted once again by perennial favourite and honorary islander, Alonzo Bodden. This year’s lineup features top international talent, including Orlando Leyba from America’s Got Talent and Dan Tiernan, winner of BBC’s New Comedian of the Year.
Bermuda’s own Jonathan Young will make his 13th appearance, and Ivan Decker from Canada, a Juno Award winner for Best Comedy Album, returns for his third Bermuda performance.
Running from tonight through Monday at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, the event is also offering a special Black Friday sale on tickets. We spoke to Chief Chuckler at Just for Laughs Bermuda, Richard Simon.
Government details east end infrastructure project
A major infrastructure upgrade is on the way for the East End, with the Government detailing its plans to build a new swing bridge in St. George’s.
The bridge, which will replace the ageing structure that currently links St. George’s to the mainland, is to be constructed adjacent to the existing bridge.
Government cites benefits for tourism, the fishing activity, ferry resilience in adverse weather, and super-yacht growth.
Qian Dickinson sat down today with Jache Adams, Minister of Public Works and Environment to flesh out the vision.
The Sapphire Veil 2025 is an event created by Skye Kermode, offering a calming experience within the natural beauty of Devil’s Hole Grotto. Guests gather to take in the soothing tones of nature and enjoy a relaxing atmosphere.
Taking place every Tuesday evening, the experience invites participants to feed the turtles, enjoy the tranquil setting, unwind and reconnect. Kendal Trott spoke to Skye Kermode about the project.
Residents are being reminded to submit feedback before the December 5 deadline
The Department of Planning reminds the public that its survey on the use of alternative construction materials and techniques in Bermuda is still open. As these methods become more common, the Department is seeking community feedback to help assess their long-term impact on the island’s visual character and to guide future policy decisions.
The survey is available on the Department of Planning’s website at www.planning.gov.bm and on its official Facebook page. Members of the public are encouraged to share their views before the survey closes on 5 December 2025.
For further information or assistance accessing the survey link, please contact the Department at 297-7756.
It was the ninth coup in West and Central Africa in five years and continued a pattern of instability in Guinea-Bissau
International News via Reuters:
Guinea-Bissau’s military installed Major-General General Horta Inta-a as transitional president on Thursday, a day after soldiers toppled the civilian leadership in a swift power grab made before the results of a weekend election could be announced.
It was the ninth coup in West and Central Africa in five years and continued a pattern of instability in Guinea-Bissau, a notorious cocaine transport hub with a long history of military interventions in politics.
The self-styled “High Military Command for the Restoration of Order” announced in a televised statement on Wednesday that they had ousted President Umaro Sissoco Embalo. They said the move came in response to a destabilisation plan involving politicians and drug barons, without going into more detail.
Wearing a military uniform and flanked by other military officials, Inta-a made his first public appearance as leader at a ceremony broadcast Thursday on state television. He said the coup was necessary to stave off a plot by “narcotraffickers” to “capture Guinean democracy” and said the transition would last one year, beginning immediately.
At a swearing-in ceremony later on Thursday, he named Major-General Tomas Djassi as army chief of staff.
The takeover came a day before provisional results were due to be announced in the race between Embalo and Fernando Dias, a 47-year-old political newcomer who had emerged as Embalo’s top challenger in the presidential vote.
Before the coup announcement, gunfire rang out in the capital Bissau for about an hour on Wednesday near the electoral commission headquarters and presidential palace.
Embalo called French media to say he had been deposed.
An army statement dated Thursday said Embalo and other top officials were “under the control of the High Military Command”.
CONDEMNATION OF THE COUP
African Union chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf condemned the coup in a statement, and called for the release of Embalo “and all detained officials.”
Heads of state from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS also condemned the coup and later held a virtual meeting to discuss the situation, according to a post on X.
Screen grabs shared with the post showed several regional leaders participating, including the presidents of Nigeria, Senegal and Liberia, as well as the AU’s Youssouf.
Central Bissau was mostly quiet on Thursday, with soldiers on the streets and many residents staying indoors, even after the overnight curfew lifted. Businesses and banks were closed.
“I’m very concerned about the prevailing situation,” Julio Goncalves, a 30-year-old professor and Bissau resident, said.
“No pharmacy is open. If somebody is sick how can he buy medicine or go to the hospital?”
‘FALSE COUP ATTEMPT’
Before Inta-a’s presidency was announced, Dias accused Embalo in a video statement of staging a “false coup attempt” to derail the election because he feared he would lose.
In a statement to Reuters on Thursday, the coalition backing Dias demanded that authorities be allowed to release results from Sunday’s presidential election.
The coalition also called for the release of former Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, who was detained on Wednesday, according to relatives and security sources.
Security forces used tear gas to break up a small protest outside the building where Pereira is said to be held. They also broke up a gathering near Dias’s home on the outskirts of Bissau and live rounds were fired, witnesses said.
There were no reports of casualties related to the violence on Wednesday or Thursday.
COUP-PRONE NARCOTICS HUB
Guinea-Bissau is a small coastal nation between Senegal and Guinea and a transit point for cocaine heading from South America to Europe. Under Embalo’s administration, the cocaine trade appeared to boom.
Another coup is unlikely to change that, said Lucia Bird Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo, director of the Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa, which tracks the cocaine trade.
“Major traffickers financed electoral campaigns in these elections. There is no sign the impact of cocaine on politics and governance in Bissau will decrease,” she said.
The country had been shaken by at least nine coups and attempted coups between 1974, when it gained independence from Portugal, and 2020, when Embalo took office.
ELECTION OBSERVERS UNACCOUNTED FOR
Election observers from the African Union and ECOWAS issued a joint statement on Wednesday calling for the immediate release of arrested election officials.
Nigerian former President Goodluck Jonathan, who had been observing the vote as part of the West African Elders Forum, was not reachable on Thursday and his whereabouts unknown, ECOWAS spokesperson Joel Ahofodji told Reuters.
Nigeria’s foreign ministry said the safety of election observers should be guaranteed. “We warn that those behind this act will be held accountable for their actions,” a statement said.
Reporting by Alberto Dabo; Additional reporting by Robbie Corey-Boulet, Bate Felix and Ayen Deng Bior in Dakar, Alphonso Toweh in Monrovia and Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Writing by Ayen Deng Bior and Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Ros Rusell and Andrew Heavens
Investigators seized numerous electronic devices from the suspect’s house in Washington state, including cellphones, laptops, and iPads
International News via Reuters:
The FBI searched multiple properties in Washington state and San Diego on Thursday in what officials said was a terrorism probe into an Afghan national suspected of shooting two National Guard members, who remained in critical condition.
Investigators seized numerous electronic devices from the suspect’s house in Washington state, including cellphones, laptops, and iPads, and interviewed the suspect’s relatives, FBI Director Kash Patel told a news conference in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Jeanine Pirro identified the two wounded Guard members as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24.
Pirro said the suspect ambushed the Guard members while they were patrolling near the White House on Wednesday afternoon. Armed with a powerful revolver, a .357 Magnum, he shot one member who fell and then shot again before firing multiple times at the second member.
SUSPECT WORKED WITH U.S. FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN
Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News the U.S. government planned to bring terrorism charges against the gunman and seek a sentence of life in prison “at a minimum.”
At her briefing, Pirro said the gunman faces three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and a charge of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
He could be charged with murder in the first degree if either of the Guard members does not survive their injuries, she said.
Patel described the shootings as a “heinous act of terrorism,” but neither he nor Pirro offered a possible motive.
The assailant appeared to have acted alone, said Jeff Carroll, executive assistant chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.
The suspect has been identified by authorities as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who lived in Washington state with his wife and five children.
Lakanwal, who was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before he was arrested, had been involved with U.S. partner forces during the war in Afghanistan, Patel said.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox News and the New York Times that Lakanwal had worked with CIA-backed local units in Afghanistan.
“He drove his vehicle cross-country from the state of Washington with the intended target of coming to our nation’s capital,” Pirro told the news conference.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program to resettle thousands of Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the Afghanistan war and feared reprisals from Taliban forces who seized control after the U.S. withdrawal there.
President Donald Trump, who was at his Florida resort at the time of the attack, released a video statement late on Wednesday calling the shooting “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror.”
It was unclear if the shooting would lead to changes to how the Guard operates in cities. Members typically patrol in small groups, including on foot, mostly armed with pistols.
LAKANWAL APPROVED FOR U.S. ASYLUM THIS YEAR
Trump said his administration would “re-examine” all Afghans who came to the U.S. during Joe Biden’s presidency.
Pirro and Patel blamed the Biden administration for improperly vetting Lakanwal, although they offered no evidence to support this assertion.
A Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on April 23 this year, three months after Trump took office. Lakanwal, who resided in Washington state, had no known criminal history, the official said.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said on Wednesday it had halted processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely, “pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”
VANCE DEFENDS IMMIGRATION POLICY
Vice President JD Vance, who was in Kentucky on Wednesday, said on social media that the shooting proved the Trump administration’s immigration policy was justified.
“We must redouble our efforts to deport people with no right to be in our country,” he said.
Critics of the administration’s immigration policy say it has employed harsh and illegal tactics and swept up immigrants indiscriminately, including many with no criminal history and others in the U.S. legally.
The two Guard members from West Virginia were part of a militarized law enforcement mission ordered by Trump in August and challenged in court by Washington, D.C., officials. Trump ordered 500 more troops to be deployed in the capital in the wake of the shooting, joining about 2,200 already in the city as part of the president’s immigration and crime crackdown targeting Democratic-led cities.
Trump, a Republican, has suggested repeatedly that crime has disappeared from the capital as a result of the deployment, an assertion at odds with the police department’s official crime statistics.
Reporting by Leah Douglas, Jana Winter, Phil Stewart, Ted Hesson, Lucia Mutikani, Jasper Ward and Tim Reid; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali, Jeff Mason, Steve Gorman; Writing by Julia Harte and Rod Nickel; Editing by Ross Colvin and Deepa Babington
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
