civilian

Oct. 1 (UPI) — A civilian working at a U.S. Navy base in New Jersey is accused of falsely reporting an active shooter to create a “trauma bond” with her co-workers.

Federal court documents indicate Malika Brittingham is accused of sending a text to someone in which she claimed to have heard five or six gunshots and was hiding in a closet with some coworkers at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey on Tuesday morning, WPVI-TV reported.

“This kind of senseless fear-mongering and disruption will not be tolerated,” interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba said in a social media post on Tuesday, as reported by Military.com.

“After everything this country has gone through, especially in light of current events,” she continued, “I will be sure to bring down the hammer of the law for anyone found guilty of creating unnecessary panic and undermining public trust.”

The landlocked naval base is located about 40 miles northeast of Philadelphia in New Jersey’s Burlington and Ocean counties.

The individual who received the text at about 10:15 a.m. EDT reported it to the naval base and 911.

The base initiated an hour-long lockdown at about 11 a.m. until the “all clear” was sounded shortly before noon.

Brittingham said she sent the text after receiving an emergency notification that announced the lockdown.

Investigators determined her statement was not true based on the timing of the text that she sent versus those of the calls to the base and 911 and the emergency notification being issued, ABC News reported.

Brittingham then admitted to the hoax and told investigators that “she carried out the hoax because she had been ostracized by her co-workers and hoped that her shared experience in response to an active shooter would allow them to ‘trauma bond,'” according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey.

Brittingham worked for the Naval Air Warfare Center and was arrested on Tuesday afternoon.

Sept. 29 (UPI) — Denmark will ban all civilian drones beginning Monday over safety concerns as Copenhagen prepares to host an EU summit on European defense.

Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen announced the airspace closure Sunday after a slew of incidents involving unidentified drones in recent weeks. The closure will be in effect from Monday to Friday.

He said the drones have created disruption and uncertainty in the country, particularly among the military and police. He said the closure of airspace to civilian drone use will allow law enforcement to focus on security for EU meetings Thursday and Friday.

The European Council is meeting informally Thursday to address general defense in Europe as well as the body’s support for Ukraine amid its war with Russia. A more formal summit of the European political community is expected to take place Friday.

Last week, Denmark’s defense minister, Troels Lund Poulson, said the recent drone sightings in Danish airspace likely weren’t by Russia though there has been a rise in Russian violations of allied airspace. He instead described them as “hybrid attacks,” meaning they were the result of different types of drones. Authorities believed they were launched from somewhere local.

The drone incidents have caused Denmark to at times shut down airports and the airspace around its largest military base.

During his speech Wednesday before the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the international community that Russia’s advanced weaponry and defense technology is putting the entirety of Europe under threat. He cited Moscow’s use of drones and artificial intelligence.

“We are living through the most destructive arms race in human history,” Zelensky said.

European leaders, including Poulson, met on the sidelines of the U.N. general debate last week to discuss the establishment of a “drone wall” to prevent drone attacks — from Russia or otherwise. The system to detect and disable drones would create a virtual wall along eastern EU countries, including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

There have been other unidentified drone sightings in Lithuania, Poland and Romania.

Guinea’s 6.7 million voters eligible to cast a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote on a new constitution.

Guinea is holding a long-awaited referendum on a new constitution that could allow coup leader Mamady Doumbouya to run for president and would transition the African nation from military to civilian rule.

Polls opened and will close later on Sunday for the 6.7 million eligible voters to cast a “yes” or “no” vote on a new constitution that would lengthen the presidential term from five to seven years, renewable once, and create a Senate, one-third of whose members the president would directly appoint.

In the capital, Conakry, where political campaigning was banned on Friday and Saturday, people gathered at polling stations early on Sunday to cast their votes.

Reporting from Conakry, Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris said the government has deployed security officers with a government statement outlining that “more than 40,000 security personnel have been deployed to provide security for this election”.

“People are expecting that the referendum will result in the approval of the draft constitution that some people call impressive and progressive,” Idris said.

“However, people who are opposed to this referendum are saying it will legitimise the current military rulership to participate in the election. The transitional charter said, in fact, no member of the current military government will participate, but a lot of people fear that the referendum will result in a constitution that will allow every member of this government to participate in the [next] election,” he added

Critics are closely watching the referendum, fearing that this is the latest attempt by the government to legitimise its rule on a continent where eight coups since 2023 in West and Central Africa have changed the political landscape.

The referendum has also been criticised as a power grab by Doumbouya. His military-led government missed a December deadline it had set to return the government to civilian rule after he had seized power four years ago.

A presidential election is scheduled to take place in December.

While the military leader has not yet said if he would run in the presidential election, a transitional charter adopted by his government after it took power said coup members would be barred from standing in the next elections.

Sunday’s vote is likely to pass as two of the prominent opposition leaders, Cellou Dalein Diallo and deposed former President Alpha Conde, have called for a boycott of the vote.

Both Diallo’s and Conde’s parties are currently suspended with Human Rights Watch accusing the military government of disappearing political opponents, which it has denied.

The results of the election are expected within the next two to three days, Idris said.

KYIV, Ukraine — Glide bombs and ballistic missiles struck a Ukrainian prison and a medical facility overnight as Russia’s relentless strikes on civilian areas killed at least 27 people across the country, officials said Tuesday, despite President Trump’s threat to soon punish Russia with sanctions and tariffs unless it stops.

Four powerful Russian glide bombs hit the prison in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, authorities said. At least 16 inmates were killed and more than 90 wounded, Ukraine’s Justice Ministry said.

In the Dnipro region of central Ukraine, authorities said Russian missiles partially destroyed a three-story building and damaged nearby medical facilities, including a maternity hospital and a city hospital ward. At least three people were killed, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman, and two other people were killed elsewhere in the region, regional authorities said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said overnight Russian strikes across the country hit 73 cities, towns and villages. “These were conscious, deliberate strikes — not accidental,” Zelensky said on Telegram.

Trump said Tuesday he is giving Russian President Vladimir Putin 10 days to stop the killing in Ukraine after three years of war, moving up a 50-day deadline he had given the Russian leader two weeks ago. The move meant Trump wants peace efforts to make progress by Aug. 8.

Trump has repeatedly rebuked Putin for talking about ending the war but continuing to bombard Ukrainian civilians. But the Kremlin hasn’t changed its tactics.

“I’m disappointed in President Putin,” Trump said during a visit to Scotland.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Russia is determined to achieve its goals in Ukraine, though he said Moscow has “taken note” of Trump’s announcement and is committed to seeking a peaceful solution.

Zelensky welcomed Trump’s shortening of the deadline. “Everyone needs peace — Ukraine, Europe, the United States and responsible leaders across the globe,” Zelensky wrote in a post on Telegram. “Everyone except Russia.”

The Kremlin pushed back, with a top Putin lieutenant warning Trump against “playing the ultimatum game with Russia.”

“Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran,” former President Dmitry Medvedev, who is deputy head of the country’s Security Council, wrote on social platform X.

“Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country,” Medvedev said.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the Kremlin has warned Kyiv’s Western backers that their involvement could end up broadening the war to NATO countries.

“Kremlin officials continue to frame Russia as in direct geopolitical confrontation with the West in order to generate domestic support for the war in Ukraine and future Russian aggression against NATO,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said late Monday.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched two Iskander-M ballistic missiles along with 37 Shahed-type strike drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight. It said 32 Shahed drones were intercepted or neutralized by Ukrainian air defenses.

The Russian attack close to midnight Monday hit the Bilenkivska Correctional Facility with glide bombs, according to the State Criminal Executive Service of Ukraine.

Glide bombs, which are Soviet-era bombs retrofitted with retractable fins and guidance systems, have been laying waste to cities in eastern Ukraine, where the Russian army is trying to pierce Ukrainian defenses. The bombs carry up to 6,600 pounds of explosives.

At least 42 inmates were hospitalized because of serious injuries, and an additional 40 people, including one staff member, sustained various injuries.

The strike destroyed the prison’s dining hall, and damaged administrative and quarantine buildings, but the perimeter fence held and no escapes were reported, authorities said.

Ukrainian officials condemned the attack, saying that targeting civilian infrastructure, such as prisons, is a war crime under international conventions.

The assault occurred exactly three years after an explosion killed more than 50 people at the Olenivka detention facility in the Russia-occupied Donetsk region, where dozens of Ukrainian prisoners were killed.

Russia and Ukraine accused each other of shelling the prison. The Associated Press interviewed over a dozen people with direct knowledge of details of that attack, including survivors, investigators and families of the dead and missing. All described evidence they believed points directly to Russia as the culprit. The AP also obtained an internal United Nations analysis that found the same.

Russian forces also struck a grocery store in a village in the northeastern Kharkiv region, police said, killing five and wounding three civilians.

Authorities in the southern Kherson region reported one civilian killed and three wounded over the last 24 hours.

Alongside the barrages, Russia has also kept up its grinding war of attrition, which has slowly churned across the eastern side of Ukraine at a heavy cost in troop losses and military hardware.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Tuesday that Russian troops have captured the villages of Novoukrainka in the Donetsk region and Temyrivka in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukraine launches long-range drones

Ukraine has sought to fight back against Russian strikes by developing its own long-range drone technology, hitting oil depots, weapons plants and disrupting commercial flights.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that air defenses downed 74 Ukrainian drones over several regions overnight, including 43 over the Bryansk region.

Yuri Slyusar, the head of the Rostov region, said a man in the city of Salsk was killed in a drone attack, which started a fire at the Salsk railway station.

Officials said a cargo train was set ablaze at the Salsk station and the railway traffic via Salsk was suspended. Explosions shattered windows in two cars of a passenger train and passengers were evacuated.

Arhirova and Novikov write for the Associated Press.

The UK and 27 other countries have called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, where they say the suffering of civilians has “reached new depths”.

A joint statement says Israel’s aid delivery model is dangerous and condemns what it calls the “drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians” seeking food and water.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said more than 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for food over the weekend and that 19 others died as a result of malnutrition.

Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the countries’ statement, saying it was “disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas”.

The ministry accused the armed group of spreading lies and undermining aid distribution, rather than agreeing to a new ceasefire and hostage release deal.

There have been many international statements condemning Israel’s tactics in Gaza during the past 21 months of its war with Hamas. But this declaration is notable for its candour.

The signatories are the foreign ministers of the UK and 27 other nations, including Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand and Switzerland.

The statement begins by declaring that “the war in Gaza must end now”.

It then warns: “The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.

“We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food. It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy later told the House of Commons a “litany of horrors” was taking place in Gaza, including strikes that have killed “desperate, starving children”.

Announcing an extra £40m of humanitarian assistance for Gaza this year, Lammy said he was “a steadfast supporter of Israel’s security and its right to exist” but the government’s actions were “doing untold damage to Israel’s standing in the world and undermining Israel’s long-term security”.

There have been almost daily reports of Palestinians being killed while waiting for food since May, when Israel partially eased an 11-week total blockade on aid deliveries to Gaza and, along with the US, helped to establish a new aid system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to bypass the existing one overseen by the UN.

Israel has said the GHF’s system, which uses US private security contractors to hand out food parcels from sites inside Israeli military zones, prevents supplies being stolen by Hamas.

But the UN and its partners have refused to co-operate with the system, saying it is unsafe and violates the humanitarian principles of impartiality, neutrality, and independence.

Last Tuesday, the UN human rights office said it had recorded 674 killings in the vicinity of the GHF’s aid sites since they began operating eight weeks ago. Another 201 killings had been recorded along routes of UN and other aid convoys, it added.

On Saturday, another 39 people were killed near two GHF sites in Khan Younis and nearby Rafah, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The Israeli military said its troops fired warning shots to prevent “suspects” approaching them before the sites opened.

And on Sunday, the ministry said 67 people were killed as they surged toward a convoy of UN aid lorries near a crossing point in northern Gaza. The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots at a crowd “to remove an immediate threat” but disputed the numbers killed.

Following the incident, the World Food Programme warned that Gaza’s hunger crisis had “reached new levels of desperation”.

“People are dying from lack of humanitarian assistance. Malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment,” the UN agency said.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Monday that 19 people had died as a result of malnutrition since Saturday and warned of potential “mass deaths” in the coming days.

“Hospitals can no longer provide food for patients or staff, many of whom are physically unable to continue working due to extreme hunger,” Dr Khalil al-Daqran, a spokesperson for al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, told the BBC.

“Hospitals cannot provide a single bottle of milk to children suffering from hunger, because all baby formula has run out from the market,” he added.

Residents also reported that markets were closed due to food shortages.

“My children cry from hunger all night. They’ve had only a small plate of lentils over the past three days. There’s no bread. A kilogramme of flour was $80 (£59) a week ago,” Mohammad Emad al-Din, a barber and father of two, told the BBC.

The statement by the 27 countries also says Israeli proposals to move Gaza’s entire 2.1 million into a so-called “humanitarian city” in the southern Rafah area are unacceptable, noting that “permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law”.

They urge Israel, Hamas and the international community to “bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire”.

And they warn that they are “prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace”.

That is seen by many as code for recognising a state of Palestine, something many countries have done but not all, including the UK and France.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein rejected the criticism.

“All statements and all claims should be directed at the only party responsible for the lack of a deal for the release of hostages and a ceasefire: Hamas, which started this war and is prolonging it,” he said.

“Instead of agreeing to a ceasefire, Hamas is busy running a campaign to spread lies about Israel. At the same time, Hamas is deliberately acting to increase friction and harm to civilians who come to receive humanitarian aid,” he added.

The Israeli military said earlier this month that it recognised there had been incidents in which civilians had been harmed while seeking aid and that it was working to minimise “possible friction between the population and the [Israeli] forces as much as possible”.

The Israeli military body responsible for co-ordinating aid, Cogat, also said on Monday that Israel “acts in accordance with international law and is leading efforts to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza in co-ordination with the international organisations”.

A spokesperson for the GHF meanwhile appealed to UN agencies to join its operation while also blaming them for “stopping” work and for failing to deliver supplies across the territory.

Chapin Fay told journalists that he had been to border crossings where he saw aid supplies “rotting” because UN agencies would not deliver them.

The Israeli foreign ministry said on Sunday that 700 lorry loads of aid were waiting to be picked up by the UN from crossings.

The UN has said it struggles to pick up and distribute supplies because of the ongoing hostilities, Israeli restrictions on humanitarian movements, and fuel shortages.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 59,029 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.

SEOUL, July 4 (UPI) — A North Korean man who identified himself as a civilian crossed the heavily fortified military demarcation line between the two Koreas and was taken into custody, the South’s military said Friday.

The individual was picked up by the South Korean military on Thursday night, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters. No motive was immediately given for his crossing.

“The military identified the individual in the MDL area, tracked and monitored him, conducted a normal induction operation and secured the individual,” the JCS said. “The relevant organizations will investigate the details of the southward movement.”

“There have been no unusual movements by the North Korean military as of now,” the message added.

In a background briefing with reporters, a JCS official said the North Korean man was first detected by a military monitoring device on the South Korean side of the border around 3 a.m. Thursday.

The operation to secure and guide the individual out of the demilitarized zone took 20 hours total, the official said.

The two Koreas are separated by the 2.5-mile-wide DMZ, which is one of the most heavily fortified and mined borders on earth.

A North Korean soldier defected across the DMZ in August, but direct land crossings have been historically rare. Most escapees traverse the northern border with China.

Over 34,000 North Koreans have fled to the South to escape dire economic conditions and the country’s brutally repressive regime. However, arrivals plummeted after Pyongyang sealed its borders and ramped up security in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of North Korean defectors who arrived in South Korea reached 236 in 2024, up 20% from the previous year, according to data from the South’s Unification Ministry.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung was briefed on the crossing, spokesperson Kang Yu-jun told reporters Friday. Lee has moved to lower tensions in the border area during his first month in office and recently ordered the suspension of propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at the DMZ.

June 14 (UPI) — Russia and Ukraine exchanged an unreported number of prisoners of war on Saturday during the fourth such exchange during the week.

Ukraine also received the bodies of 1,200 dead civilians and military personnel from Russia.

The bodies are in addition to 2,412 that were sent to Ukraine on Wednesday and Friday and are being released per agreements reached during recent negotiations in Istanbul, the Kyiv Independent reported.

“The remains will now undergo forensic examination and identification procedures conducted by law enforcement investigators in cooperation with expert institutions under the [Ukrainian] Interior Ministry,” officials for the Coordination Headquarters Prisoners of War said in a prepared statement.

Identifying the bodies enables respective Ukrainian families to recover them for burial.

Ukrainian and Russian officials agreed to exchange the bodies of 6,000 soldiers and civilians for each side for a total exchange of 12,000 bodies.

Although the two nations agreed to exchange bodies, Russian officials said Ukraine did not return 1,200 bodies during Saturday’s exchange.

Russia and Ukraine are also exchanging prisoners of war who need medical care.

Ukraine has transferred wounded Russian soldiers who have been captured, including many who were transferred directly from the frontlines.

As cease-fire negotiations continue to end the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has continued to strike Ukraine with drone attacks.

Russia is on pace to strike Ukraine with nearly 7,000 drones, which would exceed the record number of 4,198 drones launched against Ukrainian military and civilian targets in March.

“This is terrorism against the civilian population aimed to create a series of doom, war-weariness and to put pressure on the [Ukrainian] authorities,” Liveuamap co-founder Rodion Rozhkovskiy told the Kyiv Independent.

While the war in Ukraine and related negotiations continue in Istanbul, Russian President Vladimir Putin called President Donald Trump on Saturday to wish him a happy birthday and discuss matters in Iran during the one-hour call.

“We talked at length,” Trump said in a White House statement issued after the phone call ended.

“Much less time was spent talking about Russia/Ukraine, but that will be for next week,” Trump said.

He said Putin knows Iran “very well” and agreed the war between Israel and Iran should end.

Trump said he told Putin, “his war should also end” in Ukraine.

The president did not offer more details on his conversation with Putin.

Russian forces on Friday captured the Ukrainian village of Yablunivka, which is located in northeastern Ukraine and about 5 miles from the border between the two nations, Russian officials announced on Saturday.

Russian forces also reportedly captured the villages of Koptevo and Komar in the eastern Donetsk region in Ukraine and six in total over the past week.

The United States Marines have deployed to Los Angeles following criticism and legal battles over whether President Donald Trump had the authority to use the military to quell civilian protests without state approval.

On Friday, Major General Scott Sherman of the US Army confirmed that 200 Marines were arriving in southern California to protect a federal building. A total of 700 Marines have been authorised for deployment to the region.

“I would like to emphasise that the soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities,” Sherman said during a briefing.

Later in the day, the news agency Reuters confirmed with the military that the Marines had carried out their first-known detention, restraining a civilian with zip ties. The Trump administration has said the Marines will accompany Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on raids and arrests.

“Any temporary detention ends immediately when the individual can be safely transferred to the custody of appropriate civilian law enforcement personnel,” a military spokesperson told Reuters.

Federal law generally prohibits the military from participating in civilian law enforcement activities, and military officials have been careful to draw a line between temporary detentions and formal arrests — the latter of which they cannot do.

The Marines join National Guard troops already in the Los Angeles area following the eruption of protests on June 6, when residents took to the streets to express their displeasure with President Trump’s immigration raids, some of which targeted local hardware stores and other workplaces.

While many of the demonstrations were mostly peaceful and limited to a small part of the city, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) did experience tense clashes with some protesters, who hurled objects and set driverless Waymo vehicles on fire. Police responded with flashbangs, tear gas and rubber bullets.

Trump, meanwhile, dubbed the protesters “bad people” and “insurrectionists” and announced the deployment of the National Guard on the evening of June 7.

The president cited Title 10 of the US Code, which allows a president to call up the National Guard if there is a “rebellion or danger of rebellion” against the federal government. Trump and his allies framed the demonstrators as part of a migrant “invasion” imperilling the US.

“To the extent that protests or acts of violence directly inhibit the execution of the laws, they constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States,” Trump wrote in a presidential memorandum.

A legal battle

It was the first time since 1965 that a US president had authorised the National Guard’s deployment to a state without the governor’s permission. The last time was to protect civil rights protesters who were marching through segregated Alabama and faced threats of violence.

Presidents have called up the National Guard to address domestic unrest in the years since, but only with the cooperation of local authorities. In 1992, for instance, then-President Bill Clinton answered a request from California’s governor at the time to send National Guard members to address the Rodney King protests in Los Angeles.

Trump’s decision to circumvent the authority of California’s present-day governor, Gavin Newsom, has led to a legal fight over whether he exceeded his powers as president.

Newsom filed a lawsuit to block the use of military troops outside of federal sites, and on Thursday, a pair of court decisions left the future of the recent deployment unclear.

First, on Thursday afternoon, District Court Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco sided with Newsom, calling Trump’s actions “illegal” and a violation of the US Constitution.

In his 36-page decision, Breyer ruled that the Trump administration had failed to show a danger of rebellion in Los Angeles.

“While Defendants have pointed to several instances of violence, they have not identified a violent, armed, organized, open and avowed uprising against the government as a whole,” he wrote. “The definition of rebellion is unmet.”

He added that he was “troubled” by the Trump administration’s argument that a protest against the federal government could be tantamount to rebellion, warning that such logic could violate the First Amendment right to free speech.

“Individuals’ right to protest the government is one of the fundamental rights protected by the First Amendment, and just because some stray bad actors go too far does not wipe out that right for everyone,” Breyer said.

He called for an injunction against Trump’s use of National Guard members, saying “it sets a dangerous precedent for future domestic military activity” and “deprives the state for two months of its own use of thousands of National Guard members”.

Nearly 4,000 members of the California National Guard have been authorised for deployment to Los Angeles under Trump’s command.

But the Trump administration quickly appealed Judge Breyer’s injunction. By late Thursday, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals had temporarily blocked the injunction, allowing Trump to continue using the National Guard until a hearing could be held on the matter next week.

On Friday, Trump celebrated that decision on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“The Appeals Court ruled last night that I can use the National Guard to keep our cities, in this case Los Angeles, safe,” Trump wrote.

“If I didn’t send the Military into Los Angeles, that city would be burning to the ground right now. We saved L.A. Thank you for the Decision!!!”

Newsom, meanwhile, has continued his call for Trump to end what he framed as illegal control of the National Guard. He has also accused the military presence of heightening tensions with protesters, not dissipating them.

“@RealDonaldTrump, you must relinquish your authority of the National Guard back to me and back to California,” Newsom wrote on social media Thursday.

He has called the Republican president’s federalisation of the National Guard an “unmistakable step toward authoritarianism”.

The California governor is seen as a possible Democratic contender for the presidency in the 2028 election cycle.

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone in need of a European getaway on a budget.

If you’re not taking a big summer trip this year, or if you are and want something to make the stress of traveling feel relaxing by comparison, NBC’s new reality competition series might be up your alley. “Destination X” features a mix of known reality stars and civilians as they put their geography knowledge and deduction skills to the test in Europe for a chance at a cash prize. Executive producer Andy Cadman stopped by Guest Spot to discuss the latest entrant in the travel-competition genre.

Also in this week’s Screen Gab, TV critic Robert Lloyd unpacks the appeal of Netflix’s new series about a traumatized Edinburgh detective tasked with investigating cold cases, and film editor Josh Rothkopf explains why a quartet of travelogue comedy films featuring improv impresarios Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as they road-trip across Europe makes for an enjoyable binge.

Plus, a service announcement: The Emmys season of The Envelope video podcast launched this week. The premiere episode features Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez, the stars of “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” as well as “Andor” actor Diego Luna. You can watch here or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

ICYMI

Must-read stories you might have missed

Elisabeth Moss as June in the series finale of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

(Steve Wilkie / Disney)

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ showrunners on the unattainable finale reunion: ‘It was heartbreaking’: Co-showrunners Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang spoke about the finale of Hulu’s dystopic drama and the show’s parallels to the real world.

‘The Last of Us’: Kaitlyn Dever breaks down explosive finale, teases ‘crazier’ Season 3: The actor pulls back the curtain on the Season 2 finale, teases Season 3 and reveals why the reaction to Joel’s death defied her expectations.

After one legendary moment, actor Rolf Saxon chose to accept another ‘Mission’: His role in the first ‘Mission: Impossible’ was small but memorable. Now Rolf Saxon has been called back into action for ‘The Final Reckoning’ and a more substantial part.

Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel on ‘The Better Sister’ finale and taking control: The co-stars and executive producers discuss making the Prime Video limited series and their decades of experience.

Turn on

Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

Jamie Sives, left, and Matthew Goode in Netflix’s “Dept. Q”

(Justin Downing / Netflix)

“Dept. Q” (Netflix)

In this dark yet strangely warm series adapted by Scott Frank (“The Queen’s Gambit”) from a book series by Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen and transplanted from Copenhagen to Edinburgh, Matthew Goode plays Carl Morck, a moody police detective recovering from an incident, arguably his fault, that left him wounded, a partner partially paralyzed and a rookie dead. Talking his way back into service, he’s given a basement storage space for an office and a cold case involving a missing prosecutor (Chloe Pirrie), whose distressing circumstances we see without learning why. (It’s the mystery!) The primary pleasure of the series is in the team of fellow misfits who gather around Morck — a civilian expat (Alexej Manvelov) keeping mum on his experiences in the Syrian police; a chirpy cadet (Leah Byrne) back from a breakdown and tired of pushing pencils; and Morck’s recovering partner (Jamie Sives), joining from a hospital bed. It feels like the beginning of a beautiful second series. (With Shirley Henderson and Kelly Macdonald as a bonus for Scots watchers.) — Robert Lloyd

Steve Coogan, left, and Rob Brydon in “The Trip to Greece.”

(BBC / Revolution Films)

“The Trip: The Complete Series” (Criterion Collection, starting June 1)

Intensely bingeable (the movies actually got their start as four six-episode BBC runs), “The Trip” makes beautiful sense as an afternoon of viewing, maybe one accompanied by different cuisines as you go. The central premise: Actor-comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, playing barely altered versions of themselves, take to the road for epic conversations behind the wheel and at dinners, where the contours of their hyper-competitive friendship take shape, as does a parade of celebrity impressions. Director Michael Winterbottom steers the duo toward a deeper appreciation of life viewed through the rearview mirror, though honestly, you’re there for the vicious backbiting. For anyone wanting to dip in selectively: 2010’s “The Trip” features the guys’ classic dueling Michael Caines; 2014’s “The Trip to Italy” takes on “The Godfather”; 2017’s “The Trip to Spain” unleashes a killer, preening Mick Jagger; and 2020’s “The Trip to Greece” goes for Dustin Hoffman. — Joshua Rothkopf

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

“Destination X” contestants Rick Szabo, left, Allyson “Ally” Bross and Rachel Rosette during a challenge from the show.

(Helmut Wachter / NBC)

Imagine the pressure of trying to figure out where you are in the world while a man known for carrying a bat studded with barbed wire watches on. NBC’s new reality competition show, “Destination X,” follows 12 players who are whisked around Europe in a blacked-out bus — no windows or GPS to guide them — and tasked with trying to decipher their mystery locations through clues and challenges for a chance to win a cash prize. There’s plenty of alliances and rivalries that get formed along the way. The show is hosted by actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, known for his chilling turn as charismatic villain Negan in “The Walking Dead.” New episodes air every Tuesday on NBC, and can be streamed the next day on Peacock. Executive producer Andy Cadman stopped by Guest Spot via email to discuss the show’s mix of known reality TV personalities and civilians and more. — Yvonne Villarreal

“Destination X” is adapted from a Belgian format. How true to the original version is it? How much needed to be changed to suit American audiences?

The DNA of the original Belgian format is still present: the idea of being lost and trying to work out where you are. To this we added elements of strategy, giving the players more opportunities to mislead one another, forcing them to make difficult decisions, keep secrets, form alliances and ultimately allowing the players to decide who was at risk of elimination in each episode. Pitting the players more directly against one another transformed the show from a game about geography into a strategic, social competition, more accessible to an American audience and ultimately a more dramatic and exciting reality competition show.

The first season of the U.S. version of “Traitors” featured a mix of reality TV personalities and civilians, but quickly pivoted to an all–celebrity lineup. “Destination X” features a mix of reality personalities and civilians. Is the hope to keep that kind of combo? And is that kind of blend becoming more important in today’s reality competition landscape?

I believe that there’s a real benefit in the mix between civilians and established reality personalities. With “Destination X,” we wanted to do a couple of things. Firstly, discover and get to know some amazing new reality personalities that we’ll see on our screens for years to come. We have some brilliant characters in this season that are new, unique and surprising. Secondly, we wanted to see how some of the established reality faces might react to this incredible adventure. It was an opportunity to see some familiar faces taken out of their comfort zones and challenged in totally new ways. I think that this combination is a very valuable tool — it gives viewers the chance to meet some new favourites, while still giving them the comfort of some old friends dropping in.

What’s the game or competition series that hooked your interest in the format as a viewer and led to you pursuing a career in it?

I grew up on the original “Big Brother” and then made that show for many years here in the U.K. It was such a groundbreaking show and has survived the test of time like nothing else. Many of the production techniques that we still use today came from “Big Brother.” The lure of the genre for me lies in the way that people react to difficult situations. The entertainment can often be in the competition, but for me the greatest interest lies in the social politics, relationships people make, what people will do when faced with a dilemma and how far people will go to win. We used all of these levers in “Destination X” to create the most dramatic and engaging show possible.

What have you watched recently that you’re recommending to everyone you know?

“Slow Horses” [AppleTV+], [a] British spy thriller; “The Glass Dome” [Netflix], [a] Scandi noir, and if you like tricky puzzles and social strategy, the U.K. version of “Genius Game” is worth a look.

What’s your go-to comfort watch, the film or TV show you return to again and again?

I genuinely don’t have one; I find comfort in new seasons of my favourites though. I’m very excited for the next [season of] “Stranger Things” [Netflix]!